Fallout: Equestria: A Cut Above

by Wirepony


Chapter 12: In Spite of All The Danger

Fallout: Equestria: A Cut Above

Chapter 12: In Spite of All The Danger

It turned out Gawd was the leader of the Talons. Her rank was “Head”, and as a non-Talon, it was appropriate and expected for me to call her “Ma’am”. Her office was further into the compound, Top Shelf explained as we walked. I kept my silence, trying to understand what was going on. It made sense that the Talons would be interested in the conduct of one of their own, but Top Shelf’s questioning had spent as much time focussed on the Eggheads and Brick as it had on Hellen.

Well, now that I put it that way...

I put that aside to concentrate on what little I knew about Gawd as we retraced our steps through the building. The leader of the Talons was obviously held in deep respect by the rank and file. I remembered Kettle Bell, specifically. Back in the cafeteria, she had shaken her red mane forward to cover one of her eyes, almost hiding behind the scrubby fall. I think it was the twitch of yearning for shears and a comb that had cemented the memory in my head, but the burly mare had looked almost worshipful.

“Kid, if you ever meet Gawd...”

She hadn’t even been able to finish the statement. Laughter took over, and I was left confused and ignorant. Her reaction though, had provided a lot of useful information. Now that I knew she wasn’t talking about religion, anyway. And that... Was it.

Great. So I was walking through an unfamiliar... Community. With an unfamiliar pony, headed to meet someone that had a reputation bordering on the religious. No stress there.

And damnit, I was tired. The tense energy I’d gotten from our arrival and the tiny boost from the bagged lunch had just about worn off. Trotting after Top Shelf was about all I could do, as he led me out of the shockingly brightly colored building and further into the sprawl of Shattered Hoof.

Way further. We passed several squarish buildings, their dull earth tones making the splashes of color stand out in eye-watering brightness. There was no rhyme or reason to their designs that I could see. Our course brought us to the furthest corner, away from the door set in their massive wall.

I felt a dull flicker of surprise when Top Shelf opened the pony door in what looked like a workshop or repair bay. The leader of the Talons worked in a mechanic’s shop?

Not the case. I blinked at the gloom inside, facing a broad tunnel that angled down into the ridge backing Shattered Hoof. Rails ran down the center of the tunnel, as well as hoofpaths on either side. Lights in cages dangled from the ceiling, pushing back the blackness of the underground. Top Shelf pulled a hard hat with a light on it out of a locker, throwing it to me and donning one of his own.

“The light starts with a turn of the lens, like so.” He demonstrated. “Gawd’s office is down here.”

Top Shelf proceeded down the tunnel. I shook off my weariness and followed after, marvelling at the stallion. Somehow, even this casual walk was a military operation for him. I pushed through my weariness and went. The path was windy, curves followed by abrupt changes in direction. I paused to lean against one of the corners, watching Top Shelf in the off-white glow from the lamp on my head.

Top Shelf stopped, turning and jogging back to me. His light glared into my eyes, and I held a hoof up in front of them. Top Shelf turned to the side, and I dropped my hoof back to the ground with a thump.

“You OK, kid?” Top Shelf asked. I shook my head, sending shadows bouncing crazily over the corners and walls.

“Tired, Top Shelf. Been running for days, didn’t sleep for beans,” I replied. Stertching my neck and rolling my shoulders, I huffed in a huge lung-stretching breath. “I’ll be OK. Let’s go.”

“Alright, Wicked. Let’s go meet Gawdyna.”

Gawdyna’s office was behind a slab of Stable door, its metallic polish standing out against the rough stone of the tunnel wall. The tunnel itself carried on past the door, winding its way down into the darkness. I examined the door as we approached it, idly wondering what number the stable was. Instead of a number, the center of the door bore a silhouette of a stooping griffin. The light stopped here though, and so did we. Top Shelf walked without hesitation to a pressure plate next to the door, which put his snout nearly in the muzzle of a turret. The barrel twitched to follow his every movement, a matching turret on the other side keeping a close watch on me. I felt a weak twinge of panic under my fatigue, but couldn’t muster the energy to do anything with it.

