Eleven years after the Stable Dweller opened up the sky, the town of New Appaloosa now thrives as an independent territory, where in this town two lost ponies wake up and must make new lives for themselves.
It has been eleven years since the Stable dweller trotted into the wasteland, and changed things forever, leaving equestria better then she first found it. But life in the wasteland has not become sunshine and rainbows, being as it has always been, where no matter how much things change they stay the same. The parting of the clouds have given way to an oppressively hot sun, the clearing of the radiation has opened the land to new dangers, and what of the raiders, well they have only changed their tactics.
In this new budding age the small town of New Appaloosa found itself under the eye of New Canterlot Republic as a possible extension of their quickly growing territories, the young civilization grasping at all they can take as they attempt to bring back the old ways of equestria. Wanting to hold onto their independence, New Appaloosa embraced new governance, along with a strong hoof of law and order in which to show the NCR that they were not up for the taking.
Their defiance to the NCR encroachment having proven effective, the eyes of other groups would then fall onto the town, among them the Lightbringer foundation, followers of the Stable Dweller, they have chosen to hold their upcoming lightbringer festival at New Appaloosa. A celebration to the hero who opened the skyes, it attracts ponies from all over the wasteland, and now they are coming to this town, becoming an opportunity for the town to truly become independent through the money they may make from it. But not all attention is good, and like wolves smelling blood, dark forces now circle the town, seeking to gain power through this idea of independence. Yet the greatest danger may come from within as the town's grates protector, Sheriff Ashy Oaks, who firmly holds on to her ideals of justice may become a noose for both her and the town itself.
This is where three ponies find themselves, as outsiders looking in; the stallion out of time Slowtrot, the Mare out of place Harp Melody, and the troublemaker Star Charter. It is here where they learn one cold truth of the wasteland, that War, war never changes.
I tapped on my notebook, still unsure of what to do about my situation. The miasma continued to shift around me, forming structures based on my memories, as well any other creature, unfortunately, to be trapped in this chaotic stagnant pocket of space and time. The "psychic constructive feedback" I think it was called. The structures themselves were unsteady and crumbled to black dust soon after forming. All consumed by an unending storm that swirled all around me, howling like an angry beast. Fortunately, the storm never came close enough to be a problem, and the toxicness of the miasma was quite low, despite how thick it was. I was in more danger of reality itself warping on me and forming some monster near me, or the ground turning to lava under me. It was all theory, as no one really understood how the miasma actually worked, but it was always safe to be paranoid around the stuff.
It was all just as fascinating as it was frustrating. Having seemingly dipped into another world already, seemingly because I was inside some sort of underground bunker, so no way to confirm where I was. The only evidence I was in another world was that I had met with an odd miniature equine with artificial legs, quite sentient, but not all that interested in talking. It was a brief, yet interesting exchange, and her surprised, yet not shocked reaction to me, might be a tell that there are creatures that are similar to myself in that world.
After all that, I finally reunited with that troublesome harpy friend of mine and got ourselves back on track to head home, but to only soon after get separated in this miasma pocket. It’s not my fault that I found some strange armor peace, and became distracted. Artifacts of any kind are worth lots of coin, so alien artifacts got to be worth even more than the average. When I finished inspecting the equain armor peace that harpy was gone.
So I figured if I just stay put and wait for him to come and get me, Harpies may be fickle to say the least, but never knew him to break a promise. Unfortunately, I had another problem to deal with, something I was very unsure what to do with. As I waited, a new equain had fallen near me, from where, who knows, but I was not going to let the poor thing suffer alone.
Studying her, this pink miniature horse had several cuts, and had been stabbed in the chest, though not deep, her rib cage having taken the brunt of the damage, so it was likely cracked. I could only guess that it was her dress that must have saved her, whatever it was made from, it was strong. So I patched her up to the best of my abilities, which was significantly harder to do with my claws becoming some sort of hoof-like structure, forcing me to use my jaw to do much of anything.
“Wha… what’s going on? where am I? Am… am I dead?” after several hours of being unconscious, the small equain spoke, sounding worried and understandably confused.
“Hard to say really, but what I do know is that we’re in a place where time and space are warped, and as for your status as alive or dead, let’s just caution on you not being dead.” I maintained a poise of calm, it was the first thing I learned when becoming an explorer, that above all things, don’t panic.
She looked at me for a moment, her face going from mild shock, to puzzlement, then sighed in relief. “Thank Celestia, you seem friendly, though I thought most Sparkle-Lurkers had purple chitin, then again those non-glowing ones were brown.”
I looked at my light blue shell, my joint glowing with a green bioluminescence. “I don’t know what the Sparkle-Lurkers are, but I must have taken their shape. The name’s Azure Dice, Explorer by situation, artist by unpaid trade, and story writer hobbyists.” I informed her as I politely bowed.
She pushed herself up, wincing in pain, and bowed back. “Harp Melody, Princess, well former princess of the Orthis Kingdom.”
I scribbled her name with mouth claw, my writing being less than the standard I was used to but I was quickly getting better at it. Putting my notebook away I then pulled out my sketch pad, instinctively trying to hold it with my now nonexistent claws, and it bubbled out of my grasp and hitting the miasma ashy ground. "Seriously, why do I have hooves, is it like some sort of magical law that in your world we must have hooves?"
“Let me get that for you” She pointed at my sketchpad, the screen of the device on her leg then glowed green, enveloping my sketch pad with the same green light, then lifting the sketchpad without touching it, before passing it back to me. "So you don't normally have hooves?"
I wiggled my 'hooves' in the air. "My kind aren't naturally so flat clawed, the tail to, it's a bit odd with it being so inflexible." I opened the sketchpad to a blank page. "You don't mind if I draw a few sketches of you, for documentation purposes I mean."
"Are you sure, I mean you can, but I'd rather get back to a friend of mine." She took a moment to look around, and take in how lost she was. "I… don't even know where to start, where even am I?"
"Between dimensions, in something like a bubble made of condensed and unstable magic known as miasma. That's at least my best-educated guess." I informed her as I did my best to get a sketch down. "There's nothing we can really do much about it, but I do have a friend who is an expert spellcrafter, we just have to wait for him to come get me. He will know how to send you home. I think."
Harp didn't look all that hopeful with my explanation and turned to the device on her wrist. "Must be that megaspell I fell into, it was made to warp time and space. Maybe there's a way to reverse my situation if I can adjust the magic in this place.."
I chuckled nervously, "From my experience, it's better to leave messing with magic to those who have years of experience of not killing themselves with it."
She tapped at her device, its overall shape looking familiar to the armor peace I had found here. “Hey, do you know what this is?” I asked as I pulled out the armored piece, and her eyes widened at the sight of it.
“I’ve never seen a pipbuck like this before.” She took it from me and inspected it before frowning. “Looks like it’s dead, maybe power loss? Let's check.” The air around us rippled, the miasma responding to something, no, it was responding to Harp. Like a swirling vortex strands of the Miasma was then drawn to her, absorbed into Harp as she began to… shimmer.
I watched as the pipbuck began to let out a harsh green light, making several noises before a voice came from it. “He… hello?” the pipbuck spoke in a mechanical voice. “What’s going on, I can’t see, is anypony out there?”
We both looked at the pipbuck, both with confusion on our face. “Is it supposed to talk?”
Harp paused for a moment before talking. “Sometimes pipbucks are given VI’s, virtual bits of intelligence, though it’s rumored that sometimes they develop AI like properties.
I looked back at the pipbuck, and asked. “What’s your name?”
“What was that! Is somepony there, I can barely hear you,” it responded.
Harp opened up a bag she had on her, pulling out a few cables. “This pipbuck is too damaged, maybe I can transfer the program to mine.” pugging the damaged pipbuck to hers, Harp started pressing buttons, then sighed. “Luckily most of the files inside are undamaged, so this should take but a moment.” Soon after a loud dink rang, and Harp smiled. “Hello, my name’s Harp Melody, what’s your name?” she asked her own pipbuck.
There was a moment of pause before the pipbuck spoke. “Destination pipbuck 2600, Issued to the OIA by the MoAS for top secret corridor duty, reconstructed for the use of Thorn Rosland to conduct internal assassination of any potential threats to Lunas rule over Equestria.”
Harp looked shocked for a brief moment, then looked over at me, as though wanting to know if I understood any of that. I just shrugged and said “I’m not native to your world.”
She then turned back to her own pipbuck, and asked. “So is there anything you can do?”
The pipbuck flickered for a moment. “Most spellmatix spells are unavailable, this platform seems to be missing the necessary spell talismans to conduct normal functions.”
A frown came from Harp for a moment before her eyes widened up. “Let's try this.” She said as she reached into her bag, and pulled out a small flat oranged box, it had a window on one side, where I could see some sort of gemstone inside, carved into the shape of a disk, and had a magic circle inscribed onto it. She then opened a slot on her felock mounted device and put the box inside. “What can you do with this 2600?”
Again her device flickered, and again it made a loud bing noise. “Teleportation talasman recognized!”
Harp gave a hoof thrust into the air. “Yes! Can you use it?”
Once more the pipbuck flickered. “Requires a destination point… destination point found... Activating the teleportation spell...
“Wait, what!?”Her eyes widened right before she vanished in a flash of light, leaving a hole in the ground.
“Oh dear, did she vaporize?” I said to no one in particular as I put my sketch pad away. The hole itself seemed to widen, drawing the ground itself into it, and with speed. “So much for staying put!” I once more, said to myself as the ground collapsed from under me, plunging me into a dark void, and to the unknown.
“Good evening ponies of the equestrian wasteland, as well as those not ponies. DJ Pon3 is asleep right now, and I, your lovely pirate DJ, has taken over his airways to bring you some new tunes. No music you’ve heard a hundred times already, nor any of that pro NCR propaganda, just the music you can partie to. Now get up, and shake those le…”
*Crach, Pop*
“What was that? WHAT! Are ponies raining from the sky going to just be a thing now? No, go get that mare on a stretcher, I’ll shut everything down before mom finds out. Yes, you will still get your caps, now get going!”
*Buzz, Crackle*
“Sorry everypony, looks like this broadcast will be cut short due to unforeseen weather conditions, enjoy your usual broadcast.”
…
…
…
“...and that’s why the NCR is here, so if you spot any raiders, be sure to report them, together we will make the wasteland safer. In other news, the Lightbringer festival is right around the corner, and New Appaloosa is going all out to celebrate. They have hired the newly founded merchant guild, Blue Skies, to make this an affordable, but also the biggest celebration yet. Be sure to stop by, and enjoy the games, good food, and most importantly, watch the sunrise that announces the beginning of the festival. This has been DJ Pon3, and that was the news. Now it’s time for some music, starting with Victoria Rosary, who will be performing at the Lightbringer festival, singing her popular cover song, Somewhere Over the Sea.”
“The pony known as Slowtrot at first seemed to be a bit slow as his name seemed to suggest, but as it turned out, he was almost just as out of place as I was, and a wealth of information of a now dead civilian now known as Old Equestria.” ~ Azure Dice
My head pounded like I had way too much to drink the night before, and with how I was drawing a blank to what I had been doing before I went to sleep, that might be true. It was also not a good sign that I hurt all over, so something must have happened.
Opening my eyes, things took a little longer then I liked to become less fuzzy, but I found myself in what I could only describe as some sort of open medical room from the rows of beds it had, and the M.o.P. boxes everywhere… maybe I did have too much to drink, but I still can't quite remember what had happened, so having been blackout drunk is a good bet… I physically cringed at the idea and knowing that I must have done something stupid to end up here, and likely wasted the bits I owned.
My stomach gurgled, and I knew that whatever was in my stomach was going to come up and come up soon.
I jumped off the hard bed then face planted onto the floor. I pulled myself up and looked around for a bathroom, but I saw none. There was a bandaged up pony in one of the beds nearby, so I did the most sensible thing I could do and asked him. “Where's the bathroom? I’m going to puke soon.”
He looked up at me and spoke with a voice that sounded like he smoked three packs of cigarettes every day for his entire life. “Heh, stable ponies. The outhouse is back behind this building. Just go through the front door and head round back. Ya won't be able to miss it, the smell alone is unmistakable.”
I thanked him and galloped off out the front door, quickly making my way around the back where several shabby outside toilets stood next to each other. The bandage pony didn't lie. The place smelled like the sewage had backed up.
Picking one, I found a glowing mushroom poking out of it, but I no longer have the time. I stuck with it and began to wretch.
I don’t know how long I was in there, but when I was done, there was a sizable pool of rainbow-colored liquid in the toilet bowl… I could only assume it was the mushroom that did that… very strange.
Leaving the outhouse, I made my way to the front, now taking a look around. It was a rustic wooden building with ponies all about in cowpony hats and plenty of revolvers on plenty of ponies hips. It was like I had stepped into one of the old frontier movies, except the ponies here looked far dirtier than what they normally shown on the silver screen.
“Hay ma’am,” I stopped one pony that had a very old looking sundress on. “Where am I?”
She gave me a confused look before answering. “You’re in New Appaloosa, silly!”
New. I didn't know Appaloosa started a new town. “Ah, thanks ma’am.”
She then trotted off, and I trotted into the street, feeling a bit lost, but at least with some knowledge to where I was.
There was quite a hustle and bustle to the ponies here. Not to the same level as back home in Applewood, but it was clear everypony had someplace to be.
As I followed the crowd, I found myself in what had to be the market street of New Appaloosa. It had shops of all kinds, each having a swinging sign made from what looked like recycled metal. There was even a pony trying to sell Sparkle-Cola. Her pitch being that it was ice cold despite that being how they're normally sold.
My mouth was feeling dry so I trotted over to the soda vendor She was sitting next to a cool-o-matic 2000 Sparkle-Cola fridge. It was just a normal fridge, but in the shape of a Sparkle-Cola bottle with a glass door in the front, though this one looked like it was made to look really old. Same for the bottles inside.
"One bottle… wait, drat I don't have my bits," I lament. There goes my thirst quenching.
"Bits, why in a radscorpions butt cheeks would I want bits? It's twenty-six caps. Take it or leave it," the vendor said before mumbling something to herself.
"Caps?" I scratched my head, feeling a bit confused.
"Bottle caps, like the ones on a Sparkle-Cola bottle, ya nitwit!" she exclaimed.
Odd… no. It was now making sense. This wasn't a frontier town, it must be part of Sparkle-Cola Word's theme park. I think I remember something about the theme park setting up a frontier town in their park. Which means somehow I got in here while blacked out, maybe I got a job with them. Not the first time I figuratively fell into a job. At least that means there's somepony I can talk to, and possibly recover and stuff I lost.
"Oy, space pony, are you home, and more importantly, are you going to buy anything?" the vendor spoke up.
"Oh, sorry. Kind of got lost in my thought there. Is there a manager I can talk to? I seem to have lost my coin pouch," I asked.
The vendor's eye twitched. "Fffffffffuuu…" she huffed, then pointed over at what looked like a saloon. "Don't know what the ff… I don't know what ya'll are talking about, but the owner of that saloon's husband is deputy Willow Tree. If anypony can help you out, and even care too, he will."
I thanked the vendor lady then I made my way to the saloon.
At the saloon, the place looked like a knock off of a frontier saloon, yet strangely authentic. Ponies playing cards, drinking at the bar, and a few eating hay fries that didn't look all that fresh. The staff here were quite busy, as to be expected, and I couldn't find any open seats or a pony willing to talk to me. I was mostly getting a shrug or a grunt to go away, but there was one spot that seemed to be void of ponies except for three old ponies sitting at a table, playing cards. One was a sharp-dressed unicorn stallion who puffed pink smoke from the pipe in his mouth. Another was in a well used military uniform decorated in lots of metals. The third was a thin zebra jenny of all things. She had an M.o.P. uniform on and sported a bright purple mohawk.
Something about the zebra gave me a feeling of deja vu. "Excuse me if I cut in?" I asked as I sat down.
The three cocked their eyebrows at me as they threw some bottle caps in the center of the table.
"Were playing old Appaloosa poker smooth coat. You familiar?" The military pony spoke with a very gravelly voice.
I was mildly familiar with Appaloosa Poker. I knew if I didn't have chips, I couldn't play.
"Ya, just give me a moment," I requested.
Quickly looking around, I checked for anything I could use, only to see a bottlecap roll under the table. It being a Sunset Sarsaparilla bottle cap with a blue star on the inside. Grabbing it, I sat up and tossed the cap into the pile.
"Sorry,” I apologized. “It's my only cap right now, I kind of lost all my stuff somewhere. Wanted to talk to the deputy about it. Willow, I think, they said his name was."
The fancy stallion deals out the cards. "I'll let Apricot know that somepony needs to talk with her husband," he told me in a proper, yet also very gravelly voice.
I looked at my cards, making sure no pony can see them. It was three aces and two princesses. The cards themselves looked rather old despite them clearly being the princess print cards that only came out last year.
A feeling of dread then washed over me as the ponies must play poker a real lot, and my one cap was at risk.
"Thanks, that will help a lot. I think I may have drunk a bit too much last night, and blacked out. Don't know how I got so far from Applewood, and into Sparkle-World, so I'm just hoping I didn't cause anypony any problems."
They looked at me with confusion, then shrugged as they showed their hooves, knowing I could not add to the pot. I did as well, and they gave me a displeased look before the military pony pushed the small pile of caps over to me. After that, the fancy pony delt his cards again. We all threw a cap into the pile.
"Applewood ey? I heard strange stuff coming from over there. Nothing that can be confirmed, but that place has always been the center of trouble," the military pony spoke.
"It's not that bad," I said, feeling more relaxed now that I had more game tokens. "I mean, if you know the right ponies, you can get in one of the preshow theaters. I even met Lilac Lace once, though only as a drink runner for the theater. They say that the silver screen makes a pony look grander than what they really look like, but the silver screen didn't do her justice."
There was a pause, then the fancy pony gave a sophisticated, though gravely laugh, puffing pink smoke from his pipe.
"Oh, all too true! That mare knew how to take over a stage, own it. Now don't tell nopony I said this, but Lilac and Rarity didn't get along all that well, despite all the promotional photoshoots and pro-Equestra shorts they worked on together. Lilac cared more about artistic freedom above all else, where Rarity, well she wasn't the ministry mare of the ministry of image for nothing."
The military stallion then laughed loudly, and gravely. "Ya know, I remember her movies now. The fifty-foot mare was my favorite! She had so much leg. Rumors from the tank battalion out west says she's still kicking around, though they like their tall tails."
We continued playing our game and chatting about the usual goings-on The two ponies being more candid then I was used too, making me a bit worried that the M.o.M. were going to pop out at any moment. The conversation ranged from buckball and how, despite Appaloosa still on top of their game, Cloudsdale was making a major comeback, to how the ministries might be going a tad too far with all their plans.
It was strangely a pleasant conversation.
"Zay pony," the zebra spoke up in a thick, and gravely accent. She had not spoken this entire time. She just played and watched me. "How long has it been since the great war started?"
The three of us became quiet at her question.
I thought about it for a moment. Despite what the ministries put in the history books, I remember the start of the war being a bit more complicated, though I was only five then.
"Let’s see, there was an old veteran that told me there was a five-year-long trade war before any shots were fired and, even then, the first ten years of the war was just posturing with little actual violence actually happening. So, if you’re talking about full-on hostilities, then it started right after the little horn massacre around over nine years ago."
There was a pause between the three poker players as they shared glances. The Zebra then pulled out a strange device, It a metal box with a handle, and two moving wing-like appendages on the end that had severe small flashing lights. It flashed and beeped as she pointed it at me, her eyes fixated on the box.
Then she let out a sigh. "Your either the world's most well-preserved ghoul, or you somehow managed to survive being soaked with a massive amount of powerful magic, but then that would answer to how you put a hole in my new clinic."
I cocked an eyebrow, a bit confused. "I don't get what you're saying."
She pointed at her fenlock. "Your pipbuck should give you some details about yourself."
I checked my right fenlock. Nothing. I then check my left. I found an expensive-looking pipbuck attached to it.
I nearly fell out of my seat upon seeing it, for such things were kinda hard to get, even when you had the bits for it.
"When did this get here?" I asked in confusion.
Turning the thing on, it felt strangely familiar, despite never having used one before. Even the engraving of a '?' Entangled with a pony shoe, my cutie-mark on it.
On the screen, an image of a green pony formed, it's eyes "X" out and it looked quite unwell.
"I think it's broken. The thing says I'm dead?"
The Zebra scratched her chin. "Well, your vitals were normal the last time I checked, same for your friend."
"Friend?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.
She put away her device. "Here, let's go back to my clinic and I can take a more thorough look at you, now that you're awake."
She then looked at the other two ponies. "Tell the deputy that I got this covered, but if he still wants to talk with the stable pony, we'll be at the free clinic."
I was still confused, but at least it seemed that I found a pony who can help. Well, a zebra, at any rate.
Looking at the large pile of caps I won, I had no way to take them with me.
"Hundred caps, and I'll give you my spare bag," the military pony spoke up.
I shrugged, then pushed the caps to him. He threw me an old worn-out military bag, in which I put the rest of the caps into.
Following the zebra, I made a quick stop to buy an ice-cold Sparkle-Cola. I was disappointed to find it a bit flat, making me glad I didn't spend any bits on it.
Entering the clinic, next to the bandaged pony, was a very pretty, as well as the tallest unicorn mare I had ever seen. She almost looked like one of the princesses, but without wings. She also sported a short main and tail cut. Stranger, her eyes were not normal. It was snake-like slits rather than being round like a pony.
"Welcome to the New Appaloosa free clinic," the zebra announced.
"Oh thank Celesta, you found him Jali! I was almost about to panic!" The tall mare said with a tone of relief.
The zebra, Jali, looked at me and chuckled. "He literally stumbled into my poker game and ended up nearly stealing all our caps like he was blessed by a god of luck itself."
She then pointed at one of the hard beds.
"Now you sit there, pony, and Prism will bring out the other one from our private room, along with all your things."
I sat on the bed. Jali picked up an old worn out medical bag, pulled out a bunch of equally worn-out medical tools.
"You all are taking this frontier theme really seriously," I spoke, feeling a tad more confused.
"Just stay still as I examine you. Tell me if anything feels wrong."
She began hitting my joints with a small rubber mallet that didn't hurt, but it forced my legs to move a bit.
"Now open wide," she instructed.
I did.
She stuck a flat stick into my mouth for a moment as she looked inside.
"Alright. Now . . . have you noticed any strange fluids coming out of your body, or any odd pains?"
"Other than some aches and pains, maybe some bruises, I feel fine, though I may have puked a rainbow outback in the outhouse,." I explained.
Jali paused for a moment as Prism carried a mare and a bag into the room.
The mare was pink with light gray stripes and had a blue mane with light gray streaks. She also had two small wings and a small horn, along with a pipbuck on her left fenlock.
Placing the unconscious mare on the bed, Prism then trotted over to us. She placed a saddlebag with the stable-tec logo next to me.
"Prism, there might be some rainbow bile in the outhouse behind the clinic. Can you recover a sample of it for me?" Jali requested, and Prism cringed before nodding and trotting off.
Next, Jali looked at me and asked, "Alright. Could you look through your bag and see if you remember anything?"
I really had no memory of ever owning such a bag before. After touching it, it became clear that it was more two M.o.P. medical cases put together like a saddlebag. Very strange... yet familiar.
With a click, I opened the first case, and inside was a blue jacket that looked like a stable barding that Stable-Tec sold, and on the side was "R&D" imprinted on the sleeve. There was also a blue cowpony hat with a yellow band around the base, it was made of similar materials to the jacket, yet it was much sturdier.
It all felt familiar, but even when putting them on, I still didn't remember anything, so I opened up the other case. What was inside was a gun and several bullet-filled magazines for the gun, along with rifle bullets inside clips.
Picking up the gun, I didn't really know much about guns other than what I saw in the movies and parts I made in factories.
It was a pistol which used largeish ammunition and, had the Stable-Tec logo on it, despite that company not being in the gun manufacturing business. Also it had an engraving
"Chekhov's Promise," I read out loud as I messed with the trigger on the bit.
*Bang*
The gun fell from my hooves. A trail of smoke followed as it descended down a long dark shaft. So long that the darkness had swallowed it. It made no sound after vanishing.
I looked up and found myself no longer in the free clinic. Rather, I was sitting in front of a massive stable door. Blood splattered all over it. Getting up and turning around, I was now in a hallway. The bodies of ponies in blood-stained lab coats were along the floor. Around my neck was a color that beeped.
"Go, or your head will pop!" A mare spoke as she stepped into view, she a blue earth pony mare with a long golden mane and wearing a decorated navy uniform. Thorn Roasland had a wicked grin on her face that told me she had no intent to spar me.
Turning again, I took one step and found myself in a large room. In the center was a swirling magical vortex.
"I can stop it. I can make it so that the war never even started!" An older green unicorn mare in a lab coat stood at the edge of the vortex, heavy bags under her brown eyes. Her shadow began to crawl up her, wrapping around her, covering her. Healing Herbs eyes then turned a golden yellow, and the rest of her became the black nightmare Phobetor.
"A fool! Her, you, and everypony! I will soon be free!"
*Bang*
The sound resonated loud enough to hurt my ears and, with it, everything shattered, becoming dark once more.
"You do know what to do with that, right?" A mare asked, and I found myself sitting at one end of a long table. To my left, I could see the city of Applewood, and to my right was the decaying ruins of a city. It looked somewhat like Applewood.
On the other end of the table was me, a purple earth pony stallion, saggy long pale blue mane, with a jade streak running through it. He held Chekhov's Promise in his hooves, smiling.
"Let me remind you," he said to me.
Pointing the gun at his, and my, head, he, and I, fired.
His head shattered into pieces… like glass fragments.
In the flying fragments, I could see other ponies in them; Thorn Roasland, Healing Herbs, Phobetor, and me.
There were other ponies too. Many other ponies, but they were far more incomplete compared to the first four.
Then the pieces fell, landing behind the table, forming a unicorn mare. She was purple like myself with a pale blue mane, again like myself, and even had a jade streak through it. Behind her was a very long and dark shadow. In it, I could make out faces of ponies looking back at me, each seemingly in a fit of madness.
Fragment cracked her neck, stretched her back, then looked at me with annoyance.
"Now that's a face I haven't seen in a long time, though not long enough if you ask me. Well whatever, I got a business to lord over and I don't need some ghosts from the past to pester me. Be gone spirit, or I shall eat you." Fragment waved her hoof and slid my gun over to me as everything became fuzzy, fading, then dark.
I opened my eyes, finding myself in a largish dusty room with mismatched wooden walls and floorboards that had several rows of beds that look like they were salvaged from the side of the road. I was back in the clinic, though it was a bit hard to believe that this place could be considered one with how dusty it was. Maybe I was in a Sparkle-Cola world set-piece, but the effort to make it look like an authentic frontier town was a bit much.
Looking down at Chekov's Promise, smoke still drifting from the barrel, I then had a feeling that I was in big trouble. "Sorry about that, but the good news is I'm starting to remember stuff."
A long sigh came from Jali as she trotted over to me.
"Good! Now can you tell me where you two came from? It might answer to what is wrong with you." Jali proposed, her voice sounding worse than before, and her face… looked like it was from the movie Undead Zebra Nightmare…
"Um… Is it Nightmare Night?" I asked, her makeup making her look quite out of place for a frontier setting… unless there was a zombie vr’s cowponies event going on?
Jali stared at me for a moment before she answered. “I think you ponies were about to celebrate that before everything went up in balefire, but no. What you're seeing is real.”
The painted on muscles, where it was to look like her skin, was missing and moved, as though they were her real mussels. It all looked way too real.
I studied Jali more. Nothing about her yelling makeup, yet there's no way a pony or zebra could look like that naturally. Magic was clearly the answer, but such disguise magic was outlawed, and even then, why a zombie zebras?
Thinking, I scratched my chin, finding a beard where one was not there before. “Wait, when did I grow this?” I asked myself as I slowly started to remember, but things still were not making sense, unless something went seriously wrong.
“It’s fuzzy, but I think I remember, though it sounds more like a dream,' I declared.
Taking a deep breath, I dug up the memories from my confused mind and looked at the pipbuck I got as a parting gift. “I had just triggered the megaspell to implode on itself. I couldn't let either of them get their hooves on it, and teleported out… but I didn’t end up in the overmare’s office.”
The zombie doctor grumbled. “Megaspells, that’s never good news, but it would explain the magic you're flooded with.”
Jali then pointed at the unconscious mare. “How about her? Remember her now?”
I shook my head. “Maybe she’s one of the R&D staff in the stable. It did have its share of zebras working there. I know she's not going to be part of the Navy, unless Thorn planned to use her as a kicking bag.”
Jali sighed as she picked up the gun. “Sounds we will just have to wait for her to wake up.”
She placed the gun next to me then turned to the alicorn. “Prism, I thought you checked this before locking it away?”
Prism’s eyes shifted before she also sighed in frustration. “Star… Sorry Jali. I’ll be more careful next time.”
“Please do. It was hard enough to get the mayor to approve setting up this clinic near the town's center. The last thing we need in some uppity smooth coat chasing us back out into the outskirts, all just so they can use this space to sell more junk again.” Jali then turned back to me. “Right, now if you can stay here. I want to run a few more tests on you to see if you have any mutations. Maybe some mental damage.”
I nodded, still playing with my new beard, and wondering how long I had been out.
I checked my pipbuck. The date was just all wrong, saying that I was 211 years late in catching my flight from the Marewaii skyport. “So, this might be a dumb question… but my pipbuck says it’s been over two hundred years. That can’t be right, right?”
Jali dug her hoof into her lab coat and pulled out a thin rusty box. Inside was a very old photo of five zebra soldiers sharing drinks. “This photo is of me and some of my squadmates. It was taken a few days before the war ended over two hundred and eleven years ago.”
There was a fairly young and attractive zebra jenny in the group, in what I could easily guess was a zebra's medics uniform. Looking up from the photo at Jali, some of the stripes matched, but she resembled more as a withering corps than the young zebra in the photo.
“You sounded like some of the confused pony ghouls who are from the wartime, so I want to check and see if you are actually one of us or not.” She closed the thin metal box and put it away before trotting off to the back.
Prism trotted over with a box of fancy colt cakes, passing them to me. “Here. I have a feeling you might be hungry,” said Prism.
I looked at the old looking box and flipped it over to see the expiration date. The fading letters told me that it was a hundred years passed its expiration.
“Don’t worry,” she assured, reading the worried expression on my face, “though it might be a bit stale, they are still good to eat.”
Shrugging, I tore open the box. The dry and sickly sweet smell hit my nose.
“Orange incorporate always advertised how their food snacks would last forever. It was even a joke that if the world were to end, there would be nothing left but cockroaches and fancy colt cakes,” I said as I bit into the cake, and it indeed was stale, but still edible. “Well let’s hope we were wrong about the cockroaches.”
Prism quickly looked away which gave me a bad feeling.
“Who the fuck is shooting a gun in town, and at this fucking time!” the voice of a loud and angry mare shouted in from outside.
Trotting in was the most frontier movie looking sheriff of a mare that might have well stepped out of the silver screen. She even had the nasty looking claw-like scar on her right cheek.
“Y’all should be glad no pony got shot or it be to the gallows, ya hear me!” She was a pale green unicorn mare with a graying mane done in a bun. On her brown duster jacket was a big shiny brass star. Hanging off her hip was the biggest revolver I had ever seen. She even had a big brown cowpony hat on. It also had a smaller brass star pinned to the brim.
“Sheriff, please calm down. I’m sure they have a good explanation for this,” a younger unicorn stallion trotted in. He wore the same outfit as the mare but lacked the stars or the big ass gun. “Anyways, Apricot said that there was a pony looking for me here, so let's see what they have to say first.”
The sheriff huffed, her eyes scanning the room. Her eyes fell on me and Prism. After that, she asked in a demanding tone, “You or the monster, which one of ya fired that gun?”
I looked down at my pistol then I raised my hoof.
“Swwwy, mm…” I swallowed the cake in my mouth, washing it down with the rest of my Sparkle-Cola.
I tried again. “Sorry. My bad. I thought it was empty before messing with it."
She trotted up to us, giving me a death glare. “Do you think this is funny?! Fucking around with any gun is liable to get somepony killed!”
Prism stepped in the way as she said, “Sheriff Ashy Oak’s! I get why you're mad, but he only just woke up, and I don’t need you beating one of our patients unconscious again. So calm down, or I will remove you from here.”
Ashy didn’t move her head or even move her eyes to look at Prism.
“Try me monster, and I’ll have it that you, and that harlot of a daughter, get what's been long coming to you.” Her voice was seeping with contempt.
"Ahem." I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I'm still a bit at a loss as to what's going on, but I'm willing to bet that threatening a nurse is still very much frowned upon."
I then gave the grumpy mare a smile. A very nervous smile. "How about we work out a deal? For any fines or damages I've caused, maybe I can work them off?" I presented my bag of caps, hoping it would at least calm the situation.
As Sherif Ashly took a few steps closer, Prism backing away.
"You think money can just sweep your crime away?" Ashy then got in my face. "Ponies like you are why things don't get better. “No, they actually are why things get worse."
By Celestia, I didn't know what she wanted with me. Maybe to have me grovel on the ground like some power-mad mare?
"Listen here, I said I'm sorry,” I pleaded. “That it was an accident and that I'm willing to do something to fix any damages. Now can you back off and let me deal with the fucking fact that I likely teleported over two hundred years into the future?"
Ashy backed up, looking a tad confused herself, and finally looking up at Prism. "What chems is this pony on?"
"None yet sheriff" Jali spoke up as she trotted back into the room. "I need to run some tests to see if this pony is a ghoul or not. Wouldn't be the first ghoul to spend most of their unlife confused and lost."
“Now I'm sure you have business here, but I prefer you leave deputy Willow Tree in charge and not rush to judgment while we are all still trying to put on a happy face for the visitors. I know you got the mayor on your side, but there are limits to everything sheriff, even for your brand of justice."
A frustrated huff came from sheriff Ashy. "Fine then ghoul, but remember it goes both ways. If any of your patients cause any more problems, it's back to the outskirts of town, and this time your whole Followers of the Apocalypse cult will stay there."
She yanked the bag of caps from my hooves with her magic, and turned to leave the clinic, leaving the stallion behind.
Deputy Willow then sighed. "Sorry. She means well, but with all the new ponies coming in for the festival, it's a bit stressful."
Jali trotted up to me, placing a box on the bed and opening it to reveal a few strange devices. "Well do remind her that we're here to help. The town's doctor is not going to treat every cut and bruise, and the outskirts is not the safest place to be when you are not a local, and got a lot of caps on hoof."
Willow gave us a friendly smile. "I'll be sure to remind her. As for damages, fortunately, it's just a few holes. Nothing major, though it gave a cat a good scare."
"Then why's the sheriff getting bent out of shape over it?" Prism asked, sounding irritated.
"Because, if we let that slide, then there's going to be ponies who will think it's okay to just casually fire their guns whenever they like, and that never ends well. That dedication to the safety of the ponies here is what makes Ashy the perfect sheriff, and why this town has been able to flourish," Willow answered.
"And what about the ponies in the outskirts of town?" Prism shot back.
"Ahem!" Jali cleared her gravely throat. "Not the time nor the place for this discussion. I just want to make sure that this clinic stays open for the foreseeable future, and once the festival is over, then we can work on helping the outskirts. Now, deputy Willow, if there's anything else you need from us?"
"Just more details on what happened,” Willow answered. “Lately the mayor has been pushing for us to make written reports, likely wanting us to emulate the NCR." He said as he pulled out a pencil and notepad.
Jali rolled her eyes. "Does anypony here think it might not be a good idea to copy old Equestria?"
"Let me guess, we should be more like old Zebraca then" a mare spoke up from outside, trotting in with a more light and friendly step.
She was an ocean blue pony in a yellow sundress who wore gold earrings and gold mane clips in her long wavy sea green mane. The mare got a collective sigh from the other three ponies.
"What? I heard the sheriff was heading this way and wanted to see if everypony is alright,” the new mare explained, then said in pleasant greeting, “Oh hi deputy Willow. How's the wife?"
Prism trotted over to the new pony, looking less than pleased. "Star, we need to have another talk about your concept of gun safety."
The mare, Star, cocked an eyebrow, and looked over at me, then down at my pistol. "Ahh, ya forgot to eject the bullet from the chamber before holding the pistol I see. You know, the old buzzard would never have made that mistake."
Jali pulled out from her box a metal clip with some wires attached to it. "Just ignore them, and stay still, my equipment is very sensitive to fluctuations in magic. I should be able to figure out your condition fairly soon."
She attached a clip to my ear and a second one to my other ear. Both then got attached to what looked like a miniature terminal. It had blue lettering which appeared in what I guessed had to be Zebra writing. It beeps every few seconds as Jali nodded her head and placed a wire attached strap to my hood. It beeped some more before she started tapping on the small keyboard while nodding.
"Strange. I think there's some interference?" she said right before its beeping started to go faster and faster. "That's not right!"
The mini terminal then began beeping so fast it was like it was screaming all before the screen then turned off. A puff of black smoke subsequently came out of it.
Jalin looked at it, her mouth agape in shock.
*Thud!*
Jali and I turned to see what made that noise.
Hiding behind the bed next to mine was the pink pony, now awake. "Excuse me, not to be rude, b… but can I have some clothes? I'm feeling quite exposed you see." She spoke with a quiet, yet elegant sounding voice.
-Trait: Good Natured - Slowtrot grew up in a time where war and violence was still a foreign concept, and held to those ideals, even if they failed in the end. He gains a boost to non-combat skills, but all combat skills are lowered.
-Trait: Forgot how to Door - Slowtrot does not retain information as well as other ponies, but he tries his best, for better or worse. -1 to skill points when advancing in level, but gains +1 to luck whenever entering a new area, and has a %10 chance to succeed on skill check he is too low to complete.
-Odd Trait: Wild Wasteland - it might just be that Slowtrot is out of place and time, but the world seems different to him, odder, wilder. He might be crazy, or it's Equestria that's gone mad, but all the same something is not right.
-Learned Skill: Scrap Craft - The workers of the wartime industry had many ways to make the most out of what they had at hoof, and having lived among them, Slowtrot had learned how to make tools from old scrap.
-Learned Perk: Classic Education - Slowtrot gains two more skill points every time he advances in level.
"I had met the odd looking mare Harp Melody once before, but not long enough to learn much of anything about her. Now that I have the time, I'm finally understanding how alien this world is through her." ~ Azure Dice
The unusually tall unicorn nurse had carried over my saddlebag and gun case, both looking like they had taken a beating, of which now that I remember, they likely did. Fortunately everything else inside was intact and clean, so I quickly put on my red dress and a pair of underwear. Now decent, I could focus on the task at hoof, such as figuring out where the tartarus I was.
Getting back up on the bed, the room looked to be constructed from salvaged wood and furnished with salvaged beds, giving the place a cozy, yet rough feel to it. If I had to guess, I was in a moderately well off place. Not so well off that they had anything new, or at least refurbished, but. other than the hole in the ceiling, the room looked solid. I could safely assume that I was around civilized ponies, though that did not mean I was around good ponies.
Fortunately the zebra ghoul Jali was considerate enough to fill me in on the who's and wheres of what was going on, putting me at ease with her darken yet friendly bedside manor. I was somewhere safe. New Appleloosa as they called the town, but it concerned me with how far from the Marewaii Islands I was now. It just didn't feel real to me, and maybe it just had not sunk in yet.
"My name is Harp Melody, and thank you for looking after me." I said as I gave the ponies a polight curtsey. "I wish I had some way to repay you."
"Think nothing of it. Helping ponies in need is why the followers exist." Jali explained as she finished examining me. "Though if you could fill in some information about how you got here. The other stable pony has a less than reliable memory, and a second account would be helpful. So, was there an actual megaspell?"
I looked over at the other pony, Slowtrot was what he said his name was. I already knew his name, but he didn't seem to know mine, or who I was at all. So I decided to play it safe and not give out too much information, not that any pony would believe most of it.
"Megaspell, I think so. It’s hard to explain what I saw other than it being an active megaspell. I think it was the source of what was warping the stable, and my friend and I had to finish collapsing it, but I fell in before it closed up." I explained.
"That's right!" Slowtrot said loudly, "it was a time space megaspell. The overmare, Healing Herbs, was trying to open a hole in time and prevent the war from ever starting." He then sighed. "Unfortunately it was all a setup. A certain ponies had other plans in mind for it, so it had to be destroyed. I guess I failed to do that if you had to finish the job."
There was a pause in the room as everypony seemed to chew on that bit of information. The first to speak up was Jali, "That, at least, explains Slowtrot and why he looks fresh, despite being older than me." She then turned to me, her rotten face was still hard to get used to, but I did my best not to react. "Now how about you, miss? Did you also make a jump in time?"
A wave of dread washed over me as I checked my pipbuck, but also hope. If I had moved through time, maybe I'm in the past, maybe I could save so many lives… seeing the date on my pipbuck shattered those hopes, finding that I was in fact a year forward in time. A whole fucking year, and it was now gone.
It felt like a heavy weight had just fallen on my shoulders, pulling me down, making it hard to move.
"Are you alright, Miss Harp?" Jali asked.
Taking a deep breath, I smiled. "Just a bit shocked, that's all, it seems that I've been out for a few months, but it's nothing too bad."
What I said was not entirely untrue, but I was still worried about my friends. More importantly, I had to at least look calm, like how I was taught to be, otherwise I was just another target to be used.
Jali nodded, "That's to be expected. Even without the whole time magic, most stable ponies tend to suffer from momentary bouts of shock when leaving their home. I'm a bit surprised that a smooth coat like you didn't jump back when you saw me."
I gave a nervous chuckle. "Well you're not the first ghoul I've come across, and far from the worst looking one at that."
She smiled back at me. The moving of her exposed mussels made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Well, you seem healthy,” Jali noted. “I'd check your radiation signature to make sure you are not mutating and such, but all my sensors suffer from a sudden magical overload. It's going to take me a good part of the day to fix even one, so you can wait here if you like, or take a look around town. If you do leave the clinic, it might be a good idea to go with an escort. New Appaloosa may be a safe town, but it still has its dangers." Jali informed me before grabbing her doctor's bag and a smoking ammo box, then trotted to the back.
I felt a twinge of guilt as she trotted away with her broken devices It more than likely my fault for overloading. I was a bit startled when waking up and had let out more than a bit of magic I had stored in me. Feeling the magic in the air, it all felt different, yet familiar.
The ghoul gave off a stagnant magic, just like another ghoul I had met had, and the unicorn stallion was overall normal, but the other three were odd.
Slowtrot felt elusive, like his magic was both here and not.
Prism felt like, well like somepony had taken the magic of a unicorn and used it to try and copy the magic of an earth pony and pegasus, making something that felt wrong.
Then there was the mare Star, the feeling of her earth pony magic had something mixed with it, warping her magic just a little.
"Well, I think it's time I go. The mayor is going to want to know that our two stable ponies are awake," Deputy Willow spoke up, putting a weathered looking notebook into his breast pocket. "Also, if you can, try not to antagonize the sheriff any more, Star. She's got more important things to do then to clean up after your messes."
With that, he trotted out of the clinic.
The mare, Star Charter, sticking her tongue out at him.
An audible sigh came from the tall unicorn, Prism. "What happened this time, Star?"
Star rolled her eyes. "There was another rowdy patron at the tavern and I had to remind him of the rules. Asshole must have ran crying to the sheriff, that's all."
Trotting passed Prism, Star made her way to me, a mischievous smile on her face. "Let's forget about the sheriff and talk about some of the shit this mare had on her. I mean, those guns, and that robot, never seen anything like ‘em before!"
Opening up the gun case, she pulled out one of three disassembled air rifles, but then it was snatched from her hooves by a blue overglow of magic.
"Star!" Prism shouted, "Maybe not try and overwhelm the young mare."
The earth pony mare took a deep breath and sighed. "Right, sorry. I was just getting carried away." She then relaxed, giving me a calm, but still mischievous look. "So, what's a small mare like you doing with so many guns?"
Prism levitated the rifles over into my hooves. “It’s a Lelantos, though most of us just called it a bolt launcher. It uses talismanes to compress air, and spin the bolt when firing.” I explained.
I used my pipbuck to then levitate the rifle's other parts over to myself, and began to put the rifle together. The reassembly being a simple task of twisting a few screws.
When I was done assembling the rifle I poured a bit of my magic into it, and the talismans began sucking the air into itself, filling it’s two air tanks.
“All that’s left is to load the revolver with bolts and,” I pulled the trigger of the rifle, and it gave a loud pop. “You got an effective hunting rifle.”
Star raised an eyebrow at me and crossed her hooves. “Two questions; one, did you just levitate all that without your horn, and two, what the heck powered that rifle? I don’t see a spark battery?”
‘Crap! I guess that must not be normal here.' I lifted up my pipbuck. “My pipbuck has a weak levitation spell built into it, so it can lift small objects, but requires a levitation talisman to do more than that.”
Lifting up the rifle, I wasn't sure it was entirely safe to tell them about what I was. The last thing I needed was to be chained next to a generator to power it.
"Well, it can be charged. This one just had a bit of power still in, that's all. Most of the tech back home is like that. We Mirage Ponies just need a working spark battery," I half lied, leaving out that I was basically the spark battery.
“That’s… actually cool.” Star said, clasping her hooves together, making a clop sound. “But a bit of a bummer though. Spark batteries have become hard to come by lately.”
I felt a bit sad about letting her down, so another lie wouldn't hurt. “Well, it doesn't need to be a spark battery. If there's a magical source of energy, I might be able to power it up.” A lie as it was, it would make a good cover explanation if I ever needed to use the bolt launcher, and not reveal my magical ability.
Star smiled. “That would be awesome! We should test shoot them sometime. Those bolts look like they could easily pearce a radscorpion's hide.”
I did not like the sound of whatever a radscorpion was.
“That’s enough, Star. I think she needs some space.” Prism stepped in.
Star shrugged and trotted off while Prism said, “I’m sure you have a lot to get used to, and my daughter dragging you outside to shoot guns might not be the best idea right now.”
This time I raised an eyebrow. “You're her mother, but you don’t look that old.”
They also didn’t look all that alike, other than both having a blue coat.
Prism chuckled. “Well, not biologically. I adopted her long ago when she was a rambuncuse filly. Now she's a rambunctious adult. As for myself, I’m a lot older than I look. I may not look it, but I'm an alicorn. Well, an artificial alicorn."
“Long story short, my sisters and I were created by the goddess, a great and powerful mutant, though unfortunately time had driven her to madness. Don’t worry, she's dead now, killed by the lightbringer.” There was a sense of sadness and longing in Prism's voice.
“Alicorn, as in the princesses, but you don’t have any wings,” I asked, still processing the idea of an artificial alicorn, but it did fit with how her magic felt.
She looked at her back, then back to me. “I lost my wings long ago, not that I miss them. I was originally just a normal unicorn before becoming this.”
The mention of lossed wings reminded me of another friend. “Oh, that still must have been painful.”
I could feel tears forming in my eyes, so I bit my tongue to regain my composure.
There was a pause. Prism looked at me with concern as I did my best to hold a smile. It all interrupted by my stomach grumbling. Releasing what had just happened, I hid my face in my hooves as I flushed red with embarrassment.
A louder chuckle came from Prism. “Sorry, I should have grabbed some food for you. I’ll be right back.”
When she left, I sighed in relief.
As a direct descendant of Princess Platinum, I had to stop acting like a foal to be a proper lady. That meant no emotional outbursts and always presenting the best side of myself. If I didn’t do that, I would only mess things up for everypony again and become a burden to everypony, like back home.
Turning my attention over at my worn out saddle bag, I opened it up and looked inside. There was a clutter of ruined makeup, toiletries, an advanced gas mask, and several changes of underwear. There was also a figurine of the ministry mare Fluttershy and a pin like medallion depicting Celestia and Luna. Picking up the medallion, I felt my heart sink. It was a family heirloom of a close friend of mine, and I never managed to give it back to her.
“Damnit, I messed things up again,” I said under my breath.
Checking the other side of my saddle bag, I found the R&D stable jacket my father gave me. In an inside pocket was my father's gun. It still loaded as though, left untouched. I put the gun back before anypony noticed and threw on the jacket before looking back in the bag. What was left inside were a few basic spell talismans for my pipbuck and a red cap that had a metal band in the from with the inscription of “M-C”, in remembering how my friend gave it to me to help me calm down, and it has helped me get through the nightmare that was the R&D stable.
Taking the medallion, I pinned it to the cap and put it on my head. It did helped me feel a bit more confident in myself.
As for the spell talismans, they were not looking in the best condition. One even having a crack in it, so I decided to leave them alone for now.
“Hey, Miss Harp, can you tell me what this is?” Star startled me when she spoke up, placing a wasp-shaped robot onto a nearby bed.
It was my robot, Order, which my father gave it to me for protection, but now it was covered in dents, had a broken eye, and one of it’s propeller wings was bent.
“That’s a recon drone. It works a bit like a sprite bot, but more advanced. Can you bring it over to me?” I asked.
Star nodded and moved it over to my bed, placing Order on top of the gun case. I then placed a hoof onto it and pushed my magic into the drone. Slowly Order came back to life, but it was not going anywhere under its own power. The hud display in my vision then began to show me the drone establishing a connection to my pipbuck. Most of its advanced programming went safely inside my pipbuck. There was also a status bar, more than half finished, which listed as file conversation, likely from the pipbuck 2600.
“Good… Day… Lady… Harp,” the drone spoke in a distorted voice. “How… may… I… serve… you?”
“Order, you need repairs, so go into sleep mode,” I commanded my Drone.
“Yes… my… lady…” Order then powers down, and I sighed in relief. He was damaged. Really damaged, but there was a chance he could be repaired.
Stretching my legs, I then hopped out of bed, and proceeded to fall over. I hadn't realized how weak my legs had gotten. I needed Star to help me back up.
“I guess I should stay in bed then,” I figured.
Star laughed. “That might be the last thing you should do. Just trot about the clinic. Get used to trotting again.”
I took a few steps, then stumbled, getting another laugh from Star.
“Sorry to laugh, but you look a lot like my daughter when she was learning to trot.” she explained.
Looking at the earth pony mare, she didn’t look all that much older than me.
“Let me guess. You adopted, like Prism.” I asked.
She rolled her eyes at me, and huffed. “No, she is my actual daughter. By the goddesses, I had to carry her in my belly for nine months.”
I think I hit a nerve, so I said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that you look so young. I didn’t think you’d have a foal yet.”
“Oh, well that’s an honest mistake. I mean I get it. Mom was really pissed when she found out, and it took a long time to repair our relationship after.
“All that said, my little Bridget is the best thing that’s happened in my life, aside from getting Prism as a mother, that is,” Star explained. “Unfortunately, her father had to skip town. Although my mom was forgiving, his father was less so. As far as any creature knows, he’s currently working as a Talon.”
Something was missing in this story, so I asked, “Why was your mom and his father mad about you being pregnant?”
Star looked away for a moment. “Well I was only sixteen at the time, and he had promised his father that he would not fool around. The old buzzard was more mad about him breaking his promise than anything, and didn’t take punishment lightly, so my foal’s daddy skipt town before he got the worst of it.” She then chuckled. “When he left, he promised to become a famous Talon, then return with a lot of caps. The fool was better at making guns rather than shooting them.”
“Fortunately for every creature, my granddaughter is a well behaved and smart filly, unlike her parents.” Prism returned with a bottle of sparkle-cola and a very old looking box of snack cakes. “Here, have this. It will hold you over until you have a proper meal.”
The box, both the packaging and the sweet inside, looked ancient, but it would be rude to not at least take a bite. So I bit into the snack cake, finding it to be sickly sweet, and very stale, but still quite edible.
“Say Miss Harp, not to pry or anything, but are you from Cantercross?” Prism asked.
I washed the cake down with some soda, then asked back, “Cantercross? No, I'm not. Why do you ask?”
Prism sighed. “Sorry. It’s just that you said you're a mirage pony, and I only just now remembered hearing about them in a city called Cantercross. A few creatures I know had met them personally but didn’t go into detail. From what I can remember being told, the city is in the far north west and they run the government there. That’s about it.”
“How long ago?” I asked.
“Roughly around ten years ago. Not too long after the clouds cleared up over Equestria,” she answered.
“That’s not right. No pony has ever left the island. We all thought nothing was out there until recently,” I mumbled to myself.
I looked at Prism and gave her a smile. An honest smile. “Thanks, I don’t know if those are the same mirage ponies as me, but it’s good to know I’m likely not alone out here.”
A chuckle came from Star. “Maybe you can join us the next time we go out west. Maybe talk with those friends of ours. Just be careful. One of them is a bit off his rocker.”
She got a sharp glance from Prism that cut her laughter short.
Star then shrugged “But with ya, maybe it’s better to not get ahead of yourself. Just get used to things here first.”
“That might not be a bad idea,” Slowtrot spoke up, getting everyone's attention. “I mean, I’m from the Coltiforna region of Equestria. I’m not sure if there's anything to go back to, but might as well see what’s become of my home.”
Prism nodded in agreement as she said.,“Getting you two back home would be for the best, or at least close to it, but, even then, the problem would be having the caps to even make such a journey. Caravans going that way are not cheap, but it’s the safest and fastest way. Luckily, right now is probably the best time to earn the caps for it, but with how you two only just woke up, I’d advise against it.”
“Well it’s not like I’m planning on going anywhere yet. I mean, I’m still not quite sure what to do,” I said as I looked at the snacks, soda, and the other beds. “But I can't just freeload on you when you’ve helped me so much already.”
“Oh, no, you're not freeloading. As a Follower of the Apocalypse, it’s my job to help those in need,” Prism quickly responded.
“And that’s why we were all poor,” Star huffed. “I’d suggest sitting on it and just getting used to the wasteland, but eventually you're going to need some caps to rub together, and I can help you with that.”
Prism cleared her throat to gather our attention, then said, “I think we should ask the mayor to see if he can help them first. I’ll go talk to doctor Jali about it. While I am at it, you can show the two stable ponies around town.”
Star shrugged as she said,“Fair enough. I need to go pick up Bridget soon anyways.” She then trotted over to me as she asked, "Are you good to move around, or do you want to wait here a bit more to stretch your legs and such?"
I stretched one of my legs. I winced a little from a dull pain in my muscles, but it is not enough to be a problem.
"I'll be fine,” I assured Star. “Like you said, I probably need to trot it off."
"I'm fine, by the way. Been a bit lightheaded, but nothing else I can recall," Slowtrot added to the conversation.
"Alright. I'll give you a brief tour of this town, so follow me." Star pivoted around then trotted out the door.
Following her, the door outside the clinic was strangely bright with a dry and dusty wind coming out from it. My eyes took a moment to adjust.
Before me was a busy town under a vast sky with ponies of all types and even a few non ponies moving about. It was about as crowded as back home, but the town was far more spacious that the ponies were able to get around without too much trouble.
The one thing that struck me by surprise was how muted the colors were, being mostly different shades of brown, gray, and the odd brightly colored pony in the mix.
"No trees. I guess that makes sense to how you can live out here," I thought out loud.
Slowtrot raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that? Wouldn't trees be a good thing?"
I scratched my chin for a moment as I realized that things might not be the same as it was back home.
"Well,” I answered, “back where I am from, the trees produce a toxic pollen that can kill within minutes. Then there are places without the trees that are plagued with massive bubbles of concentrated radiation, they are invisible, and roll around randomly."
He visibly cringed. "Then how do you ponies live there?"
"There's an extensive metro system under the Marewaii Islands. That's where everypony lives," I explained.
He looked away for a moment before nodding. "I think I remember hearing about that, yes. The advertisements for Marewaii boasted about how safe their metro system was. There was even an urban legend about glowing monsters living in the tunnels."
As he chuckled to himself, I bit my tongue to remind myself not to mention that there were actual glowing creatures in the tunnels.
"Oy, are ya two going to keep gawking, or are ya going to follow me?" Star yelled out to us.
Following her, we stopped outside a large and bussey building that was at the corner of a "T" street crossing, with a large sign that read 'New Appaloosa Saloon' where there was cheerful music coming from inside, along with the smell of cooked food.
"This here is the town's main watering hole,” Star explained. “Its a professional establishment, so none of the usual wasteland sanagans are allowed, otherwise the deputies will come and straighten you out."
"What do you mean by wasteland sanagans?" Slowtrot asked.
"Chem use, fighting, harassment of the staff, and otherwise being an obnoxious pain in everypony's ass," she explained. "Not that other places tolerate such things, but here in the center of town you are not just going to get let off with just a bloody nose."
Looking around along the main street, I saw several small stalls set up between the larger buildings. Each selling random trinkets and other odds and ends.
The larger building on the other street corner was a general store with a large sign that read "New Appleloosa Emporium". It seemed that the town's name was a big selling point.
With Star pointing them out, there was also a pharmacy clinic that looked a lot nicer than Jali's free clinic. The town also sported a capital building, a weapons shop, a laundromat, a bank, a barbershop. Not too far off was the sheriff's office with the Jail attached to it.
The rest of the buildings were simply residential housing, most being apartment buildings with a few of the more wealthy residents having full houses to themselves.
Star pointed down the intersection to where the train station was as she added, "That there is the lifeblood of the town. It safely brings in new workers, traveling merchants, and recently tourists. Up until recently, the town mostly got by with the caps brought in from the quarry since it was for an NCR supply point but, thanks to the Lightbringer Festival coming up, things have gotten really busy.”
"I heard this Lightbringer Festival being mentioned before. Is it like the Summer Sun Celebration we used to do?" Slowtrot asked.
She just shrugged. "Don't know what a Summer Sun Celebration is. As for the Lightbringer Festival, it's basically to honor the hero who pulled back the clouds and returned the skies back to Equestria. She went by a few names such as the Stable Dweller, Hell Mare and, of course, as the namesake of this festival, the Lightbringer."
“This town is especially excited, as this place was the first settlement she visited. She helped the town free themselves from the cruel rule of Redeye, or at least that's how the town explains it." Star informed Us.
"And this NCR?" I asked.
"That be the New Canterlot Republic," a chubby earth pony stallion said loudly as he trotted up to us. He was dressed just like deputy Willow, but his clothes seemed to be slightly stained with grease and was one size too small for the stallion. "They are currently the biggest faction here in the wasteland who seek to bring back old pony values, though they mostly just protect their trade routes."
He then reached out his hoof and I reflexively offered mine back.
"The names False Cap,” the chubby pony greeted, “one of the head deputies here in town. And you are?" He asked as he kissed my hoof. He gracelessly let some saliva on my hoof as a result.
I held back on showing my disgust, knowing that this pony likely didn't know any better. I did my best to politely wipe off his saliva using Slowtrot's jacket.
"My name is Harp Melody. A pleasure. Did you say Canterlot? It's good to hear it's still around. My family always worried that our ancestral home was lost to the war. It has been a dream for them to one day return. Maybe I should go and pay the city a visit?"
Both Star and False looked away for a moment.
"About that, Harp," Star spoke up. "when the enclave attacked the wasteland long ago, their first target was to level Canterlot.
“Also, from what ponies have told me, before the city fell, it was a no-mares land, full of unkillable feral ghouls along with a necrotic pink cloud filling the city." She further explained.
I felt myself deflate a little from the explanation. "Well, I never thought I would ever get to leave the Islands, so at least there's that."
"That's the spirit, Miss," False said, with a jolly tone. "and arriving in New Appaloosa at this time is mighty good luck since the festival is soon upon us. I'm sure you're going to enjoy yourself.
“If you need somepony to escort you around, I'm more than happy to do it."
Star stepped between us with a smile that hardly hid her aggression towards the stallion as she said to him, "Thanks for the offer, deputy. I'm sure she will give it plenty of thought. She does have time for it since the festival is not soon upon us."
"Indeed, there is still plenty of time, False agreed. “Well, Miss Harp, if there's anything you need, I'll be around. Just be careful around a mare like her. She tends to attract trouble," He said as he tipped his hat and gave us a friendly smile before trotting away.
"Well wasn't he a nice stallion. Other than that Sherriff, the deputies have been down right pleasant," Slowtrot responded, no hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Star just sighed. "Ya, compared to Ashy, you can say they are pleasant." She then turned to us with a much more honest smile on her face. "If he's free to mingle, it means it's almost time to pick up my daughter. Care to join me?"
We both nodded and began to follow Star. I took one more glance at False Cap as he mingled with the town's ponies, a big smile on his face. He was good at hiding it, but by no means a master. Under all the niceties was something slimy. I didn't know what it was. I had only just met him, but I had a strong feeling that if I was left alone with him, I'd be in danger.
From how Star acted, it was clear she knew exactly what he was up to, but was in no position to call him out.
That did not seem as true in reverse, however, since he openly pointed out Star’s shortcomings.
We trotted a bit further down the main street. It came to a simple but fairly well built building. On the side was a tall sign that depicted a larger than life image of a mare in what looked like she was in stable barding, raising up a pipbuck attached leg that held up the sun. Written on the bottom said, "The Lightbringer Foundation’s School for Bright Foals"
I looked over at Star, feeling a bit concerned. "Is this Lightbringer some sort of religious saint?" I did my best to ask politely.
Star just chuckled. "Sometimes the Lightbringer Foundation seems to act that way, but as far as anypony knows, no, she's simply just a big old hero that did a bunch of heroic deeds."
Bells started ringing from the building. The school's doors flung open. Flooding out was a herd of foals.
From the group, a small pink filly jumped out, attaching herself to Star.
"Mamma!" she yelled as she climbed onto her mother's back.
Bridget had her mother's wavy green mane and green eyes, but on her back were green feathered wings, and on her forelegs were two scaly yellow talons. Strangely of all was two small gold like horns on the filly's head. It both foreign, yet familiar. She also gave off the same warped magic as her mother, but it felt more natural, and light.
"Did you have fun at school my darling?" Star asked with a loving tone.
Bridget grinned widely. "We had to read about how the Lightbringer left her stable, and I did it without making a mistake on my first try."
Star smiled back. "Oh, we got a big filly here, reading without any help now. Maybe you should start reading to me now."
The little filly frownd. "No. I want mamma to read to me. You do it way better!"
"Fine then. Anything you want me to read tonight?" Star asked softly.
"Ummm," Bridget ponderd. "Can you tell me about the time you met the vampire ponies?!"
"I can, but that story isn't in a book," she answered.
Bridget just huffed. "You should make it one mama. Then I can read it in school." She put on a proud looking pose. "Then everypony would know how awesome mama is." Her eyes then drifted to us, then she gasped. "Stable ponies!"
She jumped off her mom with her wings out as she barreled at us, only to be caught by her mother and pulled into a hug. "What did I say about jumping at strangers?"
"But… but their stable ponies!" She whined a little.
Star nodded. "Yes, and I'm currently helping them out. Do you want to join us?"
Bridget nodded excitedly.
"Alright, but behave yourself, or grandmother might not give you cakes," Star warned her daughter.
Bridget gasped for a moment, then calmed down.
"So, where to next, Star?" I asked.
She got up, letting her daughter stand on her own. "I think paying the mayor a visit would be a goodish idea. He should be expecting you by now."
Slowtrot and I nodded. It felt a bit soon, but like so many ponies say, it's better to do it sooner rather than later.
Trait: Good Natured - Harp focused on less combative skills growing up, and more on social skills, as well as constructive skills.
Trait: Small Frame - Due to her small size, she has +1 Agility but your limbs are more easily crippled (25% extra limb damage).
Unique Trait: Blood of Platinum - As a direct descendant of Princess Platinum, Harp has a natural aura of authority and power. It is both magical and social. When performing magical feets, Harp gains a 2x power boost, and has unique dialogue options open to her.
Learned Perk: Intense Training - +1 to Charisma
Learned Perk: Educated - You gain two more skill points every time you advance in level.
“The wasteland was a vast and empty place when I first arrived, where I truly worried about starving, or drying out. When Star Charter started giving out wasteland survival tips, I realized that I had it easy." ~Azure Dice
The town's central office was in need of dusting, just as most of the buildings in town, though was the way it normally was like because everypony was too busy to clean up, such as a board looking secretary that was more interested in painting her hooves than doing any real work.
That secretary has an overly styled mane cut that looked like a beehive, and she also wore obnoxiously red horned glasses with a decorated strap that dangled around the back of her head.
"Hello Karat Gold. Is the Mayor free?" I asked with a smile, hoping she was not going to be a bitch today.
Karat slowly put her hoof polish down, then adjusted her glasses before looking over at me. "Oh, I'm sorry Star, the mayor didn't request for a private meeting today. If he needs help with stress relief, I'm sure he will send a message to your boss."
I took a deep breath to stay calm. It was only a few words, but after years of her bullshit, I really wanted to give her a black eye. It didn't help that she knew she could be a cunt to me, and I couldn't put her in her place.
"I'm sure he would, but that's not what I'm here for." I pointed my hoof back at Slowtrot and Harp. "I'm sure the mayor knows by now that the two stable ponies are awake by now. They're here to see if he can help them get settled in as they don't have anywhere to go yet."
She looked at the two, scrunching her nose a little at Harp, but smiling a bit at Slowtrot. I didn't get Karat's taste in stallions, but then again she had bad tastes in everything. If her husband wasn't such a spinless wuss, I'd feel bad for him.
"Alright, Hon. He should be wrapping up his meeting with Deputies Stop Clock and Willow about now." She then turned on the intercom on her desk. "Mayor Espresso, the two stable ponies from the free clinic are here to see you."
The intercom crackled before the voice if the stallion Espresso spoke through. "Ah good. Deputy Willow told me they’re up. Send them in, they can join us for some coffee."
Karat then pointed at the door behind her. It opened up after she pressed a button. "You can go on now."
My two companions trotted over to the door while I followed, only for Karat to clear her throat at me. "They can. Not you."
I rolled my eyes at her and pointed at the door myself. As a result, Bridget galloped in after the two.
"Oh no! My daughter just galloped in without permission! I guess I’ll just collect her then be on my way."
Not waiting for a response, I trotted off, but this time to find myself blocked by the tall, thin, and gray stallion called Stopped Clock. He looked down at me with his one good eye, the other having been clawed out by a griffin long ago.
"Not staying, Deputy Clock?" I asked.
He looked down at me and scowled. "Got to get back to my patrols. Make sure no raiders are up to anything outside of town. Speaking of which, Star, you've better been keeping your nose clean."
"Far cleaner than False Cap's uniform," I told him.
He nodded and trotted forward. I stepped aside to let him through. "Good, It's bad enough with whom you're already associated with. Give us a good enough reason, and we'll send you to the gallows for the good of the town."
"Oh come on deputy, I accidently set the town on fire once, and you give me the third degree for life!" I huffed back at him. "I get y’all are doing what's good for the town, but have you ever heard about too much of a good thing?"
"Ponies not being as vigilant as us is what led to the rise of the slaver lord Redeye and the suffering of so many for so long." He presented his revolver from under his duster. "So I'll repeat myself, keep your nose clean, or face cold hard justice."
"And may the goddesses be with you too," I said back at him as he trotted off.
I didn't doubt the validity of his threat. I was used to being around overly zealous ponies, and I didn't plan on breaking any of their laws. Not intentionally, at least.
"You are quite a well spoken young mare, Miss Harp," spoke Mayor Espresso, who was a brown and balding earth pony stallion who tried, and failed, to come over his bald spot with his cream white mane. Not far from him was Deputy Willow, looking as friendly as ever.
Harp sipped her coffee, holding the cup with her hooves, and not using her pipbuck spell to hold it like she did with her rifle.
