//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Nature Of A Hero // Story: Fallout Equestria: Heroes // by No One //------------------------------// Nature of A Hero Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train. I woke up feeling warm and happy. That's right, I woke up happy. Take that, nightmares, you lose this round. Of course that made it about three to five hundred, but it was something. Since I was already having a good morning I decided to murmur my approval and snuggled up with Platinum Haze. She had spent the night, but there was no 'hanky panky' involved. Just cuddling, and I was okay with that. Take things slow so my neuroses didn’t explode twice. “Good morning, Silver...” Haze's voice sounded beautiful. “Did you sleep well?” I nodded into her coat. “Are you sure? You seemed... distressed. Did you have a nightmare?” Probably. I couldn't remember. Dreams are tricky like that. Nightmares were my speciality, so it was safe to assume. “Maybe,” I mumbled. “Lots of nightmares.” “Did you want to talk about them?” About as much as I wanted to talk about Foundation. Before I could answer though, the door to my room burst open, and I heard the pitter-patter of hooves running towards my bed. “GERONIMO!” A ball of pink fur slammed into my chest, making me gasp. “Hi Momma, how was the date? You're sleeping in the same bed, that's suspicious. Nothin' better of happened, cause you said ya wouldn't. I already had breakfast, Flare give me sugar apple bombs. They're delicious!” “I'm sure they are.” I rubbed at my eyes with my foreleg. “Can you get off me?” “Your boss wanted to see you, better hurry up.” I looked over to see Flare standing by the door, faking a smile. I wasn't sure why House wanted to see me. There were still a few days left before I had to go to work, at least that's what he’d said before. If he’d changed his mind, I would be annoyed. “Right.” Part of me wanted to stay in bed next to Platinum Haze forever, but we both had work to do. “Serenity,” I said again. That was all it took to get her off me, which gave me room to roll off the bed and trudge to the bathroom. “Be right back.” Before I went in, I grabbed my saddlebags and dragged them with me. When the door was safely closed behind me, I sheepishly slumped to the sink. After splashing water in my face, I looked at the cracked mirror above the tap and sighed. Just as ugly as the last time I’d checked. Though my mane was starting to grow out even more, which gave me an idea. I carefully grabbed the hairbrush in my fetlock I started to brush at my mane. It wasn't easy because, as an earth pony my magic-less existence made manoeuvring things difficult, but also because my mane was a tattered mess of sweat and knots. After some considerable effort, I managed to brush a lot of my pink and white mane so it was hanging over the right side of my face, covering at least some of my scars and part of my eye-patch. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it'd work. With that done I looked into the medicine compartment of my saddlebags. There was a tightness in my gut when I realized I was starting to run out of Med-X. I would have to buy more later, but doing that without anyone seeing would be the trick. Either that or I could request some from House, but I wasn't sure I wanted him to know. Every option seemed like it was going to lead to trouble. We had more important things to deal with, but I knew my companions wouldn't let it go. Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I decided to deal with the problem later. Instead, I gave myself a dose of Med-X (which made me feel much better about the whole situation) and tossed the container out. “Momma, come see!” a muffled voice said through the door. Before I even opened the door I knew whatever she was doing was either completely adorable or dangerous enough to give me a heart attack. When I opened the door I was glad it was the adorable option. Haze had lifted up Serenity in her magic and was floating her around in a circle as Serenity stretched her legs out as if she herself was doing all the work. “Look! I'm flying.” That she was. “Make me do a loop!” As ordered, Haze used her magic and suddenly Serenity was doing loop-de-loops that would make Flare jealous. “You're talented.” I smirked. “She really wanted to fly,” Haze explained. “And we just could not deny her.” Serenity did one final flip before Haze let her drop safely on the bed, which of course made Serenity pout. “I know that feeling.” I walked over to the alicorn and nuzzled her cheek. “Momma's a liar,” Serenity said. “Momma denies me all the time.” “Only when she wants cybernetics,” I explained to Haze. “She's obsessed.” Serenity didn't even try to argue that because it was simply true. “So we have heard. We think it is a noble pursuit, and that it is good she takes such interests at a young age. We are sure it will not be long before you find your cutie mark at this rate.” She smiled at Serenity, but for some reason Serenity seemed a little upset about the proclamation. “Uh... “ Haze noticed the frown and wasn't sure what to say. “Anyway. We are afraid we must take our leave. Diamond Sky will be waiting for our return, and we cannot put off our work.” “It's fine. I uh... had a good time.” I felt my cheeks start to get warm; Flare nickering confirmed that for me. “We did as well...” She kicked at the ground. “Yes well...” I gulped. “Kiss!” Flare suggested in a manner that definitely did not make me want to kick him. Luckily for him, Haze took his suggestion to heart and I was too distracted by alicorn snogs for my daily pegasus beating. “Ew, mares!” Flare added. At that point I had to break away the kiss because I was giggling. “Your friend is quite silly.” Haze was giggling too, and I noticed she too was blushing. “Not the word I'd use.” Among my top adjectives for Flare were: annoying, aggravating, frustrating, and slightly amusing. “See you later?” “Yes!” She blushed. “We mean... Yes, if you wish visit us at any time, and we will try to take time out to speak with you.” She kissed my cheek, walked over to the window, opened it, turned invisible, and presumably flew out. My eyes stayed fixed on the spot she had last been for a good minute. Part of me felt nervous, though I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because I lived a hectic, and often deadly life, and that could be the last time I saw her. Or I was simply worrying too much. “Momma.” My eyes darted over to Serenity. “There better not'a been any hanky panky.” Why was my daughter was interrogating me about my sex life? It was just wrong on so many levels; I didn't answer. I walked out the door and pretended my life still made sense. We made our way to House’s office, and as usual found him staring thoughtfully out of his really large windows. The first thing he said when we entered was that I had a job to do, which was annoying because I was supposed to be on break. So much for resting. “You said I have the rest of the week off...” Was my obvious reply. “Things have changed.” He turned around to look at me. It may have been my imagination but he actually looked sorry. “You have heard the Chairpony of the NCA is coming to Dise to give a speech about the Minotaur struggle?” I nodded. Lucky had mentioned it. “It's today. Apparently it is important, as the minotaur king is going to be there, and the NCA has requested guards from all groups in Dise be present in a show of solidarity. It seems like an official treaty is going to be signed.” “And I need to go?” That made no sense. I was not a security specialist by any stretch of imagination, and the Hizai had an entire contingent of Security personal. “I'm sorry, yes.” He walked over to his over-large computer system and pressed a few buttons. Not that I knew enough about how computers worked to actually explain what he did. “I got a request by Major General Hailstorm to send at least one agent with cybernetic eyes. She wants somepony up high to monitor the minotaurs that will be there. Tell her which are aggressive, and which were the most dangerous in case something went wrong. Unfortunately everypony else with that specific augmentation is out on a critical mission, so it's up to you.” The thought of being up high sent shivers down my spine, and if this was today that ruined that whole 'getting off drugs' thing Flare had set up. I'd try to hide my disappointment. “Lovely. Is it tonight?” “This evening, at the NCA train station. You'll go through the main gate, and go with the rest of the guards. Try not to fight with any Galaicians, Mustangs, or Baises...” he looked back at me. “The Finishers are sending a few too, you can fight with them if you want.” But I rather liked the Finishers. At least when they weren't drugging me. “Once you're there, you'll report directly to the Major General. You'll find her in the back of the station on the furthest rail-car. And Hired.” He walked over at me to glare face to face. “Do not fuck with her. She holds a lot of power, and I would like for us to be on friendly terms.” “Sure.” What, did he think I was going to kick her in the face or something? I wasn't that dumb. “Oh, yeah, I found something...” The ghoul raised an eyebrow at me. “Serenity, could you get the documents?” it was just easier than looking through with my mouth. “Sure, Momma!” A few seconds later the documents I'd found in the tunnels were floating out in front of my in a pink glow. “What are these...” he started to flip through one to the end, and his eyes went wide as he saw the signature. “Wallkirk... where did you?” “An old office of his in the-” “My men found that office years ago.” he cut me off. “Secret compartment of one of his drawers.” I continued pretending not to hear his interruption. “It was protected by a magical shield. It was poorly designed. They might be interesting.” I motioned at the documents. “Very interesting.” “Humm, I will take a look...” his voice sounded kind of distant as he read. “You should be going, you need to be gone in an hour and a half.” Even better. “You'll get paid double though. Now go...” he trotted off awkwardly still reading the documents. I guess I did that right at least. “Can't you go anywhere without stumbling across an ancient secret?” --- Before I could go anywhere else I tracked down Starscream and bugged him until he gave me a passport into the city so I could get Pearly inside. After that I finally left the BS. We didn't have much time to meet Mayhem before we had to go with the other gang members to the train station, so we hoofed it down to The Moon as fast we could. Well I did, while Serenity and Flare followed. Though I did take the time to explain why I had to go they didn't understand. It didn't seem that complicated. If you say you're going to do a job, you do it. If I couldn't do that I would be pretty bad at my job. I was a Hired Gun after all, and if a gun constantly misfires, you get a new gun. Once inside I had expected to be ushered down to the secret room in the basement where Mayhem normally took his office. Instead the guard who was expecting me (who was the bartender when I used to work there) took me to a side office that I was pretty sure used to be a bathroom. The floor was still tiled, and the remains of plumbing could be seen, but it seemed he was trying to fit it up given the newish wallpaper. Once I entered I saw Mayhem pacing nervously. His metal hoof clacked against the tiled floor as he