“Identify yourself,” A cold robotic voice demanded.

“Top Shelf, Tesserarius. And Guest.” Top Shelf replied immediately. The turrets rotated away and folded their barrels down. There was a grumbling groan of heavily loaded machinery, and the cogwheel Stable door rotated out of the way, revealing...

A short stretch of hallway. At the end of it was a perfectly normal metal door, a narrow wire-reinforced window letting a yellow glow of light into the hallway. Top Shelf led me to that door and rapped twice on it with a hoof.

“Enter”

Top Shelf opened the door, and we stepped into the office of one of the most powerful figures in the Wasteland.

It was not at all what I was expecting. Instead of luxury and beauty, the office was a cluttered mess of military... stuff. Some of it was easily recognizable, swords and guns, a set of Talon armor. Other items weren’t. Some sort of spherical robot wired into a huge red switch. A single scale bigger than my head, glimmering all the colors of the rainbow over a rich purple. A huge desk took up most of one end of the room, battered steel in the ugliest shade of off-green I’d ever seen. Behind it sat...

Gawd.

Top Shelf had dominated the room when he walked in, through his personality and confidence. Gawd had those in spades, along with the carnivorous aura and general sharp pointiness of her species.

It was not easy to even be in the same room as her. As tired as I was I still felt a jolt of fear, stronger than when the turret outside was pointed right at my face. Gawd was bent over the massive desk, scribbling on some or other sheet of paper.

“Top Shelf,” Gawd said,

“Head. We’ve had an interesting day. New arrivals with fascinating news,” Top Shelf replied. Gawd paused in her writing, looking up at him. Seeing me raised one of her eyebrows, and she focussed on me with that predatory gaze. I stood completely and totally upright, forcing myself to meet her eyes.

“Define ‘interesting’, Tesserarius. What did this Wastelander have to tell you that brought him here?”

“To start with, he showed up at the main gate with Hellen and Engineer.”

Both of Gawd’s feathery eyebrows shot up at this. “Interesting indeed. Go on.”

“He was also accompanied by one of the Eggheads, which sums up half of my interest here.” Top Shelf said, pacing in front of Gawd’s desk. He gestured at me, still standing rigidly. “The other half is what they ran into on the way here from the facility contract.”

“And what was that?” Gawd asked, rising from her seat and stretching. I felt the tips of my ears light on fire as the feline fur stretched over the curves of her haunches. Gawd may have had some years on her, but the attraction of her power was still undeniable. I shook my head and refocused on her face, which was looking at me curiously. Shooting a glance at Top Shelf revealed him looking at me as well, grinning broadly.

“Ah, sorry. When we were just a day out of the desalinization plant, we were attacked. Two unicorns, and their four earth pony slaves.” I began to relax, the fatigue pushing the tension and fear out of me. “The unicorns and one of the slaves died in the fight, and we think - we’re certain... That they were a scouting party.”

“Ohhh ho.” Gawd plopped back into her seat, clicking her beak. “Six strong is fairly large for a scouting party. Did you recover any intelligence from them?”

I nodded at the majestic griffin. “Yes ma’am. They had a sigil, a unicorn’s horn over a pony shoe. They were well fed, fairly well armed. They didn’t have any uniforms or common items. One of the unicorns wore ponyhide armor.” I trailed off, scuffing a hoof on the battered steel of the floor. “And the slaves... Didn’t have tongues. They had been cut out.”

Gawd sat back into her chair and traded glances with Top Shelf. The stallion leaned into me, draping a hoof over my shoulders. “Don’t worry about that, kid. We’ve got excellent medical support here, we should be able to fix them.”

I blinked in astonishment. If the Talons could fix a tongue that had been ripped out... They could fix Strongback! It suddenly became very important to get this group on my side.

“In any case it, does seem to be a legitimate threat, Head. The lad’s story matches what Engineer had to report, and I’ve seen the slaves with my own eyes. They’re in excellent health - aside from their tongues. Something isn’t right, and it bears investigation.”