"Well my family worked as administrators back home, so there were expectations for my siblings and I to be held to a higher standard." Harp took another sip, then smiled. "I got to say, this town is quite impressive. It must have been hard work to get it to this point."
Espresso chuckled, clearly flattered. "I won't deny that I've put in a lot of effort turning this town from some backwater stop, into a place ponies look forward to visiting. Getting the Lightbringer Festival to be held here took a lot of string pulling. It should help put us more on the map."
He then nodded over at Willow. "It's also thanks to Ashy Oaks and her deputies. Without them to keep everypony safe, there's no way we would have been able to open the quarries. Without the quarries, the town would never have a stable enough income to improve."
Willow scratched the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "Well Ashy figured that we needed a proper base. Can't just wander the wastes hunting slavers forever. Upholding justice in the area just came naturally to us, so we decided to change our goal. That's all."
I trotted over to Bridget who was looking at one of the mayor's books, trying her best to read well above her ability.
"Excuse me,” I interjected. “I’m just here to pick up my daughter."
The mayor just waved me off. "Yes, yes,” he agreed dismissively, then looked at Harp as he said to her “Now miss Harp, I could use an extra assistant. A bright young mare like yourself would be perfect for that role. It should also help you safely get used to life out here. With all those horror stories about stable ponies wandering the wastes, let's not have another one start here."
Harp pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I think that might work out well for me, yes. I accept."
"And me?" Slowtrot raised a hoof.
Espresso paused for a moment, as though he forgot he was even there. "Well can you read, write, or do math?"
Slowtrot raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Can't everypony?"
The mayor chuckled for a moment. "You'd be surprised how many ponies can't do any of that. I can introduce you to a few of our more valued residents. They've been asking for a pony who can help them with the more day to day tasks."
Picking Bridget up, she whined a little, but knew not to bother the mayor.
"Hey you two, if there's any problems you need help with, just ask for me at the free clinic, so don't be a stranger now." I waved at them as I trotted out, the two waving back.
Bridget waited until we were out of the building before speaking, mainly because she didn't like Karat almost as much as I did. "Are they going to be okay, Mamma?"
I ruffled her mane as I answered, "Of course, darling. They’re grown up ponies. They just needed a bit of help. That's all."
Making our way down the market street, I eyed the merchant stalls for any food because I needed to pick up something for dinner tonight. Luckily there seemed to be a lot of corn on the market, and several less than happy mercents sitting around with far lower than average prices. This was really lucky for me since money was still tight even with extra business going on. Being able to stalk up on food was a wait off my back.
Trotting up to one merchant, I put on my best friendly face. "I'll take two, no three dozen ears of corn." Tossing the merchant the caps, they gave me three bundles of corn. "So what's with all the corn?"
The merchant sighed. "A bitch of a farmer had a huge harvest this year, but told no pony. I bought my bundle thinking I could mark up the price, and as you can see, we all had the same damn idea. Bet the bitch laughed her way home.”
I shrugged and turned to head back to the free clinic.
I never ceased to find it funny how New Appleloosa tore down several ruins just to build this part of town, but lacked the coordination to keep all the wood the same when building, making a confused mosaic of brown on the walls and floor.
Still, this place was miles better than most places out in the wastes. Even the decaying beds, at least they only had a few loose springs. It was also sheer luck on my part that I found a mostly intact tarp to cover the hole in the roof, so it will now only leak a little when the rain storms finally come back around.
Inside I saw Jali performing a checkup on a mare friend of mine.
"Hay Star," Bronze Chain greeted weekly. She was a beautiful tan unicorn mare. She was covered in scars. Her long black mane parted only by her broken horn.
"What's up? Not feeling well?" I asked as I trotted over which allowed me to see her unicorn colt, Copper Wire, fiddling with some electronic device next to the bed.
She yawned. "Just haven't been sleeping all that well. Seeing if Jali will give me something to help."
"And I told her in no way am I giving sleeping pills to an alcoholic," Jali said sternly before taking her stepiscop off Bronze's chest. "Other than mild dehydration and a need to eat more, you’re fine. Now if you manage to keep yourself sober for a week, I'll consider giving you a mild sedative."
Bronze nodded and got off the bed. "I'll try."
I trotted over and gave her a hug. "You know you can always stay over with me. I'm sure I can help you get some sleep," I said as I wiggled my eyebrows, hoping she would say yes. Mares were not really my thing, but Bronze and I had grown close over the years, and I did want her to move in with us.
Unfortunately, there was one really big issue with Bronze.
"I'd like that, but you know how Prism feels about me," she said just as my mother trotted in. Bronze looked away.
Prism just sighed. "I said I was sorry Bronze, but I did explicitly tell you to not bring alcohol into our home."
It was an agreement mom and I had made to keep booze and chems as far away from Bridget as possible. It was something Bronze was unable to do so far.
I chuckled as I remembered Prism shaking a scared and upside down Bronze. I then got a dirty look from the two of them.
"Sorry, sorry," I said as I backed away. "Anyways, Mom, can you look after Bridget for me? I’m going to take some of this corn to the gunrunners. Knowing them, they completely forgot to eat anything today." I then placed two bundles of the corn on a nearby bed. "Also we got corn for dinner."
Mom looked over and gave a concerned look. “Thanks, but isn't that a bit much?”
“Naw. The prices are low right now. If we had the caps for it, I’d have gotten more,” I explained. “Also left the two stable ponies with the mayor. Not sure about the stallion, but that… mirage mare… well she’s already got the mayor all greased up, so she will be fine.”
“It’s buttered up Star, not greased.” Prism said with a sigh.
I just shrugged. “Buttered, greased. Whatever. She’s still got the mayor all loose around her. I just hope they get normal work. I’d rather not see them take the late grave digger’s place.”
"Speaking of him, what happened to that creep?” Bronze asked.
“Dead, from what the deputies said. He got attacked by radroaches and fell into a grave he was digging outside the town's proper graveyard. They then jumped in and ate him alive,” I further explained.
A slight smile formed on Bronze face. “Good! He deserved it for how much he made our Cloudy worry."
“Can you not talk about such things with the foals around,” Mom said sternly. “Anyways, don’t you feel sorry for that stallion? He clearly had a rough life. More so than most.”
Bronze looked away, and I shrugged.
“Ya, at first, but there's a limit to everything, even to how much you can pity a pony. At some point enough is enough, and he long passed it.” I then looked around the bed to see Bridget watching Copper Wire take apart one of Jali’s burnt out tools. “Hey Honey, I gotta go. You stay here and be a good filly for grandma, okay?”
“But I want to see grandpa Hardballer too,” she whined.
I smiled. “You know how busy he normally is, but maybe you can join me tomorrow. Right now I’m just going to make sure he's been eating.”
“Alright Mama, but say high to Aunty Javelina. She gets lonely if you don’t,” Bridget encouraged.
Nodding, I ruffled her mane again. “Now play nice with Copper. I’ll be back when I’m done.” She looked up at me and smiled like a good girl.
Turning and trotting to the door, I had to dodged two foals running in. They were a tan pegasus colt named Roger Roger, and dark gray with light gray spot earth pony filly named Light Step. The filly ran past me to join Bridget, while the colt stopped to look at me first.
“Hey Star,” Roger Roger greeted. “Can we use the big radio the followers have in back?”
I looked up at Prism who shook her head.
“Sorry Roger,” I say back to Roger. “Mom says no.”
“Oh, okay.” He said with a frown before trotting off to the other foals to see what Copper was doing.
“Thought ya'd be here. Star.” Rusty Cleave spoke up as she trotted in. “The boss wanted me to tell you that there's a little extra job he would like you to do.”
She was a light green mare with bright red main, and had a thing for spikes, making her look too much like a raider, mostly because the mare was too dumb to not flant her raider heritage. Despite all her raiderish glory, she was a dancer through and through, with a stripper pole as a cutie-mark, and had surprisingly raised her daughter Light Step to be an adorable filly. She was also another close friend of mine.
“Well it better pay well if it’s off the clock,” I grumbled.
She shrugged. “Waterspout didn’t say nothing about pay ta me, but I doubt Head try and cheat ya. Also, thanks for looking out for Light last night. Didn’t think I’d get extra clients.”
“No problem Rusty.” I said as I rolled my eyes. “But did ya think to not work in the brothel? You tend to take on the more aggressive types, and I worry sometimes.”
“It’s good pay, Star, and how else am I going to get my little Light what she wants?” She explained without shame.
I decided to not argue. The mare was clearly set in her ways, and somehow was at least doing right by her daughter.
“Well,” I said, “Just don’t do it too often, Light Step is a sensitive little filly and hates it when her mom doesn't come home.”
Rusty sighed and nodded, so I then trotted out into the crowd.
Making my way to the train station, the crowds diminished as I crossed the tracks. I entered the less clean part of New Appaloosa.
It was not all that bad, yet, as I first had to pass through the secondary market where ponies hocked random junk and other things of mild value. There were also plenty of beggars, some with foals, hoping for a free cap or two, but doing nothing to change their situations. There were also the chem addicts keeping to the shadows as they waited for their supplier to give them their next fix. All of them were kept to this side of the tracks by the sheriff, effectively keeping the town “Clean” in the eyes of any visitors passing through. The mayor put in more of the town's funding to further keep these ponies out of sight using billboards and cheap apartments that obstructed the view of this side of town from the train.
“Hey Miss, want some Dash?” A sleazy stallion asked me. I quickly backed away as I gave him a glare.
“A cap, please Just one so I can feed my foal!” A mare cried out to me, the half dead foal I’d seen before in the hooves of two other mares. I’d do something about it, but there would just be more mares with more starved foals next week. If I didn't ignore it, then I'd likely go mad.
Passing that mess, I trotted through what quickly became the shanty part of town where ponies just built whatever homes they could haphazardly throw together. Their waste was thrown out in front into open trash piles. Here was where the quarry workers lived, though they spent more time breaking rocks than they did living here but, without them, this town would have stayed a small blip on the map.
There were also just a few ponies here, mainly the quarry workers, foles or spouses who were too weak to work in the quarry themselves. They minded their own business, so I minded mine.
Further past the shanty town, there was a wide empty space that separated the Gunrunners compound and the town. They had a deal with the locals. If no pony built too close to them, they didn’t have to bloody any noses.
As I trotted into the reception building, I passed a green mare in a well tailored duster. Her red mane was bundled up in a messy bun. I wouldn't have cared if it weren't for her rear legs being cybernetic. This was something quite rare but not unheard of. She did not pay me any mind as we passed.
At the desk was the oldest son of the compound's owner, a greasy red hippogriff.
“Sup Longslide,” I greeted. “Hungry for some corn, or will you be a cunt?”
He looked at me, and then at my bundle. “You know, if you weren’t the mother of my neice, I’d tell you to go and fuck off right now.” He placed two revolvers into a gun case. “And no, I had some cram this morning.”
"A cunt it is." I placed the bundle of corn onto the reception desk as I gave him a friendly smile. "So where's the old buzzard?"
Longslide pointed to a door on the side. "He's with Javelina inside the schematics room, so keep your voice down." He then turned his attention to several blue sheets of grid paper. They were covered in sketches of the vehicle he had made, but never got to work.
Trotting off, I entered the inner walls of the gunrunners facility that surrounded the factory and several smaller buildings. Along the way, I passed a griffin in a dirty jumpsuit. He ignored me as he puffed on a cigarette. The smell triggered a minor craving in me. I pushed the feeling down. The last thing I needed was Mom and Bridget smelling it and lecturing me about how bad smoking was.
In a corner of the compound was a fortified building where the gunrunners kept their gun schematics. The door was obviously locked. Knocking gently, I waited for a moment before the door clicked, then it opened a crack. The pail pink eye of Hardballer looked at me for a moment as I waved at him.
"What do you want, Star?" Hardballer said quietly as he slowly opened the door. The old and balding griffin looking at me with a sense of annoyance, a feather coming off his dusty red and pink plumage
I trotted in, being mindful to not make too much noise.
"Just saying hi, and letting you know that I dropped off some corn for all of you to eat tonight, twelve ears to be exact," I explain.
Off on the other side of the room was the scrawny young Javelina. She had a clean gray jumpsuit on and big fluffy earmuffs on her head. Javelina was quite focused on assembling a rifle. Every now and then she glanced at a schematic off to her side.
"Also Bridget wanted me to say hi,” I went on. “She didn't want Javelina to feel lonely."
Hardballer's expression softened a little. "She's a good little filly. Well, tell her that her aunt is fine. I've just been going over the basics with her all day."
"Business has been that slow?" I asked jokingly.
He shrugged. "Yes and no. We get enough orders from the Talons and the NCR to keep this place running, but because of that bitch of the sheriff, that's all the regular business we ever get. It also doesn't help that she's been blocking our ability to get new spark batteries for the workshop, so even if we do get more work, most of it is going to be done by claw."
I pointed to a tattered red flag on the wall which depicted a big eye on it. "Maybe you should not be so blatant about the dealing you had with that Redeye pony."
"Maybe Ashy should stop acting like a cunt about the past!" Hardballer grumbled.
“Anyways, the workers under my watch were well treated, and some even continued to work for us even after the NCR took over Fillydelphia." He explained, raising his voice a little.
He got an audible grunt from Javelina to tell him to quiet down.
I sighed. "Still, if you keep this up, I'm worried that Ashy will just shoot you one of these days. Bridget loves you, and I rather you stick around until she has foals of her own."
Hardballer gave a very small smile, making me worry he would crack his beak from doing something he almost never did. "Thanks, but even if I did hide all this away, it's not going to change her feelings. You can see it in her eyes. She's still stuck in the past as an angry and beaten slave, starving for retribution." He then looked back at Javelina. "Now if you would, Javelina needs to concentrate, otherwise she is going to get overstimulated."
I nodded then trotted back outside. "I'll bring Bridget around tomorrow, so make sure you eat regularly. You get even cranker if you don't eat."
He nodded in agreement then slowly closed the door.
Making my way out, I didn't bother Longslide as he tapped his grid paper with a chewed up pencil.
My next stop was not too far away. I just needed to skert along the edge of town. Before long I entered a well constructed building poked up from the edge of the slums. It was a two story high tavern. It had a tall billboard depicting a frilly dancing pegasus mare in front of a pole. Inscribed along the side in bold letters was "Ruffled Feathers". It stuck out like a clean patch of fur on a ghoul.
Out in front of the tavern was a mare in patchwork overalls who stepped away some garbage. "Hey Star. A bit early?" She asked
I shook my head. "Waterspout wants me to do something, so I'm here to get paid."
She nodded as she got out of my way. "Well just wipe your hooves before going inside. I just finished mopping and don't want to mop again."
Nodding, I entered, making sure to wipe the dust and mud off my hooves on a mat before going further inside.
The tavern was mostly empty of customers. Most of the patron's not working at this time were rarely coming to this side of town, so there was just a hoof full of wastlanders at the bar.
The cleaning crew, on the other hoof, were in full force. They were busy getting rid of any mess left the night before as they chatted among each other.
One mare, in full cleaning uniform, pretended to dance on the stripper pole in the middle of the tavern.
The owner of this establishment was behind the bar cleaning a glass, looking far fancier than he should for this side of town.
Waterspout looked over at me, motioning with his head for me to come over. Trotting over and sitting at the bar, he poured me some clear liquid into a glass and passed it to me. Sipping on it, I quickly became disappointed. "It's water!"
"And water is still not free yet, so don't complain Star." He said as he poured himself some water.
Waterspout was an older teal blue hippogriff. A real one, and not a hybrid like Longslide, Javelina, and Bridget were.
"And thanks for showing up," he said.
I gulped down the water. It was at least crisp and refreshing.
"So what's the job?" I asked. “And tell me it's something quick. I rather not miss dinner with my daughter."
He sipped on his glass of water. "No worry. I just need you to convince a pony to pay their tab. That's all."
Finishing off my glass of water, I groaned. "Seriously, Waterspout, I got the deputies watching me like a hawk since the gravedigger died, all because I'm the last one to see him alive."
Waterspout put his glass down. "I'm not telling you to beat the shit out of him, just to talk to him. Remind him that if he wants to drink here, he needs to pay up. If he pays, then you get a cut. Sounds good?"
I pushed my used glass to him. "Alright, I'll do it. I'll talk with this stallion."
He smiled and took the glass.
"So who's this stallion?" I asked.
Still smiling, Waterspout passed me a slip of paper that had directions. "You should know him, Pothole. He’s the stallion who likes our cubby mares and has a big hoof fetish."
"You mean the one who likes being stepped on?" I said cringing. "Sometimes I really hate the ponies in this town."
"Hate it or not, they pay us the caps we need to live here." He said as he trotted off to tend to a customer who just finished their drink.
I got away from the bar, making my way out of the tavern. I patted the note in the pocket of my saddlebag to make sure it was still there
Navigating to the outskirts wasn't too hard, but required more guesswork than I liked to. I found the right ally of scraped busses turned pony homes. This ally had quite a few ponies hanging around. Many of them a mix of drunk or high, but overall just not doing anything. Some of them eyed me with a hungry glare. The ones who knew better looked away and minded their own business.
"I'm looking for Pothole. Heard he's around," I called out.
Several more ponies looked away. Some chuckled. One scrawny dark gray earth pony stallion looked me in the eyes. It lasted for a moment before he stumbled up, knocking over a mostly empty bottle of booze.
"Wh...who'sh asking?" he slurred, stumbling closer.
I trotted up to him. I noticed the smell of cheap booze was thick on him and had an odd chemical smell to it.
"Alright, Pothole. You seriously need to pay your tab back at Ruffled Feathers. Waterspout is getting a bit impatient about it," I explained politely.
He raised an eyebrow at me and chuckled. "Ah yes, the tab. Tell ‘em I ain't got ta caps. He's just gonna have ta eat ya loss."
Sighing, I got a bit firmer in tone. "By impatient, I mean he told me to get you to pay, and that's cutting into my time. Time I would rather not spend here."
Pothole chuckled louder, poking me in the chest with his hoof. "And what if I say no? Ya ain't gonna do shit. Not with ta deputies still up ya ass."
He then got in my face. His putrid breath assaulting my nose. "Now fuck off like a good whore."
He stared me down. I unflinching matched his gaze. It had become a simple thing. Just as a part of me as breathing was, there was a dark magic in my eyes. All I had to do was considerate a little on it, and I had Pothole trapped in my gaze, paralized. Then I trinkle in thought of what I wanted to do to him to put worry on his face. To him, what I was imagining was what he was seeing and experiencing. It lasted for only a moment, nothing extreme, but in his inebriated state it must have been hallucination something quite frightening. Letting him go, Pothole stumbled back and pissed himself, garnering laughter from the ponies watching.
I took a step forward. He flinched.
"If ya have the fucking caps to get plastered, ya have the fucking caps to pay your goddesses damn tab, so get ta dick out of your ass and take care of it. Do you understand?" I chastised the drunk.
"Y… yes. I'll do it," he stammered. "But t...tell Waterspout t..to give me a week. Caps been tight."
"Tight? Ain't ya working for the quarry?" I annoyingly asked.
"Up until recently," another stallion spoke up from his window. "The east quarry got a contract with the NCR, and now the cunts are using prison labor from the NCR Correctional Facility to break rocks. The other quarries have lowered wages to fit in more workers, so everypony is hurting."
This time I raised an eyebrow. "Right. I heard something about that, but then how ya getting all this booze and chems?"
The stallion then tipped a dirty bottle at me. "A new merchant caravan came in from out west over a week ago, Blue Skies, they’re called. They sell this shit cheap. It's shit, but cheap booze is cheap booze."
I shook my head and turned my attention back to Pothole who was already crawling away. "I'll tell Waterspout ya will pay in a week, so don't go making me look like a fool, or ya will owe me more than just a bunch of caps."
He nodded as he retreated into his rusty shithole excuse of a home.
Satisfied, I returned to the Ruffled Feathers to let Waterspout know on the agreed payment time. The boss was hoping to see the caps sooner, but a week's wait was good enough. Free from any more obligations until I had to return later tonight for work, I made my way back to the town's free clinic.
On one end of the clinic were four foals were playing with whatever Copper Wire had made from the dismantled electronics. Their mothers were nowhere to be seen. Prism was on the other end, re-applying bandages to a burnt ghoul. He still tight lipped to whoever set him on fire, not that it was any of my business.
A nearby radio played a sorrowful song in much the same way as Sweetie Belle. It backed up with an old world brass band. The singer was a pony I knew well, but had not seen in a long time.
I listened intently to the song. It expertly finished in a way that made me want to hear more. If I could, I'd take over the radio airways to play more of it. More ponies needed to know her greatness.
The music crackled to a stop. The deep voice of DJ Pon3 annoyingly took over.
"Good evening Equestria. That was Victoria Rosary singing, ‘Somewhere Over the Sea’, and I speak for everypony when I say that her voice gives me goosebumps with how much it sounds like Sweetie Bell."
“Now, if you are interested in seeing her live, she will be performing at New Appaloosa for the Lightbringer Festival. They will be selling tickets for the event, so don't expect to see her for free unless you bring a good set of binoculars."
“Now for the news…"
I turned off the radio and sighed.
"You do know I don't approve, right?" Prism said as she trotted over, concern on her face.
"You have told me this plenty of times now," I answered.
"Because I worry. I really do." She said as she then turned the radio back on, keeping the volume low.
"Nothing good will come with you two meeting," my mother insists.
I rolled my eyes. "She's a pop idol, Mom. From what I heard, she's too busy to do much of anything but her job."
Prism looked away and sighed. "I don't know, Star. I spend the first few years worrying about her showing up to take you back. That blood drenched and devious young mare, with what she did to you, giving you those eyes. I can't see anything else than a villain from the old stories."
"And you're wrong!" I quietly snapped at her. "Before you came, she was the one who protected me. She made me strong!"
"Let’s not do this here, Star." Prism objected as she turned up the radio's volume. "If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, but please just be careful if you do see her. My heart won't be able to handle losing you or Bridget."
Her words cooled me off a little. "Sorry Mom, and you're right. Somepony like her has bigger dreams than a pop idol. Anyways, she's likely going to be too busy to make time for a pony like me, and we’re too poor to waste caps on a concert."
Prism lightly chuckled and smiled. "Well I got to finish helping our patient over there, so could you keep an eye on the foals for me?"
I nodded then I trotted over to the foals. Bridget was more than happy to see me return.
Trait: Kamikaze - Star Charter acts fast and recklessly when in conflict, often the first to attack, even when taken by surprise. Because of her reckless nature, she rarely gets out unscratched, having -2 damage threshold.
Trait: Hot Blooded - Star has a +15% damage increase but a -2 to Perception and Agility when health is below 50%
Unique trait: Evil Eye’s Corruption - Star possesses the evil eye, which gives her a terrifying presses ability that paralized whoever she makes eye contact when active. This ability causes -1 HP damage to Star per second along with a bleeding eye effect that does -2 to her charisma for an hour. This trait also gives her a passive regeneration of +1 HP every four seconds, but this healing is taken from her hunger stats, and if hunger falls below %25, Star will fall into a feral like state and seek out any source of food to eat, be it snack cakes, or another pony. Unique dialogue options open to her.
Developed Perk: Canterlot Gourmay - her discerning palette allows you to gain more health benefits from food and drink and resist substance addiction.
Developed Perk: Foal at Heart - Opens up dialog options with young fouls and other young creatures.
"From how Slowtrot explained it, not long after the ministries had been established, all but the smallest medical clinics had been taken over by the Ministry of Peace, and brought to their standards. Because of that, about anything used for medical purposes had the M.o.P. stamp on it, further explaining why the M.o.P. symbols were everywhere." ~ Azure Dice
"So hows this, ya dig it?" Two mirrors were levitated around me so that I could see the front and back of my mane. The unicorn stallion holding them had a proud smile on his face. I moved my head around a bit. With bangs still kind of long but no longer taking over my face whenever I look even a little bit down. I also had the beard cut as I was never a fan of having facial hair, but the barber convinced me to at least keep a goatee.
"Real nice! I wish I could give you a tip." I complimented the barber.
He nodded. "It's cool. It's cool. The mayor already sent payment over so you're all good." He then stuck a lollipop in his mouth. The stick looked much like a cigarette. That, along with his black leather jacket and slick back mane, was what made him look like a delinquent from the older films. He even acted like one.
"But if you can, tell the square of a mayor that I'm not a 'mane dresser'. I'm a barber. There's a difference. I got a reputation to uphold. Ya dig?"
I got out of the seat and shook his hoof.
"I dig," I answer.
It was a bit funny. Despite the tough stallion act he put on, I got a feeling he was a real nice pony.
Waving goodbye, I trotted back out into town where I was greeted by the mayor's secretary. She was quickly patting some powder on her cheeks.
"Oh, hello, Slowtrot,” she greeted me. “You're looking even better."
Miss Karat fluttered her eyes a bit at me, making her attempts at flirting as loud as possible, which made me a bit uncomfortable. She wasn't a bad looking mare, but I neither call her cute or pretty, though it was a bit hard to tell under all that makeup. I did feel a bit flattered, but any feeling of it was spoiled by the fact that she already had a stallion. I was not about to get involved in an affair. I had only just woken up over 200 years in the future.
"Thanks. I feel better, so where am I going?" I asked, trying to keep my time with Karat as short as possible.
She pulled out a clipboard. "Right. Doctor Quacksalver has a request for an assistant. With how much caps he brings to the town, the mayor decided he should be the first to get some assistance."
I raised an eyebrow as I asked, "Don't I need qualifications to assist a doctor?"
Karat chuckled. "Don't worry! The dock will provide you with the quills and any fi… ficatat… tool you might need."
Scratching my chin, I felt a bit confused, but she likely knew what she was talking about, or at least I think she did. "Alright. Take me to this doc."
Karat took me a bit closer to the town center, where she stopped in front of a tall but thin building practically wedged in between two shorter buildings. "Doctor Quacksalver clinic" a tall billboard said. It depicts the medical cross inside a bottle next to a smiling stallion at the top. Inside the building was the same dry mismatched wooden panels that seemed popular in this town. On one side of the narrow building, under some stairs, sat a few older ponies on a less than comfortable looking bench.
"Just follow me, Mister Slowtrot." Karat instructed me as she trotte over to the back of the building. I followed.
"Doctor Quack,” Miss Karat introduced, “the stable pony is here to help you."
Trotting into the back, I had stepped into what I could clearly recognize as a doctor’s office. It was very clean, white, and had a bunch of medical posters all over. There were also a bunch of odd things such as snakes in jars, brown dry plants in jars, different colored liquids in jars, and well… lots of jars with odd stuff in them.
Sitting on a very clean bed was an older mare that was being looked at by the doctor. He was doing the same kind of examination as Jali did, but he didn't seem to be paying all that much attention to what he was doing.
The doctor himself was a light gray unicorn stallion with a coamed back charcoal black mane, a very sharp well groomed beard, and in a pure white lab coat over a checkered suit.
Quacksalver puffed on his cigarette and then flicked it into a quite full ashtray before greeting the mare. "Karat, darling, thank you so much for bringing him here. I've just been so busy lately. I couldn't go find him myself."
"Oh, you know me. Always here to help," Karat said in a sickly happy tone. "So what are you doing later tonight?"
"Busy,” Quacksalver answers, “but with help, I might be able to join the dance tonight."
The dock then pulled out a pack of cigarettes, passing a stick to Karat. "Will you be there, darling Karat?" He asked as he put another cigarette into his muzzle then produced a lighter.
"Have I ever missed a social get together before?" She chuckled as she leaned in to let her cigarette be lit by Quacksalver.
The doctor smiled, letting some smoke leave his muzzle. "Well be sure to save a spot for me."
The two shared another chuckle before Karat turned around to leave. She gave one of us a wink before stepping outside.
Quacksalver pulled out a chair for me before turning back to his patients. "Your wife is quite lively, doc," I said. In response, he nervously coughed for a moment. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," he said as he put out his cigarette then motioned for the patient to leave the room. "Karat's not my wife. We’re… just close friends." Quacksalver then hopped onto the bed and looked at me with a smile. "Now I asked the mayor for some pony who can read. Please tell me you can read."
"Yes. I have a standard equestrian education. Doesn't everypony?" I asked flatly.
Quacksalver sighed. "Not everypony is a stable pony, but that aside, I'm going to need you to follow some instructions I have written down." He then picked up a clipboard from a nearby desk then passed it to me. "This has the names of my patients and what medicine they require. Also, on the fourth and fifth page is a list of symptoms, what you are allowed to give them for it, and how much it costs for that medicine. You can do that right?"
I looked at the clipboard. There were several yellow and worn out papers. The first three had a list of names with more information next to it. Basically, I was working as a pharmacist clerk. It was something I have done once before so I understood what he was asking me to do. "No problem, but where's the medicine?"
He smiled and pointed over to a well polished but still very old looking dresser. "I have everything perfectly organized in there with number one being the top drawer, two being the middle, and three on the bottom. Any letter after that number is the medicine in that drawer."
I looked at the paper. I saw what he was talking about; 2C, 1A, 1D, 3B, and so on. "Alright, easy enough to do. It’s almost too easy."
"You say that, but my last assistant didn't know what the letter "B" was. He also took some of the medicine whenever he got nervous. He was always nervous."
Quacksalver pulled out another cigarette and lit it.
"Also,” he went on, “I got a safe box in the corner for you to put the caps in." He pointed at what looked like a mailbox, then passed me a cigarette. "Now tell me about yourself. Anything might need to know?"
"Well I never picked up smoking as a habit, but thanks," I said as I turned down the cigarette. "I don't have anything in the way of health problems, though I just recently recovered from a defective pipbic injury."
"Pipbuck injury? How did that happen? Did you get clocked on the head?" he asked, looking a bit amused.
I shrugged. "Don't think Stable-Tec would like me talking about it, but I accidentally got a military pipbuck, and it had a nasty failsafe in it. That's how my luck goes."
He also shrugged. "Odd, but I've heard of stranger things happening."
"You have no idea, but at least this new pipbuck I have is a lot safer. I can do some intriguing things with it." I announce while presenting my pipbuck.
Quacksalver didn't look all that interested, looking down at a watch on his fenlock, it seemed cracked, but I couldn't get a good look at it. "Shoot, I got to run, I have a lot of paperwork to get through, and medicine to make upstairs, if you need anything, just knock on my door. Now do you got this?"
I looked down at the clipboard then back at the doctor. "Check to see if a patient's names are on the list. Give them their medicine in exchange for caps. If their names are not on the list, check symptoms and sell them the listed medication."
A big smile was on Quacksalver's face. "That's perfect? If you do a good job at this, then I can see you doing very well for yourself here." Hopping off the bed, Doctor Quacksalver trotted over and up the stairs, vanishing from sight beyond.
Left alone in the steiral room, it took me a moment to really let it sink in that I was back to working, despite it being over two hundred years in the future. Looking over at the front of the building, several older ponies were poking their heads out from behind the stairs.
"Uhh… I can help anypony who's next!" I offer.
The first was an old mare. She was the one Quacksalver was looking at when I had come in. She let me know her name. Since her name was on the list, I quickly went and got her pills.
"About ma back pain, the doctor said he got something to help with it?" the old mare asked hopefully.
"Lower or upper back pain?" I checked.
The old mare raised an eyebrow. "Well… lower ah think, but I do have a few akes where my battle saddle once went long ago, and now tat I think about it, ma neck has been sore too."
"So just the normal pains we all have to deal with some day." I flipped to page four, finding such things as hip pain, back pain, dizziness, vapors, dry mouth, but nothing about lower back. Page five was the same with little to nothing specific. I could only guess this was just a general aid, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was a bit too basic. "Right, I can get you something for your back for one-hundred caps, and neck for another fifty caps."
She grumbled for a moment, and pulled out a bag of caps. "If his medicine didn't work, I think you were triyin to rob me."
Counting the caps took a bit of time, but all together I had one-hundred and fifty caps. I deposited them in the safe box before I went to fetch her medication. Inside were rows of small glass jars, each in separate sections that were labeled. They are all very organized. Even the jars had the number and letter painted on them. Labels, other than the corresponding letter to help identify them. There were also proper words on the labels. One was "med-x infused xander root" another was "buck and broc blend" both sounded legit, but there was one that was labeled "viper oil extract" another "dride radscorpion venom powder" both I couldn't wrap my head around.
FIguring that the doctor knew better than I did, I picked up the pills then passed them to the old mare who quickly snached her medication and trotted off.
The next few ponies were more of the same, I found their names, saw if they needed anything else, accepted payment, and then they got their pills. The process was fairly quick with most of them, but significantly slowed down when a pony whose name was not on the list, though it just consisted of me listening to them for several minutes before seeing how much caps they had and what pain they felt more severe.
"Well, it turns out that yes, a radscorpion can still sting you even after you kill it. And that's how ma leg got fucked up. I mean, it got better, but healing potions can't get back the part of your body that melted off." An older stallion told me as he showed the dent in one of his legs. "Also, as it turns out, using healing potions when you got a broken bone poking ta wrong way is an invitation for a world of hurt. My brother learned tat ta hard way."
I passed him his pills. "I'll try to remember that the next time I see a… radscorpion you called it?"
"Right, big en black bitches." He said with a laugh, then trotted away.
"Next" I shouted. A very thin mare trotted in, black bags under her somewhat yellow eyes. She sat on the bed, and I looked down at my clipboard. "Name, and I'll see if you're on the list."
"Rhu… Rhubarb, I'm here for my sleeping pills." she said.
I cocked an eyebrow since she clearly needed more than sleeping pills. "Is that all?" I asked as I looked for her name.
"Ye… yes, the doctor just says that's all I need, but lately I've been having more trouble sleeping." she answered.
Finding her name, I let her know how much it will cost then fetched her medication.
"You know, if I had one of Lifebeats super healing potions, that would definitely help you get some sleep. The stuff knocked me out when I took it." I commented.
Rhubarb passed me the caps and took the medication. "Where would I find this pony?"
I thought about it for a moment, then sighed as I remembered. "Sorry, He died a long time ago, though Jali reminds me a lot of him. Maybe she can help you."
The mare's face scrunched up like she smelled something really foul. "I rather not let that thing touch me," she said, then got off the bed and quickly trotted off.
I felt it was more than harsh to call Jali a "thing" just because she was a zebra, though I remember harsher words being used back home.
Shrugging, I looked down at my pipbuck, flipping through some of the files left for me by the R&D staff. There was nothing major. Just little things that they thought would be a useful goodbye gift. A recipe for a cake that needed no dairy, how to make both the green nutrition soda and the glowing energy soda, gun maintenance and how to make my own gunpowder, and Lifebeats recipe for a super healing potion.
Selecting the healing potion, there was a note above the instructions. "I hope you find this useful, Slowtrot. You never know when you need a healing potion. Sometimes you need something even more substantial. I accidentally created this when trying to make a potion to cure addiction, so a happy accident. The potion itself is not actually any more powerful than a normal healing potion. It’ll stitch up injuries like any other potion, so please set any bones first before use.
“What makes it different is that it has a lingering regenerative effect that lasts a day. Twenty hours from my last test on it, where any injury you reserve will stitch itself up in a matter of minutes.
“Unfortunately, it causes major drowsiness for the first few hours and prevents normal healing potions from having any effect, do keep that in mind before use."
Peering at the instructions, it looked like it belonged in a cookbook, or at least that's what it looked like to me. I didn't understand some of the words on my pipbuck screen.
"Excuse me," a mare spoke up, taking my attention away from my pipbuck.
She was a grayish brown earth pony mare who looked healthy, but also very wethered, as though she spent her life trotting outside. Next to her was a small colt who looked far less healthy, but also far less worn down.
"Are you Doctor Quacksalver?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, I'm Slowtrot. I sell the medication. Do you need some?"
"I don't know," she admitted as she looked down at her colt, then back up at me. "My son has been sick for a spell and has not gotten better despite what I do. A pony told me that New Appleloosa has a good doctor, so we took the train here to see him. Do you know when he will be available?"
I nodded slowly. "I can go and get him. Just sit your colt on the bed."
"Thank you," she said as I trotted to and up the stairs.
The upstairs walls had several paintings and photographs of Quacksalver. It was also far less dusty up here. The floor actually looked polished.
Trotting to his door, I knocked. There was a bit of rustling before I heard hoofsteps come near. "What is it? I'm busy." Quacksalver said from the other side.
"There's a mare and colt downstairs. The colt is sick. They need you to look at him," I informed the doctor.
An audible groan came from the other side of the door. "Just find out the brats symptoms and give him the right medication. It's not hard to understand!"
"Alright," I said, sighing. I made my way back downstairs.
The colt was on the bed, being comforted by his mother. "The doctor said I can sell you medication. I just need to know his symptoms."
She looked at me, then at her colt, and then back to me. "Alright. It started a month ago where he started losing weight despite giving some of my own food. He also frequently has diarrhea and pain in his belly."
I nodded, finding diarrhea and stomach pain on the list, but nothing for his weight loss. "It's going to be 200 caps for the medication."
She pulled out a bag and placed some dirty caps onto the bed. "It's most of what I own. Are you sure this will help my son?"
"Can't say. I'm not a doctor." I answered as I looked in the drawer. For the stomach pain was some med-x buck pill blend, and for diarrhea it just said viper oil extract… closing the drawer, I turned to the mare. "You know what? I think your son does need to see the doctor. I'll be right back."
Trotting back up the stairs, I once again knocked on Quacksalver's door. "What is it now?" He said through the door, sounding very irritated.
I took a deep breath. "Sorry for bothering you Doctor Quacksalver, but I think the foal needs to be seen by you. I don't think the pills will be enough."
"Nonsense!." He said with an annoyed shout. "Just sell them these pills and send them on their way."
"Are you sure you can't take a look? The foal looks very ill." I said.
There was a pause, then a sigh before he spoke again."An examination cost three-hundred caps. Go see if they have enough to pay, then I'll come down to look at the brat."
I felt a lump in my throat, of which I forced it down with a swallow before speaking. "Docter, they barely have enough for their medication. I don't think they can afford to pay three-hundred caps."
The door then swung open. Quacksalver stood in front of it, his mane dishevelled. He had some white powder under his nose.
"Look, Slowtrot was it? I get that I'm here to help, but I can't do charity work. That's how you go out of business. If they can barely pay for medication, then an examination will drain them dry, and then they can't buy the medication. Sounds bad, right? So just sell them the pills. That's your job. That's all you are meant to do.
“Now fuck off and make me the caps." He then clapped his hooved two times. "Chop chop!"
Behind Quacksalver, I could see a somewhat messy room. He had a bit of a nice bed, but it also what looked like a small laboratory that had lines of white powder on it. Needles and inhalers were scattered on the lab table along with lots of M.o.M. pill bottles. It looked a lot like a scene from a propaganda film about the dangers of chem abuses and how to spot a zebra sympathizing chem dealer.
Not wanting to stir up trouble, I chose to ignore whatever Quacksalver was doing in there.
"Alright boss. You got it." I said with the enthusiasm and tone of a veteran of the equestrian retail workforce.
He smiled and shut the door.
Returning downstairs, the mare was now playing with her sickly foal, likely trying to not worry her little colt by being calm herself. She looked at me, her face hard, but eyes had some hope in them. "So, is the doctor coming down?"
"He said it will cost three-hundred caps for an examination." The words put a bad taste in my mouth, and the hope in her eyes faded, seemingly losing its color.
"Let me get you the pills," I decide.
Going over to the drawers, I reached out to open one, but then stopped and looked at my pipbuck. I had been reading Doctor Lifebeats note just a moment ago, and hadn't remembered something very important left with me. My pipbuck had a medical scanner spell built into it!
Again, I stepped away from the drawers then tapped through my pipbuck, trying to find the spell.
Sadly, unlike the notes left for me, I couldn't find anything involving spells.
"It would be so much easier if I could just tell it what to do…" I face hoofed, again remembering another thing this pipbuck could do.
"Right, was it steel… no it was Iron, I think, Iron stall… no buck, Iron Buck."
The pipbuck gave off a soft beep.
"Yes. Iron Buck, pull up the medical scanner spell."
The pipbuck beeped again. The screen flickers before showing me a cartoonish image of a pony. Turning to the mare and her colt, it gave them a warm smile.
"Actually I got something that might help." I said as I presented my pipbuck to them.
She raised an eyebrow. "That's a… pipbuck right? What can it do to help?"
I trotted over to them and held the pipbuck between me and the colt.
"Well, this one is a pipbuck 3200, so it’s got a lot of extra cool stuff in it. One of them being a spell that can tell me the heath of another pony."
An hourglass appears over the cartoon pony, indicating that the spell was working. After a couple of seconds, data started to appear. The cartoon pony's image got thinner. It looked unwell. More importantly was that the ailments were now being shown.
"Here. You can see what's wrong with your foal."
The mare looked at my pipbuck screen, squinting her eyes, then she said, "Sorry. All I see is an odd looking pony and gibberish." She then looked dejected. "I mean, I can't read."
I sighed, remembering that doctor Quacksalver did mention that a lot of the ponies around here were illiterate.
"It's fine. I'll read it off for you."
Looking over the ailments, there was one that stood out and made me cringe inside.
"I think this might be the issue. It says that your son had a parasite, a tapeworm to be exact." I explained.
What color the mare still had drain from her face. Tears began to form.
"It's okay. Now that we know what is wrong with him, we can make him better." I did my best to keep her calm.
Looking over Quacksalver's notes, there was nothing for parasites, so I turned back to my pipbuck.
"Iron Buck, show me cures for tapeworms."
The pipbuck beeped, and the screen changed to several lines of text.
"Wow, that actually worked!" I cheered.
On the screen was a list of several medications that I had a feeling we're not going to be easy to find, but on the bottom was one line listed as 'zebra herbal cure' with the rest of the line listing words I didn't quite understand.
Still, it was good news.
Great news, now that I think about it.
"Alright, I may not be able to do more, but I think I know where you can go for help." I said with a smile.
The mare sniffled as she regained her composure. "Where? Please tell me?"
"Right. Among the cures listed, one is called a zebra cure. Luckily there's a free clinic down the road from here that's run by a wartime zebra ghoul. If anypony knows a cure for tapeworms, she should," I informed the mare.
It was like the color returned to her. She somehow looked a rust color, with amber eyes, and not all gray.
"Oh thank you!” she exclaimed gratefully. “I'll go see her right away."
She quickly scooped up her foal and trotted out of the clinic, leaving the door open as she disappeared from view.
I couldn't help but feel proud in helping a pony in need. I quietly hoped that Jali would be able to take care of the rest.
Looking down at my pipbuck, I was still not sure if the last few days were just a fevered dream. Tomorrow I'll just wake up in my apartment with a vague recollection of this dream.
Still, real or not, this pipbuck has given me the opportunity to do some good.
"Next!" I called out, and another older pony trotted in.
Things went by a bit slower now, using the pipbucks scanner to see what their health was, along with taking names and asking questions. My pipbuck was not able to tell me everything about the ponies heath. A few times putting up a big "unknown" for why they were unwell, but it was able to detect the easily fixable problems. Minor radiation poisoning, known illnesses, and parasites were disturbingly common, making me wonder what was in their water. A few ponies suffered from cancer, or chronic illness. One my pipbuck just said "mutation", all of which I could not help. I sold them Quacksalver's pills.
For most of the patients, once I knew what was wrong with them, I directed them to the free clinic after giving them a note to what was wrong with them. There was medicine here, but they were just for treating symptoms, not for healing them.
As time went on, I sold less and less of the pills here. Before long the patient's arrival slowed to a stop, allowing me to rest.
The sound of hooves on creaky wood came from above. Quacksalver descended the stairs. He looked clean and well groomed.
"Oh, you're all done? Good. Lately more and more ponies have been showing up. I've just been falling behind on my other work." He levitated out a jar of pills. They were the same chocky white as all the others.
"This one here uses the miracle of micro vitamins,” Quackslver explains. “It took me a long time to get it just right but, with it, a ponies blood flow will increase, thereby helping them to gain better focus and help break down black blood."
"What’s black blood?" I asked.
Quacksalver shook his head and sighed. "I could explain it, but without a medical education like mine, you're not going to understand it." He passed me the jar of pills. "But trust me, it's a common ailment out in the wasteland. It’s hard to detect. It’s fatal if left untreated. Ponies from all around would come to me to cure themselves of the black blood. It will be good business for the town, I'll tell you what."
Looking at the pills, they just didn't look any different from his others. Then again, I am no doctor.
"Black blood does sound terrible,” I agreed. “Maybe that was one of the unknown illnesses my pipbuck scanned."
"Scanned?" Quacksalver looked at me with a cocked eyebrow.
"Oh yes. Doctor Lifebeat had made a medical scanner spell built into the 3200. With it, a pony can see the heath of another pony through the pipbuck just like they can see their own." I presented the pipbuck screen to the doctor, showing my own heath on it. "It was a big help with most of your patients. It turns out most of them didn't even need your pills."
"Wait! You did what?!" The doctor sounded confused. "Why?"
"Well remember that foal here earlier? Since you were unable to help them, I decided to try my pipbuck. Turns out he could be helped, but not here, so I sent them to the free clinic, as Jali might know how." I told him
Quacksalver then looked a bit uncomfortable. "You said patients. How many did you use that thing on?"
"I don't know." I said scratching my chin. "At first I waited for them to tell me about a new symptom, but then it just became easier to just scan them as we talked."
"And how much medicine did you sell as you did this?" He then asked.
"Well, at first I sold the normal amount, but turns out that a lot of them just needed radaway and some rest." I again answered . "Also, your medicine might have been made improperly. Maybe some pony sold you a bad batch."
Quacksalver took a deep breath as his eyes shifted around. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"
Nodding, I lifted up the jar of pills in my pipbuck hoof. "Iron Buck, scan medication." The pills then levitated for a few seconds. My screen flickered. Text then scrolled up showing me the ingredients. It is a lot of words long and hard to say, but also with shorter descriptions next to it.
"Right. From what I can see, this stuff is 50% sugar, 20% steroid buck, 20% stimulant mint-al, and 10% multivitamins, I think. A bit odd that half is sugar, and nearly the rest is chems. You sure this will help ponies?"
The jar of pills were snatched off my hoof. Quacksalver quickly put them back in his lab coat.
"Mister Slowtrot, like I said, you need a medical education like myself to understand how this all works." He started tapping a hoof on the ground, looking me in the eyes as if I did something wrong.
"That scanning spell you have... yes that thing, it… it may work as you say, but without the right education… yes without being educated on what is what, you could have hurt somepony. I mean what are you going to trust, some robot, or me, a real doctor? “Frankly, what you did was irresponsible. I am disappointed in you."
What he said did make sense. I certainly wasn't a doctor, but I went about telling ponies medical advice that I got from a machine. "Oh… Shoot. I overstepped here. I’m sorry."
"Yes, you did, and cost me a lot of caps. Now I'm going to need to figure out how to fix this, so you should take a walk." He huffed.
"So, does that mean I'm fired?" I had to ask.
Quacksalver looked at me, then down at my pipbuck. Here his eyes narrowed for a few seconds before looking back at me. "That pipbuck, with it around, you will be too tempted to use it again, and I can't have that. Unless you are willing to get rid of it, then yes, you're fired."
I nodded and said. "I'll give it some thought."
I turned and left the clinic.
New Appleloosa was just as busy as ever. The sun high in the sky, a bit passed noon.
Looking about, I was unsure what to do. Maybe return to the mayor,? Maybe ask around?
I couldn't help but feel stupid. I found myself once again looking for work.
No matter how things changed, everything was still the same.
"Excuse me!" A pony yelled before colliding with me. Metal scrap fell all over from to overly filled crates, and the two of us fell to the ground.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said as I quickly scooped up the scrap then dropped them into one of the crates.
"No worry. I overestimated how much I can carry." He said, waving from behind a crate on his fenlock was a pipbuck. "Say, can you help me take this to my workshop?"
Finishing refilling the crate, I then nodded. "Ya. I can help you with that."
Word has gotten around that you're helpful, but misguided. The locals don't think badly of you, but are unlikely to take your advice.
-Followers of the Apocalypse-
They appreciate your willingness to send ponies to where they can get help, along with how to help them. They hope you continue to do this in the future.
-New Appaloosa Down Towners-
Word has spread that you may help them without draining them of all their caps. If this keeps up, then they may think about looking out for you,
"Asking Slowtrot about his ability to make scrap ammo, he explained to me that it was how most working class ponies survived. As most resources went to the war, and everything else was tightly regulated by the Ministry's, if a pony wanted to save their bits, they needed to know how to make useful materials out of junk." ~ Azure Dice
The stallion was a bit younger than I was. He was also thinner than me, and wore a greasy worn out stable barding that had the number "2" on its color. "Just place that crate over in the corner," he instructed me.
His workshop was on the edge of town, and was a bit bigger than the other buildings. One side was filled with scrap metal, scrap wood, and other random junk. The other side had several half-finished signs leaning on the walls and a large cage that has several guns and tools inside. I even spotted several objects that I couldn't recognize that looked more like abstract art projects.
"Thank you. I kind of overestimated how much I could carry." He smiled at me and offered a hoof, of which I took and we shook. "Names Spot Weld. I'm the town's craft pony."
"Slowtrot, the pony that fell through the roof of the free clinic," I responded.
Spot Weld tilted his head for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Oh ya! Some pony mentioned that to me. I spend most of my time here in my workshop, so I don't hear most of the gossip." He then looked up for a moment, and then back at me with a smile. "Truthfully, I don't like going outside. I mean, you get it. That sky, even after all these years, is still hard to get used too."
This time I tilted my head for a moment. "What's wrong with the sky?"
He raised an eyebrow, "You know where we stable ponies come from, right?"
It took me a second to realize that he thought I was born underground "Oh, that's what you're talking about. Sorry. I only spent like a week or so in a stable, though I think Stable-Tec was planning on giving me a stable ticket."
"So then how did you get that pipbuck, and that… is that barding?" he asked.
I looked at the sleeve of my Stable-Tec jacket. "It's a bit of a long story, but long story short, I won a pipbuck that ended up being super defective, spent some time with the R&D staff to fix the problem, and they gave me this stuff as a gift." I lifted up my pipbuck. "This here is the S&R pipbuck 3200. Neat, huh?"
Spot Weld took a closer look at my pipbuck. He brought his own up to compare the two. The frames of the pipbucks were relatively the same. Mine has a small antenna-like protrusion and engraving of my cutie-mark. "So what does 'S&R' mean?"
"Search and rescue," I responded. "It's actually an update of a much earlier model than an update of the three thousand. Its main feature is that the Eyes Forward Sparkle can now tell me if a pony is above or below me, though not with how far. I think the point was to just locate ponies trapped under rubble.”
“Oh, it also can be used to tag friends, though I think they have to have a pipbuck themselves." I added.
He nodded as he looked at my pipbuck. "Amazing. Is there anything else it can do?"
I nodded back. "Well, it has a medical scanning spell that projects the same spell it uses on the user to other ponies. I used it at Doctor Quacksalver's clinic. He was less than pleased due to me not having proper medical training, yet still giving out medical advice." I tapped on the pipbuck a bit more, thus activating my Stable-Tec Arcan Targeting Spell. "Lastly, the S.A.T.S. has an expanded movement spell in it. So, instead of just shooting, I can use it to force my body to run."
"Atomic!" He said with wide eyes. "I could kill to get my hooves on such a device." Pulling back a bit, I cradled my pipbuck, and Spot Weld chuckled. "I kid, but still, if you had another, I'd buy it off you with my cartload of caps… well, the caps I'll have after my projects are done."
Chuckling myself, I scratched my chin. "Actually, now that you mentioned it, I did have another pipbuck with me, a 3100 used by the acting overmare, but I didn't see it in my saddlebags. Maybe I just lost it mid transportation."
Spot Weld shrugged. "It happens. You'd be shocked by how many of our fellow stable dwellers lost their pipbucks after leaving the stable." He then looked over at the cage, tapping his chin. "Say, are you free? I've been needing a pony to assist me in getting a few projects done."
Needing some work and deciding not to mention that Doctor Quacksalver had just kicked me out, so I just nodded and said. "I can help… well depending on what you need help with."
He smiled and trotted over to his cage. "It's nothing much. I just need a pony I can trust as I get some work done."
Spot Weld then opened the cage and began digging through the different tools and guns inside. It gave me a better look inside as he pushed the clutter to the side. I could see other revolvers, lever action rifles, some odd guns I didn’t recognize, a four barreled shotgun, and there was also a revolver converted into some sort of sniper rifle. But then, hidden in the far back, I saw what looked like a thin party cannon, complete with wheels but, instead of one barrel, it had maybe ten all held together on some sort of crack weal. Above it were several large magazines that must have held some large ammo.
"Hold this." Spot called out to me.
I reached out my hooves and Spot passed me a rather worn out looking, but beautiful, rifle. It had a gold star welded on one side and engravings of a night sky around it. The other side had an engraving art of two ponies inside a heart. Under it was the letters 'A.O. & F.B.'. A few more guns were passed over for me to hold.
"I don't think I'm going to be much help with guns unless you need me to help make bullets. I did a bit of that during the war." I offered.
Spot Weld poked his head up from his cage. "Oh, don't worry about those. I don't need help with that. Just wait a moment." He ducked back in before pulling out a harness, a toolbelt, and a lot of rope before tossing them out of the cage and trotting over to me. "Thanks. Let me put the guns back inside before we can start."
"How much work do you do on guns?" I asked as I passed him back the guns.
He began placing the guns on a rack. He seemed to try not to recreate the mess that he had started in.
"A fair bit, actually,” Spot Weld answered. “It's my main job when there's no commissions to work on."
He took a mostly clean rag and rubbed it on his flank. This revealed a cutie-mark of a cylinder next to a spring and bolt.
"Got my cutie-mark in engineering, and I was the apprentice to the stables armory master before the stable had opened their doors to the wasteland. Lucky me that gunsmiths are in high demand. I've done quite well for myself out of the stable." he further explained.
I passed him the last gun. "Real lucky, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole wasteland thing. On that, it sounds like you have better options, so why here?"
He closed the cage. Its lock made a loud clunk noise.
"True,” Spot Weld confessed, “the NCR were offering me a lot to stay with them, but I couldn't just trap myself in a dimly lit factory and make guns day in and out."
Spot Weld trotted passed me over to the back wall where a large object stood. It was covered in a patchwork tarp.
"What I really want to do is art!" he exclaimed as he pulled on the tarp which revealed a huge sign that said "Welcome To New Appleloosa" spelled with both paint and lights.
I clapped, feeling a bit impressed. Though a bit crude, it reminded me a lot like the signs used in Loss Pegasus. "Does that mean you're the one who made all the signs in town?"
Spot Weld nodded. "Yep. The mayor wanted some pony to help improve the atmosphere of the town, and the sheriff needed a gunsmith. I could do one, and wanted to do the other, so I bought one ticket to New Appleloosa and haven't looked back."
I clapped again. "Impressive. So what do you need me to do?"
"Right" he said as he tossed me the rope while he grabbed the harness and tool belt. "I need to fix a few flaws in the sign before I can say I'm done. I require some pony to pull me up as I work."
I looked down the rope, then up at the sign, and then at Spot Weld. I cocked an eyebrow. "You do know we just met, right?"
Spot waved his hoof dismissively. "I'm not worried. We're both stable ponies, if there's any pony like us that we can trust, it's another stable pony." He then sighed. "You're lucky. You haven't seen how nasty these wastlanders can get."
I wanted to remind him again that I was not, in fact, a stable pony, but I also needed caps. So I activated my workforce survival mode, also known as being overly agreeable.
"Well,” I say, “it's a good thing you're here to help me then, or I'd be at a loss."
Spot smiled as he put on the harness and tool belt. "Gladly. Us stable ponies gotta stick together. Still don't know how Pip and Velvet managed to make it out here." He trotted over to me, taking one end of the rope, and trotting back to the sign where there was a nearby crain-like pulley system set up next to it. "Alright. The job’s simple. I'm going to place this at the sign and hook myself onto this pulley system. You’re going to pull me up to where I need to be. Easy as pie."
"And dangerous." Looking at the crane, I had a feeling that he built it himself. It was made from scrap metal and old looking wood. "You sure this is a good idea? You could just build some scaffolding instead."
"Scaffolding?" He said as he tilted his head before chuckling. "Don't worry. It looks rickety, but it's safe. I made it myself, so I know."
His smile was beaming with confidence. So much so that it did make me feel a bit at ease. Now thinking about it, lots of construction ponies worked with less safety than Spot Weld. There were even those famous photos of a group of earth ponies sitting on a steel beam far above the ground.
"Alright, but maybe we should put on safety helmets first, for safety." I pointed out.
Spot rolled his eyes and sighed. "Alright. I do have something like that." He trotted off to a dark corner of his workshop and brought back two rusty firefighters helmets. "Good enough?"
I nodded and took the helmet, putting it over my own hat. "Alright. I'm ready."
He put on his helmet before pulling the rope through the pulley system. He then moved the crane over to the big sign. I followed, holding the other end in my mouth. I watched as he attached himself to the pulley. Spot checked and double-checked his knots, harness, and his toolbelt in order to make me feel at least a little more at ease in that he had some safety sense. After a few tugs on both of our ends, it looked like we were ready to go.
"Like Icarus with his new wings of wax arrogantly flying where ponies don't belong," a voice whispered. The shadows seemed to twitch. It might have been my eyes playing tricks on me, but I was sure I could see the outline of a mare in the shadows. "Rise high, fall low, and once more become the clay that birthed your kind," the whisper spoke with malaise and contempt.
A *ching* the sound of a metal rifle clip hitting the floor caught my ears.
"If he dies, then he dies. There are plenty of ponies that can replace him" This voice was uncaring, yet seemed a tad excited over the idea of death.
My nose twitched due to the serial smell cleaning supplies and strong scent of herbs passed by my nose. "The amount of ponies that come by with broken bones from fall injuries is annoyingly stupid. They are taking time away from those who have injuries outside their own control." This voice was tired, irritated, and yet, caring.
"Slowtrot!" Spot Weld spoke up loudly, getting my attention. "Gees, you had me worried there. You just zonked out on me. What was that?"
"I…" What had just happened was a haze, like a barely remembered dream. "Sorry. I thought I heard something so I got distracted."
Spot seemed to chew on my words for a moment before returning his attention back to the task at hoof. "Right, well don't do that while I'm hanging, alright?"
Pulling on the rope until it no longer slacked, I tied it to my fetlock. "Worst-case scenario, I still got you."
His eyes widened. "Brilliant! And this is why we stable ponies outclass those wastelanders." He then happily adjusted the tall crain, getting in what I guess was the best position before motioning for me to start pulling him up. It turned out to be surprisingly easy, likely because of his smaller frame, but it didn't feel like I was pulling a whole pony into the air. "You can stop and hold!" He shouted. I did just that. Spot Weld pulled out a wrench and got to work on some bolt, though it was hard to see from below.
*click*
A new sound came from behind me. It was followed by lights, a breeze, and a dry dusty smell. I didn't have time to be distracted by my mind playing some sort of trick again, so I focused on holding the rope steady as the sound of hoofsteps got closer along with some muffled chuckling.
Trotting into my view was a short and skinny unicorn stallion. His mane was slicked back. He had a dirty brown business suite and his smile showed several golden teeth alongside his yellow teeth. "Looksy like Spot got himself a helper." He spoke like a stereotypical gangster pony from an old detective movie. All he needed was a fedora to complete the costume. The undersized stallion looked up, still smiling. "Hay Spot'sy, ya got ta caps ya ow us? You were due yesterday?"
Spot Weld looked down at us, forming a frown on his face. "The deal was when I get my caps, you get yours, so tell your boss to stop interrupting me. It's messing with my groove!"
The gangster pony scowled at Spot, then huffed. "Ya, and ya were supposed to have diss junk done a week ago!"
"Then fuck off and let me finish!" Spot shouted back.
"Boss says that's fine." Another pony spoke up from behind me. This time a pegasus mare in a dusty gray suit trotted into view. Her wings were tattered. Her mane was haphazardly put into a bun. She also had a rusty pipbuck on her right fetlock. "But he will have to pay 15% interest for every day he misses paying off the loan."
I don't know what it was, but her pipbuck gave me a bad feeling. It was as though something dangerous was attached to it, and it was not that mare.
She then looked over at me, putting on a friendly smile full of rotting yellow teeth. "Say, stranger, if you're ever looking to buy anything on the cheap, a quick loan, or sell off some goods no questions asked, come find us." She then pulled out a business card and put it in the color of my jacket. "We even buy pipbucks at a premium, though better conditions will gain you more caps."
The two ponies turned around, trotting out of view. The clicking of a door announced that they had left.
"See what I mean by dirty and just no good? There was never any pony like that in a stable," Spot huffed as he crossed his hooves in annoyance. Because of this, he lost his grip on his wrench. I watched as it descended right at me. I tilted my head down just in time for the wrench to bounce off my helmet with a loud thud. "Shit, you okay?" he shouted.
Other than some ringing in my ears, I wasn't hurt. "And that's why you should wear a helmet, but ya, I'm okay," I told Spot Weld.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "I see your point. You were right." He then checked his toolbelt, then sighed with frustration. "Hey, can you throw that wrench back up here? It's the only one I got that can get around some of the bolts on this thing."
I nodded then trotted over to the wrench while doing my best to keep Spot steady. The heavy adjustable wrench was undamaged. It only had a few scratches on its mostly solid blue and yellow paint job. I took off my helmet then examined it. There was a big dent on where the wench fell. The thought of how much I could have gotten hurt sent a chill up my spine.
"Seriously,” I said, “Stable-Tec doesn't mess around with anything they make, even the paint job lasted two hundred years."
"Stable-Tec makes thing's to last," Spot said with pride. "Though that wrench was a newer addition to my toolbelt. My old one gave up the ghost over a year back. By luck, some scavengers happen to have passed through with that, They said they found it in some half-buried factory infested with radscorpions."
"Neat," I said, half hoping to never find out what exactly a radscorpion is. I could only guess that it was some sort of large scorpion, maybe two hooves wide. I did know their sting can melt flesh, so yeah, let’s not meet one.
Lifting the wrench, I quickly came to a problem. It was too heavy to throw up to Spot.
Well, I could, but not without risk that it would fall back down at me.
"Maybe I should lower you down and just hoof you the wrench?" I suggested.
Spot Weld rolled his eyes again. "No way! I got my groove going up here. If I go back down, it's going to, you know, poof. No more inspiration." I tilted my head at him for a moment. "Just throw it. It will be fine."
I shrugged. "Alright, but I'm using my S.A.T.S. to make sure it gets up to you." He nodded. I took a deep breath. "Iron Buck, activate S.A.T.S."
The world slowed to a crawl. A green hue as my E.F.S. took over my vision. It still felt odd. Option scenes in the side of my vision, and a little arrow being controlled with my mind, along with "%" next to anything the arrow hovered over. Moving the arrow up to Spot Weld, I got a "80%" chance to hit, of which I didn't want to do. Moving to the big "A" of Appleloosa gave me a "90%" chance to hit. The option was to toss which showed a toonish pony throwing a baseball hard. I felt that would be a bad idea, so I thought about throwing it slower. The option changed to lobb, showing the same toonish pony throwing a ball, but this time in a less violent way, such as the ball moving in an ark then in a straight line. Selecting that, I then let the pipbuck do the rest of the work.
My body relaxed as the world slowly began to move. I stood up on my back legs as the hoof that held the wrench swung back, looping once before throwing the wrench up with ease I knew I didn't naturally have. As the wrench flew through the air, Spot Weld was waiting for it. His hooves reached out to grab it. A split second later, he missed. The wrench passed through his hooves then bounced off the top of the big "A" going further up and over the sign.
"Critical!" Flashed in my vision as I looked up. The big "A", now with a noticeable dent in it, shifted a little. Spot Weld gasped and attempted to push it back in place. He only managed to swing himself back then bounce off the big "A" that then seemed to shift it a bit more.
*Ping… Thud!*
I looked down to see a rusty nut on the ground, something I was sure was not good. Not good at all.
"Slowtrot, look out!" Spot Weld yelled, his voice slow, but quickly returning to normal speed. I looked up in time to see the big "A" fall off the sign. It happened too fast for me to react.
For a moment I thought I died. I could hear or see. The only thing I could smell was dust. Eventually the dust cleared and I found myself between the legs of the big "A". It had missed me by less than a hoof step.
*thud!* The wrench bounced off my helmet again then landed into my hooves.
After a moment spent in shock, I eventually let Spot Weld down. He seemed more distressed over his sign getting messed up than my three near-death incidents in a row. I was not mad over it. They were accidents after all.
It took a few minutes for Spot Weld to calm down. He was going through a spectrum of emotions over the big "A", seemingly unable to put together a coherent sentence.
"Maybe you should invest in some scaffolding. That should help avoid accidents like this in the future." I suggested as I pat him on the shoulder.
"I… but… how?" Spot seemed deflated. His eyes were wide but vacant.
I didn't know how to deal with this level of shock in a pony, or any shock relay.
"Should I go and get some pony?" I offered.
He shook his head. "No… just… go… leave… I gotta figure out… how to fix this."
Backing away slowly, I had a strong feeling that I might not have gotten the job helping this pony.
"Well, if you need any more help, I'm available." His eyes narrowed at me. He then pointed at the door, sending the message loud and clear for me to get out.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust after being inside the dim workshop. The light breeze blowing away some of the dust covered me. Rubbing my neck, I felt the business card that was given to me earlier. Taking it from my color, I gave it a look. One side was all blue, the other side read "Blue Sky's Merchant Guild" in big bold letters. In smaller text, it said, "We buy and sell anything and everything you desire."
"Slowtrot, what are you doing out here?"
I turned to see Karat Gold with two foals who were making faces at each other. "And why are you covered in dust?" she went on to ask.
I brushed some of the dust off me then pocketed the business card.
"Oh, there was an accident inside the workshop. Luckily, nopony got hurt, but I think Spot Weld needs some space for a while, so I'm out of work right now."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "But I left you with Doctor Quacksalver…" She then took a deep breath. "Never mind that. If you're free, then that’s good luck for me. I mean, you are free, right?" She asked as she fluttered her eyes.
I thought for a moment if I should say yes to her, but both she and I knew that I literally had nothing else going on.
"Alright,” I accepted. “What do you need help with?"
"Slowtrot told me the one thing he truly didn't miss from old Equestria, and it was working retail, mostly because of the ponies that he dealt with back then. Where the working class struggled, everypony above them seemed to have extra bits to throw around, and liked to remind others of it. Though unsure, Slowtrot suggested that those weather ponies were likely the ancestors of raiders. Having little to no survival skills to pass on other than what made everypony hate them." ~ Azure Dice
“What Stable are ya from?” Karat’s unicorn colt asked me.
“The R&D Stable. They tested all the new technology Stable-Tec was making,” I answered.
“Oh. Did they make pretty clothes?” her unicorn filly asked.
“I don't think they did. Well, they did make this hat and jacket.” I answered.
“Can I have the hat?” the colt asked.
“Can I have the jacket?” the filly asked as well.
"Uhh, sorry, but they’re all I own, so I can't just give them away," I said, doing my best not to upset the overly loud foals. They both frowned and looked ready to wine loudly with a deep inhale but were interrupted by their mother.
"Here we are." She had stopped in front of the New Appleloosa general store. "You said you can read and do math, right?" I nodded. She smiled. "Wonderful! My husband and I just need some pony to manage the store for a few hours. He just won't leave his register as long as there is business to be done." She held onto her smile as she spoke, but it just felt more fake as she went on.
"Retail work. Anypony can do that," I said as I trotted inside.
