//------------------------------//
// No Good Deed 
// Story: Bits of Ash 
// by No one is home 
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“I want to start by saying that we truly appreciate all you’ve done for this village,”  Civil Service said with a not completely insincere smile.

“We are always glad to help, madame mayor,” Bullette crooned happily.

“They’re running us out of town, Bullette,” No Name huffed with a snort.

“Now that’s not true,”  the mayor rolled her hoof and struggled to keep up her smile, “You really have… had a… net-positive impact… It’s just… we need time to recover?”

“Yeah, we get it.”  The freak turned his back, bearing his precious cargo towards the settlement’s gates.

“I thought we were helping?”  Bullette asked sadly.  “I thought we were doing… good?”

“You have helped, dear,” The Mayor Struggled to reassure the little metal filly.  “And you’re welcome back anytime you want to trade, or need a place to stay… for a night or two…”

“It’s okay Bulette… we still have to find your sisters, remember?” The freak smiled wanly over his shoulders.

“This is correct.”  The filly calculated for a moment before turning to the mayor.  “I am sorry we can not stay longer, but we have a very important quest.  Gun Blossom and Metric Zoom are out there somewhere and we must find them.  Goodbye, perhaps we shall return one day!”

Civil service let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding in as the pair ride off into the wastes.



“Wow, so they… did whatever they did to help those ponies, and then they just said, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the flank on the way out?’”  Galus noted, perhaps a little bitterly, “Sounds like some ponies in our world…”

“And that’s it?”  Ocellus watched sadly.  “No matter how many ponies they help… they’re always going to be monsters?”

“Poor little Bug Pony,” Discord crooned, “One creature’s monster is another’s hero.  I think you of all creatures would realize that little fact of the universe.  Sometimes what it takes is real monsters to put it all in perspective…”

The bus pulled into a long, dark tunnel, and the students somehow knew the answer to the elusive friendship lesson was drawing near.