//------------------------------//
// Blindsided 
// Story: Mane Six vs. Handsome Jack 
// by Newbiespud 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2
Blindsided


The vision of the young woman from earlier appeared before them again. "Once upon a time, four Vault Hunters changed Pandora forever. But their time has passed - thanks to Handsome Jack, Pandora needs new heroes. I know you are those heroes."

The young woman disappeared, but Twilight couldn't help but ask aloud, "Who are you? Why are you helping us?" She wondered if the stranger could even hear them.

A moment later, her question was answered. "My name is Angel," the woman said. "I'm here to help you stop Jack."

Claptrap chose that moment to speak up, cutting off the secret conversation. "Apart from the excruciating pain, this is great!" the robot declared, pushing himself off the ground. He hesitantly made his way to one of the metal walls built into the cave. "I've been waiting for some mighty Vault Hunters to help me reach Sanctuary! I will be your wise leader, and you will be my fearsome minions!"

Claptrap cackled maniacally as he bumped off the wall, before finally finding and passing through a little doggie door shaped exactly like him. A couple of seconds passed, and a scrap metal garage door rose up, allowing the ponies to pass through as well.

The group of ponies gathered around Twilight. They didn't say anything, but their expressions showed what they were all thinking: What do we do now?

Twilight regarded them silently, then looked around Claptrap's place. Scattered around the room were containers of all kinds: Lockers, safes, fridges, dumpsters, parcels, lock boxes, ammo chests... She'd just opened a cabinet full of items, so was it possible that the others held more? Her friends needed some of those health items, and badly.

The purple unicorn's horn glowed, and a row of lockers along the opposite wall opened up in sequence. Inside them was a box of pistol ammunition, a few green paper bills ("dollars", what passed for currency outside Equestria), and another red health vial.

"Look around," Twilight ordered, putting some much-needed authority into her voice. "Open all the containers you can - we might get some useful items."

"On it!" Rainbow Dash responded, saluting Twilight. The others murmured their agreement and spread out, opening up whatever they could find.

Applejack went over to a group of tables and opened up the lock boxes there. Inside each one was a small pile of more money. When the farm-pony picked it up and put it in her Backpack, all six ponies saw a money counter on the right side of their HUD count it up. It seemed that, because they were on a team, all the money they picked up was automatically distributed evenly.

Pinkie Pie bounced over to the wall to the right of where they'd entered. There was a door, which she tried to open. When she touched it, though, it immediately burst outward. The pink party pony cried out as she was buried under a stack of deactivated Claptraps.

Rarity moved forward through the wall Claptrap had recently opened. To the right, next to a giant supply crate buried in snow, were two yellow chests. They both bore the Hyperion corporation symbol on their sides. The fashionista was reminded of the disguised robots on the train, but calmed herself and pressed the button on the front of each chest. With a click and some whirrs, the two chests opened up and slid out into several trays, each carrying a pack of ammunition and one health vial, which was much appreciated. She didn't have much use for the ammo, but she picked it up anyway.

When Rarity did that, there was a flurry of activity on Twilight's HUD.

INITIALIZING... WEAPON DISPLAY MODULE

A blue bar in the bottom right corner gave her two numbers, one smaller than the other, that didn't mean much right away. But the bullet-shaped icon next to the bar was more telling.

Acting on a theory, Twilight took hold of the Repeater's trigger with her magic and pulled it back. With a loud pop, the gun fired a single bullet into the snow. The recoil from the shot startled the pony, nearly making her drop it. But, as she suspected, the new number on the left had gone down by one, and the blue bar had shrunk a bit. This was an ammunition count. And as the other ponies picked up more ammo throughout Claptrap's place, the number on the right occasionally increased. It seemed that, like money, ammo was shared amongst all of them.

Going through things this way, analyzing until she understood everything perfectly, was actually improving Twilight's mood. Just a few minutes ago, she'd been lost and confused. Now she felt like she was grasping the most important fundamentals of how technology worked out here.

Eventually, the ponies got back to Twilight. The group was now healthier, richer, and more heavily supplied than when they'd started. Applejack looked around at all the empty containers and said, "Welp, Ah think that's everything..."

"Are you all done ransacking my place?" Claptrap asked innocently, waiting in front of a door at the end of the next room. "Great! Just let me get this door open and we'll hunt ourselves a bullymong!"

