Stepping out of the makeshift infirmary, a flurry of assorted feelings slammed into Silver's senses. Foremost was the smell—the potent smell of gunpowder and a hint of musty, decayed wood swirled together into a smell that wasn't entirely repugnant. The scent resembled that of an old construction yard, derelict but still soldiering on. The sun shone through the clouds with all of its might; if he were anywhere else in the world, Silver would have called it a beautiful day. His mind wandered slowly to Luna as he followed Rarity while soaking in the sights. Raising both the sun and moon like her sister had before her would undoubtedly put a strain on her. Silver's eyes wandered, focusing on an earth pony stallion covered head to hoof in thick armour. It was odd to see a regular pony wearing something other than just a saddlebag or something fancy for an event. Silver found himself analysing more closely.
The armour looks thick, with plenty of scratches and dents, some caused by bullets. Saddle rifle, can't tell the make but it's high calibre. The saddlebag is heavy, sagging under the weight, likely filled with supplies. The mask resembles a military-issue hazard mask, with a thick plate on the forehead, as if covering a hole. Was it previously damaged, or maybe scavenged? Upon closer inspection, it looks like a battle mage mask.
A glint of sunlight off the towering stallion's mask visor snapped Silver out of his studying. "Rarity," the stallion uttered, his voice calm and monotone.
Rarity had continued unknowingly a few paces before being stopped by the voice. She turned around with a smile and retraced her steps to the smaller stallion's side, nudging him to continue. Silver put up no protest, dragging his eyes off of the mountain of armour that was once a pony. "The ex-SENSE ponies don't like being stared at," Rarity explained calmly. Silver's eyes widened before Rarity continued, "Free P.O.N.I.E.S are a collection of anypony who has no other home. That can be former members of other factions or new blood like yourself." Rarity's explanation put Silver at ease.
"Do you have many SENSE ponies here?" Silver asked to pass the time, his mind lingered on the foggy memories of his arrival.
"No. SENSE ponies are usually fanatical. Usually, they kill themselves instead of being captured," Rarity said, her expression stonefaced. The words sat in the pit of Silver's stomach. He had dealt with the seedy underbelly of ponykind before, but the reality of this situation was setting in.
"Celestia, what have I got myself into," Silver asked himself under his breath with a small shake of his head. Rarity responded with a chuckle.
"It's only going to get worse, darling," Rarity was frank, but her gaze was soothing. "Come on, we are almost at the shop." Rarity picked up the pace. Silver followed behind her, noticing her interacting with some other ponies in passing. There were probably more weapons in this small town than there were in the entire Equestrian army. Some ponies were adorned in light armour, others in similar heavy armour to the large stallion from before. Weapons of all lengths and calibres were strapped to flanks and harnesses. Rarity greeted them all like old friends. After a short while, Rarity stopped at a storefront. It had no name; the original name had long faded. Hanging from a rusted rod above the door, on a rotted wooden sign, were two simple words: "Guns, Armour."
Rarity pushed open the red door, and the noise of a dull ringing bell filled the small shop floor. Directly in front of them was a counter with an old wire fence used to protect the store clerk, who was currently missing, much to Rarity's chagrin. In the fence were cut rectangle holes to process transactions. The walls to the left and right were covered in locked guncases with names and pictures of the weapons held inside. Rarity tapped her hoof in frustration before turning around to face Silver.
"Please forgive me, darling" Rarity didn't give time for Silver to process her preemptive apology, She gulped air and shouted, "BIT!"
"Sweet Celestia! I'm in the back!" The voice of an older male stallion was muffled by the walls but still loud and authoritative enough to make Silver snap to attention. Rarity made her way to a door that led behind the counter. Silver followed her into a back room. It was a large workshop with assorted gun parts, ammo, and armour parts were strewn about. In the centre was an older, dark gray stallion with a saturated blonde mane. Out of his forehead was the stump of a horn. It didn't look broken but melted. The stallion's bright, golden eyes were trained on a machine holding a half-constructed rifle. Working on the rifle was a small, early teen-aged mare with a bright white coat. Her mane was curled and had streaks of pale purple and pink, and her green eyes focused on the gun, tools held in her green magic. She had her tongue out in concentration. "And what do you do with the bolt?" The stallion asked in a teaching manner.
"Stick the pin in the bolt carrier, then pull," the mare's actions matched up with her words. "Insert the firing pin and the firing pin retention, and done!" She smiled. The stallion looked over the bolt carrier.
"Looks good. I'm sure you can work on the body while your sister and I talk." The mare nodded, and the stallion stood up, his gaze locking with Silver's. "So you're Luna's champion, huh? You don't look like much." He made his way over to Silver and Rarity. He was much taller than him. "Then again, I don't look like a teacher, so I guess we're both full of surprises. Molten Bit, a weapons engineer and businessman." Bit bowed his head in greeting.