Top Shelf gave me a squeeze and trotted up to the desk. Gawd was deep in thought, idly tapping a talon on the side of her beak. She blinked and focussed on Top Shelf, who was waiting patiently. “Get those slaves healed up, and find out everything you can about their group. Get the boy and his group some quarters, and let them rest.”

“Thy will, Head of the Talons.” Top Shelf said, saluting. He turned, nudging me. I snapped out of my doze and headed out of Gawd’s office. Behind me, Top Shelf paused to flip the switch on the robot thingy. As the door closed behind us, I heard a high pitched whine and a crackle of static.

“Yes, Gawdyna? You haven’t turned this spritebot on in a long time...”

The door cut off the rest of their conversation, and I trotted back the way we came. My headlamp made the shadows bounce and sway again as we made our way back to the surface. MY vision blurred in even the dim light at the top of the tunnel, the day’s fatigue pulling at strings inside of my head.

Top Shelf plucked my hard hat off and tossed it back in the locker, giving me a friendly cuff as I rubbed at my eyes. “You look rough, son. Let’s get you off to bed, this will all hold till the morning.”

I nodded, my head feeling like it was flopping around on the end of my neck. I followed Top Shelf back through the Talon compound. The building I had had my ‘debriefing’ in swam into view. I was crashing hard, now. I went inside and turned to the left, muzzily heading back towards the room I’d spent an unpleasant time in. The tug on my tail sidetracked what little line of thought I was traveling on, and I just stopped.

Top Shelf tugged again, and I turned to face him. With a toss of his head, he gestured behind him.

Ah.

I followed him up a set of stairs, and in a door. When the light came on, Lyrical poked her head out from the top rack of a bunk bed. Seeing me, she grunted happily and disappeared back onto the top bunk. In a soft aura of magic, Blinky floated out. I grabbed the sleeping molerat out of Lyrical’s magic and placed him on the bottom bunk. Turning back to Top Shelf, I waved blearily and climbed onto the blissfully soft mattress. The Tesserarius, Left Hand of the Black Talons mercenary group, chuckled quietly as he shut the light off and gently closed the door behind him.

I didn’t remember anything after that, as sleep came out of the darkness and thumped me with a brick.

---

The next morning dawned. That’s a safe assumption, even in the Wasteland, even with the weather patterns best described as ‘weird’. I’m not certain, though. I slept through it, only waking up to a brisk knocking on my door.

“BLrzxt!” I mumbled at the door, which continued to broadcast the knocks of someone far more awake than I. I fumbled out of blankets I wasn’t aware existed, untangled my molerat and dropped him on the pillow, and rolled out of bed. I stretched like I had been tied in a knot, and felt the delicious stiffness of muscles worked hard and well rested afterwards. It flavored my gait, making the short approach to the door a stompy affair. I fought with the unfamiliar latch on the door, eventually pulling it open to reveal Engineer. The griff’s beak dropped in a grin when the door swung open.

“About time you’re awake, kid. You’re wanted in the Council chamber, Hellen’s called for you as a witness.”

I was immediately completely awake. Eyes wide, I shot a glance over my shoulder into the room. Engineer shrugged, gesturing off to the hallway. “They should be fine here. Let ‘em sleep the day out, if they need it.”

“I... OK. Is there somewhere I can wash up, at least?”

“Yeah, there’s a bathroom on the way.”

Engineer led me down the hall, further into the building. The lights were supplemented by a bright sun streaming through narrow windows set deep into the thick walls. I glanced out one of them, catching a glimpse of children playing with a brightly colored ball. Ponies and grifflets, with a griffon featureless in Talon armor standing guard over them.

Huh.

The bathroom was awesome. The desalinization facility had been roughly functional and cleaned of the filth of ages, but only repaired enough to use. This place was spotlessly clean and complete, it even had clean mirrors in one piece! It was almost a sin to just splash water on my face and wipe myself down. I could have spent a good part of the day in there scrubbing.

I had other commitments, though. I blotted my face dry with a hanging towel, and trotted out of the bathroom. Engineer led the way again, and shortly we were up a flight of stairs and outside of a pair of double doors. Their dark wood and ornate moulding made them stand out against the utilitarian drabness of the halls and other doors.

