"So darling, what were you up to before this mess?" Rarity and Silver had been passing the time with banter and questions. The land was dull and barren. Rarity stood out like a lighthouse through the fog, her purple mane being the only colour for miles.
"I have been to Canterlot a few times for weapons training for the guards. The new weaponry was outpacing them. Every time they learned about a weapons platform, some new colt would invent the next best thing, and it would replace the weapons you learned," Silver explained. He kept his head on a swivel, looking out over the fields of sickly brown grass and forgotten stumps.
"Ah, I see. I remember hearing about places like Vanhoover and Manehattan becoming industrial meccas. You lived in Vanhoover, right?" Rarity asked, looking over to Silver.
"Yeah, the place was booming for the war effort," Silver stated. "And the advent of more advanced firearms meant different types of crime, so I had my hooves full."
"The war..." Rarity shook her head. "It never came. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was all a farce from the beginning, but I'm not sure what to think."
"What's got you confused?" Silver questioned.
"Twilight. She always knew what was going on. She was rushing around from the moment the war was announced. Over the years, she got more... what's the word? Jaded? Absent? Hostile even? Maybe all those things. She just seemed wrong." Silver enjoyed Rarity's openness. Rarity shook her head. "She always had a drive. A functioning workaholic. She just became a plain old workaholic after everything. Disappearing for days on end without so much as a letter."
Silver absorbed her words, letting her get everything out before trying to think of the right words to say next. "Why are you telling me all this?" Silver's words were blunter than he'd have liked. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that; I'm just..."
"No, I understand, darling," Rarity's chuckle defused some of Silver's anxiety. "That's an odd question. I think it is a mixture of why you are here in the first place and a smidge of attachment from looking after you. I invested a lot of care into keeping you alive and stable. Plus, if you are serious about what you want to do here, I must help. I've saved the world before. The only difference is the new faces and the lack of old ones." Rarity explained, her voice becoming softer near the end of her sentence. Silver felt a question get caught in his throat, causing a lull in the constant flow of conversation. "Go ahead. I was never one for keeping secrets anyway."
"What happened to the others?" Silver asked, his voice more cautious.
Rarity let the question simmer in the air for a moment while she thought. "Well, you know Twilight is missing. Pinkie is missing too. Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy run other factions of ponies here in the zone. They haven't been on speaking terms with each other for quite a while, and they stopped talking to me, which I think is for the better," Rarity attempted to start on the next sentence. Silver counted in his head, connecting names to faces. He gave Rarity some time to collect herself. The silence weighed a ton. She took a deep breath and swallowed down a painful chunk of air. "Applejack is dead. Raiders, I was told. She used to run E.O.A. with Dashie. After Dashie and Shy had their falling out, AJ formed her mercenary group out of her old apple farm. B.U.C.K., I think it was called. I'm sure Big Mac is holding down the fort just fine. The loss hit us all, but I can't imagine how Mac feels. I think about what it would be like if I lost Sweetie. Tartarus, my world shattered when AJ died. What would I even do?" The question was rhetorical, a question to herself. She gritted her teeth before lifting her head. Despite her best efforts, tears forged their path down her cheeks. She sniffed and pulled out a handkerchief from her saddlebag. She dried away her tears as she slipped the large revolver from her holster. "She taught me how to shoot. How to protect myself. Not to be afraid of getting my hooves dirty for once." The gun looked immaculately taken care of.
"Are you ok?" Silver offered as much comfort as he could, still taking in everything.
"No point in crying over it now. AJ wouldn't want me to. There are just, lots of things left unsaid. I don't even know where they buried her," Rarity huffed as she admired the revolver held firmly in her magic. Her eyes lingered on the three red apples on the grip. "I don't talk about it. It seems like now is as good a time as any though. Sometimes, bringing up old demons can be the only way to find answers, right?" Rarity smiled at Silver, the pain still covering her face.