did. “Hired.” He turned his dark eyes to me. “You're late. I almost thought you weren't going to show. I'd offer you a seat but...” he looked around. “Well it's not ready. So stand an-” he looked around me to see Flare and Serenity walking after and very subtlety adjusted the mini-gun on his back. “Your friends will have to wait outside.” “But I always getta listen when Momma goes into secret meetings.” “You heard the large stallion with the large gun.” Flare tugged her back. “Give them space.” As Serenity was drug out of the room she thought it was a good idea to say, “But Momma is bigger, and has a big gun too!” “Precocious scamp.” Mayhem watched her leave. “Now for you, how have you been?” He tilted his head and eyed the side of my face I had half-hidden behind my mane. “If my spies are correct you've been a busy mare. Fighting tough-ass raiders in the north, escaping the steel rangers... twice. Then you came back, and got into a fight with Molly.” He recited from memory. “How are you not dead yet?” “Not for want of trying.” I scratched at the scars on my face that paid tribute to that fact. “I'm bad at dying.” “Evidently. Well I'm sure that'll be rectified in short order.” He smiled and leaned against the wall. “I knew you were something as soon as you came into the city. Roy let me handle a lot of recruitment work, and I have ponies searching the street looking for good mercs. When I heard about a giant of a mare walking into a drug dealer base and cleaning it, well I had to have her. Then you show up, drunk and horny. Well it was easy to get you into debt. Then you killed Roy, and I knew I had a winner. It's a shame you had to go for House, I could make better use of you.” “I'm not an asset to be traded and used.” I levelled my one eyed glare at him. “You are, I am, we all are. Welcome to Dise, you must be new here.” he laughed. “Oh, I missed you. Do you remember the night Roy died?” Of course I did. It was before the clouds cleared, mercilessly dark, and slightly warm. It felt like the muggy day before a thunderstorm. “I do to.” he tapped his metal leg. “Lost my leg, and gained a gang. A fair trade. I would have lost more, but, unlike Roy, I knew you were full of shit.” “I didn't break my contract...” My voice sounded a bit defensive. I worked hard to always to my work to the letter. “Of course not, you did everything as ordered I'm sure. How many ponies were you working for that night?” I just smirked. “Right, a secret. I knew, and I prepared a counter attack... it didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but it was enough to stop her from torching the building. Tell me, why did you kill Roy?” “He pissed me off.” “You know.” He grinned. “I have a contract for any one job, I could make you tell me.” That would suck. I rather liked the fact that nopony could figure it out. “No matter., I have a better job. I'm sure House picked you to be one of his guards going down to help 'keep the peace' during the speech.” “Spies?” I took a wild guess. He was always bragging about his spies. “Of course.” He walked towards me, “Listen, the speech will be attended by the 'Minotaur King'. If anything happens, I need you to escort him out. Defend him with your life. Is that clear?” I just stared at him blankly. “A deal is a deal; if anything happens, you get him out of there. You don't want to break a contract, do you?” “Okay.” This was going to suck. “I'll do it. I'm not going to kill NCA troopers to do it though.” “If you must, you will.” His gaze hardened. “No.” If Haze could survive with the entire city wanting her dead, I could manage with just a few hundred ponies. “I'll find another way.” There is always a better way. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.” “Speak for yourself.” he barked laughter. “A little explosion is a good way to spice up a day of boring speeches. You're probably late, so go now. Remember the deal.” He narrowed his eyes. “Please don't fail me.” Well, he did ask nicely. “Oh, and one caveat, don't tell your pegasus, or little filly. If nothing happens, I don't want this spreading to the Remnants and the Watchers. Also, no telling Mr. House, or anypony affiliated with him.” “Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hoof and walked out the door. “So many rules.” --- “Hey, Hired?” Flare said. We had left The Moon and were just past the Dise main gates (The ponitrons gave us dirty looks) “Weren't we supposed to do something today.” Huh, oh yeah. The Detox. I had intentionally forgot. “Right.” I shrugged and headed down the street towards the casino Pearly was staying at. “It'll have to wait for another time.” I was so heartbroken about it. Looking at Flare, he felt the exact same way. I wasn't entirely sure what my feelings were on that, but I didn't push the issue. Take what small victories I could get. If that was a victory. I didn't even know anymore. “Alright. I'll talk to them when we get back.” He flapped into the air, “In the meantime, while you talk with the apple mare, I have a few contacts. Could go find something to tide us over.” Oh Celestia, yes! I mean, sure okay. I guess... I nodded at him, and hoofed some caps. “Shouldn't take long, meet you outside the casino.” He flew straight up, looked around, and dashed off. I didn't mean to make that pun. We made our way through the fairly busy street to the casino. Upon entering I was instantly greeted by Pearly sitting at a nearby table. “Hon! There you are. I've been waitin'. These ponies don't seem ta like me loitering none.” she waved a hoof at the ponies working the front desk. “Apparently I don't have enough for another night, so it's good that ya came.” She shook her head. “Spent too much gambling, oh well.” “Here.” I placed the passport on the table. “Good news. Got you into the city. Report to the BS and they'll get you to work.” “Aw, thanks Hon.” She got off the chair and stuck her tongue out at the desk ponies. “They'll want me out as soon as possible, so I can't stay'n chat. Y’all look busy too.” She kissed my cheek. “Stay safe, I’ll head right over. We c'n talk later, hon, see ya.” And she walked off towards the stairs presumably to gather her things. I had hoped to talk to her for a little longer, if only because I liked talking to Pearly. “Momma, ya shouldn’t kiss other mares,”  Serenity said from her perch on my back. “I have no interest in her. Just Haze.” I paused and turned to her. “Just in case, don't tell her. It meant nothing. Just don't want her getting the wrong idea.” Most of all, I didn't want Diamond Sky to skewer me if she misunderstood. “Sooooo, it don't mean nothin' but ya still want me ta keep it a secret.” She narrowed her eyes. “Suspicious.” In truth, I wasn’t really worried about Haze or Diamond knowing that Pearly existed, but I was worried about them hearing the wrong thing and getting the wrong impression. Both of them were smart enough to know I had no interest in Pearly, but if someone like Flare made a joke that was misunderstood, then it could be an issue, and I would rather not be killed over a misunderstanding. Serenity was probably joking anyway. Of course that just made me think of Platinum Haze and start to worry about her. Or, rather about us. My whole plan was to move slow so we wouldn't be overwhelmed, but I couldn't help but think maybe we were moving too fast. Of course, I wasn't sure what was fast and what was slow. The only pony I ever dated before was Wildfire, and that just sort of happened. There hadn’t been any dates, or defining moments, just a subtle transition. This was brand new territory, and utterly terrifying, and could end horribly, especially if I kept comparing her to Wildfire. It was a sad thought, but no matter how much I liked Haze, Wildfire was foremost in my heart. It wasn't fair to Haze, but it was hard to remove my feelings for Wildfire. Right, depressing thoughts go away, I had a job to do. When I exited the casino it was a surprise to find that Flare was not waiting for me, instead it was Pinprick. “Hey cunt.” The grey earth pony grinned at me. “You're late as fucking usual. You're lucky this bitch is looking out for you.” She looked a little scuffed up, and her right foreleg was bandaged. It must have been from that bust she mentioned the day before. “And if you're wondering how the shit I know, the Batmare just happened to be eavesdropping on you this morning. Don't ask how or why, the bitch can teleport after all, and maybe she wanted ta make sure ya were comin'” “Hi, prisoner.” Spitshine poked her head out from around her mother's legs. “Momma n' I got into a fight yesterday, but we're good now, are you?” Her mane seemed shorter than the day before, and it might have been my imagination but it looked slightly singed. “Ya didn't fight; ya dated, I heard. That's much worse.” “I'm fine.” I smirked at the filly who still seemed to think I was her prisoner despite the fact I hadn't been since my first few days in Caledonia. “And well rested. Very well rested.” I looked up at Pinprick, “You're going to be a guard at the speech too?” She didn't look the guard type. “Well, not 'fically. But it turns out some of the assassins what Molly hired don't actually communicate with each other, so I found one lonely bitch, knocked her out and.” she tapped the pipbuck like device on her foreleg. “It comes with an identification chip.” she barked laughter. “So I'm a fucking Baise, who’d’a known?” “Is the Batmare going to come too?” Serenity asked beside me. “I like her. She's cool an' heroic, and can teleport cool-like.” “Yeah, kid.” Pinprick snorted. “But not with us. The train station is 'pparently on the south west side outside the city, but since this is the only fucking gate, we have to go 'round. Now the Batfuck is different, she can just teleport past the walls, so she's already there an' staking the area out. She could'a taken me too, but I felt like talking to your cunt of a mother.” Serenity seemed to approve of this information and nodded happily. “Now lets get the show on the fucking road. There's a whole caravan of us waitin', ya know. All the gangs that matter.” “How do you know who matters?” She'd been in the city for maybe a week at the most, so I doubted she had a real intricate view on how it was organized. “The ones that do. Are coming.” She laughed. “Bird bitch incoming.” Huh, what. When I turned around it seemed Prick was right, as Flare landed behind me. “Told ya.” “Oh, she wormed her way in too?” Flare said, trotting up beside me, “I got the stuff by the way.” I think that was his attempt at being subtle, but it didn't really work. “So, Pin. Ya get into a fight or something? If I had to guess, you offended someone and they kicked you for it.” “I'm guessing you bird brain fucks don't listen to the radio then, 'cause if ya did you'd know that me an' the bat bitch took down a serial killer in the slums.”She spat at the thought. “He didn't touch me, but that fuck that the bat bitch keeps fighting showed up and turned things to shit. The joking stallion, or whatever.” “Him again?” I gave an exasperated sigh, and started towards the NCA outpost around the exit of Parasite Mound (what a stupid name). That was the pony who first posed me the question 'What is the nature of a hero', which proved he was crazy, strangely philosophical, and bad at phrasing questions. He gave me the first answer, too: failure. “Yeah, the fuck with a metal faceplate and terrible fashion sense.” She followed me as well, seemingly