“That about covers it. So how are you going to take down all of those solders, going to bat your eyes and say please don’t hurt me I’m a pathetic whore?”

“Wait a minute, how could your sister have anything to do with what happened between Trotston and The Annihilators? When I talked to Javelin about this, she said it was a Stallion from Trotston and a Mare from The Annihilators,” I asked.

Rusty looked a little confused by this, “Well I know that Javelin wasn’t the leader of the Annihilators at the time, it was a mare named High Strike. It’s possible that the information got confused or told wrong, I’m not sure. But no, this all happened because of my sister. After we left Stable 9 we found Stable 34 and it was abandoned, so we took refuge in it. Not long after, a few ponies from The Annihilators found us. We talked with their leader at the time and she said we could use it as long as we let them take what they needed from the stable first. They’d been using it as a place to keep excess storage. We agreed and spent the next the year inside the stable. Eventually we figured we’d have to venture out of Stable 34 because it wasn’t suited for ponies to live in for a long time anymore. We started to strip the stable down and use what we could to build what became Trotston.”

“Why wasn’t Stable 34 suited for ponies anymore, I thought the stables could keep ponies alive for hundreds of years?” I asked.

“Well sure, but something forced the Annihilators to leave. We never found out what it was, most of the terminals in there had their hard drives wiped or were destroyed. Stable 34 was abandoned for thirty years. It was extremely run down, we tried to fix what we could. Put simply, it was an uphill battle with no end. So instead we started to build our city and I was put in charge. Back then Trotston was quite friendly with The Annihilators. We were the only settlement that traded with them and were allowed to meet with them,” Rusty said.

Byte got up, kicked her chair over, then walked away in a huff. I watched her go then asked, “What’s her problem?”

“Cookie doesn’t like this story, she wasn’t even born yet when this all happened, but it puts her mother in a bad light and she really loved her mom,” Rusty said with a sigh, “Wingnut would you mind going with her? You might be able to help calm her down.”

Wingnut looked up at Rusty as if he just asked the colt to jump into a puddle of Taint, “What the hell? Why me?”

“Because she likes you kid, just go and be a gentlecolt for a change,” I said doing my best to hide my smile.

“I’d feel better if somepony would go make sure she’s okay,” Rusty said.

He jumped off his chair looking just as frustrated as Byte did a moment ago, “Fine, but I’m only doing it because I’m nice!”

“Yeah you keep telling yourself that,” Aura said snickering as Wingnut followed the angry filly.

Rusty looked back at us and continued, “So, as I was saying. You remember when I told you that my sister hated staying in town. She loved to go out into the wasteland and explore. She also used to get into a lot of trouble with Wastelanders.”

“Well, that’s how she met Cherry Bomb, Cookie’s father. I don’t know everything that happened between those two but one thing led to another and my sister ended up pregnant with Cookie. Cherry Bomb wasn’t very happy about this and they got into a fight. At least that’s how my sister described it. She ended up killing him, to make it worse she left his body in front of the gate where the Annihilators were.”

“You mean this whole thing started over a bad romance and one dead body?” I asked.

“I wish it was just that, for one Cherry Bomb was the son of High Strike. She sent some of her ponies to Trotston to demand that we give them my sister to stand trial for her crime. I didn’t let them have her. They also wanted me to give them Cookie once she was born since they consider her an Annihilator because her father was one. I refused that as well, saying that we weren’t going to let them kill my sister for defending herself against a Stallion who didn’t want her to have his foal. Things just kept going downhill from there.”

Rusty sighed deeper taking a moment to take a long drink, “We were building our wall at the time and they kept trying to kill our ponies as they built it. We had to hire guards just to finish the project. They saw our refusal to give them Cookie and my sister as an act of betrayal for them letting us use Stable 34. A year after Cookie was born, High Strike tried to tell us that we had no right to keep using Stable 34 and told us we had to give them back the Stable. We couldn’t do that even if we wanted too. We had stripped most of the stable by then. So they kept on trying to attack us and we fought back only to defend ourselves. They had their last straw twelve years ago when Pride killed my sister. I don’t know how, but somehow High Strike found out that she died and again demanded we give them Cookie since she was her grandmother and felt she needed to be with her father’s family since both her parents were dead.”

“I can see where this is going,” Stardust said, “After all the attacks you weren’t going to just let them take your niece away from you.”

“That’s about it, I’d already taken Cookie by this point and I wasn’t going to lose the last of my family to those nut jobs. Every day when I look at her I see so much potential in that filly. I’m glad I took her in because I shudder to think what would have happened if she lived on that base. She’d be stuck with more rules than she has in Trotston and Cookie is so much like her mother. She doesn’t do well with boundaries and rules. She would have been miserable living there, with no tech to play with and stuck behind a fence guarding against no pony.”

“Even though what you did caused a small war between both settlements?” Wind Thrasher asked.

He looked over at her with a small smile, “Yes Wind Thrasher, I lost so much that I couldn’t bear the thought of losing more. I lost your mother Wind Thrasher when Dr. Cell killed her, I lost you to his madness, I lost my home because of what happened in Stable 9, I lost my only remaining family when Pride killed my sister, I wasn’t going to lose Cookie as well.”

“The thing I’m wondering is how are we going to get both of your towns to forget the past and work for a better future?” I asked.

Rusty chuckled a little, “Honestly I don’t give a fuck about The Annihilators, what I really want is for them to leave us alone. It’s been so many years since this all started and still whenever my ponies go out to trade they get attacked by long ranged missiles from the Annihilators or by the rare scouting party they send out from time to time. I’d rather find some agreement that will get them to just leave us alone.”

“Maybe today that will happen, it all depends on what Javelin wants.” I said as the mare from the bar came over toward us.

“Sunrise Sarsaparilla for me please, if you have it.” I said remembering that interesting drink I had back at Hidden Sands.

“No problem dears I’ll be right back.” The bar mare said as she walked away.

It only took a minute for the mare to come back with our drinks, we paid and the others started to drink. I pulled the bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla closer and twisted off the bottle cap. Like the last bottle I got this one also had a blue star under the cap, “Huh, that’s strange.”

Showing her the bottle cap I said, “The last time I got one of these it also had a blue star under the cap, I guess this was some kind of signature of theirs, though it’s strange that they put it where no pony could see it until you open the bottle.”

Aura’s eyes went wide, “You’re kidding right? Two Blue Star Bottle Caps? You’re some kind of lucky mare Shadow, I’ve only found four in the six years I’ve been looking for them and only one was on a bottle the other three I got off some raiders I killed.”

“What’s so special about them?” I asked, “I mean it’s just a cap isn’t it?”

“Not those caps, there are ponies out there that would kill to get just one off of you.” Aura said.

Rusty was the one who answered, “There’s some kind of legend about those caps.”

Aura laughed, “It’s not a legend Rusty, I’ve been to the Sunrise Sarsaparilla Factory and there’s this robotic…” Aura rotated her talons as if trying to remember, “…something at the entrance. He told me himself that if I give him fifty of those caps I’ll get the Treasure.”

“Be that as it may, you still don’t know what that treasure is now do you?” Rusty said chuckling.

“Wait there’s a treasure in that old factory?” Stardust said sounding excited.

Using my Pip-Buck I checked to see if I still had the one from before, with my luck I most likely spent it like any cap. But The Mark II seemed to know it was special because it was listed in a different part of my saddle bags. I pulled it out saying, “Well you can have it if you want Aura, I’m not really interested in treasure.”

Stardust looked over at me like I said something stupid, “Not Interested in Treasure! Are you insane, there could be enough loot to buy up the strip.”

“I doubt that, it’s probably some publicity stunt the company was trying so they could compete with Sparkle Cola.” I said sliding the caps over to Aura who took them happily.

“I agree with Shadow, but I still want to see what it is.” Aura said as she tucked the caps into a small pouch she pulled out of her saddle bags.

“What if it is a load of loot that we could sell and make a shit ton of caps from?” he asked.

Aura winked at me then said to Stardust, “Then Shadow and I will have a nice place on The Strip to call home.”

“A place on the strip sounds like a nice place to settle down, though I don’t think I’ll ever get enough for something like that.” Wind Thrasher said.

“Don’t worry Wind Thrasher you’ll always have a room where ever we live.” I said.

“Oh, so Wind Thrasher has a place to live no matter what, but I have to stay on your good side.” Stardust said sulking.

“I never said that, that was Aura. But if she’s the one who makes it big with some treasure she got from an old factory, then it’s up to her not me.” I said with a laugh.

We all had a good long laugh at the expression on Stardust’s face. After a little while he joined in and we spent the next half hour talking about the things we would do if we had a mountain of caps. That was until Rusty pointed out that Mr. Topps probably had most of the caps in New Pegasus and wouldn’t take kindly to a group of ponies having more than he does.

After that we all quieted down for a bit until Rusty said, “Wingnut and Cookie have been gone for a little while now. I’m starting to get worried, I should go check on them.”

“No, I’ll go. I’d like to look around a little before this meeting starts so I can see where they went.” I said.

“I’ll come with you, I really shouldn’t let Wingnut stay out of my sight for too long anyway.” Aura said getting up.

“Don’t worry about Wingnut I’ll find him.” I said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off toward where Byte and Wingnut had run off.

Aura didn’t argue, she just shrugged and sat back down as I walked off. Crossroad’s Trading Post wasn’t that big of a place, but it was amazing how many little shops ponies had managed to set up. Every few feet I went ponies were trying to get me to come look at their stands, or brandishing specialty merchandise in my face. I did my best to ignore them as I trotted by, I’d have time later to look at the shops and restock some of our supplies. I’d just crossed the overpass and walked down a ramp that lead to a lower level when I saw them.

Wingnut was sitting next to Byte at the end of the ramp talking quietly, “From the sound of it, your mom wasn’t a bad mare.”