"If you don't confront them, you will never heal," Silver offered some advice, paired with a soft, understanding smile. "I appreciate you talking to me about this. It gives me even more incentive to get to the bottom of this place." Silver pulled his gaze back to the horizon. Being inside the fog was like being inside a dome. The wall of fog curled back to cause a permanent overcast day. He saw a few dilapidated houses in the distance, not Ponyville yet, but they could be a good place to rest for a moment.
Rarity collected herself and wiped away the last of her tears. "The cleanup is so much easier without all the makeup," Rarity chuckled, placing the handkerchief back into her saddlebag while also sliding the revolver back into her holster. Her eyes also saw the buildings, her gaze turning cautious. "I don't remember seeing a settlement between us and Ponyville." Rarity pulled out her PDA, which Silver mimicked. Sure enough, the path before them on the map was clear. "Be on guard; this place seems to get a kick out of turning mundane days into deadly ones."
As they both got closer to the set of buildings, Rarity led Silver off the path to a boulder on top of a small hill. She pulled out her pair of binoculars. The buildings looked as though they had been uprooted from somewhere else and placed down in a random location. "Spatial anomaly, it looks like. Interesting things. We used to joke that items we had misplaced were taken by them." Before she could react to her joke, something else caught her eye. Movement. Her eyes trained on a pony leaving one of the buildings—an earth pony stallion with a saddle rifle. Silver was also able to make out the small moving figure.
"Who is he?" Silver asked, keeping his voice low as he huddled next to Rarity. Rarity shrugged and zoomed in with her binoculars.
"I'm unsure. Looking for a patch to see if he's just a P.O.N.Y.," she stated as she looked over the target. Her eyes landed on something that made her grimace in anger. A black patch depicting the skull of a unicorn. "Raider," her voice was uncharacteristically filled with disdain.
"Shit. Should we go around?" Silver's voice became even quieter.
"No. No, we don't. A raider this close to the rookies has to be dealt with. I'm not going to let him run amok on the off chance he doesn't do anything. My sister's life is not a gamble I'm willing to take." Silver found himself swayed by Rarity's words, although it wouldn't have taken much convincing anyway.
"I'm guessing we aren't just going to walk up and have a civil chat," Silver said as he pulled out his revolver.
"Trust me, darling. I tried that before, and I almost died. These ponies speak two languages: bits and..." Rarity let the implications speak for themselves. "And before you ask, no.”
"I wasn't going to!" Silver defended himself with a silent squeak, his face flushing for a moment before he collected himself. "Murder it is, then. I get it."
"Murder is a strong word. I prefer 'forced relocation.' Just so happens that the location they are going to is Tartarus," Rarity smiled at Silver.
"You are scary when you want to be. You know that, right?" Silver admitted.
"It's dirty work, but it's got to be done. Are you with me?" Rarity asked, her face turning serious. Silver nodded in reply.
"Let's wait for a moment. See if there's anypony else with him," Silver suggested. Rarity accepted his request.
"Not too long. Don't want him calling his buddies," Rarity said as she pulled out her revolver and checked its cylinder. Fully loaded and ready to go.
Rarity let an hour pass, not taking her eyes off the raider in the distance. "OK, I'm done waiting. If anypony else is there, they aren't going to make themselves known until it's too late." Rarity slid her binoculars back into her saddlebag. Silver agreed with her and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
"Ok, let's get this over with," Rarity said, placing a hoof on Silver's shoulder. The comfort helped him collect his thoughts. With a silent nod, they both set off towards the collection of misplaced buildings, paying close attention to not broadcasting their movement. They hid behind a ruined wall within shouting distance of the unknown raider pony. The pony had pulled out a sandwich at this point and was inaudibly mumbling angrily to himself. Before Silver and Rarity could make their move, another raider made themselves known, leaving the same misplaced building which, upon closer inspection, seemed to be a bank. Rarity and Silver decided to get closer, weaving behind some of the buildings and finding a new spot to hunker down, now being able to hear the raiders speak to one another.
"Fuck Sal, I preferred Trager over him!" The one with the sandwich yelled through a full mouth.
"Well, Trager got himself killed, didn't he? Like a dumbass. He should have dealt with those pricks from the village months ago," his companion rolled his eyes and sat on his haunches, stretching his wings out.