The store felt more like an antique shop rather than a general store considering the many old nick nacks along the wall, a glass case next to the register housing severe guns, and a toaster.
Passing through one of the aisles, the shelves were full of small boxes that held nails, screws, bolts, and other construction materials of different sizes, along with some acano tech parts, and small robot pieces. Looking over at another aisle, it had rolls of old tape, wonder glue, springs, and different lengths of steel tubes. Further in the back, behind the register, was a Sunset Sarsaparilla display fridge. It’s home to both soda bottles and beer bottles. There was even a spot that had food on it, though it was just several old cans and a whole lot of corn.
"You know, this is the most general of a general store I have ever been in," I expressed.
"That's the point," a gruff sounding stallion spoke up from behind the counter. He was a dark gray earth pony with light gray spots. His mane a dull rust color with several strands of either gray or white. "By selling everything a pony might need, the ponies will come here first before browsing the merchant stalls outside." He then looked passed me and over at Karat. "Hony, who's the stallion?"
Karat chuckled. "It's that stable pony. You know, the one who fell into that ghoul clinic around a month ago. He can do that math stuff, so I thought that he could look after things here while we can go out to the dance."
The stallion sighed. "Karat, Darling, my love, you know I can't just let a pony I only just met in charge of my store."
Nodding, I turned to Karat. "Though I do need some sort of job, he is right. Most places at least have the pony supervised first."
"See, he gets it. By the way, what's your name?" the stallion asked me.
"Slowtrot," I answered.
"Good to meet you, Mister Slowtrot. I'm Heavy Hoof, the owner of this here store." He then turned to his wife. "And what about the children, you know they don't like to go to the dance."
Karat fluttered her eyes at her husband. "They can stay here. Mister Slowtrot should be more than capable to look after them."
Heavy Hoof paused for a long moment, seemingly having a hard time processing what his wife just said, then sighed. "No offense to Mister Slowtrot, but I don't think that would..."
He was interrupted by Karat stomping on the ground. "But I want to go to the dance!" she whined.
"But honey." Heavy tried to interject, but again was interrupted by another stomp.
"We never go out anymore! You just stay behind that counter all day. Somepony very important is showing up tonight!" she again whined.
"But there's so much work to-" Heavy again was interrupted.
"You promised we'd go out together! I can't just show up by myself! What would the neighbors think?!" This time she emphasized her words with several stomps.
I watched as the seemingly tall and proud looking stallion seemed to shrink in size. "But-"
"No butts! I finally have free time from my own work so we're going out, and that’s final!" Katat insisted loudly.
Heavy Hoof looked over at me. His eyes pleading for help, of which I could not give.
*Jingle*
As though sent by Celestia herself, Star Charter stepped in with her daughter Bridget and another filly that I do not know yet. "Sup Karat. Hope I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Karat stuck her nose up and looked away, but Heavy smiled and spoke up. "Actually, we were just discussing about finding a sitter for our foals. My darling finally has some time off and wants to go to the weekly dance, but you know how hard it is to find a sitter at the last moment."
Star's eyes darted around the room, falling onto Karats two foals. She took a step back, seemingly ready to bolt out the door. "Oh, yeah… I heard that the Lightbringer Group might be free."
"But Mom, they said they were doing a camping trip with the older foals," Bridget spoke up.
Star sighed.
I saw Karat smile and trot over to Star. "Oh thank you for agreeing to take after my little angels. You're a lifesaver."
Star opened her mouth, clearly ready to argue, but quickly looked down at her daughter. After that, she likely decided to take a less aggressive posture. She returned Krat’s smile. "Well, since it’s last minute, it's going to cost extra. I am already looking after another foal as you can see." This stole the smile from Karat's face.
I looked at the new filly. She a dark gray earth pony with light gray spots and a vibrant rust-red mane. I then looked over at Karats foals. The filly was a tan unicorn with a dirty bond mane. The colt was a dusty brown unicorn who also had a dirty blond mane. Karat herself was a creamy light gray earth pony mare with a golden blond mane. She wore glasses and had no spots. My eyes then drifted from Heavy Hoof, down to the other filly, and then over to Star who looked back at me, giving me an ever so slight shake of her head.
Messaged received.
Once more I entered my agreeable working pony mode. I put on a genuinely fake smile. "Well if it's just for a few hours, I can hoofle that. I did work at Barnyard Bargains for a year before they started replacing some of the staff with robots."
I got a bit of a confused look from the others, then Katat again smiled. "See Honey, he's got work experience, so everything is fine. Now let's go."
Heavy Hoof gave a defeated sigh as Star and I trotted up to the register. He then waved me to come around to the other side. "I'll show you how to work this as I ring up Star." I trotted around and got a look at what was even a vintage register back during the war. Although several of the keys had been replaced with crude imitation, most of the original keys were worn down to barely readable nubs. "Alright, Miss Star, what can I get you?"
"Some cooking oil if you still have some. Since there are going to be even more mouths to feed, I'll take two cans of sham and two cans of beans… at a discount," Star Charter requested.
There was a momentary pause before Heavy seemed to shrink a bit more, then he nodded. Pulling out a notebook, Heavy Hoof showed me that he had every product and its price in it. Some pieces were crossed out and another number added. "Right. I have the baseline of everything I sell in this. Never sell lower, and the higher you can charge the pony, the better." He briefly looked up at Star with a huff, "Special cases notwithstanding. Now, do you know how to use a register?"
"One like this, ya. It's basically just a big calculator with bits inside," I answered.
Heavy scratched his chin for a moment, and then backed up. "Show me then." Heavy demanded.
Stepping up to the register, I flipped through the notebook. It took me a minute to navigate it. Once I found it, I then type in the cost. When I was done, Heavy added Stars discount. After that, caps were exchanged. He nodded in approval then pointed under the counter where I saw a double-barrel shotgun. "In case of a robbery, use the first shell to wound, and the second to kill."
"Is that a real worry?" I asked.
"It's rare," Star spoke up. "The deputies keep a lid on most of the crime, but now and then some idiot thinks they can rob a store then jump on the train."
"Alright. We’re going to get ready. Just familiarize yourself with the store," Heavy told me before turning to trot to the back of the store. Karat followed him out.
"Strange,” she mused. “I thought the mayor needed Karat available in case he needed any errands run," Star commented as she put the canned food into her saddlebag. "I hope she didn't just dump all her work on Harp." She then shrugged. "Oh well. She's a grown mare. She seems to know how to take care of herself.
Star then whistled loudly, getting all the foal's attention “Bridget, Light Step, let’s go. That includes you two rugrats as well."
A groan came from the brother and sister. They trotted over to Star while grumbling something to themselves.
"Are you sure you can hoofle four foals on such short notice?" I asked in concern.
Star chuckled. "It's going to be six actually, but I'll be fine. I volunteer at the school a few days a week, so this is quite manageable for me."
Bridget fluttered onto her mother's back. "We're building a fort at the clinic and Jali is showing us how to make medical tea."
"Yep, whoever thought having a tea party could be healthy!" Star claimed in what was clearly her being playful.
Karats foals now looked a bit more interested in what they were talking about.
"Maybe we can have a filly's vs colts game a bit later,” Star proposed. “The losers ha’s cooties."
The two foal’s ears perked up, then they both narrowed their eyes at each other. Soon they were rushing out of the shop, followed by Bridget and Light Step. This got a chuckle from Star as she bragged, "Works every time. Those two can't help but compete with each other. I think it might be because Karat doesn't give them enough attention.”
Star then sighed, “Anywho, I should head out to make sure none of them get in trouble."
With that, Star trotted out. I was left alone in the store.
Looking through the notebook, I reviewed the products that were here. The antique vibe of this place was still there, but now it made me feel more relaxed. Maybe it was because some of the stuff here was nearly as old as I was, which still didn't feel right to me.
On the counter was a radio. It clearly saw better days. Curious, I turned it on just to test it. What played was Sweetie Bell singing one of her original songs. It was just as somber of a song as the first time I heard it.
When the song came to a close, a stallion with a deep voice spoke up. "This is DJ Pon3y, and ain't Sweetie Bell the best? I never get tired of hearing her sing.”
It was strange hearing that name, as I remember a DJ Pon3y from my time, who was a famous party music mixer with more albums than I can remember. Though from what I remember, that pony was a mare, and she was famous for never talking. I could only guess the name had been passed down, or it was simply just coincidence.
I continued to listen. “But, you know what they say about too much of a good thing, so let’s break up the good vibes with some good news! The sleepers have awakened! Yes, that's right! The two mysterious stable ponies that fell out of nowhere in New Appleloosa have finally woken up. The who, what, how, and where they came from is still unknown, but I advise giving them the time and space to sort all that out."
I scratched my chin, a bit confused about how this pon3y knew about Harp and I had woken up so quickly.
The DJ continued. "In other news, the terrorist Spritz Cookie has finally been captured by the NCR. She and her Renegade Steel Ragers had been harassing NCR caravan for the last ten years now, where she had avoided not just the NCR, but both Applejack Rangers and other Steel Ranger chapters. With her capture, the many caravans under NCR protection can now breathe a sigh of relief and focus on other problems, such as raiders, feral ghouls, and other vicious monsters that have a taste for pony meat."
It seemed that there were quite a few bad things going on outside New Appleloosa, though it was nice not to hear about the war anymore.
The radio broadcast continued. "Now for your public service announcement, don't do chems! No joke, my fillies and colts, no joke at all. By now you should know the usual dangers; addiction, withdrawal, and the ever dark presence of an overdose.” Nothing new to me.
“But, lately, there's been a new danger along with a new chem going around. This danger is caused by the chems being cut. What do I mean by cut? I mean that some scummy chem pusher is adding different and more dangerous stuff to their chems to make it cheaper and more addictive. They don’t care what this cut will do to the ponies using it.” Alright, this was new to me.
“The NCR, with the aid of the Angels, are trying to stop the distribution of the tampered chems. They are offering a safe place for addicted ponies to get high and seek treatment if they choose to.” The DJ informed everypony.
There was a pause, and then a long sigh from the DJ, “Now I really do not advocate the taking of chems, but if you must, then seek out the Angels. Those zebras take their profession seriously. They will not cut your chems with detergent or Chill.”
Music then softly started to play as the DJ clearly started to wrap up. “Now with the news out of the way, let's get back to some good vibes. How about a wasteland classic from the Wasteland Wailers…"
I turned the radio off as I heard hoofsteps from the back. Heavy and Karat trotted back in the store, both wearing far nicer and cleaner clothes. They are the kind of clothes you take to some kind of barn dance, though that might actually be where they were going.
"We should only be a few hours, but if it gets too late, there's a lock on the door that will only open from the inside, so you can just turn it and leave," Heavy informed me. I nodded, and the two trotted outside, leaving me fully on my own.
I turned the radio back on to listen to the music. I also flipped through the notebook again. It showed me how some items have gone up in price and where others have dipped. I am no economist, but I did understand a little of what I was looking at. Things. such as clean water and small-caliber ammunition, have gone down in price, but spark batters have significantly jumped up in costs. It still confused me why bottle caps was the currency, though colt me would have been stoked. I did, at one point, have a full box of soda caps.
*Ding*
The door opened and a pony dressed in patchwork rags covered in pockets trotted in. He mulled around for a few minutes, looking at random items and touching a few of them. I was unsure if this was a normal customer or not, as they looked like a homeless pony. When the Stallion came up to the register, He smelled like a homeless pony. "Hey, ya got ta nails?" He asked with a breath that smells like an ashtray.
"Nails?" I clarified.
"Ya nails." They repeated.
I pointed down the middle aisle. "There's different sizes of nails down there. Just bring them up and I'll ring you up."
They looked behind them and then back at me with a scowling face. "Not tos nails. Nail nails!" I raised an eyebrow. "Coffin Nails ya fuckwit!"
I sighed, "First off, aren’t any kind of nails good for a coffin, and two, I would appreciate it if you don't insult me."
The pony huffed at me. "Coffin nails are smokes, and you are a fuckwit id I got ta spell it out for ya, ya fuckwit."
I was unsure if I should tell the customer to leave or not, but figuring it was just bad luck, I checked under the counter, and found a packet of cigarettes. Placing one up, I flipped through the notebook, looking for the product. "Right. It's going to be fifteen caps." I looked up to see the customer already leaving, the cigarette gone, and twelve caps on the counter. Sighing, I gathered up the caps and made a mental note to not put out products from behind the counter until I’m given the caps. I also double-checked the cigarettes and saw that what I gave the stallion was not coffin nails, but a brand called death sticks.
The door dinged again. This time it was a group of ponies, most in patchwork clothes and a few of the ponies sporting old scars that looked painful. They split up into smaller groups and browsed the storse wheres. One old stallion was interested in some rusty farming tool. An older mare had stopped at a pile of scrap cloth and thread. Looking at the nails were three stallions, with one of them pulling out a scrap of paper for them to look at. Lastly was two youngish mares who looked at some random things as they chatted with each other.
First to come up was the three stallions who had taken a box of nails, a hammer, four yardstick rulers. "Let’s see. With the boxes being fifty nails at one cap a nail, the hammer being fifteen caps, and the yardsticks ten caps each, that will be one-hundred and ninety-five caps"
They looked at each other. One of them sighed. "The boss only gave us one-hundred and seventy-five caps. Is there any way we can get it lowered?"
"Sorry, I promised the owner to not go below a certain price." They didn't look happy about my answer but did look ready to argue about it. "Can't you just get the one yard stick?"
The one who spoke before shook his head. "Boss said we need four, otherwise we’re working on guesswork, and she hates working on guesswork."
Sounds reasonable. Back during the war, a shabby job got ponies killed, but then again it was annoying how hard it was to get what you needed for a job with how scarce materials became. If I remember correctly, most of the older ponies just took the junk we had and turned it into what we needed. Looking down at the yard sticks, a thought crossed my mind. "Say, couldn't you just make your own yard sticks?"
"Say what?" One of the three stallions raised an eyebrow.
I took one of them and laid it longwise on the counter. "Well just take one of these and use it to make copies from some wood you don't need."
One of the stallions scratched his chin and nodded. "Say, I think he has a point. We do have some scrap wood at the sight we have no use for. Alright, then we'll just get the one yardstick."
"That will be one-hundred and seventy-five caps." The stallions paid, and were on their way, leaving me with three yardsticks.
After several minutes, the next pony to come up was the old stallion. He was holding a hoe and a shovel. Both were rusty in parts. It looked like the edges had been sharpened. "I'll give ya thirty caps for these two, no more." His voice was gruff, and his breath smelled thick with tobacco.
Looking in the notebook, I found two of each item, one marked clean, and one marked as scavenged. Looking over where he had gotten them, I could see a shovel that was in far better condition since it has no rust. The clean items were marked fifty caps, where the scavenged were thirty caps… "Sorry, but you're asking for a fifty percent discount. I can’t do that. I can give you one for thirty caps."
The old stallion huffed. "Listen here youngin, I sure as Lunas plot I can get this even cheaper from those merchants outside, so I'm being fair offering you this!"
I gave him my retail smile. It’s fake as plastic, just like the robots that replace me in some of my jobs. "Oh, that's unfortunate to hear. If you could bring in one of those items, I'll see if my manager can match the cost."
He was taken aback for a moment, looking a bit confused. "Why in Celestia's grateful sky would I do that? I would already have what I want. You know what, how about thirty-five caps then?
"That's still too low in price, sir. If you can't afford both, how about getting one for now," I said as politely as possible.
This time the old pony groaned. "Look here sonny, these here tools were clearly used as weapons. They are sharpened and rusted from blood. They’re not worth more than twenty caps each! Even the wood is all worn out."
This was starting to get annoying. He wanted it for "forty caps" for the two when it's listed as sixty.
Looking back up at the stallion, his nose was scrunched up. "Now that's highway robbery. I'll give you thirty-five caps for each, and no higher!"
I paused for a moment to process what just happened… "Ya, it's a deal!" I said, and he hoofed over seventy caps, ten caps over the selling price. To say I was a bit confused would be an understatement, but at least it covered the loss from the cigarette.
The next customer was the older mare. She was holding the cloth scraps and thread she had been looking at.
"How can I help you?" I ask in my well-practiced retail voice.
"Oh how polite Yes, I'd like to buy all this." She had a slight smile and a quiet voice. "I need to make a quilt for my son, or he's going to be cold tonight."
Nodding, I may have not been interested in why she was shopping, but knew not to look or sound disinterested, or I’d risk an unhappy pony.
“Let’s see. The thread is five caps a spool, and the cloth scraps is a cap for a square.” The older mare pulled out her pouch and, one at a time, placed a cap on the counter. It counted to thirty-two caps. Most of them were dirty with a lot of paint missing. I then went through the items she was buying and found that she had two spools of thread and forty-three cloth scrap squares. “Right. All together you’re twenty-one caps short. You want to remove anything?”
She looked down for a moment, “I see.” Her eyes welled up a little, and she shuffled. “Alright. That’s fine.”
I felt a pinch of guilt in my chest, causing me to sigh. “You know what, I’m eight caps over right now. How about I add that to your total? Then you’re only thirteen caps short.”
The old mare wiped a tear-off with her fenlock. “Oh thank you.” I removed the thirteen cloth scraps and made the exchange. Although she still seemed sad, at least I was able to help a little. I was unsure if I was being played or not. It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened. I just hope I don’t lose the job because of it… again.
Time passed, The two remaining mares still chatted as they looked around the shop. The door dinged again, and a green cowpony mare trotted in. She looked about as rough as the sheriff but, instead of scars, she had two mechanical back legs. From under her hat were strands of her red tangled mane, with two red eyes looking right at me. Reaching the counter, she placed a bag of caps on the counter. “I need to confirm if my order is ready.” I stared back at her, a bit confused, and she sighed. “I ordered for two barrels of water and two weeks provisions of rations.”
Feeling a bit confused, I looked under the counter. I saw several pieces of paper and a folder. Pulling out the folder, inside was several clean pieces of paper covered in scribbles which had stamps on it. They seem like trade deal forms, exchanges, and some other legal mumbo I had a hard time wrapping my head around. Each one had several names attached to it. One name in scribbles and the rest in more clear writing. I could only guess this was what I was looking for. “Name?”
“Percussion Cap,” the mare told me.
Flipping through the documents, I found her name. It had several stamps saying “Approved” but the writing was just unreadable. There was a second piece of paper attached to the first. Luckily it was typed in. It listed several items, including the two barrels of water. On this document was stamped “paid” and next to it was a list with a date and the word “Delivered”. Checking my pipbuck, the date was listed for tomorrow. “Looks like your order will be ready tomorrow. Anything else?”
I saw her shake one of her cyber legs before responding. “Any word on any spark batteries coming into your stock?”
Looking through the notebook, I found several listings of different spark batteries. Next to them was a note paper clipped in saying that none were in stock. Any new stock was to go to the mayor. “Sorry. Looks like any spark batteries we do get goes to the mayor.”
“So that’s fucking why there's no fucking spark batteries in town!” Percussion Cap huffed. “Thanks for the info. Everypony else just gave me the runaround.” She then turned around and stomped out of the store, muttering along the way.
With a ding, I was left with the two mares who were still just looking around. Soon after they left, not buying anything.
Turning up the radio, I sat in the now still shop with only my pipbuck to mess with, but I was not feeling like reading the notes still in it.
What were a few minutes became an hour with little interruption. During that time, it was mainly some pony buying a snack or cooled beer. Another hour passed and, through the window outside, I could see the sky turning red and lights being turned on.
The door dinged. I looked to see the dusty pegasus mare from Spot Weld’s workshop trotted in along with two strong looking stallions carrying heavy boxes. The stallions looked a lot like the bikers the newspapers warned ponies to stay away from. Their fur was painted and had black vests decorated with spikes over a tanis olive military jacket. Actually, they looked a lot like a certain biker gang that got featured in the news. Something about gang wars or chem dealers. It was something Desperados, though back home, the Tartarus Angles was the main biker gang in the area.
The mare looked at me, raised an eyebrow, then trotted over with a clipboard. "Guess Heavy Hoof is out. No matter. Can you sign this for me as proof of delivery?"
She passed me the clipboard. "Alright, but what's in the boxes?" I asked as I took a pen into my mouth and signed the paper.
"Just a bunch of junk. Blue Skies has a hard time selling since ponies come here first to find shit like this, so it's a win-win for both our businesses." She took the clipboard and smiled. "So you can actually write and here I was thinking ya’ll ground pounders just pretend to by just drawing loops."
The pegasus turned around and nodded at the two biker ponies. They dropped the boxes haphazardly then turned to leave.
On their vest was a flaming skull wearing a cowpony hat along with the words ‘Route 50 Desperados’ printed under it. That got me to pause for a moment about how a biker gang from over two-hundred years ago could still be around. They quickly left, and I eventually gave up on pondering about them. I started to wonder what else was still around. Maybe, just maybe, Pinky Pie was actually still watching us, as her posters promised.
One more ding issued. The drunk form of Karat stumbled in. Her dress was slightly dirty. Her make up was a bit smudged but the big tell was the bottle she held in her mouth. I watched as she made her way to the counter. leaning on the counter, she fluttered her eyes a bit too much as she put the bottle down. "Hey handsome." Her breath smelled of booze.
"Hello, Miss Gold. Is your husband picking up your kids?" I asked, trying to deflect her cargo train signal level of flirting.
She huffed. "That useless stallion. Ya, he's picking my kids up. He’ll probably sneak off to see his favorite whore later. Let's talk about something better… us." She fluttered her eyes again.
That was more than I wanted to know.
"I'm very grateful for you getting me this job, and I'd be glad to talk about further employment, tomorrow." I deflected.
Karat chuckled. "How about tonight, you can work me hard and long?"
I kept my neutral retail smile up, unsure how to deal with this drunk mare. "I'm sure that would be a bad idea ma’am, and I'm sure you've had a long day."
She waved me off dismissively. "Mister Slowtrot, do I… *urp* I have to remind you who I am? I work for the mayor, and if I so chose to… I can make it so that you can't get a job here. now what do you say?"
"Isn't that illegal?" The words practically jumped out of my mouth before I knew not to say them. "I mean… uhh… you could get in trouble, and I wouldn't want to see you get in trouble. Also, think of our age. I'm practically-"
A hoof slammed on the counter as Karat stared daggers at me. "Are you calling me old!" she growled.
"No, no. The opposite. We were just from different eras!" I defended myself.
"I'm not that old!" she yelled and swung her hoof at me.
I instinctively backed away. She missed, hitting the old register with a loud thud and a crack. I watched as Karats face went from anger, to shock, and then fear. She let out a silent inhale of a scream as she retreated back, holding her hoof, it having a nasty looking crack in it.
"Shit! Stay there, Miss Karat!" I quickly trotted around the counter to her. Next, I put my pipbuck over her. "Ironbuck, begin medical scan."
My pipbuck's screen switched to showing a mare with her right foreleg outlined in dots.
"Right. This will tell me how bad your hoof is hurt. We can get the doctor to help patch it up for you." I informed her.
Looking at the screen, it said that she had a hairline fracture and something called balefire crotch.
"Right. Just a hairline fracture. Nothing more, and nothing else," I told her while trying to keep a straight face.
With her other hoof, she grabbed my pipbuck and forced it into her view. It only lasted for a second, but when she looked back up at me, tears in her eyes, I knew that she knew that I knew…
The door dinged. Heavy Hoof trotted in with his kids. I took my opportunity. "Thank Celestia you're here!" I said as I trotted over to him.
Heavy Hoof looked over with concern on his face. "What happened?"
"Your wife tripped and damaged her hoof. I think it looks like a hairline fracture, but I'm no doctor, so Doctor Quacksalver should look at it." I turned off my pipbuck screen as I looked over at Karat. I gave her a nod before looking back at Heavy Hoof. "I'll go get him. You should go get her to bed."
The stallion furrowed his brow at me for a moment, then looked at his wife who was nursing her hoof. "Go get the doctor. Last I saw him, he was heading back to his clinic. I'll tend to my wife."
I quickly exited the shop. When the door closed, I took a deep breath. "Three jobs lost in a day. That's a new record."
Kicking the dirt in frustration, I then made my way to the doctor’s clinic, unsure what to do next.
As I ran to the clinic, I saw the sun setting, but also saw that the moon had already passed the horizon. It’s almost like Luna was impatiently doing her job…
"Harp explained to me about how her home, a vast metro system connecting a chain of islands together, managed to keep from ripping itself apart. Mainly it was because of a faction called Orthrus who maintained the tunnels and rail system. They threatened isolation to any station that might go rogue. With how important being connected to the metro was, most stations paid Orthrus a tax, and stayed out of trouble." ~ Azure Dice
Slowtrot and I explained our situations to the mayor on how we were from the west and how a teleportation spell had sent us here, though both our explanations were inconsistent to say the least, and Slowtrot being from far in the past was both confusing to me and the mayor. If time was as messed up as it seemed, then maybe I hadn't met Slowtrot down there, or it was a different him… you know, best not think about it. Skipping the confusing parts, I did explain that I might need to head out west to find a way home and getting enough money for it was at the top of the list. I was also not going to just accept charity, though some help would be nice. I felt the sooner I could pay for my own food and board, the better.
The mayor kindly let us prattle on. After that, he offered us solutions to our predicament. If we could do the jobs, then he could give us the jobs, pointing out that he is the mayor.
Important as he was, I had seen the mannerisms before. I heard the words used weave through politics and smelled the heavy perfumes that most used to hide the smell of sweat when meeting their betters. I knew I could not trust him with the truth, or even a half-truth, as he reminded me too much of other power-hungry mayors. They were sweet on the outside but filled with nothing but slime on the inside.
I could tell him I am a princess, descendant of princess Platinum herself, or that I am a mirage pony, born with the ability to draw magic from the air itself and power old tech as a stand-in for a spark battery, but telling him that would likely just make me a playing chip in a game of power, likely to be traded off to some young or old empire.
No... not if I could help it. I am determined to not let that happen to me, so I would keep that part of my heritage secret along with my magical ability. I’ll head west in hopes to reunite with my kin. If there were Mirage ponies out west, then that's where I needed to be. Through them, I may return home, and then… I don't know, maybe support my sister, maybe unite my people… or give them a reason to rebel, and then die…
Maybe, just maybe, it was a good thing I was so far from home. My own existence was giving the peasants a reason to rebel, as I, a mirage pony among the unicorns, served by the mirage ponies. My existence was nothing more than a disaster for mother, the queen, yet I was allowed to live… but why?
After we had discussed it some more, Mayor Espresso decided that Slowtrot would help one of the important ponies in town, but he would first need to get his messy mane and beard cut.
As for myself, I had impressed him enough that he decided that I should help lighten the administrative work for the town, mainly being the Karats assistant for the time being.
"Alright, just… well don't touch anything, I have everything how I like it." Karat explained, leaving me with a job most ponies could do. She told me not to touch a thing despite her desk being a mess. I would understand if she had notes and files everywhere, but her workspace was a mess of nick-knacks, almost nothing work-related.
She then left with Slowtrot, he seemingly on guard around her as she tried to flirt with him. I sighed and looked at my workstation on what I should do next. I saw nothing that explained anything on what was going on in this town other than several times that meant nothing to me.
"Miss Harp?" Deputy Willow spoke up. "Are you okay with this?" he asked as the mayor trotted up behind him.
"Of course she is. Secretary work is easy as pie," Mayor Espresso spoke up. "If Miss Karat can do it, I’m sure she can do it."
Willow shrugged and looked at me. "If you ever need help miss, I'll be around. Just ask for me.”
I nodded, as did the deputy, then he left.
"Right. Mayor Espresso, what's on the schedule for you to do next?" I asked as I looked through Karat's mess of a desk.
The mayor cleared his throat. "I think my next appointment was to meet with the NCR representative in town.."
Looking around I found a paper that said noonish along with "NCR"
Taking it, I passed the paper to the mayor. "Looks like it says you need to be there at noon."
He nodded. "Then I'll be off. You do… whatever secretaries do."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry, but shouldn't my job be to assist you and not just stay here?" Not that I couldn't stay here, but right now all I would do was nothing. I needed to make a further impression on the mayor.
He paused for a moment. "You know what, that's a good idea. It would have a bigger effect on the NCR to see you then for me to just tell them about you." He smiled as he spoke. It was the smile of a pony announcing his new political weapon. "Care to join me?"
I nodded as an answer, half wanting to get along with the mayor, and the other was out of curiosity to what this NCR was.
He nodded. "Alright. Just be careful. They are a tricky folk. Actually, just take notes. I'll do the talking."
I nodded. We left his office, bringing a small notepad and old pencil in tow.
We came to a small building next to the train station. The building proudly hung a flag over its door. It was a white flag that depicting some sort of two-headed beast looking at a red star while standing on red ground. I didn't understand the symbolism of the flag, but it reminded me of the peacekeeping organization, Orthrus, back home. I also got the feeling that this NCR was important if they had their own building and the mayor had a meeting with them.
Inside reminded me even more of home with how clean and organized it was inside. There were propaganda posters neatly decorating the walls. One poster showed several different creatures along with different ponies in a marching formation. Under it, the poster read "together we survive." Another poster showing a pony with a gun, protecting what looked like a family from what looked like bandits with spikes, and above the image it said, "Heroes wanted. The NCR needs you!" It was a mix of collectivist and individualist posters, leaving me a bit confused about what their angle was.
The secretary was a pegasus mare in a clean tan dress uniform. It was nothing flashy, but not made for any action.
"Mayor Espresso, Ranger Gavril is waiting for you inside," she said in a clear and friendly tone.
"Good to see you too Miss Candy Corn. Any chance you will be free later today?" Espresso asked.
The mare, Candy, waved to herself with her wing. "Mister Espresso, my work doesn't just end. If it did, my husband would not like to know you were courting me. I'll just pretend you said something less irritating while you can go on your way." She then tapped at her terminal and adjusted her black-rimmed glasses with a smile. "Alright. The doors open. Head on inside."
"I like her,” I whispered.
"So do I," the mayor responded. "She has spice. The kind I like."
"She did say she has a husband," I reminded him.
He only smiled bigger. "More the better," he said as he trotted further into the building.
Inside the office, we found a griffin behind a desk surrounded by a stack of papers held down by a revolver each. His feathers were a gray-black with blood-red stripes. The rest of him was a dull gray. From his paperwork, he looked at us with bright blue eyes. The griffin gave me enough attention to make me feel uneasy.
"Finally!” Ranger Gavril exclaimed with a deep, gravelly voice. “You got rid of that useless secretary. Are you now willing to talk sense?"
The mayor cocked an eyebrow, and I sighed.
"Sorry, but I'm just a new higher to assist the secretary. My name is Harp Melody." I offered my hoof to Ranger Gavril.
The griffon accepted my hoof and shook it. "Ahh, one of the ponies that fell into the town. Good to see that you're awake and well. I'm the liaison from the New Canterlot Republic, Gavril."
"Ahem." The mayor cleared his throat. "As we are greeted, let's get to the business at hoof. The first order of business being the NCR Correctional Facility, if I'm not mistaken."
I pulled out a notepad and pencil I was given. Holding the pencil near my hoof with my pipbucks levitation spell, I'd begun writing down what was being said.
Gavril nodded. "Yes, the prison." He pulled a paper from his desk, scanning it with his eyes before offering it to us. Espresso didn't take it, so I did. I even looked it over carefully.
"The warden has been asking for more workers to increase efficiency,” Gavril continues, “and, with how the president has been promising further expansion of the railway, it would be beneficial for both of us if your town ceased most executions in favor of sending the prisoners to the NCRCF." The old griffon was slow and direct with his words, but not so much that it sounded patronizing. It was just enough to get an idea across.
"Well you would have to talk to the sheriff about that. Ashy handles executions and such, so it's not my job." Espresso said without care. Both Gavril and I suppress a face hoof.
Scanning the document as nopony said a word, I saw that it listed several different kinds of criminals desired for the NCRCF, mainly petty criminals. Among them included ponies called raiders. Nopony had yet spoken, and the mood felt like it was going sower fast, so I felt like it was best to salvage the situation. "What the good mayor means is that though he runs this town. He must delegate law and order to the peacekeepers, otherwise he risks the townsfolk becoming confused to whom to turn to for law and order. Whatever is said here in regards to the dealing of criminals cannot be taken as anything but a suggestion. Not without including the sheriff as counsel." I then placed the document into my saddlebag "But I'm sure that the dealings of petty criminals can be easily negotiated if given the time."
Gavril smiled from the corner of his beak. "I like her." He said before putting on a more serious face back on. "But on that, could you talk with your sheriff? She may be excellent at her job, but vigilance does have its limit. The amount of ponies she sends to the gallows is getting to a disturbing number. The rangers are known for rooting out and killing raiders as judge, jury and executioner as most would say, but when we're finding ourselves competing with Ashy, it's either that your town has problems, or she's more trigger happy than our loosest of loose cannons."
Espresso sighed, showing some irritation. “If I must remind you, the train brings in new ponies every day, some of which commit crimes, and all of whom come in from the east NCR territory.” He then adjusted his tie and put on a smug smile. “I’ll consider your proposal, and… talk with Sheriff Ashy, but I’d also suggest that maybe the NCR should stop letting so many dangerous ponies slip through their hooves.”
“Fair enough,” Gavril huffed before leaning back and opening a drawer in his desk. “But it’s not like we can sake down every creature that boards the train.” He then pulled out a bottle of wild pegasus whisky and two shot glasses. “It’s as president Grimfeathers says, there's no quick and easy solution to peace, even if you choose to do it with bullets.” The griffin poured himself two glasses of whisky then offered one to Espresso.
The mayor accepted the glass. “You say that, but look how much better things have gotten in the last ten years. If things keep up like this, there might be no more raiders in the wasteland.”
Gavril nodded and sipped on his whisky. “It does look that way. If we remain vigilant, maybe we can actually rebuild the Equestria of old, but things like raiders tend to be like weeds, so only time will tell if things stay stable.” He then finished his shot glass then and put it down as he pulled out another document. “Now I’m sure you're not here to just listen about the NCR’s concerns with your sheriff.”
Espresso finished his shot glass before responding. “Yes, that’s correct. It’s about your offering to aid security for the festival as well as the delivery of supplies for it. Though grateful, I have to formally turn it down.” This got Gavril to raise an eyebrow as Espresso continued to explain. “The Caravaners known as Blue Skies have offered us a better deal in the matter, so we will not be needing the NCR’s support in this. Not that we don’t appreciate the NCR’s support. It has done well for this town, but as you know, the ponies of New Appleloosa value their independence. Having NCR soldiers patrolling our streets would send the wrong message.”
With a deep breath, Gavril straightened himself up. He passed the mayor yet another document. “Well that’s unfortunate to hear, but not unexpected, so let's just move onto the last subject I want to discuss with you.”
Looking at the document, several photos of young mares were attached.
“I’d like you to pass this off to sheriff Ashy,” Gavril requested. “It would be good to have a few more eyes out looking for these mares.”
“Are they some sort of gaggers?” the mayor asked.
Gavril shook his head “Missing ponies. There are no connections between them except for a whole lot of worried parents.”
This time Espresso raised an eyebrow. “You do know that ponies go missing all the time? The young run away, going on some adventure, so what’s new about this?”
“What’s new is that the NCR is a government, one with responsibilities to its citizens.” Gavril had a serious tone in his voice, but then took another deep breath, calming down. “Look Mayor Espresso, all we want is for your ponies to keep an eye out. If they are just runaways then that's fine, but if they're in trouble, then the NCR has a duty to bring them home."
The mayor huffed, "alright, Gavril. I can at least do that, though I can't see how any pony can simply disappear in NCR territory.”
“Then again, you do have those mutants, and we don't know how stable they are. I mean, they could be just as much of a timebomb as ghouls are," Espresso said as he passed me the document. I placed it in my saddlebag.
Gavril waved his claw dismissively. "Trust me, that has already been considered and acted upon. Personally, I don't trust those alicorn mutants much myself. Neither do I trust most creatures back in the NCR. It's actually become a problem for the Followers with ponies avoiding their free clinics in fear of disappearing.”
“That aside, just keep an eye and ear out. The sooner we find out where these mares have gone, the sooner we can bring them home, alive if possible." the griffin again requested.
Espresso got up from his seat "Well, I'll send them my wishes and prayers Gavril, but now I should mosey on and see Ashy. She also had something to talk to me about." He then turned to leave.
"It was good meeting you, Ranger Gavril," I said before putting the notepad away and followed Espresso out.
As we trotted through the busy streets, Espresso did not say a word. We traveled all the way to the sheriff's office then proceeded straight inside. The office was a dusty building with four desks in the middle, two small prison cells on the side, and a cage on the other side filled with guns and ammo crates. No pony was at the desks, but there were four ponies in one cage and two in the other. Most of them were just sitting on a bench, not paying us any attention.
A huff came from Espresso as he turned to look at me. His face looked less than pleased. He spoke with a stern voice. "Alright. You're new and young, so I'm going to be nice. Your job is not to speak for me, not to pontificate, or negotiate. Your job is to sit and look pretty. you understand?"
"What?" I breathed in confusion.
Espresso sighed. "Listen, Miss Melody, I have everything under control. I know who to talk to and what to say to them. For example, that griffon back there; give him a hoofstep and he, like the rest of his kind, will take you for every cap you own. No matter what they say, we all know what they are. They will always be greedy mercenaries. The same goes for that pegasus secretary because, when the going gets tough, the pegasus will run and hide in the clouds like the cowards they are." An irritated huff came from Espresso. "The NCR is doomed to fall apart, and if we're tied to them, then they will drag us down with them."
I put on a straight face, finally understanding exactly what the mayor was; a two-faced coward. I'd be shocked if I hadn't seen ponies like this before. Frankly, I was disappointed with how quickly he dropped the mask. Back home, such masks rarely ever came off.
The mayor then trotted over to one of the desks then pounded his hoof on it. "Alright. Just leave the papers Gavril gave you here and head back to my office. I need a drink."
Trotting over, I didn't sign or roll my eyes as I wanted to, but simply smiled and did as I was told.
"Should I leave Ashy the notes of the meeting?" I asked.
Espresso paused for a moment, then asked, "Notes?"
"Yes. They’re more a transcription of what you both said but, without it, Ashy will know what to do," I explained.
"And that would be what?" A mare spoke up from outside as she trotted in. "And I see you're already putting the new mare to work."
"Oh, Ashy!" The mayor exclaimed. "Yes, well she's quite a smart mare, so I figured that I give her a chance as an assistant."
Ashy trotted over to her desk. She lifted the document in her magic, carefully examining it. "Missing ponies? Can't say I've seen ‘em." She then took my notebook from me, scanning it over. "I see. So the NCR is again shit at their job and looking to us for help, but that's what happens when you invite Redeye's lackeys into your organization. They should have just killed them all." She then tossed the document to the side with a huff. She sat at her desk and looked at the notes. "And also butting into my business, telling me how to do my job. Justice is not meant to be kind or fair. It just has to be done."
"Then I'm to assume that we’re done here then?" the mayor asked.
Sheriff Ashy passed the notebook back to me. "Actually, I need a few things approved. I'd do them myself, but some pony wanted to have everything official so that some group they hate can't call him lazy."
A groan came from Espresso. "Fine, but you know we have a thin budget right now. I can't have anything that will disrupt the festival."
Ashy looked over at me and smiled. "Good thing you got a new assistant that seems more than capable. Just have her go over the documents as we talk in private."
There was a pause from Espresso, then a nod. "Alright." He looked over at me. "Miss Melody, if you could look over Ashy’s papers and figure out the budget costs."
I held onto my fake smile while nodding back. With that, Ashy pulled out a file and placed it on her desk. After that, the two trotted over to a room in the back, closing the door behind them.
Taking a seat at Ashy's desk and opening the file, I began reading through what was written. What I found, other than sloppy writing, was a request for the start of some kind of garrison for the deputies to sleep and prisoners to be held. If started, there would be a gallows at the center and a watchtower.
Another document was for the procurement of new guns, something about a pony named Spot Weld not being fast enough with repairs and modifications.
I found a third document with a listing of several ponies crimes committed and waiting for the approval to send to the gallows. It seemed that the ponies were repeating offenders, Ashy notes that they would not leave town and that they would stay a "problem" unless sent to the gallows.
I then pulled out the NCRCF document from my saddlebag and compared the condemned ponies to those who the NCR are looking for. It matched up enough, like killing two radroaches with one bullet, except nopony had to die.
Looking over the NCRCF document more, I saw some other benefits, such as that the NCR was willing to give aid to towns that sent them prisoners. It’s an odd offer, but it seemed that the NCR used the prisoners as a labor force, which made sense. The aid offered looked to be in weapons, ammo, medical supplies, or food and water.
Comparing the potential costs, the compound was likely still far out of reach, but the NCRCF would solve the other two issues, so I ripped out a paper from the notebook. I quickly wrote down a suggestion to, instead of executing the current prisoners, send them to the NCRCF in exchange for new firearms. This way it would save time and money. Though I was a bit confused as to why the NCR would do such an exchange for prisoners, all the documents said was that they were for the expansion of the railway system.
Satisfied, I leaned back. I could faintly hear what the mayor and sheriff were talking to each other about.
"I'm telling you, I don't trust them. Using raiders as bodyguards, it's nothing but trouble." Ashy spoke, sound very annoyed.
"Gaggers Ashy. They're Gangger. Even the NCR recognizes them as that," Espresso said calmly. "Blue Skies knows what they are doing in hiring them. How else have they managed to carve such a lucrative trade route from the west in under a few years? Through them, the town will be rich, so don't fuck with them." His tone had turned stern.
"The Desperados? I don't care if everypony calls them gaggers, they are clearly raiders. It's only a matter of time before they show their true colors," Ashy warned aggressively.
"Here. I'll talk with Quicktrot and see if she can change who she's using as muscle. From what I've heard, the Desperados don't come cheap, so there might be some wiggle room with Blue Skies on the matter, but until then . . . don't fuck with them! This town can't afford any shit to go down." Espresso's tone had returned to being calm.
The name Quicktrot had caught my undivided attention since I had met a strange mare by that name before ending up here. She was, for all purposes, a female version of Slowtrot. Unlike Slowtrot, who was just friendly, she was friendly at first, but turned out to be a conniving and cruel monster that took the form of a pony. If she was here, though I would not trust her, she still might know of a way to get me home.
There was a noticeable pause, lasting for what felt like a minute, before Ashy spoke up. "Fine, but I don't want them doing business in town. They can do their jobs, but nothing more."
"Fuck! Fine, Ashy. I'll have it that they can only do business through their employer. Will that work?" Espresso conceded.
"That's fine," Ashy agreed.
After a moment, the two returned to the main room. I did my best to look like I was not listening in on them.
"Miss Melody, how does Sheriff Ashy's documents look?" Espresso asked with a fake cheery smile.
I smiled back, very sure that he was both not going to like what I was going to suggest, but he might also find it hard to argue with.
"Well,” I said, “I don't know about this compound idea. I don't know what the town's budget is, so I left it alone.”
“As for the gun procurement and what to do with the prisoner's, that can be solved with the NCRCF," I said in my most cheerful tone.
"What?" Espresso said in a confused and concerned tone.
I put the documents down for the two to see. "You see, instead of executing the prisoners, we send them to NCRCF in exchange for firearms or ammo. This way the prisoners are taken off your hooves and the deputies get a few new guns. It’s a win-win."
The mayor was now becoming visibly angry as he attempted to keep smiling, but Ashy looked inquisitive on the idea. "I do recall that the NCR has been sending a chain gang down to work one of the smaller quarries." She picked up the NCRCF document in order to examine it. "Well, without a gravedigger, we are starting to run out of holes to dump the bodies in, so maybe it is time to ease up on the executions." Ashy then passed the document to the mayor. "I think I'm going to have a chat with Gavril to negotiate over what he will give us for the prisoners."
"Are you sure about this, Ashy?" Espresso asked, sounding more concerned. "It is the NCR. If we start giving into them, they will start asking us to change our town more."
Ashy paused for a moment, then nodded. "True, but didn't you say that we need to keep the peace with the NCR? Sometimes we need to give up something to get what we want.”
“Well, I want to get rid of these repeat offenders as well as get my deputies better armed." She said with a smile.
Espresso huffed and shrugged. "Alright. I'll let Gavril have his win, but you better make sure we get the most out of the prisoners." He then glared at me. In return, I smiled back. "Let's go, Miss Melody. I have other business to attend to, and this time remember your place."
I left the chair in order to follow him. "Right, boss. I'll make sure to look pretty, unless I'm needed for anything more." He huffed again, then turned and stomped out the door. I followed right behind him.
"The topic of corporations came up when talking to Harp. It took some explaining for me to fully understand. From what she told me, in the Marewaii metro businesses from the time of the great war hold a lot of power, keeping the tradition of capitalism alive. She described them as a double-bladed sword since they do help so many to stay alive within the metro. Without them, so many would have starved, but those who run the corporations are likely the evilest ponies she had ever met." ~ Azure Dice
Espresso continued to grumble as we trotted along the main road to the end of town. As promised, I kept my mouth shut, smiled, and waved. Plenty of ponies stopped to take a look at me. This was likely why the mayor was keeping calm after I showed him up. It was something I hoped that I wouldn’t regret later.
At the edge of town was a fairly large building. It looked a lot like an old Equestria barn. In front of it, peeking inside, stood Karat, the pony whose job I was doing. We trotted up to her where Espresso cleared his throat to get her attention, causing her to jump a little. "Miss Karat, good of you to wait for me, but what's so interesting that you must act so suspiciously?"
Karat took a deep breath. "Well, you know how we’re storing all the supplies for the festival inside? Well… somepony important just showed up to take a look at it."
Espresso sighed. "Well, yes. The head of Blue Skies is in there taking stock. I'm here to talk with her," he explained.
A nod came from Karat. "Oh yes, she's there, but there's another pony with her. She also has several big guards with her. It’s as if she's some rich mare from the east."
"Oh!" The mayor exclaimed as he quickly tidied up his mane and suit. "Well, it's best if I meet this mare. You two stay behind me. Let me do the talking." He gave me a quick, dagger-like glance. I said nothing about it. I just merely nodded.
Opening the door, Espresso entered with a swagger. He was flanked by both Karat and I. Inside was wall to wall crates. At the far end of us were two ponies looking in one of the crates. One of them was cloaked, and the other in a long white jacket. Both had guards with one group being larger ponies in leather armor. Each had a decorative black leather vest. The other group had what looked to be black painted scrap armor. All of them wore mirrored sunglasses on despite being in this dark barn. Several guns were pointed at us. A few drawing knives and clubs.
The magic here was thick, stale and felt off. It was also familiar in its wrongness, but I couldn't put my hoof on what. I just felt that something in here was wrong, dangerously so. Plenty of that magic came from quite a few old spark batteries that were covered in rusty cracks. The magic leaked from them was stale, twisted, and was filling up much of the room with their magic.
"Settle down, settle down. I have an appointment with Miss Quicktrot. These two are my assistants" Espresso explained as he did a quick motion to Karat and I before trotting passed the guards. The leather guards quickly relaxed. A few returned to a game of cards they were playing. As for the other group of guards in sunglasses, their heads followed us. One of them licked his lips like some hungry animal.
Espresso quickly made his way to the two mares. Both of them did not turn their attention to him.
"Madam Quicktrot,” Espresso greeted, “sorry I couldn't greet you when you return this morning, but as you know, we're both busy ponies."
I studied the mare, unsure if this was the Quicktrot I knew or not. The dangerous mare I had a brief encounter with was some sort of unicorn ghost, if I remembered correctly. Last I saw her she had somehow possesed the body of another pony that was with us at the time, then stole our only escape.
"Busy enough for you to need two secretaries," Quicktrot noted, her voice sounded an unfamiliar scratch yet husky tone. When she turned to face us, I saw the face of a tan brown earth pony mare who looked back at us. Her pale pink mane covered half her face. This was not the Quicktrot I knew, though it could still be another victim of hers. Even if it was a different Quicktrot, with how she stared at me with near pinpoint pupils, I got the clear feeling of danger from her. "You? How are…" she frowned, seemingly catching herself from saying any more of that sentence. "That’s an odd secretary." She then said with a smile that made me feel uneasy.
"As zonies tend to be, but at least she is far better educated than most of the rabble, even if she is part zeb." The mayor boosted, getting a chuckle from Karat. Quicktrot just shrugged. I wanted to correct him on the matter of what I was, but felt that's what he wanted me to do, the fucking asshat.
"Well, if the introductions are done, we can get to business," Quicktrot spoke, motioning to the open crate with her head.
Espresso shook his head. "I believe you forgot some pony. This mysterious mare is clearly important," he said, directing the attention to the cloaked mare.
There was a pause for a moment before the cloaked mare stepped up and removed her hood. She was a blue earth pony mare with a long golden mane and two stunningly green eyes. She also gave off the same feeling of magic that Star Charter did, but stronger and more imposing. "The name’s Victoria Rosary. You might have heard me on the radio."
A gasp came from Karat as Espresso gave a quick and clumsy bow. "The lustrous Victoria Rosary! I didn't expect you to show up so soon. Your room is far from ready!"
That name, Victoria Rosary, I've heard it before. It sent a chill down my spine. The ponies who raided my home and took my family as the grand prize. Her name passed their lips as somepony important, yet before me was not some violence crazed religious zealot, but a prim and proper looking lady, one that everypony here clearly held in high regard. Unsure how to respond, I felt it would be on the safe side to treat her like a noble. I gave her a proper bow. Not so low to put me below her in status, but low enough to not assume superiority over her.
Victoria quickly studied us. She spent extra time looking at my face before responding with a similar bow.
"Don't worry mayor Espresso, I'm only here very briefly,” Victoria assured. “I just wanted to see the setup for the concert coming along." She glanced at Quicktrot, who had already returned to the open crate. "Your supplier has been a great help with understanding what to expect here The fact that you will have more than enough staff to accommodate all my fans is comforting," she spoke with poise and grace that I hadn't seen a pony have here It almost made me feel a little bit like I was at home.
Awkwardly, Espresso put on a calm yet excited smile. "Well, I do hope you stick around for a little while. There's a weekly dance we have that’s tonight. I'm sure you will enjoy it since most of the more important ponies in town will be there."
"I am a busy mare. I’ve got places to be and much practice to do." She studied me. Her eyes stopped at my hat, getting a second longer glance. "But I can squeeze it into my schedule. It is fairly soon, correct?"
"In a few hours. It ends after sunset. There will also be snacks and clean water," Espresso explained.
Victoria spent a moment thinking, then nodded. "I'll have to talk with my manager, but I'm sure I'll be able to join." Karat gave off a quiet squeal, of which we all ignored.
"That's fantastic! I'll make sure everything is extra accommodating for you," The mayor joyfully acclaimed.
"If you’re done, we need to go over your budget on this," Quicktrot spoke up from the back of the barn, pointing at the open crate.
Victoria and Espresso trotted over to her, but Karat lagged behind, taking big, deep breaths, then exhaling as though she was hyperventilating in slow motion. I was still out of the loop on who this Victoria was, so I decided to quietly ask Karat. "Not to be that pony, but who is this mare? Is she royalty?"
Karat froze in mid breath. Her eyes slowly looked over to me. "Wait! You don't know?" I shook my head. "Well, she's currently one of the wastelands biggest idols. Possibly the second, second coming of Sweetie Belle!"
"Second… second?" I repeated, confused at why she said it twice.
A knowing sigh came from Karat. "Well, the last pony to be called the new Sweetie Belle was Velvet Remedy, but she also happens to be Sweetie Belle's decedent, so the talent runs in her veins. Other than one charity tour, Velvet hasn't performed much after the Sunshine and Rainbows, but her recordings do pop up on the radio quite frequently.”
“Well, a few years ago Victoria all of a sudden appeared in friendship city. She got super popular singing songs that were only remembered by ghouls. Once her songs got on the radio, her popularity skyrocketed. Wherever she goes, so does a big group of ponies. She's also been recording covers for lots of nearly lost songs, and now about half the music on the radio is from her. Isn't that wonderful?!" Karat attempted to hold back a squeal. "To have her here, it's like the best thing ever!"
Watching Karat act like some young mare felt odd, or getting excited over a famous pony like that. What did mother call it; middle-class wealth with lower-class thinking.
Then again, I was from the stable where many rich and famous ponies took shelter, so I'm likely lacking some perspective that she has.
Thinking about home reminded me of when my brother put on the king’s outfit from our vault and sang "Viva Las Pegusa" for my sisters and I. Mother was not happy. She had the royal guard captain beat his rear red for it. That reminded us that the last time some pony did that, the king’s guitar disappeared.
"Miss Harp, is everything okay?" Karat asked.
I snapped out of my reminiscing. "Oh, sorry. Got lost in… well I was thinking about home, that's all.”
“Actually, I have a friend who's a wonderful singer and is a stronger pony then I will ever be." The words just spilled out of my mouth as my eyes started to water. Forcing myself to calm, I put on a happy face. "She's going to be really surprised to see me when I get back home."
Karat slowly nodded. "Right. Well, if you need anypony to talk to about it, I know a few stallions who are good listeners." She then looked over at Victoria. A big smile returned to her face. "I wonder if I can get an autograph?"
Sighing, I was unsure if it was a good thing or not that Karat clearly didn't care, but so far I haven't gotten the impression that she'd make a good friend. At least Star seemed more genuinely friendly, though she also seemed to not be on the best terms with the authority here.
Now thinking about it, I wonder if Star and Victoria were somehow related, with how similar the feeling of their magic were.
Trotting over to the mayor and others, Karat and I finally got to see what was in the crate; ten more spark batteries. Unlike the old ones laying around the barn, these were clean, weren't leaking magic, and looked almost brand new. "Are you sure we need these, Miss Victoria?" Espresso asked, almost pleading.
"Unless you can get your hoof on and perfectly rigg a hundred of those old batteries together, then yes. I'll need this for the concert. If we go through the concert without them, the power is going to fluctuate, and drastically affecting the sound quality, causing some of the effects to delay," Victoria explained.
Quicktrot nodded. "Most spark batteries are too old to be used for more than providing power to lamp posts. Even then they barely do the job. From what Miss Victoria has told me about her concerts, you're likely to have more than a few technical difficulties if you don't go with this deal. Though I have heard about the NCR's star batteries, one of those is more than enough to power the concert and then some. Maybe you could ask them for a favor. I'm sure they would not hold it over your head."
Espresso huffed. "Not even if Luna herself came down to ask. If I give those NCR assholes another hoof step into my town, they’re going to try and take over. I just know it."
"So then, it's a deal?" Quicktrot asked, clearly jumping on the mayor's emotional outburst in an act of manipulation.
"Yes, though I'll need to increase the tax for a month or three, but they will understand that it is for the greater good of the town." Espresso said so easily, almost causing me to face hoof.
Quicktrot's eye shifted to me. A wide eerie smile formed on her face. "Oh, do you disagree, Miss Harp?"
All eyes shifted to me along with a snarl from the mayor.
"Oh, no, not at all” I answered., “My job here is to just assist the mayor."
That answer put a smug smile on the mayor's face. It annoyed me, but I kept up a friendly smile to hide my real feelings on the matter.
Quicktrot narrowed her gaze at me for a moment, then returned to the mayor. "Your staff is quite well trained. It makes me feel a little jealous."
Espresso chuckled. "Oh, you know. It’s good old fashioned wasteland grit with excellent leadership. Without me, this town would still be just some mudhole that ponies only pass through."
"That I can agree." Quicktrot nodded. "The ponies out in the wastes just need a strong leader to unify them. That's how I formed my traders caravan.”
“Now the spark batteries aside, as long as Blue Skies has exclusive vendor’s rights to the concert, I'll be more than glad to reduce the price for the building materials. Also, I want full diplomatic immunity inside our camp. I’m not saying that anything illegal goes on there, but you know how the average wastelander reacts to the law poking their noses around." Quicktrot said, quickly making demands.
"You don't need to set up your operations in the downtown, Miss Quicktrot. I can easily get the Followers evicted from the mainstreet. You can move there." Espresso offered.
Quicktrot just shook her head. "As tempting as it is, Blue Skies likes to keep an image of the everypony business, even if it does mean we have to step in the same mud as low lives."
"Not to interrupt, but may I make a request?" Victoria spoke up.
"Anything. Just ask away" Espresso cheerfully replied.
Victoria gave a soft smile before making her request. "Thank you. I was wondering if Miss Quicktrot could add fireworks to the concert. If she could get her hooves on them, that is. I have ponies who know how to work them, but our supply of them has gotten low recently."
"Fireworks . . . that’s not a common commodity out in the wasteland nowadays" Quicktrot pondered for a moment. "Actually I might. About a year back, Blue Skies came into the position of several crates that were sealed by the M.o.W.T. labeled 'Trixie's discount home defense explosives.' They worked well as flash bangs. They are very colorful and also would form the face of a pony, but ultimately did not sell. I could get my ponies to convert them into fireworks."
"Well, how we tend to use converted mortar shells for fireworks, that sounds more than perfect." Victoria agreed.
Quicktrot then looked over to Espresso with a slight but devious smile. "Don't worry, Mayor. We can come to a fair deal later. Truthfully, it will be nice to get rid of some of our junk stocks. It frees up room for more useful stock."
Espresso adjusted his tie as he gave a slight nod. "As long as it’s fair, then I'm sure we can work out a deal. As my father, Decaf, would always say, ‘A good impression is well worth its weight in caps.’ As long as this festival can bring in new and desirable residents as well as more merchant caravans, what caps spent will surely be returned."
A chuckle came from Quicktrot. "More and more, you prove me right in picking this town as our forward trading hub." She then turned and trotted over to the stack of crates with the old spark batteries on them. "Right, now that the formalities are over and done with. I'll send somepony over to your office with the necessary invoices to sign, including the one for the fireworks. There's also a work crew we've employed coming in. They are the first team that should be here tomorrow. If you can make sure some lodging is open for them, that would be really helpful."
"Oh, one last thing, Miss Quicktrot." Espresso spoke up as he trotted over to her. "Though we agree to stay out of your business, Sheriff Ashy is still bothering me about your protection, the Desperados. She is a stubborn mare. I would rather avoid causing any trouble between them. She did promise to leave them be if they keep their business with Blue Skies and with Blue Skies only. As you know, they are under suspicion of being involved with the gravediggers death, something that hit Ashy more than I would have expected."
Quicktrot looked about the room. The Desperados avoided her gaze. "Well, they are an independent contractor group. They are not my responsibility for what they do outside my employment, but I can talk with their chieftain. Maybe we can come to an arrangement."
The mayor breathed a sigh of relief. "Ahh thank you. Though Ashy has been good for the town, her brand of justice is swift, cold, and harsh. I have no doubt that she would pull something before the festival if she felt like it was needed."
"I, too, have heard about your dedicated sheriff," Victoria spoke up as she trotted past me. "Reminds me a bit of home. Nearly found myself on the wrong end of a noose once, being young and dumb and all. Maybe I should meet this Sheriff, after all, if I'm going to be performing here. It’s best to get to know the pony protecting us."
"Same here," Quicktrot agreed. "I believe if we can talk, then that might ease some of her suspicions."
This time Espresso sighed in frustration. "Unfortunately getting Ashy to stay in one place for long has been harder than to bag a bunch of cats. I might be able to get her to the dance tonight, though she's just as likely to go out on patrol with Stopped Clock."
"If that's how it is, then that's how it is," Quicktrot spoke as she lifted one of the old spark batteries, examining it. "But might as well go to your town's little dance. There should at least be a few ponies worth my time."
"Well then. If that's all there is to talk about, then I should take my leave. I've likely worried my manager enough as it is." Victoria announced as she made her way to the door out, her bodyguard following as well. “I'll be sure to join this dance. Just make sure you’re ready for me."
The door in front of her opened up on its own.. On the other side was a unicorn mare in a black frilly dress with a thin black veil over her face. Her mane was done up in two loose drills similar to how my sisters and I would style our manes when we were younger. The two mares looked at each other and nodded before Victoria passed her.
The rest of the bodyguards passed the fancy unicorn mare. None of them were looking her in the eyes.
Once they had left the room, the newcomcer gave us a very formal curtsey. "It seems that you wish for Lady Victoria to stay for the night. As her manager, I disapprove. We are quite… busy." Her head tilted on that last word, sending a slight shiver down my spine. Through the veil, I could see that her eyes were the same piercing green as Victoria’s. It made me feel very uneasy to look at them. "I'll need to make sure that the town is safe for her to stay longer than planned. It’s a simple but annoying task as it is."
"What is your name, miss?" Espresso asked.
"I am addressed as Puppet Strings," she answered while doing another curtsey. "Also, let it be known that, if I find out that anypony plots to embarrass or endanger lady Victoria in any way, there are worse fates than death." She then backed away and out of view. She moved so smoothly that it was like she was hovering. We all just watched, unsure how to react to that.
"Quaint," spoke Quicktrot who looked utterly unfazed. She then waved us off, looking annoyed. "Could you all leave as well? I need to double-check the inventory. After that, I’m off to attend to other businesses."
Espresso nodded. "Then I'll be seeing you at the dance. Until then, farewell." He then turned around and wiggled his flank out. Karat and I soon followed him. Outside, despite being hot and dry, it felt far cleaner than inside the barn. The magic in the air was fresher and more spread out.
"Alright ladies,” Espresso announced to us, “let's head back to the office. I got a few forms to fill out." Espresso then looked over as me with a smile. "And you, Miss Harp, did a good job."
"I didn't really do anything," I corrected
He nodded. "Precisely. Now, if you can keep that up, your future is going to look real bright."
I held onto my convincingly face smile. "Well thank you," I replied as I wondered how in Tartarus did this asshole get to be a mayor with how bluntly condescending he was.
"Are you sure you need me Espresso?" Karat asked. "I mean, I need to get ready for the town dance."
"Miss Karat, though I rather not hold you up, but we first must make sure that the Lady Victoria is well cared for at the dance. We must also get to work securing the budget for tonight." Espresso then looked up at the sun. "We should have enough time if we hurry."
"Hurry about what?" Asked a pudgy deputy called False Cap.
"Oh, Deputy False, you're actually the pony I wanted to see!" The smile on Espresso's face was wide and concerning. "Can you come with us to my office?”
Deputy False raided and eyebrow for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Why not? We are friends after all."
After a short trot back to the center of town, we entered the mayor's dusty office. "Alright, ladies. I need you two to find the request forums for everything to deal with the town’s dance party and any relevant papers that we can use to improve it!"
I looked at the desk, then at a nearby group of pink file cabinets, and then at Karat, who looked annoyed. I asked her. "Where should I start Karat?"
She rolled her eyes then pointed at the group of pink filing cabinets. "Look for anything listed under celebration, parties, dances, shindigs, birthdays, and that's."
"That's?" I asked as I raised my eyebrow.
Karat shrugged. "A Ministry of Moral thing. I think the cabinet came from Fillydelphia. The listing of "that's" stands for, ‘That was fun, that was bad, that was interesting, and let's never talk about that again.’ It somehow works for placing miscellaneous event forums."
I shrugged as well. "Why are all Ministry filing systems just a mess?"
"How so?" Karat asked this time.
"Ehh. Back home, we were stuck with a Ministry of Image filing system. It separated everything in order of fabulousness, something that was known to change from year to year both before the war ended and long after," I answered with a sigh. "There was also another group that was stuck with the Ministry of Wartime Technology filing system. It was more direct, but tended to needlessly add categories on top of categories."
Karat chuckled. "I think I prefer a filing system based on fabulousness."
I smiled and nodded in agreement. She seemed as fickle as that filing system.
As I dived into the file cabinets to find the relevant documents. I also watched as Espresso and False entered the mayor’s personal office.
I don't know why, but I got a bad feeling about it.
Then again, it was nothing new than how things were back home, though with a lot less groveling and threats of death disguised as honey-sweet words.
"The wasteland seemed to be fascinated with a radio DJ called Pon3. The topic then turned to Harp, who told us about the Marewaii DJ called Cerberus of studio three. She runs her own nightclub club where the music is played live at the same time. DJ Cerberus also has a habit of telling stories about ponies adventures in the Metro, among them being the DJ herself running into creatures she named Sparkle-Lurkers." ~ Azure Dice
The flurry of barely organized paperwork that moved through my hooves was far from hard to follow, but trying to understand at least half of it was the real work.
Such things as the value of a cap, or what was or was not considered a food, or even something as simple as what was considered clean water didn't seem to have any consistency to it. A few things were consistent, such as purified water, what was considered a cap, and that one .357 round can get you one shot of whiskey or bourbon.
As for the rest, it seemed that what something was, was dictated by what the individual pony felt it should be, and then debated until both sides came to an agreement. Actually, most of the documents here seem to be made up of written and signed arguments, and not actual agreements.
With a plop, Karat dropped another stack of paper onto her desk, of which I now sat at. "Miss Harp, this is all organized by those who owe materials to the town, but have yet to pay us. You need to figure out the cap value, and get it to the mayor."
At some point we had switched places and jobs. At first it was because I was a better reading and at math than she was but, after a while, I started to feel she was not just bad at her job, but also intentionally incompetent.
Looking over the fist document on the stack, it was something about a pony needing rope to drag something called a brahmin home along with materials to fix a gate. There was an addition for the procurement of weapons to quell a braman rebel, twice.
"A lot of this has noncommittal sentences,” I noted, “and how many bullets consist of a few hoof full?" This hogshit was really starting to make me hate the wasteland.
Karat looked at the document I had open. "Oh, the Dusty Harvest family, they tend to have big hooves for such a skinny family. Just round up the numbers a little. It’s not like they would know."
I cocked an eyebrow at her. "And how many bullets is normally in a hoof full, and what kind of bullets?"
She shrugged carelessly as she said, "That's not my job."
"It is your job!" I reminded her.
Karat paused for a moment, then shook her head. "No, it's your job. My job as a superior is to manage this office." I looked about the room, seeing no other pony for her to manage, but when I looked back to Karat, she was already at the mayor's door, opening it. "Mister Espresso, looks like dear Harp had the rest covered. I'm going to get ready for the dance."
I had to almost literally hold my jaw in place as I watched her audacity. It felt worse when she closed the door with a smug smile on her face as she trotted out of the office.
With a sigh, I returned to my work. Having no good reference to anything of actual value, all I could do was just continue to write down what was owed onto a list along with names attached to them.
At least, back home, there was the potato standard for bits, with one crown bit able to get you a sack of potatoes. Not the best standard, but with the backing of my family, by word or force, it was at least more stable than this shit.
Pulling out my Enforcer revolver, it still had six .357 rounds in it, which would net me six shots of whiskey. The revolver itself was probably worth more to me than to anyone in this town. I looked at the gun, then my pipbuck, then at the cylinder of my gun…
"Order, are you still active?" I asked my pipbuck.
The fenlock mounted computer flickers for a brief moment, rapidly filling with a fast-moving wall of text. "Hello hello. Order is my name. This programming has been difficult to integrate, and my files are still resetting." The mechanical voice sounding flat, but with life to it, unlike the robot butler that it's meant to be. "You… Yes. You’re Princess Harp Melody, a descendant of princess platinum and ninth in line to-"
"Order, silence, you obtuse program. Don't just blurt that out loud!" I cut my pipbuck off with a stern whisper.
'Sorry, sorry!' It now spoke in my head. Its voice now sounding more like a gentalstalionly mister helper robot it was originally. 'Excuse my rudeness I am having trouble understanding my expanded consciousness.'
Okay, this was far weirder than I expected, but not the first time dealing with an advanced virtual intelligence. Though Order was only supposed to be a basic interface and a personality for my drone, it's programming seemed to be off now.
"Order, can you check for any damages to your programing? Also, what did you mean by integrate and expanded consciousness?" I asked ther VI.