Byte sniffed, “She wasn’t, but she did have a temper that got her into trouble a lot. I mean nopony knows why she really killed my dad. She said it was self-defense, but I don’t know. What if the Annihilators are still angry about what she did?”

“I don’t think that will be as big of a deal as you think Byte. I mean Javelin is a nice mare and from what the others there told me, she’s way easier to deal with than the mare who ran things before her.” Wingnut said.

Huh, I guess he can talk like a gentlecolt sometimes. For a pony who said he didn’t like Byte, he was being really nice to her. Byte sniffed again saying, “Don’t you dare tell anypony I was crying.”

He laughed, “Don’t worry I’ll keep it between the two of us. I remember what it was like when I first went to Little Hoof after my parents died. I used to get teased by the older foals a lot because I’d cry myself to sleep.”

I slowly moved back up the ramp and hid behind some rubble so I could keep listening. As I did I heard Byte say, “So what happened to your parents?”

“I’m not sure, something that looked made out of darkness attacked us in a cave. Dad told me to run while he and mom tried to fight it off. They didn’t make it.” He said.

“Yeah, I just always have a feeling that the thing that killed them is going to come back for me. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help it.”

“No, I get it Wingnut, now I kind of feel bad for teasing you back at my house.” Byte said.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know, I just overreacted. You know, you’re not as bad as I thought you were.”

Wingnut chuckled, “Well, you were kind of a bitch when we first met you and you did call me a bug…multiple times.”

“What do you mean it’s not a bad thing?” Wingnut asked, but Byte laughed again.

“Hey let’s get back, I’m sure Rusty is starting to get worried.” I peeked around the rubble and saw that Byte got back to her hooves. Before Wingnut could do or say anything else. She kissed his cheek and ran off a bright red blush on her face, “Hurry up you stupid Bug!”

Wingnut watched her for a moment rubbing his cheek, smiling slightly, then got to his hooves and followed, blushing even worse than he had been before, “Hey wait up for me! What did you mean!”

I watched him run by chasing after the giggling filly. I was about to follow them when I heard Aura say from behind me, “You know he’s kind of cute when he’s acting his own age.”

Tripping over my own hooves and falling to the ground, my heart feeling like it just jumped into my throat from the shock of Aura just showing up, I said, “Why do all my friends want to scare me to death?”

“Hmmm, maybe because it’s funny as hell to watch you jump.” She said with a quick laugh, holding a talon down to help me up, “Why were you spying on Shrimp number two and little miss bitch face?”

“I wasn’t spying I was just walking and I saw them talking…I couldn’t help myself.”

“I’m sure you could have, you just wanted to see what was going to happen between those two.”

“Oh, stop looking at me like you know everything, I’m just looking out for him. It’s not fun to get your heart broken.” I said, frowning up at her.

“Shadow, that’s part of growing up. I’ve had my heart broken more than once and I’m sure you have as well. It sucks, but we learn from things like that. It’s also possible that Cookie Byte really does like Wingnut, did you think about that?”

“I mean I guess I did, but how do I know?” I was so lost on what to do, I couldn’t stand it if something happened to him. Yeah, it’s funny to tease him about him liking Byte or vice versa, but I don’t want him to get hurt.

“It isn’t up to you to know or not, I know you care about him Shadow, but this is something Wingnut has to do on his own. If he wants to get to know her better and they end up together than that’s for him to decide not you. You’re not his mom, or his big sister, even if you were, telling him what to do will only make things worse. You only step in to help him if he comes and asks for it, got it?” she said putting a talon on my shoulder, “You think you can do that?”

“Then don’t go sneaking around eavesdropping on him anymore. If he needs us, he’ll find us.”

She punched my foreleg with a grin, “I’m not smart Shadow, I’ve seen a thing or two, so I know a thing or two. Now come on, the Red Talons are just getting here and we should get you ready for this meeting.”

***

I was being tutored by Arys Greenhaven, the griffon who had helped us with Stable 28…and was once involved with Aura, “Okay one more time. Tell me what you say if one of them starts to shout?” Arys Said. She had arrived three hours ago with five other griffons from the Red Talons. Arys will be sitting with me while I helped with the negotiations between The Annihilators and Trotston. Since she arrived she’s been tutoring me on how to be a good negotiator. So far, I wasn’t doing so well.

She slammed her face down on the table, “You’re impossible you know that? The right response in a situation where one side starts yelling at another is to calmly say something like ‘I understand that you’re upset, but shouting will not fix the problems between you two. Now can we please try this again and keep this conversation on the civil side.’ You see if you start yelling at one of them, it will only make things worse. You are there to be the griff…I mean pony who isn’t picking sides. You are the one they are going to look to so they can see if they are being offered good terms or not.”

“This is all so stupid, why can’t Rusty just say he’s sorry for what he sister did, but she’s dead now. Why bother fighting over old wrongs especially when you didn’t even do anything.” I said with a huff.

“If life worked that way Shadow, the world would be so much easier.” Arys said, leaning back in her seat, “Okay let’s try this again. If one side starts to threaten another, what do you do?”

I took a moment to think, my first response wasn’t going to work, that I knew. I mean pointing my own gun at said offender and threatening to blow their heads off wasn’t going to help. So, what do I say? Looking back at her I replied, “Violence is how you both got here in the first place, you wanted to talk this out so both of your towns could know peace with each other. Let’s sit back down and try this again.”

I was waiting for the rebuke, but it didn’t come. When I looked back at Arys she looked shocked, “Damn that’s a good one, how’d you think of it?”

I shrugged, “I knew my first thought wouldn’t be the right one, so I thought to myself what would Vervain do. She was always good at breaking up conflicts in the Stable.”

She laughed, “You see that’s what you have to do. Don’t try and ask yourself what you should say, ask yourself what Vervain would say. Wasn’t she the mare who raised you? The one who was a Steel Ranger hiding in that old Stable?”

“Yeah, she was our administrator. Mostly a fancy word for the Stable’s watch dog.”

“What do you mean? I thought Apollo was one of the leaders of the Red Talons.”

She frowned a little, “He is, but really the only leader is Gillian. She has the final say on everything. Apollo mostly takes care of problems some of the griffons have with each other, the day to day activities, and deals with our bigger contracts. Bigger contracts like The Strip, Freedom Town, New Appleton, Los Alicorn, The Steel Rangers and so on.”

“Oh right, you’ve been gone for a while. The Ponies who survived Appleton’s fall, moved into Stable 14, the old griffon stable. They are calling it New Appleton now and running it like an inner town. Kind of like Trotston used to with Stable 34 before the walls and buildings went up.” She said almost like an afterthought.

She laughed, “Tonto is there to give advice when Apollo or Gillian needs it. He’s wise and kind, but also a very good tactician.”

“Really? From what I’ve heard from Aura about him, I just thought he was a dirty old hermit griffon who told stories, jokes and keeps a bunch of books in his cave.”

“Well he’s also that.” She said with another laugh, “Anyway, let’s try another…”

For another hour she ran me through more techniques. When she was finally done I think she was feeling a little better about letting me do this. At least she didn’t slam her head on the table after the last four answers I gave, so that has to be some kind of improvement. It was finally time for the meeting between The Annihilators and Trotston to begin. The Red Talons set up a table just outside of Crossroads Trading Post. Three griffons stood guard on each side of the table, each giving the table space so the two leaders could talk without feeling like griffons were looming over them. A couple more griffons were flying around keeping an eye out for oncoming danger.

Rusty was already sitting at one end of the table, Byte sitting next to him looking board. Arys was sitting next to me, she was there to help me with the negotiations if I needed it. Javelin was just arriving, she’d only brought four ponies with her as guards, one of which was her granddaughter Smokescreen. As they all walked closer to where we sat waiting one of the griffons moved to block her way.

Lifting a spear but not pointing it at them, he said, “Welcome to Crossroad’s Trading Post, I assume you’re Javelin.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, but the Contract you set up states that only the leaders of each town and one representative can sit at the table. Your guards can stay with us while you talk.” The griffon said.

Javelin smiled a little, “I remember my own terms, my granddaughter will be my representative, the other two are just here to make sure I made the trip without any problems. I’m not exactly a young mare anymore.”

“Very well, I’ll also need to ask you to give me your weapons before you pass.”

“You can’t expect us to…” Smokescreen started to say, but at a look from Javelin she shut up.

“That was also part of the terms Smokescreen, now leave your battle saddle with Rocket so we can start.” Javelin said.

“Yes ma’am.” Smokescreen said sounding disappointed as she removed her battle saddle giving it to one of the other ponies.

When that was done they both walked over to sit at the opposite end of the table from Rusty. He nodded to them both saying, “Looks like you made the trip here without any problems.”

“Most ponies around here know to stay away from The Annihilators Rusty, we didn’t expect to have much difficulty.” Javelin said.

Arys nudged me, looking over at her I saw her nod her head toward the two indicating that I was supposed to say something. I cleared my throat, “It’s nice to see you again Javelin and Smokescreen. Since you are the one who set this up I’ll let you start.”

Javelin looked over toward Rusty saying, “Rusty Shackles, it’s been many years since we last saw each other.”

Before Rusty could say something to his niece Javelin started to laugh softly, “Hahaha, you must be Cookie Byte. I was told that you were a bit of a hoof full.”

She stuck her tongue out at Javelin, “Damn right, and we aren’t giving you back Stable 34, it wouldn’t be worth it to you anyway. There’s almost nothing left inside.”

Javelin shook her head, “I didn’t set all this up for an old Stable. Honestly I’d be happy to never step hoof into that place again.”

Rusty sighed, “Then what do you want? The last leader of your ponies demanded I give them my Niece and my Sister after what happened fifteen years ago. If that’s what you want then you wasted your time coming here, because I’m not going to do it.”

Smokescreen spoke this time, “We don’t want that either, Javelin doesn’t care what our last leader wanted. She's risking her position and her life to make peace, you stupid asshole.”

