//------------------------------// // 8: In Which the Plot Thickens, and Blood Thins // Story: Fallout: Equestria: Close Call // by ZIAT //------------------------------// Chapter 8: In Which the Plot Thickens, and Blood Thins "Solum certum nihil esse certi et homine nihil miserius aut superbius." "This only is sure, that there is nothing sure; and nothing more miserable, and yet more arrogant then man." -Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Essays “Mom really misses you.” “Hm?” I replied, not really listening. Per Mist Chaser’s instructions, we were making our way en route to the edge of New Falmalla, seeking the pony named Quick Charge. Somehow, we were to try and convince him not to sell much-sought after alcohol to other barponies in the city. In return, we would receive money. Truly, this was the epitome of respected and distinguished archeology. Sunny had been left behind, on the principle of her being Sunny; given her predisposition to piss off everypony we came across, we all felt it best that she not join us for this venture. So it was just me, Parum, and apparently the weight of our familial issues resurgent. “You heard me,” Parum said bitterly, “Mom is crushed, Close. She started crying as soon as they closed the door behind you, and by the time I left she still hadn’t stopped. Deduc Indagator stopped by to give her little ‘we will rise from the ashes’, ‘your son didn’t sacrifice himself for nothing’, ‘now begins a new age for Stable 81’ bullshit speech, but she didn’t even pay attention to her. Insusurro stopped by too.” I turned, surprised. “Really? What’d he have to say?” She snorted. “Same shit.” she said, “He was so sorry, he hoped that you’d come back and bring us good news of the surface, then we could all leave the vault together, blah blah blah I stopped paying attention. Fuckin’ loser. “That’s not the point though. The point is, even if we don’t stay, even if whatever it is these twins are doing hasn’t been dealt with…could we at least stop by? Just to let her them know we’re alive?” I couldn’t argue with that, now could I? I mean, I probably could, but…I didn’t want to. “We will. Let’s just…finish up here first. Do you even know where 81 is?” “We can figure that out later. Right now, let’s find this fucker who’s holding out on Mist.” * * * Our search eventually led us to a park near the edge of the city, and I had to stop. We’d seen more than a few dilapidated parks on our excursion through New Falmalla, so this in and of itself was nothing new. The statue is what made it different, however: this was a memorial park, one that in my own mind was nearly identical to the one in which Sunny and I had met Oya. I could almost feel the hole in my right ear burning as we slowly approached the three ponies who could only be guards for something…or somepony. “We must be at the right spot.” I said, before calling out cheerfully, “Hi! We’re looking for a Mr. Quick Charge?” The ponies responded with a yell. There was a crack, and I felt what could have only been a bullet whiz through the hole in my ear. I stood there, paralyzed, as more ponies swarmed in, and the three in front of us advanced. Parum, who was undoubtedly more experienced in this sort of thing than I was, shoved me to the side, breaking my mental paralysis. At the same time a green glow enveloped her spear, unsheathing it and driving it through the neck of our nearest attacker. Another shot rang out, and I ducked behind a park bench. Parum refused to take cover; as she slashed at a second pony with her spear, she bucked the third in the neck. He fell gasping to the ground, and as Parum stomped his neck to break it, her magic replaced the other pony’s brain with her blade. “Am I going to have to kill all these assholes myself, or am I gonna get some help?!” I stammered. What? Kill ponies? I know I’d injured many, and Sunny and Oya had killed who knows how many…but aside from one raider, I’d never actually killed anypony. I told her this, and I ducked to the side just in time, the tip of her spear causing sparks as it ricocheted off the concrete bench. I recovered in just enough time to be punched square across the jaw by my little sister. “Stolide!” She shouted, hitting me again. I reeled-the little filly packed a wallop! “Where in the fuck do you think we are?! You’re not gonna survive out here if you refuse to kill somepony when they’re trying to kill you! I can’t even believe you lasted this-“ She was interrupted by the rapid-fire crack of an automatic rifle, and the bullet that lodged itself in her side through a hold in our cover. “Parum!” I screamed. “It’s fine, it’s fucking fine! The armor took most of it…” She groaned, hugging her side. More ponies were coming from various hiding spots in the park, and before I knew it I was blindsided by a rough-looking