"H-Hunt...?" Fluttershy echoed nervously. "We're going to... hunt the m-monster that took your eye?!"

"Yoouuu got it!" Claptrap answered in a sing-song tone, tapping away at a security keypad nearby. The door opened, and Claptrap rolled through. "Onward, seeing-eye minion! Let me know if I'm going to run into anything!" The robot proceeded to bump into a block of ice not three feet away from the door. "Ow! I'll just assume you didn't see that."

The newly opened doorway led back outside to a new part of the icy wastes. A gentle downward slope was ahead of them. On their left were great curved metal beams, sticking out of the snow like claws. The six ponies nervously followed Claptrap, who was rolling his way forward in a... rather casual manner.

"Even though Knuckle Dragger blindsided me," Claptrap explained (See what they did there?), "I know my way around this glacier. I bet ya we'll find my eye in Frostbite Crevasse."

As the path flattened out into a clearing and then went up another hill to the right, Claptrap stumbled straight into a pile of ice. The fragile pile shattered, and a health vial and some ammo fell out. Twilight looked questioningly back at the others, and only got shrugs in reply.

Claptrap's sense of direction took a hit after the stumble, and he spent the better part of a minute bumping into another large supply crate and the Hyperion ammo boxes near it. While the robot was occupied, Angel spoke to the ponies again. "Stick close to the robot - he will help you get off this glacier, and into the city of Sanctuary. That is the only place you will be safe."

Rainbow Dash shivered. "How big is this block of ice, anyway?" she muttered sourly. She shook herself once and took flight. "I'm gonna scout ahead and see what we're dealing with, 'k?"

"Good idea," Twilight said. "Be careful, Rainbow Dash."

The rainbow-maned pony frowned at that. "Come on. I'm always careful."

Applejack groaned. "This ain't the time fer jokes, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash shrugged and took off.

Claptrap finally figured out where he was going and led the remaining five ponies up the hill. Another large clearing was before them, with a little outcropping of rock in the center. When they got to the clearing's edge, however, they heard several loud roars in the air.

"Aaah!" Claptrap screamed, all his bravado gone in an instant. "I hear Bullymongs! Sic 'em, minions!" The robot fled backwards and cowered, yelling, "PROTECT ME, SQUIRE!"

On the icy cliffs above them, several blue-and-white-furred monsters came into view. They weren't as big as the giant from before, but they shared the same intimidating physique. There was a total of three of them that were visible, but the roars seemed to have more sources than that.

The five ponies huddled together in a circle facing outward, keeping their eyes on the creatures above them. "What's the plan, Twi?" Applejack asked quickly. "Run or fight?"

Twilight already knew the answer. "If we run, we'll freeze and starve out here," she replied, aiming her new pistol at one of the monsters. "We have to fight through them!"

That was Fluttershy's cue to run off after Claptrap, which the timid yellow pony swiftly took. Rarity followed suit, shouting something about keeping an eye on Fluttershy as she galloped back down the hill. That just left Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack.

The monsters leaped down from the cliffs, crashing down into the clearing in front of them. Twilight aimed straight down the sights at one of the monsters. Her HUD displayed a name and a Health bar when she aimed directly at them - these were apparently called Monglets.

Twilight pulled the trigger. The Monglet she was aiming at howled in pain, a splash of blood staining its furry coat where Twilight had shot it. A chunk of its Health bar disappeared, but not quite all of it.

But instead of being deterred, the Monglet recovered and charged towards the purple pony. Twilight panicked and fired several more times in quick succession. Some of her wild shots missed, but the rest hit their mark. The Monglet let out one final, pained roar and collapsed to the ground.

It was dead. She'd just killed a creature with a gun.

And there was another one coming within striking distance, looking angry enough to tear Twilight's eyes out.

Applejack intervened, full-body tackling the Monglet from the side. The Monglet was shoved away from Twilight and dazed for about a second. The orange pony quickly pivoted around and bucked the young Bullymong right in the face. (The word CRITICAL! appeared on Applejack's HUD.) Years of applebucking strength came to bear as the Monglet's face was practically smashed in, knocking it out entirely.

Then a loud explosion occurred near the third Monglet, where Pinkie Pie had fired her Party Cannon point-blank at the creature. The Monglet was blown back by the force, covered in streamers and confetti. The pink pony grinned sheepishly at the Monglet. "Whoops! Sorry!"