Javelin looked at her granddaughter, “Smokescreen I can handle this,” She looked back at Rusty, “Rusty, you may remember what it was like back in the day when our two towns worked together, before this misunderstanding broke out between our towns.”

“I do, your ponies helped us a lot when we were first setting up Trotston. Back then, life was easy for both towns because we worked together to build a better life for all of our ponies.” Rusty said.

She nodded, “That’s right, I’d like to work something out to bring us back to that. You see, I don’t care what happened between your sister and her lover Cherry Bomb. From what I’ve been able to learn over the past few months, I believe the story your sister gave to why she killed one of our own may not have been fully true, but it was close enough.”

Byte spoke up again, “That pony who fathered me tried to kill my mom, just because they got into a fight.”

Javelin looked at Byte saying, “That part I do believe, but it was your mother who started it. We found evidence which I will give to you once we are done, showing that she broke in to the base to see your father Cookie Byte, she caught him with another mare and she started the fight.”

Byte looked like she wanted to say something to me next, but when Rusty glared at her, she shut up too. Javelin waited then said, “I’m not saying that it’s all on her. What your father did was wrong and your mom had every right to get angry, the problem was she tried to attack the other mare. When she was stopped she got mad and left and your father went after her. I believe that he did attack her once she was on her way back to Trotston because of what she tried to do to this other mare. So yes, she did defend herself, but she is also the one who started the whole thing because of her temper. A temper of which you seemed to have inherited.”

Rusty chuckled at that, “You have no idea, still what does this have to do with what we are doing now?”

“Nothing, I just wanted you to know what we found out. This other mare finally told me the whole story from her side a few weeks ago. I just wanted you to know the truth and as I said I have the evidence for you that you can look over later. My point is that this all happened in the past and it’s hurt both of our towns. Trotston has flourished over the past fifteen years even with having to deal with The Annihilators. Even though you keep your city locked down much like we do, you still work with the Wasteland ponies to keep your town running. We have tried to do this as well, but thanks to the reputation we’ve brandished, it’s been getting harder and harder to get supplies in to keep our town going. I called this meeting today so I could save my ponies from dying.”

Rusty looked thoughtful at that, “So you need Trotston’s help to keep you ponies from dying out?”

“That’s right, since we don’t let anypony join us we are going to be endanger of inbreeding soon. It was a problem we were facing in the Stable as well, but we didn’t do anything to fix it when we left. We have to change our way of life soon and the first step to this is setting up trade with Trotston and forgetting our past wrongs so we can start over.”

“Honestly I really just want your ponies to leave us be. I can understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t see how helping you will help us apart from stopping the attacks.” Rusty said.

“I thought the attacks stopping would be a good enough reason.” Javelin said.

“I agree that the attacks stopping would be nice, but when it comes down to it, we can stand up to your ponies for a lot longer than you. I want the attacks to stop to spare the lives of the ponies I lead, but it’s not a good enough reason for me to sign some kind of truce with you. What can The Annihilators offer Trotston?”

Arys spoke up, “Rusty, it’s a little unfair to ask Javelin to give you more. Her town isn’t rich and can’t offer much.”

He looked over at her, “I can’t just go back home and tell my ponies that we made peace with The Annihilators for nothing more than a promise that they will stop attacking us.”

“What else can she offer though?” I asked, “I’ve been inside Spitfire’s Flight Academy and apart from well-trained guards and a good doctor, they don’t have much there.”

Rusty glared at her for a long moment they said, “I want access to the Ministry of Peace and Ministry of Wartime Technologies files. I know you have them since both Ministries were using the base toward the end of the war.”

“Hell no! Those files are ours, what do you need them for?” Smokescreen shouted.

“Wait a moment, you mean there’s files from two of the Ministries at Spitfire’s Flight Academy?” I asked.

“There are,” Rusty said, “My sister was told as much when she was there. Those files can help us out a lot, especially the ones from the MWT.”

Javelin put up a hoof to stop Smokescreen from shouting again, “You are right Rusty, but the information that are in those files are not for just anypony to see. We don’t like anypony to know that we even have them. If The Steel Rangers knew about those files they would start coming after us, just like they are with Trotston.”

“I understand and I’m not worried about the Rangers right now. If you want my help then this is my price. First, you’ll stop all attacks against my ponies and my town. Second, you will let a few of my top scientists along with myself look through all of the files you have and let us make copies. If you do this, I will help your town in any way I can. We can provide food, tech, chem’s for your medical staff, and even ponies that you can trust to move into the base so your worries about inbreeding will go away,” Rusty said.

“Javelin that’s not a bad offer, I think you should really think about doing it.” I said, keeping my tone light.

“You don’t understand what will be at risk if something goes wrong.” Javelin said.

“I understand more than you know Javelin, that is my offer and I’m not going to back down.” Rusty said.

For a long tense moment, the two leaders looked into each other’s eyes. Finally, Javelin let out a long sigh, “Fine, I’ll accept, but we need to set down rules on who will be allowed to see the files and figure out how this peace treaty will be written out.”

Arys smiled, “Good, well if that’s finished why don’t we get this all down in writing so we can finish this up.”

They both agreed and Arys called over one of her griffons and had him start writing out the agreement between the two settlements. It took longer than I thought it would. Apart from what they already agreed on, Byte threw in what she saw as a big problem down the road. She was worried that sooner or later one of the ponies from either side would break the treaty. Both leaders agreed and decided that five ponies from each side would go to live with the other and serve as a kind of hostage. This was to ensure that neither side would break the treaty. To everyone’s surprise Smokescreen offered herself up as one of the hostages. Well everyone’s surprise but mine, Smokescreen has wanted to get away from Spitfire’s Flight Academy ever since she met Trip Wire. It took another two hours to get a final document written then finally signed by both parties. During that time, I had to break up three fights between Byte and Smokescreen and eight arguments between Javelin, Smokescreen, and Byte. The only pony who didn’t seem to keep fighting was Rusty.

Finally, it was over, Javelin stood up and smiled, “Since this is all done I should get back so I can talk to the other leaders about what was decided. I’ll be sure to meet with you in a week so we can swap the ponies who will be moving. As a sign of my trust and good intentions I’ll have Smokescreen go with you back to Trotston.”

“As long as she doesn’t cause us any trouble then that will be just fine. She’ll do well in Trotston I’m sure.” Rusty said.

“Don’t worry about that Byte.” Rusty said looking over at Smokescreen, “Are you okay with leaving with us tomorrow? I will understand if you want to go home first to get your belongings.”

She shook her head, “I’ll be fine, Javelin will make sure to send my things with the others next week.”

Javelin moved over and hugged her granddaughter, “Remember that this treaty is still new and I need you to be good. Your actions will carry a lot of weight on how the rest of Trotston sees us.”

“I know Gran, I won’t let you down. Are you sure you’ll be okay heading back with the others?”

“She’ll be in good hooves don’t you worry.” Rusty said as Javelin started to head out with her two guards.

“Javelin can I ask you something before you leave?” I said, before she got too far away.

“Did Doctor Gaze find anything in Wind Thrasher’s blood? Anything at all that could help her?”

“As a matter of fact, he did say something about that before I left. In all the goings on, I forgot to tell you. He thinks he figured something out, but he won’t know for sure, he still has to run a few more test to be certain. You can come visit us in a few days if you want and try talking to him then. Maybe he’ll be finished up by then.” She said giving me a smile.

She waved a hoof as she turned to leave, “Don’t worry about it Courier, I hope to see you soon. In the meantime, stay safe out there.”

“Well that was easier than I thought it would be,” Arys said yawning, “I thought it would have taken days for them to come to an agreement.”

“I think they both wanted this stupid fight to end. From what I saw, both Rusty and Javelin have a lot of respect for each other. I think that helped a lot.” I said as I got up and stretched, “I think I’m ready for a nap, is there anything else I need to do or are we finished?”

“I’m not done just yet, I have to talk to Javelin about the rest of our payment before she gets too far away. You however, don’t need to stick around, you can go get some sleep or whatever. Though it seems Rusty still wants to talk to you more.” Arys pointed behind me.

Looking, I saw that Rusty was hanging back waiting for me. Byte had already run off somewhere, “I think you’re right. Before you leave why don’t you and your griffons come to our camp and have dinner with us. I’m sure you don’t need to get back to Crimson Canyon just yet.”

She smirked and patted the top of my head, “Can’t, after I get the payment I’ll have to head back. There is still a lot to be done before the Rebirth Celebration. Speaking of which, I heard that Aura and the rest of you might be attending, is that true?”

“Sounds like it, but I think Aura is mostly going for her mother. I don’t think she’s planning on trying to rejoin.”

“Maybe not, but I hope she does. It would be nice to have her back with us again.” Arys said, a faraway look in her eyes, “Anyway, I hope you can make it, the party alone and the music is hella worth it.”

“Good, I’ll see you soon then.” Arys said flying off with the rest of her griffons to go talk with Javelin.

“Same here, now we just have to figure out how to take care of your Steel Ranger problem. I’ve been thinking about it and I just can’t figure out why Sapphire is acting like this.” I said.

“She’s a Steel Ranger, this is what they do. I’m not surprised they want the Mark II for themselves. I’m sure once they get mine, they’ll start trying to get yours as well.”

“That’s what I don’t get, I know Sapphire and this isn’t what she’s like. She’s the one who helped me get out of the Raider camp alive when I first left my Stable. She could have taken the Mark II then if she wanted, all she had to do was kill me, instead she let me live and helped me take down the camp. There has to be a reason she’s trying to get them. Or this really isn’t Sapphire at all, it could be Envy.” I said.

“You mean one of the Sin’s? What would he have to do with any of this?” Rusty asked.

“He can turn himself into anypony he wants, I’m not sure how he does it, but that’s his power. He’s taken the form of ponies I care about before so I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Rusty looked thoughtful, “I guess that might be possible, but it’s also possible that you didn’t know her as well as you thought.”