unicorn with a Goddesses-damned sword! I reacted, whipping around in a roundhouse kick to her head. Her magic faltered, but she was otherwise unimpeded, and she stabbed at my neck with her sword. I ducked in time to avoid yet another unwanted hole in my body, though not in enough time to miss a slash across my shoulders. I pivoted, kicking hard with my back legs at her lower jaw. It was enough of a shock to drop her sword, which fell clattering to the ground. Next…I want to say what I did next was a reaction, a reflex. I want to say that my actions were a result of training, or that my survival instinct kicked in…but then I’d be lying. No, when I took advantage of my enemy’s disorientation, when I solidified my stance and kicked out again with all the strength I could muster…when I felt her neck snap before the force of my hooves…I did it out of my own volition. The unicorn fell, and she did not rise again. There was no time to mourn, no time to reflect on my actions. That time would come later. Right now, there were more ponies trying to kill us, and we had to make that stop. I gave Parum a healing potion, and in no time she was on her hooves, charging once again into battle. There weren’t many of them left, and together we wrapped them up with relative ease. While Parum was more akin to a tiny, bladed wrecking ball powered by bloodlust and Sugar Bombs, I couldn’t afford to be as straightforward. So while the mercenaries (at least, I assumed they were mercs) were distracted with my little sister, I was able to sneak my way around the battlefield, singling out ponies and putting them down with precise strikes. It scared me; with every pony I killed, it became easier to do so. The heat of battle, seeing my own family wounded…it pushed me past the point of caring, I guess. Soon enough what had once been a beautiful park turned into ruin was now a ruin of a beautiful park covered in blood and bodies. “Were any of them Quick Charge? I wasn’t paying attention.” Parum asked. I didn’t answer, and when she looked back at me, her expression was troubled, but understanding. “Close…I know it’s hard now, but we do what we must. That’s why I try my best to help as many good ponies as I can: maybe one day, we won’t have to kill each other to survive, y’know?” I nodded. I was sure that, with time, I might even come to believe it. I almost didn’t hear the whine in time. The electric whine I’d heard once before, the whine which I knew would soon be followed by a deadly purr. “Get down!” I shouted, tackling Parum to the ground in the nick of time. The purr came, bullets ricocheting off, well, everything as we scrambled for cover behind the fountain in the middle of the park. The purr of machinegun fire paused, and the sound of muffled cackling reached our ears. I took the opportunity to poke my head out to look at our assailant, ducking it away before a new stream of bullets took it off. He (or she) was wearing power armor, like those Steel Ranger ponies. Unlike them, however, it wasn’t a full set-it looked somehow shabbier, cobbled together, and cobbled together with it was a rusted old minigun. “Any ideas?” I asked, “I would recommend against charging him like you did the others.” “No shit.” Parum responded simply, “How ‘bout this: I distract him, you run around and kill him while he’s distracted. Or you distract, and I kill. Thoughts?” “And just what are my hooves or your blade supposed to do against that armor?” What we could do, I don’t believe we ever really found an answer, not until much later, at least. What a high-powered rifle round could do, however, was a different story. Over the din of machinegun fire I heard a metallic splat; when I looked up, our adversary’s head had been taken clean off. Half a second later came the sound of thunder. I stood up for a second, and deciding that whoever had fired that shot was either gone or not interested in us, I motioned Parum to do the same. “So…what do we do now?” I asked. Parum opened her mouth to answer, but somepony else beat her to it: “Stop! Just, stop!” He shouted, coming out from behind a decrepit excuse for a tree. Earth Pony, grey, and a quick check of his flank revealed a stick of dynamite cutie mark: we’d found our pony. “Quick Charge?” I asked warily, afraid that uttering the name would garner the same response it had before. Quick Charge nodded, immediately afterward starting to babble nigh-incoherently: “Look I know why you’re here and I’mma tell ya that I ain’t fuckin’ goin’ like the others ya hear me I’ll fight ya fuckin tooth and nail if I hafta or you can just tell her I’m dead or gone or whatever alright just don’t fuckin kill me-“ I held up a hoof, silencing him. “Wait, tell who? Kill you? What’re you talking about?” I looked at Parum, hoping for an explanation of some sort, but she only