The concussive blast hadn't taken out all the creature's Health, though, so Twilight aimed her pistol and fired twice more at the stunned Monglet. The first shot finished it off, but the second shot never came. The gun was out of ammo.

On the left side of the clearing, a section of the icy wall completely shattered, broken in by two more Monglets that charged at the group.

Twilight panicked. "How do I reload this thing??" she yelled, frantically flipping the Repeater over and over to figure out how the mechanisms worked.

"Oh, fer Pete's sake!" Applejack shouted and ran up to the rocky outcropping. Galloping quickly, she jumped off the edge just as the Monglets passed, leaping onto the nearest one. The two of them went tumbling into the snow. Applejack was the first to recover, so she bucked the Monglet as hard as she could before the monster could get back up.

But the other Monglet was still headed for Pinkie and Twilight, both of whom needed time to reload their respective weapons. Twilight, mentally blinded by her panic, couldn't figure out the reloading method quickly enough to strike back. Pinkie Pie needed WAY more time to pack all the party materials she needed (wherever she got them from) into her cannon. Applejack couldn't reach them in time, either.

As the Monglet got closer, it was clear that it was going to strike at Pinkie Pie first. So Twilight, running on pure instinct at this point, grabbed Pinkie's whole body with her magic and tossed her to the side, where she landed safely in the snow a few feet away. The Monglet did exactly what Twilight thought it would - it forgot about Pinkie and went for Twilight instead.

In the next instant, Twilight was knocked backward against the ice wall behind her, with three new red gashes on her side.

The Monglet started running forward to follow up with another attack, but it got tackled by Applejack from behind. "Get offa her, ya little...!" the farm pony growled as she wrestled against the Monglet the best she could. The young Bullymong tried to shake her off, but Applejack was too good of a rodeo pony for the confused creature to simply shove off. It tried grabbing at her with its huge claws, but it couldn't quite get a firm grasp on her. So it started running around the clearing, trying its best to throw her off with sudden stops and starts, Applejack shouting "Yee-haw!" and the like all the while.

Twilight got back on her hooves. Despite the pain she felt, her Health bar had only gone down a little bit, so she hoped the wound wasn't too bad. With Applejack buying her time by keeping the Monglet busy, Twilight studied the ammo mechanisms once more. With a mind slightly cleared by the sudden pain, she finally figured it out: There was a little catch that released the empty magazine from a slot in the gun, and she had to replace it with a new magazine from her Backpack. In a matter of seconds, she had a pistol full of ammo again.

"Applejack!" Twilight called out. AJ seemed to understand, and dismounted from the Monglet at last. Before the monster could angrily retaliate, Twilight put several bullets in its body. The Monglet dropped dead.

The area fell quiet - it seemed no more Bullymongs were coming for the moment.

Sensing that the fight was over, Claptrap, Fluttershy, and Rarity came back up the hill. Fluttershy gaped at the bodies of the creatures lying in the snow.

Rarity noticed Twilight's wound and galloped over to her. "Are you alright, dear? I'm afraid we don't have any medical supplies..."

Twilight shook her head, but smiled back at the fashionista. "It's okay. As long as we keep finding health vials in crates, I think we can handle a few scratches."

Pinkie Pie, out of nowhere, gave Twilight a huge hug. "Thanks for the heroic 'push-out-of-the-way' Twilight!"

"You're welcome-" Twilight started.

"But next time, just let me dodge, okay?" Pinkie interrupted. "I wasn't gonna let that nasty ape hit me in the first place, silly!"

"Oh," Twilight said sheepishly. "Okay."

Out of all the ponies in the group, however, Fluttershy was the least pleased. In fact, she was rather distraught. "W-What happened?" she asked, her voice barely audible over the light winds rushing past. "D-Did you...?"

Twilight looked thoughtfully at her Repeater and, with a grimace, put it back in her Backpack. "Yes, Fluttershy. It was in self-defense."

Fluttershy looked like she was about to strongly object, but then she shrunk back and pawed at the snow. "I see..."

Claptrap rolled past the ponies and towards the newly made hole in the wall, where there was a path forward available. "Let's go! If we don't get my eye back, we'll never get to Sanctuary!"

Without any more comments, the ponies continued to follow Claptrap. They managed a few more yards without incident before the ground began to shake beneath their feet. Claptrap stumbled forward onto his face, and the ponies huddled together to keep themselves steady.