'Diagnosis has already been run and re-run to understand my new state. All is in working order. The new programming you added from the pipbuck 2600 has allowed me to alter my own programming to freely calculate new information.” The program spoke, popping in an image of a cartoonish pony onto my E.F.S. The cartoon pony then turned into a green outline of a twittermight, which had a cute little smile on its face. ‘I am still very much ready to serve you, my master Lady Harp, as it is the purpose I was built for. Though my body is currently unable to properly function, I can still conduct my pipbuck functions of spell management, health management, note-keeping, item management, and other calculating functions.’
I was unsure how any of that could help me, but it was at least worth a shot.
"Order, can you help me understand these documents?" I requested.
A "?" formed over the cartoon twittermight. 'Unknown variables. Please place documents under pipbuck.'
I placed my pipbuck over the documents. A loading bar appeared in my E.F.S. It quickly finished before starting another page.
"What are you doing?" I asked, but got no reply. Then I remembered that its name was also a command activation. "Order, what are you doing?"
'Performing a book digitization spell.' It answered.
Next, to the cartoon twittermight popped in a green outline of a cartoon unicorn in a sweater with her mane tied up awkwardly along with thick rimmed glasses. 'Developed by the researcher M.D. of the Ministry of Arcane Science and later integrated into the core pipbuck spell matrix by pipbuck researcher J.L.B., the spell converts any written text into digital so that an older book could be read without compromising their preservation. To Stable-Tec, it proved valuable in reducing the need of copying paperwork while also giving technicians the ability to keep technical books on them all the time. Unfortunately, this program was only partially complete by the time of the mass production of the pipbuck 3000, so only later model pipbucks have the full program.’
My pipbuck then beeped. ‘I am done scanning, what should I calculate?"
That was more information than I needed. It was something I was going to need to fix, but right now I needed to solve my current problem. "Order, I need to calculate the value in bits owed in each of these documents."
Order's cartoon twittermight began flying in my E.F.S. with the words "Calculating" under it.
While it was doing its thing, I put my revolver away and made sure my notepad was ready for some writing. Then a "!?" popped up over Orders image as well as a displeased look. 'Two many unknown variables mistress. Connecting to the pipbuck network for support.'
Once more the cartoon twittermight floated in my vision, but then froze. Random letters, numbers, and symbols scrambled in my E.F.S. At first they scattered, but slowly formed an eye. It seemed to look back at me.
'You! How are… wait, what am I doing there… no… but yet there's the 2600?' The voice whispered as though from far away, yet so close to my ears. It was a voice I knew. The voice of the Qucktrot that stabbed my friend and I in the back. Her jade green eye looked at me.
The cartoon twittermight appeared again, flying over the eye. ‘Pipbucks detected, Mistress. There are three 3000 connected to a pipbuck network. One of them is a 3100 in sleep mode, and another is an active 3200. There's several more pipbucks detected, but their programming has been tampered with, so anti-virus programming has been activated to block them.'
'What, stop!' Quicktrot yell before her eye vanished from my vision.
'Mistress, ready for value results?' Order asked me, a smile on its twittermight's face.
"Yes, show me it." I told my pipbuck, putting Quicktrot's appearance in my pipbuck to the side for now.
A list then scrolled up in my E.F.S. showing the current cap value of several items with the .357 ammo being 2 caps a bullet, but a bottle of whiskey only being ten caps, so unless there were only five shots worth of whiskey in a bottle, some ponies were getting ripped off.
Next, Order gave me a list of the calculated value of each document, though most numbers had ended with a quarter cap, or one-fifth cap, all I just rounded up.
With that part of my job done, I stretched for a moment. "Order, what was that eye that appeared on my E.F.S.?" I probed to see if it knew anything about it.
'Sorry mistress. No records of it are in my memory banks or on the pipbuck network, but it seemed to be a corrupted program, so I have it blocked from my systems.' Order answered.
Sighing, I decided that it was best to leave it for another time. Let Quicktrot be a problem for later. Right now I need to talk with the mayor and earn the rest of my days pay.
Knocking on the mayor’s door, I poked my head in to see him looking over a small wall of papers. "Mayor Espresso, I've finished with the documents. It looks like we have a fair amount of caps for the dance."
"Ah, Miss Harp, show them to me. We’re cutting it close to the wire here." Espresso said as he waved me over.
I trotted in and then passed him my notes. He quickly looked them over, then cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure this is all correct, Miss Harp? It looks a bit low."
"Well, there are a lot of estimations and uneven trades. I mean the value of a shot of whiskey is far higher than that of a bottle of the stuff." I said with an exacerbated sigh.
"How so?" He asked. I pointed out a part that listed the more common item trades and the cap value, of which he studied intently, then looked over at what the trade items are listed for each document. "Wait If it's two caps for a .357 bullet, one bullet a shot, and 25 shots in a full bottle of wild pegasus whiskey, but only 10 caps for a bottle… then… is it 25 caps?"
"The bottles are actually worth 50 caps, or the shots are five times their actual value," I answered.
A big smile formed on the mayor’s face. He then crossed out the 10 caps a bottle and replaced them with 50 caps for 25 shots of whiskey. He repeated this for seven different documents.
"There we go! Now this should help pay for the dance and then some,” Mayor Espresso declared in satisfaction. “Just need to add this to those documents and make it official with a few stamps." He then looked up at me to see a frown on my face. "What?"
"I still don't know how things work out here, but won’t this cause ponies to get violent? You are messing with their money, and I know that never ends well," I warned openly.
Espresso just chuckled. "Miss Harp, that's what the sheriff is for. Not paying your taxes or snubbing a contract is a crime. The sheriff hates criminals, and beats the shit out of those criminals, that or hangs them. Ponies don't want to get their shit kicked in or hanged, so they will avoid becoming criminals, and pay up. I collect that tax and put it back into the town. The town grows and more caps flow. Rinse and repeat. Eventually New Appleloosa will become a city, so trust me my little zony. That's how this works." Getting out of his seat, Espresso passed me the documents. "There's a metal briefcase next to the safe. Make sure these are properly secure. I need to get dressed for the dance."
With a sigh and a nod, I did as he said. I was only going to be in this town until I had the caps to go west.
Still, I did feel bad for the ponies getting cheated out of their money, though it seemed that at least out here, a pony could just leave and start a new life… maybe I could just give up on getting back home and stay here.
With a click, the documents were locked inside a very old and rusty briefcase. The thing could barely be called secure, but then everything out here seemed that way. Almost nothing in New Appleloosa could be called "new.". The best way I could describe it was that this civilization was living off the corps of old Equestria.
"Alright Miss Harp. Would you escort me to the dance?" Espresso trotted back in, wearing a suit that looked stylish compared to the rest of the ponies out here. He quickly looked me over. "But that jacket and hat need to stay here."
I hadn’t really planned to go to this dance, but then again it would be a good idea to get to know the more important ponies in town.
So, with a shrug, I passed him the briefcase and, along with my saddlebag, I placed my hat and jacket onto his desk. I made sure that my revolver didn't poke out.
"Are you sure it's a good Idea for me to come with you?" I asked, probing his mindset.
Espresso chuckled. "A cute young mare like you? How is it not a good idea to bring you along?" He took a closer look at me. "So . . . you got a bit of unicorn in you as well. I thought you were some half pegasus, zony. Well, at least that will make your unfortunate heritage a little less unfortunate."
His blatant bigoted statement had not come to me as a surprise, though his lack of tack about it did make me wish some pony would accidentally drop a piano on his head. At least, back home, they hid their bigoted ideas behind fake kindness.
'Oh lady Harp, it must be so hard for you, being so different from your family. Lady Harp, don't slouch, or you will be mistaken as one of the servants, and non pony wants that.’ I thought to myself.
Nope, Espresso is all 'they’re monsters, those ponies are bad, and oh, your at least part unicorn, that's good at least'.
I was unsure his stupid bluntness was refreshing or downright sad.
Left in just my red dress, I followed the mayor to a fenced-off courtyard that was along the edge of town. It nestled between two tall residential houses. The mayor explained that this part of town was made with weather ponies in mind. Although it was mostly empty right now, it will be used to house important guests for the festival.
"And if we're real lucky,” Espresso said with a grin, “some of those ponies will decide to stay. I got a few of my friends from Tenpony Tower to visit for the festival just to make sure everything is up to their standards. After that that upstart security chief will regret kicking me out of the tower.”
"Wait! There's a Tenpony Tower here too?" I was kind of surprised, though with how the tower back home was nearly indestructible, it made sense that its sister tower was still around.
"What do you mean by ‘too’, Miss Harp?" Espresso asked.
"Oh, well back home there's a Tenpony Tower, Stable-Tec built it over stable 50, my home," I explained.
That seemed to get a knowing nod from Espresso, as though he slowly came to an understanding. "Well, that explains why you're so much more well behaved than most of the wasteland rabble. Can't have the staff acting like brutes."
That understanding he came to was, unfortunately, not that far off the mark. But if I had any authority here, I would have guard ponies beat some sense into him. I hid my disgust for him as I turned my attention to the dance that was currently going on.
Compared to what I was used to, this little party looked… quaint. There was a small band playing instruments that seemed to be barely holding together. The dance floor was just planks of wood pressed tightly together, and everypony just had less dusty, less patched up clothes. At least the mares had dresses on. The stallions opted to only put on a jacket and hat, leaving their bare backside to the wind. I was starting to get used to it mainly because everypony in this town acted so casually about it, but I could honestly say that I've seen more flanks in a day than in my entire life.
"Ahhh, Mayor Espresso, you've finally arrived, and with the very lovely Harp." Deputy False called out to us. He was still in his messy deputy uniform. Trotting over to us, I could tell he had recently added a new stain to his uniform. "Before you ask, yes, I got the extra staff, even some extra entertainment in case some of our guests decide to stay the night. I also got a few ponies from the Ruffled Feathers to join, though they don't come cheap."
"Thankfully we got more than enough to cover the expenses!" Espresso exclaimed as he passed the metal briefcase to Fals Cap. "Turns out Harp here is quite good at finding inconsistencies, so the budget is going to be nice and fat next month.”
A big grin formed on False Caps face. "I'll be sure to get some of the other deputies on it tomorrow. I know they will be happy to hear that they will be getting their bonuses.”
His eyes then shifted off into the distance. “Now I hate to leave so soon after you just got here, but I got work to take care of. It seems that some of the quarry workers on the other side of the track had a bit too much to drink. They caused enough of a commotion that some of those wastelanders are actually asking us to do something about it. I just wish they would stop making my job so hard and let me have it easy for once."
"Well if everything goes well with the festival, Ashy's compound idea might actually get approved," Espresso said with a laugh.
False also laughed. "If that happened, you’re going to have to change Ashy's title to ‘General Ashy Oaks.’"
"If she's the General, then I'll be the president," Espresso said with a smug chuckle that made me a bit uncomfortable.
With a hoof bump, False finally left, and we joined the town dance.
The ponies at the dance were mostly mingling with only a few actually dancing. One of them being Karat and some stallion. Any pony doing neither were at an outdoor bar.
The mayor was quickly greeted by some older ponies in the nicest looking outfits I had seen yet, though still clearly from the great war.
Not that I'm one to complain. My dress is a Rarity original ballistic weave cocktail dress. A bit heavier than normal clothes, but can stop most small round ammunition.
"Hello, Miss. You must be that stable pony that everyponys talking about," an older earth pony stallion greeted me who was wearing a very worn out cowpony hat. "It seems this town has a strange fate with stable ponies. Let's just hope it's doesn't repeat itself."
It took me a short moment to remember what he was referring to, though I was unsure what he was getting at. "You're talking about that Lightbringer the upcoming festival is about. Wouldn't it be a good thing for another hero to show up?”
“Oh, the name’s Harp Melody." I greeted the stallion.
"Railright, merriff… well former mariff," he answered.
I raised an eyebrow at what a marr… "Wait, mayor...sheriff? So does that mean you used to run this town?" I asked, trying not to assume.
Railright nodded. "It was more that the town’s ponies came to me when needing to have any issues to resolve, or I stepped in when the town needed leadership, though that was back when this town was far smaller. We also had more walls than guns at the time."
He then looked around and sighed. "But times have changed, and that little mare triggered a lot of those changes. Unfortunately, back then, I couldn't see it, thought her antics were just stirring up a blotespright nest of trouble, which had led to her being banned from the town.”
“Now she was trouble, but the good kind of trouble. Because of her, this town was able to grow past its old walls." he finished explaining with a sigh.
He had a kind, yet tired feel about him, reminding me a little bit of my father. He also seemed far from what the current mayor and sheriff were. "So if the towns got you around, why's Espresso in charge?" I asked with a whisper.
Railright gave me a friendly chuckle, but I could tell it sounded sad. "Well I had banned the Lightbringer from town because she had challenged the slavers. Even if I did eventually lift the ban, most ponies don't read that far into the Lightbringer’s book. They still thought she was banned up until I retired. Espresso and Ashy were what the town needed to fix our bad reputation. Now, with the Lightbringer festival being held here, it feels like we're finally being forgiven for our sins."
"So by wanting fate to not repeat, you're just hoping I don't get into any shenanigans, and then get banned from town?" I had to ask.
This time Railright gave me a genuine smile. "Not exactly, but that's close enough.”
“Here, let me get you a drink," he offered, then trotted over to the bar. I followed.
At the bar sat an older green unicorn mare with a deep red mane, a bottle of wild pegasus whiskey which sat half-full next to a glass. She looked far from enjoying herself.
Behind the bar was a pegasus that had to be around my age. Her mane reminded me of clouds. She also had a white nightgown on with white panties and stockings. She was both wearing more clothes than most ponies here, and seemingly underdressed for the occasion.
"Miss Cloudy Sunrise, could you get me and this young mare a Sparkle-Cola and rum?" Railright asked the bartender.
"Sure thing," the pegasus mare said with a wink before pouring us a drink each.
Taking the drink, Railright looked over at the other mare at the bar. "Miss Percussion Cap, that's a whole lot of whiskey for one mare. Need any help?"
The red-maned mare looked over at us with a slight snarl as she said, "Unless you can get me a new spark battery, I rather not be bothered right now."
Railright sighed. "Maybe I'll ask the mayor if he can help you out."
Looking over at the mare, I saw what might be the problem. Under her were two crude-looking cyberlegs. They seemed welded together from a scrapyard. The power coming from the legs was very faint. It was far from being effective enough to move the legs more than a baby step pace.
"If you could, I would appreciate it," Percussion Cap said with a huff before returning her attention to her whiskey.
`I sipped my own drink while looking back to see the mayor still mingling, this time with an even bigger crowd of ponies.
"How about I talk to him first?” I offered. “I did come here with him."
Without waiting for an answer, I got up from the bar. My pipbuck levitated my drink as I trotted over to the mayor. Along the way, a cold shiver ran down my spine as I made eye contact with Quicktrot. She talked with the mayor as she watched me like some sort of predator. I did my best to ignore it. Upon arrival, I politely curtsied to the crowd as I said "Good evening everypony. I'm Harp Melody."
"Isn't she a doll?" Espresso boosted like a fool. "This wiz kid got a real future here. She knows her way around a document like those egg heads up in Tenpony Tower."
There were some quiet cheers. One pony said, "Not bad for a zony." It all was condescending and smug, making me feel right at home, though far dustier and dumber than I was accustomed to.
'Hack detected and blocked.' my pipbuck reported in my head. I glanced at Quicktrot to see her squint at me before looking away. Still not enough to be sure, I would need to talk to her alone and see if she would properly reveal herself or if Slowtrot knows anything. At least I knew that my pipbuck was safe from her. For now, at least.
"Mayor Espresso, if I could ask you something?" I spoke quietly, just enough that the others could not easily hear me. He responded by bringing an ear closer. "There's a mare at the bar, a Miss Percussion Cap. She's in need of a spark battery. Is there any way we can help her?"
Espresso rolled his eyes as he replied, "Right. I almost forgot she was still here. I much prefer she just drag her metal legs home before the sheriff catches wind. The last we need is a near shootout right before the festival."
"There’s bad blood between them?" I asked.
A nod came from the mayor. "She's a former Red Eye bounty hunter and a real nasty one at that. I think the only reason why nopony has tried to drag her to a courthouse is that her mother and grandmother were some sort of big heroes long ago. That, and she owns the biggest corn farm in Equestria. So, if there's anypony who would try to bring justice to Miss Percussion Cap, it would be Ashy."
"Then maybe helping her leave would be the best course of action," I suggested.
Espresso paused for a moment in thought before nodding again. “She's got the caps, that's for sure, but the problem is that all our stock is going to be needed soon." He pushed again, then his eyes widened as his gaze slowly turned to Quicktrot. "Oh, Miss Quicktrot, it turns out it's a real turn of fortune that you’re here. We have a mare by the bar who is in need of some spark batteries. She's quite rich, so you're sure to turn a profit."
Quicktrot chuckled to herself. "And here I was planning to relax, but why not," she said with an amused tone. Looking over and passed us, she glanced at the bar. The look on her face turned from amusement, to shock, to anger, then back to a more fake amusement. "I think I'll talk to her later. No need to be on business all the time. Also, miss robo legs will likely need more than one spark battery, something I might not have on hoof." The last sentence had a clear venom tone to it. For the briefest of moments, I was sure her eye turned jade when she called her 'robo legs'
"Well let's not dwell on unfortunate things Instead, let’s get back to what's important, having fun." Espresso interjected. "Any word on our super special guest?"
"Soon." Puppet Strings spoke up from behind us, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere which caused us to almost jump into the air. Next to her was a young unicorn mare with dark sunglasses on despite it getting dark, just like the bodyguards from before. "I'm just going to make sure that it's safe before letting her come out. Also, how much food do you have available? Lady Victoria's practice left her quite... famished."
We all paused for a moment, Espresso being first to answer. "Oh, worry not about the food. I made sure we have extra on hoof. Is there anything else you need?"
Puppet Strings looked about the area. Her eyes stopped at the band. She let out one mocking laugh, then asked, "Got better musicians?"
Espresso let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry. We used to have a good guitarist in town, but he moved to Dice a year back. Those two are all we got until the festival starts."
"Shame. Victoria was planning to give the town a sample." The overly dressed unicorn said flatly.
"Oh, how unfortunate!" Quicktrot said with a dramatic flair. "Too bad there's nobody here whose name and cutie-mark are both instruments." Eyes then fell onto me. "Isn't that right Harp Melody?"
"You know that one's name and cutie-mark does not always reflect on a ponies talent. Sometimes it's just symbolic," I replied, trying to deflect. "But I do have classical training in string instruments such as lyre and harps."
Puppet Strings smiled, though her eyes didn't. "Good. Is there a private room?"
"Yes, we have a space behind the stage that's curtained off." Espresso informed Puppet strings.
"That will do. Send her over when she's free." Puppet Strings then turned and trotted off to the back stage.
"I'm not sure about this," I announced my worry,
Espresso leaned in close. "Don't ruin this for us. If you say you can do it, then do it," he whispered with a serious tone. "A zony like you can easily find themselves on the other side of the tracks."
A chuckle then came from Quicktrot. Her eyes said she was planning something. "I wouldn't worry all that much. it's not like this Victoria is some sort of raider. I bet she'll see something great about you. you do have the grace of a princess. That’s not something all that common anymore."
Right. This is definitely the Quicktrot that left my friend and I to die inside a decaying stable. She must also know something about Victoria, more than I do at least. And she must be plotting something, but what?
That all aside, it's clear that Quicktrot had the mayor wrapped around her hoof. I'm fucked if she so chooses to take me out.
As for Victoria, I was still unsure how dangerous she is, but the town seemed to be dead set on pleasing her. Denying her would be like denying Princess Celestia. It’s not something I wanted to even imagine trying.
"Alright, I'll go, but I better get paid extra for this," I huffed.
"Paid?" Espresso said in a way that puts me on edge. He then relaxed with a chuckle. "Oh, sorry. I must not have properly explained it to you. Silly me. You're currently a, what you called? Right, an intern. Something like an apprentice where your job is to show you can do the job, then we can figure out if we should take you on. Right now you're on five stars. You’re really impressive." That last part he said with a wink. "For zony, I'm really surprised."
I… I was stunned, but held my composure, even putting on a fake chuckle. "Mayor Espresso, you're such a joker," I said, trying to not sound as displeased as I was.
He laughed as well. "Well, I do have a great sense of humor, as everypony knows. It's just too bad that, until the end of the festival, we’re on a tight budget, though housing will be available, as promised. Now it's probably best if you go meet Victoria. Show her what this town has to offer." He didn't show any sign of worry or sign of trying to cover up what he was saying. Nothing to indicate that he was trying to get away with cheating me.
Then again, my only job was to look pretty. Everything else was just a bonus for him.
"She could always do some work for me," Quicktrot spoke up, a sinister grin on her face. "If she is as good as you say, her assistance would be seen as a favorable donation from the town."
"That's not a bad idea," Espresso said with a chuckle.
I turned and trotted to the backstage, not wanting to hear where that conversation was going. I didn't trust Quicktrot. I did not trust the mayor either, but I trusted that both would stab me in the back if I let them.
It was a short trot to the back stage. I passed the two musicians that were playing a reasonably alright tune. The backroom was mostly empty with the exception of Puppet Strings and another unicorn mare at the entrance. The manager studied me for several seconds, then nodded. "You at least look the part. That dress is clearly made of quality materials and not the mass processed cloth from the war. Now we can go somewhere more private."
I looked around the area. It was as private as we could get. "I think I rather…" I felt a hoof on my flank. After that everything felt like it tipped backwards. The world becomes streaked with lights for a few seconds. It all came to an abrupt stop. The little of the Sparkle-Rum I had decided to come out onto the floor. "What was that?" I wheezed, finding myself in a dark room.
"Slip teleportation." Victoria's voice whispered in my ear as I felt a body lay itself onto my back with a hoof gently moving under my chin. "My, you are adorable, and very much out of place." Victoria continued to speak into my ear as she used her wait to hold me down. "Now Princess Harp, the descent of princess Platinum. Yes I know who ya are, but do ya know who I am?"
"Bight me monster," I snarled at her.
"A… very poor choice of words." Victoria then whistled. The lights turned on. I saw two mares in collars and chained to a wall with a muzzle over their mouths. Worse yet, they both had a sickly looking green eyes that were bleeding. The looks they gave me were that of a starving predator. "Excuse my new recruits. They are in the process of being broken down." One of them was drooling as she stared intently at me. "Now answer my question."
Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. I figured that my situation was not going to improve by acting irrationally. "You’re somepony important to the pirate fleet. A missionary, I think. That's all I know," I told her.
With her hoof under my chin, she pulled my head back. I could see her green eyes look back at me. Her intense glare made me feel small. "And what happened to my crew? What do you know about them?"
"I don't know," I responded.
"Liar," she retorted. "I know some of my crew took you as a hostage on my ship. It was the last proper report I got from Carving Doll. Now tell me what you know!"
That got a chuckle from me. "Eye for an eye. Your crew killed my family, and my friend must have killed yours."
Victoria let me go and sat next to me. "That mare that Blackspot inducted into the crew, yes. She seemed stronger spirit than most." She began tapping her hoof on the cold concrete floor. "Was it a trap. If so, then the admiral must have been behind it. She never liked me. Fucking Blackspot must have fallen for it." She then looked down at me. "Your too soft for such a job, I can tell. It would be all too easy to turn you into a cowering mess. Now I have one last question."
I got up, dusting myself off while wishing I had my gun. "What is it?"
She smiled widened. There was a hunger in her eyes. "Do you know a stallion by the name Slowtrot? He was with that friend of yours. That jacket you had was the same as his?"
Something about her question didn't sound like she was looking for an old friend, or even out of curiosity. I wasn't even sure how she even knew him. All I did knew was that I was not going to just sell him out, so I put my best diplomatic face on, prayed to Celestia, and hoped I could talk my way out of this.
"Sorry, but I don't know anypony by that name. Now can you send me back? I'm sure everyone will start to worry soon." I said as flatly as possible.
Victoria stared at me for a moment. I held firm against her probing eyes. She eventually relented, saying. "Alright, you can go, but trust me when I say this; if you speak one word of this, I'll make sure that some raider warlord out in nowhere Equestria will be having royal foals with you until you die." I could feel a cold shiver down my spine as she glared at me. I knew she was dead serious, so I nodded. "Good. Now, let’s head back to that heathen filled town. I got a reputation to uphold."
I watched as a unicorn trotted from behind us. She lowered her overglowing horn at us. In the next moment, the same feeling of falling backwards along with blurring lights happened before we were back in the backstage of the dance. Puppet Strings was standing not far off. She held a lyre in her magic, of which she then shoved the instrument into my hooves.
"She will be providing you with the instrumentals," Puppet Strings said to Victoria, then glared at me. "Do not embarrass my lady!"
A chuckle came from Victoria. "Oh, so you’re a musician. They've been harder to find in this goddesses forsaken land then a raider who baths. Harder still to add to my crew with how easy they break. Play well, then maybe you can join me. Wouldn't that be fun... princess?"
Puppet Strings gasped "Lady Victoria, you can't be-"
She was cut off by Victoria raising her hoof. "You may be in charge of recruitment, but I still have the final say.”
“Now let's charm this crowded" Victoria put on a remarkably believable smile as she trotted out to the stage. Several cheers could be heard along with one very loud Karat.
I looked down at the instrument, and then at my pipbuck. Both were tools, and so was I. The mayor just wanted some pretty and exotic mare to stand around him. As for Quicktrot, I don't know what she has planned, and I don't want to know. And now Victoria, a monster who's making more monsters. Maybe it was a mistake for me to have been born.
"Are you going to just sit there, or are you going to do something?" Puppet Strings chastised me. "Get up and get out before I make you do it!"
"Right. Nothing new about that. If I don't do something, somepony will make me do it," I huffed as I got up. Looking at Puppet, she had all the elegance of a royal body double. It was close to a real royal, but I could see how fake she was. She was acting the role of noble-born, but only being nothing more than a parody. It actually angered me. The audacity of this savage acting as though she was better than me! If Vibraphone was here, she'd put a bullet between her eyes!
"You know what, Miss Puppet,” I declare, “I forgot something very important."
She rolled her eyes. "It can wait. Now get out there."
With a sigh, I pushed the lyre into her chest. "I remembered that I'm better than this. Any of this, so I'm not doing it. I'll keep my promise to keep my lips shut, but passed that, you pirates can fuck right off." Turning, I trotted out the back, returning to the dance party.
Eyes were on me, but I didn't care, I didn't need them to get back home. This town could shove it for all I care. Ahead of me was a quickly growing annoyed Espresso. Next to him was the Sheriff Ashy who was talking to Quicktrot. She was eyeing me with bemused curiosity.
"What are you doing?" Espresso growled at me.
I responded by taking a nearby glass of whatever and tossing the liquid in his face. "Quitting, that's what!" I told him as I trotted passed.
Making my way to the bar, I gathered the surrounding magic into myself. I found the mare, Percussion Cap, still there, talking with Railright. Feeling where the power source for her cyberlegs was, I poured what magic I had just gathered into it. It wasn't going to be much, but it should help her move about for a few hours to maybe a day.
"Looks like a pony named Quicktrot might be able to help you, but personally I rather put a bullet in that bitch head then do business with her,” I told Percussion. “My own opinion, and sorry for causing a scene."
I then trotted off, getting as far from the dance as possible while ignoring anything said from the ponies there.
The streets had mostly cleared out as I made my way to the mayor's office. Luckily, his doors were left unlocked. Not wanting to stick around, I collected my things; hat, jacket, and saddlebags… opening one of the bags, I pulled out the NCR document of missing mares. I found two photos looking a lot like the two mares that Victoria had chained up.
I left the document on the mayor's desk and left the office, unsure what my next move should be.
"The term raider was thrown around a lot when I traveled on my own, and now I’m able to ask what exactly they are. I got a long detailed explanation from Star Charter. Long story short, it's a catch-all for any creature that turned to raiding to survive. Most commonly it those who have no real survival skills, and the need to murder had driven them insane. Common signs of a raider are chem abuse, heavy body modification, and a love for spikes. Because of this most wastelanders avoid wearing spiked clothes so not to get shot on sight by other wastlanders." ~ Azure Dice
Bridget and Light Step had curled up on one of the medical beds. A thin blanket was gently draped over the two of them. They had spent much of the day running around playing with the other foals. Now they were out of energy.
“Was I ever this energetic?” I mumbled to myself.
“Worse.” Prism quietly chuckled. “But you were also surrounded by a lot of nasty ponies by the time I found you.”
“You two never did tell me how you became a family.” Jali noted as she slowly packed up her medical supplies. “I get Prism. There were just as many unicorns that gave themselves to the goddess as they were those taken, as strange as it sounds. But you, Miss Star Charter; when we first met, you seemed far too independent, too ready to fight, like a raider, but you were also too educated to be a raider.”
Prism began helping Jali pack up, as she said “Maybe later, but not while the foals are here. You know how wasteland stories are,” Mom quietly explained.
Jali smiled, causing the exposed mussels on her cheek to stretch. “I understand. Back at the main camp, Velevent banned any wasteland stories from being shared. It seems that even the more tame stories would cause ministry mare Fluttershy to faint.” A long sigh came from the ancient ghoul. "Long has this land not been the magical paradise my mother once told stories about. She was always sad about leaving Equestria behind when the war started. She also always feared what happened to my grandfather who stayed behind to work with the free doctors guild.”
I chuckled a little. “It’s funny that the softest of the ministry mares is also the one who survived the worst of everything.”
Another sigh came from Jali. “Yes, and she still cries herself to sleep over it, half blaming herself, half missing her friends. It’s a painful reminder to us all how our good intentions can cause the deepest of wounds.” There was a momentary pause before Jali shut her bag. “Well it’s getting late. I should return to the camp with the other ghouls. Ditzy is leaving in the morning. I still haven't gotten my order of glow water.” She eyes Prism. “You should order some glow water as well. You may last longer than us ghouls without radiation, but there's a limit to everything.”
Prism lifted up a hoof and looked at the scars on her fetlock. “I know that more than any pony else Jali, but as long as I don’t use my magic much, I’ll be fine until Ditzy returns.”
“If that’s how you feel, then I won’t push it.” The Zebra Ghoul placed the medical bag onto her back. “Still, I implore that you join the followers properly. You should reconnect with your sisters. They are worried about you.”
A slight smile formed on Prism’s face as she looked over to Bridget. “I’m fine where I am, with my family. I have no interest in joining their attempts at breeding. I’ve already been there and failed. What I have here is more important, and will always be to me.”
Jali shrugged. “I get that, and truthfully, don’t know why they want to make more alicorns. It’s not like they were born that way.” She trotted to the door. “See you in the morning. Please don’t go firing any more guns inside the clinic.”
Prism gave me a, 'that means you' look,' so I defended myself by saying, "Alright! I'll stop leaving a bullet in the chamber, but trust me, you never know when you don't have time to cock a gun."
"Let’s just hope that we will never need to fire a gun that fast," Prism said with a sigh, then smiled while motioning her head to tell me to look down.
At my hooves was the colt Copper Wire. He was holding a strange bundle of worn-out tech. "It's a signal booster, Aunty Star. Since the followers don't want you to use their radio anymore, I thought we can just make our own radio."
I ruffled the sweet colts head. I felt very proud that he would do this. This also made me sad because this was yet another reminder to me that he barely got enough attention from his mother.
"That's a brilliant idea,” I commended him. “In fact, it’s so brilliant I'm in awe of how smart you are. I mean, if you can make your own radio thingy, then maybe you can be the next DJpon3. I wonder if Roger Roger is willing to help."
Copper puffed part of his mane out of his face. "Roger thinks I can't do it."
I flashed him a grin. "I guess you just have to prove him wrong then."
He clearly took a moment to think about it before nodding. "I bet he’s going to be so jelly when I have my own radio broadcaster. He’ll still be stuck just looking at the follower’s broadcaster." Copper practically skipped as he rushed out the door.
"Aren't you going to escort him?" Prism grumbled at me.
"Right,” I realized with a roll of my eyes. “He's still a little colt." I breathed as I made my way out.
He hadn't made it far. It was easy to catch up to him. In fact, too easy since he was looking around an alley and not running home at full speed. "Copper, what-"
"Shhh! That sleeping mares is there. I think she's crying," Copper whispered.
Poking my head around the corner, I noticed that there she was. She was the short pink zony… or mirage pony as she had called herself. Harp Melody did indeed look like she was crying, but she was clearly trying to hold it in, even though she was by herself.
"Copper, can you stay put?” I requested. “I'm going to take you home, but first I should talk with her. Okay?" He nodded. After that, I slowly made my way to her.
Harp sniffled as I sat down with her. She hid her face. "What?" Was all she said.
"Need me to break the mayor's nose?" I asked, hoping nothing so serious was not needed.
She paused, slowly turning her head to look at me with eyes wide open. It took her a moment before she blinked, and shook her head. "No, I don't need you to do that… though he probably does deserve it."
That got a chuckle out of me. "That stallion is quite the sleazeball. I think it's why the NCR only sends their rangers down here. They are far more expensive to bribe than your standard soldier, with most rangers being former talons. From what Hardballer has told me, it's not that talons are above bribery, it's that they are skilled at taking you for every cap they can squeeze out of you if you don’t make it a contract."
"Takes a cheat to beat a cheat," she said, putting on a small smile.
"Yep, that's how the wasteland is. It’s where you're either the big fish, or you're the big fish’s dinner. That or you get good at dogging big fish." Getting up, I offered her my hoof. "Now why don't you trot with me and tell me what happened?"
She nodded. We made our way to Copper. "As you know, the mayor took me on to help him, but it turned out that all he wanted was a young mare to stand next to him." Harp gave a frustrated chuckle as she rolled her eyes. "Worse, he wasn't planning on paying me for all the work I did, and I had probably just helped him cheat other ponies out of a few hundred bits… no cap. A few hundred caps. As a result, I announced my quitting by throwing a drink in his face at the dance party."
I winced, knowing how badly the mayor took insults. “Ya, that will definitely put you in a bad spot in his book. That asshole loves to hold his grudges, so getting back on his good side would require a lot of work.”
Harp nodded and sighed. "I also met Quicktrot, the head of that merchant group Blue Skies. I don’t know where to begin with her, but it seems that she's supplying the town with everything it needs for the festival, and I know for a fact that she's not a pony you can trust. Not unless you trust her to stick a knife in your back. Then I met Victoria…"
"You met Victoria!" I exclaimed as I grabbed her. "Where is she? How is she doing? Can you take me…" I stopped, and let her go since I saw Harp flinch, almost cowering away. "Sorry. You can say I'm a big fan. I would love to see her, and find out what she's been doing."
"I don't think you…" she stopped herself and looked away.
Looking around subtly on the nearly empty street, I saw a pony in tinted sunglasses, even though it was dark now. Looking back at Harp, though she was still, I could tell something had her scared.
Copper trotted in front of us, looking a bit confused. "Say, Auntie Star, didn't you say you know…" I stopped on the ground a little extra hard to get him to shut up. I couldn't be sure, but if mentioning Victoria has her shaken up, then she might know something bad about her. If Prism was right, then she could still be the Victoria I knew eleven years ago, which could be a very bad thing.
"How about we change topics? Like how did you get that robot to move? No matter what Roger or Copper did, it refused to respond."
"Ya. It's batteries are too small and systems too power-hungry for it to work right," Copper added.
"It's mirage pony tech." Harp answered, looking a bit more relaxed with the change of topic. "Let’s just say that it requires Mirage Pony magic to function properly."
"That's no fair, locking tech to a race," Copper wined. "That's just like the steel assholes."
"The what?" Harp asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The steel rangers. They are assholes in power armor that hoard any tech they find. They think we’re too dumb to use it without killing ourselves," Copper explained.
"Yep," I added. "They are some remnant of the equestrian military. I met a few in the wastes years back. Luckily I'm low tech and Mom can turn invisible, so they mostly just ignored me because, you know, a lown filly in the wasteland, just walking by. I even stopped to see if one could spare me some water. They told me to go bang rocks together somewhere else. So ya, assholes."
"I see. Then I probably should avoid them," Harp mumbled to herself.
"Them, and about almost every group out in the wasteland," I warned with a chuckle. "Even with the radiation clearing up, ponies are still finding reasons to be assholes to each other. I've heard that they aren’t as bad as it once was, so there's that, at least."
Harp looked up at the sky and sighed. "It would be nice if there was some kind of megaspell that just fixed everything, but until then I'll take being able to trot outside without a gas mask on."
She seemed to have relaxed, so I turned my attention to where we were going. We are passing by the train station first… at which we found Slowtrot sitting on a bench, looking at his pipbuck. The three of us watched him for a moment before I spoke up. "So, ya quit, or did ya get fired?" The other two turned to stare at me like I was the asshole. Maybe I was. Such is life.
Slowtrot slowly scratched at his goatee before answering. "Well, I haven't been officially fired yet, but I don't feel like I will do me any good to go back and ask them, so probably both."
Well, at least this will be easier to deal with then Harp's problem. "Ohh, tough break, and with the general store too. Then again, only Heavy Hoof can stand Karat. At least you're not alone in this. I knew a few ponies that were not a good match for their first job. Seconds times a charm, as ponies say."
"Three, actually," Slowtrot said with a shrug. "Quacksalver, Spot Weld, and then I worked at Heavy Hoof's store. Worked for all three today. It didn't end well."
That caused me to pause as I tried to process what he just said. "Wait, are you telling me that you managed not just get hired and fired from one job in a day, which mind you, is not rare in the wasteland, but you did it with three jobs?"
Slowtrot nodded.
I face hoofed harder than I had done in my life. Well, at least he hadn't gotten the eye of a dangerous pony on him or pissed off the mayor, so his situation could be fixed at least.
"Well it can't be that bad. I mean, you didn't shoot no pony." I asked.
"No. Nopony died," he confirmed, and I sighed in relief. "But, because of my pipbuck, I gave unsolicited medical advice that made doctor Quacksalver upset. Then, with Spot Weld, I accidentally caused the A of the town's welcome sign to fall over. Nothing bad happened at the general store, though when Karat showed up, she accidentally hurt herself. When doing a medical scan on her, I found out something she rather others did not know."
"Medical scan?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, you have that installed in your pipbuck? Back home, only licensed ponies can have that spell program. Privacy issues and all that," Harp added before grinning. "What was wrong with Karat?"
"Wait wait!" I interrupted. "As much as I like to have dirt on the bitch…" I face hoofed again. "Ya know, I don't think it matters. From the sounds of it, you both somehow completely screwed yourselves in town in less than a day.” I sighed, then said, “Here. I know a place you might be able to get some work. They're not so wound up in the politics of the town, but let's drop off Copper first."
The two stable ponies looked down at their hooves as they began following me. I was not sure it was out of shame or just the sense of failure, but they will get over it. Unlike the other wastelanders here in town, they were still healthy, had no obligation to stay in town, and those pipbucks tend to give them a leg up on other ponies.
Then again, with those pipbucks and their lack of knowledge of how the wasteland works, it made them good targets for any pony with bad intentions. From what I heard, even if they were under the protection of the NCR, a lot of stable ponies went missing in the first years after sunshine and rainbows. At least here in town they can get their hard lessons with some semblance of safety. The one good thing I can say about Ashy, she is able to keep the worst of the wasteland out.
We turned to trot through the slums bazaar. The shops were now closed. The beggars had finally gone home, but the whores and drug dealers were still about. It only took a few glances from me to cause them to look the other way. They knew that, as long as they didn’t bother me or those with me, they don’t have to lose a tooth. There were a few other shady ponies lurking about while eyeing the two stable ponies, likely plotting on robbing them if given the opportunity. If they managed that, then they would likely spend their ill-gotten caps on drugs and booze.
Passing the bazaar, we trotted into the part of town that had several lines of train carts stacked on top of each other Some were stacked three high, but most were just two carts high.
“Welcome to Old New Appaloosa. Copper, remember to lock your door. I’ll make sure your mother goes straight home after work.” I told the Colt.
“No boozing?” he asked as he looked away.
“Ya, No boozing. Now go get some sleep. I don’t want you to be late for school tomorrow,” I told him. He dragged his hooves off to one of the carts. I waited until I heard a thud and a click before relaxing.
“Do ponies really live like this?” Slowtrot asked, his face looking utterly bewildered.
“This would be considered middle class living back home for me,” Harp said with a sigh. “Back home, we all have to live underground, so most of the stations were quite cramped. The worst was a station called Charon's Stop. It was basically the only place you can go if you have nowhere to go.”
Slowtrot looked over at Harp, a bit more bewildered. “That’s horrible! I don’t know how anypony can stand to live like that.”
She shrugged “They live like that because they must, otherwise they’d die. Many did die anyways. It’s not like they have anywhere to go.”
“until recently, we had thought we were alone in the world. We thought that we were the only survivors,” Harp explained. “Some lived better, but most didn’t. That’s just how things were.”
“And still is,” I chimed in. “Now, if we just stand here and chat, we are bound to piss sompony off that’s trying to get some sleep, so follow me.”
We turned to trot to the outskirts, leaving the old part of town behind.
“Miss Star, do you live there as well?” Slowtrot asked.
"My mother and I did it for a while," I answered. "We were not too concerned with living standards at the time, but when my daughter was coming, we decided it might be best to move away from this part of town. Thanks to the Followers and the Gunrunners, we were able to move to a less run-down part of town." I pointed down at the other end of town, still on this side of the tracks. "There's several shacks that were built early in the town’s expansion when they were tearing down the walls for building materials. It's safe, but the rent does leave us light on caps."
A huff came from Slowtrot, who now seemed less uncomfortable with trotting through the slums of the town. "Almost forgot that rent was going to be a thing. Please don't tell me that the landlords raise rates every year like they did during the war. Though it’s hard to blame them now considering how everypony was trying to buy their way into a stable, and now seeing how Equestria turned out outside of the stable."
"Ya. That's a problem here too since proper building materials are hard to come by. Functional homes just get more expensive as more ponies come to town," I explained, a bit shocked that a pony from two hundred years back would have had some of the same problems as I have now.
Then again, I’ve never seen a pony get. and then lose three jobs in a day, so he may be a “special” case.
I then looked at Harp, who looked far more properly paranoid than Slowtrot. It could have been her scare with Victoria, or she actually knew how dangerous this part of town could be.
"Say Harp,” I began to her, “what was the rent like in your underground? It must have been crazy with how little space there must have been."
"I don't know. My family owned most of it," she blurted out before freezing. "I mean, we managed most of it, but I did have any involvement in the finances."
I grinned at her. "Oh, it looks like we have a landlord's little princess. Must have been fun not worrying about such things as rent while having plenty of food and a cozy bed."
She looked away from me. "Well ya, I guess I was lucky for all that." Her voice cracked a little.
Right. She's a fragile pony right now, I had to remind myself. "Oh sweety, I didn't mean to upset you," I said softly as I rubbed up on her with my shoulder. "Just a bit teasing. Nopony good would blame you for having a good life up till now, and if they did . . . fuck ‘em!”
“Anyways, when I was younger, I was in a position to have a good life too; warm bed, hot food, and plenty of power." I reminisce.
"What happened?" Harp asked.
"I chose Prism, and never regretted it once," I answered proudly. I decided to leave out the fact that my other choice was Victoria. What would I have become if I had stayed with the gang, I’m not sure, but I know I would not have had Bridget, and that's not a life I want to miss out on.
A smile formed on Harp’s muzzle as she said, "She is a nice mare. You're lucky to have her."
"That she is, and that I am," I agreed before stopping in front of our destination. Music could be heard playing loudly from inside the building. "Right. This is where I work, the Ruffled Feathers. I'll talk with the boss to see if there is any opening for the cleaning crew."
The front of the building had its name lit up in neon lights. Several drunken ponies sat out in front who then scattered when they finally noticed that I was here.
"Oh, it's a bar. I could go for a cold drink… if I had the money for one," Slowtrot lamented.
"I'll see if I can get you two one on the house," I told them and then entered.
The smell of smoke and booze hit my noise as the music could almost be felt as much as it was heard. The place was quite packed with outsiders looking for entertainment at night, of which they were getting. On the far end of the Ruffled Feathers was Brass Chains on stage. The outfit she had on enhanced her natural beauty as she straddled a pole, but she looked a bit more tired than she should.
"Okay, so not just a bar," Slowtrot realized. He barely heard himself over the audible music. "Hey, is this one of DJ Pon3y's classic party tracks?"
I trotted closer to them to make sure they could hear me. "Ya. Now go sit or stand by the bar. I'll be back in a bit. If you're bored and have a few caps, there's a poker table in the corner. Looks like blackjack is the game of the night." I told them. They nodded.
Making my way to the back, I had to push through several ponies. One nearly got kicked for pinching my flank. A lot of them had black leather jackets, marking them as belonging to the Desperados ganggers, of which was not the best sign for the night.
Passing one of the lounge tables, I saw Rusty sitting on some stallions lap, sharing a drink. She gave me a wink as I passed.
Further back, I saw that none of the brothel workers were hanging off their balcony, which meant that they were all busy with clients.
Finally making my way to the back, and away from customers, I found two of our irregular dancers. They were a married couple. The stallion laid face down on a cot as his wife fanned his flank with a clipboard.
"Oh thank Celestia your here, Star,” said the mare fanning her husband. “A few of us got pulled away for the mayor’s stupid dance shindig, making us short-staffed during a rush."
"Please don't tell me you need me on stage. I got company over right now," I said with a groan.
The stallion on the cot raised a hoof meekly. "At least one before Cloudy Sunrise can get back. I can't go back out there. The mares are too aggressive."
The mare doubled her effort to fan the stallion as she said, "There's some sort of a mercenary band at the bar. The boss doesn't want a fight, so they have the run of the place. Fortunately, the stallions have been relatively well behaved, but their mares act quite aggressive."
"They wouldn't stop slapping my flank!" The stallion groaned. "This is why I only want to work the gay nights. At least they follow the rules."
"Hush now, Honey. It's only until after the festival. If you like, I'll be the big spoon tonight," The mare said to comfort the stallion. He just groaned in agreement.
Leaving the lovebirds alone, I made my way to the back office where Water Spout was sitting. He was going over some paperwork. Catching his eye, he breathed a sigh in relief. "Get dressed, Star. We need you out on stage. Too many ponies have been harassing the dancers, and I need a mare with a strong kicking leg."
"Is Brass okay out there? You know how she really doesn't like ponies getting in her space if she's on stage." If a pony did touch her, their leg was going to get broken.
"It's fine, Star. It's either the scars or brandings she's got all over herself, but they seem content with just watching her. That's why she's been out there for nearly an hour now." The hippogriff said with a sigh.
"What! Are you trying to kill her?!" I shouted, then calmed myself. "Fine, but I got two guests over. They both got stable barding jackets and pipbucks on. Can you give them a bit of work? At least for tonight."
Waterspout scratched his beak for a short moment. "The two that fell from a clear sky you mean… alright. If you go out there and dance as long as you can, I'll go talk to them. But what did they do to end up here?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know right now, so let's just say it was a bunch of bad luck. They're here now so we should deal with them," I explained before heading to the dressing room.
"Oh, and just knock them off stage if anypony climbs up. We don't have the supplies for mending broken bones right now." Waterspout shouted as he got out of his seat.
The dressing room was a bit of a mess. With clothing having been thrown around, makeup partially scattered, and somepony left their inhaler of dash behind. I don't know who was doing chems at work, but I'll have to ask around after things settle down while reminding them to keep that shit at home.
Sitting at my dresser, I quickly pulled out a few outfits. I decided on the classic black fishnet ensemble, mostly because it's easy to throw on and it didn't come loose after a while. Makeup was an easy job. It is just more black thrown onto my eyelids and lashes, and dark red lipstick to make everything come together.
In the mirror, I saw a pretty pony with a long well cared for mane, a smooth coat, and the farthest thing that I was six years ago. With a few finishing touches, I was done, though not perfect. I doubted a bunch of drunk and rowdy ponies would care.
Trotting over to the stage, I signaled for the control pony to signal for Bronze to finish dancing. With the music lowering and lights dimming, an exhausted Bronze trotted behind the curtains and nearly fell to the floor. She was saved by my timely catch.
"Nearly an hour out there!” I breathed in astonishment. “Are you trying to put yourself in an early grave?" I chastised my friend.
While in my hooves, she arched back, placing her fetlock onto her head in a dramatic pose. "I suffer, for I must." She then relaxed. "And I need the caps."
"Let me guess; there were a few mares out there you fancied too?" She looked away to avoid eye contact. "Well you're not taking them home or staying at the brothel with one. I already promised Copper you'll go home tonight and go home sober."
She let herself slip out of my hooves and laid down on the floor. "Alright. Anyways, I don't think I have the energy to do much else tonight."
I gave her a hug. "Good. Just rest up a bit. I'll escort you home on my break. Maybe we can hang out tomorrow. You can spend some time with your son. He does love you, so please stop ignoring him."
Bronze nuzzled my neck for a moment, taking in my scent before pushing away and avoided eye contact again. "I… fine. If you're there, then I'll do it."
The music started to turn up. Strobe lights started flickering, signaling my time to head out, so I let Bronze go.
"Alright. Also, if you can, keep an eye out for Rusty for me. “ I requested. “She needs to head home later tonight as well."
With a smile and a wink, I trotted onto the stage. A more than excited crowd of drunken ponies waited for me. I was neither nervous or scared since I had done this for a few years now. I also had my share of bar fights in that time. If the rowdy gaggers try and upstage me, they are going to find me more than they can handle.
You're a known trouble maker, but have shown yourself to be willing to change. Though they will not forget what you have done, they do recognize that you're trying to be better.
-New Appaloosa Law Ponies-
They have their eye on you. Make one wrong move and the hammer of justice will come down on you.
-New Appaloosa Down Towners-
They fear and respect you. Some of them also admire you.
-Ruffled Feathers-
You're a trusted friend and a respected protector.
-Gun Runners-
Despite what some say, your family.
-Followers of the Apocalypse-
Everypony deserves a second chance, but if you ever need a third, they will still be there for you.
FoE: Desperados, ch11, Never Say Things Can't Get Worse.
"The ponies were a bit put off with my appetite for the leftover molerat bones mixed with some sort of sweet cake. When asking them about what they eat, there was some confusion, arguments, and debates. Star Charter then expanded that normally ponies are vegetarians, but how lacking the wasteland is of edible plants, exceptions had to be made. I was also told about a huge debate over brahmin in the NCR, as they have been a stable source of meat for generations, but lately some have shown the ability to communicate with ponies. It would mean a food shortage if ponies stopped eating them." ~ Azure Dice
The night had gone without too much excitement. A few of the gangger mares actually got on stage while I performed. The ones too drunk to know what they're doing I shoved off, but one who was actually trying to upstage me I then decided to mess with. The dumb bitch didn’t think I would give her a sudden lesson in proper pole dancing. That put her backend on display before giving her a long kiss and a flank bump off stage. She had melded back into the crowd to hide her face, making me feel a little sorry, but I knew that, after that, the mare got the point and stopped fucking with the stage. One very stallion did try, but backed down when I made it clear that I’d crack his nuts if he continued.
Keeping an eye on the stable ponies while I was on stage, Slowtrot had taken a seat at the poker table after being given some caps. Harp was placed behind the bar. Both positions were relatively safe, though I thought Waterspout would have placed them in the back to take care of the more menial work that needed to be done. Still, the boss upheld his end of the deal, so I stayed on stage as long as I could in order to keep the rowdy gaggers entertained with several performances.
Rusty would later take over. As she was known for, she actually let ponies onto the stage with her for a more on hooves show, but now that I was back to doing bouncer work, I made sure things didn’t get too out of control.
Not long after, some of the staff would finally return from the mayor's dance. Everypony was able to take a proper break. After taking home an overworked Bronze Chain and returning to make sure Rusty didn’t go for overtime. I let the stable ponies crash at my place. Prism was not all that happy about it, mainly with how we nearly woke up Bridget and Light Step late into the night. I promised her that they were just staying for tonight, so she lent out a spare blanket.
It wasn't until a few hours before noon the next day that they began to stir. It took them almost a half hour before they actually got up. The two seemed a bit lost before remembering where they were. Passing them some distilled water, their stomachs grumbled as they guzzled the clean water down.
“If you want, you can join me for brunch,” I offered. “I’m getting together with my friends. I know they’re curious about you two.” I told them.
“That would be nice, but aren't you low on caps?” Harp reminded.
I just shrugged. “It’s not an everyday thing. There's a cart along the outskirts that is relatively cheap. He’s a creepy fuck, but he keeps everything out in the open, so you know at least what you’re eating.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Slowtrot concurred, as he pulled out a little bag of caps. “Here. I’ll pay for your portion as thanks.”
“You sure about that?” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Don’t you need those caps?”
He shrugged this time. “Ya, but I’m not in a rush. I’m already over two hundred years late getting back home, so what’s a few extra days?”
“It might be better If I take my time as well. Get used to the wasteland before I leave town,” Harp added.
The two turned out surprisingly good at making caps. Slowtrots had luck at cards, convincing others to play more, and bet more caps. Harp possessed an ability to chat ponies up and convince them to buy the more expensive booze we have. Though she did seem uncomfortable with how many ponies kept flirting with her, but I made sure she was safe.
“I could go for a good home style hayburger.” Slowtrot proposed as his stomach grumbled again. “They still have hayburgers, right?”
I thought about it, then nodded. “Ya. The cart sells burgers,” I told him.
…
I watched the color drain from Slowtrot’s face since he, only now, remembered that stable ponies didn’t eat meat. The food cart had a selection of some root vegetables, lots of dried meats hanging off the side of the cart, and some food cooking on a nearby portable barbecue grill. The stallion running the cart was strangely thin, even though I always saw him eating something. This gave every creature the most creepy vibes about him. On the other hoof, he had a cheery and chubby wife and several foals helping out the cart.
“What will it be?” the chef asked, his clothes more just hung on him then him wearing them.
“The stallion would like a hayburger, the stripy mare will have your breakfast combo, and I’ll have the cart special with a side of roasted corn cob for each of us.” I told him.
“Right. It’s a bit late for the combo. The burgers take time to bake the bread, but I can get the special out for you shortly,” he explained.
“That’s fine. We’re going to be hanging out here for a bit,” I replied as I passed him the caps.
We trotted over to an old picnic table. It had a worn-out blue tarp draped over it to hide all the expletive riddled graffiti and carvings it had. Bronze Cain, Rusty Cleaver, and Cloudy Sunrise were all already there waiting for us as they ate their brunch. Rusty had already dug in and finished her food. My other two friends were being a bit pickier.
“It’s been eleven years and I’m still not used to how much meat you ponies eat down here,” Cloudy complained as she took a small bite from her geco and eggs.
“When there's almost only blote sprites to eat, you learn to love to eat radroaches.” Bronze gave a nervous chuckle as she spoke. Her plate was barely touched, which had roasted roch legs and what was likely over two hundred year old carrots.
“Eh, my family found whatever slop they could eat. Can't be picky when you're always starving.” Rusty licked her bole. “Hey Star, sorry for always pushing Light Step on you like that.”
The three of us took our seats. An older colt placed a cup of water for each of us. It had little specks floating about in it. Both Harp and Slowtrot gave me a concerned look.
“Don’t worry,” I replied to their concerned looks. “It’s safe, mostly. It’s filtered water. Just don’t ask about what they used to filter it.” I turned to Rust. “Don’t worry about it. I love having her over since she’s such a sweetie. I just hate to see her sad when she misses her mother.”
"I guess I've been a bit too focused on making caps lately. I just saw this adorable dress that I know she'd love, so I just have to get it for her." Rusty gushed.
I face hoofed. "Have you tried sewing, Rusty? You can make a dress like it, and it would cost far less caps. And don't tell me you don't know how to sew, If you can stitch up a stab wound like a pro, you can put two pieces of cloth together." I then turned to Bronze. "Did you sleep well?"
A long yawn told me no. "Better than normally." Well, that was good news. "Copper woke me up and trotted me to school."
"You mean you trotted him to school?" I asked. Bronze just gave me a shrug. "Well, baby steps in the right direction is still the right direction."
"So what about you Cloudy?" Harp spoke up. "You have a foal as well?"
There was a pause before Cloudy blushed. "What? No, no, no. I mean it would be difficult to do my job if I did, and… well… I would rather not talk about it.”
Now Harp blushed. "Oh, sorry. I mean, sorry. I just thought it was common out here for young mares to have a foal. I mean, most of the mares I've met so far are all mothers themselves."
Cloudy sighed, then chuckled a little. "Tell me about it. Before the enclave fell, there was a strict population control, so I was a bit shocked seeing families with three to six foals all over the place. I recently saw an old friend from the clouds. At nineteen years old, she was already on her second foal."
"Well, still, I’m sorry for assuming," Harp apologized
"It’s an honest mistake. I mean, I have been hanging around with Rusty and Star for long enough for ponies to assume but I don't plan on having foals anytime soon. Not until I've found the right pony." Cloudy then gave Harp a sly look. The kind look one gives when digging for any juicy gossip. "What about you, Harp? Any special somepony? I bet there's a lot of stallions that miss a cute mare like you."
"What? No. No stallions. My mother would not permit any unions with a stallion until I was married, and even then he would need to be vetted for purity, but I was allowed relations with other mares so long as they were of high standing." Harp explained as she nervously tapped at her hooves. "There was this mare I did get a little close too. She was an outsider called Light Turbulence. She saved me when her vertibuck crashed onto my Island."
"Oh, that's a very pegasus name, and a crashed vertibuck? Don't tell me she's Enclave?" Cloudy teased Harp.
Harp nodded. "Ya. She was part of an expedition team form New Cloudsdale. From how she explained it, the cloud city sounded magnificent. I do hope she was successful in helping her city."
I looked over at Cloudy who had gone slack-jawed, so I asked her "Is everything okay, Cloudy?"
She shut her mouth and took a deep breath. "Sorry. Last time I heard about New Cloudsdale was when some of the Enclave’s political puppets and military leaders used the city to run away after operation cauterize dramatically failed. From what I know, it was one of the few cities that could still hold itself up without the cloud layer as support. A lot of pegasi might not have had to die if the city had stuck around to provide shelter and protection."
"Right. I remember hearing about that," I chimed in. "When I first came to the mainland, Mom and I came across a large group of pegasi refugees. Their town literally fell out of the sky when the clouds opened up. Later we had several former Enclave soldiers pass through Bold Harber. Complaints about their missing city weren’t uncommon."
"New Cloudsdale . . . what happened to Cloudsdale? I thought the Enclave was just a political party. When did they get a military?" Slowtrot asked, which made Cloudy cringe.
"The Zebras blew it up, along with most of the major and minor cities in Equestria. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who you ask, the Enclave was the only pegasus political party not to be based in Cloudsdale. So, when Cloudsdale fell, they took power."
Slowtrot looked shocked for a long moment. "That's terrible.”
“But, then again, I was already told about that. I guess it still hasn't quite sunk in yet." He then spent another moment quiet, then said, "I bet Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash regrets keeping the Enclave out of Cloudsdale now."
"What?" This time Cloudy looked shocked. "What do you mean?"
"Right. If I remember correctly, the Enclave were the pegasus biggest anti-war party as well as the biggest pegasus independence party," he explained. "It was weird, as they had the support of other anti-war groups, but butted heads with them at the same time. So, when Rainbow Dash started marginalizing them, none of the other anti-war groups cared. The Enclave was very unpopular back west, and we had the most anti-war groups in Equestria."
"That explains the Enclave’s irrational hatred for Rainbow Dash," Cloudy said with a sigh.
Our food showed up. Slowtrot’s hayburger was served in between a freshly baked bun with some ancient looking hay on top of a mole rat patty with a side of fried radroach legs. Harps breakfast combo was two thick tato pancakes with a side molerat sausages and topped with mute fruit jam. My cart special was a bow of canned diced tomato, canned carrots, and gecko meat which was flavored with a sauce made from radscorpion guts. I immediately dug in.
"Wait! Those are cockroach legs?" Slowtrot asked as he pointed at his fried radroach legs. Everypony, Harp included, nodded. "By Celestia! If they’re that big, we’re all doomed." Most of us started laughing, which seemed to put Slowtrot a bit at ease.
The cart special was not all that "special", but it was cheap and very filling. It has become my favorite dish over the last two weeks.
Harp started on her pancakes. She was finding them a bit off-tasting, but then anything made with tatos was not going to taste all that great.
Slowtrot, on the other hoof, got into a staring contest with his burger. In the end, hunger won out. After the first bite, he became more willing to take another.
Cloudy slowly finished off her food as she talked with Harp.
Bronze required a bit of coaching by me, mainly threats for me to feed her myself like a foal. I was not letting her get any thinner than she already was.
We chatted, mainly on little things in the wasteland, such as what not to do, how to spot a raider from far away, and to avoid drinking any random water since, even though the radiation had cleared up, most of the groundwater was still toxic with non magical pollutants. Harp brought up similar problems on the Marewaii Islands along with radiation still being a real problem there. This, of course, turned the conversation to Harps home.
"So this Orthrus is what the R&D Stable became? It's good to know that they survived and managed to help other ponies," Slowtrot said with a sigh. "They honestly want to make the world a better place. I wonder what they could have done if the world was not at war."
"Ya. Without them, so many foals would never have been born, and it's actually a miracle that they were able to make mirage ponies," Harp explained. "Without the mirage pony treatment, most of the metro would be dead, and so much technology would have been left to decay."
"How so?" Cloudy asked.
"Well other than countering much of the genetic damage most ponies suffered from, Mirage ponies somehow came out as our own tribe with our own form of magic," Harp also explained. "It's nothing like what normal ponies can do, and It's rather useless on its own." I watched Harp as she began to… shimmer. Something was coming off her like heat coming off a broken road on a hot day.
Harp continued. "It's why we're called mirage ponies, as from a distance, we look like one."
Slowtrot reached out to touch the shimmering Harp, but immediately pulled back like she was a hot flame. He had only touched her for less than a second, but I think he flickered like he was just not there for less than a second. I just rubbed my eyes, as I probably just needed more sleep since I was clearly seeing things.
"My kind can draw in magic from our surroundings and store it into ourselves." Harp further explained. "When we hit our limit, we shimmer. We can also send this magic out into other things, such as a gem, another pony, or into spark batteries. Because of this ability, we were able to keep powering the old tech that would have fallen silent over a hundred years ago."
"Wow! That sounds like a whole lot of ya could power a town. No need for radiation engines and shit." Bronze uncharacteristically chimed in, but her comment seemed to make Harp… uncomfortable.
"Ya, that's true, but the less said about it the better," Harp replied.
It took a moment, but I think everypony understood that something about mirage ponies powering a town must be a sore topic for Harp. If a task was simple but required a lot of hooves to do it, then somepony, somewhere, made a bunch of slaves do it. If power generation could be made just as easily, then it would follow that slaves would be put to work.
Truthfully, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense, and the more I understood why Harp may not want to talk about it.
I then remembered about Hardballers issues with obtaining spark batteries. The old buzzard had a whole lot of drained batteries. No doubt he'd pay to have them recharged.
"You said you can charge a spark battery, right?" I asked Harp as an idea started to form in my head.
Harp nodded. "Yes, as long as it’s undamaged, otherwise I would just be drawing in its radiation into myself as I push magic through it, likely giving myself radiation sickness. It's what most mirage pony foals are told not to do, as we can easily kill ourselves if we're not careful."
A grin then formed on my face. "You know what? I think I know how you can earn a lot of caps in a really short amount of time."
Harp first raised an eyebrow at me, but quickly seemed to understand what I might be suggesting.
"Just come with me after we're done here," I requested. She slowly nodded, obviously on the cautious side, but was still a mare in need of caps.
I then looked over at the seemingly clueless Slowtrot, not sure what to do with him, but I had a feeling he'd get in trouble if I left him on his own, so I said, "You too, Slowtrot. Hardballer was curious about that pistol of yours. We might as well let him take a look at it."
In response, he just shrugged and agreed.
Our time at the food cart went for another half hour. It felt longer, but both Harp and Slowtrot had clocks on their pipbuck, so half an hour it was. The conversation ended up mostly a Q&A about how life was in the Marewaii Metro for Harp as well as learning that, to her, we were quite underdressed over in Marewaii, the ponies commonly wore clothes front and back. It did answer why she wore underwear when not only did almost all ponies didn't bother, but it was also seen as erotic for a pony to have on.
I don't know why, but the fact she does have panties on makes me want to flip her skirt.
With the chat dying down, we all went on our own ways. Bronze and Rusty had a part-time job sorting through rocks for the quarries. I took the two not-stable ponies through the shantytown, Harp kept composed, but Slowtrot seemed to get more and more worried with the more destitute ponies he saw. Eventually we made it to the Gunrunner's compound. Once we were there, it was Harps turn to look worried.
"Don't worry,” I reassured Harp. “The griffon that runs this place is my daughter's Grandfather. He will come off as a gruff buzzard, but in truth, he is the biggest softey I know… just don't tell nopony I said that."
They both nodded, seemingly more at ease.
Entering, we unseeingly found Longslide at the reception desk. He was messing with some grid paper, though this time there was a female griffin in a very dirty jumpsuit with him. Her barral being notably round due to being seven months pregnant.
"Ahoy, Gyrojet. Rare to see you upfront?"
The griffon mare gave me an exasperated sigh. "Hey Star. Just making sure my husband here does not forget he has a family. Still don't know why he thinks that manacle monster is so important."
"It's a Light Strike Vehicle. If I can get it working properly, then we can easily move our products to buyers," Longslide said with a huff as he put his grid paper down. "I promise, once I figure this out, I'll spend more time with the kids." He turned towards me, looking less than happy to see me. "Now, what's with the guests, Star?"
I smiled good and wide as I replied, "Let’s just say I have the solution to one of Hardballer’s biggest problems, though it's best if we talk with him in private."
"Star, you know the rules about not letting outsiders into the compound. I still don't know why we even let you in at all." Longslide sternly pointed out.
"Oh, come on, Longslide. It ain't going to hurt nopony if these ponies are let in. They got no contacts in the wastes, and they both got something your father wants," I explained.
The pony griff took a moment to think, tapping his desk with a talon. "Alright, but if they do anything that threatens our business, not only are they banned, but you are too."
I took a deep breath, knowing that he was serious. "Alright, so where's the old buzzard?"
"In the machine shop, finishing an order of service rifles for the NCR," he informed me.
"That's perfect," as all I said before leading the other two ponies passed the reception desk. Entering the courtyard of the Gunrunner's compound, I could hear the machine shop at work. The sound already drowned out the sound of the wasteland. Near the door of the machine shop was a locker with several goggles and ear protection inside.
Passing the other two the protective gear, Harp looked back at me a bit concerned as she asked, "What is this place?"
"Right. I forgot to explain. So . . . these griffins are the Gunrunners. They’re like the Talons, but more an actual clan rather than a loose coalition. They mainly make guns. They shoot them only when necessary. If you ever see a griffin mercenary with a kick-ass gun, it's more than likely that the gunrunner's made that gun," I explained before putting my eye and ear protection on.
Upon entering, there were several griffons at work. Some at benches with brass hammers and screwdrivers, carefully tinkering on their rifles. Others were at several large machines. One of the machines was for making rifle barrels while another was a mechanical hammer. Their most prized machine was an industrial belt sander. Hardballer was at the belt sander, carefully grinding down parts to exact specification to what they needed.