"I didn't say I liked Trager. I said I preferred him. Trager was also a cunt," the sandwich raider grunted. "How did the scouting go?"
"Alright. Small town to the south. Filled with ponies. Probably our mark," the companion's words shot through Rarity, confirming her fears and screaming at her to act.
"Fucking finally. Those pricks gave some good information after all," the sandwich raider swallowed a chunk of his chosen food before continuing. "What they were doing in that ghost town, I'll never know."
"Which one? This place is like, ninety per cent ghost town," his companion chuckled, causing Sandwich to roll his eyes.
"Pretty easy to narrow down. Rockfarm's full of eggheads. The small parts of Cloudsdale that aren't covered in those EoA pricks are full of fucking mutants and not much else and don't even get me fucking started on the Everfree," the sandwich raider pulled a matchbox out from his saddlebag. "Hold this." His companion took the box in his hooves, and Sandwich used his mouth to strike a match and toss it into the campfire, causing it to slowly ignite. "I meant Ponyville." Silver could see Rarity starting to fill with anger, threatening to explode and give away their position. Silver put a hoof on her shoulder, feeling the tenseness of her muscles.
"Oh, those colts. Who got them to talk in the end?" the companion set the box of matches down.
"Shard," Sandwich said bluntly. "That bitch is scary. Just slit one of their throats, and the other two started screaming for their mommies." Sandwich took a mocking tone and pouted his lips distastefully. That was the final straw for Rarity. She pulled away from Silver.
"Rarity, wait!" Silver yelled. His voice was cut off by the sound of a powerful gunshot which shattered the companion raider's skull. The pegasus hit the ground and slumped over, his blood splattering over the dirt. Before the sandwich could react, Rarity had the earth pony pinned down, her left foreleg bent and held to his neck.
"Where are they!" Rarity growled, only putting more pressure on the earth pony's throat. He choked in response, only being able to muster a defiant spit. Rarity used her free hoof to wipe saliva from her face in disgust. Silver caught up and assessed the area first, his head on a frantic swivel.
"Don't worry. I'll tell ya," the raider choked out. "Your buddies are probably still squirming in their shared coffin under six feet of dirt right now." The raider was cut off by the sensation of Rarity putting her entire body weight on the raider's neck. Silver continued his survey of the surroundings, missing one thing.
The sound of another gunshot rang out, shattering the window of the bank. The bullet carved its way through the air, narrowly passing Silver's snout and embedding itself in Rarity's hind leg, causing her to let out a pained scream. Silver quickly snapped his head towards the direction of the window and fired five shots through the window back at the aggressor. The sound of a body hitting the wooden floor and the horrific cacophony of drowning in blood followed from inside the bank.
At that moment, Sandwich had taken the injured Rarity into his hold, wrapping his foreleg around her neck and using her as a shield. Silver aimed his gun at them, warning, "Don't be a fucking idiot." Rarity struggled and kicked in the earth pony's grasp despite her injuries. Sandwich taunted her, promising to take care of her, but his words were cut short. A shot rang out, zipping past Rarity's ear and striking Sandwich in the forehead, causing him to collapse like a house of cards.
Rarity coughed on the ground. Silver shook his head and blinked his eyes for a moment before springing into action. He picked Rarity up and carried her inside the bank. He laid her down on the floor and examined her hind leg. "No exit wound. Fuck, I'm unqualified for this," Silver muttered, feeling his breath shorten as his thoughts raced.
"Get the tweezers out of my bag. This is why we prepare, darling," Rarity smiled through her pain. Silver narrowed his eyes on her before rummaging through her saddlebag and pulling out the tweezers. He found the wound and prepared himself.
"This is going to hurt," Silver offered his sympathies, which Rarity brushed off.
"Darling, I know it will. Let's just get this over with. It isn't necessary, but I'd rather not have a random bit of metal in me," Rarity explained.
"The calibre of his gun seemed low. It shouldn't have gone too deep." Silver took a deep breath and looked to Rarity for approval. She gave him a small, pained nod. Silver carefully inserted the tweezers into Rarity's leg. She winced and shook; trying to keep as still as possible.
