//------------------------------// // sanctuary // Story: Borderland: Friendship is futile // by reddestreaction //------------------------------// When we reach the gates of Sanctuary it seemed that the problem was a bit more contained. A purple cat seemed to fighting, using a sword to cut of stag heads and slice them open. She uses her cat reflexed to jump over, duck under, do back flips, and more. Gun fire went off in the background as she moved, never being grazed by a single bullet. “Oh, Doctor! It’s you.” She says, sling blood of her sword. “Glad that you are in.” “Actually, im here on a house call.” the Doctor sigs. Venandi’s ears sulked, her eyes going wide with astonishment. “It’s that bad?” “I’m afraid so.” Vanandi sucked on her teeth before ushering us inside. However, there was a nagging feeling telling me not to go. Sanctuary was beautiful from the inside. Various different shoppes and large building. The streets was mostly clean, nothing like any bandit camp i’ve ever seen. Admittedly, i felt a little out of place. Seeing the mostly white and gray stone made me feel dirty, my whole life seeing mostly pinkened snow under my hooves. Everything looked so fancy and put together. In the middle of Sanctuary a group of it’s civilians was worried and discussing the next course of action, everything from retreating to full on genocide of the three clans being on the table. “Everybody has been on edge lately. Our shipment of rations is late and it seems that they are gradually getting smaller somehow. Bandit activity has increased, as you can see already, ever since Daring kicked them out. And now our gate has been hacked by some kind of untraceable magic. It’s not making any sense.” Venandi sighs. “So first things first, we need to get Firestone back.” She leads back behind a building into a garage with a large sign that read Red Racer’s Catch-A-Ride. “Aw...c’mon, baby. It’s not like anyone’s lookin’. It’s been a while since you had a proper pony ride.” a young colt’s voice wined. “Besides, you’ve been super stressed out lately.” “We was just raided and ponies was kidnapped...and that’s on your mind.” “Sugar cube, i disect monsters in the clinic with a half-crazy pony doctor...who’s not certified as a surgeon but as a pediatrician. I think i’m justified.” “Why do i put up with you?” A pony worked on a carriage, laying on his back on a scooter, fixing the underside. Another pony sat on the hood, clearly bored. “Skeeter.” Venandi calls out. The pony under the carriage answers with a “Busy”. “I need to buy a carriage off you.” “I said that I’m busy.” he says again. “When can i expect…” “I said that I’m GODDAMMIT!” the pony emerges from under the carriage, oil all over his coat. He scrambles to the emergency showers, spraying himself with water before it could set in. The colt trots over to a table, grabbing a towel, smirk on his face. “Happy now?” The unicorn growls, wiping himself down. “ So...when?” “Tomorrow, if i pull an all-nighter. Why so desperate?” “We need a carriage that can take heavy gunfire damage and defend itself against skags and bandits. You’re Catch-A-Rides seems to be the only carriages that can do that.” “Damn straight. Each one of these are my babies. No bandit carriage can compare...although if you happen to come across any of them, i’d like them scavenged for parts.” “I might have to buy it from you...permanently. We don’t know what we are getting into.” “Then i’ll give you an older model. They’re slower but they get the job done. I could probably even maybe can put on some new adaptations, but that is going to cost you. It isn’t easy upgrading my babies, they're all made single handedly by a member of the CATCH-A-Ride’s family after all. But, i’ll be lenient, I’ll…” As the carriage pony boasted, the other pony rolls his eyes and trotted off, muttering underneath his breath. “No it’s fine. Take care of your babies, cancel date night for the 4th time in a row. It’s okay, not like your coltfriend minds or anything.” A pang of regret went off in my heart for him. Regret and something else. Which is weird, seeing that we are going to be saving ponies from being enslaved. But even i would be a little pissed. It’s the little shred of humanity that Pandora was willing to give. “And then maybe when i finish, i can-” Skeeter seemed to now notice that his colt companion had left. Instead of going off after him, he just shrugs and goes to work, as if it didn’t matter. And that set me off. “Aren’t you going to go after him?” “He’ll come back