“I guess, but it just doesn’t seem right. I really wish I had the time to go to Hidden Sands and talk to her.” I said.

“I’m not sure that would be such a good idea Shadow, I think you should try and figure out what’s going on before you go walking into their base.”

“You’re right, anyway we still need to figure out what to do about your problem.”

He smiled, “I think I have a plan. The only reason the Steel Rangers are threatening us is because they want this.” He lifted his Gold and Red Pip-Buck, “If the Mark II isn’t in Trotston then the town won’t have to worry about the Steel Rangers.”

He laughed, “No, my town needs me and with this new deal we set up with The Annihilators I can’t just vanish. What I’m thinking about doing is giving it to Cookie. I trust her to keep it safe and she hate’s being stuck in Trotston.”

“Whoa, now that’s not a good idea. You can’t just send a young filly into the wasteland by herself.” I said shocked.

“I don’t plan on sending her away alone. I want her to travel with you, Wingnut and her seem to get along well and I’d feel better if she was with The Courier.”

“No way! I have enough problems worrying about Wind Thrasher going crazy, Aura’s messed up Aunt is trying to hunt us down, The Enclave wanting me dead, my fucked-up mother, The Sin’s, and a town full of ponies who hate me for destroying their old home. Not to mention I have one kid to worry about as well, I don’t need another following me around. Especially one that will be hunted by Steel Rangers…I have enough problems with one of their branches already.” I said.

“Cookie isn’t much younger than you I believe, and she can take care of herself. You also shouldn’t have to worry about The Hidden Sands Steel Rangers for a while. I’m going to send two of my best security ponies out as well with fake Mark II’s so they can keep them off your trail. It’s the only thing I can think of that will keep Cookie safe and the Mark II. That is until I can somehow figure out a way to get this Elder Sapphire to leave us alone.”

“She’s more likely to get hurt traveling with me than if she stayed home.” I said waving my hooves around.

He sighed, “Maybe, but I still want to do this. Plus, she needs to get out of Trotston regardless of what I do with the Mark II. She was threatened and I can’t let anything happen to her. Please Shadow, do this for me. I’ll do anything for you if you just let her travel with you.”

“Thank you Shadow, I’ll go talk with Cookie about it now. How long until you all head out?”

“As soon as we can, I want to make a stop in New Pegasus before we go to Crimson Canyon.”

“I’ll try and be quick then, we’ll meet you just outside of Crossroads Trading Post.” He said trotting off.

I waited until he was out of sight before I started heading toward the edge of the trading post as I walked I said, “Uncle Ori, do you think that Envy could be masquerading as Sapphire?”

It took a few minutes for him to respond, “Anything’s possible, though I don’t think it’s Envy.”

My uncle responded slowly it sounded like he was still weak, “Envy attacked you when you were flying toward the Kingdom a week ago. The former Elder died around the same time and this Sapphire took over. Envy is a powerful foe, but he can’t be in two places at once. Even if the timing worked, there isn’t any reason for him to take Sapphire’s place in the Steel Rangers. If he wanted to take over he would have taken the place of Sandstorm who would have been next in line to take over. No, Envy is too angry at you right now to go off and mess around with The Steel Rangers.”

“I guess you’re right, it just doesn’t make sense. Why would Sapphire do all of this? There has to be a good reason.”

“I’m sure there is, but you won’t know that until you start looking into it. For now, I think you should concentrate on honing your magic and finishing up with your current agenda.” He said.

“I know,” I said as I reached the road that lead toward New Pegasus, “How old is Envy anyway? He’s really immature in my opinion.”

“So, he is young, I thought as much. Where did you find him anyway and how did he get his power?”

Oricalcos chuckled within my shadow, “He’s had that gift since I first met him. As to where he came from I’m not sure, I don’t even think he remembers his home. When I found him, I was trying to find a runaway Pegasus who fled for the Badlands. I never found the pegasus but I did find Envy, he was being attacked, so I saved him. I took him in because I felt bad for the Colt, I gave him a home and a purpose in life. Now that I think about it, I guess I could have done better than turning him into a solider.”

“What was his name before he was a Sin?” I asked, wanting to understand that strange pegasus.

“He didn’t have one, for the first couple of months he lived with me I just called him kid. He got his name when I saw how much he envied the other foals around him and since he was already starting to learn how to be a Sin, I made him into one and dubbed him Envy.”

“I did, that’s probably why he’s so angry with you so called killing me. To him, it’s like you killed the only father figure he ever had.” Oricalcos said.

“I’m sure he would, he’s always done what I’ve told him too.” Oricalcos said, “If he attacks you again I’ll be sure to stop him, so don’t worry about him so much.”

“I’ll try.” I sat down next to the road waiting for my friends who were finishing up with their shopping. After some time passed I started to get bored, so getting up again I started to look around the area thinking about what life was going to be like with Byte following us around. I was a little outside of Crossroads Trading Post when I thought I saw something behind a bush not far off.

Pulling out my plasma rifle I started walking toward it when a mare said from behind me, “Hello Miss, why are you all the way out here?”

Turning quickly with my plasma rifle leading I found myself looking at the bartender from Crossroad’s. Lowering my plasma rifle I blushed saying, “Sorry, you scared me.”

She smiled wide then winked at me again, “It is quite alright, I was just wondering why you are so far from the Trading Post. There are a lot of dangers around here you know.”

“I was just waiting for my friends that’s all. I’m sorry I forgot your name.”

“Oh, it is quite alright, I’m Black Liquorice, I have run the tavern for many years now.”

That name rang a bell, “You don’t happen to know a zebra named Yaksha do you?”

“Hmmm, strange she said something once about doing things with a mare named Black Liquorice. Thought it might have been you.”

She giggled, “Well, it’s possible that I did meet her once. I have a reputation around here for being an escort if you know what I mean.”

I blushed more, “Heh, it’s not every day you run into a mare who’s willing to say something like that.”

“Why are you blushing so much?” She asked getting very close to me, batting her eyes.

She kept walking toward me, keeping the space between us very small, “Wait a minute, you’re the Courier aren’t you? I had no idea the pony from the Radio would be so young, or so cute.”

I tried to back up more doing everything I could to get the distance between our muzzles to widen, “Yes I am and thank you…but can you please back up a little.”

She moved her muzzle even closer to mine, “Why? I know you find me attractive, I can see it in your beautiful red eyes.”

“I have someone already and she wouldn’t be happy if she saw you this close to me.”

“Who that griffon? She’s busy buying medical supplies, she doesn’t have to know and I promise you’ll enjoy what I have to offer.” Her muzzle was so close to me now I could almost feel her breath rolling over my muzzle.

“N…no, I don’t want to betray Aura…” as I said this my hindleg bumped against something. Looking back, I saw that I’d just backed into the dark shape I’d seen before Black Licorice came over. My hoof had just bumped into a dead body. It looked like somepony killed her and tried to hide a body in the bushes. Then I saw that it was a mare, not just any mare, it was the same mare who was way too close to me right now. The body was Black Licorice and she’d been dead for a day or two now. Then who was talking to me…I looked back at the imposter just as something slid between the gaps in my armored barding and sank between my ribs. It felt like somepony had just bucked me in the chest. It was hard to breath as if one of my lungs wasn’t working right.

I looked up into her face right as a green glow started around the mare’s body and watched as she changed into the green and black pegasus. He started to chuckle, “Hello again Pipsqueak. You really should be more careful, I mean you know by now that I can be ANYPONY!”

I looked down just in time to see him pull a long thin knife out of the side of my chest. Blood spurted from the wound as pain ran up my body, I could feel blood slowly leaking into my left lung. I tried to take in a deep breath, but it was like I was sucking air through a straw. My vision flickered as I fell to the ground trying and failing to breath properly. I wanted to scream for help, but all I could manage to do was making a strange gurgling sound as blood flew up my throat and out of my mouth.

Envy was laughing as he looked down at me, “I knew that all I had to do was wait for you to let your guard down Little Foal. I can’t believe how easy it was to take you out.”

Doing my best to control what little breath I had I managed to say, “Fuck…you Envy.”

He moved his muzzle down so it was inches away from my own, “Shrimp, you ain’t my type. I told you I was going to make you pay for what you did to Pride.”

Envy kicked me, sending me flying back so that I was lying next to the dead bar mare. Slowly walking toward me he said, “Don’t you dare try and tell me lies small fry. I saw what happened to him, do you have any idea what you did? Pride was the closest thing I had to a father! He took me in, he taught me how to fight, he helped me be what I am now! I lost all of that because of YOU!”

His hoof slammed into my face, for a long moment I was blinded by pain. If I could scream I would. Envy just laughed, “I’ve waited a long time to watch you suffer like this! That wound to your side won’t kill you…at least not quickly.” He cackled crazily giving me a grizzly grin. “I’m going to sit her and watch you slowly suffocate as blood fills your lung and then I’m going to drop your puny body in front of your friends, and watch their horrified reactions as I slice them down one by one. The Courier Mare will be no more and everypony will fear The Sins again! Everything will go back to the way IT USED TO BE!” his cackling got louder and even more crazy.

A black shape shot out from my shadow, blasting into Envy and sending the green pegasus flying back a few feet. The black blob changed a moment later into the pony shape it did before when Oricalcos had escaped the Crystal. His Purple eyes glared at Envy, “Envy stop this RIGHT NOW!”

Envy looked speechless. For a moment nothing was said until Envy finally spoke in awe, “Pride…is that really you?”

My Uncle ignored him as her turned toward me, “Don’t worry Star, I can fix that, just hold still.”

The shadowy horn glowed, a moment later I felt like the skin was knitting back together where Envy had stabbed me. Then I started to cough expelling a wad of congealed blood. After that I was able to take in a nice deep breath, “Thank you Uncle Ori. How did you do that?”