"Feel anything hard?" Rarity stuttered.
"Yeah, I think I got it." Silver gripped the object with the tweezers and pulled it out as gently as he could. "Bingo got it."
"My hero. Now bandage me up. Would rather not bleed out in a random bank." Rarity stuttered as she tried to take deep breaths.
"That, I know how to do" Silver reached into his saddle bag but was stopped by Rarity.
"Use mine, keep your own for yourself. Never know when you'll need them." Rarity rested her head on the floor. Silver nodded in response and used Rarity's bandages instead. "First aid training?" Rarity asked to break the tension in the air.
"Yup, it was mandatory when you joined the force, but that was before bullets were even a thing." Silver spoke as he tended to her wound, wrapping the soft fabric around her leg with his magic and pulling it tight. Rarity's gaze landed on the now corpse that was in the same room as them. The life had long since drained from him. She tried to get up. "Hey, stay here, I'll clean up the mess." Silver stood up and walked over to the body. His adrenaline was now gone from his body.
"I'm sorry that I let my emotions get to my head." Rarity shamefully shook her head. "I should have known somthing like this would happen."
Silver snapped out of his stare to respond, "I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't angry but what's important is we are both alive. I think the bullet is punishment enough." Silver turned around and smiled. Rarity nodded and smiled back.
"Do as I say, not as I do." Rarity said with a chuckle before her face returned to a more sorrowful expression. "How are you holding up? Killed anypony before?"
"Death and I are no strangers, but..." Silver felt the fresh blood touch his hooves. It was sickenly warm. "Never pulled the trigger myself so to speak." Silver stepped out of the pool and used his magic to grab the pony by the hind legs. "I'll at least get him outside." Silver spent some time dragging the body outside. The pony's head made a thump sound as it dropped from the door frame. While Silver was outside, he took a deep breath. Something managed to reflect the small amount of sun there, which perfectly went into Silver's eye. He located the source and found Rarity's revolver. Picking it up, he took it with him back inside.
Silence hung in the air for a moment. Silver pulled the door behind him closed and trotted over to Rarity. "My gun! Did I drop it? Crazy how your priorities change when you've been shot, huh?" Rarity joked as she took the revolver in her magic. Silver didn't respond, he just sat down on his haunches next to her. The cocktail of emotions flowed through him. Rarity looked away, "Look, I'm sorry, darling." Rarity's apology snapped Silver out of his moping.
"Yeah, I know, it's just..." Silver felt his face tense into a scowl, "All that talk about being prepared and stuff flew right out of the window." Silver's shoulders went limp and he hung his head. "We got incredibly lucky. What in Celestia's name would I have done if you got yourself killed?" Silver let the question hang in the air, "You aren't even taking this seriously."
Rarity thought about a response, "Darling, this place is Tartarus. You let it get to your head and you'll go mad. Humour is just how I deal with everything now. I understand how you feel though and I'm mare enough to admit I was wrong. Should have never dragged you into a fight that wasn't yours to begin with." Rarity stopped for a moment, "The guilt of sending those ponies to their deaths has been eating at me."
Silver sighed, "I'm not angry about that. I would have joined the fight anyway. Just keep your wits about you next time. I get that you are angry, but who's going to protect Sweetie Belle and the town if we both get killed because of some vendetta?" Rarity nodded in agreement, "Anyway, I'm done being a teacher for now. That's supposed to be your job." Silver let a slight smile make its home on his face. Rarity responded with a smile of her own.
"I needed that… I'm glad you came along with me." Rarity admitted. She turned her gaze to the broken window at the dusk that was quickly becoming night, "Well guess we are stuck here for the night. I should be fine in the morning."
Silver agreed, feeling the sudden weight of his body. "Yeah, I'm gonna secure the rest of the building. Wouldn't want a raider telling their friends about our little heart-to-heart." Rarity gagged theatrically at the thought.
"Oh, Celestia no that wouldn't do at all!" Silver and Rarity shared a smile, bringing a piece of mind to both of them.