unconcerned it might clash with her 'disguise'. “I've never seen anypony predict the bat bitch like he could. Ya know her teleportation-fu, right? Fucker seemed to be able to guess where she'd appear. Guess when you and a cunt go at it night after night their fucking style gets memorized. I almost got him too, but he's a slippery bitch.” “I don't like him,” Serenity stated. “He was mean. So I shot at him.” “The trick is to hit him.” Spitshine pointed out. “I'll give you pointers. Hitting is the most important part.” Pinprick's daughter trotted out from under her mother and over to Serenity. I was understandably a little bit nervous with Serenity making friends with a former raider filly. “I know how'ta shoot. I killed a ghoul that was tryin'a eat momma once,” Serenity replied a little bit haughtily. It was a bit surprising that she gave up that information so quickly because at the time she was really upset over it... but I guess since then we've been through Karkhoof, Timber, and the facility so she had worse things to dwell on. “Oh! That's cool. What happened?” At Spitshine's proclamation Serenity lost her reservations and started to excitedly tell the story about the tunnels. Though it had a lot more over the top fights (I apparently hoof wrestled a hellhound ghoul) and much less subtle mind fuckery. “I still don't get it.” My eye shot over to Pinprick who seemed to be staring at my filly. “Why Silver Bullet wanted her so much.” It took me to remember that Silver Bullet was the name of the slaver who gave me the job to kill Nanny Jane and take Serenity to him. “Child slaves are worth a lot?” It was what I had always assumed. Apparently Flare heard what I said so he took the opportunity to fly backwards in front of me and Prick. “Child slavery? Is this more of your secret past you don't tell anypony?” “Eat shit, birdie.” Pinprick was always the one for polite conversation. “Nah, I mean. Yeah they're worth a pretty cap, but not to the extent that cunt was going, he would have burned Bridle Hope to the ground, and not all nice-like, like the Crimson Fuckers did neither.” “Oh, I love mysteries.” Flare could not help but to flip himself upside down. I still didn't know how he did that. “I'm guessing you know some big secret, right right? Well, spill it.” “Ugh, fucking birds. Can't stand them.” she looked back to me. “I know he was planning on a specific buyer, ‘cause the fucks came in a few times, but I don't know who. Think they might have been birdies.” She sneered at Flare. “Whatever his reason, it was lost when you broke his brain. A fuckin' shame.” Yeah, I was real broken up about killing him. For the longest time he was the only pony I killed who I felt really deserved it. “I'm sure it was nothing.” The broken hive of Parasite Mound retreated as we closed in on the NCA outpost at the outskirts of the town. There just on the other side of the outpost I could see a great throng of pony guards representing every faction. Even as we walked closer I could see more joining the crowd. If anything represented Dise, it was that great crowd of ponies. Just ponies though, and it wasn't like the land was devoid of other races. I'm not sure what it said about the city, or about me that I was joining them, but it couldn't have been a good thing. --- Though this was supposed to be a show of unity for Dise, as soon as the group started to move each of the gangs separated into their own separate marching columns. The only real unity we showed was that everyone agreed to glare at everyone else. It made the whole walk almost as tense as the infamous ‘most awkward vertibuck ride ever’. It also made the walk long and slow. Because the train station was on the west side of Dise, we were forced to walk the long way around the city walls. It would have been frustrating but it allowed me to see the ruined city surrounding Dise in all it’s... glory? Much of it was nothing more than rubble or buildings barely clinging onto their foundations. It looked all the more dilapidated compared to great grey walls of Dise standing tall behind the ruins.  It was an interesting juxtip...juxtospiton... It was an interesting contrast. As we walked, our route forced us down a cracked street in between large broken buildings on either side. There was a call from one of the NCA ponies in the front to be on our guard. The talking around me went quiet and it seemed like everypony around started to get tense. When I looked over at the buildings, I thought I saw shapes through broken windows and cracked stone; grey dirty things that moved quickly and quietly. “Raiders. Or worse.” Flare said in a low voice. “Used to be bloodwings until the Enclave drove them out.” I wasn't sure what a bloodwing was, but I had a feeling it would be bad. One of the shapes in a second story window stopped and looked at me. It was a dark thing that barely looked like a pony at all. I carefully nudged Serenity behind me for protection, just in case. “They were driven out of Parasite Mound before I was born,” Flare explained about the raiders. “Some have been here longer. They have been so mutated by radiation and toxins they're barely ponies...” Whatever the thing was that stared at me was, it didn't stare for long as it decided it wasn't worth the trouble. “Radiation?” “You'll see. Keep your head down.” As soon as I did I could hear gunshots. The buildings made the noise echo though, so try as I might I couldn’t find the source. There was a flurry of repeating blasts before the street went silent again. That seemed like a good enough reason to keep my head down. Though I couldn't help but look for scurrying in the buildings, but there was nothing there for me to see. Whatever raiders were there decided not to repeat the mistake of the pony that just shot at us, so they vanished back into urban jungle. We were walking over a slight hill when everypony turned their head to stare at something. When I looked I was in awe, too. Less than half a kilometre away was a huge impact crater. At the centre of the crater was a pool of water that glowed with an eerily blueish green light. Part of me wondered if it was where the megaspell that killed Dise had fallen. Though it was strange, we were fairly close to it, but my pipbuck wasn't giving me a radiation warning. “It's odd... that... thing emits a lot of radiation, like melt your face off levels, but it doesn't spread beyond it's little hole. Or at least not much,” Flare said, staring at it. He flew above Dise many times so he must have been used to the sight. I'd no idea something like that was so close to the city. “Funny thing is that apparently the megaspell that hit Dise was an airburst. It shouldn't have left a crater.” “It don't look like the one in Eyeglow,” Serenity said, also staring at it. “There's one there too, but it looks different, it was wider there, an' more green'n stuff. Not as deep.” She paused. “At least, ah think. I ain't been there for'a long time, but from what I remember...” her voice trailed suddenly unsure. “I heard once a meteorite hit the city...” Though I couldn't remember where I heard that. “And it got covered up as an attack.” “Huh?” Flare looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. “Now that's new. Ain't never heard anything about that. I guess it's not impossible, just unlikely. Whatever caused that, it plagued the ruins of Dise for years. The new city was built keeping in mind to stay as far away from the crater as possible while still incorporating the larger buildings that hadn't been destroyed.” “You're a wealth of knowledge today, Flare.” Either he was trying to be helpful to make up for that whole falling off the waggon (or is it getting on the waggon?) thing, or he wanted to rub his knowledge in my face. “What? Knowledge is power, Silver.” He looked me over and smirked. “So you're screwed. And besides. It's fairly common knowledge, at least to us factions that actually teach our members. The Enclave takes great pride in teaching our foals, and history is important. Haze would be proud.” He added quickly, “At least, she'd be proud of the parts the Remnants didn’t greatly alter it to their own benefits. If you listened to their teachings you'd believe the Caledonian and Equestrian pegasi almost won the war single-hoofedly.” Flare went on telling a few stories of ponies he knew that had actually ventured into the crater. Apparently one turned into a mass murdering maniac who tried to use a mega-spell to blow up Dise, while the other just sort of melted away. Of course it was Flare so it was safe to say that the stories were either greatly exaggerated or made up wholesale. About an hour after we got around the crater, we finally made it to the NCA base. Looking at it from a distance, it looked more like a temple than a train station. Vines climbed up brown stone walls that made up the front of the building, worming their way around a large (broken) clock near the top before reaching the top of the wall that tapered off like a steeple. I could just see the ruins of the large multilevel staircase that lead to the main entrance. On each of the three levels were the ruins of what looked to be separate gardens, complete with fountains and statues. As we got closer it only became more impressive because I realized just how large the building was. It was like an immense towering fortress looming over the weary landscape. It hurt my neck to look up at the top of the building as we made our way up the stairs. “Who needs a train station this big?” I had to ask as we slowly made our way over ruined walkways and stairs so well used they were rounded and faded. “Somepony with a small dick.” I gave Flare a withering glare so he would know that that sort of talk was inappropriate around my daughter. Still, I had to guess. “Wallkirk?” “Well it's called the 'Wallkirk Memorial Train Station', so that'd be a good guess.” Of course it was. It was something big and in Dise, so it had to be him. Sometimes I wondered why he didn't take his wealth and just make his own little country out of the city, but when I thought about it a bit more, I realized he sort of did. He could have at least done something right, if that was the case, instead of constantly failing in every endeavour I’d found out about. Never before had I heard of a stallion so full of ambition, yet so utterly incapable of following through. “It's big,” Serenity stated, officially claiming the title of Captain Obvious. “Thanks, sweetie, you're so observant.” She bopped me on the back of the head for that remark. Oh, did I mention she’d climbed onto my back during the walk? It happened so much it just seemed natural by then. “Can you two be like... less sickeningly sweet? It can't be healthy.” The obvious response was to glare at Flare. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Serenity copying me. As soon as we got to the top level of the building the different factions split off, but since Tight Lips and the rest of the Hizai went inside, I followed them. The interior of the building was even more impressive than the outside. Looking up, I could see the high arched ceiling; it was made up almost entirely of glass-panes in a metal frame. Near the very top, I saw scaffolding and catwalks which seemed to suggest that the NCA was busy refurbishing the building. When I looked behind me, I saw a similar style of stone wall to the one I saw when entering the building (it even had a giant broken clock) but it was partially covered up on either side of the door by giant white screens that must have been new. In order to see the rest of the platform I had to walk around a crude wooden stage set up in the middle of the lobby. Hanging over the right screen was the NCA's Star and Phoenix flag, but above the left one was just a red banner. It must have meant something to the minotaurs. I turned to face the other side of the stage and saw a large escalator system in the middle of the huge room. It was being guarded by multiple heavily armed NCA rangers so I didn’t go that close, but from where I stood, the escalators seemed to go down multiple levels, even underground. This led to the feeling that the room as actually split into three parts from side to side. There was a large area on the left side that stopped when it reached the escalator pit, or rather the barrier put up so ponies wouldn't fall in. That led to the pit area which was really a series of escalators that went down several floors, before leading to the right floor area that was the same as the left only on the other side of the pit. It seemed a bit needlessly complicated, but immensely useful in this occasion as delegates from both the NCA and Minotaurs were already getting set up, and the two groups were split up, the Minotaurs on the right side of the pit, and the NCA ponies on the left. It was a neat little solution that was much better than actually having the supposed peace agreement be announced with ponies and minotaurs actually intermingling. Celestia forbid. My eyes were drawn over to the Minotaur side of the lobby, though. For some reason in my head Minotaurs were all homogenous, a large hoard of identical monsters rampaging across the land. Instead I saw something much different. Even though few minotaurs were waiting, and all seemed to be soldiers (Given they were wearing metal armour and brandishing spears and guns) they were as different from each other as I was from Flare. Some were tall, others short, a few were dulled out reds and browns and blues, but at least one was a bright yellow, and two were a deep pink. It sort of shattered my prejudice, or at the very least cracked it. “Hired.” Huh, what? “Hiiiired, Earth to Hired.” My eyes turned to Tight Lips who was waving with one of her cybernetic hooves. “Ah, you're back in the world of the living. Not sure what I am going to do with you, as you're not part of Security. Oh, wait! I get to do nothing; turns out you're special because of your eye and Major General Hailstorm wants to speak with you personally about your job. Makes my work easier.” She waved over a NCA guard. “This lovely mare will escort you to the general. Play nice, and remember, whatever you do, you do as a representative of Mr. House.” “Right this way,” The female guard said starting towards the left side of the lobby. “Your friends can come too, but the Major General will need to speak with you in private.” --- At the end of the long lobby, there was a smaller and less fancy series of doors that led to the first sign that this place was actually a train station. Out the back of the lobby was a large outdoor train platform where I assumed ponies used to wait for trains. On the left side was a train that looked like it hadn't moved since the end of the world, while on the left there were just empty tracks on a lower section. At least until you got to the end of the platform, where a few cars were left standing but seemed to have crashed violently, spilling partially onto the platform. All along the platform NCA guards seemed on high alert as they patrolled the area. “Your friends need to wait here,” the mare who was leading us said. “I wish I was as popular as Hired,” Flare nickered. “Serenity.” I looked down at the small filly as she jumped off my back onto the floor. “Be good for Momma, and make sure Flare doesn't get shot.” “Okay! I'm the best at getting ponies un-shot.” That didn't really make much sense but she said it with such unabashed confidence I could not help but agree. “Alright,” I said after briefly mussing up Serenity's mane. “Lets go.” The guard smirked a little and led the way. The car she took me to just happened to be at the very end of the really long platform on the left side. The car in question looked like it had been freshly painted blue, and above the door were the words 'Major General Hailstorm' in gold. My stomach twisted staring at the words, and I found myself stupidly nervous. I had met many of Dise's top brass to the point it was almost sort of silly, but it was this pony who made me the most nervous. Maybe it was because now I actually understood how the city worked, and how the NCA worked. Or maybe it was because this pony, as the top military commander of the NCA, had more ponies under her command than all of the other leaders I’d talked to put together. The guard I was following showed no care for my existential crises and abruptly opened the door, making me scramble to follow her. “Hired Gun of the Hizai.” The guard said. The inside of the car seemed to have been cleared of seats and was carpeted in a dusty blue. The walls were painted a similar blue except for the occasional NCA crest. On the far end of the car were three ponies standing around a table. One of them was General Scoitel who saw me and gave a short 'huzzah', while the other was Major Lucky who stared at me briefly with his pale eyes before mumbling something I couldn't hear to the pony I didn't recognize. The one I didn't recognize was a fairly large brown unicorn mare with her bright pink mane and tail both tied back in matching braids. She whispered something back to Major Lucky before finally looking over at me. “Hired Gun of the Hizai, I have been waiting for you. Leave us, all of you, at once.” Her voice boomed through the car and at once the two high ranking NCA officers went for the exit. “Don't fuck around with her, Hired,” Lucky said to me as he walked passed, while Scoitel just gave me a gentlestallionly nod. That left me and the intimidatingly large brown mare alone in car. She gave me a hard glare before slowly cracking a smile. “You’re actually larger than me. I can hardly believe it. Well, get over here; nopony is watching, and I can’t abide by stuffy procedures. Would you like a drink?” She floated out a wine bottle and started to pour me a glass even though I didn't say anything. “The best thing about the apocalypse was that it made every bottle of wine a vintage.” “Uh...” I stopped at the table but gave her a respectable distance. “Thank you, ma'am.” “Ugh, don't ‘Ma'am’ me. I hate being ‘ma'am'd. It makes me feel old.” She sipped at her glass. “If anypony should be ‘ma'am'd, it's Major Lucky. He's as old as Celestia and naggy as a crone. Well, drink.” She stared at me hard enough that I took a drink. “Not what you were expecting, huh?” I looked the mare over. She wasn't that old, but I could see a few grey hairs in her pink mane, and wrinkles forming around her mouth and eyes. She looked strangely comfortable in what would normally be a very stuffy dress uniform. Though she seemed the type to be comfortable anyway. “I didn't know what to expect...” “I try to keep ponies off guard.” She looked over the table and flipped over something she didn't want me to see. “Enough about me, this is about you. House promised me a lookout, and I got you. You look like me in my prime, well, if I was a tad bit larger and with fewer body parts. Which is not saying much for your looking skills, as I could never be arsed. I preferred the front lines.” She grinned at me with an almost stunningly white smile. “Well, take the patch off, let me see it.” My eye must have been getting used to the darkness because when I took it off everything on my right side was a mute colour. There was a slight whirring sound in my head as colour slowly returned, and the eye recognized I was looking at a mare. Immediately a purple indicator box was placed around the mare (which was the highest threat level) and the name Major General Hailstorm started to hover over her head. It was a little awkward to get used to (like every time I took my eye patch off) but I knew I'd get used to it again in short order. “Impressive.” The General seemed to think it was okay to violate my personal space by bringing herself alarmingly close to stare at my eye. “Oh, I like it. What can it do?” I briefly explained the main functions. “Will it work if you're looking at a lot of ponies?” “Uh, it has limited er...” the word escaped me for a second. “Processing power. Right, so maybe. If not it'll mark the ponies closest to the centre of my vision.” That seemed to be acceptable to her. “Why?” “I need a lookout. Somepony that can pick out the most dangerous of those bipedal freaks in case this is just an excuse to get a lot of them close to us.” One time they poisoned tea during a peace meeting if Flare was correct (was he ever?) so her suspicion didn't seem entirely baseless, if still quite racist. “And House said you're the only one.” Did I mention how odd I found that? Electronic eyes weren't the least common enhancement the Hizai had, and I wouldn't have been surprised if a few ponies voluntarily took them for the upgrades. So why then was I the only pony available. He had a whole security department, and there was no way none of them had cyber-eyes. There was just something wrong about the whole deal. As usual I got the feeling I was missing something vital. “I guess so,” I said as calmly as my eyes scanned her office. For a remolded train car it actually looked almost professional. Of course in the wasteland not being covered in shit counted as professional. “Right, good. Finish your wine, and no you can't have another...” She wandered off to get something out of my view. “Are you really the leader of the NCA Military?” She turned and glowered at me like I was an idiot. “What exactly did you expect?” She scoffed. “Kill enough bipeds and they'll give you whatever office you want. When the last Major General bit the hay there was a vote among the military top brass. It's really the only fair way, before the chairpony used to pick the Major General, but he has no military knowledge,” she laughed. “Clear enough? Stop asking questions. ‘Lestia, some ponies don't know how to give respect,” she muttered as she poured herself yet another drink. “Sorry I...” I nervously took a sip of my wine. It was okay tasting, though a bit fruity. I'd take whiskey or Golden Harp any day of the week, but I seemed to be in shaky enough ground as it was so I shut the buck up. “Sorry.” “Yeah, yeah.” The large unicorn walked over and placed a strange black device on the table in front of me. “Wear this. Short range communication device, it'll let you report what you see in real time. You'll be alone up there, it's right above the floor and high so it'd be of limited use as a sniper spot unless you can shoot straight down. “ High up... my mind went back to those catwalks I saw over the lobby. Oh hell no. There was no way I was going up there. No way in hell I was going up there. “Uh... I-” Was cut off. That happened too much. It'd be easier if ponies just took turns speaking. “It is good to know House remains such a... close friend to the NCA.” She filled up my cup. “Hate to have anything jeopardize that.” I made a mental note that Major General Hailstorm was good at reading facial expressions. “Have a drink, and then I'll have someone show you where to go.” She waved for me to finish