"Ugh - AGAIN?!" Claptrap groaned, pushing himself back up. "Jack's tearing Pandora apart to find the Vault. They say Jack's mining operations are causing these earthquakes. That, or your mom just got outta bed. ZING!"

Claptrap's winning zinger was met with utter silence.

"It-It's a joke that your mom's fat," Claptrap explained.

"Why would you make a joke like that?" Rarity whined with a sad pout on her face.

"Really? They don't tell 'yo mama' jokes where you're from?" Claptrap wondered. "What kinda backwards planet were you born on, anyway?!" Without waiting for an answer, Claptrap kept rolling onward.

"Regardless of what you think of his sense of humor," Angel cut in, "you'll need that funny little robot's help to reach Sanctuary. It's the last bastion of the resistance against Jack, and the only place you'll be truly safe. Get to Sanctuary."

As the group moved on forward, they came across another huge supply crate with some Hyperion crates scattered about. They looted the crates the best they could, finding some pistol ammo and a health vial for Twilight.

There was also a tall tower-like device near the supply crate that came to life as they approached. The panels along its front and sides opened up, revealing a robotic eye at the front and an antenna with a green light at the top.

"What's this thing?" Pinkie Pie asked, poking said thing with a hoof.

Claptrap stopped and turned towards them. "What thing?"

"This thing!" Pinkie responded, poking it again.

"I can't see the thing," Claptrap muttered.

"It's a big tower thing with a green light at the top," Applejack said, stopping the silly conversation before it could continue.

"Oh, that! That's a Hyperion New-U Station. When you use this device, your DNA profile is automatically identified and stored. Then, should any unfortunate fatal incident occur, your 'new you' appears at the last Station you visited. There's a bunch of these all over Pandora, so you've got the best in death and dismemberment insurance! ...Assuming you're registered in the New-U system, of course. You ARE registered, right?"

"Uh..." Twilight hesitated.

"Of COURSE you are!" Claptrap declared, apparently not wanting to hear their answer. "Now onward!" Claptrap resumed his forward rolling.

Right off a cliff. "W-Woah...! Oof!"

The area ahead of them was at the bottom of a steep pit. When they came near, the mini-map revealed the area as Frostbite Crevasse. At the bottom, buried headfirst into a pile of snow, was Claptrap.

Further down the hill was a Monglet, milling about. Twilight brought out her Repeater again.

"Ah!" Fluttershy squeaked and flew in front of Twilight. "Wait! Let me try talking to it first!"

"Are you sure?" Rarity inquired worriedly. "These beasts have a killer instinct."

Fluttershy just nodded, steeling herself. "I have to try."

"Alright..." Twilight said nervously, watching Fluttershy fly down into the Crevasse, "...but I'll be ready, just in case things get ugly."

The pegasus very carefully hovered near the Monglet. "Um, excuse me..." She had to dodge the Monglet's immediate swipe. "If I could just have a moment of your time..." The Monglet lunged at her, but she flew up to dodge it. "You see, Mr. Bullymong, my friends are up there, and if you attack them, you'll just end up getting hurt very badly..."

Fluttershy pointed up to the cliff where the rest of the ponies were. The Monglet paused and looked up there as well.

The yellow pegasus sighed, closed her eyes, and smiled. At last, progress. "So, um, if you could just stay out of the way for, you know, a couple of minutes, then..." Fluttershy trailed off and opened her eyes. The Monglet wasn't in front of her anymore.

It was charging up the hill toward the other ponies.

"Ahh! No!" Fluttershy cried out.

When it got towards the base of the cliff where Claptrap was buried, it leaped up an incredible distance into the air. Its trajectory would put it within melee range of Twilight and the others. And judging by the menacing snarl it was making, melee was its plan.

Twilight brought up her pistol and fired multiple shots, dropping the Monglet out of the air.

The sounds of the gunshots and the Monglet's dying roars triggered movement in the Crevasse. At the bottom of the hill were several large holes in the ice walls, and more Bullymongs started climbing out of them.

"Hey! What's that noise? Are you fighting?" Claptrap shouted, his voice muffled by the snow he was buried in.

More Monglets came charging up the hill. Twilight fired down at them from atop the cliff, but found that the accuracy of the Repeater was a bit more dodgy at that range. The Bullymongs were smart, too - dodging left and right to avoid gunfire.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Fluttershy demanded, flying in the air between the Bullymongs and the ponies. "You're just going to get hurt! Stop fighting!"