eventually.” “But that’s not fair to him. You should…” “Listen.” Skeeter says, firmly. “People are miles from home, uncertain if they are going to be tortured or murdered. Civilizations are being raided, their shields down and left vulnerable to anything that cross them. Pandora has hacked all our systems, leaving us with nothing! He can wait! This can’t.” He slams his hoof on the hood of the carriage, his mane hiding his face. My heart gave a little. “ Pandora isn’t fair sometimes. It can’t guarantee anything to us...working is the only thing keeping me sane. Anything else can wait, it has to.” He was right. Pandora wasn’t fair. Most people tried to pull together whatever they can get and try to build something resembling a stable and ideal life. Some ponies never got to meet that special somepony, or something they care for. Hell. not even i have that. “He’ll be fine. This isn’t the first or last time that this has happened.” he sighs. “Well, maybe it should be the first time you go after him.” i says, trotting outside. Venandi took us the this diner,The WyldStyle Crater, for dinner. The place was pretty vacant due to the devastation, glass splattered on the ground and the fumes of wasted alcohol in the air. Everything they have here is canned or packaged, as is the ways of the wastelands. Nothing can be grown here since the devastation of Pandora. Most things you try to grow here in the soil either dies instantly or grown into a pony eating plant...or are radioactive to the moon and back. Sometimes a combination of the three. Least to say, nothing here wasn’t some variation of something i’ve had already. And not even made well. Venandi chalks it up to the disappearance of the bars patrons during the scuffle. She explains that though they are not the owner, they lives at the bar and keeps it running, and without them, nothing is done the same. Which made me wonder what the bar is like when they are here instead of where they could have possibly have gone and their wellbeing. “Vault Hunter, is it?” Venandi asks, opening a can of tuna. “Yes’m.” i nod. “Where did you get that gun? Doesn’t look like any gun i’ve ever seen.” Really? Because it looks like a regular revolver sniper rifle with scope and silencer. Am i missing something? Venandi’s tail flicked. “What kind of bullets does that baby take?” “.22 caliber. It takes magic bullets, corrosive, slag...anything really.” I say, watching Tick Tock levitate it and align it. “I see. What’s it called?” he asks. “The messenger.” I answer. “Did you shoot it?” the doctor says with a smirk, nudging Derpy. Derpy chuckles into Tick Tock's shoulder. “What?” “Did you shoot the messenger?” Tick Tock says again, amusement in his voice. “What?” “You shouldn’t shoot the messenger.” Derpy giggles, throwing her head back. “Yeah, what did they do to you?” Venandi chuckles. I face hoof, not getting the joke. I don’t see why they are joking right now, with everyone kidnapped and gone, but i felt a little joy knowing in dire situations such as these, we could ease our worry with a bit of humor. A liberty Pandora gives us. “One of my best stallions went on ahead without my orders to Three Horns Divide in hopes of figuring out where the ponies are being taken. We haven’t heard from him since, but no news is good new on his part. He goes missing for weeks but always comes back fruitful with more than what he went out to search for. I have no doubt on his end.” Venandi says. “However, we need to be thorough on looking for everybody, so tomorrow, i plan on sending you and whoever i can range up to help to Three Horns Valley to search. The mission is a search and rescue. And don’t worry, you got allies out there, just like you got enemies. You’ll be in Sloth’s territory, one of the safer dangerous zones.” “The mission is to figure out where they are going.” “And how do we do that?” “Easy. You make a pizza delivery.” “A pizza delivery?” “No matter how feared the ponies are in that area, they all have one weakness. Pizza.” “Um...okay?” “You’ll still have to get past there dog though, Mauler is no joke. That thing just doesn’t die, no matter how many times that thing dies.” I blink at her words but don’t question it. Pandora was strange, it could be happen. “Well...get some sleep. We’ll set out some ammo and breakfast for you, and then we’ll go meet Skeeter.” “Right.” I didn’t know how to feel about this, but i didn’t want to ask about it or sound unsure around everyone. Everyone sounded so sure about the plan, though there was so many holes in it.