“What the fuck does it take to kill you?”
A lesson to learn when somepony tells you that you don’t wanna know something about somepony, is that they probably mean it for a good reason. I really wish I would’ve learned that lesson before talking to the old Synth. Sometimes knowing a great deal, isn’t as good as one might think.
Lonely Hearts leaned back in his chair taking a long pull of his cigarette. After a moment, he looked back at me, “I first met Grim five years ago, she’d just been ousted from the Steel Rangers. Back then, she was still a sweet gal, full of hopes and dreams. I remember her well, because unlike most ponies who search me out to help them find somepony else or get to the bottom of something, she wanted help finding a way into The Lucky Horseshoe.”
“Wait a sec. You mean to tell me that my mother wanted to get into that big tower? Why?” I interrupted.
“Shadow if you wanna find out, stop interrupting him,” Aura said sitting down next to me and making herself comfortable in the moldy office chair.
Lonely Hearts waited a moment then continued, “Yeah, as I was saying, she wanted to find a way to get inside The Lucky Horseshoe. She told me she needed to talk with the pony in charge up there, Mr. Tops. I had to tell her what I’d tell anypony looking to break into anything around The Strip. It’s a stupid idea and I don’t help ponies with anything illegal, even if there isn’t much that isn’t legal in the Wasteland. Apparently, she didn’t want to break in, only find a way to get into contact with Mr. Tops so he could let her in. When I asked her what she was looking for, she refused to say. When she found that I couldn’t help her, she left, but she was back a few days later. I guess she was able to find another pony to help her, but he didn’t let her in. I’m not sure what they talked about, but she was more excited than when I first met her. This time she wanted my help with something completely different. She was looking for somepony this time.”
I interrupted again, ignoring the scowl I got from Aura, “Who was she looking for?”
Lonely Hearts chuckled, “A stallion, his name was…uh…damn, I can’t remember,” he looked down at the folder in front of him, “Ah that’s right, his name was Striker, a Dashite originally from Nimbus. I guess she used to know him back in the day, he was some kind of terminal expert before he did something to piss off the Enclave. I worked on the case with her for a few months and finally found something about him being in Hoofington. So like a rocket she was off and heading toward that Goddesses forsaken city.”
“Was that the last time you saw her?” I couldn’t help asking, I needed to know. I wonder what was so bad about her that he wanted to warn me about finding her. Mom was always the type of pony who went off on a whim. If she had an idea, she had to act on it.
He frowned, his hoof closing the folder on his desk, “No, I wish it was. She was a nice gal back then, so full of charisma and gumption. The last time I saw her was six months ago. She came to my office looking for something. Something she left me before leaving for Hoofington. She came with another Unicorn and a couple Pegasi demanding I hand over what she’d left before. I refused, and she almost destroyed my office. That was after she killed my last assistant when I wouldn’t hand over what she was looking for. She would’ve killed me too, but Securiponies came and took care of business. Before she left she told me she’d find a way to get back at me for betraying her. I dunno what happened to her in the years since we parted before that happened, but she wasn’t the same mare I knew back then. She was cold, heartless, and cruel.”
No, that couldn’t be right, mom wasn’t that kind of pony. Yeah she could get mean when she was mad or frustrated, but she wasn’t cruel or heartless. I tried to say as much, but all I was able to do was squeak.
Aura wrapped a talon around me and pulled me to her side as I sat there shocked, “The wasteland is a hard place, it changes ponies. Who knows what happened to your mom. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, and you should find out what it was.”
Lonely Hearts chimed in, “I agree, I’ve been meaning to look into it myself, but I’ve been piled under cases lately and haven’t had the time.”
I pulled away from my friend, “What did she want you to give back to her?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to explain that. You see years ago, before she ran off to find her pegasus friend; she stayed here at the office all the time. She used to sit up in the room and make memory orbs or watch the ones she’d collected over the years. She also used to talk with me about you Shadow, she told me all about the daughter she’d left in the Stable, and how one day you’d find your way out of there.”
“Yeah, she left me a note on my Pip-Buck saying I shouldn’t look for her. She said that I should head to Manehattan and move into a place called Tenpony tower.”
“She told me about that, and the Pip-Buck you should have. She also told me that knowing how determined of a pony her daughter was, that you would most likely ignore her request and come looking anyway. She said that if you ever found me, that I should give you what she left here with me,” he got up and walked into the other room and returned with a small box, “She said you should have this if we were to ever meet.”
I looked at it for a moment before opening it. Inside were three Memory Orbs, two looked normal, and the last one was white. There was also a note inside along with an audio recording. I pulled out the note and looked it over.
Shadow,
If you’re reading this, it means you either never found my note on the Pip-Buck, or you decided to ignore my request and came looking for me anyway. If I know you as well as I think I do, I’m guessing it’s the latter. First, I wanted to say that I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t go to a safe place once you left Stable 28, but I’m also proud of you at the same time. I’m sure you’re finding all of this a little scary and difficult to understand. The recording I left will help explain more, at least I hope it will.
I’ve left you a few things that I hope will help you understand why I had to leave, and understand what was at stake. The memory orbs might help, but I won’t be able to leave all the ones I’ve made in one place, I hope that you’ll be able to find them while you search for me. Two are my own, the other one, well it’s a memory I’ve found helpful in my research and really don’t need anymore. I can’t find much more on it that can help me, so I figured I’d let you have it. Maybe you’ll enjoy it, or at least notice something I didn’t.
Please, be safe out there and make sure you don’t let anypony get ahold of that Pip-Buck. The Mark II is one of only three that I know of, it holds a lot of secrets and really, I wish I didn’t have to leave it behind, but I couldn’t let Elder Appleslice get it. I’ll explain more on the recording, it can only be played on a Pip-Buck like yours. I love you.
I looked up from the letter in shock then back at the recording and memory orbs, “Why did she want these back?”
“Beats me, I couldn’t tell you kid. Like I said, she wasn’t the same. All I knew was, the old Grimoire wanted her daughter to have this and I couldn’t just hand it over to whoever she’d become. If I didn’t know what to look for in a synth replacement I would’ve thought she was one of The Ministry’s puppets but to be honest I think something deep inside her changed.”
Aura spoke up, “Didn’t her mom ask you not to help Shadow if she ever came looking for her?”
“She did, but that was the last time I saw her. When she left me this stuff, she asked me to make sure Shadow got it.”
“Okay, I’m lost, so her mother told you to give her this stuff, then she shows up years later demanding it back?” Stardust asked.
“Nothing about Shadow’s life makes sense,” Wingnut said from the corner.
I glared back at both of them before turning back to Lonely Hearts, “I kind of agree with them. All of this is too confusing. What do I do now?”
“I couldn’t tell you that, I did my part. I told you what I know and gave you the information she left for you,” he got up from his chair, “How about this, if you still wanna find her, even after what I told you, I’ll start looking into it.”
It took me a bit to make up my mind. On one hoof, I really wanted to find her and figure out what made her change so much. On the other hoof, I wasn’t sure I could take seeing her like that. If I saw my mother working with the Enclave or being evil, I’m not sure I could take it. I also needed to know what was on this Pip-Buck and how to remove it if I needed to. As far as I knew, she was the only pony who knew how.
Finally, I made up my mind, “For right now, I think I need to put my quest to find her on hold, there’s a lot to process. I need to figure out what my next step is. A problem I have though, is she’s the only pony I know who knows anything about the Pip-Buck 3000 Mark II.”
To my surprise, Lonely Heart’s Assistant said something, “You could always go talk to the ponies in Trotston. I heard the leader of their town has a Pip-Buck 3000 Mark II.”
“You have a point there. You could go see them.” Lonely Hearts said.
I remembered hearing about that town before from Sapphire. I looked back at her and asked, “You mean the survivors from Stable 9? How do you know they have the other Mark II?”
She smiled sweetly, making my knee’s go weak, “Lonely Hearts took a job from them a couple months back, I remember going with him and talking with their leader, she had a Pip-Buck like yours. They might be able to help you.”
“Hmmm, yeah, you could be right. However, I’ll still need to at least find out where my Mom is. Do you think you can try and find her Lonely Hearts?”
He gave me a smile, it was a little creepy since a chunk of his face was missing, but I appreciated it all the same, “I’ll see what I can find, it’ll probably take me a while, but I’ll be sure to get a message to you when I do.”
“Thank you, it’s hard for me to understand what she’s become, but I can’t give up on her. I’ll find something to do for now, at least until I’m ready.”