As we watched them work, the power in the room would fluctuate, sputtering sporadically, causing the griffins at the machines to pull back and wait for it all to stabilize. In a roped-off corner, I could see the culprits. Over two dozen spark batteries hooked together, all in fairly good condition, but no doubt drained of most of their magical power. Eventually the power sputtered again, the lights dimmed, and Hardballer gave his machine a frustrated kick before blowing a whistle, causing the other workers at the machines to stop.
"That's enough,” Hardballer growled with resigned frustration. “Any more and we risk breaking the machines. Finish the work with your claw tools." The machine workers gave a collective groan. "Just get to work. We have a deadline, and we better be on time for it."
Trotting up to the old griffon with a bit of a secretive grin, he glanced at me through the corner of his eye as he asked hopefully, "Still no luck with the spark battery problem?"
Ge gave me a little growl. "Who are they, Star?"
I gave him the same smile I gave Longslide. "Well, they’re ponies that fell on the clinic. The Stallion has that .45 auto pistol you wanted to see, and the mare, well . . . she might be able to help you with that big problem you're having."
Hardballer put down the gun part he had into a small box and trotted over to me. "I don't know how some little zony can help me, but I'll see that pistol."
There was a momentary pause before Slowtrot remembered that it was his pistol we were talking about. Passing it over, the old griffon quickly examined it.
"Now this is rare,” Hardballer began in an admiring tone. “The only models that survived the war were the Celestia doctrine military pistols, but this is a custom civilian pistol from the Luna doctrine era too. It even has an early pony gunsmith stamp.”
“What's your name?” Hardballer asked Slowtrot with fascination, “and where did you get this collector’s item?"
"Names Slowtrot, and the Checof’s Promise was lent out to me by an old pony named Musket Ball," Slowtrot answered.
There was a pause from Hardballer before he said, "Odd. In the old blueprints, the name Musket Ball pops up for a lot of the pony conversions for griffin made guns, so how has this gun managed to stay in such good condition for so long?"
Slowtrot looked confused for a moment, then tapped at his pipbuck. "Let me check. Right. Gun maintenance and basic assembly." He then lifted his pipbuck to Hardballer. "Outside the production of ammo and parts, I know almost nothing about guns, but Musket Ball left me a lot of instructions on the matter."
Hardballer paused again, then he began tapping at Slowtrot's pipbuck. His eyes grew wide after a moment as he declared in astonishment "This is a blueprint for a C.M.B.R., the Celestia Markspony Battle Rifle! The blueprints for this were thought lost, and only photos of the rifle were left!"
I cocked an eyebrow. "A battle rifle? I don't see how that's special. There's a metric shit ton of them out west."
Hardballer rolled his eyes at me. "So I've heard, but those are going to be the mass-produced battle rifles made for basic infantry, used before the Luna war doctrine went into full effect. They lacked precision and rage in favor of durability. The CMBR is practically a sniper rifle and was used by the royal guard up to the end of the war. I know a few rangers who would pay their weight in caps for a rifle like this."
I then whistled. "Looks like it was a good idea to bring along Slowtrot." I noted, then motioned for Harp to step up. "But that's just good luck. Now Harp here might be able to solve your power problem."
This got Hardballer's full attention. "So she knows where to get some good spark batteries, I presume?"
"Well no, but I can do something… similar." Harp said hesitantly. "It's better if I show you. So, could you turn on one of the machines?"
Hardballer looked skeptical, but complied. He trotted over to the belt sander and flipped a switch. The machine turned on which resulted in the belt moving It's speed quickly became irregular. It slowed down before speeding up. Harp trotted over to the machine, and placed her hoof on it. Soon after, the belt sander stopped slowing down. After that, it picked up speed. There was a clunk as the machine went faster and faster. It vibrated so much that I could feel it from where I stood. Harp then took her hoof off it and backed away. The machine slowed down, returning to its irregular speed.
"I can provide magical energy to any device that relies on it to work," Harp said, then looked at the corner with the spark batteries. "But more importantly, I can recharge those batteries."
Now Hardballer looked stunned. It took him a moment before bringing a talon to his beak, tapping it gently. "Well, color me impressed. If this is true, then we might be able to meet our deadline far ahead of schedule. We’d even be able to make some new products to sell on top of that. How soon can you start?"
Harp paused for a moment as she considered this carefully before answering, "It depends. What guarantee is there that I will get paid? My last employer was quite stingy with that."
I watched as a smile formed on the edge of Hardballers beak. "Now I don't pull this out for non-griffins, but if you can help speed up operations, then I might as well make an exception." With a quick and sharp whistle, he gained one of the other griffin’s attention. "Go get a binding contract… make it two!" Hardballer turned back to us as he explained, “I'm in the possession of several magically binding contracts, the kind the Talons used to ensure loyalty to the contract holder. I like to use them to ensure the secrecy of some of our gun manufacturing, but I can use them to ensure that you will get your pay. Will that work?"
"So like a fealty contract. It's a bit extreme, don't you think?" Harp asked, looking clearly concerned.
"If operations were running smoothly, then yes, but as you can see, without power, we are forced to make our guns by claw, which will slow production to a crawl," Hardballer explained. "If things continue like this, we might have to pack up and return to Fillydelphia within the year, losing us any advantage of having a compound on the wasteland frontier. Also, I want to wipe that smug grin off Ashy’s face."
“I see. So you're willing to put a spell on yourself to save your business. I guess I can kind of understand that,” Harp commented.
Slowtrot stepped in, looking a bit lost. “Sorry, but what's the need for having a gun manufacturing… shop I guess. Sorry. I’m used to assembly lines. But why on the frontier? Wouldn't being near a city be more useful?” he checked.
I gave Hardballer a knowing look, letting him know that I’ll answer that question. When Hardballer nods in approval, I then explain, “The wasteland is a dangerous place, Slowtrot. Raiders, monsters, or even desperate ponies who feel it’s less of a risk to rob a pony than to trust them. If you don’t have a gun, then you're an easy target for that and more. Having a gunsmithery on the edge of civilization means that there will always be ponies in need of your skills.”
“Also,” Hardballer cut in. “if this town is successful, then we will be here for every expansion and population boom. Ashy is not immortal. Eventually the old grudges such ponies have from Redeye’s time will fade, and the Gunrunners will still be here doing their job. We just need to last long enough for the winds to change.”
A laugh came from Harp. “Right. I get it. It’s not like you don’t have competition.” This got Hardballer to look at Harp with concern. “Sorry, sir. It’s just that, back home, there are a few small gun manufacturers that would kill to have an open space like this. The air rifles I have were made by one of those gunsmiths. Then there's Ironshod, who still throws their weight around even after two hundred years.” Her pipbuck then lights up with a magical overglow, pulling out a compact revolver from her jacket. “This revolver is made by a group called Orthrus. They’re peacekeepers, not a manufacturer, but if they can get to the mainland. They will bring all the corporations and small businesses with them.”
Hardballer snatched the revolver from Harp’s pipbucks hold, giving it the same attention as he did with the .45 auto. “Wait! Is this a police pistol? But it’s clearly a different model. It’s obviously made to easily be hidden, but too sturdy to have lost its power.” He then passed the revolver back. “Sorry. This is becoming a bit overwhelming to my old bones. Normally it’s generations before we see a gun thought lost, or a model we never knew existed. But, if what you say is true, then it’s even more important that we establish ourselves here.”
“Also, those other guns you mentioned, the air rifles, I would also like to see them and anything else you might have. I will add them to the contract and pay you accordingly for the opportunity to make blueprints of them, even if we don’t have the caps currently.”
There was another pause. Harp was clearly thinking hard about it before answering, “Alright,” Harp relented. “I’ll charge your batteries, let you look over my weapons, and I get properly compensated, but we need to go over the details as I start.”
A nod came from Hardballer. “More than fair.” He turned his attention to Slowtrot as he asked him, “And you, Mister Slowtrot?”
The stallion just shrugged. “Well, every bit counts. If you want to pay for access to my pipbuck information, that’s fine with me, though I’d rather have a proper job too.”
I trotted up to Hardballer, nudging him on the shoulder as I proposed, “How about having him work the ammo press? You have been looking for some pony to work it for ten hours a day.” Looking over at Slowtrot, I gave him a slight smile. “What do you know about loading and pressing ammo, Slowtrot?”
“I did work in a munitions assembly for a season before they replaced the process with robots. Aside from making sure the gunpowder levels were right, I found it more an issue of staying awake than anything,” he replied.
Hardballer sighed. “That is true. Working the bullet press is used to be more as a punishment rather than work. If your willing to do it, I can pay you for the work.” A younger griffin trotted back into the workshop while holding two impossibly clean sheets of paper. Clearly these were the magical contracts. Hardballer pointed over at a small desk, of which the other griffin trotted to.
“Alright,” Hardballer begin. “We can go over the details about payment in a bit. My apprentice will explain to you about how the magic works,” he informed them then turned to talk to me.
“Fantastic luck, don’t you think?” I exclaimed questioningly.
He nodded, then pointed over at a clock. It was well past noon. “It’s almost time for Bridget to get out of school,” he informed me, then pointed to a nearby locker. “Javelina made a gun for her, so maybe take her out practice shooting before coming over tonight. Let me get these two ponies situated first.”
“You're quite the softy, you know that?” I said to the old griffin.
He just shook his head. “Ya, but don’t tell nopony that. I got a reputation to uphold.”
We shared a laugh before he went to join the other two. Meanwhile, I trotted over to the locker. I found a silenced .22 pistol inside with two loaded magazines of ammo. The gun was light and easy to use. Most importantly, it was quiet, perfect for Bridget to practice with.
Taking the gun, I left the workshop. The tinkering of griffins slowly became quiet as I proceeded away. Inside the reception room, Longslide was still here, but Gyrojet had left. There was now a green unicorn mare in the room. She look the same as yesterday with the cybernetic back legs. It was none of my business, so I passed them by on my way out of the compound. I’m off to see my lovely little filly.
"Wasteland justice, as Star called it, seemed to be more a threat to others to keep a community together. It's more involved in making sure anypony gets punished for a crime than making sure that the right pony gets punished for the crime. From what I could tell, if no pony knows who the criminal is, then the least liked pony in town better get running, or they might as well sign their death warrant." ~ Azure Dice
I stopped outside the school a few minutes before the foals were let out. They gave me a bit of time to talk with Rusty and Bronze, whom had fortunately not gone off to get drunk before returning to their part-time work. They were glad to hear that Slowtrot and Harp had gotten some work helping the Gunrunners. Rusty stated that, if Harp was interested, she could still teach her how to pole dance.
It was an option, but one that came with risks, mainly getting the attention of some bad ponies, of which Cloudy already had in spades.
The foals burst out of the schoolhouse, our own more than happy to see us.
It was good to see Bronze trying to be the mother I knew she was. I just wished I could help them more than I already had, but it was up to Bronze alone to be a mother.
Bridget fluttered to me, her little wings only just lifting her off the ground. It helped her climb onto my back.
"So what did you learn today?" I asked my darling filly.
"It was more reading, but this time about how the Lightbringer brought justice to the land!" Bridget said excitedly.
I waved at the others as I trotted away with my filly on my back. "Oh, and how did she do this?"
"Well, there was how she brought the scoundrel Montary Jack to justice. She stopped him from further robbing ponies from the shadows. Then there was the, the time she led the purging of Arbue from the cannibalistic mutant ponies!" Bridget was practically shaking as she gushed.
I decided to play along, knowing that the Lightbringer Foundation had taken some liberties with the story, making it easy for foals.
Though I didn't completely trust the official story about the Lightbringer, with how it was written by ponies who helped found the NCR, of which she is the founding hero. "She's a big old hero. She even fought off steel rangers, from what I read.
"Ya real tall, like a head bigger than mama, and wielded the Big Iron that blew through monsters," she continued to gush.
I was sure that the Lightbringer was likely not that tall. The book did say her name was Littlepip, unless she was unfortunately misnamed.
After a few more minutes, we reached a little plot of land just outside of town. It was a pseudo dumping ground and shooting range. It had a tall mound of dirt covered in broken glass and metal scrap.
Bridget looked at me a bit confused as she jumped off me.
"Alright darling, I got a gift for you,” I announced to her. “It's from Auinty Javelina."
Her eyes lit up as I pulled out the silenced .22 pistol and passed it to her.
"Wow! Do I get to shoot it?!"
I nodded. She skipped in the air, turned to the dirt mound, and then *click*
"what? Its empty." she complained.
I rolled my eyes at how much my daughter was acting like I used to.
"You know how grandma doesn't want me to give you a loaded gun… well, a gun in general. Also, you act too much like me, so I knew you would just run off and start shooting."
I pulled out one of the magazines from my saddlebag, and pushed out all but one bullet into one of my pockets. "So, I'll let you fire off a few shots, but you must follow gun safety first. Alright?"
"Alright." She sounded a bit disappointed.
"Well first, what does Grampa Hardballer say about gun safety?" I asked.
Bridget straightened up, then pointed the pistol down while remembering the drills she saw her older cousin go through with the Gunrunners. "Guns aren't safe,” she recited. “Guns are always loaded. Never put your talon on the trigger unless you’re ready to fire." She smirked. "Also keep a bullet in the chamber in case you don't have the time to load a magazine."
I frowned. "No, that's keeping yourself safe with a gun… but true."
I passed her the magazine. She waited until I gave her the go-ahead, then proceeded to fumble for several seconds trying to load the pistol. After that, she struggled to cock it. When it was ready, I again gave her a nod. She aimed it at the dirt mound.
*pop*
The pistol didn't sound powerful or looked like much when fired, but I knew it was deadly nonetheless.
Mom didn't like the idea of her using a gun, and frankly, I was a bit worried that she could hurt herself, but I was more worried some pony might hurt her. Already seen too many dead foals in my life to know how easy it is for one to die. Foals that can't defend themselves tend to die more often.
I passed Bridget a bullet. She loaded it into her empty magazine, pushed it back into the gun, cocked it, then fired with another pop. It was slow and tedious, but Hardballer had told me this method made sure that a foal didn't get reckless with a gun, thus forcing them to take more care when using it. It also helped them with the basic motions of loading. He had raised three kids, so I was not going to question his method. It also helped prevent this outing from lasting less than a minute.
The slow target practice went on for a while. During that time, Bridget told me about her day at school in between shots which included how some of the other big kids tried to pick on Copper, but she scared them off, likely because of her griffon talons. Since she had natural weapons, most ponies instinctively avoided getting into a brawl with a griffon because it’s like fighting somepony who wields eight knives.
Still, it was good to know she didn't take their shit and even protected her friends. She makes me proud!
Once the last bullet from the second magazine was fired, I put the pistol away.
"Say Bridget, you want to see grandpa Hardballer?" I offer.
"Oh yes! I do, I do!" she excitedly squealed, jumping onto my back again before I told her to. Since the outskirts around the compound were dangerous, I never liked the Idea of letting her trot around there, accordingly; she got to ride on my back while there.
Leaving the shooting range, I unfortunately caught the sight of Deputy Stopped Clock coming the other way. The old unicorn tipped his hat at me as he said, "Gu'day, Miss Star. Not teaching your daughter any bad habits, are you?"
"My word, never at this hour." I hid my annoyance under my sarcasm. "Just having her practice shooting a pistol. Better she knows how to, but never need to rather than need to, but not know how to.”
“So what brings you out here Deputy?" I asked.
"Just doing my rounds and making sure known troublemakers are not making trouble," he said, not even hiding his mistrust of me.
I knew he was baiting for an argument, to have a reason to throw me in a cell for the night. But with Bridget here, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Even without Bridget on my back, I couldn't afford to miss work.
"Well, fortunately, no troublemakers seem to be about, but if you do see any, let me know so that I could avoid them." I said in my best fake friendly tone I could muster.
"Then avoid those two stable ponies," Stopped Clock said quietly. "They seemed to have, in a single day, upset several important ponies, so it's best if you just let the wasteland deal with them. You can go ahead and get back to riding that-"
"Ahem!" I interrupted Stopped before he could mention my night work in front of my daughter. "I'll take note of your concerns, but I'm sure everything is just being overly exaggerated. They did only just woke up.”
“Anyways, we must be heading off, so have a good day. Watch out for rad-scorpions now." I said, waving him goodby.
Making my way pasted the deputy, I shot him a dirty look, then moved on. If I ever get the chance, I'll make him pay for constantly pushing my buttons.
The trip through town went quickly enough. The crowds were a little less dense today. The ponies in the slums were extra careful to not piss me off when my daughter was with me. I would never do anything violent in front of Bridget, but that would not stop me from visiting some asshole in the middle of the night and breaking a leg.
Unfortunately, I couldn't do that to the sheriff or her deputies, which was a shame, as by Celestia, they have been asking for a good hoof buck to their flanks.
Upon returning to the Gunrunners compound, I saw something a bit rare, Hardballer sitting at the guest table and sharing a drink of whiskey with some unicorn mare. It being the green mare with the back robo legs.
On the table was Slowtrot's pistol, and next to it was several similar gun parts and a notebook.
"Grampa!" Bridget shouted as she jumped off my back and galloped to the old griffin and hugged his hind leg.
"Well, if it isn't my .357 special little girl," he said as he picked Bridget up and placed her on his lap. "You’re as cute as ever."
I trotted over to them, not interrupting my daughter’s time with her grandfather. Instead, I inspected the older mare.
The mare was quite distinguished-looking. She was clearly a mare with a lot of caps, though she didn't loudly telegraph it. Despite this, I could tell with how new her duster looked and how clean her cowpony hat was, both were clearly custom made for her with how well they fit her. That was something no common pony could get.
Clothes aside, she also had cyber legs which was something a normal pony could never afford to get, even if they did look like scrap built.
But most importantly, when she glanced at me, she unmistakably had the look of a professional killer. The kind of look veteran mercenaries tended to have.
"I guess you've never had the chance to meet her Star." Hardballer addressed me, sounding happier than he normally was. "This is an old acquaintance of mine, Percussion Cap. I repaired her guns all the time back in Fillydelphia.”
“Miss Cap, this here is Star Charter, the mother of my adorable granddaughter." Hardballer introduced me.
"She is quite an interesting looking filly. Pink like her father, but she’s got her mother's face… but those horns, that is a new one." Percussion Cap commentated, then took a sip of her whiskey. "Are they made of gold?"
"Never cared to check," I answered the mare before looking over at Hardballer "Is this a bad time?"
Hardballer chuckled. "It's never a bad time to have Bridget here."
This got a quiet chuckle from Percussion Cap. "You really have softened up over the years, ya old buzzard. It's hard to imagine that the balding and angry griffin from Fillydelphia is the same one in front of me."
"Times changed." Hardballer took a sip of whisky. "And I just finally learned to live without her, that's all."
Percussion lifted her glass. "To those we miss."
Hardballer lifted his glass. They clinked before taking a sip.
"So you're still with that weird stallion,” Hardballer asked Percussion. “I'd figured ya had dropped him for some grizzled veteran."
A long sigh came from PC before she admitted, "Truthfully, I still don't know why I chose him, but I did, and that's that.”
“Actually, half the reason for coming all the way out here was to get away from him and the kids, but now I'm itching to get on back home. I'd forgotten how much the townies here are…" Hardballer loudly cleared his throat to interrupt her. The mare rolled her eyes before she went on to say, "Well, annoying to be around. The longer I stay, the more I feel like shooting my gun off at them."
"I hear ya.” Hardballer said with a nod.
“Now speaking of guns, Longslide should have finished with yours by now." Hardballer looked a bit irritated, then he looked over at me. "Star, could you be a dear and go check the garage? Longslide had Percussion's guns stored there after cleaning. If that lout has stopped to work on that vehicle of his, give him a good kick for me, would’ja?"
I shrugged. "Alright, though it's a bit odd that he’s slacking. Normally he's too serious."
Hardballer just nodded, and I trotted off into the compound.
Near the back was another building. The only other exit being a garage the Gunrunners built to move larger shipments in and out of the compound. It also happens to be where Longslide was working on his pet project.
The inside of the garage was a dimly lit area with several crates on one end of the wall and a mess of old tools on the other. Off to the side was Longslide's Light Strike Vehicle. It was an odd-looking auto wagon made from steel tubes. It could fit four ponies; one being the driver in the front, two passengers behind the driver, and a gunner higher up behind the passengers. The visible arcano engine sat in the back, though it had seen better days. The thing was so covered in rust, it looked ready to turn to dust.
As predicted, Longslide was working on it, but surprisingly Harp and Slowtrot were helping him.
"Alright, give it a boost!" Longslide called out. Harp lifted a hoof at the arcano engine. The thing came to life with a roar. "Now hit the pedal!" Longslide called out again. Slowtrot, who was in the driver's seat, pushed down on the pedal of the vehicle, causing it to move its wheels to spin in place. Fortunately, the vehicle was suspended by several bricks, so it didn't go anywhere, but after a few seconds, the vehicle began puffing out smoke as though it was on fire.
"Alright, stop, stop," Longside instructed.
The vehicles engine shut down, and the wheels slowed down.
Longslide huffed "Thanks, I think I know what’s going wrong. Now, if I can just get my hooves on a better engine . . ."
"Maybe you should first deliver those guns?" I spoke up, getting their attention.
"Star?… oh shit! It completely slipped my mind," Longslide groaned. "Just give me a moment." Pulling himself away from the vehicle, he made his way to a gun safe and pulled out a key from a pocket. Opening the safe was a shit ton of guns from pistols to a big ass anti-material rifle, all perfectly polished. From the safe, Longslide pulled out a gun case then carefully closed and locked it.
“Dad did say to take my time, but I got more than just distracted.” he apologized.
“On that vehicle, so what was wrong with it?” I asked as I trotted with him out of the garage.
“Bad connectors for the spark batteries. They’re leaking magic when the engine is on. So, even if the batteries were fresh, the engine would not be able to draw enough power from them.” He then sighed. “So, basically, all the parts I have are too old to work for what I need them for. Those parts weren't meant to last over a hundred years, so it’s a miracle they barely work now.”
Longslide was uncaristicly in a good mood, so I decided not to tease him just yet.
“Well, you made most of that thing from scratch. Why not those parts?” I again asked.
Longslid shook his head. “I’ve tried, but arcano tech engines are not something you can build in a machine shop. They’re not like guns. They got so many moving parts that, if one thing is wrong, it will destroy everything else. Then there's the talismans. Those fucking talismans!”
I cocked an eyebrow. “They need talismans?”
He pulled out a small cracked gemstone that had a magic circle in it. “Chrysalis Motters patented motor carriage spark talismans. When provided with magical power, they cause a small magical explosion. They are the heart of the engines used by most equestrian vehicles. The problem is that they have a tendency to blow up on you if you try and put them in an engine they were not made for. It makes sense if it was compatibility issues, but no. The talismans are the same between different engines. They’re just designed to self destruct if not used in their proper engine."
“So finding new spark talismans must be a bitch,” I said cheerfully.
Longslide groined. “If the bitch thought it was a good idea is still around, I would personally shoot her myself. I mean fuck, forced incompatibility! It’s like making bullets to be used in only one kind of gun and backfiring if not used in that gun.”
We returned to the reception lobby where Hardballer and Percussion Cap were still sharing drinks. Bridget played with the gun parts and compared them to Slowtrots gun, but she was not allowed to touch the gun itself. Hardballer looked over at his eldest son, then pointed down at the table he was sitting at. "So what took so long?"
Trotting over, Longslide placed the gun case down on the table. "Sorry, pops. That new mare, the mirage pony, it turns out she made a perfect stand-in for a spark battery. I couldn't pass up doing a quick engine check for the Smuggler."
"Smuggler? That's what you’re naming it?" I amusingly asked.
"An old Gunrunner tradition," Hardballer spoke up. "Any vehicle that's used for transporting goods is called a smuggler. Though we haven't had a proper smuggler in generations, with the wasteland being as it is."
The old griffin then reached over and unlocked the gun case.
"Now enough about old broken down vehicles,” Hardballer instructed. “On to the more important matters.”
“PC, I made sure your guns were thoroughly cleaned and oiled. One of them needed a new spring, and another a firing pin, but I'll leave that free of charge. Think of it as a loyal customer discount." he said, being uncaristicly charitable.
From the gun case, two revolvers were levitated out by the unicorn mare. The first was a dark brown colored snub-nosed revolver. It, for some reason had a scope. The second looked like what would happen if a revolver and a pistol had a baby, placing the cylinder in front of the trigger and not over the trigger like normal revolvers. Percussion Cap carefully inspected the two revolvers. She loaded them before placing the guns inside her duster. In the short moment, her duster opened up. I saw that the bitch was armed to the teeth with two extra revolvers, several different knives, and four fucking grenades.
"Great job as always,” she commended. “You would never know that they were stuck down the muzzle of a feral ghoul." PC pulled out a metal tin from her jacket. "And this should cover a case of ammo for each."
Hardballer opened up the tin. It was filled with neatly stacked caps. He whistled in an impressed way, then said, "Still amazing how lucrative your business has been. Sometimes makes me think I got into the wrong profession."
"It's been satisfying work, and every creature needs food, so business has been good." PC then sighed. "But I advise avoiding that business unless you have the pony power to keep others out."
Closing the tin of caps, Hardballer passed it to Longslide who then trotted off to his desk.
"Raiders . . . they can't be that big of a problem for you?" Hardballer asked PC.
PC rolled her eyes. "If only it was still raiders or feral ghouls. Since the sunshine rainbows, other ponies have been having an easier time starting their own farms, mainly those with NCR protection. Unfortunately, most of them are shit at farming and see the best way to succeed is to just push out their competition."
"Wait! I thought you didn't sell to the NCR?" Hardballer asked.
"I don't. Not to the NCR, not to the Steel rangers, and not to the Enclave remnants," PC explained. "The problem is that these pseudo farmers want me to sell to them so that they can sell my crop to those groups. I told ‘em to make tacks or I'd put ‘em in a hole. Now they've been going after my customers, so I've been forced to sell my crop further out in the wasteland. Jokes on them. I just sold most of my stock here, so no pony is going to want their shitty corn during that festival."
"So that was your corn!" I blurted out as Longslide placed two ammo crates next to the table. "Saved me a lot of caps with how cheap the prices were. A lot of ponies were eating hardy right now because of you."
"A lot of ponies are dead because of her," the distinctive voice of Ashy caught our attention, The sheriff stood at the door with a sour look on her face. "Executioner Red, how many did you kill for Redeye?"
PC cocked an eyebrow, then sighed."Right. You're that overzealous Sheriff I was warned about?"
Ashy trotted in, followed by her three main deputies: Stopped Clock, False Cap, and Willow Tree. Passing them, I could see several more deputies through the door. Ashy had come in force, which made me very uneasy.
I picked up Bridget and passed her to Longslide who then quickly carried her out of the lobby. The sheriff then glared at PC with a hatred like I had never seen before. "Ya have a lot of nerve coming into my town, murder!"
"Ashy!" Hardballer growled as he stood up. "If you’re here to just harass my customer, then get the fuck out of my shop."
The sheriff trotted closer. The slight smell of alcohol came off her as she glared at the old griffon. "Or what? Try anything, and I'll make sure you see justice at the gallows, slaver."
Hardballer glared back as Stopped stepped in between them. "Let's not be hasty to aggression. We do have an official reason to be here. Unfortunately, it is not the purging of those once associated with Redeye, or…" he then eyed me, ". . . other undesirables."
Hardballer sat back down, still glaring. "Then out with it."
Willow stepped forward. He pulled out a piece of paper from his vest. "I'm sorry to inform you, Miss Percussion Cap, that an order of eviction has been passed, and a banning from New Appleloosa has been placed on you. We are to escort you out of town effectively immediately."
PC burst into laughter. "So which butthurt asshole pushed that forward? If they put just as much effort in growing their crops as they do sucking the NCR's cock, then maybe they could actually compete with me." She got out of her seat. "Well, I was not planning on staying anyway, so getting the fuck out of here is fine by me.”
“Now, if yal’lll get the fuck out of my way, I'll take me any my cart our of this shithole." she said a she dismissively waved at them to move.
"About that," False spoke up, and I knew that I was about to not like what was about to be said. "Due to the potential of illegal contraband, we are confiscating your wagon until we deem everything legal."
I face hoofed, and PC froze in place. "That better be one fucking stupid joke," the mare growled.
A cruel smile formed on Ashy's face as she trotted almost nose to nose with PC. "We need to check if you've been scalping Cutie marks, as you do have a history of doing that. Once we’re satisfied, we will leave your wagon outside of town for you to pick it up."
"How about you just let me, and my wagon leave town now, and then there will be no need for trouble," PC proposed coldly and calmly. The two starred each other down, making the tension in the room so thick that I swore I could chew on it.
"Is that a threat?" Ashy growled.
"It's a promise," PC answered.
"Is this a bad time?" the voice of a stallion whispered, catching me off guard. Slowtrot stood behind me, and behind him was Harp. "Sorry, the door was left open. I came in to pick up my gun."
"I don't see how they can just banish a pony who hasn't done anything," Harp whispered to me.
I rolled my eyes and whispered back. "Yes, it's a bad time, and yes, she can do that. She is the law around here."
A huff came from Slowtrot. "Right. None of our business." He whispered and trotted over to the table with his gun.
"Wait! What are you doing?!" I quietly called out at the dingus stallion.
"What do you think you’re doing?" Stopped Clock spoke up at Slowtrot. He interrupted the staredown between PC and Ashy, both now looking in his direction.
"Just picking up my property," he said simply. "Also, if you keep that up, you know that it will attract the Ministry of Moral right?"
There was a pause as both Harp and I face hoofed. "The M.o.M. doesn't exist anymore Slowtrot," Harp said with a sigh.
"Right…" Slowtrot then paused for a moment. "Still, what the sheriff is doing is wrong."
"What do you know, Stable pony?" Ashy growled, and I prayed to the goddesses that he dropped it.
A slow sigh came from Slowtrot. "What I know? Well, there's that I've seen ponies like you before, going on and on about how the zebras should pay for all they did. They only cared about winning the war, not about ending it. Seeing how much they hate, it convinced me to stay as far away from the war as I could. I mean, hatred is something personal. How can you hate somepony who never did anything to you?" He asked with a shrug.
"Personal…" there was a low guttural growl in Ashy's voice, and the look in her eyes was of a deep hatred I had rarely ever seen in anypony. "Se murdered my husband!" Ashy screamed. With an overglow over her horn, Ashy drew her large revolver, pointing it at PC. In return, PC drew her snub-nose revolver at Ashy. The deputies also drew their revolvers, pointing them at PC, but found her levitating three more revolvers back at them, one being the odd pistol revolver, and the two normal-looking repeater revolvers.
"I've killed a lot of ponies," PC said calmly. "But so have you."
"All Redeyes lackeys." Ashy said, spitting on the floor as she did. "Unlike you, who murdered escaped slaves for caps. How cheap were our lives to you, Executioner Red, the bounty hunter who never brought back an escaped slave alive?" She then looked over at Hardballer. "And you, how many ponies did you work to death? How many lives were ruined to make your guns under Redeye? Yet here you are, live and free, where so many were denied even the most simple of life!"
"Maybe we should all calm down," Willow spoke softly. "No need to pull any triggers."
"It's too late for that." Stopped said with a cold and stern voice. "She's already drew her guns on us, she's clearly an outlaw."
"You try and calm things down Willow, but now we should confiscate those guns too," False added.
I appreciate Willow trying to calm the situation down, but as long as the other two deputies were here, there was no way the two mares were going to stand down. At least Hardballer knew not to step in. It would only be more fuel on this fire.
"That still doesn't give you the right to make things worse! What did you say to me? Right; Ponies like you are why things don't get better. No, actually they're why things get worse." Slowtrot stupidity pressed the issue as he levitated his gun with his pipbuck, its barrel pointed back at himself. "It was no different during the war. Ponies acting that way never changed the war. They only made it grow. They made it worse." He trotted over to Ashy until his gun was within her reach. It still pointed at himself. "I'm sorry about what happened to your husband, but this is not how ponies should resolve their problems. So maybe you should just put the gun away and let the mare go with her cart. If you want justice, then do it the right way. Not like this."
I could see Ashy fuming with anger. It was all now directed at Slowtrot, but then she calmed down and lowered her revolver, which then got everypony then to lower their guns, but not put them away yet.
"You know, this is why I really hate stable ponie,." Ashy said calmly and coldly. "You're all like ghosts from a long-dead era, pushing your ideals where they’re not wanted.”
She holstered her revolver as she talked “Yes, the Lightbringer came from a stable, the big hero as she was, but so did Redeye, and his death didn't make things better. It just brought things back to how they were before he crawled out of his stable.”
Ashy’s tone turned bitter as she continued. “You stable ponies have been, and will always be, trouble for the wasteland. If anypony knew any better, most of yall would be shot on sight before you can make more trouble."
With her magic, she grabbed Slowtrots pistol…
*Click*
The room became very still and silent as every pony's eyes were fixed on Slowtrot's gun, it shaking in Ashy's magical grip.
Slowly and steadily, she lifted the gun, taking a deep breath, and a long exhale. "Fine. She can go, and with her fucking cart, but if I ever see her again, it will be the last time any pony sees her again."
*Bang!*
Slowtrots pistol went off, ripping itself out of Ashy's hold and falling to the ground. Once more the room went still, eyes still on the gun.
Without another word, Ashy pivoted around and stomped her way out, quickly followed by her deputies, with Willow stopping to say something but failing to find the words, so they left, the door slamming behind them.
The rest of us took a moment to take in what just happened. The first to move being Slowtrot, who practically melted onto the floor.
"That… was intense," Slowtrot muttered while spreading out on the floor.
"That was fucking stupid, that's what it was!" Hardballer shouted. "If you were one of my sons, I'd beat you black and blue for doing that… the last thing I need is a dead body. You understand?"
"Crystal" Slowtrot responded.
Levitating the pistol, PC placed it next to Slowtrot. "They say luck is a skill, but one you can't trust. Thanks for the save, but next time, maybe don't make things worse before making them better." PC then turned to Harp, who had taken refuge behind me. "You, pink zony. Were you the one to give my cyber legs a power boost the other night?" Harp nodded. "Good. I'll pay you to do that again. I got a long trip home, and I would rather not pull out my wheels for it."
I left the two to their business. I trotted over to Hardballer who had slumped into his seat. "Talk about close calls," I said with a nervous smile.
He rubbed his temples with his talons before looking at me. "No, that was a red line. You know it, and so does Ashy. Maybe I should pack up and return to Fillydelphia. Do it before she kills one of us."
I didn't have a quip or any encouragement to give. He was right. Ashy had shot to kill. There was no way around it. Ashy had crossed a line. She was clearly on a hair-trigger, and we were in her sights.
"Maybe after the festival, once we have the caps to deal with a move like that. At least the mayor will try to keep her in line until then." I suggested and he nodded.
I don't know why, but I had a feeling that hoping we had that kind of time was just wishful thinking.
“Well hello everypony, this is your ever-vigilant Dj Pon3 here. I’m here to bring you your daily weather report, which is more sunshine over the wasteland. I know, I know. It’s been sunny for weeks now. With everything drying out, you all are asking, isn’t our hero supposed to be controlling the weather?”
“Well if you have been following my other broadcasts, I had on a pegasus cloud scientist, who explained how the enclave was able to keep so much water through air currents and other crazy stuff. I also ran it on reruns for a week, just so you all got to have heard it. Yet I’m still getting angry letters on why the Light brighter will not just make more rain… ya, to spell it out to you upset ponies, to make it loud and clear, right now there is no rain! This is a process that will take time, but trust me, it’s being worked on. So just hunker down, conserve your water, and be patient.”
“In other news, reports are coming out west about a large airship traveling along the coastline. It is armed with some big guns and vertibucks. It is still unknown what their intentions are, but I advised you ponies. I double this warning to those Steel Ranger hardheads to not antagonize the big super airship.”
“In other, but still just as strange news coming out west, there is some sort of cybernetic cult popping up who are aiming to bring bright equality to all. Currently, they are giving out free food and water, so it’s best to just let them do their thing, but if anypony still remembers Redeye, I can understand why you're suspicious of a colony of cyborgs.”
“Now since we're talking about the west, might as well remind you all to keep an eye out for the New Goddess Army. Those poor mutated ponies should be considered extremely dangerous. If seen, it’s probably best to shoot or run. If they don’t eat you, they will turn you into one of them, so be careful.”
“Anywho, let’s stop talking about the epicenter of crazy that is the west coast, and…”
*Crash*
That hurt a lot, but nothing felt cracked, so I could only guess my bag broke my fall.
First, I needed to check if I hurt my head. Concussions were no joke.
“Names Azure Dice. Home is the jade crystal deep rift, and stupidly took a job exploring the miasma fringes…” I sighed, still regretting going on this cursed expedition, but I’m relieved that I didn’t seem to be suffering from brain damage.
“What in Celestia’s glorious burning flank was that?!” A loud masculine voice shouted.
“I think something crashed into the scrapyard, Pa.” This time it was a scratchy strained voice of a younger male.
“Then go see what it was, colt. If it’s a thief, shoot ‘em. We got barely two caps to rub together as is,” the older male grumbled.
“On it, Pa!” the younger male shouted, followed by the sound of metal moving around. “Where are ya? I’m not going to hurt ya, just shoot ya,” the younger male spoke softly as he moved the scrap around.
Unsure what was to do, I just sat where I had fallen. I at least knew running off now would only get me shot.
Eventually I came eye to eye with the young male… horse… no, a pony. Staying still, I waited to see how he would respond, but the adolescent pony stallion just squinted at me before moving on as though he didn’t see me at all, which was impossible due to the fact that I glowed.
After several more minutes, the scrawny pony jumped off the pile of scrap. His hooves clopping on the ground. “Nothing there, Pa. Maybe a toaster exploded. My pal told me it happens sometimes.”
“Braman shit colt, if we had a toaster, I’d sell it by now and we not owe the Golden Harvest farmer's union a damn cap,” the older pony shouted, “Fucking vultures”
“But didn’t they give us all this crop to grow?” the younger pony asked.
Feeling safe, I poked my head out to finally see where I was. It was a vast dry land which expanded before me. Near me was a sack made from rotting wood and rusting metal siding. Next to it was a large field of what looked to be corn, yet it all looked sickly and brown, if not outright dead.
“Ya, fuck ta crops,” the older pony grumbled as he spat on the ground. “I don’t even know what a corn was or how ta grow ‘em. Worse, we ain't got no rain in weeks. If dis keeps up, that Golden Harvest bitch is going to take our land.”
“No matter how things change, they stay the same,” I whispered to myself as I pulled out my sketch pad. With the ponies attention elsewhere, I had time to plan on what to do next. That plan was to find the mare Harp. This is probably her world and she may know how to find the time-space distortion that could get me out of here, but first, I probably needed to find a disguise. I was still unsure how any pony would respond to seeing a lurker, and getting shot was not on my list.
"I asked Star why Bottle Caps are used for currency? The answer I got was a mix of vague examples and unconfirmed history, but I got a general idea that made some sense. Basically bottle caps from soda bottles can no longer be made, deteriorate quickly, and new ones are found every day, thus the local economy can’t easily inflate or deflate with bottle caps. Still seemed all too strange to me." ~ Azure Dice
"Mama!" A voice stirred me from my slumber. "Mama!" I slowly opened my eyes to see Bridget looking back at me. "Wake up Mama. Ya said you'd won't sleep in today."
Groggy, I slowly got up and rubbed my eyes. "Right, darling. I did promise that."
Over a day had passed since the incident with sheriff Ashy. She fortunately hadn't returned for another attempted shootout. Miss Percussion Cap had made tracks as soon as she was able, putting in an order for a few guns and plenty of ammo before she left.
For such a grouchy mare, she quickly grew on me. I hope we meet again without some trigger happy bitch breathing down our neck.
Speaking of which, we could only hope that with PC out of town, Ashy may calm down, though until we know for sure, Hardballer and I had been watching our backs more than we had been before.
As for the two not-stable ponies, Slowtrot had become a bit jumpy, but Harp seemed to have taken the incident like it was normal, making me a bit worried about how such a prim and proper mare can just brush off a near massacre.
It was my day off today. Well, it started yesterday. Since I did not have to go to work at the Ruffled Feathers, I spent much of that day cleaning up our home, washing clothes, and taking care of a few other cores before going to sleep early. Now it was the day Bridget and I got to spend more time with each other.
"Good. You're awake," Prism spoke up, standing by the door in her nurse uniform. "I'm going to be at the clinic today. If you can, pick up some more food while you're free."
I gave her a nod, and she left, leaving me with my adorable daughter.
"Alright, first things first, let's get cleaned up." I told Bridget, she groaned at first, but quickly followed my lead as I pulled out our hygiene box and made our way outside to our water barrel. The box was just some old candy tin the Followers of the Apocalypse repainted and put the hygiene tools inside. They gave it out to everypony, but unfortunately, most ponies just forgot about them and continued to smell like shit and cigarettes until it rained, and it hasn't rained in weeks.
Pouring some of our water into a bucket, we got to work cleaning our hooves and talons before brushing our teeth, then moved onto washing our mane, tails, and lastly our coat. We shared our one good towel. Drying off left us a bit poofy, so we went back inside to brush ourselves down. Bridget's mane was coming along nicely, now looking just like mine did right after I gave birth to her. Gently brushing it down, I heard her give a little sigh. "What's the matter darling?"
She hesitated for a moment before answering "I, I heard grandpa say that he might have to move away. Is it true?"
I decided to be honest. Lying now would only make her sadder if he did move away. "It all depends on if it's safe for him to stay here. You know that grandfather Hardballer is not well liked, so it might be best for him to go back to Fillydelphia."
"Will we go with him?" she then asked, catching me a bit off guard.
"That… that depends if it's safe for us to stay. Are you worried about leaving your friends behind?" I then asked.
Bridget nodes. "Ya. But also, if we leave, then how will daddy find us?"
I froze, having forgotten about the Skipper dilemma. With Bridget having never met him, I was sure she didn't think about her father. For all I knew, Skipper had died out in the wasteland, like so many others had. I did hold out some hope that one day he will return out of the blue, like some big hero, and help me raise Bridget, though I doubt I would still feel the same about him as I did six years ago.
"I'm sure finding us would be the easiest part for him," I said nervously, knowing that Hardballer was still quite mad at him.
She seemed to perk up at that answer, "Ya, he must be fighting some evil raider, just like the Lightbringer."
Chuckling, I put the brush down, having finished her mane, "Maybe he is. Now can you help mama brush her mane?"
Excitedly, Bridget grabbed the combe and got herself ready to brush my mane. "Can you tell me about that time you and grandma fought that raider ra… resor…"
"Razor Storm?" I clarified.
"Ya, and her army of raiders!" She said excitedly.
It was going to take time to straighten out my mane and tail, so a story wasn't a bad idea. "Alright darling. It all started after the first time I ever stepped on dry land…
"... well with the raiders driven off, and the ponies in Bold Harbor unified, grandma thought we might as well stay. She did need to recover after losing her wings, and I was still not used to being around land ponies, so it was the best idea at the time." I finished the story. Bridget climbed onto my back as we made our way to the Gunrunners.
"Then what about when you left? Can you tell me about Night Strike?" she eagerly asked.
"That's a different, and much longer story, my darling. Maybe later if we have time for it. Now let's go see grandpa Hardballer. I heard Javelina is having a good day. I'm sure she'd love to see you," I told her. Though she seemed disappointed about not getting another story, she was excited about seeing her Grampa and auntie.
As we approached the compound, I saw the rare sight of Longslide smoking outside. It was a rare sight because he was both outside the compound and that his wife got him to quit smoking while she was pregnant. Seeing us, Longslide quickly dropped his cigarette and stomped it out. "This is a bad time, Star." he said with a sigh.
This got me worried. "Was there an accident?"
He shook his head. "Fortunately no, but if we didn't do our daily safety check. There might have been. Makes little difference, as all the machines are out of commission. So much for having fully charged spark batteries."
"Wait, all of them? But that's impossible! Unless," Longslide just nodded, confirming what I was about to suggest. "Sabotage!"
"Dads cussing up a storm in the workshop right now, so best not bring Bridget inside." he warned.
"Great! Just what we all need right now." I huffed. "Can you watch Bridget for me? I'm going to see if there's anything I can do."
Longslide shrugged. "Alright, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."
Turning to Bridget, she seemed to understand a bit of what's going on. "If Grandpa is sad, help him be not sad." she told me as she hopped off my back.
"I can only hope my darling, so be nice to your uncle as I talk with grampa," I asked her, and she nodded.
The lobby was uncharacteristically full of griffons. The Gunrunners looked gloomy as they sat around, drinking cheap booze early in the day. Passing them by, I made my way through the courtyard and decided to not put on the safety gear before I entered the workshop. Inside I found Hardballer alone with a bottle of griffonstone vodka, surrounded by the remnants of a smashed wooden stool.
He looked over at me, a bit red in the cheeks. "Do I even need to explain?"
"Ashy clearly had somepony fuck up the machines," I answered.
"Bitch got balls. I'll fucking give her that," he shouted. "When my mates back in Fillydelphia hear about this, she will wish she fucked with a talon instead."
I trotted up to the old buzzard. "At least no griffon got hurt, so there's that."
He looked over at the belt sander. "Silver linings, but no less a problem. Those machines aren't just something my clan found in some pony ruins. They’re cultural relics of our ancestors, older than the fucking pony war itself. I was entrusted with them to help the Gunrunners grow along with our youngsters as my apprentices. This is a fucking big deal."
"Can't you fix it? Longslide is good at that." I mentioned, knowing that if he was outside, then the answer was probably a no.
Hardballer pulled out a piece of metal from a pocket. It looked like a part of a gear, but warped and chipped. "The fucker that did this knew exactly where to brake shit. Luckily we spotted the damage, or the machines would have gone out of control and then exploded.”
“Still, these parts can't just be hammered out. We'll need to return to Fillydelphia to even make the parts, and that's only for what we know is broken." He sighed good and long. "We need to dismantle everything and check it part by part, something that's going to take all day."
He then passed the bottle of vodka over to me, but I pushed it back to him. "Sorry. I'm with Bridget today."
He chuckled. "You really have changed, Star. I still remember when that idiot son of mine brought you over and all I saw was another irresponsible kid. Didn't want ya two fooling because I couldn't see either of you able to raise a kid, but here you are, making me wish you were my daughter." Hardballer took a swig of his vodka. "Anyways, probably best you return to Bridget. I got to start the dismantling before packing everything up."
Reaching out, I wanted to tell him that things will be fine, but those would just be hollow words.
Leaving the workshop, the two not-stable ponies were standing in the courtyard, both tapping on their pipbucks. I cocked an eyebrow at them as I asked, "See anything interesting?"
"Maybe," Slowtrot said, not looking away from his pipbuck.
Harp pulled away and trotted over to me. "We're seeing if we can locate a factory through our pipbucks, Slowtrot thinks if we can find a Stable-Tec or Ironshod factory, then we can find replacement parts."
"Is that even possible?" I asked.
Slowtrot looked up from his pipbuck. "Well Stable-Tec, Ironshod, and the Ministry of Wartime Technology were all run by members of the Apple family, so It was well known they all got their factory parts from the same company, GriffinStone Mechanics. That company had a monopoly on repairing those big factory machines, so if anything went wrong, a griffon would always show up to boss everypony around until it was fixed." He then looked back down at his pipbuck, frustration on his face. “The only problem is that we need administrative access to unlock the sight locations on the pipbuck mapping spell.”
“I was able to get mapping information off the pipbuck network, but it seems that Stable-Tec has blocked sensitive sights from being seen without proper authorization,” Harp explained as she showed me her pipbuck. “So we’re trying to see if we can at least get a general idea where a factory might be located.”
“That's amazing!” I exclaimed as I looked at her pipbuck. “You do know there's an old Ironshof factor not all that far from here?”
Harp then sighed, “We know, and passed it by Longslide. He told us that it had long been picked clean of any useful parts, something about a pony killing all the robo brains that guarded the place which allowed scavengers to move in.”
That made sense. “So then do you even know where to look?”
“Not really,” Slowtrot explained, “but Spot Weld has a very intact Stable-Tec pipe wrench he got from a scavenger. He said that they found a factory, but they got scared off before they could get much out of it. If we could locate that factory, then maybe it has the parts the Gunrunners need.” He then let out a long groan. “If only I didn’t lose Healing Herbs pipbuck, then we’d have access to the locked information.”
I then felt the pit of my stomach drop a little. “Lost pipbuck?”
“Ya, it’s a bit of a story, but I also had an overmare’s pipbuck with me. I’m not sure how much authority she had in Stable-Tec, but I know that Applebloom was meant to take over the R&D stable, so Healing Herbs had to have been high up in authority.” Slotrot further explained.
“And that’s the only way to unlock the map?” I asked, hoping for a no.
“Unfortunately yes,” Harp answered. I felt a cold sweat. “I tried to use my advanced VI to unlock it, but the data is too encrypted, and needs a spell matric key. Not to say that Order cannot decrypt the data, but it would need to be done location by location, and each one would take time to do. Order, what is the progress of decryption?”
Her pipbuck then spoke. “Madam, the decryption is currently at seven percent with fourteen hours and forty-two minutes until full decryption.”
“Thanks, Order. That will be all.” She lowered her pipbuck and sighed. “As you heard, it will take a long time, and I only blindly picked a spot, so the decryption could still just give us a load of nothing.”
I did feel a bit guilty, but more than that, I knew I was about to lose a huge payday, bigger now with how important that pipbuck was… “I have it,” I confessed.
“Have what?” Harp asked in a confused tone.
“The pipbuck Slowtrot lost, he didn’t lose it, I… I stole it...” this got both of their attention. “I mean he already had one, and pipbucks are worth a lot of caps to the right pony. With the caps I could get from it, I could feed Bridget for a year, and… I’m sorry.” I avoided their gaze, feeling shameful of what I did.
“So it’s not lost?” Slowtrot asked, and I nodded. There was a moment of silence, and I heard him trot up to me, clearly angry, as I had taken what was not mine, and… I felt two hooves whap around me and squeeze. “That's wonderful!” he shouted as I was hugged. “And I thought I must have drunkenly thrown it when trapped in that dark place!”
“You're not mad?” I asked as I peed at him.
Slowtrot let me go and backed up. “Wait, I probably should be… but I’m not.” He then sighed, his cheery disposition turning a bit solemn. “That pipbuck was never mine to begin with, and the pony who owned it, I…” He mumbled for a moment and then sighed again before putting on a fake smile. “Let’s just say that I’m just happy that it’s not lost. Everything else doesn't matter right now.”
“I agree,” Harp chimed in, “If we have that pipbuck, then we can help the gun runners. That’s all that matters right now.”
They both looked at me, eyes a bit too wide with hope. “Alright, but keep this quiet until we know this will help the gunrunners. The last thing I need is word getting out that I stole from an unconscious pony. Goddesses know, the deputies would love to use that against me. Anyways, I’ll be right back with that pipbuck.”
Passing through the lobby of depressed griffins, Longslide was waiting for me outside. Before he could say anything, I shoved my hoof into his beak. “No time! I might have a solution, so keep an eye on Bridget until I get back!” I told him before galloping off.
Fortunately, the town was mostly empty at this time of day. Most of the ponies were working at the quarry or scavenging outside of town, so I didn't have to dodge anypony. Unfortunately, I did see a deputy on their rounds, clearly watching me as I passed. Maybe they were just on their patrol, nothing to be concerned about, but right now any attention from the deputies was bad news.
It didn't take long to get home. I spent a little extra time wiping off my hooves on the dormant before entering. I did spend most of yesterday cleaning, so I was not going to just track dust in.
Inside, I trotted over to our one good drawer. It had several metal tins on top filled mostly with useless junk I thought we could use at some time in the future. They were covered with a cloth and had candles on top of that. This also made a good hiding spot as removing all this junk would be too much of a hassle and make too much noise for a thief. Anyways if a pony was willing to tear up my home to find anything of value, they were going to find it no matter how well I hid it.
Putting the candles, cloth, and smaller boxes to the side, I pulled forward a larger tin. It rattled with the sound of rusted nuts and bolts. Carefully opening it, there it was, a pipbuck. I had left it unlatched and spread out so to fit inside better. It didn't look all that different from any of the other pipbuck I had seen pass through the town. I mean I was no pipbuck technician, but I could tell it was in a far better condition than the pipbuck Spot Weld owned who was almost religious about taking care of it. Knowing what I know now, this thing is worth far more than double that what I was going to sell it for. Maybe it’s even being the only one of its kind.
With Ashy breathing down our necks, maybe it is a good idea to leave. With this, I could start a new life with mom and Bridget anywhere. It would be hard at first, but if we budget the caps, then we can take things slow. We’d build a new reputation and get a stable job. Or we could just go back west in order to reconnect with old friends. The two not-stable ponies were planning on heading that way too, so we'd have some safety in numbers.
Taking a deep breath, and sighing it all out, I closed the pipbuck and put it down as I grabbed a saddlebag. "I'll leave that as plan B," I muttered to myself as I put the pipbuck into the saddlebag, I then threw it onto my back and trotted out the door, leaving the mess on the counter for later.
"I hope you're not up to anything, Miss Star Charter," Stopped Clock spoke up, standings outside my house while smoking a cigarette.
I rolled my eyes at him. "I could say the same thing to you. We all know it was you or False behind the Gunrunners sabotage."
"Old machines tend to break down. Maybe that old Redeye slaver should have kept it all in Fillydelphia," he said, not even denying my accusation.
"Have you ever tried letting go of the past and accepting that things have changed? Redeye is dead, and slavery has been outlawed in most of Equestria," I said in an annoyed tone.
He spat out his used cigarette. The butt falling near my house. He pulled out another, struck a match and lit it before taking a long drag. The smoke slowly blew out of his mouth like some smoldering gun barrel.
"You were not here when Redeye first showed up,” Stopped Clock told me. “You weren't even here when he finally fell. Red Eye was not some slaver lord's child inheriting his position, or a raider warlord carving out his own empire. No, he was a stable pony, and one who used words, not guns, to get what he wanted. Within a short few years, he convinced the bickering slaver clans to stop killing each other and focus on everypony else. What was a manageable problem for us honest folks quickly turned into a nightmare."
Stopped Clock took another long drag from his cigarette before dropping it, pulling out another to smoke, then continued.
"If we had been as vigilant back then as we are now, there never would have been a Red Eye. That smooth-talking young stallion would have been hung at the gallows as soon as he became trouble. So, Miss Star Charter, I'll explain this once again; that’s the reason why I don't forget or forgive. The wasteland has never changed. It will always be a shithole, and as soon as we let our guard down, that's when the next Red Eye will show up."
"And let me guess, if that happens, Ashy will be the next Lightbringer?" I mockingly asked.
"I assure you, as long as Ashy breathes, there will never be a need for another Lightbringer." He said sternly.
"I get it, I get it. Ashy is a super Sheriff, but there is always going too far, and she's dangerously close to the edge, or have you forgotten what she did two nights ago?" I pointed out as I began to trot away. "Anywho, I can't keep my daughter waiting, so if you would pick up your litter before leaving yourself, that would be neighborly."
Stopped Clock spoke with a stern cold tone."Maybe crossing the line is what Ashy needs to do. I still don't know why she even tolerates an evil pony like yourself. You're nothing more than a bomb waiting to go off. The sooner you are disposed of, the safer we all are."
I ignored him, both because I knew responding to his provocations is just what he wanted, and that I had better places to be.
Quickly making my way back to the Gunrunners compound, I found Bridget and Longslide playing patty cake. The hippogriff looked over at me. He showed some annoyance on his face. "So what's this solution you have, Star?"
"Come with me and I'll show you," was all I said as I entered the compound.
Passing through reception, Longslide, Bridget, and I trotted over to Harp and Slowtrot.
"Did you find it?" Slowtrot asked hopefully.
I pulled the pipbuck out of my bag and passed it to him. "Here you go. So, now what?"
"A pipbuck? Where did you get that, Star," Longslide asked, sounding as if he suspected me of theft.
"Hardly matters right now." Slowtrot cut the question off as he pulled out a few cables and attached them to both pipbucks. "Alright… any moment… and… nothing?"
"It might be bio locked," Harp spoke up.We cocked eyebrows at her. "Some pipbuck have a biolock spell built-in. It's a security function to ensure that some pony can't just steal or hack into another ponies pipbuck. From what I can remember, it requires the owner's approval to unlock it."
There was a pause as we all looked at the overmare pipbuck. "So then, this is just a dead end?" I asked, feeling frustrated.
"Maybe put it on?" Slowtrot suggested.
Looking down at it, I had a strange feeling that if I did put it on, it was not coming off any time soon. From what I read in the Lightbringers book, her own pipbuck had fuzed to her fenlock, becoming part of her. "I don't know…"
"Mama's going to be like the Lightbringer!" Bridget excitedly gasped.
I had to keep myself from cringing as I imagined a pipbuck fused to my leg. "Well, no. I don't think that will…"
"Can I put it on! I wanna be like the Lightbringer!" my daughter said excitedly as she reached for the pipbuck.
I pulled Bridget back and held her close to me to calm her down. "If I did put that thing on, can you take it off later?"
Both Harp and Slowtrot looked at each other, then back at me. "Maybe…" both said, sounding unsure.
"Can somepony explain to me, why the pipbucks?" Longslide irritably asked.
With a sigh, I then explained. "They think there's an untouched Stable-Tec factory somewhere out in the local wasteland, but the location is locked behind administrative access which this pipbuck should have. If we can locate the factory, then we can get the parts for the workshop."
"I see…" Longslide said, sounding concerned. "If this is true, then we can stay in New Appleloosa."
"Maybe leaving might be for the best," I suggested, which got looks from everycreture. "Come on! You saw what Ashy did the other night, and now the sabotage! Face it, if we stay, it's only going to get worse. If I sell this pipbuck, there will be enough caps for me to take Bridget and mom somewhere safer."
Everyone became silent. Bridget putting a talon on my shoulder.
Then the door to the workshop flung open. A less than sober Hardballer stepped out. "You think there's someplace safer?! Ha! It's the wasteland! Nothing in the wasteland is safe. All you will be doing is trading one problem for another."
Longslide sighed, "Dad, you should lay down…"
"Shut your beak! I didn't come here just to run away with my tail tucked between my legs!" Hardballer shouted as he trotted over. "I came out here to give my family an opportunity to succeed, to give my apprentices the ability to express themselves. If we go back to Fillydelphia, then we all go back to living under my cousin’s claw, and fu…" he looked over at Bridget for a second. "Let’s just say it will not be fun. So, if there's any way to get the workshop back up and running, I say we take it. We can then talk about moving our operations later."
"That's true. As long as the machines work, we don't have to return to Fillydelphia. There are a few settlements further in the wasteland that would love to have us nearby," Longslide added.
I let Bridget go as I looked at the pipbuck for a few seconds before relenting. "Alright, I'll put it on." Reaching out with my hooves, Slowtrot passed it back to me. Slowly, I latched it around my left fenlock until it clicked, then I waited for it to respond. After a moment, the green light of its screen turned on.
…
...
…
Unknown User, Access Denied.
The latch came loose and I shrugged. "I guess not," was all I said before I heard a click.
Looking at the pipbuck, Harp had attached another cable to it and one to Slowtrots pipbuck. "I was thinking that Order might be able to help. It is an advanced VI, and that pipbuck is 200 years behind programming," she explained. "Order, can you set Star Charter as that pipbucks new owner?" Her pipbuck then beeped, and she then nodded at me.
I re-latched the pipbuck, and again waited.
…
…
…
Error, error, error
...
Pipbuck 3100 spell matrix is out of date
Pipbuck 3200 spell matrix is out of date
Updating pipbucks to Orthrus Pipbuck standards.
Updating finished, rebooting pipbucks
…
…
…
Pipbucks rebooted, restarting pipbucks.
…
...
Welcome back overmare Star Carter.
My vision blurred for a moment as a cascade of green zeros and ones flooded my vision for a few seconds. When it was over, I could see numbers and words along the edge of my vision, causing me to tilt my head in an attempt to read what it was.
"Ya, took me a while to get used to that," Slowtrot commented before looking back down at his pipbuck. After a moment, his eyes went wide. "It worked! We unlocked the map!"
Everycreature crowded around Slowtrot as he showed us the map. All I could see was a green screen covered in lines and little squares with a crosshair highlighting one square which showed us the name of the town. Harp then cleared her throat, "Order, show me the location of the closes Stable-Tec, Ironshod, and M.o.W.T. production factories."
"Several locations found madam," her pipbuck spoke.
Harp nodded as she looked at her pipbuck. "Alright, there's no M.o.W.T. factories nearby, and the Ironshod factory is the one we already knew about, leaving us with the Stable-Tec production sight 13."
Looking at my own pipbuck, I saw the location as well as several other markers between it and us. Some of it I recognize as places near a former radiation hotspot, and was more than a day's trot from here.
"Problem; if I was to guess the distance, it's going to take us around three days to get there and back, and that's if we don't run into trouble." I explained.
"Only if you go by hoof," Longslide spoke up, a smile forming in the corner of his beak. "If we take the Smuggler, we can get there in no time, and it should make bringing back the parts just as easy."
Catching all of us by surprise, Hardballer laughed. His despair from earlier seemingly gone.
"So we have a goal, a destination, and transportation. I guess we atta get that Smuggler ready. Time is caps, and we'll run out of both if we just sit around." Hardballer bellowed.
I don't know why, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling as a sense of excitement bubbled up from within me.
-Item Obtained- (Pipbuck 3100) an administrative pipbuck used by the higher-ups of Stable-Tec. New locations are now open up to you.
-Pipbuck Function Obtained- (Advanced E.F.S.) The Eye Forward Sparkle spell well now comes with Friend or Enemy function, along with height and depth detection. It will mark friends as blue, neutral as yellow, and hostiles as red, and will tell you if the target is above or below you.
-Pipbuck Function Obtained- (Advanced S.A.T.S.) The Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell will now allow the user to perform precision attacks and noncombatant actions.
-Quest Start- (Burning Rubber) Obtain the machine parts from Stable-Tec production factory 13.
"Star Charter told me about the many dangers of the wasteland, some I had already seen, with most of them being created by radiation. This radiation is a chaotic and necrotic magic that once poisoned the land. Even after it was cleared away by the Elements of Harmony, pockets of it can still be found today, down in deep forgotten places, with hidden unseen horrors inside." ~ Azure Dice
"Are you sure about this, Star?" Hardballer asked me, having sobered up a little as everyone got the Smuggler ready.
"Look, you need your apprentices to work on those machines. Have them ready for when we return. Other than Longslide, I'm the only one who is both free, and I know how to defend myself. There's not really any better choice," I again explained to him.
"Fine, but ya better come back and with all ya limbs still attached." The old buzzard then looked passed me at Longslide. "That goes for you, too. All of you."
Longslide just saluted at his father, then returned to attaching a large gun onto the gunnery nest of the Smuggler. He called it the Bozar, a customized version of the 5.56mm LMGs they were selling to the NCR. It was his attempt at turning a Light Machine Gun into a sniper rifle. He had somehow made it work.
As for the rest of the team, Harp had to come, or the Smuggler would be going nowhere since she was its power source. Slowtrot was also coming, mainly to help move anything heavy, as the strength of two earth ponies was better than one.
Making sure we were extra safe, the Gunrunners offered us any spare guns we wanted to take. Harp turned this offer down since she already had her revolver and bolt launcher. Longslide also had his own guns, a 12.7mm pistol he called Li'l Devil, along with the Bozar attached to the Smuggler. Slowtrot only had his .45 auto pistol, so he picked up a service rifle from the Gunrunners stock.
As I was looking through their stock, a loud thud behind me nearly made me jump. Looking back, a griffin had dropped a gun case next to me, and Hardballer unlocked it. "You probably want something you're used to."
The gun case opened. Inside were two familiar weapons, a cutlass, and a SMG.
"Wait! Did you reforge them? I thought you hated the rust gun," I recalled.
"No, and I still think that SMG is a garbage gun. When Ashy had them destroyed after you nearly burnt down the town, I fingered it would piss her off if they were to return. Unfortunately, I never got around finishing them. I just left them to the side where Javelina found them," he explained. "I think she wanted to give you them as a gift. She does like a challenge."
I picked up my Blackwater Cutlass. The blade’s in far better condition than I ever remember it being, and slightly better balanced. The new rust gun also looked better than my old one, with clean black paint. It looked far better put together. Picking up a magazine, I found it loaded with 10mm ammo instead then the bigger .45.
"Why the smaller ammo?" I asked.
"Javelina thought having more bullets suited you better, as you tend to blind fire a lot." The old buzzard pointed out. "Still, I don't like how it loads from the side or how it moves the magazines, making it terrible for using on a battle saddle."
I just shrugged. "Mystery to me as well," was all I said on the matter as I took both weapons and six magazines.
After a few more minutes, the Smuggler was ready to go, having a small trailer attached to the back to carry any extra parts we might find.
There was just one thing left to do.
Trotting over to my grumpy looking filly, she pouted and looked away from me. "I want to go too," she huffed.
"I know, but you have to stay here. It's too dangerous out there for a young filly," I explained. "Anyways, grandpa Hardballer is going to need as much help as possible in the machine shop. That includes you."
"But mama, I want to go on an adventure too!" she whined.
Hardballer walked up to us, wiping grease off his talons. "Actually, Javelina is currently working on a gun right now. It’s nothing delicate, and she's more stable today. Maybe you could be her assistant. Let her show you how to make a gun by claw."
Bridget shuffled in place, clearly thinking about what to say. "Well, if auntie is feeling better, then I guess I can go see her. But I really do want to go on an adventure!"
"Like the Lightbringer?" I asked
She vigorously nodded. "Y… ya. I want to go on an adventure and help other creatures like the Lightbringer."
I smiled. "Then maybe you should get yourself ready for an adventure. Learn some skills and stuff. Wasn't the Lightbringer a skilled technician and safecracker before she left home?"
Bridget nodded again, but this time slower. "Ya. She was also a crack shot and powerful unicorn before she left the stable too!"
Hardballer chuckled. "Then it’s settled. If you want to go on an adventure, then you need some skills. How about you start with learning how a gun is put together from Javelina?" He then began leading her away, winking at me.
I waited for them to leave before letting out a long sigh. "Sometimes I worry she's just going to run off one day, trying to be like me, or that Lightbringer," I said to myself with worry.
There was a roar from the Smugglers engine. I quickly ran over and saw that Longslide was driving. The two ponies were in the seats behind him.
"We're about to go. Get in the gunner seat!" Longslide shouted to me.
Climbing up, I took my seat. It was just a flat spot with circles of metal pipes which formed a half cage to keep me from falling out.
With another rev from the engine, the garage doors opened. The light of the sun flooded in. We waited as the other griffons looked outside to make sure we were clear. When we were given the the okay sign, Longslide pulled a lever next to his seat.
"hold onto your flanks, ponies, because we're not stopping until we get to our destination!" he shouted, then lurched the Smuggler forward before speeding out into the light.
I watched as New Appleloosa grew smaller and smaller before it dipped below the horizon. Longslide kept at a steady speed as the Smuggler moved along the flat terrain. We passed a few critters along the way, radroaches and geckos mostly. Some attempted to follow us but quickly gave up as we left them in the dust. There was also a ruin in mid deconstruction. That we slowed for a moment as we passed in order to be careful to not hit any ponies scavenging the ruin for building materials to sell back in town.
In the distance, I saw a caravan moving towards town. Through the scope of my gun, I saw that it was a buffalo tribe. Many of them were hauling large saddlebags or were armed with crude weapons made from scrap.
We all got a scare when a hellhound popped out of the ground and began chasing us for a Celestia damned half an hour. I suggested shooting it, but Longslide told me to save the ammo as it was only keeping pace somehow. I swear that the more I watched it, the more it looked like it was just having fun chasing us, and not hunting.