One of the bigger Bullymongs - not a Monglet, but a type known as a Brat Bullymong - responded to Fluttershy's cries by picking up a huge block of ice and hurling it at her. Fluttershy gasped and, too scared and confused to make a decision, merely braced herself for the hit.

Right before the ice block reached its target, a rainbow streak zoomed through the air and snatched Fluttershy out of the air.

Rainbow Dash dropped off the scared Fluttershy onto the cliff with the others. "Sorry!" the blue pegasus gasped. "Should've come back sooner!"

"Don't sweat it, sugarcube," Applejack reassured her. "Just help us out now."

"Right!" Glaring back down at the Bullymongs, Rainbow Dash raced down and flew around the Brat Bullymong as quickly as she could, creating a rainbow whirl that confused the Brat. Once the creature was properly dizzy, Rainbow Dash stopped and tackled the creature.

Twilight Sparkle leaped down from the cliff, using her magic to slow her descent. When she reached the bottom of the Crevasse, she started firing at the remaining Monglets. A few shots later and one Monglet down, she had to reload. But unlike the problem that posed last time, now she'd gotten the hang of it.

Twilight ran down the hill away from the other Monglets, shooting at them and drawing their attention away from the others. Another Monglet went down. Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined the fight as well, combating the other Monglets that climbed out of their frozen habitats. Rarity stayed at the top of the cliff and consoled a disturbed Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash let out a yelp of pain as the Brat Bullymong swiped at her, knocking her out of the air. It was much tougher than the other Monglets - Dash hadn't even taken off half its Health in the fight so far.

With most of the Monglets cleared out, Twilight turned her attention to the Brat Bullymong with a full clip. She unloaded everything she had into the Brat. It wasn't quite enough - the monster had a sliver of Health left after Twilight's barrage - but it got the Brat's attention off Rainbow Dash for a second.

That was all they needed. Rainbow Dash charged straight into the Brat, striking with her forehooves first with the force of her speed. The attack knocked the Brat Bullymong out cold.

"...you still there?" came the voice of Claptrap a few seconds later. "I don't hear Bullymongs anymore. Kinda just waiting on you."

Rarity rolled her eyes. The unicorn's horn glowed, and Claptrap popped out of the snow wrapped in Rarity's magic. Once upright, Claptrap dusted the loose snow off his robot body and waved. "Many thanks, friend of friends! Onward!"

The robot started rolling down the hill, casually passing the bodies of the Bullymongs as it went. The ponies helped Rarity get down from the cliff, while Fluttershy just sadly floated on down. "Sorry that didn't... go so well," Twilight apologized.

Fluttershy looked down at one of the shot-up Monglets, then flinched and looked away. "Why didn't they listen?"

"Maybe Pandora's creatures are different?" Rarity suggested. "Maybe... your special talent doesn't work on them?"

The yellow pegasus shook her head firmly. "No, they heard me. But they didn't want to listen to me. I... I just don't understand why."

Applejack looked at Claptrap getting ahead of them, then looked back at the group. "...We should get movin'."

The Mane Six, now reunited, started to make their way down into the Frostbite Crevasse after Claptrap. As they followed, however, they were contacted on their ECHO devices - a portrait of a man appeared next to each pony's mini-map, along with a caption. This man looked exactly like the one from the train... and the caption read:

Handsome Jack.

"Hello, my little ponies!" The voice snickered. "Aw, man, I can't believe they're friggin' PONIES..."

Twilight stopped and listened. It was the exact same voice from the train, too. She'd recognize it anywhere. The man's voice and image had been practically burned into her mind.

"Anyway, Jack here - president of Hyperion. I know you colorful equines are new to, well, the rest of the universe, so let me explain how things work around here: Vault Hunters show up, Vault Hunters look for the new Vault, Vault Hunters get killed. By me. I know the six of you are ponies and all, but you're still Vault Hunters, and that means we have a problem. You're not dead. So please, be good little girls and off yourselves for me. Thanks, ladies."

The ECHO communication ended. Rainbow Dash just scowled. "Jerk."

"I don't think 'jerk' covers it," Applejack noted.