shrugged, probably as confused as I was. We weren’t the only ones; Quick Charge took his own turn at being confused. “What? You mean you’re not here to kill me?” he asked. “I wasn’t planning on it.” I said. “I was.” My sister added. A kick silenced her. Quick Charge looked relieved. “Thought y’all were workin’ for that goddamned slut…” he explained. I will never be more proud of Parum than I was when she kept her mouth shut. “You sure as shit made short work of my hired guns-best mercs in Whinnyapolis, mah flank-how would you two like t’ make some money?” Parum and I looked at each other, then back to him. I nodded. “There’s this uppity little barbitch what runs a joint in the city center. Been killin’ off suppliers an’ takin’ it all fer herself, see? So if y’all…take care of her for those of us lef’, we’d sure as shit be grateful.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than the lime-green filly launched herself at the supplier. She moved too quickly for me to stop her; honestly, she moved too quickly for what I’d expect out of a filly her age, though since when Parum had been a normal filly, I had no idea. “You take that back!” She squealed. Though the voice of a child, it was still laced with a furious malice. “Take it back!” My cry of “Parum!” was interspersed with Quick Charge’s cry of “What the fuck?!” “Take it back, take it back! Take! It! Back!” My sister screamed, each last word punctuated with a blow. Quick Charge tried to fight back, but she was to be undeterred, until I finally managed to pry her off of him. “We’re not killing anypony.” I grunted, still struggling with a thrashing filly. “But what do you mean, killing you off? Mist Chaser may be a bit…abrasive at times, but-ow! Parum!” I exclaimed. Parum had bitten me for calling her marefriend abrasive, I guessed. “So y’all are workin’ for that bitch! The deal stands. Kill her and get paid, or don’t and leave me the fuck alone. I’m outta here; need replace my fuckin’ bodyguards…” * * * “Who the fuck does he think he is? Kill Mist Chaser? Kill ‘that little barbitch’?!” I just sighed. “Parum,” I said calmly, “You’ve been saying that since we left. And like I’ve told you…thirteen times now, we’re not going to kill her.” After a thought, I added, “Or him. We’re just going to get to the bottom of this and see if we can’t figure things out.” “And what did he mean, ‘killing off suppliers’? Mist wouldn’t do that! I mean, we do what we have to, but that’s even too cold for her!” She continued…again. After stripping off what medical supplies we could from the dead (as well as their ammunition-we could hardly use any of it, but caps are caps) and patching ourselves up we began to make our way back to the bar. The conversation which just transpired had transpired about thirteen times in the intervening time. I could somewhat understand where she was coming from: she’d put someone she loved and cared about on a pedestal, and now…now that pedestal was crumbling, bringing her dear Mist Chaser crashing down to Earth. I’d felt the same way upon finding out my little sister was quickly becoming one of the deadlier ponies in the Wasteland. Luckily enough we arrived before Parum could launch herself once again into a verbal fit of preadolescent rage. It was still early enough in the day for the bar to be sparsely populated, and by sparsely populated, I mean that there were only two ponies: Sunny and the enigmatic Mist Chaser. “Wow, you guys are back quick!” She hailed us cheerily, “Get everything taken care of?” “Well…” I began, but you wouldn’t believe such a little body had such a set of lungs sometimes. “Have you been killing off alcohol suppliers so you don’t have to pay them?” Her voice cracked as it rose, and her eyes were a mixture of both angry and pleading. “Love, I don’t know what in the hell you’re-“ Mist Chaser looked flabbergasted, her initial smile faltering. She didn’t finish; Parum had that covered. “Misty!” She interjected. Apparently the name Misty held something for our filly friend. Her smile faded entirely, and her ears drooped. Her eyes darted from me to Sunny, before finally resting on Parum Sororem. Sunny, to her credit, wasn’t laughing, although from the look on her face it was clearly a struggle the likes of which she had never before encountered. Mist Chaser sighed and sat down, and as if on cue Sunny floated over bottles and glasses. Stalliongrad for my sister, Pferdmeister for Sunny, Wild Pegasus for Mist Chaser, and something called Geldgoyne Blue for me. When I asked what it was, Sunny just winked at me. I nearly wet myself in fear, but drank anyway…anything to relieve the tension. To my surprise, it actually tasted pretty good; smooth, and…earthy? It was hard to describe, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Sunny didn’t even pour a glass- why waste