As I rose getting ready to leave, something caught my eye in the corner of his office, a statuette was sitting there, slightly covered by old files. Walking around the desk I pushed the files aside and looked down at the Yellow Pegasus mare with a pink mane, she was sitting down holding a bunny in her hooves, surrounded by an assortment of animals. On its base it said ‘Be Pleasant’ it reminded me a lot of the other one I’d gotten from Honeysuckle back at Little Hoof.
“Hey Lonely Hearts, what’s this?” I asked, looking back at him.
He looked over his shoulder, “Oh that, found it on a dead mare a long time ago. That’s the Ministry Mare Fluttershy, she used to run the Ministry of Peace. I’ve kept it around because it reminds me that things can always be better, even when times are tough.”
“I got something like this from a Filly I helped a few days ago. Do you know anything about them?”
“Not much, but I heard they’re a set, one for all six mares of The Ministries. If you want, you can have that one. It’s not doing me much good just laying around under papers all the time. If you have one, maybe you will get lucky and find the rest too,” he said getting up, picking up the Statuette and giving it to me.
“Are you sure?” I asked, taking the yellow mare into my magical field. As soon as my magic connected with it, something washed over me. I felt different in a way, almost like I could talk my way out of anything.
“Go ahead. Like I said, it’s not doing me much good now days anyway. It’d be good for her to find a new home,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you Lonely Hearts,” I placed the yellow Pegasus into my saddle bags next to Rarity.
“We should head out Shadow,” Aura said putting her talon on my shoulder.
“Yeah, I agree,” I said, looking up at her then back at Lonely Hearts, “Let me know when you find something.”
“I’ll be sure to do that,” he said, looking back down at his files.
***
The four of us walked out of the detective agency slowly heading back toward the strip. I was silent for a little while, the information of what happened with my mother still stirring around inside my head. None of it made any sense, why would she become so dark? Maybe something happened to her, or maybe it was all an act. Lonely Hearts said she was with two pegasi, so maybe the information about her going to the Enclave was right.
Why would she though? What was this project she was working on that took her away from everything she loved, took her away from me? Why leave on the orders of the Elder of the Steel Rangers, leaving me behind even though she was told not to? Then she goes off to find some pegasus from Hoofington. Now she was with what sounded like The Enclave.
The Enclave, everything seemed to keep leading back to them, with my life, Stardust’s, even my mothers. What did they want with all of us, Stardust was a runaway from his Stable, I pissed off the wrong pony who was looking for my friend, and both of us had to watch out for the Sins now. But what did mom have to do with all of it? Why did she leave me all this information to follow and then turn around and want to take it all back? The only thing I could think of was that something must be hidden away on this Pip-Buck, but if that was the case then why didn’t she just come back and get it herself.
Nothing was adding up, I wanted to find out more, but how? Who could tell me more about what happened back then? The obvious answer was Auntie, but she was still in the Stable, and I couldn’t go back there. If I did, the Overmare would have me killed. I just wish there was a way to get a message to her, but as far as I knew the Overmare was the only pony who could send messages out to The Wasteland.
“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind,” Aura said, nudging me with her wing.
I looked up at her, “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“You don’t have to apologize, you’ve been through a lot in the past few days. I’m surprised you haven’t cracked already.”
“I thought I did back when I was trying to get back to the Steel Rangers. Who knows maybe I did. I just feel so numb and confused right now, nothing I find is adding up.”
Stardust looked back at us, “What happened to you back then wasn’t you going crazy or anything Shadow, you were trying to survive. You feel how you do right now, because you just took in a lot of information you weren’t ready for. It’ll take time for you to comprehend everything that you’ve learned, but I promise that sooner or later you’ll feel better.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“It took me a couple months to come to terms with what happened back at my stable. I know what I’m talking about,” he gave me that signature goofy Stardust Smile then kept walking on.
Wingnut slowed his walking and came up next to me, “Listen Shadow, when my parents died, I was all alone, I didn’t think I’d ever be happy again, then I found Little Hoof and made new friends, that is until my cutie mark showed up and I became ostracized from there, I felt alone again, but then later, you found me, albeit, I probably swallowed more than I can handle. At times, it seems like The Wasteland is out to get you, then something amazing happens and life doesn’t seem so bleak.”
Damn that kid was way to wise for his age, I ruffled his mane like Balefire used to do to me, “Thanks kiddo, you really have a way of cheering me up. You kind of remind me of an old friend of mine.”
He beamed up at me, “Was he your buck friend?”
There it is, the colt reappears with his snarky attitude, “No, he was just a friend and that’s all, just like you. We’ve already had this conversation.”
“Sure, you say that now, but one day you’ll see that I’m a strong stallion and you’ll fall head over hoof for me,” then he walked away with a masculine strut, leaving me there with my mouth wide open and Aura snickering next to me.
Trying to get my mind off my mother, and to get my friends to stop teasing, I decided to change the subject, “So where do we go from here?”
“I say, we go see if we can find any jobs to do. I mean we aren’t doing great on caps and side jobs could help us build that up, and it could help you get your mind off of the crap going on,” Aura suggested.
“Can we go back the casino and relax again, that was a lot of fun,” Wingnut added.
“I think we should find a way to deal with them,” Stardust suggested.
I looked over at him, “Deal with who?”
He pointed through the gate that lead back to The Strip at two ponies who were standing on the other side, both looking right at us. It was Gluttony and Sloth, the latter looked bored, the former looked pissed. Gluttony pointed over at me, “See, she’s right there, I’m going to eat her now.”
“Gluttony you know the rules, we can’t do anything while we’re on the Strip, you’ll have to wait until she’s outside the city,” Sloth said yawning wide.
“No, I’m not waiting. She trapped me in a room and called me mean names, she dies now,” Gluttony said walking toward me.
“I don’t think so lard ass,” Aura said, pulling out her spear.
Stardust and Wingnut pulled out their weapons too. I however just laughed, “Really? So after all that bullshit back at the stable and everything else, you’re really going to fight me here?”
Sloth yawned again and rolled his eyes, “No he’s not, honestly if we could I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”
“I don’t get it, why the fuck are you all after me? I can’t believe that the Enclave would put so much energy into finding me just because I’m traveling with Stardust, and because I pissed off some Enclave lackey.”
“Sloth, let me eats her,” Gluttony complained.
“Shut up Gluttony,” he said then looked back at me, “You really think we’re after you because of one insignificant solider, or because of who you’re traveling with?”
“Yeah, why else would you be after me?”
He started to laugh, “A few days ago, we got reports about a Courier Mare who used a spell that was so powerful, she blasted a giant hole in the cloud layer. The Enclave notices things like that. With the report we got from Captain Winter Frost, and what you did to the cloud layer, The Enclave high council decided you were too much of a threat. An order went out to have you eliminated, then we found out you were traveling with Stardust. The orders changed to capture and interrogate, possibly torture, then eliminate.”
Really? They wanted me dead because I blasted a hole in the clouds? It was official, I hated the stupid fucking Enclave and their idiotic paranoia. Sighing deeply, I pulled out my shotgun, “That has to be the stupidest reason I’d ever heard in my life, and trust me I’ve heard some really stupid things since I’ve gotten out into The Wasteland. I can’t take it anymore,” by the time I finished I was yelling.
Aura walked over to me and pushed my gun down, “Shadow, calm down. These idiots can’t do anything while they’re on The Strip. You can just walk away and ignore them like you did with Pride.”
Rounding on my friend I shouted in her face, “No, fuck them and their stupid Enclave. We aren’t in their stupid land, we don’t have to play by their rules. They can’t just decide they don’t like something somepony did and kill them to feel like they accomplished something. That’s bullshit, I’m done with THEM and ALL of this. I want them dead or to go away and leave me the fuck alone. I have enough to deal with.”
“I agree with you, but what can you do? You can’t just go up there and threaten them to leave you alone.”
“NO, screw that. They need to fuck off or die, just like the other assholes who tried to kill me. I’m sick of dealing with them and the idiots they keep sending after me. Especially these two imbeciles.”
“Um…Shadow,” Stardust started to say.
I rounded on him next, “What!?”
He pointed a hoof over my shoulder at Gluttony, “I think you should stop, he doesn’t look happy right now.”
I looked back at the horrible gelatinous blob of a pegasus, his face was red and his whole body was shaking. Through his clenched teeth he said, “Is the tiny pony calling me stupid?”