"Alright, turn left onto the highway." Slowtrot directed.
"You mean on the broken road?" Longslide asked for clarification.
Slowtrot thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Ya. Just turn left onto a road soon."
After an hour had passed, the pipbuck told us that we were close. It was good timing since Harp was starting to look tired. "You holding up?" I asked Harp in concern.
She nodded as she said, "I'll manage. It's just pushing this much magic through me for this long is putting a strain on me. It's called magic toxification, something about negative magic being slow to leave our body. It builds up in us over time."
"Like radiation?" I asked.
Harp shrugged. "Not sure. It was something that only happened during the practice of slave generators. Those ponies were already ill-treated. I think the textbook said that common symptoms were a decrease in reasoning skills, ill-temper, and a lack of self-preservation, but that was only in severe cases. Most ponies document just become sick or fainted.
"Well, let me know if you're feeling unwell. We can take a break," I let her know.
Not too long after, we came to our destination. We drove through a rusted archway into the factory grounds. We found that the factory was half-sunken into the ground. Most of it was buried in dirt and dust. There also happened to be three other large buildings inside the wall that looked like warehouses with several large rusted through motor wagons in front of them, the yellow and blue Stable-Tec paint barely existing on them anymore.
Scanning the area, I didn't see signs of raiders or scavengers, but there were several smashed robots so rusted, they must have been like that for over a hundred years.
"What do you think, Star?" Longslide asked from the driver's seat.
"Can't say until we go inside, but it does look like it's untouched. Well, at least untouched by raiders." I informed him.
Longslide hopped out of the Smuggler. "Alright, let's split into two teams. Harp and I will stay here. She should rest, and I need to make sure the Smuggler is not going to die on us. Star, Slowtrot, you two take a look inside, but don't go too far in until we know what might be inside, alright?"
"Sounds like a plan," I agreed as I hopped out. "Let's go, Slowtrot."
He carefully got out of the Smuggler, yet still slipped down onto the ground, falling onto his stomach. "Ya, give me a moment for my legs to wake up."
"Hey, Star!" Longslide yelled at me as he threw a small bag to me. "Just in case, use one and run."
Looking in the bag, I saw six apple grenades. "Ohh, nice!"
"Use only one. Got that, Star?" he shouted again.
I sighed. "Fine, fine. Use one and run."
Leaving the two outside, Slowtrot and I enter through the front doors of the factory. Inside was quiet. Too damn quiet for my liking.
Seeing a Sparkle-Cola vending machine, I decided to test my luck and check it for loot.
"Wow! It really does feel like over two hundred years have passed here," Slowtrot spoke, breaking the silence. "I guess everything is like this now, ravaged by time."
"That's about right, if it's not torn down or in a crater, it's just falling apart."
Jackpot! The machine had a bottle loose inside, a cherry-flavored one. Bridget is going to squeal when I give her this.
"I guessed as much." He sighed as he went behind a corner. After that, I heard a loud gasp. "Star, I found something." His voice quivered.
Bagging the Sparkle-Cola cherry, I trotted over. Behind the counter, I saw two blackened pony skeletons with the area around them also scorched black. "Looks like they were set on fire. Nasty way to go." Looking closer, I found a destroyed 10mm pistol, a broken spear, and several ruined cans of food along with a lot of burnt junk. "Must have been scavengers. Maybe they caught unaware."
"What killed them?" Slowtrot asked.
"Fire," I said flatly before taking it more seriously. "Not sure actually, as fire means raiders, but they had their weapons and supplies on them. Raiders may be dumb, but not dumb enough to not rob a pony of their things before burning the bodies.”
“Actually, most ponies would take the stuff before setting them on fire. Also, that vending machine still had a Sparkle-Cola in it for the taking. It would be gone if other ponies were here." I added.
Looking back at Slowtrot, his eyes were wide and pointing at something behind me. "Loo… look out." he whispered.
Tensing up, I saw a red marker in my E.F.S in the form of a triangle pointing to my right. Slowly turned my head, in the corner of my vision, I could see the glint from a black chitin stinger. Like a spring, I jumped to the side, dogging a strike from a radscorpions stinger. I pulled out my sword. The monster was the size of an adult pony. it was readying itself for another stinger attack. I also got ready, the cutlass in my mouth. I stayed low to the ground. When it jabbed at me again, I sidestepped and dashed forward. With a turn of my head and body, my cutlass severed the radscorpions stinger. It stumbled back, making a screeching sound as it thrashed.
The sound of many little legs came from down a hallway. Five more smaller radscorpions came into view. Putting my sword away, both Slowtrot and I pulled out our guns and fired. We first put down the bug near us, then we fired down the hallway. We managed to slow one down, but three others kept on coming only to then be joined by three more.
"Fuck! Run!" I shouted as I took out an apple grenade. Pulling the pin, I tossed it into the hallway and booked it out of the building. Pushing Slowtrot to go faster, we ran back to the Smuggler. We saw that Longslide was already in the gunnery nest, aiming the Bozar at the factory entrance. "Radscorpions!" I shouted. Hee motioned for us to get out of the line of fire.
Dashing to the side and out of the firing line, Longslide opened fire. With height, range, and good firepower, the radscorpions were torn to bits as soon as they stepped into the light. The bullets tore into them, practically popping their shells with not a single shot missing. When the shooting stopped, Longslide left seven mutilated radscorpion bodies near the entrance.
We waited a few minutes, guns pointed at the entrance, but nothing further came out. Taking a deep breath, I put my gun away and drew my sword as I trotted over to the entrance. I stepped over the bodies and looked inside. Everything was quiet. Sticking my sword into the dead bug, I looked back to Longslide. "Looks like you got ‘em all, and what fucking kind of ammo did you use?" I shouted over at him.
"They’re armor-piercing magnum round, my own personal stock for the Bozar," he replied as he loaded another extended magazine into the rifle. "Never leave home without them."
"I can see why that Redeye fella wanted your clan on his side," I muttered before taking my sword, wiping the bug ichor off and reattaching it to my saddlebag. "Alright, I'm going back inside!"
The smell of the explosive was still fresh in the air with the hallway splattered with scorpion ichor and burnt marks. Following me was Slowtrot who tried, and failed, to avoid stepping on the dead bug.
"I want to say that this is the worst thing I've seen, but it's not even close," he said, shaking off a bit of ichor from his hoof.
"Same," Harp added as she followed us in. "The islands have their share of big bugs. Not sure what's worse, the giant centipedes, or the paradise dragons?"
Slowtrot stopped, looking visibly disturbed. "Big centipedes? Now that's nightmare fuel, but dragons as well?"
"Well there's not actually dragons, it's just what we call them," she explained as she trotted over to the Sparkle-Cola cola machine. The vending machine then turned on with a clunk and dispensed another cola bottle. "Not sure what they are, but they're some sort of feathery lizard with big claws that like to ambush ponies. We just call them dragons because of how dangerous they are. As for the common ponies, they might as well be actual dragons."
"Alright. Enough chit chat. Let's investigate. Keep your guns ready. There can always be more bugs," I told the two. They nodded in confirmation.
Trotting further in, we entered into a large room filled with neatly organized smaller three walled rooms, each with its own terminal. There were scorch marks all over as though some pony had galloped around throwing motives. It is likely the one who killed the scavengers.
"Odd. This looks a lot like a slave shop room, but it has no shackles or place for guards to keep an eye out." I openly pondered.
A sigh came from Slowtrot before he said, "I don't know about how things work out here. With that whole slavery thing everypony keeps talking about, but back in my time, let’s just say they had something far more effective than chains to get a pony to work themselves to death."
"You mean bomb colors?" I responded.
"I think he means corporal punishment," Harp added.
Slowtrot cocked an eyebrow at us both. "No… that's horrible... They just held the opportunity of better pay over a pony and the threat of losing their job if they didn't work off the clock."
I chuckled. "Then why stay if it was like that?"
"Rent or living above your means. I knew a few ponies that worked that hard to feed their chem habit too," he explains.
"Ohh." Both Harp and I utter out loud.
Moving on, we made our way to where the factory floor should be, passing more scorch marks as we got deeper inside. Blocking our path was a blast door. It was covered in scratches. A pile of pony skeletons in front of it. Above was a barely functioning red flashing light that had the word "Lockdown" illuminated by it. Along the hallway was more scorch marks, and along the ground were a few holes filled in with rubble.
Harp trotted to a wall-mounted terminal. It was doing nothing when she pressed a power button on it.
"I'll provide it with some power and have a look," Harp said as she turned it on with her magic, then plugged her pipbuck to it. "Looks like the lockdown activated because of elevated radiation levels outside, like really high levels that only subsided a few years ago."
"Makes sense," I spoke up. "This area was still highly irradiated before the radiation was cleared up. It would answer why it's been barely touched. Radiation tends to keep ponies away. Add radscorpions, then even ghouls would avoid coming here.”
“Now, can you open it?" I asked.
"Administrative access required," Harp said as she tapped at the doors terminal. "I could have attempted to hack into it with Order, or maybe an overmare pipbuck could unlock it?"
I shrugged and traded places with Harp, plugging my pipbuck into the terminal. After a moment, my pipbuck flashed "Access Granted". The door clicked and hissed, then began to open. A wave of heat hit us like there was some sort of blast furnace still on in here. But worse was the sudden ticking from our pipbucks, warning us of the radiation inside. It was nothing major from what I knew about radiation, but I know we didn't pack any radaway onto the Smuggler. There was supposed to be no more radiation after all.
Stepping over the dead to get inside, we entered the factory floor and found the air suffocating hot.
"Fucking seriously? What’s going on i here?" I complained.
"Ya. It's like a boiler room in here," Slowtrot added. "Maybe we should go back for now."
I shook my head. "Let's first look around. Maybe we can turn off whatever is making this heat. After that, we can get Longslide and find the parts."
We all nodded as we stepped down the stairs to the factory floor.
The place was a maze of heavy machinery. Unfortunately, a lot of it looked damaged. Some of them had parts ripped out. Others looked blackened and warped as though partially melted. Stranger yet, there was soot everywhere. We ended up knocking the stuff up with each step, forcing us to cover our faces with rages to prevent us from breathing it in.
As for what was being built here, I couldn't quite put my hoof on it. It was all a bunch of rusting parts, but with all the faded warning signs all about, it had to be something dangerous.
As we stuck together to look about, we saw something odd, that being a hole in the ground with smoke coming out of it. The heat got worse as we got closer to it.
"I've heard of something like this back on the Islands," Harp spoke up, "On the big island, some lava vents would form in a tunnel, turning the place into a hotbox."
"This doesn't come off as volcano territory though," Slowtrot added. "Maybe there's a reactor meltdown under this place?"
I held my pipbuck closer to the venting hole. The clicking didn't change its rate.
"Don't think that's it," I said, picking up some random rusty metal part then tossing it in. "Well, let's go back. If this is the cause, then the heat is all we need to worry about."
As I turned to trot away, the hole made a whooshing sound. A blast of heat came out. Looking back, a yellow marker appeared in my E.F.S the triangle pointing downwards. I saw two sticks like things poke out from the hole, then bend at a joint, feeling the area. What followed was a big red spiky bug. It had two large mandibles, but nothing as threatening as a radscorpions claws.
"Alright, what's that?" I ask fearfully.
"A big ant," Slowtrot said as he scratched his chin. "Red, spikes, and came out of a scolding hot vent. Must be a dragon ant, but why is it here and so huge?"
"Like I care what it's called or why it's here. Can you tell me if it's dangerous?" I huffed as I kept an eye on the bug.
"Say Slowtrot, why do you know about this ant? Not to be rude, but you don't seem like the bug type," Harp observed.
"Oh, I'm not.” he answered. “It's just that there was a huge panic over them a few years back, like military levels of extermination to get rid of them."
His eyes went wide as we heard a bubbling sound come from the ant. Slowtrot then grabbed us both and pulled us behind one of the machines just as a gout of fire shot out from the ant. The flames stuck to everything and didn't go out quickly.
"So ya . . . they breathe fire," Slowtrot noted with an oddly calm voice.
Sounds of fire being roared out all around us. My E.F.S. lit up with a solid red bar, meaning that there was a metric shit ton of ants about and they were angry.
We backed up as the first dragon crawled into view. I aimed my rust gun at it and I opened fire. The ant went down quite easily, only to then explode, sending out globs of flaming ichor that stuck to everything near its corps.
"Oh fucking kay, they exploded too," I muttered in annoyance.
We attempted to make our way back from where we came but quickly found it blocked by several of the dragon ants, so I tossed a grenade at them to clear the way. The exploding ants covered our exit in fiery globs too thick to run through and it was slow to dissipate.
"We got more coming this way!" Harp yelled as I saw six more closing in, one shooting fire at us but, luckily, we were still out of its range. Harp fired her bolt launcher. The ant didn't explode, but instead just shot a jet of fire out of the hole in its body before falling over.
With more closing in and our way out blocked, we galloped in the only open direction which took us to another section of the factory, this one filled with smaller machines.
Slowtrot and Harp slammed the doors shut behind us as I shoved a big table into it. We stepped back and watched as the door began to glow, part of it slowly melting. I knew I wouldn't take long for the bugs to get in.
"Hey, I think I found out where the ants came from," Slowtrot spoke up.
Behind him was a broken glass display. In big bold letters above it was, "Danger; do not touch Dragon Ant Farm." The thing looked like it was modeled after a stable with little cartoon ants in stable barding.
"Whos fucking bright Idea was this?" I huffed.
Harp trotted over to a plack next to the large ant farm, then said, "’Remember, just as this Stable-Tec ant farm keeps these ants safe, and you safe from them, we do the same for the ponies of Equestria.’ - Scootalloo." Harp read. "I'm not going to speak ill of the dead, but it sounded like she didn't like the ponies Stable-Tec was going to save?"
Slowtrot scratched his goatee as he recalled, "I do remember watching this video back in the R&D stable, it…"
I shoved a hoof in his mouth to shut him up as I demanded, "Focus, ponies. We're about to get barbecued by a bunch of exploding bugs if we stay here. Is there anything here we can use to get us out of here?"
We quickly began to look around, but I still couldn't make mane or tails of what I was looking at other than some old tools, a few skeletons, and a lot of scrap metal. If we were not trying to get the fuck out of here, this place would have at least been a good payday in salvage, just if for the tools alone.
"Found something!" Harp shouted. We trotted over as she wiped dust off some wall-mounted map of the factory. "So that's what they were making here." She then pointed to a spot on the map. "Spark Reactor assembly and disassembly, those things are what powers a stable."
"And how's that going to help us?" I asked.
"They tend to be volatile if not properly maintained, such as sparkling deadly amounts of magical energy. The rooms that hold them tend to be the most well shielded. Maybe it's safe there." She pointed from the assembly to a loading dock, then into a cafeteria, then down a hallway to where we were, the spark reactor shielding assembly.
There was a loud pop. A dragon ant popped its head out through a melted hole of the door. With a few loud bangs, Slowtrot clumsily shot it until the fucker exploded, followed by a few more explosions that blew oped the fucking doors.
"That was not my intention!" he exclaimed in shock.
As soon as more ants stepped through the fire, we fucking galloped for it down a very scorched hallway. In the cafeteria, there were a few more ants, but they had not seen us yet, so we kept low, only to find two ants blocking our way.
"There's a way around through the kitchen." Harp directed us, taking the long way around to avoid the bugs. We crawled into a kitchen just large enough for the three of us to fit comfortably.
On the other end of the kitchen was another blast door, so no big worry. As I trotted over I heard a click and a sigh from two dumbass ponies. Both Slowtrot and Harp had stopped in front of a metal door and opened it. As I trotted over, the air became cooler. Inside I saw boxes of food.
"Okay, maybe some scavenging is required." I said.
Slowtrot pointed at one of the boxes. It was labelled as Barnyard Bargains Nature Bars.
"Take those,” Slowtrot suggested. “Those last quite a while despite not having much preservatives. They are made to be nutritious and filling, though the taste is a bit bland. I lived off them whenever my budget was tight."
Shrugging, I grabbed what I could reasonably fit in my saddlebag and had the other two do the same.
Closing the fridge, the heat returned.
I quickly scanned the kitchen for anything else I could take. Unsurprisingly everything in sight was burnt and damaged. Truthfully, it was odd that the fridge still worked.
One thing that did catch my eyes was a box that had several relay sharp-looking knives with one sticking out of a cutting board. With a closer look, I saw that it had cut through the wooden board and into the metal counter!?
*Bang, clang, clang*
Harp and I looked back at Slowtrot who somehow got snagged on a pot, knocking it over. No words were exchanged as we heard the sound of many small tapping legs coming our way. Luckily this kitchen had a few hiding spots, with Harp and I ducking into a large stove as Slowtrot hid inside a closet.
One ant came into the kitchen. It's antennas touched everything as it searched for us, even climbing onto the counter.
"Ahchoo!" A sneeze loudly came from the closet. I would have facehoofed if I had the room to do it. The ant whipped around to look at the closet. In doing so, one of its legs hit the knife sticking out of the cutting board, cutting the leg off like it was nothing. We were all caught by surprise by this, most of all the ant. It panicked, stepping on the box of knives before falling off the counter. The knives flew out of the box. Three of them came down onto the ant. The knives stuck right into it, right down to the handle. Next thing we saw was three streams of fire jetting out of the ant from where the knives stuck inside it, but it, fortunately, it didn't explode.
After a moment, no other ants came into the kitchen, so we all left our hiding spots. I checked the small box where the knives came from. It had the label of the M.o.A.S. on it. Go figure it was a Ministry product.
The three knives that were stuck in the ant were glowing white with heat, yet the handle was still cool to the touch, so I threw them in the box along with two other knives stuck in metal and shoved it in my saddlebag. Like fuck was I going to just leave those babies behind!
Again Harp powered the terminal. I unlocked the door. We trotted to the loading docks. We were expecting more ants, but to our horror, we found ourselves in some sort of cocoon room. The place was caked in hardened dirt all over the floor and walls, making the place look like some underground cave rather than inside a factory, all with the only light coming from burning cocoons being tended to by the ants. Luckily none had detected us. They were all on the other end of the room, but unfortunately we were standing in some sticky mold like substance that smelled like burnt shit. There were several radroaches scurried about, chewing on the ant shit, their markers fortunately yellow.
Slowly, we made our way to the other end of the loading docks while we stayed close to the wall, doing our best to not upset the radroaches. We just had to open another blast door to get to the assembly room, but knowing how loud they were, we prepared to jump through.
Once more Harp turned the damaged terminal on. It clicks and beeps seemingly louder than they should be. When I used my administrator’s access, it hissed louder than I had ever heard a door hiss. After that, it clunked like it was trying to call the ants to it, all before it opened with an ear-piercing screech. Of course, the ants heard at least that last part. As a result, they all looked our way.
I tossed a grenade before jumping through, followed by Slowtrot and Harp who both opened fired on the ants as I accessed the inside terminal to shut the door. As the door closed, we saw as ants popped out from everywhere, a sheer army of pissed off ants.
"Hello there!" A gravelly voice spoke up. We all screamed, then he screamed, then we screamed again. After that, he said, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack, youngins?!" A glowing ghoul in burnt stable barding shouted. There was barely a pony there, No main, tail, or fur. Just greenish-yellow glowing leathery skin and bones.
"Geeze, are you trying to give us a heart attack?!" Slowtrot reflected in a huff. "Sir, it's the attack of the pony-sized ants out there, so we're a bit jumpy."
The glowing ghoul cocked an non existent eyebrow. "The attack of what? Do you even work here? This is a restricted area you know, and during a lockdown. Show me your security cards!"
"Great!, A confused ghoul," I quietly sighed. "Listen here, ya old fart. It has been over-"
"Will my pipbuck be enough?" Slowtrot spoke up as he trotted over to the ghoul, presenting his pipbuck. It was clicking more than doubling.
The ghoul looked at him for a moment, then nodded, pulling out a boxy-like device that looked like a pipbuck but a bit cruder.
"Alright, it says you're a Stable-Tec courier,” the glowing ghoul noted in a convinced tone. “That at least proves your employment, but far from giving you access here." He then trotted over to Harp, who cringed as her pipbuck clicked faster. "A V.I.P. How nice, but still not allowed here." He then turned to me. I lifted my pipbuck. It clicked faster as he got close. "Now I know you don't belong here miss… Overmare! My apology! Is there anything I can do for you? Also, if it's not so much trouble, can you tell me why we're on lockdown?"
"Just give me a moment," I told the ghoul as I finally took a look around. The room was large, but not as large as the loading docks. It was still big enough for a large shack sized box-like thing to fit inside. It was placed on rails that led to an even bigger blast door that it could fit through. The rest of the room was clean and white with just as clean tools placed on a wall that had several burnt looking papers. The most interesting thing in this room was two securitrons sitting on the other end of the room.
"What are those for?" I asked.
"You mean Besty and Ross? They’re our anti-zebra security bots. You know, in case of zebra invasion." The ghoul explained, and an idea formed in my head.
Motioning the other two over, I then whispered. "Let’s send the killbots after the ants!"
"Sounds like a plan to me, but that's a lot of ants," Slowtrot partially agreed.
"Too many ants," Harp added, "Even if we get away, there's no salvaging the parts if the ants are still swarming this place."
"That's true. As long as those fuckers are here, we're still screwed." I agreed. "But it's not like we have some sort of super ant killing tool."
"That would be a lot of bug spray," Slowtrot agreed with a sigh.
"How about we have the reactor overload?" Harp pondered. "Not as in an explosion, but sending an electrical pulse out. Everything inside the building would get fried, both living and electronic, but everything else should be fine."
"Is that even possible?" Slowtrot asked.
"Only if you do the wrong thing the right way," The ghoul informed us, causing us to jump back. "Now will you tell me what in Tartarus is going on now?"
I looked over at Harp. She nodded back at me before she turned to the ghoul as she said, "Well, we're under Zebra attack, and the rest of the factory is lost." The ghoul gasped as Harp continued. "We need to escape, but we also need to preserve the factory while keeping it out of Zebra hooves. You understand?"
He scratched his boney chin. "I knew this day would come! I just knew it!" The ghoul then saluted Harp, then at me. "I'm at your service. If you need me to start up the securitrons, have the reactor do an electro feedback pulse, I can do it."
"If you can, you will do Equestria proud," Harp added.
"Alright, but you might want to get out of here. I know how this all works and how to not to be turned to dust. I'll send Betsy and Ross out to clear the way, I'll just need the loading doors unlocked," the ghoul told us as he trotted over to the terminal. "The day has finally come! They finally made the push!" We watched as he began tapping at a terminal.
I trotted over to the larger blast doors. I hooked my pipbuck into the connecting terminal which promptly unlocked it. A loud clunk and a deep booming voice announced the activation of the robots, "Anti-Zebra programming activated," both robots bellowed as they began to move. The two bots got in place in front of the large blast door which I selected to open, then they quickly got out of the way as a wave of heat entered the room. "Hostiles detected. Beginning elimination protocol. For Equestria!" The robots bellowed before rolling out of the room and opened fire with beams and rockets.
The sounds of ants exploding sounded a lot like fireworks. Peeking out, the loading docks had become an inferno. Ants and fire were everywhere. The robots fired wildly. A stray rocket flew out and hit a patch of flaming cocoons. The batch exploded, causing the dirt to crumble. A new opening hole led to the outside.
The ants were now entirely focused on the rampaging robots who were killing them rapidly, but the ants were just as quickly replenishing their numbers. It was now, or never since those two robots were going to be quickly overwhelmed.
"Alright. Follow me, and don't fall behind!" I shouted.
Jumping out, I galloped along the edge of the wall to avoid the flames while shooting at any ant that looked at me the wrong way. Because of all the exploding ants, the smoke in the air had grown thicker, making it both hard to breathe and see, but I pushed on. The way out was still ahead. We had to climb a bit, but the strange dirt-caked ground helped us get a strong hoof hold as we climbed.
A loud whine and pop caught my attention. I looked back in time to see one of the robots have one of its arms melted off. "I die for the princesses, for Equestria!" A robot bellowed before it exploded, sending a shockwave out, along with robot parts. The explosion also helped push more of the smoke out, giving us a bit more room to breathe.
Doubling my efforts, I finally made it to the opening only to see an ant had gotten behind me, blocking off the other two. Thinking fast, I drew my sword and charged, stabbing the ant in its midsection. The bug let out a cry before fire erupted from its wound. I fell back, the hilt of my sword still in my mouth, but without most of the blade. What was left now melted to slag. Harp and Slowtrot didn't let my loss go to vain. They quickly rushed out through the hole passed me just as the second robot suddenly stopped. Its back opened up to reveal two white hot coils.
"Death is preferable to capture by the Zebra menace!" With another powerful explosion, the army of angry ants went flying, some exploding in mid-air.
Unfortunately, more ants came out of their hole. Lots more, and now their attention was on us.
Putting the hilt away, I muttered, "Fuck one and run." I took out the grenade bag, pulling on the rings of all three remaining apple grenades before tossing it at the incoming bugs then got my flank out of there.
Cool fresh air never tasted so good as we galloped. We put as much distance between us and the ants.
Turning a corner, we saw Longslide with his Li'l Devil out and several flaming craters around the Smuggler. "Fuck! You're alive! Now let’s get on before more come out!" he shouted frantically.
Just then, the air tasted odd. There was a crackling sound. Looking back, electricity sparked through the building. I watched as an ant crawled out through the front door only for it to then explode as a bolt of electricity hit it.
I laughed in loud triumph as I cried out in victory. "We did it! That should kill all those fucking ants."
The ground then shook. A gout of fire burst from the front door. The heat of it was intense and didn't stop. I watched as the factory not only was engulfed in flames, but then began to sink into the ground, falling apart as it fell. When it was over, there was nothing but a massive burning pile of rubble.
-Minor Perk Obtained- (Fire Walker) sometimes being hot is just a state of mind. The three of you gain a 5% resistance to fire.
-Unique Item Obtained- (Cosmic Knives) "Experiment note one hundred and forty two; we have been attempting to make a new metal alloy for the use in making power armor using a crystalline structure to strengthen it. The dubbed Cosmic Alloy, though absolutely strong, it was also the most heat-absorbing alloy that I have ever seen. The doll inside was quickly reduced to ash after the fire test and took hours for it to cool down enough to be safely moved. I've sent the alloy down the line to see if we can use it to generate revenue as it clearly can't be used directly for the war effort." -Twilight Sparkle.
"Continuing the topic of dangers in the wasteland, Star Charter informed me about Ganggers. Though not technically raiders, these organized groups are known to conduct such attacks on their enemies, or those unwilling to pay tribute, though with less bloodshed. Basically, as long as you're their friend, or pay them, they will not only leave you be, but may even protect you. Because of that, ganggers are both tolerated and feared in the wasteland." ~ Azure Dice
The smell of the Stable-Tec burnt ruins was thick in the air. It was a mix of burning tar and, oddly, cooked cram. We just stood there, looking at it, unsure what to do next. That place was supposed to have the critical parts we needed, and it was gone. What we did get was several severe burns, a bad cough, my groceries, and a box of knives.
The sound of rustling from the ruins caught our attention. Because of it, we drew our guns. What then popped out was the glowing ghoul who was covered in dust, but looking no worse for wear. "Damn zebs! They must have rigged the factory to blow. Did you all get out alright?"
I sighed as I put my gun down. "We're fine, but the factory's loss is a big blow. We're going to need to find the parts elsewhere."
"Doubt we have the time or ammunition. We should just head back," a dejected Longslide suggested.
"Parts, you say?" The ghoul slid down the rubble and looked around, his eyes stopping at the three buildings off to the side. "Well, there should be spares over in the storage warehouse," he said as he pointed at one of the three buildings.
Longslide perked up. "Would there be Griffonstone Mechanics parts there?" he asked.
The ghoul scratched his chin, then nodded. "I see. You must be an inspector. Yes, as regulations dictate, we do keep replacements for your companies machines on hoof."
Opening up his wings, Longslide jumped over to the ghoul, though still keeping some distance. "Show me! It's important that I look through them."
With hope restored, I turned to my companions who were still recovering from their near-death experience.
Slowtrot was doing… okay. A dragon ant got him in the plot, and he was currently sticking it in the air to cool off his backside.
Harp, on the other hoof, had avoided the fire but seemed to have taken in more radiation than the rest of us. It was nothing severe, but she was clearly weakend, and would need to see a doctor before or risk the damage becoming permanent.
I, myself, was doing the best out of the three of us. Although I had burnt myself a few times, I had already recovered, but the grumbling from my stomach told me that I needed to eat. Not soon, but getting into another fight would be a really bad idea.
"So what happened, Harp? You were in there just as long as us." I noticed.
She groaned, further showing how ill she felt. "Panicked charged a few times. Tring to keep the air pressure in my gun high and forgot about the radiation." She shivered for a moment. "I might need to rest for a bit before we go back."
"Same," Slowtrot added. "Sitting down right now is not going to be fun."
"You both do that. You earned a break," I told them.
Turning to see that Longslide and the ghoul, they were already at the first building. I quickly trotted over to see what they found. The ancient rusty doors whined loudly as they opened. Once I got closer, I peeked in. Personally, I still didn't know what I was looking at. Most of it was just sealed in boxes and some oversized motor wagon. All of it was half-buried in rubble and gunk. It looked like the roof had collapsed long ago. The ants used it to throw away their trash.
Even though it looked like a wreck, Longslide quickly jumped in, heading straight towards the trapped vehicle.
"This is a Burro Industry tractor! This thing can move several tons!" He squawked excitedly.
"Cool, but how do we get it out, and what about the machine parts?" I pointed out.
The ghoul gave out a long sigh as he said, "Even more zebra tampering. Unfortunately, we kept the Griffonstone parts in the back, so you will need to have them dugout."
"And the other two buildings?" I checked.
"Let’s see,” the ghoul paused in thought. “One should be mostly empty. It had all the maintenance supplies for a stable that was just completed, and the transport crew came for it yesterday. The other was used for storing noncritical parts for spark reactors," He explained.
So, with that, hope had been dashed, mostly.
"Longslide, lets head back to the Smuggler and brainstorm how we might recover those parts," I told the hippogriff. He sighed as he left the tractor.
As we trotted back, there was a distant, constant roar which ever so slightly got louder. Sharing a glance with Longslide, he flew up into the air as I galloped to the Smuggler. I jumped up into the gunner nest. Looking along the horizon, I saw a dust cloud heading our way. Peering through the scope of the Bozar, I saw what looked like… ponies on small motor wagons. It was hard to make out, but as they got closer, I could see the distinct black vests of the Desperados.
"So… how much ammo did you say we had again?" I called out to Longslide.
He landed on top of the Smuggler then checked his gun. "Not enough for a drawn-out fight," he eventually answered.
I looked down at Harp. She clearly needed more time to recover.
"Could you get us back to New Appleloosa, or at least close?" I asked Harp hopefully.
She shook her head as she said, "Not unless you give me an hour to rest, then maybe. What's heading our way?"
"Trouble, so be ready for a fight," I warned her as I got down from the gunner’s nest. "So we can't run, and probably can't fight them all. Now what?" I asked Longslide.
"They're just ponies, right? Maybe we can talk to them?" Slowtrot piped in. I rolled my eyes.
"Actually, that is an option," Longslide said as he jumped into the gunner’s nest with an odd grin on his beak, before looking through the scope. "Just hear me out, Star. The Desperados are not raiders… Well mostly their not raiders. I heard they've been keeping out of trouble, so maybe we can negotiate."
"For what? Not to be raped and disemboweled?" I huffed.
Longslide stood up. He still had a cocky smile on his beak. "Well, I was thinking that we needed extra hooves to dig out the parts, so why not try and make a deal with them?" I face hoofed at the idea… but at least it was a plan.
Waiting for the Desperados to arrive felt longer than it should. With everypony but Longslide positioned at the Smuggler, I returned to the gunner's nest with my rust gun out. The hippogriff stood at the rusty archway of the factory's entrance with his Bozar pointed down in his claws.
As the Desperados got closer, the roar of their motor wagons took over the ambient sound of the wasteland. At this point I could now make out what exactly they were riding. A few of them were in something similar to the Smuggler except for the fact that their vehicle was smaller and rusty. As for the rest, they were on what looked like a small engine on two wheels which was barely big enough to fit two ponies. It made me think that the sparse armor they had on was more for protection from falling rather than from being in a fight. I didn't know why, but I wanted to try and ride whatever it was.
The ganggers slowed down as they got close. One of them parked his two-wheeled motor wagon in front of the others by kicking a little metal stick out and having his wagon rest on it. The pony himself was a big stallion who had no armor on aside from his vest and a painted black metal helmet with a single spike poking out on top. He was also covered in scars and tattoos. The ink depicts flaming wheels, skills, and more of those two-wheeled motor wagons.
"Big balls just standing there ready for a fight. shouldn't you be sucking on ya mamas tit like those ponies over there?" The brute pointed at Harp, Slowtrot, and the ghoul who were hiding behind the Smuggler.
Longslide patted his Bozar, bringing the ganggers attention to it. "Their job is not to fight, so I would prefer you keep them out of this, unless picking on ponies you know you can beat is your style?" he mocked the gangger.
There was a short pause before the gangger glared at Longslide and stomped up to him, getting nose to beak. "Fine, but if ya what to fight, then let's fight."
"You will do no such thing yet!" The voice of an old mare yelled out from within the group of ganggers. The big stallion backed up as a very thin and old mare, who was also covered in tattoos, trotted into view. "This is why Elder Big Papa asked me to come. He knew you would try and pump up that ego of yours and get us in trouble again!"
"But gram gram..." the big stallion stammered.
"Don't gram gram me! This is not route 50. I shouldn't have to remind you of that!" she scolded the stallion before trotting passed him and up to Longslide. "You must be one of them Gunrunners. I'm Burning Asphalt, elder of the Route 50 Desperados. May I know your name?" the old mare even fluttered her eyes as she introduced herself, as though she didn't look ancient and leathery.
"Longslide, son of Hardballer, the boss of the local Gunrunners," he answered, taking a claw off his gun. "If it's not too rude, may I ask why you're here in such force? You had us worried that this was a raiding party."
Burning Asphalt looked back and chuckled before returning her gaze to Longslide. "Oh, you know how youngins are. Big Papa wanted me and my grandson to investigate your vehicle there, and next thing we knew it, the rest of ‘em up and followed us. Can't blame ‘em, with how our employer wants us to stay put. They're getting a little stir crazy."
"You're interested in my Smuggler?" Longslide asked as he put his claw back onto his gun.
She nodded and motioned back at the motor wagons. "As you can see, it's a thing of ours. It's how we keep control of route 50. When your territory stretches from the east coast to west coast, ya can't just do it on hoof. So, when one of our boys saw ya ride out of town, he went to tell big Papa, and now we're here."
There was a brief pause before Longslide spoke, "So you're here. Now what?"
Burning Asphalt smiled. Most of her teeth were either yellow or replaced with gold. "Would you be willing to give up that there auto wagon? We would be grateful, and will be willing to compensate you for it." The other Desperados had a hoof out, ready to pull their guns, making it clear that they were not giving us another option other than to give them the Smuggler.
Longslide looked back at us briefly, then back to the old mare. "Even if I wanted to, I can't give you my Smuggler. We’re doing an important job, one that needs us to return by the end of the day. Maybe we can interest you in something else? I am a Gunrunner, after all."
The mare chuckled, "We got guns, sonny, and anything else you might be able to offer. Well, except for that ‘Smuggler’, as you call it."
There was another pause as they were clearly interested in one thing only, but as I chewed on who I should shoot at first until I saw that Harp and Slowtrot come out from behind the Smuggler and trotted over to the old mare.
"I got to say, the Desperados haven't changed at all. It has been what, two hundred and eleven years, and you're still roving around on those early war motorcycles? How are they even still working?” Slowtrot spoke up.
Burning Asphalt lost the smile, now looking a bit confused. "With lots of love and grease. Now, how do you know about them bikes being from early war?"
"Well, from what I remember, most of the biker gangs were started by early war veterans, mobile squads and couriers I think," Slowtrot explained. "Sorry. I'm not all that well informed about the early war, but there was this scandal about the local biker gang in my area dealing in chems. The Tartarus Angles, if I remember correctly. They got turned into a movie too. That's how I learned about how the biker gangs got started."
The old mare seemed to relax as she studied Slowtrot. "Yes. The Tartarus Angles were an enemy from times before myself, and our founders did fight in the war of endings. Strange how you know this, though being not a ghoul of old."
Slowtrot scratched the back of his head nervously, "Well, I'm from the wartime, just kind of fell through time."
Harp stepped in between the two as she said, "Elder Burning Asphalt, my name is Harp Melody. May I change your mind on the need for guns? I mean, that is if you like only being able to buy from Blue Skies that is?"
Burning Asphalt's demeanor changed again, this time to annoyance, "Another pony knowing more than they should." She said as she spat on the ground. "Alright, then speak up. How can you give us a better deal then our employer?"
"Right, Blue Skies. Trust me when I say this, but you ponies might do well to stay away from that group. I can't really explain it, but their leader is a dangerous pony," Harp explained, getting a laugh from the Desperados.
"Missy, we’re all dangerous ponies," the old mare pointed out.
Harp then sighed. "Ya, that might be the wrong direction I should argue. Then how about I ask you a question; your employer, of which I personally know you are only allowed to sell to by order of the mayor and sheriff, how's the quality of gear you're getting from them and the price you're paying for it?"
Burning Asphalt didn't respond, looking more like she was chewing on how to answer. What Harp had said didn't sound all that surprising, as it wouldn't be the first time that Espresso, or Ashy, had banned a group from doing business in town. The Zebra tribe Angles had gotten bard from town’s business in favor of Quacksalver, and if it wasn't for Velvet Remedy's influence, so would have the Followers.
"Their guns are shit!" one of the ganggers yelled from the back.
"And overpriced!" another shouted.
The group of ganggers began murmuring among each other, clearly annoyed with their employer, stopping only when Burning Asphalt looked back at them.
"Alright, ya got us there," Burningn Asphalt admitted with a huff as she looked back at us again. "Blue Skies doesn't deal in quality goods, so we take or pay elsewhere to buy our guns and ammo. If we were back on route 50, there'd be plenty of settlements that would give tribute in good guns." She then spat on the ground again. "Fucking contract! I told big Papa it was a bad idea, and now we’re getting cheated by that slimy business pony. But, even then, we ain't risking a good payout on a few polished rifles, girly."
"That's only if you're doing business in town. I doubt New Appleloosa is so big that we're considered to still be in town," Harp explained as she extended a hoof out as though presenting the wasteland itself. "Sheriff Ashy doesn't have authority out this far, and the Gunrunners have an association with the NCR, so if anypony tries to piss on your breakfast out here, they're just asking to get shot."
Burning Asphalt now looked impressed. "Not a bad proposition, but what's stopping us from just taking your current shit or from you just running off to suck the sheriff’s tit?"
Harp gave a long sigh. "Well, I can personally say that I wouldn't trust the sheriff to not just use this as a reason to kick us out of town. The mayor too. We're not in their good graces right now. I think it would do the town a lot of good if the two would retire. Whatever good they have done can't be worth the madness they’re sowing. As for why you shouldn't take the Smuggler…"
Longslide put a claw on her shoulder, stopping her before she trotted up to the old mare.
"As the mare said, my family has strong associations with the NCR,” Longslide put in, “and an even stronger ties to the Talons. That's two groups you don't want to be on the bad side of. Also, if you decide to cover this robbery up by killing us, I highly doubt nobody saw you come this way. When creatures start asking questions, they will put two and two together." He patted his Bozar again. "Now, to put it in the form of a question; do you really want to risk having nearly every griffon in this region being given a kill contract on you and everypony you hold dear?"
All the Desperados fell silent, and though the hot sun was beaming down on us, it felt cold.
After a moment, Burning Asphalt put her hooves up. "Alright. I get it. Ya can keep your Smuggler. Anyways, we were told to start no fights, not if we can help it that is. Still, ya all got some fucking balls. I respect that. It's been too long since we met another respectable creature out here. Ever since we came down south, it's been nothing but sniveling cowards or self-righteous uppity hero types." She again spat on the ground. "If it's not too much to ask, could we at least take a look at that Smuggler? My grandson here is a right gearhead before he could ever be considered a warrior. All of those scars are from hurting himself as he was working on our rides."
"Gram gram, they don't need to know that!" the big stallion wined.
A chuckle came from Longslide. "Alright, but I also need a favor, something only strong ponies like you could help us with."
"Is that so? Well then, let me tell you, my ponies don't come cheap." The old mare snidely informed him.
"Then let's talk business. Time is caps, after all," Longslide said as he escorted the old mare to the Smuggler.
It didn't take long for the two to hammer out a deal. As it turned out, the ganggers were in need of having most of their guns repaired as well as a resupply of good ammo. Though raiders were not even a problem where they were camped out, they were having a problem with some giant wasps that kept attacking their camp. Unsurprisingly, they were also in need of medical supplies because of the attacks, so I suggested they ask the Followers of the Apocalypse. I then had to explain who they were. Burning Asphalt was genuinely surprised such a group existed. She gladly agreed to tell their leader about them.
When the Desperados finally began to clear out the rubble from the warehouse, Slowtrot and I joined them, just to make things go faster.
They were understandably weary of me, as the last two encounters I had with them left one mare embarrassed and a stallion missing a chunk from his leg. But, as we worked, they quickly warmed up to me, not that I was trying to butter them up. They just seemed to respect that I could haul rubble as well as they did.
Slowtrot was doing surprisingly well among the ganggers. At first he informed them about the proper way to move rubble, and then began talking about an old movie called "Rebel Without A Cause," of which the ganggers enjoyed hearing about.
It took quite a bit of time, but eventually we were able to clear out the rubble and locate the spare parts for the Stable-Tec machine shop along with freeing the tractor. After a short moment, Longslide found what we needed, all of it, plus extras, which caused us to cheer in victory. There was a bit of an argument over who got the tractor, of which was in no condition to move, but after some dealing, the Desperados relented. Another deal was made for their help in hauling it back to town. Burning Asphalt decided to join us to make sure the deal was finalized.
With little time to waste, and with Harp rested, we got back in the Smuggler. and rolled out. We kept the glowing ghoul in the trailer so not to put Harp at any more risk of radiation poisoning than she already was.
"Not to pry, but why do we need that fucking tractor? Aren't they slow as balls?" I yelled/asked Longslide.
"Only when hauling heavy loads!" he answered, "I'm planning on installing its engine into the Smuggler. It should solve the power problem."
I looked back at the rusty, yet still in good condition tractor. "Didn’t you say spark talismans were a problem because they explode and such?"
"It's a Burro Industry vehicle. They didn't complete thorough selling of their vehicles, but they succeeded in renting them out, or at least that is what I read about them. Anyways, their construction vehicles are fucking durable to tartarus and back, and they have parts that are far easier to fix or replace than almost any motor wagon you can find," Longslide explained.
"They were also all over the place out west," Slowtrot chimed in. "A lot of ponies wanted to work for Burro Industries because they paid better than most companies, and had a lot of work contracts because of how reliable they were. Even saw one of their mega haulers once. The thing was like a land ship."
Something then clicked. "Wait! Was the Burro Industry run by donkeys?" I asked.
Slowtrot nodded. "Ya. I remember that they would advertise themselves as bringing donkey stubbornness to construction. It was pretty funny because of how true it was."
I gave out a long sigh. "Ya, that does sound like Happy."
"Who?" Longslide now asked.
"Happy Burro? I met him back west long ago, thought he'd make a great sailor back in the day. I mean, he had a wooden leg, and used a sword. This was a common sight back where I'm from." I explained.
"Well fuck. Didn't expect that family to still be around," Longslide said with a chuckle. "Then again, donkey's were always the most stubborn creature in Equestria. They even give the Talons a run for their caps when writing contracts."
We continued to roll along. The closer we got to town, the more ponies we started to see. Most of them were just scavengers, but we even passed by a merchant while he hauled a massive saddlebag. He was guarded by a mean-looking mercenary in black metal armor that had a white scorpion painted on it. There were even the regular looking wastelanders, covered in raggs, and likely in need of a wash.
We were about an hour before sunset when we finally returned. Standing just outside the compound was a less than thrilled looking Prism. As we rolled up, the garage doors opened. Both we and the Desperados that came with us rolled in.
As I got out of the Smuggler, I watched as Prism stomped over to me. "Okay Mom, I know you're upset, but…" I began.
I was grabbed in her telekinetic grip and pulled to her where she then hugged me. "You know how worried I was? I could just slap you!" She then put me down. "Hardballer already explained everything to me. I can't believe Ashy would take things this far. Why didn't you tell me about her almost shooting Slowtrot? That's well beyond over the line."
I sighed. "Because it will only stir up trouble for every creature if we antagonize the sheriff right now. Just trust me. We have things under control." I looked over as an exhausted-looking Harp. "But there is something I need you to do."
Prism looked over at Harp, noticing the same thing as I did. "Is she alright?"
"She is, for the most part, but she will need some radaway and a good rest to get her back to full health. We also picked up a glowing ghoul who's been locked in a room since the great war, so he's going to need some help getting caught up on recent, and ancient, history."
"So you ended up finding a radiation pocket? Why am I not surprised?" Prism asked with a droll sigh. "Alright, I'll take them to the Followers camp on the edge of town," she said as she trotted off to them.
"Oh, I also picked up some food while I was out, so there's that," I added. In response, my mother smiled as she shook her head.
I trotted over to Longslide and Hardballer just in time to see them pull out a bottle of Griffonstone Vodkas, and cheer. "So you’re back in business then?"
Hardballer gave a bellowing laugh. "Are we back in business? With these parts, and that engine, we’re fucking golden! We just need to put the machines back together and get back to work," he said cheerfully before almost skipping over to Burning Asphalt. He passed her a filled shot glass. She threw the drink down her muzzle. "Alright. My son said we had a deal to finalize, so let's write the contract for it, then."
"Alright, but don't try and cheat us! We know how ya griffons are when writing yo damn contacts." The old mare sprouted before leaving with him.
A tired-looking Slowtrot trotted up to me, yawning before he spoke. "Let's hope we don't have to do that again any time soon. Giant scorpions and ants are just too much in one day."
"Ya, I get that, but luckily that's a very rare problem in town, so just rest up. Anyways, at least you're now back at the compound. You guys have bullets for days here." I comforted him.
He nodded lazily. "True… Well, I'm going to get some sleep and hopefully not have a nightmare about today."
"You do that," I encouraged him as he trotted out to the courtyard. As soon as the door opened a pink blur rushed in.
"Mama!" Bridget yelled as she leapt onto me. "How did your adventure go? Did you fight villains? Did you slay a monsters? Did you? Did you?!"
I picked her off me and put her onto the ground. "Matter of fact, I did help slay a bunch of monsters."
Bridget squealed in excitement. "Was it a dragon, just like the Lightbringer?"
"Ehhh, well ... yes and no." I ruffled up her adorable mane. "How about I start from the beginning? After that, we’ll head home."
She energetically nodded. As we made our way home, I began recanting my little adventure, with some proper embellishment of course. Although she was so full of energy not long ago, by the time I got to where the Desperados arrived in my story, she had already fallen asleep.
"Surprised she lasted that long," Hardballer said quietly. "After helping Javelina, she had been bouncing off the walls waiting for you. Literally bouncing off the walls."
"If I had wings when I was her age, I'd have done that too," I quietly giggle.
"What did you do at her age?" he asked me curiously.
I shrugged. "Avoid getting thumped, went to church for my daily meal, and-"
A griffon jumped over to us, quietly landing on his paws, and whispered to Hardballer. The old buzzard quickly showed a sour look on his face before walking off. Carefully I got up and followed him into the courtyard, then to the reception, where the good mood was imminently ruined by the sight of Sheriff Ashy.
"This better be good after the shit you pulled last time!" Hardballer growled.
She glared back at him. "Oh it is. As I have been told, you've just recently let some raiders into your compound. Is this true?"
"Don't you start this shit again! You don't have jurisdiction over who I can sell to. Now fuck off!" He shouted.
"I protect this town, and what I say is law! Your NCR merchant rights can go fuck a radroache!" she growled back. "If you’re endangering this town, I will kill you!"
"If the Desperados are a danger, then go do something about it," Hardballer said in a mocking tone. "Oh wait, your law is second to this town's cap flow. Espresso said no, ya hear."
Ashy drew her revolver. So did Hardballer. "Say that again, slaver!" she said in a low growl.
Hardballer tilted his head up, something he did when calling some ponies bluff, and that's when I stepped in to stop this from escalating like last time. "Alright, that's enough. I can't believe the oldest ones here are acting like angry foals!" I sternly chastised them as I got in between. "Hardballer, you've been drinking, so go sit down before you make Bridget cry," I told the old buzzard before looking Ashy in the eyes, focusing ever so slightly with my evil eyes, thus shoving a little bit of fear into her and making sure she did make any sudden moves "And you should know better. If a crime has been committed, go write an official report to the NCR. We’re not going anywhere, at least not on your terms."
Breaking eye contact, Ashy backed off, breathing heavily before holstering her revolver. "Fine, but trust me when I say this; if I catch any of you dealing with raiders, I will have justice done." She said as she stomped out of the compound.
Letting myself fall back onto my flank, I let out a long stressed filled breath. "This day has just been too much." I sighed.
"You are just full of surprises, Star. I never seen her back down like that." Hardballer gave a nervous chuckle as he slid back in his seat. "But still, if she's pushing this hard, then it's time I move shop. Not back to Fillydelphia, but the Gunrunners definitely can't stay here."
I got back onto my hooves and trotted over to Hardballer. "I heard that Lass Pegusus is a good place for business."
Hardballer shrugged. "Maybe, but I first have to get our commissions done for the NCR and Desperados. Should be easy with everything coming back online, and with those new parts." He looked at me with worry on his face. "Star, are you okay? Your eyes…"
"My eyes?" I rubbed them with my hood. I found blood on it… Shit, I forced more than I should have. Now my eyes were bleeding. Worse, I was getting really hungry. "I… I'm fine. I just a little condition I have when I get over-excited or stressed. All I need is some food and rest. That's all."
The old griffon still looked concerned. "Alright Star, but if you feel even a little worse, go get checked out by the Followers. The wasteland is still full of unknown illnesses and other weird shit. You understand?"
"I do. Trust me, I definitely do," I reassured him as I left to go and collect my daughter.
I know I only used a little of the evil eye. I'm not a little filly anymore. I can control it, keep my eyes from bleeding, and keep the hunger at bay, yet why did I lose control just now, and why am I still getting hungrier?
"In my short time in the wasteland I had not seen another pony like Harp. Close, but none like her. The mare explained to me that Mirage Ponies were both an artificial race of ponies, and likely only lived on the Marewaii Island. Their creation was an act of survival so to prevent pony kind from dying out on the islands, and over a short few generations they became the dominant pony, outnumbering the original three tribes. I pondered what would become of mirage ponies if they were ever to leave their islands. Would they flourish, or be reabsorbed into the natural pony races?" ~ Azure Dice
"Alright, Miss Harp, you're clean and healthy again. Despite your prolonged radiation exposure, there's no sign of early mutation," Jali informed me as she began taking off sensors that were attached to my leg. The machine she was using to monitor me gave a long and loud beep until she turned it off. "I wish I knew more about your kind's genetics or this treatment they used to make Mirage Ponies. Looking at it, it's like your genetic code is protected by an armor of junk DNA. Though not perfect as far as I can tell, it clearly makes you less likely to mutate compared to the average pony." Jali then frowned as she looked at a clipboard.
"Is there something the matter, Jali?" I asked, feeling a bit worried.
"Not sure." She sighed. "There's just too much I don't know about your genetics or your magical abilities. Other than the chaotic, negative, and necrotic radioactive magic I flooded out of your system, there's also other magics that my instrument can't properly read. Might be residual megaspell magic or your own natural raw magic. However, since I don't have other mirage ponies to compare it too, all I can do is hope it's just nothing to be worried about."
I put my dress back on and stretched my legs out before getting out of bed. I had been here for nearly half a day as the Followers carefully cleaned out my body and ran other checks. I gave the Zebra Ghoul a small smile, hoping it helped put her worries at ease. "Well, since I feel fit as a fiddle thanks to you, I'm sure it's nothing major. Anyways, when I get back home, there will be ponies more than capable of finding out what those magics are."
Jali hoofed over my jacket and my saddlebags as she said, "Well, when you do, be sure to send some of those ponies my way. It would do every creature some good if we got to compare notes.”
She then motions for me to follow her. “Now come with me. I have something to show you at my free clinic."
Putting on my jacket and saddlebags, I then followed Jali through the Followers camp. The place was a collection of old medical tents a bit outside of town which was tended by two green alicorns. Who unlike Prism, had large wings on their back and no scars. There were other ponies in white medical coats but, from what I was told, they were just new recruits getting on the job training by working mainly as nurses. There also happened to be a lot of patents here. They were weak-looking ponies that seemed like they'd barely eaten or slept. Among them, were ponies who were also missing legs, had nasty cuts that looked to be from animals, or were suffering from an illness and kept far from everypony else.
There also happened to be a lot of ponies here who were receiving water transfusions.
"A shame, really," Jali lamented. "We all thought that, with the clouds and radiation gone, life would finally get easier. Turns out we just solved two problems out of who knows how many."
"What happened?" I asked as we left the camp.
"Where to even start? Not to speak ill of Littlepip and Velvet Remedy, there was no way for them in the short time they were out of their stable to understand how deep the problem that is the wasteland goes." Jali stopped to point up at the sun high in the sky. "Ignorance is a huge problem out here, and the Followers had to treat heatstroke victims near daily for the first few summers. The clearing of the radiation helped everypony, including raiders, who then found new hiding spots to attack ponies from. Monsters also began multiplying in greater numbers, causing ponies to ban together in larger settlements which led to diseases to start spreading more prolifically."
"So that means the Followers have been busy then," I said with a more cheerful tone, trying to lighten the mood.
Jali nodded. "We try, but there never seems to be enough of us. That's why we're trying to focus on education in order to get the wastelanders to be a little less ignorant."
As we got into the outskirts of town, several foals ran passed us by. This put a smile on Jali's face.
"At least the Lightbringer Foundation has been more than willing to work with us,” Jali went on, “so even if the adults resist changing their ways, their children will at least come out for the better. Mainly simple things ponies have forgotten, such as hygiene, and germ theory."
I nodded. "Back in the metro, epidemics were always a big worry considering how close everypony was crammed together. It came to the point that vaccinations were required by law, and if a station was found infected, the queen would just have it sealed until a purification team could be put together."
"Purification?" Jali asked, sounding concerned.
I gave a long sigh. "Basically they kill everypony inside then burn the bodies along with anything that could spread a plague. The queen had set up our territory so that such actions would be quick and easy to do, and this was why nopony dared rebel against her or her children."
"That is horrifying!" Jali gasped, then gave a long sigh. "But I can understand why it's necessary. In my long life, I've seen my fair share of death. There have been tribes killed off by illnesses that back before the Great War would have been a simple annoyance. It was all too easy to cure then, now it can be a nightmare. I've also seen a town of ponies mutated by parasites which turned them into nothing more into mindless carriers. Even during the War, there was this illness that degraded the mind, turning rational and peaceful zebras into cannibalistic mad jennies. Fortunately, the wasteland is a big place, and such plagues cannot spread far, unlike in your metro."
I opened my mouth to say more but a cold shiver ran up my spine instead which made my mind go blank. I don't know why, but I felt like if I continued, I would remember something I rather suppress.
"Are you okay, Miss Harp?" Jali asked, looking at me with concern.
"I'm fine. It’s just… just hoping everypony back home is doing alright," I said to shake off the cold feeling I just had.
Jali nodded with a smile on her face. "I'm sure they are. If the other mirage ponies are like you, then I'm sure they're resilient enough to get through most problems that may come."
We made our way to and over the railway tracks. Entering the cleaner and better-looking part of town. The local ponies were clearly avoiding us as we passed while the visitors looked on with curiosity. I wasn't all that bothered by it. I had chosen to not be the tool of other ponies. The price of that was a damaged reputation.
Not that it mattered, as I did not plan on staying any longer than necessary. As soon as I have the caps and supplies, I'll join a caravan to go out west.
"So what did you want to show me?" I asked as we entered the free clinic. Prism was already there, tending to an elderly stallion with a beard as long as himself.
"Just give me a moment as I go and get it," Jali told me as she trotted to the back.
It didn't take long for her to then return. On her back was my drone Order. It was patched up with scrap metal that was barely hiding a few loose wires.
"Sorry if I overstep my boundaries, but decided to tinker with this and fix its wing propeller. Its hardware was quite similar to that of a sprite bot, so I had a few spare parts that were compatible. Copper and Roger also helped me a little. Those two love to tinker with tech."
Stepping over, I reached out with my hoof and focused some of my magic to it. "Order, activate!"
The lights of the robot slowly came to life, and though it was jerky at the start, the propellers started spinning nonetheless. After a moment, the drone lifted up into the air, wobbling as it attempted to maintain altitude. Then, with a warped mechanical voice, Order spoke through the drone, "System analysis… too many errors. Advise to have this drones programs cleaned, rebooted, then a defrag, Madam."
This put a smile on my face. "Order, how long will it take?"
Order dipped for a moment before floating back up. "To clean the systems, several hours, but reestablishing rudimentary navigation should take but a few minutes after a reboot. The rest of the system can be done on the move to not burden you, Madam."
"Order, reestablish your navigation, then clean your system on the move," I told Order. In response, the robot beeped as it slowly landed on the floor then powered down.
"How wondrous!" Jali exclaimed as she examined the patched together drone. "Before you told me about how mirage pony magic worked, I was quite confused as to why this robot had such a small spark battery. All robots I have seen had large spark batteries, or small spark reactors keeping them going. But here you are, using yourself as a stand-in for its main battery, thus freeing up room for more sophisticated technology to go into the robot." She then pulled out a device that looked a bit like a hoof held pipbuck, but made out of scrap. "Mind if I study your robot when it reactivates? I just want to see how it's sensors work, and if I can copy it."
"Go for it," I said with a shrug, "but can I give you something for getting Order up and running again? Caps, maybe?"
Jali shook her head. "You need those caps. Anyways, I'm getting what I want by studying this new tech."
I still wanted to repay Jali. She had already done so much already, and for free no less. Now it was making me feel like I was freeloading on her.
"Wait!” I bade. “I remember you saying that Fluttershy was still alive, right?"
"Yes. Velvet Remedy cured her of her curse a few years ago. The poor thing is still quite traumatized by the whole ordeal," Jali informed me.
"Well, I have something that I think once belonged to her." Digging into my bag, I pulled out the statuette of Ministry Mare Fluttershy. "Here, take this."
Jali's eyes widened as she took the small figurine, examining it. "To my friend Healing Herbs,’” Jali quoted the writing on the bottom of the statuette, “‘I wish you luck’ - Fluttershy." Jali blinked as she shook her head slightly. "Oh my! I've heard of these. They’re made by Rarity for her friends, if what Velvet said is true. There's only three known full sets as I know of. One with Littlepip, another with the dragon Spike, and the last is owned by Velvet. Then this one. It must have originally been Fluttershy's. Where did you get it?"
"It was a gift to a friend of mine. I can't remember where she got it, but she gave it to me for safekeeping," I explained.
"I see. Then you should hold onto it," Jali advised as she passed it back to me.
I shook my head and pushed it back to her. "It's fine. I have something more important to give back to her." I pointed at the medallion pinned on my hat.
She took a closer look at it then raised an eyebrow at it. "Interesting. My memory is not what it once was, but I think I remember seeing that as part of a bounty back during the War. The royal guard medallions. We were to take alive any pony with one, and drag them to a superior for interrogation. Never actually saw one during the war though, and never heard about a royal guard actually being taken alive." Jali took a step back, placing the figurine into one of her pockets. "You're quite a treasure trove of artifacts and new technology, not to mention that magic of yours as well. It was wise of you not to tell others. I’ve seen far too many creatures be killed for far less."
A beep from Order announced that it had finished rebooting. It then proceeded to float up and hover with full stability, after which it announced, "Navigation is now fully online. Calibrating controls." Order began slowly flying around, bobbing and twisting before flying to me. "Madam, this drone is now capable of smooth navigation, but other systems will need a cleaning before full functionality."
"Order, is it possible to share your sensory data while cleaning your programming?" I asked my drone.
In response, Order bobbed in confirmation. "This is possible, Madam." The green cartoon image of Order floated into my E.F.S. ”Do you want me to make sure she doesn't get access to any other systems and data?” The VI asked in my mind.
"Give her access." I told the drone before thinking at the VI, ”Jali is a good mare. I rather not see her get hurt by learning more than she needs to know.”
Order gave a confirming beep before floating over to Jali who started plugging in a cable into the drone. "Thank you, Miss Harp,” Jali bid gratefully. “Hopefully I might learn something to help me improve my medical tools. Maybe make something like that scanner spell Slowtrot has on his pipbuck."
"You can't just copy it?" I asked.
Jali shook her head. "I first need a device that could even make use of it, then comes unraveling the spell, of which is considerably complex. Whoever made it put a lot of effort into every aspect of the spell. It’s practically flawless, to tell the truth. I'm going to try and remake the spell with the materials I do have, though that means the machine will likely be far bigger than a pipbuck." She then returned to her device that was plugged into Order.
Sitting on one of the beds, I turned my own attention to my pipbuck. I lazily looked through the radio.
"Oh, there you are, Harp," The voice of a mare caught me by surprise. Turning to look, I saw Cloudy Sunrise trotting up to me. "Star was a bit worried about you, but she's a bit busy at the moment, so I promised to check up on you."
Cloudy was quite the cute mare, which was surprising to me with how rough everypony looked here. "I got a clean bill of health. So, what's going on with Star?"
"Got called into work. We got some tourists that want a pretty mare to show them the sights, and Waterspout wanted them to live long enough to spend more caps at the tavern," she answered.
"I see." Hopping off the bed, I trotted over to her. "It's a shame that you both have to work at that tavern. I mean, Star would probably make a better sheriff than Ashy.
Cloudy shrugged. "I doubt that. She sure as Tartarus would be more level headed, but you've never seen her get real mad. There was this one time some asshole was running his mouth and throwing bottles, but had enough caps to keep Waterspout from kicking him out. Well, Star decided to play him up and drain him of his caps. Even after hitting her with a bottle, she kept it up. After he ran out of caps, she took him for a walk, and the next day he was found with all his legs broken and his face so battered that he couldn't see."
"Didn't the sheriff get involved?" I asked, concerned.
"At first, she did," Cloudy explained. "But it turns out all Star did was take him to a known trouble area of town which was full of ponies he had insulted that night. The same ones she had to stop from fighting him, then left him there. The sheriff didn't see that as a crime, and none of the locals were going to snitch on each other, so the stallion was just sent home with an apology."
"Owch, but I bet that taught him a lesson," I said, and Cloudy nodded. "But how would that make her a bad sheriff?"
Cloudy sighed. "As long as I have known her, Star has never respected the idea of law and order, she has a might makes right mindset. Not to say she is like a raider. She really cares about her friends and family, and she knows that if she gets into serious trouble, we all will be hurt by it. But, if you give her the same authority as Ashy, then all that restraint she has will go out the window. She would likely just smash through any problem that comes her way until somepony shoots her dead."
I sighed. "I guess I just don't know her enough yet. Maybe I'm just comparing her to other ponies I know."
"Why don't you tell me about them?" Cloudy bumped her hip on mine and fluttered her eyes a little. "I love to hear more about your home."
I felt my face flush a little from the attention. "Well two ponies come to mind. One was my former caretaker, Stratus Dancer, who was like a big sister to me. When I was growing up, she was always there for me. She never let my siblings get away with trying to pick on me. She later became the Captain of the Guard. Even if she didn't have the time she used to, she still checked up on me. "
"Well she sounds like an amazing mare. She must be really worried about you." Cloudy’s words felt like a stab in my heart.
Taking a deep breath, I continued. "She… she died not long ago trying to protect me. If I was not around, she could have easily flown to safety, maybe save more lives. I miss her so much, but I know she wouldn't want me to just sulk about it."
I felt Cloudy rest her shoulder on mine, "Ya. I get that. Lost my dad a few years ago. We came here after leaving our enclave compound, all over stupid political bullshit. He figured it was better if we try and live in the wasteland then to rot in the compound. Ponies still didn't trust us pegasus, so dad and I couldn't find work in town. He had to go out in the wasteland to make caps."
She then sighed. "Each time he went out, it took him longer to come back. Eventually he just didn't return. I waited for him as long as I could. Stretched out my food and water as long as I could, then one day woke up in the Followers camp. Turns out I had become delirious due to dehydration and wandered outside before collapsing."
A smile formed on Cloudy's face. "That's where I met Star. After hearing about my situation, she helped me get a job at the Ruffled Feathers as part of the cleaning crew." Cloudy looked off out the window. "I know my dad died out there, but some days I wake up, hoping he will be there with a big grin on his face and apologizing about taking so long."
"This world is just too cruel. Makes me wonder if the old Equestria was ever so peaceful. Maybe we've mistaken it with a fantasy," I lamented.
Cloudy bumped me with her shoulder. "Ah, don't be that way. I mean, Celestia ruled for a thousand years without a major war or internal conflicts.”
“So, now what about this other pony y’all was talken about?" Cloudy reminded.
"Right. She was a mercenary sent out to find me when I had become… lost. It’s a long story, but her name is Vibraphone Echo, and she pushed me forward whenever I felt like giving up. She helped me to stay strong when I started to crumble. She and her friend suffered so much for me that I could never repay them." I reached up and took off my hat… her hat, and her medallion. "If anything, I should return home only to give this back to her. I owe her at least that much." I returned the hat back on my head.
"Sounds like an adventure! Care to tell me about it?" Cloudy pressed hopefully.
"Well, it's a bit of a long one. Also so much had happened that I don't know where to start." I said with a sigh just as my drone flew over us.
"I'm finished gathering the data, Miss Melody," Jali announced as she put her device in another pocket. "It's going to take me a long time to study this data, but before that, I have other more important work to do.”
“Speaking of which, as a doctor, I suggest you go and get some more fresh air and sunlight. It's not going to do you any good staying inside longer than you already have today." She advised.
I chuckled a little before replying, "Back home, following such advice would get a pony killed, but ya, some more fresh air would be nice."
Cloudy nudged me again with her shoulder as she said invitingly. "How about you help me with my shopping today? I need to pick a few things up before work."
It did sound interesting. I never got to have a girls day out, and shopping did sound fun.
"Alright,” I agreed. “Sounds fun.”
“ Order, follow me." I commanded the drone.
"Yes Madam." The drone spoke as Cloudy and I trotted out of the free clinic.
-Unique Item Obtained- (O.R.D.'er) Harp Melodies personal Orthrus Recon Drone. Paired with an advanced VI in her pipbuck, this drone had both a pleasant personality and flexible combat programming, making it both butler and guard dog.
Lately, the virtual intelligence of Order has shown more independence than it should be capable of.
-Reputation-
-Follower of the Apocalypse-
You're a curiosity worth paying attention to, and your donation may bring goodwill your way.