time when a pony can drink straight from the bottle? The two young fillies left their drinks untouched; Parum just stared at Mist Chaser, looking angry and hurt. Mist Chaser stared back at her, looking confused and hurt. “What’re you talking about?” the pegasus filly finally asked. “We met Quick Charge.” Parum answered curtly, “And it seems that the other suppliers have been dropping like flies. Because of you. What the fuck, Misty?” Mist Chaser’s hurt and confusion almost immediately became hurt and rage. “Are you fucking serious?” she yelled. Another pony came into the bar, saw us, shook her head, and shuffled out uncomfortably. Mist Chaser continued, standing back up and advancing on Parum: “You’re telling me that you believe some lowdown, hustling, good-for-nothing slug, without even trying to figure out the truth?” She thrust a hoof at me, “Don’t you listen to the fucking radio? The fucking Twins are back! The other ponies haven’t been dropping like flies-they’ve been getting the fuck outta dodge! “Everypony is leaving because your brother climbed out of that fucking hole in the ground and fucked everything up!” Silence hung pregnant in the air. Mist Chaser’s words-her accusation-weighed heavily on all of us; I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Hey, uh, Sunny?” I asked, “Do you want to go…somewhere?” Anywhere? She just looked at me, the smile on her face telling me she in fact had no plans to leave. “That ‘fucking hole in the ground’ is my home!” Parum screamed back. Tears began to flow freely from her eyes. “Sunny I swear I will use what money I have to buy you a drink somewhere else.” I told her in the lowest voice I could. Sunny looked at me, then the young couple, then back at me before getting up with a shrug. “I’m taking this.” She stated simply to Mist Chaser as she floated the bottle of Pferdmeister along with her out the door. * * * “I thought you said you were buyin’ the drinks!” Sunny accused loudly as we stepped out of another bar across town. “That was before you took Mist Chaser’s bottle.” I responded calmly. “Says the welsher.” I just rolled my eyes. “Well looky what we have here, ladies! A pair of unsuspecting ponces!” It took me a moment to realize that those words hadn’t come from Sunny. They had, in fact, come from a group of three elderly gray mares. I didn’t even have time to get out an “Excuse me?” before they started throwing rocks at us! Hard! I tried to back up, back into the bar, but ended up crashing into Sunny instead, who wasn’t taking the rock-throwing much better than I was. The mares advanced, their seemingly-limitless supply of ammunition began to hit harder. They were backing us into a corner; a confused, painful, writhing corner. I struck out; an act of abject self-defense, anything to get the assault to stop. My hoof connected with something solid, something that gave in with a brittle snap. There was a startled cry of “Maude!” from one of the other mares. The rocks stopped, and when I opened my eyes, they fell upon the prostrate form of Maude. Her neck was broken. “You’re gonna pay fer that, ponce!” The other remaining granny yelled. She never got as far as to actually exact any revenge. The air (and my ears) stung with the cracking reports of two .45 millimeter bullets, and the rest of Maude’s gang fell to the ground alongside her in a pool of their own blood. I didn’t bother to wonder what had happened to my psyche when, after taking part in the murder of three old mares, my first thoughts (and words) were, “Luna’s sweet ass, Sunny, that was right in my fucking ear!” Sunny sniffed. “Get used to it.” She said. From what I could hear, which wasn’t much, it was clear she was smiling. “Come on, let’s get out of here. They may not care if ponies kill each other in self-defense, but we don’t need that kinda heat.” “Wait!” I said, stopping her, “What’s that?” Peeking out of one of the granny’s dresses like a frightened worm in the early morning was a scrap of paper. It must have shaken loose of its pocket when the mare fell, and I’ll be damned if I could tell you why I was so interested in it. I trotted over and gently tugged it out with my teeth. “I wonder what it says…” I mused aloud, going cross-eyed trying to look at the folded piece of history in my mouth. Where did ponies even find paper to write on anymore? Sunny was having none of my curiosity, however; she fired another shot next to my ear to get my attention. “Hey, Egghead, let’s go! You can read your little love-note somewhere else!” * * * “In this note, a riddle lies. To read it carefully, I would advise. If glory and riches are all you seek, Then your outlook must be truly bleak. Search for me in days of old, And you may find an inspired soul. Though I’m far from crashing waves, They may still be heard within my caves. In your