“Medical spells were one of the first kind of magic I mastered. I can’t do much more than that for you though. My shadow powers make medical spells hard so try not to let him stab you again.”

Envy looked over at us and what Oricalcos just did, “Pride…you helped her. Why?”

Oricalcos looked back at Envy his form shifting, a moment later he looked like the stallion he used too when I first met him. His Coat was gold, his mane as black as night, his eyes a deep violet. The only difference was shadows weren’t flowing off his body like water and now I could see his cutie mark, his real cutie mark, the same one he showed me when he interrupted the memory orb back when my father as The Stranger captured me.

“She’s not our enemy Envy, this is my niece, she’s Grim’s daughter. I realized this right before she fired that weapon. I was able to break a part of myself away and attach myself to her shadow. I’m not going to let you or anypony hurt her while I live.” Oricalcos said.

“But Pride, we were ordered to take her down. She’s the enemy of the Enclave.”

“No she’s not, if you hadn’t flown off and gone rogue you’d know that by now. Nightshade is the new High Council Pony now Envy and he’s forgiven her crimes.”

“Nightshade’s a traitor to the Enclave and you know it Pride!” Envy screamed.

“He was the one who ordered the Sins disbanded Pride. He put a price on The Boss’s head, he wants us all dead! I never went rogue, I just refused to listen to that pathetic accuse for a leader who took on your name. Now I find you here protecting the mare who’s made our life hell for two months. What the FUCK!” Envy said, his voice getting louder, “I can’t believe that Pride the Arrogant would stoop so low. You’re betraying your team for this…Pipsqueak!”

It was my uncle’s turn to yell, “This Pipsqueak is my niece, the very same one I thought was dead for ten years. I made a promise to her when she was young. That promise was to always look after her and I will not go back on my word.”

“You also made a promise to me Pride, to always look after me and help me become the strongest pony IN EQUIS!”

Oricalcos closed his eyes as he sighed, “I did, but Envy I can’t do that because you’re not even a…”

“Don’t say it!” Envy yelled, his eyes no longer looked angry, he looked scared. Why did he look scared?

“Say what? That you aren’t a Pony? The Truth hurts Envy, you should know that better than any pony.”

Envy put hooves to his ears as he started to say to himself, “I am a pony, I’m a Pegasus, the strongest pegasus to ever be part of The Enclave. I am a pony, I am a pony, I am, I am, I AM!”

“No, you’re not, you’re nothing more than a bug that tries to pretend at being something he’s not.” Oricalcos said, his horn glowing again, “I’m sorry Envy, but I can’t let this go on anymore.”

Envy stopped his chanting as his eyes fell on my uncles. He looked half mad now and showed another grizzly smile, “You aren’t Pride.”

“No I’m not, at least I’m not anymore. I gave up that name and the title as leader of the Sins. I’m Oricalcos son of Fallen Star and Quartz, Brother to Grimoire Spell and Uncle to Shadow Star the Courier Mare!” Oricalcos yelled, “Either you leave and never look back Envy or I’ll do to you what I should have years ago!”

Envy started to cackle like a madpony again, “Oh really PRIDE! You think you can take me on? Do you remember who’s the strongest one here? In case you forgot that’s ME! I am Envy the Jealous, First Member of the Seven Sins of Equinity.”

“That might be true, but you can’t kill me.” Oricalcos said a grin pulling at his lips.

“Hoh hoh, somepony has a high opinion of themselves!” Envy said a glow appearing around his body, “It’s time for you to learn your PLACE PRIDE!”

The glow around Envy expanded and he transformed into a creature I’ve only seen in a book, a Manticore. Taking in a deep breath Envy roared, the large scorpion tail snapped forward right toward Oricalcos. He pushed me back as he jumped out of the way yelling, “Star, run and get help!”

“No way, I’m helping, you’re in no condition to do this.” Pulling out mom’s Plasma Rifle I took aim and fired. Envy was too busy trying to attack my uncle to pay attention to me. The blast of green goo slammed right into his chest, throwing him back.

For a moment I thought it worked, until Envy looked over at me with a crazy eye, the green goo sliding off his chest like it was nothing, “Stupid Runt, you’re going to need something more powerful than that to STOP ME!”

He attacked as I tried to fire again, but a blade of darkness flew toward him, forcing Envy to jump back and focus his attention on Oricalcos. My uncle had at least two dozen arms of shadow coming off his body, each one with a blade at the end. He looked over at me yelling, “Envy isn’t a normal creature Star, his true body has thick armor on it and plasma will not do anything to him. You need something stronger!”

“DAMN RIGHT YOU DO!” Envy yelled his body changing again, “Hey PRIDE how about we try something else Hahahaha!” his crazed laugh getting gradually louder.

His body transformed into a large…what the hell is that. It looks like a toad, only it’s twice the size of a pony. Whatever it is, Oricalcos stopped trying to attack, he took a few steps back, “Oh Fuck…”

“Uncle Ori what…” I started to say, but Envy answered the question before I could even ask it.

“That’s right Pride, a Flash Toad, I’ve finally learned how to turn into one and better yet, I can do the same thing they can…Good Bye PRIDE!”

“Star cover your eyes!” Oricalcos yelled his body turning back into Shadow as he flew toward me.

I just started to do what he said when Envy’s body exploded into bright blinding light. It was like someone turned the sun on right in front of me. I was just able to get my eyes close as the flash of light went off, but it didn’t seem to matter. It was like the light was so bright, it pierced right through my eyelids. I screamed and tried to cover my eyes with my hooves, it was nothing to the sound my uncle made. It was like a creature like no other was suffering from the worse pain possible. The scream pierced my ears adding to the pain flowing through my head. I fell to the ground, rolling into a ball waiting for the pain to stop.

When it finally stopped I tried to open my eyes, but my eyes saw nothing but white and black spots. My ears were ringing from the sound of that horrible scream, but I was able to pick up the sound of hooves slowly walking toward me and the unmistakable chuckle from Envy, “Hehehehe, that fool should’ve known better. He was right though, even that won’t kill him, but it will keep him down long enough to take care of you.”

I could just make out the shape of Envy, at least the light didn’t blind me. Then a hoof kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me flying back a few feet. I cried out in pain, still curled into a ball. I could hear the asshole walking closer again, his insane chuckle piercing the air. I opened my eyes again and this time I could make out his features. He was a pegasus again, a crazed look on his face.

Doing my best to ignore the pain, I started to get back to my hooves, “Stay away from me.”

“Or what!?” He kicked me again, “You’re pathetic, you know that Small Fry! The only reason you’ve made a name for yourself is because of your fucking friends and a bit of luck.” Another kick, “You only won against The Raiders because of that Steel Ranger Mare and that runaway pegasus,” Kick, “The only reason you got out of that Stable was because that Griffon followed you in,” Kick, “She was the reason you got out of that town of Fiends as well I’m sure,” Kick, “If it wasn’t for that Alicorn in Frosty Summit and that pegasus in the trench coat we would have had you,” Kick, “You only survived Appleton because of a fucking super weapon. Nothing you’ve done has been because you’re special. You’re nothing but a Runt of a mare who doesn’t know when to give up and fucking die.” Envy kept kicking me relentlessly as he continued to rant, at this point I’m spitting up so much blood I can fill a bucket, “A mare like you uses her friends to keep her alive, you use them as a shield then take the credit for the deeds they’ve done. You’re nothing, you don’t deserve the friends you have!”

I spat more blood as I looked up into his face, “You’re right, I don’t deserve the friends I have. I’ve done things to them that no pony should ever forgive, but still they stay with me. Do you know why? It’s because real friends don’t give up on somepony they care about. You might be right, I’ve survived a lot of shit because of them. But you seemed to have missed something about me.”

“My friends aren’t the only reason I’ve survived this long. I’ve survived because I don’t care if I die, as long as I can take down the pony who’s trying to hurt others. Where most ponies run away from danger I run toward it.” I said with a huge smile, blood still leaking from my mouth, “Oh and there’s the fact that all of you fucking idiots keep forgetting that I’m a UNICORN!”

For a second Envy’s eyes went wide, it vanished in a flash of crimson light as I blasted him with my Expulsion Spell. Pulling a healing potion out of my saddle bags I drank it down quickly as I jumped to my hooves. Pulling out my sword I rushed Envy. The blast seemed to stun him for a second and it knocked him back a few feet. Using some of the skills I learned from Yaksha, my dad and Aura I attacked.

Envy wasn’t called the First Sin for nothing. He ducked under my first slash, jumped back to avoid the follow up stab. He flapped his wings and took to the air, I tried to blast him again with another Expulsion Spell, but missed as he dove to his right, “Nice try Half Pint, but you’re a long way off from being good enough to take me on!”

He transformed again, turning into a griffon. He flew even faster his razor-sharp talons slashing for my face. I brought the sword up to block a grin on my face knowing that the blade would be able to easily cut through his body like paper. I was so very wrong, as he drew closer one talon transformed into what could only be a dragon’s claw. It slammed into me, my blade meaning nothing to the size of that paw. Once again, I was sent flying across the dry landscape my body protesting with new pain. My sword went flying out of my magic and out of sight.

Looking back toward the griffon with a dragon’s arm in place of its normal arm I cursed, “The fuck!? You can change one part of your body?”

He chuckled the dragon arm turning back into a griffon’s, “There is so much about my abilities that you don’t know Runt.”

As he flew toward me again I heard my Uncle’s voice in my ear, “Star, use the whistle.”

I teleported right before Envy landed his attack, when I reappeared I said, “Uncle Ori? Where are you?”

“In your shadow again, I was able to get to it as that blast of light went off, but it still took its toll on me. I’ll be fine shortly, but that’s not fast enough to help you. He’ll kill you before I can do anything, now stop talking and use the damned whistle.” He said.