“OK, Wicked. Wait here, I’ll be back out in a moment.” Engineer said, before knocking on the door. It opened silently to reveal a pony, faceless in immaculate Talon armor. I heard a voice declaiming grandly as Engineer was ushered into the room.

“And should this griffin’s age be an extenuating factor in determining her punishment, for this crime she is so obviously guilty of-”

The voice cut off as the door swung to. I blinked, confused and alarmed. That didn’t bode well for Hellen. Punishment, crime, factors of guilt...

Huh.

Hellen was on trial. It was obvious what for, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I’d never worked with a griffin before I encountered the Talons, and I didn’t have anything to gauge the honesty or truthfulness of what Engineer had said about her. Nothing except logic and intuition. Logic told me that nothing Hellen had done contradicted Engineer’s words. Intuition told me that Hellen was just a little older than Dawn, and dealing with her first crush as best she could.

The mental image of my adopted sister in manacles was not something I could stand for. I whirled, planting my front hooves and coiling my back legs in. That door was going to be flinders, and even if I needed the Talons, I couldn’t-

“Ahem.”

I plopped awkwardly back to all four hooves, looking over my shoulder at the anonymous Talon peering at me through the open door. I felt a blush slam onto my face, hard enough that I winced. “Uhm. Hi.”

“Could you come in, please? The council would like to talk to you.” The pony swung the door wide, and I awkwardly tried to make my turn look calm and collected. The inside of the chamber was the same as the outside, dark wood and ornate molding. The shape of the room reminded me strongly of the outdoor amphitheatre back home. Instead of a stage, the bottom well held an almost thronelike desk, looking down at a pair of tables from an elevated position. Seated at one of those tables was Hellen and her brother. The other held an unfamiliar earth pony. Where Brick and Top Shelf had an impressive muscular form, this pony was almost spherical with fat. His gaze was upon me as I walked into the door, as sharp as a griffin’s.

The raised table held Top Shelf, who looked vaugely interested in me, and completely emotionless.

I took a deep breath and a step forward. The rows of benches that would have held the audience at home held an audience here. I forced myself to ignore them, even to ignore Engineer’s face among the mass. I followed the first step with a second, and then a third and fourth. Before I had time to notice my nerves, I was opening the wooden gate the led onto the sunken stage. I strode through it calmly and closed it behind me. It latched closed with a click, deafening in the stillness.

I met Hellen’s eyes as I turned, and I tried to put every bit of compassion and kindness I could into that moment’s connection. I had to look away, though. I met Top Shelf’s eyes and nodded, then raised an eyebrow.

OK, Top Shelf. I’m here, now what?

Fortunately, he heard my unspoken question, and raised a hoof. The already quiet room became silent.

“This pony before us has come to bear witness. Since he is not a Talon, neither brought up nor trained in our ways, I will explain what we ask of him. This is fitting, for while the Talons have discovered a good Way to live, we must acknowledge that it is not the only Way, and may not be the best.”

There was a low murmur of approval from the crowd. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the fat pony looking pleased.

“Wicked Cut, tribespony of the Wasteland. You have been asked to be here to bear witness to the actions of my Talons, before a council of their peers. You know me, Top Shelf, Tesserarius and Left Hand of the Talons. I lead the council of the gathered Talons, as we hunt the dual game of Truth and Justice.”

Top Shelf paused to breathe, and I shot a quick glance at Hellen. She was nervous, feathers in disarray. Her brother had a calming hand on the back of her neck.

“In our Council, we have representatives to lead us on this difficult course. You’ve met Briar Thorn, who speaks for his sister, and leads the hunt for Truth. The gentlepone at the other table is Aquilifer Root, who speaks for the victim - in this case, you - and leads the hunt for Justice.”

Top Shelf paused again, and I took the moment to look closer at the fat pony. He was a dull green, with a rather well kept mane of soft gold ringlets. His gaze met mine squarely, and if it didn’t look predatory now it was still very intent.