endeavor, I wish you luck, And hope that you quell curiosity run amok.” I finished reading the poem aloud, verbally transposing it to my PipBuck. “I wonder what it means…” I added as an afterthought. “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Sunny replied. It had been barely an hour, but news of our actions had already spread. Granted, nopony knew it was us, but they knew that the “Maudes”, as they were called, were dead. They’d been part nuisance, part New Falmalla mascots, from what I could gather, and their deaths were met with an equally strange combination of sadness and joy. Despite Sunny’s dismissal, I still wanted to know what it meant-after the events at the park earlier, I needed any distraction I could get. “Excuse us.” Came a voice from behind us. I turned around, and my heart stopped. Two earth ponies in matching business suits, sunglasses, and bowler hats stood side by side behind us. They weren’t our twins, but stars above, they certainly looked like them at first glance. “You two…should definitely…consider a different wardrobe…” I said, trying to get my breathing back to a normal pace, “Now how can we help you?” The ponies looked at each other, then back at us. “We believe you possess something of ours.” The one on the left said. “We know you two are the ones who killed the Maudes.” Continued the right. “So what if we did? They attacked first! We were defending ourselves!” Sunny cut in, stepping forward. To her credit, she kept Chandrahasa, the engraved pistol we’d found in the cratered, radioactive remains of the Ministry of Arcane sciences, holstered. Also to her credit, I was ready to shut my eyes if it even looked like she was going to unleash her blinding sun spell. “We don’t care why you killed them.” The left pony said, raising his voice in irritation, “We only have one question: did you find anything on them? A piece of paper, perhaps?” My blood froze. “No, why?” I lied. The thought of what I’d become once again bloomed in my mind-since when had lying become as easy for me as speaking? It wasn’t as disturbing a revelation as how easy it’d become to kill another pony, but still. The business ponies surveyed us both. Whatever they found on our faces must have satisfied them; they nodded in unison, then turned and left. Once they were gone, I turned to Sunny, unable to hide the grin on my face. “Now if this wasn’t something worth investigating, how do you explain that?” I asked. Sunny just grunted, which was about as much as I had come to expect from her when it came to admitting she was wrong. “Though I’m far from crashing waves, they may still be heard within my caves…what could they mean?” I mused. “Could be the old pumping stations.” My companion remarked offhandedly. “The what?” She looked at me as if I’d asked what I did next after going to the bathroom. It wasn’t the first time. “How do you think they had indoor plumbing before the war? How do you think some ponies have it now? They pumped in water from the sea. It’s probably talking about a pumping station.” “Sunny, you’re a genius!” I cried, surprising both her and myself by throwing my hooves around her in a tight hug. “If we can find a station, it’s as good as ours!” “Let…go…of me…” Sunny grunted through gritted teeth, her entire body rigid. I wasn’t paying attention, however; I let go, but held her at hoof’s length, looking her in the eye and grinning like a fool. “We’ve got to find it! Ohhh Sunny, I could kiss you!” I said, and in my excitement, actually began to move my face toward hers. It took me nearly four hours to regain my sight, not much longer than it took for me to regain consciousness. * * * “Another dead end…” I muttered. Turns out a city the size of Whinnyapolis had more than a few of these pumping stations, more than I’d expected and more than Sunny had ever bothered to pay attention to. From what I could gather (nopony wanted to talk to Sunny-surprise, surprise), New Falmalla encompassed six of these stations; we had searched two, and this one made three. There wasn’t much to them. They each had three rooms: a lobby/office area, a janitor’s closet, and one large room with the actual pumping machinery. We’d searched the entirety of the stations, which really didn’t take long at all, but had turned up nothing. “On to the next one?” I asked Sunny as we walked back out to the street. It was evening, and the hoof traffic had died down. Instead of being actively jostled about, now we were nearly alone. Nearly, alone, that is, with the exception of two ponies in matching business suits, fedoras, and sunglasses. “It seems we meet again.” The right one said simply. “Looking for something?” Questioned the other. “Will you back the fuck off?!” Sunny shouted before I could say anything. This time, Chandrahasa did come out, and soon found itself with its