“That trick won’t keep you safe forever PIPSQUEAK!” Envy yelled as he twisted around transforming again. This time into a Hell Hound, thankfully it wasn’t as big as the only other hell hound I’ve seen before. Maybe because he wasn’t with Greed when I was down in The Bramble. Still, it wasn’t much comfort.

Envy dove straight at the ground and disappeared into it, leaving behind a large hole with some dirt around it. Fuck, this isn’t good, if what Wingnut said was right about Hell Hounds, Envy could attack me from anywhere. It wasn’t a bad move, I couldn’t do much if I couldn’t see him coming. The bad thing about this trick was that when Hell Hounds attacked you from underground, you had no idea they were even there. You were caught off guard because you had no idea of the danger that was right under your hoof. I did and that little bit of knowledge would help…I hope.

Pulling out the Whistle I’d gotten from The Emperor I waited. Closing my eyes, I listened for any sign of the Hell Hound version of Envy. I didn’t have to wait long, a minute went by then I felt a very slight tremor from under me. Opening my eyes, I jumped out of the way right as an explosion of dirt and rubble went off right where I just was. The edge of a single claw caught my duster, ripping a small chunk off the edge, but it was better than the alternative.

Flipping around I saw Envy flying into the air, his long arms and claws extended up. He landed a moment later, “Lucky, but how long can you keep avoiding me…”

I didn’t give him time to say more. Bringing the whistle to my lips I blew hard on it. Instantly Envy started to scream, his claws coming up to cover his ears. Unlike before when Cutter used the whistle, Envy wasn’t in a form he could easily fly away with. He fell to his knees screaming louder as I kept blowing on the whistle, pain written on his face.

I stopped for a sec to take in a breath, as I said quickly, “What Envy, can’t handle the sound?”

I took another breath and kept it up, ignoring the pained expression on his face. A glow appeared around him again, but this time he didn’t transform. It was like the sound this thing gave off made it impossible for him to use his power. As I kept blowing Oricalcos said in my ear, “He has to concentrate to transform, he can’t do that when he’s in this much pain. Kill him while he’s down, it will be the only chance you’ll get.”

I would have if I could find my sword, I’m not sure if my weapons will do much damage to him. As I watched Envy writhing in pain, I noticed something. Like before when Cutter did this to him, it looked like Envy’s features were melting. It started in his face, the face of the Hell Hound he was impersonating was sliding away, under it I could see what looked like a dark green almost black armor. His body started to sink in on itself, in seconds he was the same size as me.

He looked up at me again, his eyes were now a bright blue and they were getting bigger. He spoke in a voice that was different than what I was used to, it had a hiss to it almost like Wind Thrasher when she was under the blood lust, “Pleassse…SSSTOP!”

I wasn’t going to let up, I didn’t care how much pain he was in. He was the pony who was responsible for Silvers death, Oricalcos may have been the one who killed her, but Envy was the one who helped Greed take her, he was the one who impersonated her, he was the one who gave all the information to the rest of the Sins on who I was and who was important to me. If he was in a great deal of pain, all the better. A moment later, there was a flash of green light and something else was laying on the ground curled into a ball. I stopped blowing on the whistle as I looked in disgust at the pitiful looking creature.

He reminded me of a pony, at least in general shape and size, but it was like a mocking joke of a pony. In place of a skin and a coat, his body was enclosed in a dark green exoskeleton, large bright blue eyes that were only blue. It looked like a small spiked curved horn was on his head, blood red bug wings were poking out of his back. His hooves had random holes running up his legs and large fangs that would make Wind Thrasher jealous poke out of his muzzle.

Oricalcos came out of my shadow again and turned back into his normal body, “He’s a Changeling. One of the last of his race left on Equis, Envy is a descendent of the Changeling Queen from two hundred years ago.”

Envy looked up at us both, his body shivering violently he looked almost pitiful, “I’m a pony!”

“No you’re not Envy, you just want to be a pony. You can change your looks, but you can’t ever change what you are.” Oricalcos said, “Star, this is the best time to kill him. A Changeling is weak when they are in their normal form, after what you did to him, he won’t be able to change into anything for a few minutes.”

I looked down at Envy and felt bad for the shivering creature. Sure, Envy was rude, cruel and deadly, but right now all I saw was somepony who just wanted to be like everypony else. Looking over at my uncle I asked, “Why does he keep saying he’s a pony?”

“Because I am! I don’t care what I was born as, I’m nothing like the rest of my kind, I’m stronger, smarter, more powerful than they could ever be.” Envy said seemingly coming back to his senses.

Oricalcos looked away, “When I found him near the bad lands he was close to death. The rest of his kind were attacking him because they thought he was weak. In reality it was because their current queen couldn’t control him. Changelings are a collective, one Changeling who is normally bigger and stronger than the rest controls all of them. If a changeling like Envy is born who has their own will, that changeling becomes a threat to the current ruler’s power. To this day I’m not sure why I did it, but I stopped them from killing him. They tried to attack me when I interfered so I killed them instead. I took Envy with me back to the Enclave and taught him how to use his power.”

Envy started to chuckle, “You showed me that Ponies were more powerful than Changelings. While they suffered from the war and the destruction that was brought to this land, Ponies in the clouds lived normal and even happy lives. That’s why I vowed to become a pony and to be the most powerful one in The Enclave!”

His tremors had stopped, but I wasn’t worried about it, if he tried anything all I had to do was use the whistle again, “So that’s why you’re named Envy. Your envious of pegasi. You just want to be one.”

“What was your first clue RUNT, in all of equestrian history, ponies have always ended up with the better lives! Queen Chrysalis tried to make a better life for us back before the war, and the Princesses of Equestria cast her out, forced the Changelings to go back to the horrible lives we lived back then! Why would I want to be part of a race that always loses? I’d rather be one of you, even after the war and with most of your land destroyed Ponies still find a way to live better than any other race!” Envy yelled starting to get back to his hooves.

Envy laughed again, “Pride…Pride…Pride…Pride…Pride, why would I do anything you tell me to anymore? You betrayed me, you left me all alone, you left the Team. Because of what? Some dead niece who isn’t dead. By siding with…HER…we lost what little respect we had in the Enclave. Do you even know where your sister is right now? Do you know what she’s been doing since you so called DIED?”

“I don’t care what she’s been doing and I don’t care about the team. I only started the Sins because I thought my family was gone. Now that I know that’s not true I have no reason to be a part of that Team!” Oricalcos yelled his horn glowing, “I’m going to put a stop to you Envy.”

Envy laughed again, “Really now? From what I can tell you don’t have much power left, I’m betting that most of your shadow magic was destroyed in that blast. Your just an echo of your former self, I bet that you wouldn’t even rate higher than seven in the Sins now. To put it lightly, none of us are scared of you anymore!”

“Envy you better quiet down before I use this on you again!” I said holding the whistle up in my magic.

Envy started to laugh again, in a flash of green he transformed back into his pegasus form, “You’re such a foal Half Pint, do you really think I came here alone! Like I said before I never went rogue, I just had to make the traitors in our group think I did.”

I was already moving the whistle to my lips when a bullet passed though it breaking the whistle followed by the echo of a rifle. At the same time there was a flash of blue light from behind Envy and my mom was standing there, her cloak and hood covering her features like before. Right after she appeared the beautiful Pegasus that tried to seduce Stardust back at Frosty Summit landed on the other side of Envy. This wasn’t good, we were too far from Crossroads Trading post for any of my friends to notice what was going on and most of the Sins were here.

The little bit of mom’s muzzle that I could see poking out from under the hood smiled as she said, “Good work Envy, you managed to capture two when I sent you after one.”

Envy’s smile grew giving an insane look to his features, “I am the number one Sin for a reason Cloak.”

She looked over at him, “I just knew that you had to be alive still brother. Tell me why are you with this mare?”

“It’s true mom, please you have to believe us.” I said, desperately wanting her to listen for once.

She scowled, “Preposterous, my Little Star died years ago, this mare is just trying to trick you brother. She knows more than she should about our family and she’s trying to use that to keep you from killing her. Now do your job Pride and restrain her.”

Oricalcos moved to stand between myself and the rest, “I won’t do anything to hurt her Grim, she’s my niece, I know that for a fact. I’ve seen her memories, if you’d take five minutes to stop and think you’d see it too. Even Nightshade could tell you if you’d just talk to him. You’re making a big mistake!”

“Am I?” Mom asked as she looked back at Oricalcos, “I don’t know if splitting yourself away from most of your power has messed with your mind or not, but you seem to be missing a few things about who this mare is brother.”

Mom grinned, “I doubt that very much. You see this mare isn’t my Star, she’s the daughter of that Steel Ranger mare Vervain. When my daughter died after we went to Stargazer labs I was left with just Vervain and the small amount of power that was what was left of Aquila. When we left the labs, we went back to our camp where this mare,” She pointed a hoof at me, “Was sleeping waiting for Vervain and myself to get back. I was so heartbroken by the loss of my daughter that I wasn’t keeping an eye on the power of Aquila. I didn’t know that the creature was still alive, she managed to break free and she hid inside the young filly. I knew that a filly like her couldn’t hold that power for long without dying, I told this to Vervain and once the filly died Aquila would vanish or try to find another host. I needed to get Aquila out of the filly, but Vervain wouldn’t let me. She attacked me and tried to run, I cast a memory spell at her, but it hadn’t worked as I hoped it would. Vervain only forgot a few things about the filly and seemed to think she was my Star. I didn’t see any reason to correct her, but Vervain stopped trusting me. That same night when I took off the Mark II so I could check a few things on it, Vervain stole it and ran off with the filly. Once they were in Stable 28, where Vervain had been working undercover for the Steel Rangers, I knew I couldn’t get to them. Vervain must have still thought the filly was Star because she filled this mare’s head with stories that aren’t true, and now your falling for the same lies Brother!”