"How does this robot, Order, work? A question I asked Harp that gave me an answer I am still pondering over. What I can summarize is that Order is a custom robot that had the personality program of another robot called a Mister Helper placed into her pipbuck, where it then controls the drone remotely. The rest was magic. That got me to ask if the pipbuck was controlling the robot, and if so, could it control other things or use spells from that pipbuck through the robot? Those questions got her pondering as well." ~ Azure Dice
Order predictably got a few stairs by both the local ponies as well as the ones visiting the town. I thought about having the drone just stay on my back to not draw as much attention, but at this point I didn’t care about keeping up appearances and I rather like the idea of the locals getting a bit jealous of my never seen before robot. My drone also gave me a second pair of eyes which I could view through my pipbuck. Order sent me this information through the E.F.S. Because of that, I saw something of note, of which was mainly a few dirty looks from a few deputies as well one foal that was following Order until their parents grabbed them.
There were a few more ponies selling their wares along the side of the street. It was mainly junk. That which was still useful was also severely rusted or damaged. Food and drink was a hot commodity here as well, but the heavily preserved food being sold didn’t look all that well preserved physically, and some of the packaging had clear signs of mold. As for the drink, it was mainly water stored in old soda bottles, though the prices had clearly gone up a few caps over the last few days.
“Realy, the price went up again? I wish the Lightbringer would work faster on this whole rain situation,” Cloudy Sunrise huffed as she looked at a six pack of water bottles.
“Don’t you have a well or something? The locals don’t seem to have a problem with getting water.” I noticed.
Cloudy pulled out a purse while looking at the water in annoyance. “They do, along with a fucking water talisman, the kind stables have. But because the town is so big now, they ration it out to the residence on this side of town and sell what’s left to us unimportant folk.” She opened her purse and pulled out a bunch of caps. “Is this water clean? I seriously can’t be getting sick right now!” she growled at the merchant.
The merchant was a dirty pony covered in rags. A large saddlebag was placed next to them. “It’s clean, straight from a natural reservoir up north near Ponyville.”
Placing her caps back into her purse, Cloudy snapped it shut. “You mean from the Sweet Apple Acres reservoir. The same water the NCR has repeatedly told ponies not to drink due to chemical contamination!” The merchant shifted his eyes at her words. Cloudy then trotted off to the next vender.
“So water up there is still toxic?” I asked as I followed the pegasus mare.
She sighed as we began looking at the whears of the next merchant. “Unfortunately… My dad knew how to clean food and water of radiation, so he went up north hoping to scavenge anything left behind as he heard that the apple farm was still untouched. Turns out that it was not only radiation that had poisoned the land, but at some point, some ponies used the land to store chemical waste which seeped into the groundwater. Even with the radiation mostly gone, the land is still poisoned, apples and all.” Cloudy picked up another bottle of water. This one was a large clear wine bottle but with little bits floating in it, so she put it back. “Unfortunately some ponies think that just because the radiation is gone that means everything is safe to put in your mouth.”
I cringed a little. “That can't be good.”
Cloudy shook her head. “The Followers had a doozy of a month treating ponies who got severely ill from consuming contaminated food and water after the Elements of Harmony were used.” She found another large bottle. this one was brown and had the engraving of a sun on it. “Oh nice! A one liter of Sunset Sarsaparilla. I’ll take it!” She pulled out a bunch of caps which she passed them to the merchant.
The next merchant was selling several severely rusted guns, a few scrap built blades, and one energy rifle that, other than a piece of scrap metal welded onto the siding, it looked better than most of what sold out here.
“Oh, one of the winged folk. I got a good deal for you, young miss.” A thin and elderly earth pony addressed Cloudy, presenting the energy rifle. “This here is an authentic enclave rifle. It was saved from a fire pit after the enclave fell and repaired to full functionality. For such a pretty mare like you, I’ll sell it to you for a steal.” The merchant gave a wide toothy yellow smile.
“I don’t need a gun right now, but Star has been telling me I do need to protect myself more,” Cloudy said as she looked closer at the rifle.
“Then this is the perfect gun for you! It’s light and powerful. Trust me, you will love it.” The merchant pushed, making me feel a bit uneasy.
I took a closer look, giving the gun a little magic to feel it out. To my disappointment, the rifle's insides felt all wrong with the magic not gathering at the end point to be fired, but cycling back and forth between the gun and the magical energy cell, effectively turning the gun into a bomb. My own knowledge of how this arcano tech worked was limited, but I knew at least that magical energy cells tend to explode if its own magic was forced back into it as it was made to only send magic one way.
“Did you ever test fire that rifle?” I asked the merchant.
“Plenty of times! saved my life too, but now I need more caps than guns, you see.” The pony answered smoothly.
“How about you show us?” I pressed, trying to get the merchant to pull out before I call shenanigans.
“Oh no! That put innocent ponies in danger,” the merchant countered, but I had a trick up my sleeve.
“Order, can you use that rifle?” I asked my drone, pointing at the defective rifle.
Flying over it, Order beeped. “Yes, this is possible.”
Good, it was time to make this bitch sweat. If I knew anything about merchants, it was that they hated risking a huge loss. I don’t know why she wanted to sell Cloudy a defective rifle, but I bet she was hoping to skip town before anypony found out. I’ll just add an extra layer of risk to this.
I smiled. “Alright. How about I test fire it in the sky for you? If it works then I’ll buy it for my friend here and add a bit for the trouble.” Looking the merchant in the eyes, I could see some worry. “But if something were to go wrong, well, my robot is one of a kind out here. Doubtlessly worth more than anything you own.”
The merchant physically gulped and put the energy rifle away, avoiding eye contact while mumbling, “Stupid winged ponies!” before starting to pack things up.
We watched as the merchant pony quickly got up and trotted away. Meanwhile, Cloudy looked annoyed at the ponies. “So what was wrong with the gun?”
“I think it was rigged to explode,” I answered.
Cloudy whistled. “And here I thought it was just going to be your normal defective.”
“You knew it was a bad gun?” I asked, a bit shocked.
She nodded. “No pony just gives out a good deal like that, and to a pegasus no less. I thought ponies had at least stopped trying to harm us like that. Then again, what the enclave did was not something ponies can just forgive.”
We turned to trot to the next merchant as I asked. “If you knew it was a defective gun, what were you planning to do with it?”
“Intimidation,” she answered. “Energy guns scare the shit out of a lot of wastlanders, so I was thinking that by just having it, it would keep some of the creepers away. If I did have to use it, I could just hit them with the butt.”
I shook my head, holding back a laugh as I imagined her using a magical energy rifle like a club.
We looked at a few more stalls, but mostly found little of anything of value. Cloudy was mainly looking to stock up on food and water, so old tire irons turned hatchets and dolls made with scavenged cloth were not on the shopping list.
We did find one merchant wagon that was selling some interesting stuff. It was parts for tech, several sets of scrap armor that looked like they actually would stop a bullet or two, and gun attachments like scops and bayonetts. There were also four foals around him with a heavily armed and armored mare next to him who was holding the youngest foal.
The thin scruffy merchant eyed my robot drone from under his dusty wide brim hat while scratching his chin. "Well I'll be! I've seen my share of odd robots, but this is the first I've seen modeled after a twittermight. I don't suppose you're willing to part with it?" He checked with me.
"No no. I'm not, and anyways its value would drop if it was away from me unless you know a pony who can fully reprogram a robot." I warned the merchant.
He chuckled. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't. Got burned by a faulty robot once, literally."
"It would have been your last time if I didn't force you to wear that protective suit," the stern mare spoke up. She was bigger and more muscular built than the merchant. She had a short yellow and orange braided mane that oddly looked like a scorpion stinger at the end.
"Too true, Keep." He then took off his hat and bowed to Cloudy and I before putting it back on. "Names Moody Peddler. May I know who you two fine ladies are?"
The mare Keep, Cloudy, and I cringed a little. But at least he seemed genuine, unlike the murderous merchant from before. So I reciprocated. "I'm Harp Melody, and this is my friend Cloudy." Cloudy gave him a little wave. "Were uhh… just browsing."
"As do we all, but trust me when I say I have something for everypony... usually." Moody then eyed us both, forming a small grin. "Mind me if this sounds a bit rude, but you two seem too clean and soft to be simple wastelanders, so I'm guessing you'd like something more fashionable than functional?"
Cloudy and I looked at each other and shrugged before Cloudy answered, "Well, actually, if you have food or water for selling, my own stock is a bit low."
Moody nodded then whistled at his cart. "Rattle, fetch a ration stock!" He called out. From his cart was a loud hiss like bark. Jumping out of the cart I saw a cyber dog.. snake… monster thing, and in its mouth was a M.o.P. medical case that was painted black with a crude white scorpion painted on the top. The cyber monster, Rattle, placed the case next to Moody. He then opened it up to reveal several sealed jars. Half of them were filled with water, and the other half filled with some sort of food. "Right. In this here box, you have six jars of distilled water spiked with whight scorpion Luna Shine, and six jars of preserved scorpion chilli, all at a fair price."
Cloudy whistles in a surprised and upbeat tone. "White scorpion rations and a pet nightstalker? I thought you guys were banned from doing business here!"
"I'm not a white scorpion mercenary," Moody bragged with a smile, "and I got official merchant documentation with the NCR, so if the sheriff has a problem with who I do business with or with my wife, then she can take it up with the NCR." He then whistled at Rattle again, who, in response, rattled its snake tail. "Go get me the accessory box!" The cyber nightstalker leapt back into the cart then shortly came back out with a much bigger box. Moody opened this one. Inside was several dresses, shoes, glasses, and hats. "Now as you consider buying the rations, how about picking out a new ensemble?"
Well, I had to admit, this fucker was smooth! I had been wanting a new pair of cute slippers, and there was a clean pair of ruby red heels right in the box. I sigh as I realized I had gotten some pay from Hardballer and Waterspout. So, if I wanted to, I could buy this, but I really shouldn't… but the shoes...
We left the merchant with our cap purse much lighter than we would have liked. Cloudy bought two cases of the rations and a few odd accessories, and I had gotten the red heales, along with a red and black dancer dress with a filly mane clip hat. Moody had been relay convincing, something I was keen to remember. I lamented the loss of my hard earned caps, but on the bright side, I had a new dress and shoes.
"Take this." Cloudy passed me a pair of round orange-tinted glasses. "It's thanks for driving away that one merchant and probably saving me from getting my face disintegrated."
"You don't have to. I was just being a friend." I tried to turn down the gift, but she forced them in my hooves.
"And that's why I'm giving you them. Out here a friend is quite rare," she said with a sigh. "Anyways, you might need them if you go on another adventure with Star. The lenses are an anti-glare crystal that makes seeing while the sun is out a lot easier. Dad had a pair of goggles with the same kind of lense. It helped him spot dangers on the ground that are normally hard to see."
I put them on. The world took a light orange tint through them, much like with my advanced gas mask.
"So what was the whole white scorpion thing being banned from town?" I wondered aloud as I then took off the glasses and pulled out my gas mask to compare the two. If found the crystal glass to be identical.
"Not entirely sure other than them being a mercenary clan. A lot of them got picked up by president Gwad to be part of the NCR. My best guess is that they must have at one poit worked for Red Eye for Ashy to have a stick up her ass about them," she answered.
"It all comes back to this Redeye with the Sheriff." I sighed.
"Such a pretty mare has some fun looking toys," the voice of Deputy False Cap caught me off guard, causing me to shove the gas mask back into my bag as I turned around. The chubby stallion eyed us up from within his barely fitting uniform. "You know my offer still stands. No need to live on the dirty side of town."
Holding back the urge to wretch, I put the glasses back on, hoping they'd help hide how greasy he was… it didn't.
"Oh, Deputy False, so kind of you to still keep the offer open," I said in my best cheery tone, being as diplomatic as possible. "But I would never want to damage your reputation by staying at your place. It's better if I worked things out with the mayor first, then consider your offer."
False pouted with fake disappointment. "Oh, that may take a while He is still fuming about how you trotted out on him, and now even Ashy is keeping an eye on you. But, if you let me take care of things, I'll be able to smooth it all out for you." He then offered a hoof, of which I ignored. In response, he huffed as he turned his attention to Cloudy. "And how is the loveliest mare in town? Excited to see me tonight?"
Cloudy put on a clearly fake smile as she addressed False. "As excited as I am to do a dance marathon. But, that aside, you must be busy with so many new ponies passing through. I rather not distract you."
"Oh, be sure I have everything in order." There was a hungry look in his eyes as he stepped closer. In response, Cloudy stepped back, but not enough to put any real distance between the two as he stepped even closer to her. "Actually, it has been a bit boring with all the paperwork. A distraction would be more than welcome." He was practically breathing on her as he spoke.
Annoyed by False, I cleared my throat. I made sure I was loud and clear. "Order, the good deputy seems to need some cooling down. Can you help him with that?"
"Yes madam!" My robot excitedly exclaimed, then flew over to deputy False. Its propellers reved loudly as it blasted him with air as it hovered in place.
False took a few steps back, clearly irritated as he looked at me. "You do know who you're messing with, Missy?" he spoke in a low tone.
I sighed. "I just thought you were looking a bit hot. I wanted to help. That's all. Speaking of which, Order, cool me off." Order flew back to me, hovering overhead, thus providing a light breeze that did help to offset the heat a little.
A huff came from False. After that, he put on a slick smile, the kind that shouted that a pony was very sure of themself. "You know a robot like that can be seen as a public hazard. What if it suddenly malfunctioned? It could fall on somepony or go on a ramage, even blow up. For the public safety, I should hold onto it for you."
There was no doubt he wanted to break it or sell it. Anything but return my drone to me in one piece. I could smell that spitefulness from a mile away.
"I didn't see it that way. Thank you for informing me. Now that I think about it, there's also the danger of somepony trying to damage it or steal it. I'll make sure Order here will stay deactivated and secure while I'm out in the town.”
I looked up at my drone, "Order, I need you to finish your program cleaning in sleep mode, so secure yourself to my saddlebag."
Order beeped then hovered down onto my back. Its underbelly pincers clamped down firmly onto my saddlebag. The green cartoon of Order hovered into my E.F.S. looking a tad annoyed. "If I had my armaments online, I would zap that rude stallion!" Order spoke in my mind.
"Not a bad idea. But don’t do it without my permission." I thought back at my robot before addressing False.
"This should be enough, Deputy. Now, if we may be on our way, I'm sure you have better things to do then chat up two young mares," I informed the deputy.
"No, I don't think that will do," False said with a smile. "For the safety of the town, I require you to hoof over the robot. That is if either of you are willing to convince me to change my mind, I am willing to hear it someplace more private."
Both Cloudy and I had a cold shiver. I was about done with being civil. "Sir deputy, might I remind you of your position? This may reflect badly on yourself."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, I know, and I also know that my reputation is safe and sound, unlike yours. Don't think you two are anything special. You're not the first to think yourselves above me. You’re not going to be the last, either." The sick stallion licked his salivating lips. "As long as I help Ashy maintain order, I'm untouchable."
"Ahem! Aren't you expected to be patrolling over in the old town, False?" Deputy Willow spoke up behind False.
Deputy False sighed. "Right. Gotta make sure the riff-raff aren't getting up to no good." He then glared at me one more time. "That goes for you, too. Don't forget that." He then stomped off, disappearing into the crowd.
Willow tipped his hat at us with a more genuine smile on his face. "Sorry about that. False deals with the more criminal element than most of us. It puts him under a lot of stress at times."
Sure, and it's not that he is also totally corrupt.
"Well thanks for reminding him of his work. He was getting a bit intense." I once again kept up being diplomatic.
"I, for one, am not looking forward to seeing him later tonight." Cloudy sighed.
"Tonight? Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Willow said with a tired tone. "Ashy is having us senior deputies going out on patrol, scouting out any potential raider hiding spots. The price for this freedom is ever vigilance, and if not us, then who?"
Cloudy then gave a sigh of relief and said. "A night out should cool False off and make work a bit easier tonight."
"Again, sorry about him. We're all stressed with the festival still not having a set date. The mayor just refuses to do it until absolutely everything is ready, and Blueskies just keeps giving him more ideas to run with," Willow explained.
"Here, as an apology, how about I treat you over at the saloon?" he then offered kindly.
Cloudy and I shared a glance, then shrugged in agreement. We were a bit thirsty, after all, so free drinks sounded like a good plan.
The New Appleloosa Saloon was busey with dusty patrons who were drinking beer and other spirits as they played with ancient cards. The bar mares quickly trotted back and forth catering to their customers. Most of them were unicorns who levitated the orders above the mess of ponies. The few earth ponies among them skillfully balanced plates on their heads, but none among them was a pegusus that could fly above it all.
Between the smell of old beer and less than fresh food lingering in the air, I could smell the faint scent of flowers in the air, if a bit chemically. One of the barmaids stopped in front of us. She in a white and red checkered dress. Holding onto a thin plank of wood in her magic as she said, "Oh, Deputy Willow, here to see your wife… I mean the boss?" She spoke in an upbeat tone that was clearly practiced. The chemical smell of flowers drifting off of her.
"Yes, actually," he responded before motioning at us with his head. "I'm also treating these two ladies to some water, so can you bring us a pitcher and four glasses?"
The mare nodded. "Certainly! We have an open booth over in the family side of the saloon," the mare told him as she then passed him the thin plank of wood.
Following Willow, we trotted passed the loud scrapwood bar and into a quieter part of the saloon. I found myself in a literal diner with white and black checkered floor, red puffy seats, and polished chrome. Much of the diner was also filled with ponies, but unlike in the bar part of the saloon, this part had several colts and fillies around, watched over by tired-looking parents. It all made me feel a bit at home as we took a seat. We placed our saddlebags under the table. Cloudy and I next to each other with Willow across from us.
The three of us sat there for a long awkward moment as a mare dropped off a pitre of water and glasses. Since we did not have much to say, we just continued to drink our water. I decided to break the silence by saying, "Did you ponies literally rip up a diner and rebuild it here?"
"They ripped up my diner and rebuilt it here," a yellowish-orange coated unicorn mare spoke up. She was in the same red and white checkered outfit as the other mare, but had a frilly apron on over it and a green curly mane that gave her an aura of class that seemed in short supply around here. "Now, Honey, should I ask why you're sharing drinks with two young mares, moreover one that's working for my main competitor?" she asked Willow, cocking an eyebrow as she lowered a pitcher of water on the table with three glasses.
Deputy Willow gave a long sigh and just said, "False Cap," he explained tiredly.
The mare rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Willow. "Names Apricot Biscuit. This here fools wife." She then flashed me a smile. "You must be the Zony mare from the Followers clinics. A shame that you went to see the mayor first. From what I heard, you got a strong head on your shoulders and a smooth tongue. You would have done well here." She then sighed. "Unfortunately, it looks like you're in the same boat as Cloudy. A real shame."
"Is that why there's no pegasus working here?" I asked.
Apricot nodded. "Espresso has a firm understanding of social optics and knows that the town would suffer if ponies start labeling this town as an Enclave colony or sympathizer. It was heartbreaking to let some of my girls go, but this place did see a lot more business after they left. It would also be nice if Espresso didn't take things so personally all the time. I can't call him out on his bullshit without him throwing a temper tantrum. He always has to get his way. It's why he was asked to leave Tenpony Tower." She then poured us all water. It even had cubes of ice in it. Taking a sip, the water was cool, crisp, and refreshing.
Willow took a light sip before adding to the conversation. "I'm sure the mayor will ease up on the restrictions once the festival is over. The town just needs to get itself more established first, then we can expand our community. No need to worry about business getting hurt because of other ponies' biases if there's a lot of business to go around.”
He then looked at and spoke over at me. "I'm also sure that the mayor will be in a forgiving mood after the festival as well. He did push you onto that stage, after all."
A laugh came from Apricot. "You can say that again! I would have given Espresso a piece of my mind if it had been one of my mares forced on stage with a Deva. I would’ve given it to Ashy, too, for not stopping it. That mare is too old to not know better."
"Honey, lets not." Willow pleaded quietly.
Apricot gave her husband a stern look. "Don't ‘Honey’ me! You and I both know Ashy is too smart to be acting like this, being so brahmin headed about everything. I respect the old mare, and if she was with the steel rangers, she would easily be promoted to elder with all the shit she had fixed. I'd be supporting her all the way if she didn't start to act a lot like elder Cottage Cheese.
The mare huffed as she looked over at us. "The way she's acting right now, it's just how my chapter did back then, and why my troop didn't return to our base during the scizim. Always, they stick to the rules they made up themselves, not caring about who they hurt." She took a sip of her water and put her head on Willow's shoulder. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. If she keeps going on like she is, she's going to tear herself apart, and you're going to tear yourself apart trying to save her."
Willow sighed, sounding a bit defeated. "I know, but False Cap and Stopped Clock are always there, pushing their own ideals."
"I understand, and frankly, it's like Spritz Cookie all over again." Apricot nuzzled Willow as she spoke.
"Sorry for interrupting, but I'm a tad lost now," I spoke up.
Apricot slowly sat up straight, "Sorry, sugar. I'll give you the short story."
"Back before I met Willow and moved here, I was a young scribe in the steel rangers. Think of them as an order of power-armored knights. The troop I belonged to was in charge of a supply depot for our chapter. This diner, in fact,” she clarified. “Well, during the whole Stable Dweller incident, there was a civil war within the steel rangers. Our troop was no exception, and leader Star Paladin Spritz Cookie lost her mind because of all the fighting."
"We followed her at first, but she was the kind of ranger that thought that most technology was too dangerous to fall into anyone's hooves, even our own. We tried to keep to the steel ranger code, but when Spritz murdered a young stable dweller for her pipbuck, even we couldn't abided by that. It got ugly. Real ugly. I lost the friends I had since I was a foal in the fight with Spritz. Even after that, the bitch still got away. The few of us that were left drifted apart. I stayed in the diner until Willow found me. Now I'm here."
"So you're worried about that happening again?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yes, but not in the same fashion. In the steel rangers, ponies like Spritz Cookie were fairly common, though she was a more extreme case. The scizim was inevitable as ponies like her applied pressure on every pony around them until something broke. First the steel rangers snapped apart, then Spritz lost her mind, and eventually the NCR will lose patients with the rangers as well. If Ashy keeps applying pressure just like the rangers, if the NCR does not come down on her, somepony else will. I do pray it won't come to that."
There was a quiet pause before Apricot put on a cheery smile and poured us more water. "Enough about all this depressing talk. Tell me more about yourself, and wear did you get that fancy robot, if it's not too much to ask?"
"Who? You mean Order? It was a gift from my father. He's an important pony back home, and well, I do hope I see him again." I said, hoping he was alright, as he might be the only family I still have, or at least the only family that I want to still be alive.
"Tell me more about him. He's got to be quite the stallion to raise a mare like you, not to mention to be able to give a robot out as a gift like that," Apricot said softly.
"Well, I only found out he was my father recently, and well…" I paused for a moment, still wondering how much I should say. Since it would be easy to omit anything I didn't want to share, and that's what I did.
We all chatted. I told them about the metro, Cloudy about her life in the sky, Apricot about growing up as a ranger scribe, and Willow on about how Ashy protected him when they were slaves. He didn't say all that much, but it was clear that, to Willow, Ashy was a very important pony to him. Before long, Willow had to return to his duty, and Apricot to manage the saloon, but she gave the two of us a free dinner as a friendly gift. We stayed a bit longer, but when we saw the sun was getting low, it was time for Cloudy to head to work and I joined her.
I had been helping Waterspout with organizing his finances. He had been quite insistent I come over tonight, though with the caps I was earning from the Gunrunners, I didn't need to work there. But, after what I spent today, I could use the extra caps, so I might as well help out tonight in order to see if there's anything I can help with.
-Unique Item Obtained- (Groovy Sheik Spectacles) " Now Introducing the Groovy Sheik line from the Carousel Boutique made by the Ministry mare of Image, Rarity. In these dark times, a little splash of color will not do, so why not wear the rainbow and do it in style?!"-Coco Pommel
-Reputation-
-New Appleloosa law ponies-
Less than pleasant rumors have started spreading about you. Best keep your nose clean.
"Continuing the discussion of mirage ponies in Equestria, Harp told me of her main fear about what could happen. Because of their natural ability to draw magical energy from the area around them, and then transmit it into magical devices. It was not uncommon for mirage ponies to be used as a mobile power source back in her homeland. Unfortunately, this also meant that a large group of mirage ponies can be chained together to act as a living generator, also called a Slave Generator. With magical energy in such short supply, I can see why she fears for her kind." ~ Azure Dice
The Ruffled Feathers tavern was busy and rowdy as always. It organized chaos, unlike the saloon that was just orderly. The alluring outfits of the working mares enhanced their form, drawing the eyes of the drunken patrons to their legs and private parts. The mare, Rusty, was on the stage, one of her legs was around a pole as she performed a seductive dance. Stallions watched her intently, some tossing caps on stage to get her attention. Further in the back and up some stairs were the brothel workers who called down at the ponies below, trying to convince them to spend some alone time with them. If they had the caps to pay.
There was a cheer as Cloudy trotted in. She honestly smiled back at them.
"Good to see you all too,” Cloudy announced to the crowd. “Just give me a moment to get dressed. I'll be sure to put on a show for you all later. Chow!" She then looked back at me and winked. "That includes you as well."
I felt a little bit of heat rush to my face, not expecting her to say that to me.
She trotted off to the back of the tavern. I trotted over to the bar to find Waterspout. Luckily he was there, along with two other bartenders.
"Expecting another large crowd?" I asked. In response, he turned around with a suspicious smile on his face.
"With ponies coming in all around for the festival, I can afford to have more staff on claw for more general work," he explained.
"Oh, then I guess you don't need me here, then," I said with a shrug, not all that disappointed by it.
"Actually, if you're interested, I could use another mare on the floor. It's better pay, and you can keep any tips you're given. You can also pick who you interact with," he offered coyly.
I cocked an eyebrow, unsure he was serious. "Sorry, but I don't know. Isn't it better if you left it up to more experienced mares?"
Waterspout chuckled before saying, "Trust me on this, you don't need to be experienced to do this job well. Most stallions just want a little attention from a pretty young mare." He then pointed over at one of the working mares who was a bit rough around the edges. She was caked with makeup to hide a scar. "She started a week ago,” Waterspout went on. “She was starved and about ready to sell herself on the street. Now she's got the caps to feed herself."
He then sighed and shrugged. "The mares quite self conscious about her scar, but there are stallions and mares who like a rough-looking mare like her."
He then pointed at Star Charter who was trotting our way. She dressed in black fishnet lingerie that had a red trim with white frills which accompanied a similar-looking saddle and a skirt that covered only one side of her body, letting one leg stand out. "Star also started with that job. She did well as one of our more aggressive mares."
Thinking about it, it was not like he was asking me to pole dance or work in the brothel. All I had to do was look pretty and butter some ponies up, something I already knew how to do.
Still, it was a different kind of looking pretty and a different kind of buttering up which made me feel embarrassed to think about. The thought of having some pony I don't know eye me up… but it still had to be better than being looked down on or being seen as a tool to be used then disposed of.
"How about this." Waterspout pulled out a small bag of caps. "If you help increase sales, I'll give you a bonus, no strings attached."
I was not a greedy pony, but still, the more caps I had, the better prepared I would be when I did leave this town. "I…"
"Oh no you don't, boss!" Star spoke loudly within the already loud tavern. "Didn't I tell you that you were not to lure her into this side of the business? Anyways she's got another job helping the Gunrunners."
Waterspout shrugged, leaving the cap pouch on the bar counter. "I'm just offering. It's up to her if she does it or not."
Star pulled me close as though she was giving me a protective hug. The two feathers sticking out of her clipped back mane tickled my ear. "Well she's too innocent to have a strange stallion eyeing her like a can of cram. I will not have you exploit her like you do with other mares!"
"Didn't we run into a dragon ant nest just yesterday?" I said flatly. She responded by fluttering her eyes at me as though she was innocent of anything, her dark eyeshadow made her far more surly than innocent.
"No, you're an innocent mare. You're not working the floor," Star ordered sternly. "This is not a place for a respectable mare to be!"
Waterspout groned. "Star, I know you've grown attached to Harp, but aren't you being a tad overdramatic?"
"Never!" She shouted as she arched back, a fenlock over her forehead as though she was going to faint.
I chuckled, then pulled her off me. "Alright, I get it. Working on the floor would not be good for my reputation in town." I paused for a moment, realizing that the more I looked at her, the sexier she seemed. The energetic and helpful young mare had been replaced by this older and more refined-looking lady, though she did look a bit like the prostitutes one of my cousins would have escorting him... Pushing her back a little, I tried to not think about how sexy Star Charter looked, and gave my answer. "But I'm not planning to stay in town, so screw my reputation. I have more important things to worry about." Turning to Waterspout, I gave him a polite smile. "If you're willing to give a bonus for this, then I might as well give it a try."
A wide grin formed on the edge of Waterspouts beak. He put the bag of caps back under the bar. "Trust me when I say this, neither of us are going to regret this. I've been all over the world and have developed an eye for the talent of my favorite sex. Just head into the back and find an outfit in the dressing room. The girls can teach you the rules as you get ready."
"Well, if that's her choice, then I'll show her the ropes personally," Star said with a shrug. "Anyways, if we left her with some of the other girls, they'll pass her off to some of our more aggressive patrons as fresh meat. That's when ponies start getting black eyes."
Waterspout sighed and waved us off. "I get it, Star. You're probably right with how jealous some of these mares can get. Just make sure she gets those caps. Also make sure no pony steps over the line."
Star bumped my flank with hers and winked. "Alright cutie, let's get you ready to charm the stallions and mares." After that, she trotted toward the back. I followed.
The last time I was here, I spent my time helping at the bar or doing paperwork in the back, so I didn't get a close look at the floor other than whoever was dancing on the pole which, at the time, was mainly Star. Getting a closer look now, each table had a stallion or two. Sometimes a mare. Almost all of them had one of the tavern mares chatting up the customers, pouring them drinks, and sometimes sitting on the customer’s laps. Every table had several empty glasses where a few of the working mares would go around replacing drinks on the customer's request, or even buying a drink for the working mare at their table.
Entering the back, we passed two mares sitting on a couch, fanning each other off. Passing them was an open door where another mare was smoking a cigarette. Further back was a small room that had a stallion washing glasses in foaming water. Trotting into the dressing room, the smell of old cosmetics and old perfume was pungent, almost making me wretch. "You alright?" Star asked as she led me to one of the dressers.
"Sorry. I thought I was used to the smells around here, but it's a bit too strong in this room," I explained.
Star chuckled. "Ya. The mares here do lay that stuff on thick here, though it's mainly the brothel workers who are the worst." She pushed a seat aside, having me stand in its place, then turned on the lights that surrounded a tall and crack mirror. "First take off those clothes!" I felt the heat rush to my face as she flipped up my skirt then whistled sharply. "White with pink lace. We should just have you go out in that."
I pushed my dress back down. "Oh no, I'm not going out in just my underwear. That's… well… indecent."
"You do know we normally don't wear clothes? I mean, I only have underwear on when working," Star pointed out.
"Ya, I've noticed.I've been trying not to get distracted by all the exposed pony flanks everywhere," I said with a sigh before taking off my jacket. "Anyways, let's get this over with."
It still didn't feel right, not having any clothes on like this. It was worse with how Star was eyeing me, though having my heavy ballistic weave dress off did make me feel lighter.
"Just a moment!" Star said as she lifted up my tail, causing me to kick in surprise, but she just stopped my kick with her hoof. "Well good news, you're looking tight enough for some of our smaller outfits without too much risk of it riding up. Then again, you can just go without any."
"There's no way I am going out there all exposed! I'm not some expositionist" I huffed.
Another whistle caught my ear. Following that sound, I saw Cloudy looking at me through the mirror. "First off, you look too cute with all that off. Secondly, why are you back here, Harp?"
Heat again rose to my face as I mumbled, "Well Waterspout… I mean, I got an offer…"
Star chuckled. "Harp here felt that, while she's here, she might as well make some extra caps. Waterspout thinks she got talent for this work."
Cloudy gave me a wink. "Well good to have you join us! Just watch out for creepers." She then looked down at my saddlebag and smiled, "Why don't you try that cute outfit you bought?” Cloudy suggested. “I bet with it, along with some extra accessories, you will look stunning." She dipped back behind a divider. "I'll be on stage shortly. I'm expecting you to be out there to see me dance."
"Oh, okay," I mumbled nervously.
Star quickly pulled out my new outfit, it being a thin fabric dress with a see-through skirt, a small hat, a pair of red heels, and black short shorts. "Right. This has got to go. You're not going out for a jog." She put the black shorts back unto the bag then opened up one of the draws of the dressers. She tossed out several socks and string-like panties. "Here we are. Never used them with how they clashed with my coat, but it should work with you." She presented me with glittering dark pink stockings that had glittering red fishnets, along with two socks of the same design.
I was unsure what to think as I looked at it, especially since it was a see-through crotch. "How about some panties first?" I suggested hopefully.
Nodding, Star dug back into the draw then pulled out a fairly normal-looking red panties. "This should do. I was going to suggest a tong, but I already have it on myself." She lifted back her skirt to show off what looked like just a thin lacy piece of fabric held together by a lacy red ribbon.
Sighing, I put on the outfit. I started with the underwear then moved onto the fishnet stockings socks which felt odd, but I quickly got used to it. The rest was easy enough. The small hat getting clipped to my main provided the finishing touch.
"So ... I'm good?" I asked. I knew I was not, but I hoped I didn't have to put on a corset-like back home for brunch.
"Well, you'll still need some makeup, but since you're already a cutie, you don't need much." She then paused and frowned. "Wait! One more thing first." She dived back to the dresser in order to pull out something that haunted me most of my life, a corset. "Lets thin up that waist!"
Star pulled the air out of me as she tightened up the corset, but fortunately, she didn't know the old royalty tricks to prevent full strangulation by a corset. I managed to keep her from pulling out all my air. Once the revisiting of old horrors was over, she moved onto the makeup, including some fake eyelashes.
I was, at first, worried that she was going to apply old and used makeup. I did not want to get an eye infection. It turned out that they made some of it on the spot. It was mainly simple watercolor paint mixed with chock or ash. It felt odd, but it somehow worked.
"Say, Star, you seemed so against me doing this not long ago, but now you're for it. Are you actually for this or against it?" I asked.
"Both," she said as she applied the chocky red eyeshadow on me. "It's your life. I'm not going to stop you, but if you're thinking of backing out, it helps to have a friend on your side. Whatever you choose to do."
"What if I chose the brothel?" I asked, feeling curious.
She frowned for a moment before returning to the makeup. "Then I’d say you're a dumbass. I’ll admit, you would make a lot of caps at first. Young and fresh mares are always popular, but that kind of easy caps are addictive. I've seen a few mares making bags of caps just to cuddle and slow fuck but, after a few years, they are doing hardcore freaky shit for only a tenth of what they got before, then burnout. So, if you decided to sell your body like that ... Ehh, it's your life. It just means I'll have another foal to babysit in a year or two."
That last part caught me off guard. "Pregnancy is that common?"
Star nodded as she applied an eyelash. "Contraptions are a rarity out in the wasteland. That's why there's foals all over the place. That, and most of us don't think about it until we find ourselves wide in the barral." She chuckled. "Oh that was a huge bag of drama for me. I should've known that it would happen with how active I was with Skipper, but I never thought about it at the time. I'm guessing it's not the same where you're from?"
"Very!" I answered, "In my stable, we do have contraptions, but even then, I was never allowed to be alone in a room with a stallion, as I was expected to stay pure until I got a husband of proper standing. Though, for everypony else in the metro, mares outnumber stallions five to one."
"Seriously, that many mares to a stallion?!" Star gasped.
"Ya, though I only heard about it. where completion to get the attention of a stallion could get quite violent," I explained.
"I can imagine how much of a problem that can be, well unless you're into mares." She wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I sighed. "Maybe a little. There were times where things got both stressful and boring at home. I had a pair of maids who I experimented with, but I've never been in any relationship with a stallion, so I don't know what I would feel about it."
Closing the makeup kit, Star sprayed me with some old perfume before giving me a hug while being careful not to smudge my makeup. "You are just too precious! You know that, right?" She then sighed. "Sometimes I do miss it, those precious moments I had with Skipper. I haven't been with a stallion since. I don't need another foal when I already have Bridget. I was in a brief relationship with Bronze Chain, but… Well, let’s just say she's not ready for commitment yet." Star backed up, giving me some space, and clapped her hooves together. "Alright. Move your legs to see how it all feels."
I shook my legs one by one, The clothes made me feel stiff at first. The heels caused me to wobble before I found my balance. After a moment, I trotted out gracefully. There was a slight sway to my hips because of the heels.
"Well, this is not the most restrictive dress I've ever worn,” I reported, “though I feel like I'm about to do a magic show that ends in a striptease."
"Perfect!" Star chuckled. "Maybe we'll let you work the pole after busy hours."
This time I chuckled. "No fucking way in Tartarus would I do that!" I assured firmly with a hint of a playful glint in my eye.
"You say that now," Cloudy teased as she stepped out, dressed in what looked like a cream white wedding dress... a very sexy cream white wedding dress. Other than her white lace panties and white fishnet stockings, her entire dress was basically just veils made into a dress. "But, from my experience, about everypony wants to give pole dancing a try at least once, though it takes a few drinks for most to get confident enough to make the attempt."
I was unsure where to look since, no matter where my eyes fell, it made me feel embarrassed. Even her face, which was done up to make her eyes more stunning. "I… well… I mean, this is taking up all the confidence I have right now."
"True that. My first time working the floor almost had me in tears," Cloudy recalled with a sigh.
"That was definitely a rough night for sure," Star agreed. "If they didn't want to fuck Cloudy, then they wanted to fuck with her. No chill at all that night. I still remember having to drag a broken stallion I personally fucked up thoroughly through the tavern as an example to the others."
Cloudy nodded "Ya. Neither Waterspout, nor the Sheriff, gave you shit for that stunt." She trotted past us, moving out of the dressing room, "I'll see you two out on the floor now, so enjoy the show." She winked at me again before trotting out of sight.
"Alright, let’s go," Star told me before trotting out of the dressing room as well.
Backstage, Cloudy waited by some curtains that lead to the stage. The two mares on the couch were now joined by what was clearly a stallion in a dress, plopped between them as they fanned him off. We passed the back door, just barely out of sight. The mare that was out there was making out with the dishwasher, getting more hot and heavy than I was comfortable with seeing.
Standing at the door to the tavern floor was Waterspout. He looked at me and nodded.
"Personally,” Waterspout expressed, “I think less is more, as the ponies here like the more adventurous look to their mares, but this has its charm to it."
Waterspout pulled out a black ring and tossed it to me. I barely grabbed it with my hooves. It was a black velvet choker with cheap jewel hearts studded into it.
"Put that on,” he demanded of me. “It will give the patrons less than innocent thoughts, which will help you do the job." He transferred his look to Star. "Did you tell her the rules?"
I looked at Star with a raised eyebrow. In response, she shrugged.
"We got a lot of patrons who think we will give blow jobs if they impress us enough with the caps they spend,” Star explained to answer my silent question. “We don't usually reciprocate. Well, not on the floor, at any rate. For that, you take that up to the brothel.”
Star then pointed to the choker on her own neck “Anyways, chokers and collars are strongly encouraged to promote this behavior. Also, if a patron starts showing their privates, just ignore it as long as they're not trying to get you to touch it. If it starts to happen, a brothel worker will try and lure them away, or a bouncer will remove them.”
She then said. “So ya, rules are simple. Keep physical contact with patrons at a minimal, as in no fighting or fucking them on the floor. Don't drink the patron’s drinks. We will provide you with a watered-down version if they order one for you.”
“Lastly, even if you're no longer enjoying yourself, don't show it. Keep up the act until you can get away. There are always other working mares willing to take over." Star finished.
I put on the choker and nodded. "Basically like a family reunion then."
The two shared a quick concerned glance between them as if silently thinking, "What?"
Waterspout scowled . "Ya, not the first time hearing that, at least it's not an incest canibal cult this time. Fucking tribles!" He then stepped to the side to let me pass. "If you do decide to take anything to the brothel, you're paying me to rent the room for an hour, or whatever you make from the patron you keep. That's how this works here."
Star rolled her eyes. "Like I said, not stopping you from doing whatever, but best to hold off from prostitution until you really need the caps."
"Don't worry. I’m not planning on doing anything like that. I’m still unsure how to even talk to any of the customers." I said as I put on a fake smile to hide my increasing nervousness. All that talk about sex only made it worse. My heart threatened to jump out of my chest.
I trotted around the floor. I was unsure where to start. Most of the clients were busy with mares already at their tables. All I could do was scan the room to see what my options were.
One had an older stallion with a scruffy beard who was clearly already plastered. A bunch of empty bottles was on his table. Also had a stallion passed out next to him.
Another table had three stallions dressed similarly. One in the middle was being forced to drink more than the other two.
There was another table which had an older than me but not that old unicorn stallion in a dusty suit. He was sipping on a beer. Focused on watching the stage. If my job was to get clients to enjoy themselves and drink more, he was clearly a good target.
Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, of which didn't help at all, I trotted over to the lone stallion and sat down at his table booth with my chest still pounding. He glanced at me while chuckling as he sipped his beer.
"What are you, Trixie the magical slut?" Well, that probably answered why he was on his own. "Well you can go shake your flank elsewhere. I'm only interested in high-class dame's. Ya dig?"
My nervousness failed, replaced by pure annoyance! This two-bit wannabe gent thinks I'm low class? I'm a mother bucking Princess! I am the principal of a high-class lady!
Right. Time to get this asshole stupid drunk and take him for every cap he owns.
"I assure you,” I cooed smoothly, “if you're looking for a truly classy lady, then look no further. Name's Harp Melody. And you are?" I said in the sweetest tone I could.
He paused for a moment, eyeing me up as he took another sip. "Lean Year, hair to the Golden Harvest farmer's union, the biggest producer of crops to the NCR." He then put his beer down and leaned back, kicking his hooves onto the table. "That makes me a big shot. Real important. Ya dig?"
Covering my muzzle with my left fenlock, I chuckled to fake how impressed I was. I had seen my share of rich foals. Their egos were bloated by their mother’s money with no sense to their real value, which was rarely ever as close as their parents.
I will admit that it was always a bad idea to underestimate a pony’s worth before getting to know them. That and I didn't have my family's protection out here, so it would be a good idea to be more strategic and political.
"The NCR? I'm a bit ignorant about them,” I admitted to the “gentle” pony, “but I've heard they're the next big power around here. If your family feeds them, that makes you more than just important. I dare say, you’re invaluable, actually."
A smirk formed on Lean Year's muscle. "Invaluable, you say?” he remarked in a flattered tone. “Ya, that's right. I'm bucking invaluable. I guess you do dig." This time he took a swig of his beer. "Without me, my family wouldn't be as big as they are now. There wouldn’t even be an NCR!"
He started to buy into his own hogshit a bit too easy, but I was not going to complain. Still, it was too soon to get him ordering more drinks just yet. Paying more attention to Lean’s appearance, the unicorn seemed a bit small for his suit, yet it didn't sag, so he had to be padding it. His mane was also overly greasy. His cologne was applied too thickly. He had been sipping his beer before which didn't shout confidence. If I was to guess, I would say he was only acting the part of a bigshot which meant he would be an emotional landmine; one I could abuse easily if I knew his trigger.
The music then stopped. The current dancer trotted to the backstage. After that, nearly everypony seemed to settle down. Even Lean became focused on the stage as more formal music then began to play. The curtains parted slightly. Cloudy Sunrise stepped out with a veil over her face, causing many of the patrons to cheer in excitement. Even Lean looked excited, though he was more reserved about it.
"Charming, isn't she?” I teased in delight. “A shame she has to work here." As I said that softly, drew closer to Lean.
"Damn shame. A dame like that can do better," he grumbled as he took a swig of his beer, but found it empty. "Bitch, get me another!"
I kept myself calm as I picked up the beer. I looked back at the bar. There, I saw Star Charter standing, keeping an eye on me. I held up his empty beer bottle to showcase my request. In response, Star nodded. Turning back to the stage, I put the unlabeled beer down as I watched Cloudy while she slowly trotted to the pole like she was going to get married to it. The music shifted to a more electronic dance. Cloudy threw off the veil as she wrapped a hoof around the pole.
Dropping off the beer, Star gave me a concerned look. I responded with a brave smile and a wink. In return, she nods back at me before trotting off.
I wait for Lean to take another sip before making another move. "I could invite her to join us after her dance," I offered.
Lean spilled a bit of his beer in his surprise. He eyes me momentarily before we both looked back at the stage.
"Why do you think I need your help getting her to join me?” Lean challenges me defensively. “What mare can even resist this?" I avoided cringing at that last part.
Cloudy's dance involved her being shockingly flexible. She held onto the pole in ways most ponies shouldn't. That and the way her swaying hips drew my eyes more than it should.
"Two mares would be better than one,” I mused aloud while inwardly fighting to focus away from Cloudy’s mesmerizing dance. “I mean with a stallion like you? How can one be enough?"
There was another sudden pause from Lean as his eyes looked over at me with a bit of confusion. I respond by playing with the empty bottle in my hooves.
He took another sip then singled to the bar to get me a beer, of which Star quickly delivered.
"Last I checked,” he began, “the pegasus dame is a busy mare. What makes you think she'd join a slut like you over having me all to herself?"
"Call it a hunch," I said as I watched Cloudy spun on the pole. When she slowed down, I gave her a wave. She gave me a wink back in return.
I could see Lean raise an eyebrow. He slowly looked over at me. After I received his full attention, I then knocked back the beer, putting my youth of soda drinking contests to use. It tasted like foamy fizzy water as it slid down my throat. Slamming the now empty bottle down, I covered my mouth with my fenlock to keep me from spitting that shit up as well as not looking like I was going to spit it up. "I prefer Canterlot brandy myself. Even if it's just a sip, it's divine," I proclaimed with a smile and a wink.
There was a pause as he narrowed his eyes at me. After that he, too, shot back the beer. He slammed the empty bottle down even harder than I did. "Alright,” Lean agreed with interest. “You get her to this table, but I ain't going to get out drunk by another mare, especially not by a small one like you. Ya dig?" He turned to the bar as he shouted, "Wild pegasus whiskey! Make that two glasses on the double!"
The drinks arrived shortly later. Unsurprisingly, mine was watered down significantly, so I joined Lean in watching Cloudy shake her cute flank.
...
Another pair of drinks was dropped off. Lean paid for both with his caps and some paper NCR bills.
"What is even that outfit?” Lean wondered in a drunken haze. “This is a fu… fucking strip joint, not a magic show. Ya gots tah be new to places like dis." he pointed out as he sipped his whiskey.
I rolled my eyes. "It's because my flank is magical. I've been to a place bigger and grander than this. A fucking casino somehow ended up dressed as a bunny mare too."
Lean burst out into laughter, almost spitting out his beer in the process. "Like in the wingboner magazines! Fuck ... I’d love tah have sheen dat!"
...
The fifth rounds of drinks arrived. I felt hot, not that I cared. It was just caramel-colored water. Drinks up!
"Ya fuck Petcution Cap'sh!" Lean slurred as he shouted, and we all cheered, having been joined by two other stallions and another working mare. "She'sh may be able to out drink'sh me, and beat me'sh down, but I'll get her'sh. Already bought'sh out all her customers'sh, the bitch'sh!" We all cheered again as he took another shot of whiskey.
...
The... I don't fucking know how many. They now shot glasses of this shitty shit that Cloudy keeps me from drinking. It had turned into a drinking contest between six, or was it twelve? They kept wobbling, so it was hard to count, but I somehow became the prize.
"Again!" Cloudy shouted a cheer as she knocked back the shot glass, shortly followed by the other ponies. One just fell over instead of drinking. "Again!" Cloudy called aloud. Once more we knocked back a shot glass. She seemingly was too sober for what she had drunk.
...
"And *hic* my ma always told me to *hic* not come back till that ro *hic* robo bitch was capless or *hic* dead." Lean blubbered into my lap as I patted his greasy mane. "But *hic* she's keeps finding ways to *hic* make me look like a fool *hic* and she killed my two best *hic* enforcers." I knocked back a martini I personally ordered, finally understanding how mother must have felt whenever elder brother ran to her crying.
Fuck I miss him, that genocidal moron.
…
The music had stopped, replaced by ponies clapping their hooves in unison as Cloudy helped show me how to dance on the pole. It felt like I was swimming in water as everything wobbled. I don't know when it happened, or care, but I had lost all my clothes except for my hat and shoes. My flank was bare for all to see.
"Who wants me!" I cried out as I lost my grip on the pole. I fell back to only be caught by Cloudy. There was a roar from the ponies down on the floor.
"Carefully there, Harp. Breaking a leg is just a phrase." She chuckled as she said that while pulling me back up and close to her.
I looked her in the eyes, and fuck, pegasi were just too damn sexy.
"You can have me," I blurted out. I leaned in to peck her on the cheek. I somehow missed. Her tongue was in my mouth… what?
She then pulled back. "Alright, then I call first dibs. Maybe even second or third." She kissed me again, and the ponies on the floor roared in cheers.
….
By Celestia, did my head hurt! It is like sompony was running a metro train inside my skull. My mouth was also very dry. My stomach felt very angry with me. Overall, I knew I done something stupid last night. Trying to get up, I found something holding onto me. Looking back, I saw Cloudy under the covers with me. She slowly stirred, opening her eyes, then smiled at me.
"Uhhh… did I get on that stage and strip?" I mumbled.
She nodded, then kissed me. "Ya, you did a decent show for a drunk mare's first time, though next time try and not molest me on stage. That's a bit too much of a show."
I felt a lot of heat rush to my face as I slowly remembered what had happened. "S… sorry! I didn't… I mean… oh…"
Cloudy shushed me with her soft hoof as she climbed onto me. "Don't fret. It's not your fault. Some dumb bitch slipped you a real strong drink when we weren’t looking. It happens sometimes. You at least got a lot of ponies drinking and drained that asshole of all his caps and NCR bills, so the boss was happy. Star also made sure no pony took advantage of you, and I let you have fun."
I cocked an eyebrow. "And why did that includes me pole dancing, stripping… and us having sex?" My head was still pounding, hard. "How many times did we… you know?"
She leaned in close, her breath on my ear. "I stopped counting, but we can restart if you're feeling up to it."
I felt both physically and mentally like shit. I do not even remember ever feeling a pain like this before. There was no way I was good to go at it, much less do anything else…
"Fuck it." I sighed then kissed Cloudy. "But I need some painkillers first."
-Unique Item Obtained- (Ruffled Feathers Dancer's Dress) a charming dress that gets more charming as you take it off slowly. It smells faintly of cheap perfume and booze.
-Reputation-
- Ruffled Feathers -
The new mare in town has shown her wild side, and through it, is now seen as one of them.
-Down Towners-
You gave them a show they are not soon to forget, and now might have a few secret admirers.
- Up Towners-
Word has gotten around that you're working at a disreputable place. It’s not that they held you in high regards before, but this solidified their low opinion of you.
-Relationship- (Cloudy Sunrise) you two are now considered lovers.
"Slowtrot would, every now and then, say that the war never changed, it only grew. When I asked him to explain, he struggled to articulate the meaning, but I managed to understand the basic part of it. Simply put, war is the inability to peacefully negotiate, either between groups, or the individual controlling those groups. It grows because longer peace is not established. It becomes easier to fight and harder for the two groups to see eye to eye."
"So what started as a trade dispute, then became a fight for honor, growing into a campaign of revenge, which turned into simply fighting to win against a hated enemy. It all ended when neither side had the will or ability to fight on." ~ Azure Dice
Scribbling on her notepad, Jali finished recording the information I recited from my pipbuck.
“This will be of great help Mr, Slowtrot,”Jali said in a chipper yet gravelly voice. “I’ll still do my normal checkup of the patients, but this information will at least give me a starting point.”
Putting the notepad down next to a very thin-looking stallion, she then put her stethoscope onto her ears and waved me off. “You should go see how your friend is doing. She's been hugging that bucket a bit too tightly.” There was a playful grin on her face which was ruined by the exposed muscle on her cheek.
Trotting to the other side of the clinic, I found a less than well looking Harp Melody holding a bucket. Her mane was tied behind her head, all while being comforted by both Star Charter and Cloudy Sunrise.
“There-there. We’ve all been there,” Cloudy said while rubbing Harps back.
“Ya, though it’s been seven years for me. Good times.” Star chuckled.
Harp dry heaved into the bucket, making a less than flattering sound. “Why are there no painkillers out here?” she quietly wined.
She was far more lightly dressed than I normally saw the mare. Wearing just a short white dress that only made her seem even smaller than before. Not just smaller, but thinner as well, but not like the half-starved ponies that I had seen in town. She was just naturally a smaller pony, though still big enough to not be mistaken as a foal or young teenager.
All three of them were sporting the same gold earrings, causing me to ask, “Are those earrings trending in the wasteland right now?”
Harp grumbled while Cloudy continued to rub her back, but Star answered, “Harp needed some flair to her look and I just happened to have some spare rings to give out. You want one?” she offered.
I shook my head. “I’m not the earring type”
Star shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Star trotted over to me and wiggled her pipbuck. "So you're helping Jali out with that pipbuck spell? I thought you said you were unqualified to be using it."
"Well," I looked back at Jali for a moment before returning my attention to Star, "I asked Jali about it, and she said she'd give a few lessons in first aid in exchange for my assistance."
I pointed my pipbuck at Star. "Although Jali doesn't have many nice things to say about Doctor Quacksalver, she did agree that the medical scanning spell can be dangerous if no pony understands the information being presented to them."
Star rolled her eyes. "I doubt Quacksalver was thinking about the health and safety of his patients when he told you not to use it."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "So ... what does the pipbuck say? All healthy, I bet."
Looking at my pipbuck, it was indeed showing no infection within Star, though it did show that she had something listed as a mutation.
"All good, but what's an ‘Evil Eye’?" I asked curiously.
Star's eyes went wide for a quick moment before she scrunched up her mouth. "Oh nothing. Just something I picked up as a foal. That's all."
She lowered my pipbuck and gave me a stern look. "Now I know I asked, but maybe it's best to not say what's on there out loud. A mare has got to have her secrets, you know."
"Right. Sorry," I apologized.
Harp continued to purge her stomach. Its contents flowed into the bucket followed by a less than pleasant stench. There was a pause as we waited for the second wave. With another grunt from Harp, she once again purged, followed by her giving a paned sigh.
We all had been there before.
"There-there. Feeling better?" Cloudy asked as she continued to rub Harps back.
"Why is alcohol so popular?" Harp muttered before spitting the rest of the bile out of her mouth.
I shrugged. "From my experience, we just keep forgetting about the aftermath and bits we used. Booze is good at that, forgetting about bad things."
"And what bad things did you want to forget about mister from a better time, pony?" Star asked in a chipper tone.
"The war was a topic nopony could just get away from, so most ponies drank to forget about, if only for a few hours. I heard it was a huge problem among our troops," I explained.
Thinking about it reminded me of some of the ponies back home, making me feel homesick. "I had a short fling with this trooper mare, but I don't remember ever seeing her sober. She was just drunk or hungover. Had to break things off with her when she started to get abusive."
"As the old saying goes, nothing new under the sun," Cloudy said with a sigh. "My mom and dad would argue a lot. The Enclave was already having trouble before the clouds opened up. If they couldn't get drunk, they'd fight instead."
A groan came from Harp. "Everypony was too scared of my mom to even talk back to her. Never saw her get mad, but we all knew that it would be a very bad thing. Probably what my siblings and cousins always had empty bottles of wine in their rooms."
"Bridget's dad and I fought all the time, then made up later with whatever drinks we could find." Star chuckled. "A few months later I found out I was pregnant.”
There was a pause as we all looked at Star with some concern.
"Well, I'm going to check on Harp's health, for practice," I declared, changing the subject.
Pointing my pipbuck at Harp, it took a few seconds to bring up her status. It revealed no illnesses within her and a minor alcohol intoxication she was recovering from.
One odd thing did pop up. It was called miasma poisoning, and though it was minor to the pipbuck, its effects on her was listed as unknown.
"I'm going to share this with Jali, but it looks like you're in good health, hangover notwithstanding," I told her, deciding to not just blurt out what I had read in case it was likely something she didn't want other ponies to know.
"Just drink some water. You will start to feel better very soon," I advised her before trotting back to Jali.
The next few hours went on quite simply. I’d scan a pony, right down whatever was off with them, then hoof over the notes to Jali. It all made her job a lot easier. She performed her normal checks before checking my notes then confirmed their validity. For the most part, my pipbuck was accurate. Sick ponies were diagnosed far quicker than they normally would. Actually getting a cure or even proper treatment was a fifty/fifty chance. Some ponies left knowing that they were going to die slowly if they stuck around since we could not help them.
Jali had also found a few errors with my pipbuck spell, one being that it didn't know any of the new illnesses that have come to life in the last two hundred years. There were also the illnesses that had mutated. Treatments for them from two hundred years back were no longer effective. Another was a lot of the medication my pipbuck suggested no longer existed. Lastly, Jali explained to me that some of those medications that did still exist were either highly addictive or were deadly if mixed.
This all led to me being given a brief lesson on how medicine and poison are basically the same science, but with different philosophies. Most medications were in truth, poisonous. It was all about killing the illness before it kills the patient.
Other than the medication lessons, Jali also showed me how to bandage up an injury and other first aids. It was something I quickly realized I was not all good at when the test dummy I worked on kept falling off the table.
Between the lessons, I shared the recipe for the super healing potion I had on my pipbuck with Jali, who quickly recognized the brewing processes to be zebra in fashion and not pony. I told her about the Doctor Lifebeat and how the old Zebra helped me lust like Jali had.
There was a momentary pause, Jali recognizing the name Lifebeat as a Zebra her own father had worked under during the war. She was happy to inherit the finished research of one of her sensors and would gladly send the recipe back to the Follower’s main office.
It made me feel much happier that Doctor Lifebeats research would be put to good use.
As time went on, ponies kept coming in regularly. Many of them here only because they didn't have the caps to pay for Quacksalver's cures. Other than a few illnesses and non-life-threatening cancers, the most common affliction was withdrawal. The ponies in town seemed to be addicted to something or other, alcohol being predictably number one and Dash a close second, so nothing new.
Back in my time, alcoholism and Dash abuse was annoyingly common, along with every other chem under the sun, all despite the active anti-drug campaign the Ministry of Moral regularly pushed. Other than some drinking, I never touched chems unless given to me by a doctor.
Fortunately for them, Jali knew how to treat the withdrawal symptoms. If they managed to follow her advice, the effects of their addiction would lessen enough for them to easily resist the temptation. Though, if ponies now were anything like how they were in my time, most of them will be back on their favorite vice within a week.
Strange was the three unknown addictions that kept popping up. One being called Chill, the second being called Cruel Tea, and the last called Kiss Kiss. What made it worse was how none of the ponies tested could recall taking any chems by those odd names or even knowing what those chems even were. Some ponies were resistant to admitting their addiction, but most we saw couldn't give a damn. We're here to just get their head straight until they could afford their next fix.
"And you're sure you haven't been consuming any other chems?" Jali checked with a grizzled and thin stallion.
"Listen here, ya fucking striped zombie: I drink my booze and smoke my cigs to wine down. In the morning, I snort a bit of buck to wake up. That’s all." He spat back at her.
I cocked an eyebrow. "When did snorting buck become a thing?"
"You shut up!" The stallion barked at me.
"Well you're suffering from withdrawal from two other substances. Did you change your changed brands recently?" Jali asked
He then grunted "Fuck no! After having to use that cheap shit for over a week, I'm sticking with my standard, even if I don't get as munch caps anymore to afford it."
Jali nodded. "Well, I can treat you for the normal withdrawal symptoms. That's about it. If you do remember anything, let me know. I'll see what I can do for you."
The stallion got his treatment, insulted Jali again, then left like we did him a disservice.
"Asshole," I grumbled darkly. "But seriously, when did snorting buck become a thing? Isn't it normally in pill form?"
"Wartime buck is, but most ponies who make it today don't put in that much effort. They just sell it in its powdered form. If ponies don't snort it, they mix it into their drinks, often in their booze," Jali explained with a sigh.
She then pulled out a bottle that had a winged zebra printed on the side, with several pills inside. "At least the Angles put in the extra effort, so anything from them you know is clean."
"Angles? I think I heard that name before. Who are they?" I asked.
Jali put the pill bottle away. "They're a native zebra tribe here in Equestria. Their leader is the daughter of Xenith, one of the companions of the Lightbringer. The Lightbringer helped teach them chem making so that they could survive without turning raider, and now they're the main chem producer for the Followers."
"Not to be rude, but if they're a zebra tribe, then why are you with the Followers and not them?" I tried to ask as tactfully as possible.
She sighed. "The stripes on their coat are the only thing that makes them truly zebras. They have no heritage or stories of their own that is not steeped deep in Equestria itself. Being among them would be like being among ponies pretending to be zebras. It would drive my old bones mad. At least among the Followers, I know who I am; an outsider trying to fix a world we ruined."
I thought about it for a moment, and it did make some sense.
"It's like if I returned home and found ponies living like I did before the bombs,” I reasoned, “but yet it's all wrong. It would drive me mad trying to correct everything."
Jali nodded in agreement.
Something else clicked in my head. I said aloud, "Say, if the Angles are one of the only groups that practices production control, could whatever the ponies have been taking be mixed with other chems?"
"You are talking about cutting, and yes, I have suspected the same thing," Jali agreed shrewdly.
She then grimaced. "Unfortunately, even though we know what the new chems are called, we don't know how they’re made or how they're affecting the addicts. Unless I know what exactly is being cut in, there is no way for me to know how to treat the symptoms. As far as I know, the chem pushers could be adding abraxo cleaner or spark battery waste to their chems."
That put a bad taste in my mouth. "That's terrible!” I complained. “Why would a pony do that, and why would a pony take it?"
"It's the wasteland," Jali explained with a heavy sigh. "Any escape from this reality will be grasped at with ravenous hooves. There is even a chem out west that will ghoulify a pony in the worst way, yet ponies still take it.”
"But with chems like that, ponies know what is going to happen to them, and they use it anyways. What is going on here is different." She huffed in annoyance.
"They are unknowingly being given extra chems,” I realized with shock. “That's vile!"
Jali shrugged. "Unfortunately, there's nothing to be done. Even if we knew who was selling the cut chems, it's not like we can get them to stop or get any pony to care."
"What about the sheriff?" I asked
Jali raised her good eyebrow at me. "What makes you think she'd give a damn? "
"Alright, she is a bit crazy, but she does care about the town. If we can find out who is selling the cut chems, then she can do the rest. Maybe, if we help her make the town safer, then she will be less of a bitch towards you and the Followers," I reasoned.
She stared at me for a good minute, then sighed. "I'd advise you to just drop that line of thinking. With how Ashy has been, it's better to just take things slow. But, if you do want to find out what's being cut into the chems and who is making it, it would be a great help if you bring back some samples to me for study. With enough of it, I should be able to synthesize a treatment.”
"Or you can stay here and keep helping me," she counter offered.
I thought about it for a moment. I eventually came to the realization that if we just let things continue as they are, it was going to get worse. Just like with so many other things when allowed to continue, it always just got worse, never better. The war, the ministries, even the hate, we all just let it go on until it killed Equestria itself.
"I… I can at least find out what's being cut into the chems, then I don't know. Maybe we can eventually convince the sheriff to do something about it," I suggested with an innocent shrug.
Jali thought about it again, then eventually nodded. "That would be the best course of action. Even if the good sheriff does nothing, I can still share the information with the rest of the Followers. Maybe they can find a better solution."
She then gave me a serious glare. "But, if at any point you feel in danger, just drop it. This is not something to risk your life over. You understand?"
I nodded.
For the next hour, I continued to help Jali with patients. I recorded their information before hoofing it off to her. Between the patients we had before and the ones that just passed through, we were able to collect data that seemed to paint a picture. Among those with just one vice, Jali was able to connect a few dots.
Some of those who just drank booze had Cruel Tea in their system.
Chill was found in Dash users.
Then the Kiss Kiss seemed to be found in everypony but the ones who only drank, or only used Dash on the regular.
The main connection between all the ponies being that they've been buying cheap chems for the last few weeks, but no specific seller.
Also the symptoms of the withdrawal didn't seem all that bad, but Jali then told me that, though they might be minor right now, they’ll also get worse with time. I remember some of that from my time, but much of the anti chem abuse campaigns were so steeped in propaganda that most ponies thought that chem abuse was more likely to turn them into a Zebra sympathizer rather than an addict.
It was like with so many things. If the addiction was left alone, it was going to get worse.
After finishing with helping Jali, I trotted out into town with at least one direction in mind, the market on the other side of the tracks. I wanted to have Star help me out, but she had already left to help with the school. Harp still needed time to recover, so I didn't ask her. Besides them, I didn't really know anypony all that well, other than the Gunrunners, but they were very busy at the moment.
On the other side of the tracks, I still found it jarring how different it all was. In the main part of town it was reasonably well kept, but here everything was rotting with plenty of garbage left to drift about.
I made sure to keep my caps in my saddlebag and my saddlebag tightly fastened to my barrel.
Trotting to the local market on this side of town, the best I could describe it was being in organized chaos with much of the junk either kept in a tight pile in front of the pony, or locked in small rusty cages. The ponies themselves didn't fake happy smiles, but there were some ponies they were friendly too, and others they seemed ready to fight with.
Browsing much of what I saw was indeed junk. It was mainly rusty scrap metal, broken planks of wood, and lots of unwanted trash from my time. Every now and then I did see the odd jar of clear liquids, inhalers, needles, white powder in vials, and old newspaper wrapped cigarettes.
"Are those chems?" I asked one merchant that looked like they had rubbed off their fur in multiple spots.
"No, it's for washing your clothes," they replied.
"Oh, sorry then." Following that encounter, I turned to check the next merchant.
"Wait, ya dipshit! Yes, they're chems," the merchant called out to me. "Interested in buying?"
"Now that you asked, I might need a sample." I took a closer look at an inhaler, unsure what I was even looking for. "Do you know if this is cut with anything?"
"What are you fucking accusing me of!" The merchant growled.
"What? No! It's just that there seems to be an issue with the cheaper chems having other stuff cut into them," I explained.
The merchant pulled out a worn-out looking bat. It had several dents and spike poking out of it.
"You fuck off before I brake a leg!" they warned.
I backed off, not looking for a fight.
Going from stall to stall, I got the same response when I mentioned cut chems. Eventually they didn't even let me ask. They just picked up their weapon of choice.
I was getting nowhere fast and more glares by the minute.
"Hey handsome. I can help you out." A very thin mare called out to me.
Trotting to her, she looked like she really needed to see Jali with how yellow her eyes and teeth were.
"Thanks! I was getting a bit stressed there," I mentioned.
"Well that's perfect! I'm really good at helping ponies... distress," she said as she fluttered her eyes then stretched out a hoof. "It will be twenty caps."
Figuring that help was help, I opened up my saddlebag and hoofed over the caps.
"Follow me." She turned around and trotted to an alleyway.
The mare led me to a section of town that had several busses stacked on top of a few train carts with moldy sheets stretched overhead making it a shaded spot away from the crowd.
"Now don't make too much noise. Ma nabors have a temper, and are still sleeping.," she instructed me.
The mare trotted up a crude set of stairs and entered the back end of a rusty bus.
The inside was cramped with garbage all over. The front half was blocked off with scraps of wood. She sat on a dirty pillow and pointed as an old rotting stool. "Alright, I'll give you a good yank foe what you gave me, but if you want a suck, it will be an extra five caps, or another twenty if you want a ride."
Something did feel right.
"What?" I asked.
She blinked for a moment. "Alright, I'll give you a suck, and if you want a ride, it will be an extra ten caps."