“Root and Briar have already given their initial arguments, framing the scope of the hunt and the reason for it. In short, the griffin Hellen stands accused of assaulting a non-Talon in peaceful circumstances. With intent to cause grievous injury or death, the penalty is severe. Engineer has already spoken, and delivered the report from her commanding officer.” Top Shelf said, his voice rolling and serious in the council chamber. “I would ask you now, to relate your story of the events of the evening in question.”

I thought frantically. I knew exactly what he was talking about, and this was my best chance to influence the Talons in Hellen’s favor. I had to step precisely correctly here. Failure would endanger my relationship with the Talons (they could heal TOUNGES!), as well as Hellen’s future. Her future with the Talons, or her future as a living being? No pressure.

I opened with a simple retelling of what had happened - Waking up to claws and terror, biological defensive tactics, and Brick’s sure and swift handling of the situation. The crowd was responsive and easy to read. The griffins in the audience were secretly amused at Hellen’s attack, and several ponies hid smirks at my response. Everyone approved of Brick’s handling of the initial offense, and more so of how I handled myself with him.

I wrapped up that part of the story and fell silent. Root pushed his chair back and stood with a grunt, rocking back and forth as he walked forward. “Gathered Talons of the council, it is clear and verified, by testimony and report-”

“Excuse me, I’m not done.” I interrupted. Root stopped talking, his jaw snapping closed with an audible clop. “There is more to the story, and it ties Truth to Justice.” Root made a rude gesture, returning to his seat. I shrugged at him and he rolled his eyes at me. I was smiling as I continued talking.

“Hellen is a young griffin. She’s rash, headstrong, and agressive. I am a young pony, and the same could be said about me. On our way here, before we had reason to hurry, I challenged Hellen to a sparring match. During that match, I intentionally humiliated and endangered her. I came within a hoof’s width of crippling or killing her.”

The audience was raptly silent now. I began pacing the small stage. “I spoke further with Engineer on the matter. His words explained a lot about young griffins, and revealed the face of the party truly at fault, the reason that I was put in mortal danger - as well as Hellen.”

The crowd made the noises I’d hoped for, a low inquisitive rumble oh shock and curiousity. I almost grinned, but managed to keep both my flickering joy and quivering terror under control. I was facing Hellen at this point, and couldn’t resist tossing the confused griffin a wink. I turned confidently to face Top Shelf.

“You.”

I have to give the Talons credit. Instead of the cries of outrage I had expected there was a sort of punctuated silence, as the crowd went ‘huh.’ and waited for Top Shelf to answer. That worthy met my accusation with a single raised eyebrow, leaning forward and staring at me intently.

“Would you care to elaborate on that, young tribespony?” Top Shelf said. At that moment, he was Authority. In this place and time, he was the Talons.

“Yes sir. Here and now, you are the Talons. In that sense then, you are at fault for sending someone young and under trained into the field. Even without the complicating influence of an outsider like myself, the situation at that facility was bizarred and complicated. It was a disservice to Hellen and to the Talons to have her there. I’d fight with Hellen against any enemy you cared to name, Top Shelf, but I’d not consider her an adult.”

And for my final gambit... I turned to Root, who had a profound scowl of displeasure on his plump face. “I’m sorry Aquilifer Root, but the Truth of the matter here is that children are children and even -no, especially- in the Wasteland, we will have our childish follies.” Root saluted me casually, and I turned to Hellen and her brother. “Briar, Hellen. I have been impressed by your Talons, by the people that you choose to associate with. I’m honored to be one of those people. You and me, Hellen, have done Justice by each other, in a crude childish eye-for-an-eye way. The only thing that needs to happen from here is more training, more learning.”

I’d never seen Hellen look so shocked, not even when she was covered in my piss. I extended a hoof to the griffin, and she took it gently in a taloned grip and shook it once. As she released me, I turned back to Top Shelf.

“Whaddya say, Top Shelf. Truth is out, and Justice has been served.”