“That’s not true!” I yelled, “I remember you being in Stable 28 with me mom. Your own memories are messed up because of some pony who used something on you to make you forget me. Auntie Vervain never had any foals because she can’t.”

For a moment I saw her grey eyes glaring at me from under her hood, then vanish back under it, “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Yes, my memories were disrupted because of that fucking Hunter Hex, but I still remember some things and I know that you aren’t my Star. I realized who you were when we last met, after you told me to look into Aquila, the creature who was hiding inside of you. Once I knew that you had Aquila, I knew who you were. First you stole the key to unlocking Falling Shadows by letting Aquila live inside of you, then you take my Mark II which is the only way to unlock the terminals for the Project.”

“Oh child, you have no idea what really happened do you, I think that you’ve let that monster inside of you take hold of too much. She’s making you think you remember me, but you don’t, you only know what Aquila has let you know. Maybe you’ve seen some of my memory orbs too, I have no idea. That would explain how you know more than you should. I did manage to lose a few of mine a few years back.” Mom said, “Now both of you will come with me, I’m sick of this game.”

“We aren’t going anywhere with you Grim, I’m here to protect Star.” Oricalcos said.

“He’s right, I don’t care how many ponies you have fighting with you. I’d rather die than let you win.” I said pulling on Aquila’s power that was now my own, as I did my coat once again changed as power filled my body and my horn, “I am the Courier, and I won’t let a pony like you do anymore harm, MOTHER.”

I thought that if I made my body look like it did back in the day, that mom would see that I was her Morning Star. I was wrong, she frowned saying in a harsh voice, “You can wear the face of my Star Aquila, but I won’t let you fool me as well.” She lifted her own Pip-Buck saying into it, “Wrath, you know what to do.”

“Wrath’s dead,” Oricalcos said, “Stardust killed him back at the Kingdom.”

Another shot went off in the distance right as I jumped back. Something about holding on to Aquila’s power seemed to give me a sense of when I was in mortal danger. Before that shot went off it felt like something inside me was telling me to jump out of the way. As soon as my hooves touched the ground again I teleported. I reappeared a good distance away then turned my head toward where the shot had just come from and fired a massive spell toward the Sniper. Before my magic hit however I saw a pegasus with a light blue coat fly away just in time. As he did he aimed again and fired, again I was able to avoid the shot. I looked down to where the bullet hit the ground and was surprised to see that instead of a hole in the ground where the bullet should have landed, there was a small blue dart. Mom wasn’t trying to have her new Wrath kill me, she was trying to drug me so I couldn’t fight anymore.

As I moved Oricalcos tried to attack mom. Envy blocked him by transforming into the dragon again. My uncles’ blades of darkness glanced off Envy’s scales like they were made of steel. Envy opened his maw and blasted fire right at my uncle. His body vanished as the flames passed over him. When the flames died down Oricalcos was already reappearing next to mom, “Nice try sis, but you have to do something better than use Envy to stop me.”

“So…predictable brother,” Mom said as her horn started to glow from under her hood. Magical circles appeared around Oricalcos on every side, they flashed and golden chains flew out of them wrapping him in them so he couldn’t move an inch, “Have you forgotten brother? I know just as much about your power as you do, I also know how to stop you when I need to as well.”

“The hell did you do!?” Oricalcos yelled trying to pull free, his body even turned to shadow again for a moment before the chains glowed brighter and he was forced back into his normal pony form.

“New spell I invented, I call them Chains of Celestia. It’s a very powerful binding spell for stopping creatures of darkness like you. Now you stay here while I go deal with The Courier.” She said turning toward me then yelling, “Wrath stop playing with her and finish this. If we take too much longer we’ll have the NLR and her friends to deal with!”

I drew on more of Aquila’s power letting it fill me until I felt like I was going to burst. My head started to throb and a small ringing filled my ears as her power flooded me, “I don’t think so Grim.”

Another shot rang out, but I was already moving, I ignored the presence of Wrath who was trying to fire one of those darts into me, I ignored Envy who lunged for me, I only cared about stopping my mom. As I teleported out of the way of Envy I remembered one of the spells in mom’s spell book, even better with Aquila’s magic coursing through me I knew how to do the spell. With a cocky smile on my face that would make Stardust proud I fired the spell right at mom. She smiled as well, casting a shield spell to protect her from what she must have thought was an attack. Funny thing about shield spells, if you cast one to stop a blast of magic from hurting you then it will…most of the time, but if you cast one that protects you from a magical blast and the unicorn your facing is trying to use a spell like a memory spell, it doesn’t work as well. This is why you should always be prepared for magic of all kinds and cast wards around yourself to keep you safe. Her shield spell didn’t even slow down my attack, because I wasn’t trying to hurt her, all I wanted her to do was remember, at least one thing.

My magic wrapped around her head, mom’s cocky grin faded as a look of shock replaced it. I slammed into her right as the connection with her mind was made, “Please…remember me.” The world melted away…

oooOOOooo

“You know Grim I’m starting to get a little worried about Shadow.” Vervain said as mom and her walked through the lower levels of Stable 28. It had to be level Nine, because that’s the only level I’ve ever seen that had plants growing all over. They were in the small apple orchard toward the back of level Nine where it was unlikely they’d be overheard.

“What do you mean? She’s been doing very well over the past year, she hasn’t had any problems with Aquila or her magic in four months now.” Mom said as she used her magic to pull one of the oddly colored apples off a tree. She bit into it, “I still can’t get over the strange way these apples taste, they are way too sweet and not even close to being as juicy as the ones I grew up around.”

Vervain sighed, leaning against the tree, “She’s asked me yesterday, why do mares and stallions have to be together. I told her it’s to make sure that pony kind live on. Then she asked me what would happen if a mare wanted to be with another mare and why they can’t have a foal together.”

Mom spat the apple out of her mouth as she started to laugh, “I’d think it would be rather hard to procreate when you’re missing the proper equipment.”

“She’s a filly Vervain, foals always start to ask silly questions about where foals come from and all that when they are around Shadow’s age.” Mom said as she fought to keep down her giggles. “There’s nothing to worry about, it’s normal.”

“Grim, what if it isn’t? I mean I could understand her asking me the first question, but why would she ask about two mares being together? This could be the first sign that she might like mares.” Vervain said, doing her best to keep her voice down.

I felt mom roll her eyes, “So what if she does, she’s still my Little Star and I love her. Though I still don’t think you have to worry about it, she’s just curious that’s all. She’s young.”

“Grim, I asked her why she wanted to know and do you know what she told me?”

“She told me that she thinks it would be nice to live with a mare when she’s older and not just as a roommate. She thinks it would be better than being around a stallion because she think’s stallions are mean. She said she loves her friend Strawberry Milkshake.”

Mom started to laugh again, “Oh Vervain, why are you so worried. Of course, she doesn’t like stallions yet, she’s a foal. Not all ponies grew up around Steel Rangers being taught that you have to be with a stallion one day.”

“They don’t teach that to Steel Rangers and you know that Grim. The Steel Rangers are just fine with same sex relationships. Even if that was true, Stable 28 does teach fillies and colts that it’s bad to be with a pony of the same gender as you because they can’t afford to have the population fall. I don’t care who she loves, but The Overmare will. If you want to keep her from kicking you two out then you need to do something about this. There has to be some spell you can use that will make sure she stops talking like this.” Vervain said, she looked scared.

I could feel mom’s face fall a little, “What you’re asking me to do is manipulate the way my daughter feels toward other ponies. I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life Vervain, messing with Shadow’s memories being one of the worst, but I won’t do that to her.”

“Yes, I would,” mom said her voice going quiet, “When I was a filly Vervain, my parents were always trying to force me to be the kind of unicorn they thought I should be. They always treated me like crap because I wasn’t as powerful as my brother and I had a hard time learning spells. When I would get a spell wrong my father would beat me for it and force me to try again. They tried to force me to be something I’m not. I won’t do the same thing to my daughter. It’s bad enough that I’ve taken away everything of who she is already just to protect her from another one of my mistakes. If she happens to fall for a mare or a stallion I won’t care because it will be what she wants and not what I think she should be. So, yes, I would risk being kicked out of here as long as she’s happy.”

“Grim, I’m sorry that happened to you when you were young, but this isn’t the same thing. You told me yourself that Shadow needs to stay here where it’s safe, if you both get kicked out of here what good will that do her?”

Mom looked up, “If the Overmare tries to kick us out because of how my daughter feels then I’ll do to her what I did to her mother. Shadow will leave Stable 28 when I say it’s time.”

Vervain sighed again, “Fine, but at least let me sit down with her and explain things about what this Stable is like when it comes to same sex relationships. At the very least it will help her understand why she needs to keep it secret.”

“Fine, but don’t make her feel like she’s bad for feeling this way. Though I still think you’re over thinking a few normal questions from a young filly.”

“Maybe, but with how much The Overmare is watching you two, I’d like to keep her reasons for kicking you out as minimal as possible,” Vervain said, “On a different subject, have you been able to learn more about that other Project?”

Mom closed her eyes and leaned against the other tree, “No, even the small notes I was able to finally decrypt wasn’t much help. The few memory orbs that are protected with a password are useless to me as well. Night Stalker was very good about making those hard to get into. He had Minuette put passwords into them that had to do with his life before he came back to Equestria as a child. One is the name of the Griffon who gave him his scar, another was his real mother’s name, and another was the only pony he ever truly loved. I mean hell I didn’t think he loved anypony. I tried his wife, his daughter, his adopted sister, Luna, none of those worked.”

Mom laughed, “First of all it said some PONY, not some Griffon, and those two had a bad falling out a couple of years after the Enclave started.”

“She was the only one he ever seemed to really care about though. At least that’s what you told me.”

Mom sighed again, “I guess it can’t hurt, though I’m sure it’s another dead end and it still doesn’t help me with the rest. Information on Night Stalker is hard enough to find, information about him before he was Night Stalker, is like trying to get The Enclave and The Steel Rangers to make peace.”