“No, I’m talking about the other fatass who has the IQ of whatever the dumbest monster in The Wasteland is,” I mocked, having enough of this ridiculous hunting game.
“She’s calling me Stupid! I’m not stupid, she’s stupid! I’m going to eat her!” Gluttony yelled.
“Oh Fuck. If I were you shorty I’d run,” Sloth said backing away from Gluttony.
“Fuck you too lazy ass. Why the fuck should I run away from any of you, you’re all a bunch of posers.”
“Because, I can’t control Gluttony when he gets this angry,” he said looking ready to run.
Wait…what? Before I could ask what he meant, Gluttony came at me. For a fat pony, he could move pretty fast. He grabbed me with his blubbery hooves and launched us into the air. He blasted us over the wall screaming the whole time, his forelegs were squeezing me so tight I thought my head was going to explode. We flew right over Freedom and to the outskirts near the wall that surrounded the town.
“I’m going to eats you, so you won’t call me stupid ever again!” he Screamed at me.
Okay, I don’t feel like dying at this particular moment. I jammed my horn up and under his chin, blood flew and he screamed again. I figured he’d drop me like when Aura came after me. Nope, instead he threw me toward the ground. My body slammed into something. It wasn’t quite soft, but I didn’t feel like I’d broken anything when I hit.
Moaning a little I got to my hooves, wincing as my body protested from fresh scrapes and bruises. I looked up at Gluttony and gave him my best ‘fuck you’ smile I could muster, “That all ya got, and here I thought you were supposed to strike fear into anyone who crosses your path.”
He screamed again and dove at me. Yes, he was fast, but it still took a lot to move such a large body. I was able to dodge to the side, ignoring the waves of pain running down my back and sides. I pulled out a Med-X (for all your little owies) and jammed the needle into my leg, squeezing the plunger on the end. A wave of relief ran through my body as the painkiller did its job.
Gluttony hit the ground hard and twisted around glaring at me, “No fair, you can’t be so fast after falling like that,” his high-pitched voice was really getting annoying.
I just smiled at him and pulled out my shotgun, “Oh really now, and is it fair that you grabbed me from The Strip just so you could kill me?”
“Rules said I can’t eats you there, so I took you here, no rules against that,” he said walking toward me. His wide mouth broke into a grin showing me his razor-sharp teeth. I didn’t remember them looking so sharp before, it was almost like Gator, only Gluttony had something shining around them.
“What are you anyway, how could you just eat ponies like you do?” I asked firing at him, the buckshot just rolled around him like he had some kind of shield spell, “And why can’t I shoot you?”
“Pride gave me a rock that keeps me from getting shot, and I don’t just eat ponies, I eat anything I can,” he said with savage glee drooling from his mouth.
“Yeah, you’re a special brand of nuts,” I said as I shot again, the same thing happened, Gluttony’s smile only growing.
“No, I’m not, I am Gluttony the Ravenous, 7th member of The Seven Sins of Equinity,” he said still inching toward me with every step. Wow, he can say big words, I had no idea, “You will die, I will eats you, and part of our mission will be complete.”
I knew I couldn’t beat him like I was. He was strong, STUPID, but strong. He was also fast and was able to bite through a pony’s flesh like it was butter. If he got too close to me, I’d be dead in a matter of seconds. I had to do something to even the odds. What was it that Aura told me about some drugs in the wasteland? Some could enhance your strength and speed, she also said something about them being dangerous. Well what I was facing right now was dangerous, so which was worse? Oh well, I’ll risk the drugs versus the cannibal who was trying to kill me. Shoot first, ask questions later. That seemed like a good idea.
Quickly I pulled out and injected a drug I’d found at one of the shops called Rage then followed it up with an inhaler of Dash. A burning sensation ran through my body and I roared in pleasure and pain, my vision focusing on one thing, the fat beast in front of me. I started to laugh as my perception of time seemed to slow, almost like I was entering S.A.T.S. only I could move. Oh wow could I move, I ran up to the fat, now slow moving pegasus and bucked him as hard as I could under the chin, right where I’d stabbed him with my horn. Time seemed to resume to normal, and Gluttony flew up and back from my kick.
His shield spell thing, protects him from bullets, but it didn’t seem to stop a pony’s hooves. He didn’t go far, but when he got back up he was bleeding a little, his smile now gone, “My turn.”
“Oh shit,” I said as he dashed at me, bucking me as hard as he could. Something cracked inside my chest as his hoof connected, throwing me back a lot further than he’d gone. He pounced on me and went to rip out my throat like he did in the stable, his glowing teeth burning like hot embers.
I threw my Pip-Buck up into his muzzle, his teeth came down and bit. The Pip-Buck stopped him, and a tooth cracked over its polished finish. He howled in pain and jumped off me, “That hurts, why did you do that?”
“What? Is my Pip-Buck a little too much for you to swallow?”
He screamed again and attacked, this time I was ready for him. I teleported behind him, then bucked him as hard as I could, or at least that’s what I tried to do. He jumped out of the way then whirled around and bit onto my duster pulling hard. Luckily his teeth missed my flesh, but to my horror as he pulled back, most of the armored barding ripped away mostly destroying the last gift I’d gotten from Box tape. Only a strip was left hanging over my shoulders like a short cape.
He spat out the rest and grinned again, “Look, the short one lost her armor, now I can eats you easier.”
“You stupid son of a bitch, that was a gift from a special friend of mine,” I yelled dodging his next attack.
“No more talking, it’s time for you to die,” he said charging me again, his mouth opening wide. I noticed a glowing talisman imbedded in his tongue.
I dodged as he sunk his teeth into the ground like it was butter. He spit out the clump of dirt and came at me again. I flinched expecting to get eaten alive by the monster. When I noticed that he hadn’t done anything I looked up to see Aura on top of him tearing at his face with her talons. In the distance I could see Stardust carrying Wingnut in the sky as he aimed Stardust’s rifle and fired. However, the shot missed so he fired again, another miss. He flailed as Aura thrashed his face and threw her off.
He started to look around, but there was something off. I think she blinded him, “I can’t see you… but I can smell you… and you smell delicious,” his head turned my way and he lunged forward. I dodged him again and rolled pulling out my shotgun to get a point-blank shot. When he came at me I pointed it at him and waited for the right moment.
(Crunch… Pop)
Right as I pulled the trigger he bit off the barrel of my shotgun, blasting him in the face with shrapnel. “YES!”
“OW! That really hurt!”
“No.”
I used what was left of my gun to strike him across the face hoping to stall him for another few seconds. What was I going to do? Bullets can’t hit him, I couldn’t go anywhere near his head, and to top it all off, he can take a lot of damage. Then I remembered F&F Tools. I quickly grabbed an incendiary grenade, pulled the stem, threw it his path, and ran.
It exploded, setting him ablaze as he screamed. Looking back expecting to see a screaming charred pony, what I got was one pissed off burnt pegasus. He was still on his hooves staring at me, his eyes were bleeding. His face was burnt and a good amount of his mane was gone, but his armor seemed to protect him from most of the blast.
“What the fuck does it take to kill you?” I asked taking a step back. I had nothing left to throw at him, bullets couldn’t hurt him, a fucking grenade barely hurt him, he was way too fast for something of his size, and he was strong.
“You die now!” he charged me taking me in his hooves and throwing me across the road. I hit the ground hard rolling. He came at me again, and with only a little luck, I was able to summon my teleportation spell and get behind a wall of a fallen building. Bringing up my Pip-Buck, I checked what I had that I could use to hurt this monster.
“Shadow run!” Aura yelled as she flew by me, her energy spear arching around. I watched as she flew in and slashed at Gluttony. He tried to bite the spear as it came at him, but Aura arched it up and slashed him across his face. He screamed and his hoof came up, hitting the griffon hard, throwing her back and into the wall I was hiding behind.
“Aura!”
“I’m okay, it looks like magical weapons can get past his shield. I think I blinded him,” she said weakly.
I went back around the wall, took out one of our last healing potions and gave it to her, “Drink this.”
“No, I’ll be fine, you’ll need it,” she said wincing in pain.
“No, I’m fine, you need it.”
Before she could argue more, Gluttony pounced at us, blood flying from his face as he bit down toward me. I jumped out of the way, then again as he kept coming after me, “How the fuck do you know where I am?” I asked. There was a long slash along his eyes, if he wasn’t blind before he definitely was now, but he still kept on coming.