“I say that the Talons are in fact, guilty. We’ve relaxed our training and standards in a Wasteland we thought we dominated. There can be no punishment for this crime save renewed vigilance. This sentence will be carried out immediately. Unless the council of the gathered Talons says differently?” Top Shelf said, his well practiced voice filling the hall. I grinned up at him as the crowd rumbled its agreement, and he tossed me a wink.

“Truth has been found, and Justice served. This council is disbanded, until it is needed again!”


The audience members filed out of the hall in an orderly mass, leaving myself, Hellen and her brother, Root, and Top Shelf on the sunken stage. Engineer joined us from the gallery as the last of the crowd filtered out of the door. The older griffin clapped me on the back , sending me staggering with a laugh. “Good work, kid. Not only did you do good by Hellen, you helped the Talons out a lot today.”

“Indeed, indeed.” Top Shelf said, coming from behind his raised desk. “I couldn’t talk about it beforehand Wicked, but this worked out just as I had planned.”

“You planned it?” I asked. Hellen and Briar were silent, but Root snorted, reclining in his chair.

“Top Shelf has thought we were letting our young go too early for quite a while. He manipulated the council and took advantage of the circumstances, all to push the Talons onto the course he had chosen.” Root declared, waving one hoof in the air dismissively. “Completely subverting the procedures and methods set in place to make these kind of changes.”

“In fact, completely ignoring them.” Top Shelf agreed, looking quite pleased. I glanced from him to Root. The fat pony laughed, climbing out of his seat again.

“Top Shelf, I’m glad you’re devoted to the Talons. I’d hate to see what you could do against us.” Root said. He tossed a casual salute at us and opened the gate. “Good day.”

As Root made his ponderous way out of the council chamber, I plumped down on the floor. I blinked up at Top Shelf, who was looking entirely too smug. “Top Shelf, what the hell?”

“Wicked, I like you, I really do. I think the Talons can have a mutually beneficial relationship with you and your tribe. But my primary goal, my biggest concern, is the well being and success of the Talons.” Top Shelf looked stern and determined now, with only a trace of smugness left.

“I can understand that, Top Shelf. I’m glad I helped... I think. I do wish you had told me about it before...” I trailed off with a shrug, looking pointedly at Hellen. The young griff had buried her head in her brother’s shoulder, shaking. Top Shelf sighed, walking to the griffs. Briar watched him coming with a glare, which Top shelf matched. I tensed, expecting a confrontation between them.

Top Shelf stopped, and bowed deeply to Briar and Hellen. “I’m sorry. You two have not been treated fairly as part of this. Briar, you especially have done your contract proud in this. Your handling of your conflict of interest was impressively honorable, and will be remembered. Hellen, you’re still an interesting case. One of your superior officers should have a training schedule for you shortly. You aren’t in any trouble over this, we’re just going to change your path back to training.”

Hellen looked up, blinking. Her eyes were moist, and she blotted them with a sweep of her forearm. “T-training I can handle, Tesserarius. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Talon.” Top Shelf said, clapping Hellen on the shoulder. “Just do your best and honor your contract.”

Top Shelf let himself through the gate and headed off, as Engineer closed in on the two griffins. I ducked around Engineer, leaning up on the gate. “Hey, Top Shelf?” I called.

“Yes, Wicked?” Top Shelf said, stopping at the door and looking back.

“What about Brick?” I asked. The older stallion grinned down at me.

“Brick will be joined shortly by Aquilifer Root and a squad of Immunes specializing in police work.”

I couldn’t help it. I started giggling. Top Shelf’s grin widened, and he started laughing as well. This was going to be great, the power games and political brahminshit of the eggheads was gonna run smack into a force of Talons that was tailor made to face them. I wish I could be there to see it.

“Wicked.” Top Shelf said, coming back down the stairs. “What’s a hero?”

I stopped laughing. Top Shelf’s expression was serious, his gaze direct and unflinching. “I... I don’t really know, Top Shelf. I’m not.” I replied.

“Are you sure about that, Wicked? I’ve always thought a hero - no, a Hero only needed three things.”

“Strength, Courage, and Skill?” I ventured. Top Shelf laughed once, shaking his head.