barrel planted firmly underneath the left pony’s chin. The ponies, unperturbed, looked at each other and nodded, before turning around and departing. “What is their deal…” Sunny muttered. I just shrugged, looking once again to my PipBuck map to see where the next pump station was. “If we take a left here, it should only be a few blocks to the next one!” I proclaimed, looking back up at Sunny. I’d learned by now that my compass and objective tracking wasn’t to be trusted in Whinnyapolis; instead I just looked at the map and tried to plot a course by landmarks and what street names still remained. It reminded me that there was yet another obstacle to consider when we finally set out for the Mall of Equestria: how were we going to navigate wasteland? I mean, there was always the Tower to the East and the sea to the North, but other than that…I shook the thought away; we would cross that bridge when we came to it. Instead I focused on where I was going, and on how Sunny was giving me an odd look. “Why’re you so hopped up on this?” She asked. “Hopped up on what?” “That fuckin’ note, that’s what. There’s no reason to follow it, we’ve got more important shit to do, and I’m tired of those ponies following us.” She explained. That stopped me for a moment; I honestly hadn’t thought of that. There certainly were more important things to be done-hadn’t I just been trying to figure out how to navigate a massive, dead expanse of land without getting lost and/or starving to death? Shouldn’t I be looking for more work, or even figuring out how to complete the job I already had? She was right about the ponies, too; I knew nothing about them, and it wasn’t like I needed any more dangerous ponies out for my blood. “Maybe…” I started, not really knowing what to say, but saying something anyway, “Maybe it’s what I was sent out here to do in the first place. At least, to me. I was supposed to find out what happened out here, to see how much Equestria has changed in the past two hundred years. But instead of that, I’ve been kidnapped, hunted, shot, beaten, shot some more…” I paused, trying to put a hoof on it. “This isn’t what I was expecting…” I finished. I’d forgotten to mention the nagging feeling (and straight up insistence by Parum) that my own stable had betrayed me for a yet unknown reason. Looking to see what this note I’d found on a dead mare lead to helped to take my mind off things for a bit. “Jeez, way to be melodramatic, No Balls.” Sunny scoffed; but in her eyes betrayed…understanding? * * * “A rock? We went through all of this shit for a fuckin’ rock?” Sunny was not happy, and I had to admit, I was more than a little disappointed as well. We’d come to the pumping station without issue. This one was larger than the others, perhaps a main, while the rest had been auxiliaries? It was still the same three-room setup, only larger. Once again, the lobby’s desks contained only a smattering of caps among old, rotting paper and clipboards. In a room easily the size of Stable 81’s atrium, massive pumps sat rusted and decrepit and unused. At the far end of the room lie a hole large enough for a pony to fit through, the eroded remains of iron grating skirting its edges. As we walked closer to the hole, more and more we could hear the sound of rushing water emanating from it; distant, as if we were only hearing the echoes of other pipes heading to other stations. “ Though I’m far from crashing waves, They may still be heard within my caves…” I’d muttered, before grinning and hopping hooves-first into the hole. After a few minutes of rooting around while Sunny called me an idiot, she had to hush so she could grasp the small box I had found and was pushing up through the top of the pipe. She grasped it with her magic, and giggled as I struggled to pull myself back out on my own. After a brief deliberation, we decided it wasn’t trapped, and Sunny picked the lock on it. Inside was lump covered in cloth, and a rock; hence, our dismay. “Well, let’s see what’s behind door number too before we start yelling, shall we?” I remarked irritably, bending over to bite the dirty cloth and pull it away. A white unicorn looked back at me, locking me in her strong and alluring gaze. Her sensual violet mane and tail stood out sharply against her coat. My eyes drifted to her flank, and as I looked upon the three diamonds there I couldn’t help but think, Sorry, Applejack, but this one takes the cake… “Ow!” I cried. It felt like I’d been bucked in the head not once, but twice. Phantom giggling ran around my brain as I once again reached down to put her in my saddlebags. Just as the other two, this statuette had writing on the base: “Be Unwavering!” My heart lightened. Sure, postwar Equestria was nothing that I could have even begun to realistically expect, but if I was still doing things like