I teleported again, staggering as I reappeared, my heart rate going up some and my vision blurring. He wasn’t moving, his ears up and his nose held in the air, “Where did you go? You can’t hide from me for long, I can smell you, and hear you.”
He could what? What else could this fucking thing do? Deciding not to risk it, I pulled up my Pip-Buck again seeing what I had to use, which sadly wasn’t much. The one gun I had left that had any ammo was useless against him, and the other one I had was that stupid toy I’d gotten from the Zebra colt.
“Hey, over here rock’s for brains,” I heard the voice of Wingnut yell. Oh fuck no. I looked over toward the gate to Freedom seeing the colt, he was pulling out his revolver and pointing it at Gluttony.
Gluttony’s ears perked up and he flew toward the Colt, his maw open. I grabbed some Dash from my bags. I took the chem and ran toward Wingnut. Before Gluttony could eat him like an appetizer, I tackled him out of the way right before Gluttony landed. Grabbing the colt with my magic, I put him on my back and ran for it, “Are you crazy Wingnut, you shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not? I can fight too.”
“Not this guy you can’t,” I said looking around for Stardust, where the fuck did he go, I could’ve sworn he was here a second ago.
“I’m going to eats all of you!” Gluttony yelled flying after us.
There was a crack and a scream from Gluttony. Looking back, I saw the large pony was on the ground, a bloody hole in his flanks. Looking up on top of a building I saw Stardust, he was sighting down his rifle. There was a flash, and another hole appeared in Gluttony’s flank, followed by another yell. How the fuck did he do that?
Gluttony jumped to his hooves again and looked toward Stardust, his ears perked, “You shot me, I’ll eat you slow for that.”
He fired again, but this time the Bullet arched around him like all the times I tried to shoot him. What if? Using my magic I grabbed the revolver from Wingnut, ignoring his protests I pointed it at Gluttony and fired three rounds into his ass. To my amazement, they hit.
“Oh yeah! I found a blind spot! Woo hoo! Winning!” I said, jumping up and down, “Hey Stardust, his shield doesn’t work from behind.”
Aura landed next to me, she still looked worse for wear, but ready to fight, as Gluttony swung around and howled at us. Aura just chuckled a little, “Looks like we pissed off the big baby, good job Shadow.”
“Thank you,” I said pointing a hoof at Gluttony, “So what now big guy?”
He screamed at us and charged again, Aura pushed me to one side and dodged to the other. Wingnut holding on for dear life as we went flying, barely dodging Gluttony, “I’ll keep him distracted, try and shoot him as much as you can, that armor of his can’t hold up forever,” Aura yelled as she swung her energy spear at him.
For a pony who was burnt, shot up, and blind he was still putting up a good fight. He somehow dodged every strike Aura was throwing at him. I kept shooting at him with Wingnut’s revolver, but it wasn’t doing as well as my shotgun would. That combat armor he had was strong stuff. Stardust, he was doing much better, he must’ve had Armor Piercing Rounds in his rifle, because every shot he took punched holes in the armor, blood flying with each shot.
Aura dodged another attack, tried to stab him in the chest, then Gluttony moved with his insane speed again. In a flash his mouth came up and bit down on Aura’s wing. She screamed as she fell to the ground blood flying from the appendage.
I had no idea what I could do, if I didn’t act quick Aura’s wing would be gone, or worse. Wingnut acted quicker than I did, he reached into my saddle bags and pulled out a grenade with a dark blue band on it and tossed it at Gluttony, and yelled, “Stop using your magic!”
Having no idea what he was talking about, I did so. I dropped my magical field around the revolver. A second later the grenade went off, and a flash of blue and green light flew around all of us. For a moment I thought nothing happened, I felt fine, and nopony seemed to be dead. Then I noticed Gluttony, he was just standing there, his muzzle open. He dropped Aura’s wing and was looking around in confusion.
“What happened? Why can’t I smell you anymore?” he said.
“What did you do Wingnut?”
“Magical disruption grenade, I found it while I was digging in your saddle bags, figured it might stop whatever was making him so tough,” he said simply, jumping off my back, “The effects won’t last for long though.”
Picking up the revolver with my muzzle I hit S.A.T.S. and fired three more shots into Gluttony. Two hit his neck and the third missed, a shot rang out from above us as the targeting spell ended, and blood flew from Gluttony’s legs. He fell to the ground with a roar of renewed pain, blood was starting to pool under him.
I ran over to check on Aura, “Are you okay?”
“Stop asking me that, I’ll be fine, he just chewed up my wing was all. A couple healing potions and I’ll be fine.”
I looked over at Gluttony as he lied in a growing pool of his own blood and asked, “What are you?”
He giggled a little, “I told you before dumb dumb, I’m Gluttony the Ravenous, 7th member of The Seven Sins of Equinity. I eats ponies, I was punished for it, now I eats ponies for The Enclave. This won’t kill me, soon I’ll be up and I’ll eats all of you.”
A sharp pain erupted in the back of my mind and the voice of Morning Star said softly, “If you don’t kill him, he’ll be back. You got lucky this time, but what about next time? You can’t let him live.”
I shook my head doing my best to ignore her words, but I still picked up Aura’s Energy Spear and pointed it at him, “Why are you really after Stardust and me?”
He didn’t answer, he just started to giggle. Stardust landed next to me, his rifle slung over his shoulder, “Don’t kill him Shadow, we need to see what we can learn from him.”
“If we let him live, he’ll come after us again, I can’t let that happen.”
“Shadow, there’s always another way. Gluttony could tell us a lot about the Sins, and what they were sent here to do. Let’s stop the bleeding and get him out of here before Sloth decides to stop being a lazyass and come find us,” he argued.
Morning Star pushed at the back of my mind again, “You know what will happen if you let him live, he’ll kill all of you, he’s dangerous.”
What should I do? Who am I to decide who lives and dies? He was just a pony who was sent to kill us, but he wasn’t dangerous right now. We could learn a lot, Stardust was right about that. After seeing what he could do, what if he did kill us? I couldn’t let that happen, I wouldn’t lose my friends because of one pony’s information. He was a fat ignorant slob. What could he tell us anyway? It was just like with Night Stalker the day he killed that Zebra, Gluttony was scum and would only tell us lies.
My horn glowed brighter, “Fuck you fatass, you’re useless to us, but you can serve as a message to your friends not to mess with us,” and before Stardust could stop me, I pressed the glowing spear through Gluttony’s left eye and out the back of his head.
He twitched and let out a soft breath. He died slowly, falling away from the glowing spear as what remained of his life slipped away. I flicked the blood off and looked over at Stardust as he started to shout at me, “What the fuck was that Shadow!? You didn’t have to kill him, he could have had useful information!”
“He was the enemy. He would’ve only told us lies.”
“How do you know that; do you know how hard it is to capture one of them alive?”
I reeled on him, “I’m not going let a freak like him live, you didn’t see what he could do back in the Stable. I don’t care what you think he knows, he needed to die.”
Stardust looked like he was ready to explode, then out of nowhere a rock hit him in the back of the head, followed by Wingnut saying, “Would both of you stop fighting. Stardust, you can’t change what happened, and you have to admit, Shadow has a point. He was a blithering idiot.”
My friend looked back at the colt rubbing the back of his head, then he sighed, “Fine, she has a point, but it still wasn’t right. I agree we can’t keep fighting like this. We’ll talk about this later Shadow.”
“Fine with me, now can we see what he has on him and get back to Freedom Town before Sloth shows up, or worse?”
Stardust just nodded his head, not looking me in the eyes. I walked over and searched for anything Gluttony had on him. On the side of his armor there was a pocket with a recording in it, and a note. Taking both of them and slipping them into my saddle bags I returned to my friends. Aura was looking better, she was just picking up her spear, Wingnut was watching me, and Stardust was ignoring me.
I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder, “Hey, I’m sorry I upset you, but could you not ignore me.”
Glancing over at me he said, “I’m just upset is all, but I figure I can’t stay mad forever, I’m just disappointed.”
“I know you are, but I had my reasons. Can we at least call a truce and head back? You’re still my friend Stardust, and I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“I guess, for now I’ll let the matter drop. So, where to next?”
We all started to head back to the gate into Freedom, I took a minute to think, “Like I was saying before, I think I’m going to hold off on searching for my Mom. I need to look at those memory orbs and think more about what happened to her. For now we should head to the Queen’s.”
He looked at me a little confused, “Why would we go see them?”