“Only in foal’s tales, Wicked. Here in the real world, in the Wasteland... a Hero is someone with the endurance to withstand the challenges they’re thrown against, the admiration of the public...” Top Shelf trailed off. He was at the bottom of the stairs now, looming directly over me. I wasn’t smiling anymore.

“And what else, Top Shelf? What else makes a hero?”

“Someone behind him, pulling his strings.” Top Shelf turned and left, the heavy wooden door booming closed behind him.

I stood blinking at the door. I wanted so badly to argue, to say that he was wrong. But even in my head, I couldn’t. Every step of the way I’d been lead along by the nose, serving Talon goals. I had benefitted from working for them, sure... Lyrical and Engineer, solid friends and allies. I’d been able to gear up, get rations and travelling supplies... I’d been protected and helped.

And used. The Talons had used me as a fighter, as an excuse, as a catalyst to break-

“Kid, we should talk.” Engineer had come up next to me unnoticed. I turned to look at him, my face twisted in confusion.

“What, about what I’m going to do for the Talons next?” I asked bitterly. Engineer looked taken aback, but shook his head with a griffish smile.

“No, actually. I wanted to show you the other side of the coin.” Engineer said. “The Talons use whatever they need, whoever they need - but they make good.”

I shrugged. I was starting to get a good head of angry on. Being useful, being -helpful- was one thing, but being used was a whole different game. I smiled, drawing back my lips over clenched teeth. “Sure, Engineer, lead the way.”

“Hellen, Briar... Go find the briefing officer and find out what they’ve got for us. I’m gonna take Wicked down to medbay, Lyrical should still be there.”

“Yessir.” Briar replied, and nudged Hellen to her feet. The two griffins trotted out of the council chamber, and Engineer and I followed.

The trip through Shattered Hoof complex was short, leaving the room we were in and crossing the hard ground to another building. Our destination was a shining white building without any of the colorful designs that characterized the Hoof. Instead, this building had a single pink butterfly painted large over its wide doors.

Inside the building, a large round desk dominated the brightly lit lobby. Two ponies sat behind the desk, one doing paperwork, the other watching us approach. Engineer walked up to her, taking a clipboard from the desk.

“Good morning, Nurse. I’m here to see the slave ponies, with one guest.” He said, scribbling on the clipboard. She checked over what he had written, and waved down one of the hallways.

“According to Doc Stitch, one of them should be waking up soon. They’re in Recovery 3, head on down.”

Engineer padded off, and I trotted after. He led us to an elevator and buttoned the doors open. We rode down in silence, Engineer tossing me the occasional glance. The doors opened with a cheery ding, and Engineer headed off. I trailed behind, sniffing at the too-clean smell of the hospital. We passed a pair of doors labelled ‘recovery 1’, which held a pair of beds. The ponies in the beds wore casts and bandages, but were awake and in good spirits, if the laugh they were sharing as I passed was any indication.

The doors that I assumed led to recovery 2 were pinned open, and a griffin and pony pair were inside. The griffin was swabbing away with a mop while the unicorn scrubbed at the walls with a rag. The griffin waved lazily as we walked by, which Engineer returned with a nod. Recovery 3 was closed, and Engineer laughed as he peeked into the small window set into the door.

“Go on in, Wicked. Go in and see how the Talons take care of those who help them.”

Inside the recovery room, Blinky lay passed out on a unicorn. They were in a bed in one corner of the room, a curtain separating them from the rest of the open area. Lyrical, Leaf, and Sky surrounded the other bed, Leaf and Sky crying quietly in a tight embrace. Lyrical saw me and trotted over, a broad smile on her face and tears running down her cheeks. The peachy unicorn hugged me tightly, whispering in my ear.

“Wicked, go see the miracle.”

I went.

I patted Leaf on the shoulder as I looked at the bed. A white sheet lay over the sizable form of Big, who was unconscious. He lay on his side, hooves sticking out over the edge of the hospital mattress, and a pink swipe of tongue dangling out of his mouth. He was snoring gently, and my jaw dropped as I realized what I was seeing.

His healthy, full sized tongue.

The Talons used people. But they paid their debts in spades.