The ponies collectively chose not to dwell on it too much and kept following Claptrap. The robot led them through a large, empty supply crate that had tipped over, creating a ramp up to a higher part of the Crevasse. The back part of the supply crate was still attached, but just barely. With a cry of "Aaaaaand open!" Claptrap shoved the back panel outward.

They reached another large clearing right outside the supply crate. Claptrap gasped and stopped. "Oh! My eye just switched on! I see six weird-looking horses, and an incredibly handsome robot!"

"Wait, you can still see out of it?" Twilight queried.

"Hold on," Applejack said, suddenly very concerned. "That means Claptrap's eye, and the thing that has it...!"

"...can see us!" Fluttershy yelped, pointing up to the cliff above them. The huge Bullymong from before, Knuckle Dragger (This is gonna hurt), climbed atop a pile of trash, picked up the charred remains of a vehicle, and threw it down into the clearing in one smooth motion. The vehicle crumpled into a fiery heap on impact, and Knuckle Dragger jumped down on top of it.

The massive creature was more than twice as large as any Bullymong they'd seen before, with longer tusks, sharper teeth, bigger arms, and a louder roar. It was also wearing Claptrap's eye like a necklace.

Claptrap screamed and ran away from the group. Knuckle Dragger roared and leaped into the air towards the ponies. All at once, the six ponies scattered away before the Bullymong could smash them upon landing.

Rarity immediately turned around and jump-kicked the huge monster. "Take that, you ruffian!"

Knuckle Dragger responded by roaring directly into Rarity's face. The sheer sonic impact of the sound frazzled Rarity's perfectly coiffed mane. Rarity, naturally, was distraught for a second, before she realized she was right in front of a huge monster and got out of the way.

The Bullymong tried to give chase, but got distracted by Applejack pouncing on top of it and riding it like a rodeo bull. Twilight fired her pistol at the Bullymong as much as possible, taking great care not to hit Applejack in the process.

Fluttershy stood to the side... and gently raised a hoof. "Wait..."

Finally, Knuckle Dragger managed to throw Applejack off. Rainbow Dash flew in and used her rainbow whirling technique on the Bullymong, like she had the Brat earlier. But instead of getting confused, Knuckle Dragger just grabbed her with one of his four hugely muscled arms and threw her into the snow.

"Wait," Fluttershy repeated, a little more insistently this time.

The ponies regrouped around Twilight, who had finished loading a new clip into the Repeater. As one, the five ponies charged at Knuckle Dragger...

"WWAAAAAIIIIIIT!!!" Fluttershy screamed, coming between the ponies and Knuckle Dragger.

That stopped the ponies in their tracks. Even the Bullymong came to a stop, strangely enough.

Slowly, nervously, Fluttershy faced Knuckle Dragger and carefully approached it. The Bullymong didn't move as the yellow pegasus approached...

And then it lashed out, grabbing Fluttershy and pinning her against the snow.

"Fluttershy!" the ponies shouted in unison.

The pegasus was stuck, unable to move, as the Bullymong looked down at her with its angry eyes. Its mouth opened up, the great tusks sticking out on either side reaching out and pinching Fluttershy's head. The teeth were sharp, and a large drop of slobber was drooling out of its mouth.

Fluttershy's eyes widened in sudden realization.

Knuckle Dragger lifted his head up, then brought those sharp teeth down towards the pegasus's body...

The explosion of Pinkie's Party Cannon caught it off guard, forcing it to let go of Fluttershy. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle all rushed the Bullymong at once, overwhelming it and tipping it over. It rolled onto its back, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash pinned it down by its huge arms.

While it struggled, Twilight Sparkle climbed onto Knuckle Dragger's chest and pointed the Repeater at its head.

Every shot in the clip was a CRITICAL.

Knuckle Dragger fell still.

The ponies all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Twilight retrieved Claptrap's eye off Knuckle Dragger's corpse, and then all the ponies gathered around Fluttershy to make sure she was okay.

As Rarity helped her up, Fluttershy's eyes became puffy. "I understand now..."

"What, dear?" Rarity asked softly.

Fluttershy looked ready to cry. "They're hungry." She paused to let that sink in. "They won't listen because they're starving. It's... It's eat or be eaten out here..."

Rarity allowed Fluttershy to sob on her shoulder, patting the pegasus's back.

Claptrap awkwardly rolled up to the group of ponies, twiddling his claws a bit. "You're... not really badasses, are you?"