my drink which I dutifully did. “I'll ask you go alone, none of your fellows or what have you. The Catwalks are old, and you look heavy enough...” Oh, and they were easily breakable. This was going to be fun. I turned and walked out of the room and ran straight into my waiting friends who all but forced me to tell them my job. Which I did, with only a little annoyance. “Aren't you scared shitless of heights?” Thank you, Flare, for your brilliant and annoying commentary. “Is this a good idea?” “About as good as sending you on a diplomatic mission.” That was a witty retort right? I had been practising. “Good or not, House expects me to. So I need to.” Just had to not look down... while also looking down and scanning the area for the most dangerous minotaurs. This really only left one option. “Will ya be okay, Momma?” Just fine and dandy. “Don't worry, we'll be right there with you.” “Uh, actually...” I explained to them that it was not really possible, or a good idea, for them to come with me. Well, I guess they could, as they were both light, but I didn't really want Serenity that high up if it was so sketchy, and if she wasn't going Flare would need to be with her. Just because I had to do something stupidly dangerous for my job didn't mean I was going to let Serenity come with me. “Don't worry. I'll be fine,” I said, not really believing it myself. “Well, from what I’ve heard, there's a spot in the back for non-military to watch the speech, so I'll be there in case you fall.” I raised my eyebrow because the thought of Flare catching me seemed unlikely. Until I remembered he’d actually done it once, though he had some trouble then. It would have to do for a backup, but it didn't fill me with confidence. “Thanks...” I said. The guard who was leading us looked back and sped up her pace down the train platform. “Once we get back Flare... we really need to do that... thing...” I didn't really want to, if I had to be honest, because Med-X did help, and I needed all the help I could get. On the other hoof I didn't want to scare Serenity or push away Haze, so I guess... I'd just see how the detox went. “Yeah, we'll reschedule.” He rolled his eyes. “I'm serious.” Well, mostly serious. He must have sensed that because he stuck his tongue out at me as we entered the building again. “What're ya two talkin' about?” Serenity gave us both very suspicious looks. “Somethin' secret? Bet I know what it is. Ah'm very intuitive like that.” I'm sure she was, and it wouldn't have surprised me if she knew, but I didn't really want to talk about it with her, so I stared disinterestedly at the marble-tiled floor. “Well?” She was impatiently waiting for a response. “I won't tell ya what I know then, if ya gunna be that way.” “I already know what you know.” I said back as the guard led us through the fairly tight group of NCA Soldier set up to watch the speech. “I know that ya know that ah know.” “I know you know I know you know I know... wait...” I scrunched my face up. “What?” “I knew you'd say that.” Flare smirked as we reached a small door in the side of the wall near one of the rooms many large windows. I looked up nervously to see that high above me a catwalk extended from an unseen door and went across the top of the room before it attached to the walkway that went down the length of the building. “Up here,” the guard said, looking at me. “Keep the headset on.” I wished he didn't have to remind me about it, because it was annoyingly uncomfortable. “And keep in touch. Don't forget you can turn the mic off with a button the side. Might be difficult for an earth pony as it was designed for unicorns, but whatever.” She opened the door revealing a very skinny room filled completely with an old metal staircase that was definitely not up to safety standards. “Have fun.” The guard chuckled and walked away leaving the three of us there. “Hired...” Flare said uncharacteristically softly. “Are you going to be okay? I mean... uh...” I carefully looked over at him, trying my best not to look completely terrified. “Just... you'll be fine. I'll be watching. Just fine.” Just hanging way too high in the air (in a stupidly large room) on a catwalk that was stated to probably not be able to hold me. Oh yeah, just fine. It didn't make my chest tighten and heart race or anything. Something small pressed up against my leg, and when I looked down I saw Serenity hugging it. “Don't worry mommy, I'll catch you.” She said as a pale pink glow engulfed her horn. I couldn't help but smile, and I felt some of the pressure in my chest loosen, but not nearly enough to make me comfortable. “Thanks.” I wrapped my metallic leg around her. “I'm not scared.” “Whatever you say, Momma,” she said with one of her brightest smiles. “Seeya later.” She took a step back with Flare, letting me enter into the room and close the door. In the silence of the room I could hear the subtle sound of stairs creaking,and groaning. This did nothing for my growing anxiety but make it worse. I could do this though. I had been higher before (the most awkward vertibuck ride ever came to mind) and I had fallen farther (The time I jumped... okay, not thinking about that would be a good idea) so this would be a cake walk. I was built like a tank after all, so what did I have to fear? Heights. Right, almost forgot. I was very thankful Flare went 'medicine' shopping earlier because at that moment I needed a Med-X just to get onto the first step. It melted some of my worry away, enough to get my legs functioning again. You see it wasn't strictly heights that scared me, it was falling. And when the chance of falling increased, the fear associated also did. It was like math, but with my fragile mental state. Slowly, and I do mean very slowly, I managed to climb the staircase. It was a long, treacherous climb, and every time I heard a creak or a groan I had to take a break to stop my heart from leaping into my throat. At the top was a sturdy stone landing with a simple door leading to the catwalk. I was very, very grateful that it was closed. It was one thing to be high up in an elevator or hotel room, and quite another to be on rickety platforms where you can see how far you will fall if anything at all happens. My leg started to shake a little, so I took a brief moment to rest on the platform and catch my breath. It wasn't much further now. It wouldn't be so hard. Just walk onto something that could break if I sneezed too hard. Why did I have to be a huge bucking pony? This would be much easier on my brain if I was Flare-sized. Then I took a second Med-X and injected that too. It made my head a little woozy, but helped with the anxiety. It helped a lot less when I opened the door and looked out onto the catwalk. It was a thin strip of metal (Whoever chose grating you could see through instead of solid metal was forever on my shit list) hanging way too high up over the lobby and apparently kept up by thin strips of metal wire hanging from the ceiling. All in all I was not impressed with its structural integrity, and completely flipping my shit. I had to stand on that. With my hooves. Above... with only that to keep me.. how was I going... I... ugh. I slammed my head into the door frame but all that did was made my head hurt worse than it already did. How was I going to do that. It wasn't... ponies who weren't afraid of heights wouldn't have even walked on that. It was insane, and stupid, and just. Alright. I pulled out my third Med-X. It was the only way I was going to get on there (though more likely I'd overdose and die, but it'd mean not walking on that catwalk). The needle pierced my skin, and I felt a slow and familiar rush of euphoria. Only. Something felt off. My head started to spin, and the world seemed to dance around me. Things moved that shouldn't have, or maybe that was just my head moving. My legs (even my cybernetic one) felt like jelly under me, and before I could do anything they gave way and I was lying face first on the floor. The cold floor. It was like someone took a cloud and parked it in my brain. Then there was darkness as my heavy eyelids fell over my eyes. That was okay though. It was a comforting darkness. This was going to be awkward to explain. --- “Go get Mother,” Meadow said to me harshly. I didn't at first, I was almost too scared. Everything seemed to happen so quickly. First I was running around playing with my brother, and then I found a strange box of weird blue bullets. That was all good, until a pony named 'Smooth Tongue' showed up wanting them and suddenly everything was tense and weird. My brother seemed to be guarding the box for whatever reason, and a few nearby ponies were shouting things, which is when he started barking orders at me. I wasn't really one to argue with the older brother (even if he was smaller than me). The olive stallion smiled at me as I tried to get around him and his weird friends. “Yes, go get her. The mayor should be here.” I didn't like the fact this pony seemed to know Mommy, so I stuck my tongue out at him and started to run back towards the main Marefort building. Since our house was right beside the entrance to the warehouse it didn't take that long. Since Mommy was the mayor we got one of the biggest houses in town with two whole rooms! I found her in the second room where she kept all her weird books and stuff. Mommy was the prettiest pony there ever was, even when doing boring stuff like reading, and she always had time for me. As soon as I ran in she looked up at me and set her book down. “Hello sweetie, what is it?” “I was helpin' with the thing over at the place there in the building and I found this box of bluey bullets and this bad guy came up all evil-like, and Meadow said I should get you, so here I am getting you.” I took a deep breath. “It seemed important.” “‘Evil-like,’ dear?” She smiled ever so sweetly at me. “What did he look like?” “Oh, he had evil eyes! An a weird green coat, and a long grey mane.” Her expression changed instantly to one I didn't understand. “No, it's too soon.” She quickly put the book into her bookshelf (it had a black cover with weird white dots all over it) and started to the door. “Stay here, please. Don't leave this room.” She quickly hurried out, leaving me alone in the room and very confused. Mommy usually let me go with her if I wanted to, and she never was this worried. There wasn't much for me to do though so I walked around in a circle until that got boring. I wanted to be a big pony. In my mind I was sure mommy was going to go teach that mean pony a thing or two, and I could help. Even though I was still young, I was big and strong and could totally beat him up. If only Mommy let me. With a little huff I trotted over to her bookshelf and marvelled. She had over twenty books, that was more than the rest of Marefort combined! Mommy was a really smart pony, a lot smarter than I would ever be, she could read and think and do all sorts of cool stuff. Sometimes she read to me, but never with these books, because she knew I wouldn't understand. Still, I was curious as to what she was reading about. So I took the weird black book off her shelf and laid it on the ground. I flipped though the book (I was careful to do it carefully and not leave any hoof smudges) and noticed it not only had words but cool pictures. Mostly the pictures were of strange coloured rocks, but I saw at least one silvery looking sword (It was so cool) and some strange looking armour. It wasn't