this-searching, finding, wondering-after being kidnapped, shot, and beaten, then nothing could stop me! A mad cackle arose in my throat, but I suppressed it. That was for later; right now, the door to the station had opened and closed again. We had guests. “Would you look who it is…” The ponies in matching business suits had found us! One of them held a revolver in his mouth as the other one spoke for them. “You shouldn’t have lied to us. Now, instead of just retrieving what’s ours with no fuss, we’ll have to kill you. I do hope your blood doesn’t stain the contents of the chest.” Sunny almost facehoofed. “It’s a fuckin’ rock.” She said simply. I mentally thanked her for not mentioning the statuette. “Yes, and it is rightfully ours. Now, do you have any last words before we extract what we’ve been searching our entire lives for?” The other pony pulled back the hammer on his revolver. This time it was my turn to nearly facehoof. “Do you just want the fuckin’ rock?” I asked simply. “Take it, it’s yours. We don’t want it.” They were clearly unnerved. The armed one nearly dropped his pistol in his surprise. They looked at each other, then back at us. All the gravity and sternness which had shadowed our previous encounters fell away to a nearly foal-like wonder and excitement. “You mean…” The unarmed pony began softly, his voice hitched with the specter of apprehension, as if this were a trick-too good to be true, “You mean you honestly don’t want it? It’s ours?” “Yes, you can have the pretty rock.” Replied Sunny, “It’s right over there, in your pretty chest. Can we go now?” The ponies nodded silently. They couldn’t even hold their composure until we were outside; we’d barely taken three steps before they rushed to the chest, positively giggling with unrestrained glee. Sunny just sighed, and I caught snippets of “Is it really him?”, “Only a piece, but still!”, and the name “Tom” as we walked outside and shut the door on both the pumping station, and on this odd little chapter in our lives. * * * “Wait, so it was you two who killed the Maudes?” Mist Chaser asked. I groaned. Seemed even in a place as large as this, word traveled fast. Probably that damn DJ Pon-3’s doing. “Look, they attacked us. I didn’t mean to kill anypony!” I explained. I wasn’t going to explain for Sunny, who’d gone out to “Talk to a pony about a thing”; I was more than sure by this point that she meant to kill pretty much anypony she shot at. Or saw. Or looked at her weird. “Close, they attacked everypony!” Parum scolded, “All you had to do was run or yell at them kinda loud!” “Like I fuckin’ knew that!” I shot back. To think that the entire situation could’ve been avoided by nonviolent means…but they were throwing rocks! Hard ones! “Since when do you curse?” My sister asked. I blinked. Again, another question about something I hadn’t realized had been happening. “I guess I’ve just been around you and Sunny too long. It is a nasty habit.” I mused. My sister just rolled her eyes, trotting off to the little fillies’ room. Which left Mist Chaser and I alone. Awkward much? “Look, Close…about what I said earlier…” She started, but I interrupted her with a hoof. “Don’t sweat it.” I said, “Me coming out here has definitely shaken things up a bit, especially considering those twins.” I meant it, too; whether my coming had brought the twins out of whatever they were doing or the twins had somehow orchestrated my exodus from my home remained to be seen, but what was done was done. Mist Chaser just coughed and looked somewhere else. I took this to mean we were on even terms now, which led me to my next point: “I think I can solve your alcohol-supply problem…” * * * “Mr. Quick Charge?” I asked, stifling a yawn. After this, I swore I was going to sleep for days-it sure felt like I’d been awake for a few of them. I’d elected to meet with him alone, so as to not cause any trouble. Between what Parum thought of him and what Sunny tended to do to everypony…it was better this way. This time I was only met by the pony in question and a single bodyguard; just a regular mercenary unicorn with an assault rifle. I was by myself, unarmed as always. “She dead yet?” Quick Charge asked, a grin slowly spreading across his features as he looked upon my deadpan expression. “No.” I answered simply. “What? Then why’re ya here? Shit, shit, shit! She coulda followed ya!” It was comical how abruptly his face changed from smug to terrified, his manner from that of a lion to one of a mouse. If anything, if hammered home Mist Chaser’s side of things as the correct one. Now, it was my turn to smile. “She’s not dead, because I’m not going to kill her.” I said. What came next I wasn’t sure if I could pull off, but before I faltered, I felt my conviction solidify, as if braced by a beautiful white unicorn and her friends. So