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell him about the Queen’s message, I smiled a little sheepishly, “Um, well you see The Queen herself kinda helped me back when I ran into Wrath, she told me to let you know that she wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
He stopped for a moment, “Wait a sec, when did she tell you this?”
“Couple days ago.”
“And you’re just telling me this now? The fuck kind of Courier are you, you can’t even give a message to somepony on time.”
“Hey I had a lot of things going on if you haven’t noticed.”
“Yeah like getting drunk and fucking that singer.”
Before I could retort to his comment Aura punched him in the back of the head, “Hey, watch it cloud breath you don’t need to bring that up.”
“Hey that hurt bird brain.”
No, I’m not going through this again, “Both of you shut up!” Then I looked at Stardust, “Yes I forgot to tell you, I’m sorry, now let’s get going,” I said walking past both of them and toward the gate, Wingnut close behind.
“Sometimes I think I’m the only mature one of this group,” The colt said keeping stride with me.
“Those two can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to arguing. For some reason Stardust doesn’t trust or like Griffons. It could be something he learned from living in his Stable, I’m not sure. He’s never explained it to me before. Aura just doesn’t like him because he’s an ass to her,” I explained moving past the gate and back into Freedom.
“Why don’t you just let them go at it? Maybe one good fight and they’ll stop arguing all the time.”
“The last time they fought, they almost killed each other. I’m not going to risk that again. What they really need is to sit down and talk out their differences.”
Wingnut laughed a little, “That’ll never work, we used to try doing that with some of the colts and fillies back at Little Hoof. They always ended up calling each other names and fighting anyway.”
“Yeah the ponies in Little Hoof are foals, those two are semi-mature adults. If they can’t figure out their differences, then I’ll make them.”
“Why would they listen to you?”
“Because I’m the leader, isn’t that how things work?”
“Maybe if you were running a town, but both of them are older than you. Yeah they both follow you, Aura because she’s under contract and Stardust because he’s bored…or something. Point is, they both see you as a new Wastelander fresh from a stable, in their eyes you’re just a filly trying to get by and lead,” he said a little wisely. Damn this kid was way too smart for his age.
“You have a point, but I’m still grown up, and I’m sure they’ll listen to me if I put my hoof down.”
“Maybe where you’re from you are, but out here you’re still young. I mean hell you’re only a couple years older than I am, and look how they treat me.”
I stopped for a moment looking back at the Colt, “How did you know that?”
“What? Your age? I just did the math, it wasn’t hard really once I started to hear your story from you and Stardust. What I really mean is, if you want them to listen you have to act like the leader, you can’t just go around telling them to stop. The Mayor back at Little Hoof, he would listen to the problems of the foals around him and figure out the best way to resolve the differences with anypony who needed it. He would rarely yell or threaten us with anything unless he had to, and only as a last resort.”
“You know I never thought about it that way. Thanks Wingnut, I’ll try to see if I can figure out what the problem is with both of them and resolve the differences between them,” I said with a smile, “How are you so smart?”
He shrugged a little, “When I first got to Little Hoof, the mayor put me in charge of some of the younger foals. I had to grow up a little when that happened, he always said I was destined to be a future leader,” he stopped for a moment and looked back at his flanks, “Then I got my cutie mark, and I had to leave.”
I smiled a little, “You’re definitely a tougher kid than I was. Before I left the stable all I did was hang out with my friends, and slept in most of the day. I didn’t do much of anything. Even when I was in class I’d ignore most of what our teacher had to say and just felt sorry for myself because I was the only unicorn in a stable.”
“Nah, you’re a lot stronger than you think Shadow. I mean hell, most ponies from a stable like you wouldn’t have lasted two days in The Wasteland. You might not know much about how things work out here, but you try and learn. It’s amazing what you’ve been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. So don’t sell yourself short,” He said then he trotted past me and up to the neon building that was home to The Queen’s Gang.
I was about to walk in when Stardust and Aura both blocked my way, “Okay, what’s up now?” I asked giving them both a funny look.
Aura spoke first, “Listen, we’re both sorry about what happened back there. You know we don’t get along, and after seeing you getting taken away again, and having to fight by yourself like that. We both kind of panicked and lost our cool.”
“Yeah, we wanted to say sorry Shadow, for being stupid. We’ll do our best not to fight, at least not in front of you.” Stardust added.
I just smiled and shook my head, “No, I’m sorry for yelling at both of you so much about it. Yeah I get it, you both don’t get along and really I don’t understand why. Maybe someday I will, I’d like to, so we can all continue on with our life and not have to worry so much about walking on eggshells. So sometime soon, I want all three of us to sit down and talk this out, can we do that?”
They both looked at one another then finally they both nodded and said in unison, “Agreed.”
“Good, let’s head inside and see what The Queen wanted. Oh and try not to eavesdrop too much next time, I’m NOT having a conversation with either of you,” I said pushing the door open followed by my friends.
The entry was not what I expected from what the outside looked like. It was just a plain entryway, with a receptionist desk and a couple doors on each side. A few of the mares and stallions I’d seen before when they helped me with Wrath were chilling around the room, talking with one another and drinking. One of the stallions saw us walking in and came over to us.
“Welcome, to the Queen’s school of Interpretation. What brings y’all here?”
“The Queen herself asked us to stop by, she wanted to meet with my friend Stardust and said she might have a job for me.”
“A ratty thing like you has business with The Queen? I find that a little hard to believe.”
I looked back at my ripped-up duster and barding along with my mane (Which was still down) and the marks I had all over me from my fight with Gluttony, then I smiled, “Yeah, I’m Shadow Star, The Courier Mare from the radio.”
To my shock he just gave me a sardonic look and said, “If you want to see the Queen it’ll be fifty caps, that’s the toll for getting past the front room.”
I smiled and said as sweetly as I could, “Now, don’t tell me a nice Stallion like yourself is trying to hustle caps out of a mare like me. I mean I’d hate for The Queen to find out that you were asking for caps from her guest and you wouldn’t want to keep her waiting, would you?”
He blushed a little and stuttered, “Well, I uh…no I wouldn’t want to do anything like that…I…guess it’s okay just this one time.”
“Thanks, where’s she at?”
“She’s in the other room to your left,” he said backing up and walking away blushing fiercely.
“Damn Shadow, didn’t know you could talk your way around a buck like that,” Aura commented looking over at the blushing stallion who was now sitting in one corner doing his best not to look my way.
“How do you think I keep Stardust around?” I teased walking toward the door.
“It’s true, she gives me those puppy dog eyes and I can’t say no,” he laughed following me.
“What about me? She didn’t use any puppy dog eyes to get me to follow her,” Wingnut threw in.
“That’s because you got a crush on her when she saved you and you couldn’t help yourself. Especially when you got an eyeful of something you’ve probably only seen in a burnt up porno mag,” Aura said laughing as the colt blushed.
After a giggle session, I pushed the door open and walked into the next room. The Queen was sitting at a table in the center of the room, watching as a mare sing a song about love and loss up on the stage, she was tapping her hoof on the table matching the beat to the music humming to herself a little.
As we approached she looked over and gave me a big smile, “Well look what the cat dragged in, if it isn’t the Courier Mare herself, took you a while to finally pay me a visit.”
“Sorry about that, been a little busy dealing with the typical Wasteland drama.”
“I see ya brought Dusty along with ya and a couple others. Who might your friends be?” she asked turning in her seat to look at Aura and Wingnut.
“This is Aura, she’s my bodyguard and friend, and Wingnut is a colt that we found in the woods being attacked by bugs.”
They both nodded toward the Queen, and she nodded back, “Nice to see ya found your friends, have ya had much trouble since I last saw you?”
Stardust spoke up, “It’s good to see you Queen, and yes, she has. Shadow has a tendency to find trouble wherever she goes. We just got back into town after killing a member of the Sins.”
The music stopped as The Queen got a horrified look on her face, “Ya did what!? Dusty tell me you’re kidding around with me.”
“He’s not, we just got into a fight with Gluttony. Him and Sloth cornered us back in The Strip, Gluttony went nuts and attacked me then carried me outside of town trying to kill me. We had to do something, so after a bit of a fight I was able to kill him. Honestly, I say good riddance, he was creep and dumb as a sack of hammers,” I said, unsure what the big deal was. The Sins seemed to be a problem around here and killing one of them should knock them down a notch.
“Damn, that ain’t good news. If ya’ll killed a member of the Sins, ya ain’t gonna scare them away. You’ll only make them come after ya harder. Ya’ll got lucky ya only had to fight one of them. Most of the time they fight in pairs or more. Dammit Shadow, do you know what you did?”