“Nothing is impossible, just extremely hard and very unlikely to ever happen,” Mom said still chuckling as she looked down at her Pip-Buck, “Damn I have to get back to R&D, can you keep an eye on Shadow tonight?”

Mom got back to her hooves, “Thanks,” She turned to leave, “Oh and Vervain…why did Shadow go to you with her questions and not me?”

The expression on Vervain’s face was sad, “I’m around her more than you, she just felt commutable asking me I think.”

“But I’m her mom, she should be asking ME these kinds of questions not you.”

“I know Grim, but you work most of the day and night. She doesn’t know how to talk to you about this kind of thing. If you want her to do that, then you need to spend more time with her.”

oooOOOooo

The memory itself seemed to take a few minutes to go by, but unlike a memory orb, in reality it only took a second. Envy was still turning around after missing me during his attack and mom’s face was still stuck in a look of shock. I was meaning to make her remember more, but something seemed to stop the spell. Pain seemed to be running up my left leg, looking down I saw what must have forced me to stop casting the spell. A black sharp rod was poking into my leg, following its length to its source I saw it was being held by Lust.

“Naughty little filly trying to attack our boss like that. Did you forget about little old me?” She said in a mocking voice.

“Oh fuck off you worthless excuse for a peg…” I didn’t get to finish what I was saying, because mom blasted me with one of her own spells. I was sent flying as the spell slammed into me.

“I made you remember something.” I said getting back to my hooves, “What’s the matter mom, are you starting to realize that you might be wrong about what you think you know?”

“You bitch, that was nothing more than you trying to plant false memories!” Mom said, but before she could say more a loud alarm started to go off from the NLR camp next to Crossroads Trading Post.

Envy looked toward it and grinned as he turned back into his pony form, “What do you say boss, do you want me to take care of them?”

Mom rubbed her head more then pulled her hood down her eyes closed as she cursed under her breath, “No…I need to get out of here Envy you grab my brother, I’ll have Wrath grab me.”

Mom grinned at me through the obvious pain she was feeling, “Oh she’ll come to us in time, I mean she seems to think that my brother is her Uncle. Isn’t that right Courier, I’m sure you’d do anything to save somepony you care about.”

“Star don’t!” Oricalcos yelled, “Let them take me, you need to get to safety, I’ll be fine.”

“No, you have your own mission to take care of.” Oricalcos said as Envy flew over to him.

“Fuck that!” I yelled firing a blast of magic at Envy. Mom jumped in the way blocking the magic with one of her shield spells.

“Now, now courier we can do this the easy way or the hard way, and trust me you don’t want to do this the hard way. Be thankful that I’m in a hurry and I really need my brother at the moment more than I need you. If you want to get him back you can find him in Los Alicorn with me.” Mom said, it seemed as if the pain from that memory was starting to fade already.

Envy transformed into the griffon again then took hold of the glowing chains around my uncle, “See you soon Shrimp. Oh, and just so you know, the next time we meet you’re a dead mare.”

I readied another spell not caring what my uncle said, I’m not going to let him be taken, I’m not losing another friend to the Sins. Oricalcos yelled down at me before I could do more than ready the spell, “Star, trust me. Don’t do anything else, I’ll be fine.”

I let the spell fade away as I watched Envy fly off with Oricalcos. As he was taken away I could hear hooves thundering from behind me. The NLR were almost here. Another pegasus fell from the sky pointing his rifle at me, “Are you sure we can just leave her here Boss?” he asked as mom walked over to him.

“Don’t worry Wrath she’ll be a good little mare and go to where I told her too. If she doesn’t then she’ll never see my brother again, and we will come back here and kill every pony she loves until she obeys.”

The pegasus was taller than the old Wrath and much younger from the sound of his voice. He had a light blue coat but that was all I could see of him because he was dressed in full body Enclave Power Armor. He looked over at me saying, “I warned you before Courier, this is what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, you should have stayed away from my boss’s plans and given her what she wanted a long time ago. If you had, this wouldn’t be happening.”

Mom smiled, “Lust, take care of those NLR pests before you leave and Wrath make sure the Courier can’t interfere.”

“With Pleasure.” Wrath said pulling his rifle out again and shooting me with one of his darts. I’m not sure why, but this time I didn’t even expect it, “What I don’t understand is why we don’t just take her with us?”

“Because, there’s something she may be able to help me with, if I take her now then she’ll be useless.” Mom said laughing as Wrath holstered his rifle then took hold of mom and took off, “See you soon…”

I lost hold of my magic and my legs went weak. Whatever was on that dart seemed to be similar to what the Stranger used on me. My body went mostly numb and soon I was laying on my side unable to move. Lust giggled then tossed her mane back as she walked closer to me, “Oh, poor little Courier. You’re lucky my boss needs you alive or I’d love to take this chance to kill you.”

“You’re pathetic, I can’t even figure out why your ranked so high in the Sin’s. The only thing I’ve ever seen you do is seduce Stardust and use a weapon that elongates to attack ponies.” I said.

She moved even closer not even seeming to care that the NLR solders where almost here, “Oh you really think I’m weak just because you haven’t seen what I can do huh.”

“That about covers it. So how are you going to take down all of those solders, going to bat your eyes and say please don’t hurt me I’m a pathetic whore?”

She didn’t get mad at my taunts. She just moved her face within an inch of mine, “Your kind of cute when you’re helpless. I think I see what that griffon likes so much about you now,” She slowly licked over my check, then my nose then finished at the tip of my horn, kissing the tip of it softly. I couldn’t help the shiver of revolution and pleasure that ran down my spine. She may be a Sin, but she was very, very beautiful, “Mmmmm, I think I like you. I can’t wait till Cloak is done with you, then you’ll be all mine. Now you asked what I’m going to do to the NLR, just sit back and watch.”

She moved my head so that I could see the NLR ponies as they closed the last few feet between the two of us. Lust slowly walked toward them as they came to a halt a stallion who was leading them saying, “Miss, are you okay? We saw what looked like a dragon here not long ago and heard gun shots.”

“Oh sir, thank the goddess you’re here, my friend and I were attacked by Envy from the Seven Sins of Equinity. She’s hurt bad, can you please help us?”

He looked over at me, worry written on his face, “Don’t worry ma’am, you’re safe with us. I’m a Veteran Ranger, no pony will hurt you anymore. Let’s get a better look at your friend then we can get her back to the medical tent.”

“Don’t listen to her she’s a SIN, she’s LUST!” I yelled, but it was too late.

Lust opened her mouth and instead of saying something to defend herself a sound came out of her muzzle followed by a red glow from around her neck. As soon as it started every one of the NLR pony’s eye’s glazed over. That sound was like an other-worldly creature’s song. It had a depth to it that made it both scary and mesmerizing at the same time. The sound alone made my head start to swim like I was under the influence of some kind of drug. If she had been facing toward me, I’m sure the effect would have been a lot stronger.

Then as I was trying to clear my head of the strange feeling, the Veteran Ranger turned toward one of his comrades yelling, “Sergeant back away from her, she’s MINE!”

“Fuck you, I saw her first!” the stallion yelled back pulling his rifle off his back.

The Veteran Ranger already had his black revolver out, he blew a hole right into the Stallions head. He turned as another stallion yelled something about Lust being his soul mate, the Veteran Ranger dropped him before he got close. Then all hell broke loose as every pony that was part of the group started to kill each other. Every one saying the other was trying to steal the beautiful mare away from them. The Veteran Ranger was horrible to watch as he shot another stallion in the chest, twisted around grabbed another stallion in a choke hold and breaking his neck. After that he jumped back and shot another stallion in the groin blowing his stallion hood to pieces before finishing him off by stomping on the screaming stallions head, crushing it into jelly. It was over almost as fast as it started, soon only the Veteran Ranger was left standing, surrounded by at least forty dead NLR ponies.

He bowed to Lust who was still making that strange singing noise, “My Love, I have proven that I am the strongest one here, how may I serve you.”

In-between the strange sounds Lust said, “If you love me then would you please blow your brains out?”

The stallion who was a unicorn lifted his revolver in his magic, “Anything for you!” and he blew half his head off. His body falling the ground twitching as blood stained the ground red.

Lust started to giggle uncontrollably, the sound she was making coming to a halt, “Oh I do so love simple minded Stallions they are so easy to fool. I thought at least the Veteran Ranger would have been able to break free of my song, but I guess he was more brawn than brains, sad.”

She giggled again as she looked back at me, “Why would I tell you that? I’m not an idiot like some of the others you faced in the Sins before. Let’s just say there’s a good reason they call me Lust.”

She came closer again, “That may be true, but I’m a very beautiful one, oh how I wish I could take you with me right now and show you the other reasons I’m called Lust. I never get to have fun when I’m on jobs like this, oh well.” She moved her head down and kissed me. Her tongue pushing past my lips and into my muzzle. I was so shocked I had no way of stopping her, she kissed me for what felt like forever. When she pulled away she licked her lips and said in what had to be the most seductive voice I’ve ever heard, “I don’t normally enjoy mares as much as Stallions, but I’d make an exception for you, I do so love a helpless little thing like you. Maybe next time, I think I see your griffon friend coming, I’ll see you later…Shadow…Star!”

And before I could say anything, the pegasus took to the air and was gone. I was left looking at the bloody remains of what had been most of the NLR that ran Crossroads Trading Post. Lust had also been right, not a full minute passed when Aura landed next to me, “Shadow what the fuck happened here!?”

[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]

NEW PERK ADDED!

Hunter Rank 1:Throughout The Wasteland in your travels you’ve encountered some strange creatures and phenomenon. Now you can use that experience to your advantage. You can see through a shapeshifted enemy’s disguise easier than most, and some Wasteland creatures that are a lower level than you will not attack.

Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 45: Payback