Twilight Sparkle looked at the diminutive little robot and shook her head. "No, we're not. I'm a librarian."

Applejack tipped her hat towards Claptrap. "A farmer."

Pinkie Pie mock-saluted. "A pastry chef and party planner!"

Fluttershy sniffled and stepped away from Rarity. "An... animal caretaker."

Rarity did her best to put her mane back in order. "A dressmaker."

"Hmph," Rainbow Dash grunted. "Whatever. I'm awesome."

Everypony else glared at the rainbow pegasus. She became sheepish under the pressure, before quietly mumbling, "...Weatherpony."

The robot scratched its head for a second. "Well..." He shrugged. "I guess every badass has to start somewhere. You met Handsome Jack and lived. You took down Knuckle Dragger. That... That counts for something, right?"

"I hope so," Twilight prayed aloud.

Claptrap clapped his little claws together. "Fortunately, this changes nothing! We still need to reach Sanctuary, badass minions or no. And to get to Sanctuary, we'll first need to find someone to put my eye into me."

Applejack narrowed her eyes at the robot. "Wait, you can't...?"

"Much as I'm sure you'd like to jam your fist, uh, hoof into my skull," Claptrap reasoned, "optic surgery is best left to professionals - my pal Hammerlock in Liar's Berg can fix me up! Allons-y!"

Claptrap rolled past the clearing and up the next hill that overlooked it. The path ahead was blocked off by a massive barge marked by the Hyperion symbol and colors.

"Liar's Berg's on the other side of this Hyperion barge," Claptrap announced. "What say we cut through it, chums?"

"Oh, that's the name of the town, huh?" Rainbow Dash said all of a sudden. When the others looked questioningly at her, she explained, "I was scouting, remember? There's a tiny little town just past this thing, and then it opens up to this huge bay. There's a ship and some other shacks and stuff, but..." She grinned nervously. "We're getting closer to civilization, at least!"

Claptrap approached the barge and stood in front of a large optic light along the side. "Ha! This door's Hyperion tech - child's play! Aaaaaaand OPEN!"

The light from the barge scanned over Claptrap in waves several times. The light very quickly turned red, and a holographic X appeared in front of the light. "Intruders detected," an automated female voice reported. "Locking door."

The thick steel barge door to their right, already closed, got locked even more by a series of metal bars crossing the length of it. Now it was impossible to open.

Claptrap stared for a second, then turned back towards the ponies. "Well, it was nice knowing ya! I hear getting eaten alive by Bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Now hold on! We've got two pegasi here, I'm sure we can figure out a way to climb everyone over-"

"Lemme get that for ya," Angel interrupted.

The holographic X was replaced by an image of Angel. The light went from red back to its regular blue.

"Executing phase shift."

The locks opened back up, and the door fell open to reveal the inside of the barge. "Oooor that," Rainbow Dash finished lamely.

"You're welcome!" Angel replied proudly. "Perks of being an Artificial Intelligence. I'm networked into almost everything on this planet."

Inside was a massive stash of Hyperion crates lining both sides of the barge. In the center, a large floor panel opened up, revealing a much bigger brown container.

"It's a long way to Sanctuary - please take whatever you need for the journey ahead."

Twilight nodded and gestured for the ponies to search the barge. While the others looted the smaller containers for money, health, and ammo, Twilight pressed a button on the larger chest. Its multi-part lids opened up and folded outward to reveal several trays. On the back tray tilted towards Twilight, there was a new gun.

It was bigger than her Repeater, and when she looked over it, her HUD called it an Ornery Scattergun. It even gave her a list of stats like Damage, Accuracy, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, and Clip Size - and compared those stats to her current gun. It could also apparently "fire as fast as you can pull the trigger," and it was a "Jakobs" brand gun.

Most of those stats didn't mean much to her yet, given her inexperience with guns, but she did understand that having more firepower was probably a good idea. So she picked it up, and it apparently fit right into her second weapon slot in her Backpack. She tried switching between the Repeater and the Scattergun, and found that she could do so very quickly with her magic.

"Let me know when you're ready to go meet Sir Hammerlock, minions," Claptrap said, after they'd spent some time looting the barge.

Twilight hefted her new shotgun. "I think we're a little more ready than we were before."



Knuckle Dragger is dead, and you got Claptrap's eye back! Now you just need to find someone to reinstall it for him.

Next mission: Cleaning Up the Berg