“I don’t see what the big deal is. Yeah, he was hard to fight, but only because he got the drop on me. I was able to kill HIM. How hard can the REST of them be?”
She facehoofed, “Shadow darlin’, Gluttony was the 7th member of the Sins. He was the weakest by far, but he was still one of them and they make sure to kill anypony who takes down one of their own. Ya’ll just jumped to the top of their kill list.”
Ah fuck, Gluttony was the Weakest member of the Sins? That had to be a load of horse apples. He was one tough motherfucker. If he was really the weakest, then what were the others like? I gave a weak smile, “Um…so any chance they’d overlook an ignorant Stable mare, and if not, then do you have any advice?”
She sighed then looked over at Stardust, “Remember when they were coming after you a couple months back Dusty?”
“I sure do, it was hell for me for a while there.”
“What did I tell ya tah do tah get away from them?” she asked.
“You told me to run as far from this place as I could.”
She looked back at me, “That’s the only advice I can give ya. Pride and the others are from Stratus, a cloud city northeast of here. They mostly stay near New Pegasus and don’t wander far unless they’re ordered to. You’ll have to do what Dusty did. You’ll have to either leave the city and get as far away as you can, or hide on the Strip until they decide you aren’t worth the trouble. Gluttony was stupid to attack ya there and fly you out of the city like he did, the rest of them wouldn’t dare do something that stupid. Topsy’s probably more pissed than a shaken Cazador nest right about now.”
“So you want me to run away?”
“I don’t, but it’s the best thing you can do if ya don’t wanna meet your demise anytime soon,” she said, “Unless ya wanna do a job for me that is?”
“How would doing a job for you, help me stay safe from them?”
“It’s simple honey, I need ya tah go take care of a few things for me that’re west of the city. It’ll take ya a while tah do and keep ya’ll away from them for the time being. I know a town of sorts up in the mountains that no one in The Enclave would ever go to.”
Before I could answer her, a loud boom came from the front room. In seconds The Queen was on her hooves, another second later one of the gang poked his head through the door, “Queen, Pride’s here to see you.”
“Damn, I wonder what he wants,” she said looking over at me, “Head up to my quarters, I’ll take care of Pride and then we can finish talking.”
She walked out shutting the door behind her. I could hear her talking on the other side of the door, “Pride honey, now why did you have to go and blow my front door off. That’s mighty rude of ya, and ain’t too neighborly.”
“Where is she Queen? I know she came this way,” Pride’s voice said from behind the door.
“Who would ya be referring to?”
“The Courier Mare, you know who I’m talking about Queen. Tell me where she is before I find her myself.”
The rest of the conversation was drowned out as the Mare who was singing before walked over, “Follow me, I’ll show you to the Queen’s room. You really should let her handle Pride, she knows how to calm him down.”
“It’s a good idea Shadow, let’s hide for now, trust me on that.” Stardust said turning to follow the mare, “Copper Pipe, it’s been ages since I’ve seen you. How have you been?”
We followed her as she led us through another door and up a couple flights of stairs as she talked to Stardust, “I’ve been great Dusty, it’s nice to see you back in town. I wish you were here last month, you missed a good shipment we stole from the Van Damns, they never saw it coming.”
“Damn, I missed a raid on those assholes? I always miss the fun. What happened after? I bet Missy was pissed.”
“She was, but The Queen reminded her that this is OUR town and we don’t let ponies just come in with a ton of energy weapons without letting us know about it.”
“Those wannabes deserve it. They think they’re all that, but they’ve got nothing on The Queens,” he said laughing with her. It was almost like he was flirting.
We got to a large room with a heart shaped bed in it, a desk in one corner, and two doors on each side of the room. Copper Pipes smiled, “You can wait here till The Queen’s done. I’m gonna go back downstairs and pretend I’m taking a break from singing so Pride doesn’t get suspicious.”
“This place isn’t half bad,” Aura said walking over and laying down on the large heart shaped bed yawning, “I could use a rest after that fight.”
“Hey Griffon don’t just go laying in her bed like that,” Stardust said looking horrified that Aura would dare sleep in a gang leaders bed.
“Eh, who cares? It’s just a bed.” Aura said closing her eyes as shouting echoed up from downstairs. The words were unintelligible but I could tell they weren’t polite.
Ignoring my friends, I started walking around the room to look at the various knick-knacks The Queen had. It was then I noticed a terminal on the desk, and there was a display case on the wall next to it with the most beautiful Pistol I’d ever seen inside. It had a long barrel with engravings running down the handle, it was dark blue with dark purple markings along the barrel. In the middle of the barrel there was a gem that had a slight glow to it. I wanted to hold the gun so bad. I tried to open the case and grab it, just so I could look more closely at the engravings. Sadly, the case was locked. Frustrated I looked at the terminal.
I was sure The Queen wouldn’t want me looking at the terminal, but I tried to at least log in. Of course it was locked too, “For fuck sake! I just wanna look at it!”
Wingnut looked over at me, “You okay Shadow?”
“Why does everything always have to be locked? I can’t even hack into this thing or pick the lock because I really don’t want The Queen to be mad at me for doing it.”
Stardust cut off his bickering with Aura, “What? That Terminal and Gun case? The Queen’s been wanting that open for years, but she can’t find a key and doesn’t have the talent to open things like you do.”
I brightened up a little, “You mean if I got into this terminal and gun case, she wouldn’t mind?”
“If you got that thing open I’d let you keep the damned thing,” The Queen said from the door, making me jump.
I looked over at her, “Really? What happened with Pride?”
“He left in a big huff. I told him I wasn’t gonna hand you over and that I didn’t care one bit what he thinks he can do in my town. Tomorrow I’m gonna send a message to Mr. Tops and tell him I don’t want the Sins hunting down anypony in Freedom anymore. I’m sick of dealing with them,” she said walking over to her bed and looked down at the resting griffon, “Looks like someone made themselves at home.”
“Yeah, this thing is comfortable.” Aura said with her eyes still closed.
The Queen put a hoof under the griffon and tossed her across the room. Damn she’s strong. Stardust started to laugh as Aura glared over at her. Hiding my own snicker, I walked over to her as she sat on the bed.
“So, would you really let me have that gun if I was able to get it open?”
“I’ve got no use for it. The terminal’s been here since I moved in, same for that display case. I’ve got myself a nice pistol and don’t have any use for that one. Let’s just call it payment if ya do the job I want done,” she said as she gazed over at the beautiful pistol.
I walked back over to the case and pulled out my bobby pins. I worked on the lock as The Queen started to talk. Aura walked over and sat next to me trying to hide her scowl at being forced away from her nap.
“Let me start with you Dusty. I wanted tah talk with ya a couple days ago, but from what I heard ya already know about the Sins trying tah find ya again.”
“I had a feeling that’s what you wanted when Shadow told me you wanted to meet. I figured it’s been so long, they wouldn’t be bothering with New Pegasus anymore.”
“I thought so too, but something happened recently that’s got the Enclave all riled up. We haven’t seen the Sins in a couple months, then a few days ago Pride and Wrath started showing up in Freedom and sightings of the others started up not long after. When I first ran into The Courier Mare the other day, it was the first time I heard they were looking for ya’ll.”
Wingnut was sitting next to Stardust listening intently. After she finished talking he asked, “Why are they after Shadow and Stardust anyway? Where I’m from we heard about them now and then, but I always figured it was a ghost story. You know just like how you hear that Pinkie Pie will get you in the middle of the night if you’re bad or break a Pinkie Pie promise.”
She smiled down at the colt, “I honestly ain’t sure, The Enclave isn’t big on letting ponies on the surface know what they’re really after or why,” she sighed then looked over at me again as I worked on the lock, damn this thing is hard. I’ve already gone through six bobby pins, “Do ya know what ya’ll could’ve done to piss off The Enclave enough to come after ya like they are?”
“No idea, all I know is that a few days back they attacked me at the old F&F Tools factory. They were also looking for Stardust, they said he was an escaped prisoner and dangerous. They wanted me to give them information on him. I thought it was stupid and told them as much. I ended up getting into a firefight with them and killed a few. After I got helped by some Mysterious Pony I escaped and didn’t run into them again,” I said as I slowly turned the screwdriver. The lock was almost turned, (Snap) “Fuck!”
“Did anything else happen between that and when ya’ll got tah New Pegasus?”