until I was halfway through the book I saw them. The blue bullets. I was shocked. Mommy was reading about the bullets just at the same time I found some? This had to mean something special. The others had to know about this book, because maybe it was important and would stop whatever was going on. But to do that I would have to go against Mommy.... I figured this was far more important than staying here on Mommy's order, so I took the book onto my back, and left our house. Since the entrance to Marefort was literally right outside my door, it didn't take me long to leave the warehouse and look towards the west building. That's when I saw the commotion. There had been a lot of ponies scavenging there before, but it was just crazy how many were there. Vaguely I could hear shouts, and big ponies talking. Probably about the bullets I found. I could stop it though, because I had the book. Finally I was going to be a big pony, and do something right. Hopefully I could get to beat up evil eyes too. So I ran towards the crowd. When I got there it was so noisy that I couldn't make out what anypony was saying. “Hey.” I tried prodding somepony in the back of the crowd. “Hey, I needa get through. I have the book.” the ponies didn't listen though, and the crowd just seemed to push me back out when I tried to force my way through. “HEY!” I tried yelling but that didn't work either. Maybe it was because every pony around was talking too. It was annoying and hectic, and if they'd only listen I could solve it. Gritting my teeth I tried to make myself as small as possible and squeeze into the mass of ponies. It was a success! I managed to get into the crowd, but it was still hard to get forward, and especially without getting stepped on. Thankfully I managed to keep the book balanced, but it almost fell off a few times. That's when I heard the strangest thing. BANG. I had been in Marefort long enough to know what that was! Without even caring about the book I forced myself through the ponies blocking my way with surprising ease. Either they finally realized I was there, or were so shocked they stopped moving. It must have been the second because the crowd quieted down too, and all I could hear was the sound of somepony crying. When I emerged from between some ponies legs I saw Cakewalk first. She was crying over something, and it took me a second to realize what. It was her father, old Forest Fire, he was on the ground and surrounded by a red puddle. Wait... that was... blood? Someone shot him? But why? He could barely walk. What was going... “Silver, no!” My eyes shot over to where my mommy was sitting. Her eyes were welling with tears and I was so happy to see she wasn't shot too. “Don't, you need to leave!” “Mommy, wha-” The olive pony behind her smacked her hard with a pistol. “NO! Don't hurt Mommy!” I tried to tell them about the book, but the words caught in my throat. The only thing I was capable of saying as the evil pony lifted the gun up to her was no. So I charged at them. I could do it. I had to save mommy. She was mine and I wouldn't let anypony hurt her. Tears stung my eyes, but I kept running at them, I had to stop them, I had to- BANG Something slammed into my chest causing me to stumble and fall. There was a fire in my chest like nothing I had ever felt, and all my energy was sapped from me. The world around me started to fade to black, and the noise started to fade. I could see them, the olive pony, and mommy. “No...” I whispered and reached a hoof out to them., When I couldn't reached I slammed it into the ground and pulled my limp body forward. “No...” my eyes started to close as the fire intensified. “No...” my eyes sprang open, I couldn't sleep. Not now. I could stop them. I could... BANG A hole in mommy's neck suddenly appeared in a bright red spray. Mommy fell to the ground, her lilac eyes staring at me as I tried to crawl to her. It wasn't too late. I could still save her. “No...” I whispered as the last of my strength left me and my eyes closed on their own. I failed. Mommy she was... she saw me try to save her, and I couldn't... if only they had the book... “No...” --- “Hired Gun!” My eyes shot open. “Mommy?” I said blearily not really sure where I was. There were stone walls,a staircase, some sort of walkway... oh, yeah. Back at the train station. I had the job... “Ugh.” My brain felt cloudy and throbbed in annoyance. Maybe three Med-X was too much. “I'm here... I'm...” “Hired, turn your damn mic on.” Right. Right. Slowly and with shaking limbs I got back on all fours and pressed the button on my head set. “I'm here, sorry.” My tongue felt heavy, and the words seemed slurred. Hopefully it would wear off. “You better be.” The voice was the major general's. “Get on there and report, the speech is about to start in ten minutes.” Ten minutes? Just how long had I been out? Stupidly I tried to nod in reply, but then I remembered she couldn't actually see me. “Yes ma'am.” I stumbled onto the catwalk. The creaking sound it made when I first stepped on was enough to snap me back into reality. I gasped a little and felt my stomach fall into my throat when I looked down and saw ponies far far below me. Who needs such a high roof? It served no purpose except to look cool and frighten me. Still I had a job to do, so against my better judgement I took another step forward onto the rickety metal grating. A few steps later and it was still frightening, but my limbs had loosened up enough that I could walk properly. Part of me really wanted to take another Med-X, but the rest of me was positive that would be a bad idea. When I got to the crossroad where the catwalk running across the room and the one running down the length of it intersected, I stopped and took a look around. From the looks of it, everypony (and minotaur) who was ready for the speech was already there. The right side was filled to the brim with soldier-looking NCA ponies, while the left was slightly less full, but still contained a sizable number of minotaurs. It must have been strange for them being in a building designed for four-legged creatures. The catwalk I was standing on was directly over the stair pit in the middle of the room, and looking down made the ground seem even further away, which did nothing for my anxiety. At the very bottom though, I thought I could see the remains of more train tracks. Maybe an underground train system? Or something. “Hired, are you there? Report.” “Here, here.” I replied walking across the walkway so I was directly above the minotaur side. My eyes slowly adjusted to the strange creatures and thin multicoloured icons started appearing. “Near the front.” I said into the mic. “A purple minotaur with the weird hat, he's a high level threat.” “That's their king.” The static-y voice said into my ear, “and that's a crown, but it's good to know it is working.” Oh, right. I made a mental note to watch him in case anything went wrong because Mayhem told me to protect him. “Okay...” My eyes scanned the small semi-circle of minotaurs guarding the king. “His guards are low... except the one directly behind him. Another high. The brown one.” Just then I saw a trio of ponies start to climb the stage in the front of the lobby. They were too far away to see properly, but my eye labelled one as 'Major Lucky', the second as 'General Scoitel' and the third unlabelled so it must have been a pony I never met. “We are gathered here today to mark a momentous occasion.” A gravelly voice (Lucky's) said over the speaker. “After years of strife and tension between our people we have finally achieved peace.” There was a round of applause that sounded strangely forced, and died quicker than it started. “The Chairpony of the NCA is here to make the official announcement, but due to security concerns his speech will broadcast over a live feed.” “Green minotaur in the back.” I whispered and listned to the speech at the same time. I’m a multitasker, apparently. “And the other green one beside him, both are high threats.” “How do they seem? Tense?” The Major General asked over my headset. “Calm.” That was true enough. All the ones I could see seemed to be leaning lazily on their spears, or standing quietly, but none looked ready to fight. “This all might be for nothing.” Just as I spoke the two giant screens beside the stage flickered, and came to life. On them was, I assumed, the chairpony of the NCA. He was a surprisingly young (if plump) light grey stallion with a short cropped bronze mane. His eyes seemed focused, and his mouth as tight and serious. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, Bulls and Cows. It is my great honour to speak with you all today.” The Stallion's face was stiff as he spoke. “The war between us has gone on far too long, and we can no longer fight pointless battle after pointless battle. We can not go the way of the Zebras and Ponies before the war to destroy ourselves instead of make peace, and for this reason the NCA council of cities, and the Minotaur Royal Court, has agreed t-t-t-t-t-t-oooooOOooooooooo.” The picture stuttered and started skipping, and for a second thought I saw something red on the screen. “Uh.” Major lucky tapped his microphone. “We seem to be experiencing a minor technical difficulty. We're dispatching some technicians to look into it if you'll all please be patient.” My shoulder suddenly stung, and when I winced and held it I could have sworn I saw something flying above the glass ceiling. A pegasus, maybe. “Hired, the minotaurs, are any hostile.” I snapped out of the pain, and ignored the height long enough to look down at them. They seemed calm, if a bit confused, and my EFS had them all non-hostile. “All non-hostile. “I reported as the screen started to come back. “Everything is goo-” my voice trailed off as I saw who was staring over the lobby from the screen. The pony had a murky red coat under a heavy application of white face paint, and even with the face paint it was easy to see half of his face was cybernetic. “Hello lovelies!” You had to be kidding me. “I'm The Laughing Stallion, and if you haven't heard of me, well then you really haven't been listening to the news!” “Everyone stay calm!” Lucky screamed into the microphone, “Nopony move, everyone just... stay put. We will handle this situation, but we need everyone to stay put!” “WHAT THE HELL! Someone find that stallion, find him and kill him now.” As the voice yelled in my ear I looked down below and saw a squadron of ponies break off from the crowd and head down the stairs. “Now, I bet you're all wondering what I called you here for.” He snickered and then giggled. “Oh wait, you're not here for me! You're here for... him.” he shoved the camera roughly to the side where the NCA Chairpony was tied up, gagged and struggling. “Seriously, pre-recording a speech and pretending it's live? That's evil even by my standards.” He may have been a joke of a pony, but this was serious. My eyes shot down to the minotaurs below and I noticed that the King's bodyguards had created a circle around him, and all were hefting their spears up. They looked tense, but none of them were noticeably hostile yet. Whatever was happening it didn't look like they planned it. “I want his head ten minutes ago!” The voice in my ear screamed. “Yes ma'am.” A second voice said. “Hired, don't move. Keep an eye out. If any of those bipedal bastards make a move send them to hell.” I gulped and gave a quiet affirmative. It wasn't really