Rarity rolled her eyes with a smile. "Your gloating is sickening," Bit responded with a soft glare.
"There's always something with you, Rarity. I do hope you have told our guest here about the mound of shit he has got himself into. Deadly mutants, dangerous anomalies, bandits." Bit chuckled as he moved to Silver's left, to a counter full of drawers, hunting for something.
Rarity scoffed but kept her smile. "Not yet, I was going to let you do that." Her smile faded to confusion. "What are you looking for?" A wave of sudden realization shot through her. "You lost his PDA, didn't you?"
Bit groaned, "I didn't lose it. I misplaced it."
Rarity, not satisfied with the answer, shook her head and moved to help search. "Honestly, Bit, if you just let me clean up around here."
Bit cut her off. "If you cleaned up, I would be able to find nothing. I have learned from my mistake, that's why we have separate workshops. Aha! I knew I didn't sell it." Molten picked it up in his mouth and set it on the counter, using a forehoof to close the drawer. Silver used his magic to float it over to him. It was scratched up but otherwise undamaged; he turned it on and was surprised to see an accurate map of the place.
"I didn't think the pylons would reach down here from Canterlot, let alone still function," Silver asked, looking up at the stallion.
"They don't. You are connected to our network. Big enough range to get you to the fog wall but won't work beyond that. Thank our cartographers for the detailed map. This place is always changing but the landmarks stay the same. Usually," Bit explained. "It can make and receive messages like your usual PDA but now has voice-to-text. I'm sure you wouldn't want to fumble with a touchscreen keyboard while suppressed."As he was speaking, a message appeared on the screen. Nothing important, just somepony's musings. "Everypony worth a damn is on this network, from our quaint little hamlet, all the way down in the remains of Cloudsdale. Keep your eyes on it; you never know what somepony might say." Bit made his way next to Silver and pointed at the screen. "Tab for an encyclopedia; it should automatically update when you encounter something. You don't know what it is? Somepony smarter than both of us combined does and has given you that information. The more you know, the longer you'll last. The next tab is a ranking system that tells you the top one hundred ponies in the zone. Some competition seems to keep ponies sane. The higher you are on the list, the more respect you get." Bit smiled as Silver scrolled down the list. Names, ranks, and reputations were all conveniently in one space. Silver felt a bit disappointed that his rank was so low, although it wasn't unexpected. "Any missions you get will also be tracked. Gives you some directions and a written brief if the client provides it. And finally, a radio because why not." Bit chuckled. "I think that's everything. Ponies you meet will be added to your contacts. Rarity and I are already there."
"Now that you are finished showing him around, shall we get to business? I'm sure the princess would love to hear from you, darling," Rarity smiled before turning to Molten Bit. "We have other things to discuss. We will leave you to it, Silver."
Silver nodded in appreciation as the mare led the stallion away. Silver took a seat on his haunches and clicked through his contacts until he found the princess. He pressed the screen to begin the call. After a moment of waiting, the call connected.
"Greetings," Luna began after a few moments of fumbling.
"Hello, Luna," Silver responded, glad to hear her voice again.
"Silver!" Luna was shocked for a moment. She cleared her throat. "I was worried about you. I—" She stopped for a moment, and even from such a distance, Silver felt her sorrow.
"I'm fine. I'm not hurt too bad," Silver softened his tone, addressing her as a friend. "I just hope the fog hasn't progressed too much while I was out."
Luna swallowed nothing and responded, "We had to move to the Crystal Castle. We are hoping that Cadance's magical barrier can protect us, but we haven't had to test that theory yet." Luna's voice was tired and filled with months of stress.
"I'm behind schedule, but the mission is still on. I'm going to head to Ponyville as soon as I can." Silver wanted his words to comfort the princess, but it was difficult to tell.
"We won't be of any help, I'm afraid. Even if we could send you some information to use, we wouldn't know the land like those ponies inside. I would recommend sticking with Rarity." Luna's frustration was audible in her voice.
"I was going to. She's capable," Silver's eyes drifted to Rarity, who was looking over a map with a sour expression.
"Good. Stay safe," Luna's breath shook. She had other words on her tongue but couldn't bring herself to say them.
"It wasn't your fault," Silver uttered softly to no response. "Okay. I have to go. I'll check in with you every night and call at the end of every week. Okay?"
"Okay," Luna replied, her usual voice replaced by fear. She left it at that, and the call ended.
Silver stood up and floated the PDA into his saddlebag as he made his way over to Rarity and Bit.
"That's the third one this week. Ponyville is a death trap, and you want to go there yourself? For what? Sewing supplies?" Bit's voice was a mixture of anger and concern.
"I refuse to send anypony else to their grave. I can take care of myself, Bit, and with a smaller traveling party, I have less of a chance of being spotted," Rarity countered, her eyes glued to the map on the table.