“I got into a fight with some griffons from the Red Talons, blew a hole in the clouds with a spell, fought some Cazadores, and saved Wingnut,” I took out my last bobby pin and started on the lock again.
“Wait a minute. What was that about blowing a hole in the clouds?” The Queen asked.
“Yeah, you didn’t say anything about that before,” Stardust said looking over at me.
“I thought I did. When we were under attack, I kinda went a little nuts. It’s hard to explain, but in the end one of my spells blew a big hole in the clouds,” I explained giving the lock one last small twist, then, (Click) “Ha, I win bitch!”
I opened the lock and took the pistol out of the case marveling at its beauty. It looked like it was intended for an earth pony or a Pegasus, the muzzle grip had a padded trigger. I pulled out the mag and found it empty, but whatever ammo it used it was big. The case must’ve been enchanted because the gun looked like it’d been freshly maintained, it even smelled like it was oiled recently.
Ignoring the triumphant look on my face, The Queen facehoofed, “That’d explain it. You opened the cloud cover. Stable ponies don’t know nothin’.”
I gave her a quizzical look, “What? From what the Steel Rangers told me, the clouds were back in a half hour or so. What’s the big deal?”
Aura sighed, “The Enclave uses that cloud cover like a shield. It keeps the normal pegasi from going down to the surface and same for keeping ponies down here from knowing what’s going on up there.”
“Not to mention ya blew a hole right where the border to Stratus is. I’m sure that’s got a lot to do with why they’re huntin’ ya’ll,” The Queen added.
“I wasn’t trying to blow a hole in the sky, I was trying to not to kill another griffon.”
Aura gave me a funny look, “You killed griffons while you were out there too?”
“Well…I killed one, but I wasn’t in my right mind, and they were trying to kill me so…self-defense.”
She got a concerned look, “I heard that a couple griffons died during the attack, since I didn’t talk with Apollo I had no idea who it was.”
It was then I remembered Apollo saying something about killing his son during the attack. Apollo was Aura’s father. Oh goddesses, I killed Aura’s brother. Looking back at her I frowned, “Apollo said something during the fight about the griffon I killed being his son.”
For some reason, Aura almost looked relieved, “That moron, fuck. I mean yeah hell he was family, but he was as dumb as a sack of brahmin manure. I’m surprised he brought him on a mission like that. Normally he’s kept behind as back up.”
“Wait a sec, you’re not pissed I killed your brother?” I asked in confusion.
“I’m not happy about it, but I’m not pissed. That’s life, you fuck up, you die. Honestly the only reason no one else has killed him before, is because Apollo kept him back like I said. He might’ve been family, but he died doing his job, that’s the best way for a griffon to go down.”
“Okay then,” I said looking back toward the Queen and the others, “So back to what we were talking about. So because I blew a hole in the sky and pissed off Winter Frost, the big bad Enclave wants me dead?”
“To put it lightly yeah, and because you’re with Stardust. He’s been on the run for a while now and they’ll find any reason they can to get information on his whereabouts. I can’t tell ya more than that, The Queen’s don’t deal much with them if we can help it.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but anyway, I can’t do much right now to get them to leave me alone. I think it’s a good idea to take you up on whatever job offer you have for me. If it can get us away from the danger for the time being, then I’m game,” I said still looking over the gun, “Oh but before I leave to do anything I need to see if I can find a pony called Nexus.”
“Wait, who’s Nexus?” Aura asked.
“Nexus is a terminal and Pip-Buck Expert. He travels around helping ponies with this n’ that and sets up security for some towns,” The Queen said, “How’d ya hear about him?”
“Somepony calling himself Watcher told me he could help me out with unlocking some files on my Pip-Buck,” I slipped the gun into my saddle bags and a notification came up on my Pip-Buck.
Legendary Weapon Acquired,
Dream Walker,
Weapon has a 30% chance of the round exploding on contact.
I looked at my Pip-Buck confused, “What’s a Legendary weapon? How does it know what that even is, and what makes it Legendary?”
Wingnut walked over to me looking at my Pip-Buck, he reached over and selected the weapon on the Pip-Buck, “This looks like it’s a special weapon, let me take a look at it.”
I pulled the gun back out and handed it to him, “What do you know about guns?”
“I’ve read almost every copy Guns and Bullets that I could get my hooves on,” he said taking the gun and looking it over, “Wow, this is a .50 Cal. Desert Eagle Luna Edition. They were a special weapon made during the war by Iron Shod Fire Arms along with F&F Tools. They were first issued to high ranking members of the royal army. The Luna Edition had a gem placed into it that would at times enchant a bullet to do different things, this one looks like it makes the bullet explode when it hits a target, but it’s random.”
He handed the gun back to me, “Damn, you do know a lot when it comes to guns huh?”
“I like to read, and knowing what different weapons do and how they work helps keep you alive,” he said pulling out his revolver, “Like my Revolver, it’s a .44 Cal. Bull Barrel Revolver. It’s nothing special but not an easy gun to find, especially for a colt like myself.”
I looked at my new gun in awe, then checked my Pip-Buck. Sure enough I had some .50 caliber ammo. I pulled it out and loaded Dream Walker, “I wonder how my Pip-Buck knows it’s called Dream Walker. It’s just like how it knew the name of Ol’ Festus.”
“Ponies that have a special bond with a weapon will name them from time to time. I’m not sure how, but a Pip-Buck just happens to know what those names are. Something to do with their internal magic.”
The Queen got off her bed and walked over to me, “Like I said it’s payment for the job I have for ya, plus I’ll throw in some caps too.”
“Yeah, that’ll work out fine. What did you need me to do?”
“Well funny enough, ya said ya need tah find Nexus. It just so happens I know where he is, and where I need you tah go, ya’ll should run into him.”
I frowned a little, “I was told he was in New Pegasus.”
“Normally he is, but like I said before he goes around to other towns and helps out with different things. He never stays in one place too long. He’s a friend of mine and when I last saw him he said he was heading to a town up in the hills called Frosty Summit. It used tah be a ski lodge before the war.”
“What’s he doing up there? Does he know what’s up in those hills?” Stardust said giving the Queen a funny look.
“Course he does,” she said looking over at my friend.
“What’s up there?” I asked, having a little Deja Vu of Stable 9.
“Alicorns,” Stardust said.
“Alicorns? You mean like the Goddesses?” I found that hard to believe. They weren’t alive anymore, their souls ascended making them the Goddesses I knew now.
“Not Exactly like Celestia and Luna,” Aura interrupted, “They’re creatures that you see more back east. I’ve run into them a couple of times when traveling with Trip-Wire, they’re very hard to kill. They have this thing about getting all ponies to join something called Unity.”
“Yep, they’re monsters. But the ones up in Frosty Summit ain’t like the ones I’ve heard about back east, they don’t bother anypony and they seem to be tame,” The Queen Said, “Nexus said he wanted tah go up there tah ask them some questions and help them with setting up turrets to help protect them from NLR or The Steel Rangers and whatever else comes knockin’ at their door that don’t wanna ask for a cup of sugar. He didn’t tell me much else.”
“I’m not sure you can ever trust one of those things. I ran into a few of them when I first escaped my stable, I was lucky I got away alive,” Stardust said.
“I’m not sure myself, but I know some of the Talons have dealt with the ones up in Frosty Summit before. They told me that they’re strange, even for alicorns.” Aura said.
“Well whatever they are, why do you need us to go there?” I asked.
“Simple really, there’s a pony that’s hiding out up there. He’s a new Dashite from what I’ve heard. I want ya’ll tah go find him and see if he’d be willing tah come here tah Freedom and talk with me?”
“Why would you want a Dashite to come talk with you?”
“Easy, Dashites know a lot about what’s going on up in the clouds and the information is always good for helping me keep my city safe. I at least need ya tah talk with him and tell him my offer. I can also help keep him safe if he comes here.”
“I can’t see how it can hurt to at least give him your message.”
She smiled at me, “Good, but that’s not all I need ya tah do. I’ve been hearing rumors about an underground fighting arena going on in the sewers just north of the city. I know some strange ponies set up a town down there, but the idea of a fighting pit worries me.”
“Why? I mean it’s not like ponies fighting for money is that big of a deal,” Aura asked.
“It does when I’m hearing that this fighting pit is using Slaves and Monsters from The Wasteland. I need tah know if the rumors are true and if so, it needs tah be stopped. It’s too close tah freedom, and I can’t have that kind of ruckus so close tah us,” The Queen said, “I’ll throw in an extra two thousand caps if ya’ll get this done for me.”