something I could do under Mayhem's orders, so I really hoped I could just give warning shots, and that they’d listen. This had gone so wrong so quickly. The NCA Security were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and the guards from the gangs just stood dumbfounded and staring at the screen. There was no way that fool could have done this much by himself. The entire lobby below me had went from peaceful to enough tension they were about to break in five seconds. And then it got worse. The catwalk underneath me started to groan and shake, but I hadn't moved. Wait, that meant... My head snapped towards the nearest door only for my eyes to catch sight of something rolling towards me. It was too late to run away, and suddenly my world was filled with a stinging green light. Warning System Malfunction Red words appearing in my vision was bad right? Yeah that was bad. Critical Error, System Shutdown My eye flashed a few more errors, distorted my vision, and finally shut off. Whatever just hit me it was like my spark pulse emitter but in grenade form. “The fuck.” I muttered and tried to take a step forward only for my cyber leg not to budge sending me face first into the grating. The whole walkway shook uneasily, and I heard the sound of cracking somewhere. “Is going...” I looked up and saw him. “On...” “I bet you're all wondering what I'm doing.” The Laughing Stallion said as the stallion looked down at me with a self-satisfied smirk. “I'm just here to talk.” The purple stallion just shook his head at me, and pushed his long green mane out of his eyes. “But I bet even now ponies with guns are coming to kill me. Oh how scared I am.” “It's been a while.” The stallion above me said. “Not long enough, Dragonslayer.” I should have known he'd be involved. The last time I met the Laughing Stallion he mentioned working with 'Dragon'. I should have put the pieces together. Realized who I would be dealing with. “Been busy?” It was basically required for me to ask a stupid question. “Stealing the Chairpony of the NCA out from under their noses does take a certain amount of preparation.” He pointed his rifle down at me. “I'm surprised to find you here. You're supposed to be dead.” His golden eyes flashed with amusement. “Yeah.” I struggled to my feet, and fumbled for Subtlety, but he was faster. His bullet missed me, but I heard it crack against my battle saddle.Still, I had to try. my teeth clenched against the firing bit and... nothing. No bullets. Whatever he shot broke my saddle. Fuck. My gun was broken, my leg useless, the only thing i could hope to do was stall him, and I knew how ponies loved to lecture me. “You tried to kill me, but here I am. To stop you.” That wasn’t why I was there, but who cares about facts. “Really?” He looked over the the screens where The Laughing Stallion was still ranting, and below him where the ponies and Minotaurs were growing even more tense. “Good job. You really think you're important, don't you?” I just glared in response hoping I could stall for long enough for my cybernetics to start working again. “You have no idea what’s going on.” I had a few ideas. “You were important once, but you're not anymore. Now you're just another deluded fool trying to survive in a city actively trying to kill you.” “Fuck you.” Keep talking you arrogant bastard. He had to, I needed the time. “What I am here to tell you, my lovelies, is that the war is not over.” Even though I was not looking at the screen, I could still hear that crazy stallion over the speakers. “Oh no, not at all, because you see, nopony wants it to be.” “Don't you ever wonder why I wanted Karkhoof to get into that battle?” All the damn time. “You idiot.” And he said nothing more about it. Helpful bastard. “What?” I tried to move forward, but had to drag my metal leg. “You're trying to... get the city to fight? That’s it right? You’re begging for a war!” Why else would he go to these lengths to break up the peace meeting, conference, speech thing. “Why? Who cares? The city has always fought.” There was no way he was alone though. He had to be working with someone, something, to pull this off. He must have been working for a gang. One of the more ambitious gangs that was tired of the constant infighting. It was the only option that made sense. Have everypony fight and let his own gang pick up the ashes and take un-paralleled control of the city. Maybe re-igniting the war between the NCA and minotaur was a way to remove the dangerous NCA influence? That was it! He had to be working for the Steel Rangers. They were forever hampered by their inability to fight the NCA, so by taking them out of the equation they could better control the fractured city. Especially if they got everyone else fighting too. Taking control of the pre-war technology stash was clearly the first step of their plan. “I can see you think you've figured it out.” He just shook his head. “You haven't, trust me. I'm not an idiot, Hired, not like you.” He walked towards me. “For example, only an idiot would fight you one on one and expect to win. So I took out your cybernetics, and now you can't fight me. Easy. So trust me when I say anything you think you know is wrong, I'm just fucking with you before I kill you.” What an arrogant little git. He talked and talked. Not to me though, but past me, as if I wasn’t worth of his words. I realized that he wasn’t even looking at me. I loved it when ponies weren’t paying attention! CRACK “What the-” my pipbuck slammed into his skull. He tried to scream as he stumbled to the side, but I kicked him again with my working leg. The only problem was the force was hard enough to send me stumbling and limping, which gave him enough time to back up. Shit. I looked around for some sort of advantage. I couldn’t let him get the upper hand again. That’s when I saw his rifle on the ground. he must have dropped it when I started kicking him. Without a second thought, I kicked at it, sending it sliding through the railings and onto the ground far below us. “Not bad...” Blood was flowing down that bastard’s face. “Not bad at all.” He shook his head and pointed at the screens. “But it's too late to stop this. Take a look.” My curiosity was overwhelming so I turned my head to the screen. The Laughing Stallion had the Chairpony of the NCA by the back of his head and was choking him with a crowbar. “What? Can't find me? Can't shoot me? Too bad, because I'm ending this now! Ginger!” He smirked as he dropped his improvised weapon to the floor. “Get in here.” A giant brown minotaur walked into view and the whole building gasped. The beast grabbed the chairpony up by the mane and pointed a gun in his face. Even at the face of death he had the courage to spit at the creatures face. “We'll kill you all... every one... you fucking bastards.” The minotaur grimaced and then glared, and it was then I realized I recognized him. It was the Minotaur the Watchers employed, but why here, why now? “For Discord.” Ginger grunted, and started to squeeze the trigger. Before it could go off a purple flash blinded the camera. BANG “Fear not!” Suddenly the Batmare was there delivering a kick and a monologue at the same time. “I am here to rescue you!” With a flurry of flashes and kicks the minotaur nearly thrice the Batmare's size was beaten back. I looked over and saw Dragonslayer standing there looking shocked at the screen. It was the perfect time to strike. I limped forward and swung my good hoof in an unbalanced arc. He was too quick though. My hoof just scraped his head. He started to back up so I had to put my hoof back on the ground and force myself forward. I could beat him. Gunless, and legless, I could do it. When I got close he suddenly turned. I reacted to the buck before I saw it, and threw my whole body painfully into the guardrails. My ribs flared with pain, but I had the advantage. Before he could bring his legs back, I tackled them. He fell with a hard thud. We wrestled for a few seconds before I had him pinned by his neck, but he was struggling and kicking, and I couldn’t fucking finish it. I grunted and tried to stop him from squirming. “Fuck you.” He kept moving so I pressed my knee onto his neck. “Stay still.” He didn’t though. His wormy lips moved as if trying to say something, but all he could do was spit bubbles of blood. “Your reign is at an end!” I looked up and saw The Batmare delivering a powerful kick to the nose of Ginger sending him stumbling back as blood ran down his face. “You could never win!” With a kick to the back of the head the great creature bent over, and finally with a teleport enhanced knee to the face, Ginger fell to the ground grunting in pain. The creature had blood matted to it’s brown fur, as it writhed in agony. “Good always wi-” BANG The Batmare dropped to the ground as blood stained the leg of her outfit. “Oh shut it.” The Laughing Stallion walked into view. “You want a fight.” The gun clanged to the floor. “Fight me.” Even in pain the Batmare didn't fail to deliver. She quickly vanished from sight, and reappeared mid-kick behind that bastard of a villain. Only for The Laughing Stallion to duck. The Batmare was caught off guard but managed to recover with a devastating uppercut... which also missed. She blinked, and blinked again, but each move was deftly dodged by the pony in white face. The Batmare reappeared across the room (in the corner of the camera’s view making it hard to see) staring at the stallion with a confused look on her face, but that quickly morphed into annoyance. She muttered something I couldn't hear and blinked again. CRACK Only for the laughing stallion to pick a crowbar off the ground and almost lazily slamming it into the Batmare's chest sending her flying out of screen. “You're just delaying.” There were no jokes on The Laughing Stallions lips as he walked off screen. Never before have I seen a pony so ready to kill somepony. “Fuck...” I whispered to myself. Before I could say anything more I felt my shoulder burn. My eyes fell to Dragonslayer's horn, and I followed it's magic to notice he was pulling at one of the cords holding the catwalk up... oh shit. The cable snapped and the platform lurched uneasily to the side. Giving me full view of the ground below me. Then I started sliding towards it... Shit shit shit, falling is bad. The movement sent me rolling off Dragonslayer and nearly to my death if I hadn't caught myself at the last second. My heart was racing so hard I had stop and calm myself, and I completely lost track of Dragonslayer. At that moment the only thought I could think was ‘falling is bad!’