"You are heading to Ponyville?" Silver spoke up, Standing at the opposite side of the table. "That's where I need to go." Rarity looked up at him with confusion.
"What in Celestia's name would you be doing in Ponyville?" Rarity's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Silver took some consideration to the classified nature of his mission. He rocked on his hooves before deciding the mission was more important than keeping it a secret. "Luna tasked me with finding some way to stop the fog. The only lead we had was Twilight. My original stop was going to be her treehouse in hopes of finding any information on her location."
Rarity stopped for a moment, like a deer in headlights. Bit looked at her knowingly. "You were going to do the same, weren't you?"
Rarity looked down and sighed. "Fine, fine. I'm sorry I lied."
"Don't apologize, I understand. This changes things," Bit thought for a moment. "You are both insane. You ain't gonna get far without my help." Bit walked away from the table before stopping.
"So you will help us?" Rarity smiled with gratitude.
"Yeah. But you," his eyes trained on Silver. "First off: don't get used to free handouts, and second off," he stepped closer. "If your incompetence gets her killed, there will be no corner of this wretched zone you can hide in." His voice was icy, causing Silver to gulp and nod frantically. "Good. I'll get you set up with a weapon I can spare and some ammo, don't expect anything life-changing." The stallion grumbled and made his way back over to the younger mare to check on her progress.
Silver moved around the table to Rarity's side, looking over the map with her. It was crudely drawn, showing the centre plaza of Ponyville. Marked in red marker were a few zones around the town, some over houses, and some dotted around the plaza and up the path to a treehouse. "He is right. The place is a deathtrap," Rarity spoke up solemnly. "If anyone would know about what happened, it would be Twilight. Before this, she was becoming more distant. She would disappear for days on end and refuse to speak about what was bothering her. She looked like she was run ragged, working more than she should. The day everything went to shit, Pinkie went to deliver some cupcakes to Twilight. She always had a sense for these things. If anyone was going to find her, it was her. She left early in the morning that day and was rushing around. I think we should go to Sugarcube Corner first and see if she left anything behind." As Rarity spoke, there was a small flash of pain on her face near the end of her sentence. Silver didn't pry and looked over the map again, noticing a sign covering the bakery depicting a brain with sparks flying from it.
"Do we have protective gear?" Silver asked, pointing to the bakery. Rarity's eyes filled with annoyance.
"When did that get there?" She let out a sigh of frustration. "OK. Change of plan." She leaned over the map before pulling out her own PDA and placing it on the paper map. "We go to Twilight's place first, see what we can find. If we don't find anything, we need to head to the Rockfarm," Rarity explained, beginning to type something down on her PDA.
"What would we need at a rock farm?" Silver questioned as his PDA buzzed in his saddlebag. He pulled it out with his magic and placed it on the table, seeing a new mission.
"Place was retrofitted into a scientific base by Starlight Glimmer and Trixie. They might have something that can help us get through those psy-hazards," Rarity explained, her eyes still trained on the poorly drawn bakery. There was a flash of emotion on her face. The mare inhaled before clearing her throat.
After a moment of silence, Molten Bit comes over with the smaller mare by his side. The mare had a big proud smile on her face as she floated over Silver's small revolver. "I was pretty damaged when I got it, but it was nothing I couldn't fix." The smaller mare's face was lightly covered in gun oil and gunpowder.
"Thank you, Sweetie Belle," Rarity addressed her with love as Silver gripped his newly renovated pistol in his magic. He flicked open the cylinder a few times.
"You know your way around a weapon, good." Bit let a small, relieved smile come across his face.
"Yeah. I was an investigator for a long time. I'm trained," Silver reassured him as Bit gave him an old box of bullets.
"The box of ammo you brought with you will do in a pinch, but you might find these a bit more consistent." The box was old but full. Silver nodded in thanks and loaded six rounds into the cylinder, flipped it closed, and slid it into a holster by his flank. Rarity and Bit exchanged gazes for a moment.
"Sweetie, darling," Rarity walked slowly to her sister's side. "I'm going to Ponyville." Rarity didn't mix words; her honesty was powerful. Sweetie's face dropped, and her brow furrowed.
"I don't know what you think you are going to find there," the smaller mare scrunched up her face and rocked nervously.
Rarity offered a comforting smile. "I know you're worried, and I'm sorry, but I have to know. I can't just sit here not knowing what happened to my friends." Rarity hugged Sweetie; they locked in an embrace for a moment. "I won't be going alone either." They turned to face Silver.
Silver gazed back and offered a smile. Sweetie narrowed her eyes on him; he felt her gaze pierce through him.
"I'm not some defenceless maiden!" Rarity scoffed. "I'm sure I can teach him enough by the time we get there. The road is safe enough." Her words seemed to soothe the smaller unicorn. "I'm collecting my things, and then we will be off." Rarity walked back to the table, grabbed her PDA, and rolled up the map. "Let's get going, darling."