when I did speak, it wasn’t the voice of just a scared stable pony, it was the voice of authority: “What’s going to happen is, you are going to sell to her at half price while charging anypony else full price. If there aren’t many of you suppliers left, than there shouldn’t be too much whining from the other bars. Deal?” Quick Charge, his illusion of fear cast away, looked cock-eyed at me. “An’ what makes a little stable-pony like you think that I’m not gonna just shoot ya here an’ deal with my problem myself?” “Because the Hellion-you may have heard of her-is my sister. And the Hellion is already angry enough that you tried to have her marefriend killed.” Quick Charge visibly paled. He nodded his consent, and that was the end of my business in New Falmalla for quite some time, although I didn’t know it just yet. * * * I arrived back at the bar with a spring in my step. I thought there may have been a fight or something when I told him he’d be halving his profits just to stay alive, but Parum’s reputation had more pull than I’d previously thought. I guessed that wasn’t the only thing about it though; Quick Charge wasn’t just spouting nonsense about being a stable pony. In the stable, we were well-fed, well-groomed, well taken care of. If anypony else came from that to a world such as this and started demanding even less than what I had from Quick Charge, I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised to see them strung up by their hooves and left to die in the wastes. But that white unicorn…I was unwavering, and it showed, and for some reason everything worked out. I had the confidence that it would, and it did! Awesome! “Hey, I got Quick Charge off your back! I think you’ll like our little-Butcher?” I began, then switched sentence objectives at the sight of, well, Butcher. A blue pegasus, the same shade as Mist Chaser, with a brownscale rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark stood on the other side of the bar. Aside from her saddlebags, she wore a brown leather jacket lined with white fur-a flyer’s jacket. On its back I could just make out a faded black “E” surrounded by stars and flanked on each side by wings. Her fuchsia mane, identical in color to Mist Chaser’s, hung loose and windswept. She truly was Mist Chaser’s mother. Sunny was sitting next to her, looking like she was trying not to laugh. Parum Sororem was nowhere to be found. She turned to look at me, and smiled. “Well look who it is…” She mused, “Good t’see ya again. Didn’t think you’d last three days after the last I saw you, especially not with this one.” She nodded back to Sunny, smiling as she stepped toward me. “Then this little filly with fire in her eyes shows up asking about her brother. Ya know, if I had to look at you two side by side, I’d almost say you were adopted. Where is she, anyway? She ever find you?” “I dunno.” I said, then put my thoughts back together and tried again, “I mean, I haven’t seen her since earlier; doesn’t Mist Chaser know where she is?” Butcher rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t seem as though my wonderful daughter, who I flew all the way out here just to see, wants to talk to me much. Such a shame.” “That’s not the reason you’re here, you dried up wench! Don’t even try to guilt me into talking to you!” Mist Chaser shouted viciously. “Like you just did?” She blinked. “Fuck!” she screamed, “Sunny, watch the fucking bar!” This last order she threw at Sunny before exiting through an open window with a snap of her wings. “What in Luna’s grace was that?” I asked, dumbfounded. “No idea.” Butcher shrugged, “But she was right; I do have another reason for coming out here. “The Gelders picked up info that you were here, and I volunteered to make a trip to give it to you. Apparently one of their scouts picked up a radio signal, and recorded some of it onto a holotape.” With that, she reached into her saddlebags, producing said holotape and placing it on the bar. “Well, aren’t ya gonna listen to it?” I nodded, my accomplished mood quickly slipping deeper and deeper into the depths of abject confusion. Why would some random radio signal garner enough attention for a recording? Or better yet, why was it so imperative that I was the one who received a copy of the broadcast? I wouldn’t know until I listened to it in any case, so, nearly shaking with anticipation, I plugged it into my PipBuck and hit play: “Attention, attention, attention: This is Deduc Indagator of Stable 81, trying to reach the fugitives Close Call and Parum Sororem, both of my stable. We have your parents here; either come home and pay for your crimes, or they shall. Message repeats…" Level up! Perk Added: Stonewall-You’ve taken Rarity’s advice to heart! You can no longer be knocked down in combat, and you get +5 DT against melee and unarmed attacks!