. “Goodbye, Hired.” Oh, he was standing above me. With a pistol in his mouth. BANG Both of us turned our heads to the screen to see a massively injured Ginger kneeling over the body of the NCA Chairpony. A smoking gun was in her hand, but the bullet missed. He lifted his hand again, and tried to aim through the pain, but it kept shaking. He had to put his other hand on the gun to steady it. He fired a single shot. BANG The Minotaur laughed to himself in triumph. The NCA Chairpony was splattered against the floor by a Minotaur as hundreds of ponies and minotaurs watched on. There would be no peace after this, no hope for reconciliation. “E-everybody!” Lucky screamed over the loudspeaker. It was too late though, already I could hear shots being fired below me. “Stay calm there must be an explanati-” A spear flew from somewhere in the minotaur side of the lobby. Everyone not already shooting gasped as the ghoul stumbled back and sat down. His eyes fell to the spear protruding from his chest. It looked like he was speaking, but he was too far away from the microphone and the words were lost. The two ponies beside him rushed to help, and maybe he would survive, but it was too late to stop it. Bullets flew like hail from the NCA side and I could hear the shouts and cries of minotaurs as they died in blood and pain. Some ran forward to the guardrail for some measure of cover, while others retreated back looking for something else to hide from, but all of them threw their spears in return before switching to rifles, and heavy looking machine guns. “So much for peace.” Dragonslayer quipped as my ears boiled with rage. It couldn't be like this. There must have been something I could do. Anything. I did the only thing I could do and charged. It was a un-steady uneasy gait with my powered down leg, but I hit him all the same. The purple stallion was pushed back, grunting in pain. I saw his pistol fall from his grip, and I kicked it off the edge, like I'd done to his rifle. The distraction was all he needed though, because when I looked back at him, his horn was glowing. Something tugged at my leg hard. My balance was thrown and my face slammed into the grating so hard it cracked. There was another burst of magic, and the sound of a cable snapping. Then I started to slide. As my hooves scrambled for something to grab onto I looked behind me. Whatever he did, it snapped the catwalk in half, and the side I was on was tilting heavily to the floor. Panic filled me as the edge slowly came closer. My heart jumped into my throat and my hooves flailed about trying to stop my descent. this was not how I wanted to die! Damnit! I needed Flare, or Platinum Haze, or... or wings or anything! My leg snagged onto the guardrail just as my hind legs went over the edge. My leg tightened around it, and I held on with all my might. My hind legs kicked out uselessly from where they hung over the edge, but I couldn’t get myself back up. With a slow gulp I looked down. I could only bear to look for a second, but it seemed like the minotaurs were retreating down the stairs. At the same time I noticed a pony running across the lobby towards the stairs to the catwalk... I couldn’t tell who it was, because just then The Batmare fell back into screen. Her mask was torn in half, but her face was covered with blood. She tried her best to stand, but her knees shook and she fell into a growing puddle of blood. “Pathetic.” The Laughing Stallion sauntered into view seemingly unhurt. There was a spark of anger as he saw her horn start to light up. CRACK The crowbar slammed into it, and the Batmare wailed in pain. The glow didn’t stop though, despite it all. Barely over the speakers I heard he speak, “No... I will...” CRACK “I-ARGGGGH” The second hit to the Batmare's horn left a long crack from base to tip. The glow vanished in a bright light. This did not stop the mare, as a small spark of light appeared on the tip of the Batmare’s horn... Only for it to vanish, and her to gasp in pain. “You don't get it, do you.” He dropped the crowbar and leaned over. “You're not a hero, I'm not a villain. You're just a stupid little mare who was trying so hard to be a hero you lost yourself in the fantasy. 'The Laughing Stallion' doesn’t exist! He never did.” He rolled his eyes at the name. “He was created to give you something to fight, to distract you. Get it now?” He listed her head up, “Get it?! It was a game, and you lost You’re not useful anymore, this was the final gambit. Now you die! And I can take off this paint. You worthless bitch..” He stood up and whipped his face with a hoof leaving a smear of white paint. “You could have been a hero, not this pretend one, but a real one. Instead you're going to die a failure.” For all the trouble the Batmare brought me my heart couldn't help but throb for the poor mare. All she wanted to do was help ponies, and now... “I always liked him, such a good actor.” My eyes turned back to where Dragonslayer stood (Safely on the part of the catwalk that wasn’t collapsing) over me as I dangled above death. “Shame he has to go like this.” Has to go like, what? He pulled out a strange device with a long antenna from his barding and magically pressed the button. I felt a shockwave of familiar pain wash over me as the device did... something. “AIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” The Laughing Stallion was holding his head and screaming in pain. He took his hoof away from his face and a sickly green light started to shine from his eyes. “What did you...” I tried to look over at Dragonslayer but he was galloping over the rickety catwalk towards the door. “Midnight, get me out of he-” His words were cut off as the door suddenly exploded into splintered and something came flying out. Not something, somepony. A purple pegsus hit the ground and sent a shockwave through the walkway that almost made me lose my grip. “Midnight, no, what...” “No, crazy pony... make her...” The pony slowly rose to all fours, and to my shock it wasn't just anypony standing there. It was an alicorn. Dragonslayer had an alicorn, and I was going to guess it wasn’t the nice orphanage running kind! “You said we'd fix it.” She grimaced and glared at something out of my sight. “We had to fix I-fuck!” She stumbled back more and I saw the vague outline of her attacker, and a glint of steel. The next thing I knew I saw Pinprick standing over the corpse of a dead alicorn and pulling her dagger from it's eye, and back into its sheath on her leg. “Fucking cunts!” She screamed. “First the Batbitch and now Hired Cunt! Can't any of you do your jobs without me!” Her glare could have frozen Balefire, and the force of it sent Dragonslayer retreating.. “Don't know who the fuck you are, but I already lost one friend, don't plan on sending another to fucking Celestia!” “No, you don't understand.” The fucking bastard had the gall to sound frightened. “We need to leave, come with me, we need to leave or else!” My attention went back to The Laughing Stallion, whose eyes were glowing brighter and brighter. “You don't understand!” She charged at him and went for a kick, but at the last second the device around her leg that she stole from the Baises activated sending a long skinny blade out. “Fuck you!” the blade cut across his face leaving a trail of blood on his already bloody muzzle. I saw him step back and heard a sharp gasp. “I'd rather die than let that cunt die. So fuck your offer, I’m not running until you’re radhog food!” Her blade dug into Dragonslayer's shoulder. “She saved me! I won’t let her die!” I could just barely see her leg twist, but I definitely heard Dragon slayer cry out. He kicked at her and she backed up taking her knife with her. He tried to charge her, but was forced to back off as her leg-blade came dangerously close to his face. “She saved me! That cunt has a daughter. Like mine. And you expect me to leave her! Fucking dumb asshat!” The sound of The Laughing Stallion’s insane cackling filled the room. “If you want to live,” he said through gritted teeth as Pinprick stabbed at him, “I could save you.” He brought his leg into the path of the blade, and it dug in so deep It protruded from the other side. “But...” He grunted in pain as his horn start to glow. “You don’t!” His magic wrapped around Pinprick’s dagger. “WATCH OUT!” I screamed uselessly. The blade was pulled free of the sheath and slammed into Pinprick's neck. Her eyes dilated, and she stopped moving. For a second it looked like she was trying to say something. Instead blood spewed from her mouth and ran down her chin. She gave one last shudder before falling limply into the railing with the bloody dagger still in her neck. Tears stung my eyes. She couldn't be dead. She had a daughter. She couldn't. Not again, I couldn't let another mother die. It was too late, it was always too late. Dragonslayer tore the blade out of his leg and threw Pinpricks lifeless body over the railing as he ran for the exit. My mind felt blank as I saw her corpse tumble down and land with a dull thud. It couldn't be, she couldn't... she died and I couldn't help her. All I could do was hang there trying not to fall as she was killed. I saved her, then I let her die. ..I was alone on the catwalk, still dangling uselessly as better ponies were killed. Tears were streaming down my face when I heard it. The question. My eyes turned back to the giant screens still playing despite the fact it was only I who was still watching. “What is the nature of a hero!” The laughing stallion said. Even with my blurry vision I could see flashes of green come out of his mouth as he spoke. “What is the... oh Celestia, I get it. I get.” He hunched over. Cracks started to form on his suit. Small at first, but they grew until the suit was shreeded by the green light bursting from a hundred points of his body at once. “What... what is... is the nature of a... hero.” Whatever Dragonslayer did when he pressed that button was bad. The burning sensation that washed over my shoulder as he started to break apart and glow confirmed what I already knew. What he was, what he was doing. He was a pony-megaspell. Like Simple Heart. Only this time, whoever did this to him didn’t mess up. They wanted to created a concealable living bomb. They succeeded. And he was about to go off. We were all going to die... But then I saw her. Off on the corner of the screen the Batmare crawling over to him with all her energy. “The nature...” she wrapped a leg around his neck and ignored the green energy coming from it. “Of a hero?” She wrapped another one as her broken horn started to light up. Her mouth moved, but she spoke so quietly I couldn’t hear the words. Then they both vanished in a brilliant purple light. My eyes shot upwards, past the glass ceiling, and into the sky. For a second I thought I saw a purple flash, but It was overtaken. A great blast of green energy exploded. In a second the idyllic blue sky became a balefireic hellstorm. BOOM The sound and shockwave. Glass shattered all around me and fell over the train station like rain. There weren't many ponies left though. Most were dead, dying, or deserted. But those that were stopped to watch the green light despite the glass shards. As I hung there unable to help anypony, unable to save anypony, I pondered the first and last question the Laughing Stallion asked. 'What is the nature of a hero?'. As radiation fell over us like a blanket, sending my pipbuck ticking, I realized that he was always right. The nature of the hero was exactly what The Laughing Stallion said it was. Failure. Level Up! Quest Perk: Freedom in Failure: Without enough support in the city of Dise, Batmare and her organization have fallen to the Forces of Chaos. You get +10 speech for the purpose of dealing with Dise gangs, and +1 PER when trying to avoid trouble in the dangerous back alleys of Dise. This perk is incompatible with Sorrow in Success or Confusion in Compromise. ((A/N: ~No One~)) [[ED Note: Hey guys, this is theBSDude. No One has allowed me this space to correct a small travesty. Mane Effect, an excellent Mass Effect fusion fic, does not have nearly the readership it deserves, less than 400 unique views at the time of writing. It’s top-to-bottom, FoE-style integration of Mass Effect and FiM, with one of the most interesting takes on Shepard I’ve ever seen.]]