I took a moment to think about it, “Are you sure they’re using slaves?”
“From what I’ve heard yeah, but I have no proof. If I did I’d send my own ponies there tah take care of buisness, but if the rumors turn out to be false I can’t have it look like my gang is moving on other settlements outside of Freedom.”
I looked over at my companions, “What do you think?”
“Doesn’t matter what I think Shrimp, but I don’t like the idea of slaves. If there’s even a small chance they’re using them, then I say let’s go check it out,” Aura said.
“I hate agreeing with her, but I think she’s right,” Stardust added.
Wingnut just shrugged, “I’m not staying behind, so I don’t care where we go.”
“Ok then I guess we’re in.”
“Glad tah hear it,” she said with a smile, “Oh and one last thing. When you’re done with Frosty Summit, swing by Crimson Canyon south of there. I have a request letter for the Red Talons I need delivered.”
Aura’s face grew dark, “No way. We aren’t going anywhere near there. Even if I did want to go back home, I’ve been banished. I’m not aloud near there.”
“Normally that’s true darlin’, but aren’t you under contract with Shadow?” The Queen asked.
“I am. So what?”
“If I know the rules of your former talon company right, then there’s a little ol’ loophole around banishment. If you’re under contract and your pony has work up that way, then ya can go with. See? Loophole.”
“Yeah, that’s a small loophole and not one I really wanna risk. I Also don’t wanna go back to that place. I haven’t earned my way back into the group yet, and if they see me coming back with another mare…” she stopped for some reason.
Looking back at my friend I asked, “What’s wrong? What does traveling with a mare have to do with your banishment?”
“Nothing…just, I don’t wanna go. That’s all Shadow.”
“I know you don’t and I really don’t want to make you, but apart from The Queens Request, Apollo asked me to stop by and meet with the rest of the leaders of the Talon Company. I was planning on going soon anyway, I’d like to have you with me to watch my back just in case something happens.”
“Shadow, you don’t know what it’ll be like for me going back home. It could hurt me in the long run.”
“How about we try and make it as quick of a visit as we can, and if it helps I won’t let anyone there give you any trouble. You’re my friend and you work for me too. If they don’t like that then whatever Apollo wants with me, he’ll have to wait until he can get the rest of them to accept you.”
She smiled a little at me, “You’d really do that for me?”
“Of course I would. What’re friends for?”
“Fine, we’ll go, but let’s make it as fast of a trip as possible.”
“I agree. I don’t wanna spend too much time around more griffons. Being around Aura is hard enough as it is,” Stardust said.
“Good, now all I have to do is figure out a way to fix my Duster or at least get new armor and we can be on our way.”
“Good tah know,” The Queen said walking over and adding three markers to my Pip-Buck, “There, now I suggest ya’ll head out. I’ll have some of my ponies escort ya out of town. Oh and you’ll need this,” she gave me a small package.
“Thanks, and what about the rest of the payment?”
“You’ll get that once you’re outta town. As for your armor, try talking to one of the caravans, they’re always wandering around outside of town. I’m sure one of them will have something that can help ya.”
“Okay, then lets go,” I said looking back at my friends.
“Finally,” Stardust said then looked over at The Queen, “It was good to see you Queen. Thanks again for the heads up.”
“Don’t be a stranger Dusty,” she said giving him a smile and a wink, “Remember, you’re always welcome in Freedom.”
We were about to leave, when the door to The Queen’s office flew open and in walked the weird buck from the pool, only now he was dressed in one of the Queen’s Gang leather jackets. His mane was done up and forward, he looked around the room saying in his oddly masculine voice, “Sis, I heard somethin’ about Pride making a ruckus earlier…” then he paused his covered eyes falling on Stardust, “Well look what breezed in the door and crawled back to Sugar Buck.”
“Oh no, no no no no no no no! Why the fuck is he here?” Stardust said hiding behind me and pointing at the other buck.
In a flash the buck was behind me as well, his nose inches from Stardust’s, “We meet again beautiful, I told ya that ya couldn’t resist Sugar Buck. I’m gonna wrangle you like a rhinestone cowbuck. How about I treat you to some sugar, sugar.”
“Oh, who’s your friend there Stardust? You never told me you had a buck friend,” Aura Teased.
“Shut up, before I cut off your digits and feed them to the mutated squirrels.”
“Sugar Buck honey, don’t tease my guests,” Queen said looking over toward Sugar Buck.
“C’mon Sis, ya know I like a buck with wings,” Sugar Buck said then turned to look Stardust in the eye, “I’m gonna call ya Baby Blue.”
“I know, but they were just on their way out. I’ve got work for that mare there, she’s the Courier Mare from the radio.”
He looked over at me and went from eye-raping my friend to being in front of me, “Good Goddesses. Are you really the Courier Mare?”
“Uhhh…yeah...”
“It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve been following you since that first report a couple weeks ago. Can I ask you a question though?”
“Sure,” I said trying to back away from him as politely and discretely as possible.
“What did ya do to your mane honey? Last time I saw ya it was done up in a braid. Now it’s all beat up and dirty. It’s a crime against nature.”
It was then that I remembered that I never got my mane ties back from Wingnut. I glared over at the colt who only smiled at me, “What? I think it still looks good.”
“Kiddo, don’t tell a mare what looks good when it comes to her mane, wardrobe, or mood. Not unless you’re a pony like me.”
“But she does look good. At least she did before her fight with that fat pegasus.”
“Wingnut. Give them back,” I said sweetly.
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll make Aura get them back for me,” I responded giving him an evil smile.
“Can’t do that, sorry boss. I don’t hurt children, it’s in the contract and I kind of agree with him.”
What good is a dangerous griffon mercenary, when you can’t use her to get your stuff back from an evil brat? I sighed and looked over at Sugar Buck, “Any chance you can help me out somehow?”
“Honey. For you, Sugar Buck is at your service anytime,” he said.
***
An hour later, we were leaving Freedom. Sugar Buck I came to find out wasn’t that bad of a Pony, he was just really excitable. It seemed once he had something to concentrate on, he didn’t bother Stardust as much. Though he did keep glancing over at my friend, giving him goofy looks, and he did flex his muscles a little. Now my mane was clean and done up in its normal braid, it turned out Sugar Buck’s Special Talent was fixing manes and tails. He gave me a new set of mane ties, much to the dismay of Wingnut. Now he was escorting us out of town with a couple other ponies from the Queen’s Gang.
Stardust was following close to me doing his best to keep me between Sugar Buck and himself, keeping his eyes forward he said, “I had no idea The Queen had a brother.”
“She doesn’t go around telling many ponies about me, and I do the same. The Gang knows who I am and that’s all that matters,” he said as we walked through the north gate, “This is as far as we can bring ya Honey. Be careful, you’re still close enough to the city that those nasty Sins might come after ya still. Once you’re in the Sewers though, you should be safe.”
“Thanks Sugar Buck, it was nice to meet you.”
“Same to you Honey. Make sure you come back soon, and bring him with ya.” He said giving me a smile, then he blew a kiss at Stardust who ducked behind me.
Aura was doing her best to hide her giggles, “Stardust aren’t you going to give your buck a kiss.”
“Fuck off griffon,” he said still hiding behind me, which was funny because he was way too big to hide behind me. Wait…behind me. To avoid him getting any funny ideas I pushed him aside.
Sugar Buck just laughed and walked back into Freedom. I just shook my head and started making my way northwest, following the road toward the marker that should bring us to the sewer town. It was then that I saw a brahmin, two ponies walking in front of it.
“Looks like a caravan, lets go see if they have any armor for us. We should stalk up on Ammo too before we go,” I said making my way toward them.
“Oh look she’s finally learning,” Aura teased following close behind.
As I grew closer, one of the ponies saw me and started to run toward me. Before I could react, I was being hugged by her, and the voice of a mare I hadn’t heard since I left Cartwheel, “Shadow is that really you? I can’t believe that you made it all the way here!”
Pulling away I looked over at none other than Silver Snip. She looked a lot better since the last time I’d seen her and she had the biggest smile on her face. It took a moment for me to find my voice, “Silver, what the hell are you doing here?”
[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]
NEW PERK ADDED!
Locksmith: You’ve had a lot of practice getting into things that aren’t yours…yet. You can now pick more difficult locks and have an easier time picking average locks.