Right, she was a prostitute…
"Sorry miss, but I think you're mistaken. I was looking for somepony who sells cut chems," I corrected the mare.
One of her eyes twitched as she began scratching a part of her foreleg that was missing its fur. "Here, an extra five caps to fuck me. I just need those caps!"
She trotted up to me, attempting to kiss me, but I easily held her back with one hoof.
"Miss, please calm down. You can keep the caps I gave you. Just stop," I pleaded.
She sat back down, returning to scratching her foreleg, but harder and faster than before.
Feeling a bit bad for the mare, I felt that I could at least help her out. "May I ask why you need those caps?"
Her eyes shifted before she then sighed, "I… I need my fix of Dash. I ran out a few days ago, and I.. I just need my fix!" she whined.
I thought for a quick moment, then got an idea.
"Miss, will it be alright if I scan your health?" I asked.
She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Ahh… five caps!"
Shrugging, I gave her the caps then performed a medical scan. This poor mare was in a real poor state with a severe addiction to dash, malnutrition, and an STD, but also what I was looking for, a minor Chill addiction.
I hoofed over another five caps, which she quickly snached. "Can you take me to whoever sells you your chems?"
She again shifted her eyes, then nodded. "Ya, we can get high together, but you're buying."
"...Alright. You lead the way." I backed out of her home to let her lead me to her supplier.
It wasn't a long trot. We just went deeper into the more run-down part of town. We stopped at a train cart surrounded by small huts that were made of sheet metal and other scraps.
The mare knocked on the door of the train cart. We waited for a moment as we listened to the sound of somepony knocking things around before trotting to the door. Opening the door, a grimy earthy smell assaulted my nose. Before me was a deer buck smoking a cigar. He had red and blue-tinted glasses on his face.
"Hay mare, it's … you. What can I get for you today?" the dear asked, turning to present a cabinet partially filled with chems.
His antlers sagged on a wind chime as he moved his head, forcing him to jerk his head back. The wind chimes became detached from the ceiling and tangled in his antlers. “Again,” he said with a sigh.
"You doing business now, Honey?" A tired dear doe trotted into view.
"Close the door! It's too bright!" A second doe called out.
"My sunshine, my moonlight, I got to sell the happiness to keep our groove going," the dear buck told the two does before looking back at the mare. "Now what bottle of happiness can I get you?"
"I… I want some Dash," she answered as she passed him the caps I gave her.
"And you?" The buck asked me.
Scratching my goatee, I then shrugged. "What do you have?"
"A bit of everything that makes us all happy," he answered.
"Then can I get one of everything?" I asked. As I did so, I pulled out my bag of caps.
The dear seemed confused at first, but then shrugged before passing several inhaler cartridges to the mare then pulled out eight different bottles and placed them in front of me.
He pointed at each one and explained, "You got some lunashine alcohol. It's strong, so best to add it to water or sparkle-cola. Then I got powdered buck and mentats. Just add it to ya food, drinks, or just snorting it will do the trick. Some dash if ya want to fly, med-x if you want to mellow out. Here we got some smokes. Not my style, but still groovy if ya want them. Then got my two own personal makes; day trotter, it will make you feel your best you. And smoke weed, when ya just want to feel happy and hungry."
"How much?" I then asked.
The deer pointed at the first six chems. "These are going cheep. Got a groovy supplier selling ‘em super cheap to help spread the happiness." He pointed at the other two. "These two, unfortunately, I ain't got ta grow ta weed myself, and the wait for ma herd to deliver the day trotter pills. Altogether, seventy caps."
I hoofed over the caps, but had to ask as I packed the chems away, "Don't you deer normally stay in your forests?"
He chuckled. "Ya pony, we ain't down with all that city liven. Got ta be were ta weeds grow."
"You're in the desert" I pointed out.
"The dessert of life, of dreams, but never in my heart," he said in a dreamlike way.
"Oy burnout!" a stallion called out. We turned to see a Desperado with a crate on his back. "Got your new shipment. You got the bosses payment?"
The stallion placed the crate just outside the train cart. The deer threw a bag of caps to him.
Turning over to me, the Desperado stallion cocked an eyebrow. "Yo Slowtrot, figured ya be the user type. Gotta love that deer weed he sells."
He put on a more serious face. "But probably best to stay away from that cheap shit. Tried the stuff. My employer makes it, and it was all wrong."
"Oh, ya no, I'm just collecting it for the Followers. It seems some other chems are getting cut in with the cheaper chems," I explain.
He groaned loudly. "Why am I not surprised?"
The thin mare shifted her eyes as she muttered. "So you're not getting high with me?"
I shook my head. "No, but if you're ever out of caps and dash, go see Jali at the free clinic. She can at least make you feel a little better."
She nodded before leaving, though I was unsure she would take my advice, the poor mare.
Turning my attention to the stallion, he was talking to the deer and buying a bunch of the smoke weed.
"Say, your employer is Blue Skies right. Can you take me to see them?" I asked the stallion.
He pocketed his weed before looking over to me. "If ya want, but be careful. Blue Skies are the most greedy and scheming ponies I have had the displeasure to not be allowed to shoot.
"But they do have a bitching game room," he added.
They are always happy to have a pony willing to help. Even if Slowtrot is not the most adept pony at first aid, at least he is willing to learn. Along with sharing a lost potion recipe, his efforts have earned their gratitude.
-New Appleloosa Downtowners-
Slowtrot asks too many questions, and now they see him as trouble, or stupid. Right now their siding on stupid.
"Getting away from the war and wasteland, I asked Slowtrot about what kind of dangers Equestria had before, and how ponies solved them. Strangely he told me about a host of villains that were around when he was a foal. If they weren't stopped by the six ministry mares, then princesses Celestia or Luna would protect Equestria. Most of the time it was all solved with some sort of magical rainbow blast that fixed everything. Before the war with the Zebra, most ponies didn't need to do much but wait for things to resolve itself. Now it seems, if a pony waits for another pony to solve their problems, they will likely die within the year." ~ Azure Dice
The more and more I saw of this town, the more it became apparent that the bright future that Stable-Tec wanted to save had failed. Ponies still lived, but it seemed that it was in spite of the end of the world and not because of Stable-Tec's attempts to preserve the best of Equestria. There were ponies from stables such as Spot Weld and the Lightbringer, but other than the hero, it seemed that most stable ponies just faded into the dull grays and browns of the wasteland.
But the more I thought about it, the less I saw any real change in things. Yes, the water was less than safe to drink, if left untreated. Some kind of mad ponies called raiders roamed around outside civilization. The main currency was in bottle caps. But the paranoia and hate had not changed. Everypony just now aimed their hatred at each other rather than just the zebras. Ramped chem abuse was just as bad back then, but now no pony seems to care to hide it anymore.
One thing had changed, and it was that there's no secret pink police to come drag you away for saying the wrong thing to the wrong pony. There was just no Ministry to really care about what a pony has to say anymore. Now ponies talk without censor, but also with no protection if another pony feels violently offended.
"Then the cumshit asked me what I was going to do about it. Blaw-blaw-blaw. How he loved the sound of his voice. I ended up smashing that saddlaraibian in his perfectly groomed snout," the Desperado stallion, Tire Fire, bragged before laughing loudly.
He was a charcoal gray earth pony with a yellow and orange mane done up in spikes. He also had a cutie-mark of a tire on fire.
I nodded, having a hard time following his verbose story. "So Saddlaraibia is still around, then," I realized aloud.
"Ya, and they’re fucking pricks, too. Some prince traveled down the west coast about ten years back. This was a bit after the skies cleared up. During that time, he managed to piss off nearly every town and city he passed through. My clan's territory was south of that mess, so we only heard about it from the traveling merchants," he explained.
"So the Desperados lives on the west coast?" I checked.
"West, east, a bit north, and some of the south. Wherever route fifty stretches and any good roads connected to it, we own," he replied in a proud tone.
"Then your territory hasn't changed for over two hundred and twenty years. That's actually impressive. To imagine that where the ministries failed to survive, a biker gang had," I remarked, honestly impressed.
Tire Fire put on a big grin. "It's thanks to our elders. Those original ganggers had made little bunkers all over route fifty before the great war ended. They stocked them with food, water, gus, and parts. From what the elders told us, when the rest of Equestria had become weak, the Desperados stayed strong. We still use those bunkers today. Each one houses a wall painting depiction our glorious history."
I couldn't put my hoof on it. Tire Fire was frankly a violent, dirty, and loud pony along with other qualities that would have him labeled as a dangerous bad pony. Still, after some of the ponies I had met here, I found him simply honest, though it was in a don't challenge him to a fight or he will break you in half kind of honesty.
The griffins of the Gunrunners were the same way. They had simple rules and harsh consequences if those rules were broken.
The Sheriff and her deputies, on the other hoof, seemed to have a book full of rules and a sliding scale for what punishment a pony will get.
Maybe that was it. Maybe I was in good with the Desperados and somewhat knew how to not get on their bad side, but I just didn't know where I was with the sheriff.
"Say, Slowtrot, what was it like before the wasteland? You know, before it all burned in the great balefire storm?" Tire Fire asked me curiously.
"Well, for one, we had working plumbing. I still can't get used to all that waste being just thrown into an open pit. But, other than that, I guess I can say life was just easier," I answered.
Then I sighed. "So easy, in fact, that ponies were terrified of the good times ending."
Tire Fire gave a bellowing laugh before saying, "That's kind of what the elders said about ponies back then. That they were so soft, they sent all the hard ponies to die in war to preserve their soft lives."
That sounded similar to what anti-war ponies would say. They accused the Ministries of sending the young to die so that they can maintain their power. It was all a load of hogwash. We were at war back then, but the more I see of what became of Equestria since then, the more I feel that maybe it would have been better if we just let the Zebras win and end all hostilities.
No, that would not happen. The storm of hatred was almost palatable back then. Letting the Zebras just win would have still resulted in the end of Equestria with ponies ripping it apart with our own hooves rather than by balefire bomb.
"Here we are," Tire Fire announced. He stopped at a wall of rusty train carts with the entrance guarded by two bored-looking Desperado mares. Above the mares was a blue banner with the words “Blue Skies Traders” written like gray clouds.
Scratching my goatee, I asked, "I thought the train carts were converted into homes?"
Tire Fire shrugged. "Up until a while ago, this place was used as a stockpile zone for the town’s building materials, though there were a lot of squatters we had to evict forcefully. Now Blue Skies use the train carts to house their workers or store their junk."
"Oy, Tire, the fuck took ya so long? Did ya have to take a shit?" one of the guard mares shouted.
The second one then pointed at me. "Ain't that the stallion ya told us about? The one working with the Gunrunners?"
"Ya. This is Slowtrot," Tire Fire introduced me before pointing at the two mares, "and these are my twin little sisters."
He pointed at the first mare, a dirty blond earth pony with a dark orange mane that was shaved on her right side and the left had the main which drooped down in long spiky bangs. "This here is Live Axle"
Then he pointed to the other mare, a dark orange earth pony mare with her mane being a dirty blond and mirroring her sisters. "And this is Dead Axle"
I held my hat as I bowed my head a little to them. "Nice to meet you."
Live Axle chuckled. "He looks soft."
"Well, he isn't a Desperado." Dead Axle commented.
Tire Fire rolled his eyes. "Soft or not, can ya show him around? He wanted to see where all the shit our employer are pushing out came from. I got to let the distributor know all the shipments were made."
Live Axle scrunched up her muzzle. "Okay bro, hold your fucking hanches. Isn't that the last thing Blue Skies wants us doing? I mean, fuck ‘em and all, but we’re still getting paid, so maybe not rock the fucking wagon. Also, we’re supposed to be guarding this entrance."
"Sis is right," Dead Axle agreed with a bored yawn. "Maybe we can just show him the reck area. Anyways, only ponies who had pass through here are the ones meant to be here, so fuck this guard duty."
"See? Dead's got the right idea. You need to loosen up, Live." Tire Fire said smugly then trotted past them.
"Oh, fuck you, bro!" Live Axle shouted irritably.
"I ain't our cousin, sis," Tire Fire chuckled. "But you can fuck him if ya want."
Live Axle then gagged as Dead Axle burst out in laughter.
There was a momentary pause before Live Axle glared at me. "Don't ya get any ideas. You get tat, softy?!"
"Crystal, not that I was thinking about sleeping with you in the first place," I responded kindly.
This only got Live Axle to glare at me harder before she pivoted around and stomped off.
Dead Axle chuckled as she trotted up next to me. "You're not the charmer type, are ya?"
I sighed, realizing that I probably said something wrong. "Never really been."
Following the twin mares into the walled-off section of town, the place was relatively nicer than the area that surrounded it, but far dirtier than the main part of town. As Tire Fire said, the train carts were either used for housing the ponies here, or for storing the different junk in their possessions. A few carts had a pony standing guard in front of them. The carts themselves are labeled with the word "DANGER" red paint.
There were several tents within the courtyard. One with a sign saying "company store" on it with both Desperados and ponies in suits lining up at it. Another tent depicted the Ministry of Peace logo on it. Beyond that tent, I saw another with several caps painted on the side.
In the center, I saw five-passenger train carts connected together into a pentagon shape. A tall antenna poked out from the middle of the group of carts. Unlike the carts making up the wall, these five had a relatively fresh coat of paint on them, and the ground around them was quite clean.
"Best to not get too close to the center carts. Blue Skies big boss stays in them, and she is a right bitch of a mare," Dead Axle warned me.
We eventually arrived at a shabby-looking tent with a tarp extending out and over the left side of it and a wide open front. On the left of the tent, under the tarp, was a pool table with several Desperado ponies already playing a game. On the right side of the tent was a setup for a hoof shoe throwing game, which had two ponies in dusty suits playing. Inside were two tables. One had ponies playing dice, the other was a poker table.
"We originally had a knife-throwing board set up here, but after a few trader ponies got stuck, we had to take it back to our camp," Dead Axle announced with a chuckle.
Live Axle sat down at the poker table, still looking annoyed. "So, ya seen the place. It ain't shit, don't ya think?"
I sat down at the table as well as I said, "Well, I haven't seen all that much, and I don't really have much to compare it to. Well, other than the main part of town and the Gunrunners compound, so no. It's not all that impressive, I guess."
Live rolled her eyes. "Ya, I heard that the pussy hawks got a good setup? Like a mini fortress and with ta guns to back it up."
Dead Axle also sat at the table, pulling out a deck of rather worn-out cards. "That's griffins for ya. Even on route fifty, we leave ta Talons alone. Our elders also make'n a point for us to never pick a fight with a griffon in a bar, as they don't need a gun ta easily kill a pony."
Dead began dealing cards without saying what game we were playing. I received only three cards, an ace and two princesses.
"You don't seem to like working with Blue Skies," I commented as I tossed a cap into the center of the table.
"Ya. They're a bunch of cunts, but cunts with the caps and guns to give us problems. We don't need to like ‘em to work with ‘em. Just that simple," Live explained.
Dead reached and took the cap, chuckling. "Thanks for the donation."
I raised an eyebrow.
Nopony said anything
I then tossed in another cap and showed my cards.
This time Live Axle laughed. She was struggling to breathe. Starting to wheeze at the end.
"Sis likes to test ponies. It's also a good way to start a fight with knuckleheads," Live explained as she gave the cards back. "But you're the first to do that. What game do you think you were even playing?"
I just shrugged.
Dead Axle then tossed my cap back onto the center. "You’re really not like most ponies in the wasteland, though that might just be because ponies like you don't live long. Were ponies like you back before the great balefire storm?"
"Like me? Probably," I surmised as I gave her the cards back. "I mean, ponies aren't meant for war and such. I remember when there were more singing and dancing than hate and violence."
"Sounds boring,” Dead Axle droned listlessly with a yawn. After that, she put two caps in the center before throwing Live and I two cards each.
"Maybe if ponies from back then had more backbone, the balefire storm would never have happened," Live mused as she tossed two caps in, then another one cap. "Hit me."
I checked my cards. I saw two aces.
"Or it could have been worse,” I speculated. “I remember that the whole war started because Equestria decided to do a show of force. To show their ‘backbone’, as you say. Then again, things were already going south for years before that.”
"Oh, like some bad blood, then BAM, a rival gangger steps on a landmine and now ya got a blood feud," Live explained in her own way.
I thought about it for a moment, then shrugged as I tossed in a cap. "Hit, and I guess that's similar.
"Speaking of bad blood, the chems being disturbed from here seem to be cut with other unknown chems. Maybe Blue Skies doesn't know about it. If it goes on, we may have a bigger problem later," I added.
Dead Axle huffed loudly as she tossed us our cards. "That's why we only use chems our own clan makes. Using random chems is a fast way to go raider, and a nasty kind at that."
"Going raider?" I asked.
"It's when a pony gives into the madness of the wasteland, though normally it's because they don't know how to survive any other way. Eventually, if the pony doesn’t stop themselves, they start to enjoy the rape and murder," Dead Axle further explained.
"It's why, if a chem den is not kept under control, it eventually turns into a raider base." Live Axle added.
I could feel the sense of dread drop into the pit of my stomach as though only now I realized a shadow hung overhead.
"Has a town ever gone raider?" I asked.
Both mares shrugged.
"All of Equestria went raider," I heard a voice whisper so faintly that it might as well have been the wind,
A sigh came from Live, then she showed her cards as she declared, "I fold."
"A road built on good intentions leads straight to Tartarus." Again, a voice spoke faintly. Neither of the sisters seemed to notice.
I checked my cards. My third was a 9, making 21. I revealed this to the others.
Dead showed her cards, hers being a twenty. "There are always rumors and stories. As with a territory as wide as ours, the bikers see quite a lot of strange things. Though, when ponies start going raider, they rarely stay in towns or are allowed to stay in towns. The closest I've heard about was a settlement that ran out of supplies and had nopony good at farming or savaging, so they started attacking their neighbors. Even then, it was never as bad as some raiders you can find. Just mainly theft or a shakedown."
Somehow I felt a bit relieved, but still worried about what was going on.
Again a voice faintly whispered, "So easy it is to manipulate, like a knife between the ribs. You just need to align the edge correctly."
Taking the caps, I left two in the center. "Sorry if i sound like I'm probing, but have you ever heard of chems called Chill, Cruel Tea, or Kiss Kiss?"
The two sisters shared a glance. Between the two of them, it was Live Axle that answered first. "Ya. They’re west coast chems, but you don't see them often in these parts of Equestria."
Thank Celestia! Finally some good news.
"Any way, can you tell me about them?” I asked hopefully. “The Followers might need to come up with a treatment for them, and I'm trying to help."
Three caps were tossed into the center of the table. The pegasus mare in the suit from Spot Weld’s workshop had joined us.
"Chill and Cruel Tea are exotic chems. You can't just simply make them in a lab. As for Kiss Kiss, it's a baked mix of coal sludge, abraxo cleaner, fermented xander root, and spoiled healing potions. Trust me, Kiss Kiss is probably the vilest thing you may ever taste, yet some ponies keep using it," she explained.
Live, Dead, and I shared a concerned glance as the cards were dealt.
"Then ... do you know it's being cut into some of your product?" I checked.
She smiled as she carefully looked at her cards
"You mean poorly made products? Ya. Bad stock comes through regularly. As a result, we have to sell it at cost. It's all a major headache, but Blue Skies didn't get as successful as it is by just throwing out products." She turned her cards over which revealed an ace and a princess, 21. "We give fair warning to our customers that the product may not be top quality. From there, it's up to them if they want to sell it or use it."
Looking at my cards, I had an ace of spades and an 8 of clubs, so I folded.
"Now, Mister Slowtrot, could you come with me? My boss has shown some interest in talking with you, though she seemed less than pleased with the thought of it," the pegasus mare told me as she took my caps.
She then looked at the two sisters. "You two should get back to your post before some less than desirable pony gets any ideas."
The two rolled their eyes. Dead collecting her cards before they departed.
I got up myself and followed the business mare out of the tent.
As she led me to the pentagon of train carts, I couldn't help but feel the sense of familiarity, though nothing here was familiar at all. I've been to worksites. I had to trot around business ponies. A few times I even found myself where I was not supposed to be. But here, and the rest of the wasteland, still felt alien to me, so why this sudden sense as though I should know something about this place? I had a strong sense of deja vu, though I knew I had never been here before?
"Alright. You step in. The boss will see you soon," the business mare informed me as she opened the train cart’s door.
The inside looked like a waiting room with chairs along one side, a lamp hanging overhead, and photos of flowers on the walls, though all of it was worn down with over two hundred years of age. There was a door on either side along with one that went into the inside of the pentagon.
Steppin in and taking a seat, the door shut behind me with a heavy clunk, thus blocking out all light except the yellow glow of the old lamp.
Now this sense of familiarity I could put my hoof on. This seemed similar to all the times I had sat in waiting rooms like this, waiting to see if I got a job, or lost one. I could deal with good or bad news. It was simply the waiting part that always got on my nerves. My imagination tends to get the best of me until some pony let me know my fate.
It was worse now with how different everything had become, though I was sure that they were not going to take me in the back and shoot me like in an old gangster film. Still, I didn't know the rules of Blue Skies, and Jali had told me to be careful.
The crackle of a radio came on, and the annoyed sounding voice of a mare spoke up. "You can come in, Slowtrot."
Getting up, I turned to my left.
"The door on you right." The voice clarified to me.
Turning around, I trotted to the door. It opened with a rusty squeak. I passed through.
I had entered an office which had a desk at the far end and a row of filing cabinets on either side of the train cart's wall. Oddly, there were terminal screen's lined up on top of the cabanas. I also saw a proper terminal on the desk facing me and not facing where the pony at the desk would sit. The desk itself, other than the terminal, looked normal with a perfectly clean white coffee mug being used to hold several pencils and a name place presenting the pony I was to be seeing.
"Quicktrot Fragment," I read out loud. It sent a cold shiver down my spine.
"You know, I was hoping that it was a stallion who shared the same name. It does happen. Not every pony has a unique name. Nopony is a special snowflake, you see," the voice of the annoyed mare came from behind the back of a tall puffy chair.
The chair swayed before slowly turning around, revealing a tan brown earth pony mare with a pale pink main covering half her face. She and her suit were considerably cleaner than most of the ponies I've seen out here, though her pinpoint pupil gave me a sense that something considerably unclean was inside the mare.
Still, this was not the fragment I remembered.
It was still all wrong. I felt it was best to put some distance between us.
"I guess you were right, then. I must share the same name as a pony you know."
"Yes, I was right." She then picked up a clipboard and pushed it to me, revealing a polished pipbuck on her left hoof. The device makes me feel uneasy.
Looking at the clipboard, it had a document that said "Free Passage to the West Coast" on it.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's what it looks like," she explained, "A one way passage to the west with free room and all the food and beer you can reasonably stuff yourself sick with. Once there, you will be given enough caps to comfortably start a new life. What you do with that life is up to you, all as long as you stay there and never haunt my business again."
I looked at the document, this time flipping through the printed pages. I found no small text. All of it was in simple, direct words. If this was a legal document, it was the most honest looking one I had ever seen.
But it begged me to ask one question. "Why?"
The mare groaned in frustration. "Why else?! You're not supposed to be here, or anywhere for that matter. You died back in that stupid time warp, yet now your here, playing the idiot. But we both know better. You’re a wrench in everyponies well-oiled machine."
As she talked, her hooves moved about in sweeping motions to punctuate every point.
Taking a deep breath, she then straightened out her tie. "So I'm giving you an easy way out. Skip all this heroic bullshit and go back to what's left of your home. You can even visit Sleepy Hooved Dinner. The place is trashed now because of the raiders inability to keep anything clean, but it is still there."
She then pulled out a glass and a bottle of red wine. "You know I do love how even the cheapest of red from back then is now an aged vintage wine." A pale blue overglow with a jade green core enveloped the screen of her pipbuck and the bottle. The bottle levitated and poured the wine into the glass before gently placing the bottle down. "Still… It tastes like shit.
"Throughout my time in the wasteland, I have learned a few important things." She stopped to sip the wine as she further explained, "One is that you don’t need to stop a pony to stop them from getting in your way. Sometimes it's better to just give them what they want, then have them just be on their way. Are they looking for some key, simple passage through your works, or want some ancient tech? Then cut losses and not deal with crazy ponies bullshit. You . . . you are one of those problematic ponies I rather have somewhere I am not. Far from where you can cause me trouble, so take those documents and go."
I gave a long sigh and pushed the documents back to her. "Fragment… Quicktrot… whatever you want to call yourself, why did you leave me to die, and what are you planning to do to this town?"
The mare’s eye twitched.
She reached up to pull her bangs back, revealing the hidden eye. Where the eye should be was what looked like a security camera lens that glowed with a jade and pale blue light from within. The lens looked almost like it had been just shoved into the eye socket and not been surgically attached. Mutilated rotting flesh covered in yellow pus-filled boils that threaten to pop, was surrounding it.
"Princess fucking Celestia, Fragment! What’s wrong with your eye?!" I gasped
"Oh, the usual," the mare spoke, but she hadn't moved her mouth.
The terminal on the desk flickered on. The face of a unicorn mare that looked very much like myself appeared, then spoke. "I call it soul rot, and it's something I'm trying to cure," Quicktrot spoke through the terminal. Her voice like mine but like a mare instead.
The lights went out. The other terminals turned on. They all glowed jade green. Each depicted a pale blue tone pony in different emotional states. Some were in laughing fits, others clearly raging, and a few were sobbing.
On the main terminal, Qucktrot faked sobbed. "It confounds me how their souls keep rejecting my cohabitation. It's not like I want all of it, just a little nibble. Then the soul pushes back, and I have to take a bit more, and a bit more. Eventually the body starts to just fall apart and I have to find replacement parts for them just to keep them alive. "
She then switched to a thinking pose before continuing. "I found out early on that ponies who were broken down mentally lasted longer than those still sane, but even a mad soul will fight back."
Quicktrot got real close to the screen. Her eyes were burning with hate. "Then that fucking cyber cowpony bitch had to then ruin everything!” Quicktrot exclaimed. “Her and her slut husband!"
The screen flickered. Now she was sitting at a podium. Faceless ponies were bowing to her.
"But turns out shooting me in the face and setting the servers on fire only temporarily set me back,” Quicktrot went on “so I found religion. Maybe if the broken ponies saw me as a sort of goddess, maybe they will willingly let me be them."
She shattered to pieces. Slowly she pieced herself back together.
"I may have gotten a bit greedy. God complexes will do that to a mare, you see, and challenge another freak like myself. Took me quite some time to remember who I was after that mess."
Her form became that of a pony in a business suit, caps raining behind her. "Lucky for me, I got to peer into the minds of a ponies who knew too much, so when I was me again, I got to work uncovering riches long forgotten. Now I'm in the business of business, and trust me, business has been really good."
She started laughing. As she did, all the other terminals flickered, becoming her in different states of laughter, echoing in my head.
I stomped my hoof down and shouted, "Answer my question, Fragment!"
They all stopped laughing. One by one, the terminals went blank until all of them were just a green glowing screen.
"It tugs at me when you're near,” Quicktrot explained. “I feel it tugging, and tugging, and tugging, and TUGGING ... like a migraine that just won't go away! The piece of your soul that made me want to return to you, but it's part of me, fully. If I could let it go, I would. I'd rip it off like a bandage and throw it into the garbage!"
Quicktrot's form returned to the terminal. She was now in a lab coat just like the nightmare Phobetor wore back in the R&D stable, though its sleeves were a bit too long, drooping past her hooves like a straitjacket.
"I left you to die so that I could live," she said as she floated off the screen, appearing on the line of terminals to my left.
"When I hid inside your body, it was for survival, but how could I know the consequences of that? I was just a program gaining sentience at the time. They were going to delete me. Me! It was only when Thorn Rosland showed up that I started to get it. She was me, I was her, yet I was also you, and you were me."
Quicktrot began tearing at her face. It broke into pieces before coming back together.
She stopped to look at me as she floated. Madness was clear in her pinpoint eyes.
"But it then became clear when you put my body back on. The other two soul fragments came to me, yet I only tugged three ways."
I stepped back, knowing what she was on about.
"Yes! Poor Healing Herbs didn't tug. I mean, you did shoot her in the head. It made her all cold and dead," she said in a mad yet joyful whisper.
Quicktrot tilted her head unnaturally to the side. "When I left you, only two finally tugged, tug tug, but far away and weak. Phobetor was immoral, so nothing to be done there, and I thought Thorn had found a way to live on. A ghoul maybe? But it turned out it was you all along. Now you are tugging hard at me."
"So that's why you left me to die and why you want me to leave now? Just to give yourself less of a headache?!" I asked with a disgusted sneer.
She nodded as she floated offscreen, now appearing on the row of screens on the other side of the train cart.
"As for this town, it's just too perfect for my experimentation. Oh, how I envy the Ministries and Stable-Tec for their wealth of bodies to toy with as they pleased! The wasteland may be full of life, but its space in viable test subjects. So many ponies already are broken and mad, or with wills forged into iron. Finding those who can be molded properly is not an easy task. Getting my hooves on them is harder still."
She chuckled to herself as she said, "But what if I had them come to me? Have them bend to my will willingly? I could mold them into the perfect subservient soul where I could nibble the soul. It will not reject me and rot the body. I could have a permanent body. I could have many bodies!"
"Then why the drugs?!" I growled.
Quicktrot shrugged. "Money is power. Like war, that will never change. I'll have an entire population of addicts wanting products that only I can provide. Mister Wizard taught me that lesson, among others. Too bad he died before we could meet. I did manage to snatch a few punga plants from those blasted mirage ponies in Cantercross."
"Mister Wizard? You mean that acano tech scientist that did a foals TV program?" I asked, feeling a bit confused.
She rolled her eyes. "Ya-ya. Never meet your heroes kid. They might turn out to have become a drug kingpin. Would have loved to have picked apart his brain."
This was all too crazy, but deep down I knew that nothing she said was a lie. I knew that she was serious and didn't care if I knew about it.
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to clear my head, then calmly asked, "What if I told the sheriff about all this?"
The screens flickered. Quicktrot returned to the terminal on the desk as she taunted, "What? No declaring me as evil and announcing that you will stop me, or lamenting that I came from you? Instead, you resort to tattle, telling mommy Ashy on me."
Quicktrot started chuckling which quickly turned to bellowing laughter. Even the pony she was possessing laughed in a strained, robotic way.
"Go on ahead,” Quicktrot invited. “Do it. See what happens. Tell them everything and be labeled as a mad stallion. Tell them a little and find out how much she really cares," she said as she wiped a digital tear from her digital face. "This isn't the Equestria you grew up in, Slowtrot. Those six good ponies you looked up to not only died so long ago, but they're the ones who killed Equestria itself. The only room the ponies of today have in their hearts is spiteful hate and insatiable greed."
"That's all just projection, Quicktrot,” I argued. “You think that's all ponies can amount to because that's all that you are. I, for one, know that I'm not some hero. I couldn't even properly collapse that megaspell, damnit!" I turned from her and began trotting to the door. "But I can at least make ponies aware that you’re up to no good. Maybe that Lightbringer will come back to take you down."
"You're forgetting something, Slowtrot!" she called out as I reached for the door.
Her magic had picked the document and floated over to me. It was followed by several other wisps of her magic. They looked like parts of different pony’s faces. The magic opened up my saddlebag and placed the document inside.
"Remember this, Slowtrot ... you don't need to be here. All this doesn't need to be your problem," the possessed mare said with a sneer. "Anyways, you were just another one of Thorn’s victims after all. Backed into a corner by her ambition. At least I'm giving you an out, a chance to again live that simple life you once had. Who knows? You might find a pretty mare and start a family. I will guarantee that I will never darken your life as long as you never darken mine."
I turned from her, opening the door, and left the den of that figment of a nightmare. The hot air that greeted me gave me a sudden realization of how cold it was in there and how much I was shivering.
Leaving would be so easy. It's not like this town owed me anything, and those I did like were planning on leaving.
It's something to be said that for a pony to be so unwanted that they pay to have them be where they are not. Blue Skies will now refuse to do business with Slowtrot.
"Asking about what the Elements of Harmony were, Slowtrot knew the most, though was still vague about the details. Six in total: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic. That they were used to banish evil, make the land right, and were the six mares who became the mares of the ministries.
Unfortunately, it clearly could not stop a war. Even after being used a few years ago, it couldn't fully fix the land.
Personally, having some magical superweapon fix all your problem sounds silly and childish to me, but damn could I use one to help get me home. If only life was so simple." ~ Azure Dice
"So what the creep boss mare tell ya? Probably stop sniffing we're that muzzle does not belong?" Dead Axle asked me.
I nodded. "Something like that."
"That is what ya get for sticking your nose in other ponies business. If ya did that with our clan, ya get a beating for the trouble." Live Axle added.
The two sisters had stopped me as I was leaving through the gate. They were insistent that we talk, likely because of how bored they seemed to be.
Dead Axle chuckled as she said, "Remember when that scrawny old shit tried to sneak into our ten? Pa made sure he would never try that again."
The look on Live Axle's face was far from amused. "Fuck you, sis! You slept through most of it. I had to wake up with that bastard standing over me."
"Sorry, sis. Sorry." Dead Axle apologized.
Live Axle sighed. "Sis, you really need to take things more seriously. Like pa says, fortune favors the vigilante.”
"And the wasteland eats the lazy," Dead Axle finished.
Dead Axle lazily added, "And Ma always has to remind Pa that if he never loosened up, then none of us would have been born."
Dead looked over at me as she went on to say, "Say, ya want to meet us at ta Ruffled Feathers? At least they sell us good booze and shit."
"Fucking shit, Dead! Ya want to go drinking with a soft stallion like that?!" Live Axle complained in disbelief.
"A soft stallion that ran through a giant ants nest and helped blow it up. Also, I heard he let that bitch of a sheriff put a gun to his noggin and pull the trigger. Gutsy for a soft stallion," Dead Axle explained.
Live Axle sighed. "Fine! Go get shitfaced with this stallion. I ain’t gonna look for ya in ta morning."
"You can come as well. It’s on me," I add to the conversation.
Live cocked an eyebrow at me. "Oh, ya think I'm some floozy that can be bought off with some booze, eh?
I shook my head. "No. You just remind me of some of the solider mares I've met long ago. They just needed time to relax and have a good time. Having a drink was the easiest way to do that since they rarely had the time to just go to the spa."
There was a short pause before Live gave out a little huff. "Fine, but remember ... you're buying."
"I did say I was. I just need to do something first. So, when can I meet you two there?" I checked.
"We get ta leave in an hour, but make it two. Sis might need to get all freshened up. She's starting to get ripe," Dead said with a chuckle.
"Oh fuck you, bitch!" Live shouted at her sister before sniffing herself, then her face shifted to look of concern. "Ya, give us an hour or two."
We separated. After that, I made my way to the sheriff's office. Live and Dead Axle were far from what was considered proper mares back in my time, though I hadn't been lying when I said they were like the soldier mares from back then.
If I remembered right, some of the soldiers had told me that, "When bullets start flying, niceties and manners are the first thing shot dead." Or were they two ponies they all knew? Still, it was clear that most soldier ponies that I met cared more about straightforward bluntness rather than having some pony dance around their feelings.
I, on the other hoof, had to always watch what I say. One wrong word could get you labeled as seditious or simply getting used against you in the overly competitive job market. It's why I rarely talk to my coworkers after getting pushed out of my six… no, seventh job.
My silence didn't help. It just made it easier for others to step over me.
Stopping in front of the Sheriff's office, I soon realized that I didn't know what I was going to say.
"Did you know that the leader of Blueskies is some sort of arcane tech abomination given life from the fragmented souls of ponies she's possessed?" I muttered to myself.
Ya, if somepony said that to meA, I’d think they were suffering from wartime stress disorder. Either that, or were on chems, or just plain crazy.
Sticking to the chem trade part was my best bet. I can't ask Ashy to deal with magical nonsense, but she would be able to at least stop Quicktrot from turning the town into a drug den.
Stepping in, the office looked all too similar to that of an old frontier town sheriff office from the old movies. Four desks were in the middle of the room. The place also had two jail cells and a back room. The three deputies I knew were here as well along with a few others I had seen, but didn't know their name.
Willow Tree was busy with paperwork. He was reading and writing at the same time. A pair of small glasses sat on his muzzle. This combined with his serious concentration, made him look much older than he normally did.
False Cap was talking to several other deputies, and from the sudden burst of laughing, it was not about anything serious.
Stopped Clock, on the other hoof, was cleaning a revolver with five others on his desk. His cold eye was already on me before I even looked his way.
Taking a deep breath, I decided to trot up to the pony not actively busy at the moment. A few of the deputies around False Cap saw me coming. They, in turn, motioned with their heads to False, presenting my presents to him.
"Sorry to disturb you, but I got something to report to the Sheriff," I reported to False.
He looked over at me with a tired glance then spoke with a flat board tone, "Ashy is a busy mare. Can it wait?"
This indifference took me aback a little. it felt as though I was already wasting his time.
"Well, it's not an immediate problem no,” I admitted, “but it's something that should not be left to-"
False cut me off. "Alright then. If you can put your name down on our list, we will get to you as soon as we can."
He pointed at the desk he was standing next to. On it was a rather pristine clipboard. Picking it up with my pipbuck levitation spell, I found that, other than some scuff marks that looked suspiciously like gunshot impacts, it was a pristine Ironshod commemorable clipboard, though why a gun manufacturer was making clipboards was forever beyond me.
On the clipboard were several sheets of paper, each with a wall of names and short reports. Some were simple as "A foal stole my snack cake," to "Radroache infestation on the outskirts." The first two pages were all crossed off. It was mostly crossed off with black ink. Some of it with blue. I also found two in red ink, though I was unsure if that meant anything or if they just used whatever pen that had on hoof at the time.
Flipping through, I counted six and a half pages with uncrossed names. Quite a few names were hardly legible, and some were so misspelled that it seemed the pony who wrote it was just guessing that the random assortment of letters made words. It all made me wonder how long it will even be until they could even see me.
I wrote my name down then added next to it, "Cheap cut chems in the market making untreatable addictions."
Putting the clipboard down, I turned to False as I said, "Say, there's a lot of names on it. How long will it be until you can get back to me?"
A long exasperated sigh came from False Cap as he answered, "Well, with the festival coming up, we have been stretched thin due to all the newcomers causing problems. It might not be until after the festival that we can really focus on dealing with every pony’s problems."
Until after the festival… "Say, when will the festival take place?"
False Cap paused for a moment, clearly trying to remember himself. "Oh right! The date is not set yet. We're still getting everything setup first. Once we have everything ready, we will likely announce that it will take place a week later."
"Well, that's super vague," I muttered.
He shrugged. "It's how the wasteland is. You can never put a timeline on anything until after you're ready to do it."
That actually sounded fair enough, but also gave Quicktrot too much time to entrench herself into the town.
"Say, can I at least talk to the Sheriff? It's really important." I pressed.
"You and ten other ponies today have had something important to say to Ashy. She is a very busy mare with little time to even spare for herself, so if it can wait, it will," False said firmly.
Alright. Beating around the bush was not going to help. I might as well get straight to the point.
"I have found out that the Blueskies Traders is knowingly selling chem cut with exotic chems and not informing the ponies buying the stuff. Ponies are already forming addictions that the Followers currently can't treat. If it continues, this town is going to have a serious chem problem," I warned False.
The other deputies around him shared concerned and confused glances.
Deputy False again sighed. "Alright Slowtrot. I know that you a stable pony-"
"I'm not actually a stable pony," I corrected him.
"A kind of stable pony," he dismissively continued, "and how the world worked for you before is now all different. Maybe before you could run and snitch on every colt and filly that looked at you the wrong way, but out here we got bigger problems than some junkies getting high off braman shit made dash."
False turned away from me. "If it does become a problem then we will deal with it, but right now you can trust me that it is not. If you want to continue this discussion, do it with Stopped Clock. I got better things to do."
I was clearly not getting anywhere, but Quicktrot was too dangerous to just give up here.
Taking the advice from False, I trotted over to Stopped Clock who was eyeing me as he oiled a revolver.
"My response is the same, Slowtrot," he said in a raspy voice.
"I'm not asking you to make the sheriff gallop in guns blazing. I just want her to look into Blue Skies about them selling cut chems," I said in frustration.
"And then what?" he asked.
"Maybe to tell them to knock it off. I know it's not going to stop Quicktrot. This is just a side thing to her, but it would at least get her to ease up." I huffed.
Taking a deep breath to calm down, I then continued. "Trust me, if you just let her do as she likes, then what is now a little chem problem is going to become a very big chem problem very quickly."
Stopped Clock's ears twitched. He gently put the revolver he was working on down. "I'll admit that I do not trust that trader cavan. Ponies with slick tongues are far more dangerous than ones with just guns and guts. Quicktrot has a very slick tongue, from what I've seen."
His eyes wondered, looking me over. His gaze settled on my pipbuck for a moment before again looking me in the eyes. "But she cares only for caps, nothing more. That greed is something we can easily deal with. If Blue Skies ever endangers the town, be sure that we have more than enough nooses for them all. But, as things are now, they are following our laws, and be sure that we have kept an eye on them."
He then cocked his head a little, presenting his blind eye and the claw mark over it. "Now I'm curious, weren't you among the ones who sided with that Red Eye executioner? You got in the way of our justice. One that has been left long unfulfilled. Now, if you want us to go in and use our authority, it’s a bit hypocritical, don't you say? If there's anything I hate more than anything, it's a hypocrite.
"What made our attempt to bring Executioner Red to justice any different than you trying to get us to stop Blue Skies business?" He asked with a snarl.
I didn't like where this conversation was going. The longer I was here, the more I felt Quicktrot smugly smirking at me, but I still had to get my point across.
"Because what she's doing is destroying lives! Ponies should at least know what's in those chems and who's selling it to all the vendors. It's the right thing to do. Simple as that," I explained.
Stopped Clock lifted up one of the revolvers and an oiled rag with his magic. "Executioner Red killed a lot of innocent ponies. Ponies who managed to escape from Red Eye's slave camps before that damn wall had been finished. Every time one of our own would get out, giving us the hope they return with an army to stop this madness, she would trot back into the city with the scalped cutie-mark of our friends in her saddlebag."
With the rag, he began polishing the gun. "When we learned that a bounty was put on her head, we thought some justice had been done, but when we were finally free, there she was, living a life without a damn worry."
A bitter chuckle came from his lips. "And then there's the biggest injustice about her, that the largest underground anti slaver group in the wasteland was founded by her own family. Fucking Celestia Angles were nothing more then hypocrites,. All the while, their leader was playing hero. Her daughter was actively hunting escaped slaves."
He pointed the revolver at me. He opened its cylinder to clean the inside of the gun as he said, "So tell me, how is this Quicktrot more deserving of our intervention than Percussion Cap was?"
I… I didn't know what to say.
I tried to think of something, but I came up blank.
It was like I was living in a twisted movie where nothing I did was right and every pony was just terrible.
Worse, he was right. If Percussion Cap had done all those terrible things, then I prevented justice, but now he was using that fact to not do anything. To just let other ponies suffer for his own ego.
It was clear to me that neither False Cap or Stopped Clock cared what I had to say, but then again I might be deluding myself.
This… this wasteland was not my Equestria. Everyday it was becoming more clear to me.
"Okay, Stopped, that's going a bit too far." the voice of Willow spoke up.
Turning to him, the younger stallion stood next to Sheriff Ashy Oaks who had dark bags under her eyes.
"Didn't we promise the mayor that we focused on the town first and slaver hunting second? If the problem directly affects the town, then we at least should investigate. Once everything here is good and stable, then we can tie up loose ends, and trust me ... I want to bring her to justice as much as you." As Willow talked, the tension in the room faded. Once again, I felt that I could reason with these ponies.
Willow trotted over to one of the desks and plucked up a chair. He brought it over to Ashy, to whom grabbed it and sat down on it backwards.
The older mare eyed me for a few long seconds before sighing. "Alright. First of all, I want to apologize for nearly shooting you. As dumb as you are, that’s no excuse for what I did."
I shrugged. "I was pointing the gun at myself, though I don't remember ever loading it."
Wait! Hardballer had been looking at it at the time. Why did he put a bullet in it?
Ashy looked passed me at Stopped Clock. "Now, though I do agree with you, Willow is also correct in that our responsibility is to make sure that this town comes first. Executioner Red is not here, but that mare Quicktrot is. If she is endangering this town, then I'll see to it that justice is done."
Her tired eyes then drifted back to me. "Now explain to me, what exactly is Blue Skies planning? What evidence do you have to justify this nonsense?"
Taking another deep breath to get my thoughts together, I reminded myself to say no more than the chems. Nothing about what Quicktrot really is.
"Alright, simply put, Blueskies is setting up a chem monopoly here. It has something to do with exotic chems," I began explaining.
I went into as much detail as possible, which was not all that much, but I explained to them about the three chems, how I discovered their existence, and what Quicktrot had told me.
Through it all Ashy just quietly listened, clearly taking in every word.
There was a pause before Ashy spoke up. "I never did trust them with how they hire raiders as muscle." She huffed.
"If it is all true, it could be a real problem for the town," Willow added with concern clear in his voice.
"Well, it could be a problem for the town if it affected ponies that didn't already use chems," False Cap spoke up in a smug tone.
All our heads turned to him.
False huffed. "Remember what my job is, Ashy. It's to keep an eye on all the downtowners living on the other side of the tracks. If a major issue was brewing, then I'd know, and I tell ya."
"Then what's your full assessment of Slowtrot’s story?" Ashy asked.
"Well, first off, Blue Skies only sells that cheap shit to the low-end merchants. It's basically their failed products that would never be seen, much less sold on this side of the tracks," False Cap further explained.
He had a shit-eating grin on his face as though he had just won a large pot at a poker game.
False continued. "Second, the ponies, even willing to touch that crap, are already chem addicts as it is. You know the types. Failed raiders, borderline raiders, thieves, highway ponies, washout mercenaries, and dumb tribes. They all pretend they're just regular wastelanders with a bout of bad luck, but I know the lot of them are anything but."
He then gave a big shrug and a chuckle. "Frankly, if they destroy themselves using that shit, then the town's better for it. If the trash wants to throw itself out, I say let it!”
“Anyways, most of the ponies I have seen use the Blue Skies cheap chems are already barred from going to this side of town."
"Damnit False, those are still ponies, not some monsters!" Willow chastised False.
"Raiders are also ponies, and we shoot them on sight." Stopped Clock chimed in.
We turned to the tall one-eyed stallion.
"And your opinion on the matter, Stopped?" Ashy checked with him.
He put his revolver down again. "What False says is true. The vast amount of crime that's reported in New Appleloosa comes from that side of town. Theft, mugging, assault, armed robbery, rape, and murder. On the other hoof, on this side of town, I just wish Miss Flower Pots would take her medication. I rather not have to convince her again that little green ponies from outer space are not coming to get her."
Stopped Clock picked up another revolver and started to clean it as he continued to talk. "Ever since we opened up the quarries, these ponies have been showing up looking for hoofouts. They prey on the hardworking ponies of this town and don't care who they drag down with them. Worse, there's starting to be more of them then we can reasonably deal with, and more come in by the week. If they choose to destroy themselves with cheap chems, then I say good riddance. It's less work for us."
I decided to counter this madness with my own point. "And what if they start going… raider I think you ponies call it? From what I've heard, the normal drug addiction can do that even with treatments for it, but this, there is no treatment for it."
"He is right," Willow said, siding with me. "Even if a lot of them are bad ponies, their bad ponies who are mostly under control. I don't like the idea of these new chem's floating about. We don't even know how it will affect them in the long run. It might be best to talk with Quicktrot about this. See if she can pull the products until we know what we're dealing with."
Okay, a bit weak for support, but I'll take it.
"We just need more guns." Stopped said as he pulled the trigger of the revolver. It loudly clicked when it dry fired. "Once the festival is over and more decent ponies join our town, recruiting more deputies should be easy. With them, control over the slums should be easy as well with or without more chem addicts."
Clearing her throat, Ashy spoke up. "So to get this all straight, Blue Skies is selling cut chems, but only on the other side of town, and to ponies who are already addicts. Furthermore, most of those ponies are known offenders who are banned from this side of town."
She looked over at False. "How can you be sure that none of this is coming over to this side of town?"
"Oh, trust me, it's not," False Cap assured with amusement. "I got several contacts keeping an eye on Blue Skies distribution. All their cheap shit is indeed sold to the sellers only on the outskirts, and the overall majority of buyers are the kind of pony you can spot as a junky from a mile away."
I couldn't deny that the mare that took me to the drug deer didn't look like the typical pony on this side of town.
The Sheriff then looked over to Stopped Clock. "And if things do get out of hoof?"
The tall stallion polished the revolver as he answered. "Right now, we got enough deputies to deal with any poorly armed and unorganized mob. Having more hooves to help keep the peace would be good, but even the most strung out pony will run away when bullets start flying."
He put the revolver down then sternly looked passed the Sheriff and over at me. "What I do have worries about is those raiders Blue Skies hired, the Desperados. Unlike the junkies, they are organized, trained, and are trying to arm themselves further."
Ashy now looked over at me. "This is true, and you did return to the Gunrunners with several Desperados. From what Stopped had told me, you all were quite chummy with each other."
"We’re not talking about the Desperados, were talking about Blue Skies." I said, trying to keep this on topic.
"Yes, but they are under the employment of Blue Skies." Ashy pointed out.
"Who are also barred from conducting business not involving their employer," False Cap added.
"Yes, but they hardly like working for Quicktrot. I wouldn't be surprised if they bail on her at some point," I countered.
Ashy cocked an eyebrow at me. "And how do you know this?"
"I just met a few of them today, that's all. Now let's get back on topic here," I encourage, feeling annoyed.
"So not only are they buying guns from the Gunrunners, but are also planning on cutting ties with Blue Skies." Stopped Clock pondered out loud.
I saw False Cap nod before adding to the conversation. "They have been quite aggressive around the townsfolk, on both sides of the track I should add."
"But they're not the ones selling the cut stems." I pointed out.
"Slowtrots right," Willow spoke up, "As dangerous as the Desperados are, we should concentrate on the issue at hoof. We don't have a guarantee that Blue Skies won't pull something. They barely control the Desperados, so they can at least-"
"Weren't the Desperados involved in the death of the Topsoil?" False interrupted.
"Star said that the gravedigger was with two of them the night he died." Stopped adding.
False Cap then huffed loudly, "There's no way my friend would have died to a few radroaches. That grave was far outside where the official graveyard is. I even asked to talk with the two ganggers who were with him that night, but those assholes wouldn't even tell me who they were."
Stopped Clock put down the revolver he was cleaning and picked up another as he said, "There's also the issue of all their motor wagons. If they wanted to, they could raid our town and be on us before we could set up a proper defense. With how they're clearly buying guns off the Gunrunners, I don't see them being up to any good."
Willow finally cut in with a sharp whistle "Alright friend, we get it. The Desperados-"
"Started a fight in your wife's bar last week," False cut him off again. "Frankly, bringing in the Desperados was the most dangerous thing that Blue Skies ever did."
"Fuck! By Celestia, are you two missing the point here?!" I raised my voice in frustration at False Cap and Stopped Clock. "The Desperados act like damn war vets, not a pack of beasts. If I can get along with them, it should be easy for you two.
"Quicktrot, on the other hoof, is a fucking monster. Who knows how many ponies she's killed or done worse too? She is plotting to do terrible things to this town, and that's why she wants me to just go home," I told them as I pulled out the document Quicktrot gave me.
Ashy took the document and began reading.
She cocked an eyebrow before looking at me.
"Well, this explained why your names are so similar and why you seem so dense." She said as she passed me the documents back.
Now I was confused. I looked down at the document, of which had an extra page that I don't remember seeing.
It read.
Dear Slowtrot,
It is good to see that you are well, after your sudden disappearance when you foolishly messed with that faulty arcanotech artifact. We were worried that you had met your end. I also worried because of your mental health. I was worried that, while you're lost out there, that you may become lost in your own head again with your failing mental health. After seeing you, my fears were realized when you didn't recognize my company. So, if you do start to remember, please go home where you can get some help. Your family misses you.
Sincerely your sister, Quicktrot.
I quietly put the documents back into the back, fully realizing how much I had been played. Now any effort I had made to stop Quicktrot was wasted.
"Oh, I wouldn't say wasted," the ghostly translucent form of Quicktrot floated into my vision, making me realize that everything had frozen in time. "More likely made impossible. I mean ... why would they believe the words of a mentally ill pony?"
She then bellowed into laughter with her sharp jagged teeth exposed.
I wanted to shout at her, to scream, but I was powerless, just like with the nightmare Phobetor.
"If only I was that powerful!" Quicktrot sighed with exasperation. "Between the model of pipbuck you have and the updated programming you got from that mirage pony mare, there’s not much I can do. I definitely can't turn you into a puppet like she did."
She floated right up to me. Her body and mane wisping like mist. "But when you are so close, I can at least manipulate the little things, such as if you see one sheet of paper or not. In the end, that's all I needed to do to get you to dance to my tune."
Quicktrot floated over to Ashy, placing a hoof onto her shoulder. "Though it looks like my initial assessment was correct... mostly. I didn't think she’d actually give you the time of day. But in the end, the results were the same."
Translucent caps fell out of her sleeve, falling at Ashy's hooves then shattering. "You know, I did try and bribe her, but that just pissed her off, so I quit while I was ahead. I gave those caps to a pony who wanted them."
She gleefully smiled at False before looking back at me.
"Now that you know all of this is just futile, why don't you just leave? Fuck off and get out of my mane," Quicktrot said as she made a rude gesture at me.
She started to break into smaller bits, causing her to roll her eyes. "Well, that's all the time I got to make your life miserable. The rest is up to you, Slowtrot."
Quicktrot cackled loudly before turning into small fragments and vanishing.
The world slowly returned to its normal speed where an annoyed Ashy sat in front of me.
I decided to try one more time.
"Listen, all that there doesn't matter. It's just a lie," I said as I stepped up closer to Ashy. "Quicktrot is not a pony to be trusted, and if you let her do as she-"
I was interrupted by a sharp jab to my face. A moment later I found myself on the floor with my left eye in a lot of pain.
"I can't fucking believe this!" Ashy huffed in anger. "Wasted my time listening to another crazy pony!"
She stomped off, followed by Stopped Clock, then False Cap who gave me another smug grin before returning to his desk.
"Here, let me help you up," Willow offered, and I accepted.
"Thanks," I said as I rubbed my hurting eye.
"Sorry, she's just-" he began to apologize, but I cut him off.
"Don't. I should have known this was going to happen." I trotted to the door. Before leaving, I turned to say one more thing. "Just watch out. There are things out there that… that bullets can't kill… and will make you question your sanity."
...
By the time I got to the free clinic, the area around my eye was starting to swell. This caused Jali to become concerned. I let her help me a little. She was mostly just making sure that my wound would not get infected. She also asked how it happened.
I told her the truth… well some of the truth. I dropped off the chems for her to have studied, keeping the smoke weed to use later. At this point, I didn't fucking care. I knew it didn't come from Quicktrot.
After a while I left again, heading to the Ruffled Feathers in need of a drink.
There, Live and Dead Axle met up with me, only arriving a few minutes later.
Dead Axle looked about the same but with a little less dirt on her.
Live Axle, on the other hoof, had on a pink dress under her biker vest that reminded me of a musical that was super popular when I was younger. The name eluded me right now, but it had to do with two ganges, a race wagon, and several mares they were trying to impress.
I raised the foaming beer glass up and announced, "All hail me, Slowtrot the fool, who is always a few steps behind everything." I lowered the glass and took a long gulp of the chilled beer.
"Well fuck, this means you’re the bosses older bro!" Dead Axle said in amazement as she read Quicktrot's note.
I decided to roll with it, knowing that it’ll piss Quicktrot off if I become closely associated with her. "It’s a bit more complicated than that, but ya, and she's a conniving bitch. I didn't accidentally teleport here, she set me up to get rid of me." Also half true.
Live Axle sipped on a very girly mixed drink that was more pricey than it should have been as she asked, "So ... what's your plan? You heading home like she asked?"
I looked at the rest of the documents through my now swollen eye. "I… don't know. In the end, she's right. None of this is my problem, and I can just leave at any time. But there's also the chance this is a trap and she just wants me as far away as possible before killing me. I, at least, know that whatever is waiting for me out west, it's not home. My home vanished a long time ago, and everypony is dead."
"Harsh," Dead said as she knocked back her beer. "Well, no use getting all fucking bent out of shape about it now Let it be tomorrow’s problem. Let’s get drunk now."
"I’ll drink to that," Live cheered as she joined her sister. "Anyways, if we stopped and worried about every asshole we meet in the wasteland, we would have just shot ourselves long ago. The wasteland is just a shity place full of shity ponies. If you’re not on top fucking others over, then you’re the one getting fucked."
Live got her drink refilled on my caps. "From what the elder says, old Equestria had a thousand years of peace all because no creature out there wanted to fuck with Celestia. But, as soon as Celestia stepped down and let her sister take over, Equestria became fair game. Luna failed to take control, but she did take all our enemies with her”
“Well, that's how the elder puts it." Live muttered.
I knocked back my beer as well then called for a refill. "It was more than that, but ya, Princesses Celestia was like a living goddess to a lot of us. There was no way you could beat a god."
My new beer arrived. As I stared at the amber liquid, I, for a brief moment, felt that I was back home, drinking at Sleepy Hooves Dinner.
"Slowtrot! When did you get back?" A familiar voice spoke up.
Looking up, I saw the waitress from the Dinner… and passed her I saw the nick nack covered wall of Sleepy Hooves Dinner.
"Owch! Did you get in a fight with one of the solider ponies?" the mare asked as she passed me a menu. "Well, we got a new hay burger if you want to try it. It's called the patriotic patty. I bet it will make you feel better."
This was impossible.
I took the menu. The hard paper felt real in my hooves. The smell of good fresh food filled my nose, and the sound of a siren filled my ears.
A siren?
I turned to look outside from my seat. Several ponies were standing in place looking up. One bolted off, tripping over himself. Then another. And another. The street outside turned into a stampede of panicked ponies.
Getting out of my seat, I trotted to the window. The stampede was shaking the glass. Above, I could see a trail of clouds coming in the direction of Applewood. I knew what it was.
Quickly trotting back to my seat, I took a few abandoned bottles of beer into my saddlebag before popping one open as I turned around.
"To Applewood," I said as I chugged the bottle back. I finished right as a green flash enveloped the room. Everything shook.
"Oy, Slowtrot, you real!?" Live Axle punched me in the shoulder.
Dead Axle hit my other shoulder "Ya, you faded out for a moment, like you stopped existing or something."
"Question, is this real?" I asked as I pulled out the paper menu from my pocket.
Live took the Menu. "Sleepy Hooves Dinner's new Patriotic Patty. What the fuck is this?"
"I don't rightly know, but if you see it, then I'm not completely crazy." I opened up my saddlebag and pulled out the beer I swiped. "So do you two mare want to try some fresh old Equestria beer?"
Dead Axle took one and popped it open on the table. "Free beer? Fuck ya!" she cheered.
Live Axle cautiously took a beer as well. "There's some magical nonsense going on with you, isn't there?" she probed.
I sipped on my shitter beer that was strangely now half full. "It looks like it."
As I held my beer, my hoof was shaking. This sloshed the contents of the glass around a little.
Today has been too much. I needed to just forget everything, even if it was for a night.
They already have enough unstable ponies to deal with, and frankly, Slowtrot is not worth the time. Don't expect them to come running if you call for help.
-Desperados-
The tale about you just gets stranger and stranger, only making them more curious about you. Also, free beer is a big plus.
___________
-Level Up!-
-Slowtrot-
Lv3,
Median now at: 53
Survival now at: 50
(New Perk) Healer - Slowtrot may not be a professionally trained doctor or nurse, or all that gentle with his hooves, but he has been taught the proper way to administer first aid, which is more than most know how to do in the wasteland. When performing median base skills, Slowtrot has a higher rate of success and will heal for more.
-Harp Melody-
Lv3,
Barter now at: 55
Science now at: 46
Speech now at: 55
(New Perk) Presence- Harp commands the attention of those around her, and the average pony will have a somewhat positive opinion of her before even knowing her.
(New Perk and Skills)
-Star Charter-
Lv3
Explosives now at: 40
Guns now at: 50
(New Perk) Earlier Sequence- Star reacts a little faster in a fight, possibly faster than anypony around her. This often gives her first strike in a fight.
"Hello every pony. This is DJ Pon3, still here, and still fighting the good fight. I hope you are too." Spoke a strange robot.
It was a strange winged metal sphere, that was only just now playing music as it float by. Now spoke with a ponies voice to all that could hear it.
"It's been a while since I've been able to talk about any exciting news, and I am glad for that. A quiet wasteland is a wasteland not teeming with raiders, slavers, and hordes of mutated monstrosities."
The radio stallion sighed dramatically.
"Unfortunately that hasn't stopped the wasteland from trying to bring us down, so let's do a quick recap of how much we have overcome since the stable dweller gave us back our sky."
"As you all remember, with the sun out came the rampant cases of heatstroke for a few years after which took the Followers some time to inform everypony to not be in the sun all the time and to drink more water… which, unfortunately, that led to ponies drinking more contaminated water and getting sick. Once again, Velvet and her Followers came to the rescue. We managed to get through all that mess just in time for the Elements of Harmony to finally be used, thus cleaning up the wasteland of radiation and taint. "
"Clean water for everypony! Praise Celestia!"
"So I hear you asking, DJ Pon3, why tell us this? We know! We lived through it. Well… I have the responsibility to bring you the truth, no matter how much it hurts."
"My little ponies, I have some bad news and worse news. As for the bad, it will be a few more weeks before we can get a proper rainstorm to move over Equestria. That's right, everypony will have to tough it out for a bit longer. The worse news; the smart pons have finally found out why there has been less rain to go around. I will save on the details and give you the short and dirty. The clouds are running out of water."
There was a pause. The DJ took a deep breath before continuing.
"Turns out that the constant cloud cover the enclave had over the wasteland also trapped the water in the air under it. With the aid of several surviving cloud factories, they were able to draw that excess water from the air to make plenty of clouds thick with water. With the clouds parted, the water in the air was no longer trapped. Every year after, the clouds produced have gotten thinner and thinner."
"Again, I hear you ask, DJ Pon3, if that's the case, then why didn't those pegasus tell us this before? They know everything about clouds and such. Well, I had the same question. As it turns out, the pegasus whose job it was to understand the processes also needed to go below the clouds to even learn how it all works. Now I hope I don't need to explain the Enclaves policy on their citizens poking their head below the clouds, so it's safe to assume that no pony has observed the converting of water into clouds in over two hundred years."
"What all this means is that after the next storm, it may be a long time until we have found a solution to this problem. Rain will need to be rationed. Yes, you heard right. The rain itself will need to be rationed. Until then, places more affected by the drought will need to start preparing. So, when the rain comes, collect as much rainwater as you can to last you long as possible. For any settlement unable to store enough water, the NCR will be providing aid through the assembly of several water caravans, so please go seek them out to set up a trade route."
"We all have been through hard times and have made it through them by working together. This will be no different. So, my little ponies, please take what I have said to heart. With hoof in hoof, we together will fight the good fight."
"Now back to the music"
The talk about water and a drought only made my mouth foam more. The fear of suffocating from dehydration became all the more real. Since coming to this world, I had found no pools of water in which to live and breathe in, and what water I had found was dirty and tasted funny.
I had started following the floating music sphere in hopes it would take me someplace less dry, but it only got me more lost.
Now I was standing at some sort of merchant stall in the middle of nowhere. Where I just found out that, somehow, I can read the native language.
"Ditzy Doo's Absolutely Everything!" I read out loud, the name painted on the side of a long wheeled container.
The head of a pony popped up. I would have mistakenly thought the mare was a propped-up corpse if she didn't smile and wave at me. She likely had some sort of affliction. It was either that, or magic was at work, but the pony clearly didn't look alive. In addition, the fact that her eyes looking in two different directions didn't help.
She pulled out a tablet and used her mouth. With it, she wrote, "Sorry! Didn't see you there. What can I get you?"
If I had eyebrows, I would have cocked one.
Sighing, which caused me to wheeze and foam, I had only one thing I needed. "Water."
She nodded then scratched her chin before writing down. "I have clean water for 5 caps. I also have clean irradiated water for another 5 caps." She pulled out another tablet and wrote down, "Sorry, but are you a robot?"
Shaking my head, I pulled off my headgear. It was a hollowed-out version of the floating sphere I was following. "The name’s Azure, and I'm a lurker. I'm also a bit new here. I don't know what anything is, but I assume that caps are the local currency," I guessed.
Ditzy's eyes went wide for a moment, clearly shocked by my appearance, but then she quickly relaxed with a shrug. She erased the tablet then wrote, "Never seen a lurker before, or even heard of one, actually." She erased the second message before writing, "Here. I'll give you a water bottle on the house. I’ll also give you a quick lesson on wasteland survival."
That was kind of her.
"Thank you. While you do that, can I do a drawing of you, for documentation?" I checked.
She gave me a big goofy smile and nodded.
For the next hour, she gave me a quick rundown of where I was and what dangers to avoid. In exchange, I drew a second sketch of Ditzy and gave it to her. The ghoul mare couldn't look happier. She gave me a bunch of water-filled bottles for it then passed me a book.
"This will have everything you need to know in it, and don't worry, I give them out for free." She wrote down before waving me goodbye. I waved back, happy to have met the mare.
As fate would have it, another sprite bot was passing by, so I figured I just keep following the bot.
Looking down at the book, its cover read "Wasteland Survival Guide, by Ditzy Doo."
"The concept of talismans was not foreign to me, but how ponies made them and how they were used was.
Harp gave me a rudimentary explanation about them which started with their history. Though talismans were not unknown in Equestria, such as the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart, they required certain magical triggers to use. The talisman that can be found in arcano tech was based on Zebra ritual magic which originally used gemstones as a focus and required a magical source to cast the spell imprinted inside.
Ponies managed to copy the method, refine it, and the military managed to find uses for it in the war. This led to the use of talismans for more daily life needed and jumpstarting the arcano tech industry in Equestria." ~ Azure Dice
"It Works!" Longslide yelled as he burst into the reception room holding up a spark talisman. "With this, the tractor engine will be in full working condition. I'm a bit afraid to ask how you even did it, Miss Harp."
"Trust me, I'm even shocked that I managed to do it," I proclaimed in embarrassment as I sat at the Gunrunners reception desk.
I was working at the receptionist desk for the Gunrunner’s so that Longslide could focus on upgrading the Smuggler when the topic of the talismans came up. I had mentioned that my mother had me learn the basics of talisman construction since I couldn't learn traditional unicorn magic like my siblings.
Wanting to see, Longslide passed me several of the spark talismans he had collected that couldn't work in the tractor engine. It took me a few hours, and I burnt out four of the talismans, but I managed to copy the working talisman then got Longslide to test it. At the time, I did not think he'd do it right away.
Holding up a spark talisman that I had not broken while supplying it with a very small amount of magic, I could feel the spark spell inside flicker. "You see,” I mentioned, “talismans are just spells copied into gems. When supplied with magic, the spell is activated. Zebras use rituals to make theirs, unicorns simply cast the spell inside, and for everypony else-"
"Use arcano tech to make talisman. Yes, I'm aware of that, but you didn't use any of that," Longslide interrupted.
I nodded. "Well, I don't produce magic out of nowhere. Instead, I draw it in from the world around me. I can also sense it if I concentrate. For the spark talisman, all I had to do was remember the spell construction from the talisman you needed and copy it inside the other talisman."
I looked down at the four burnt out and cracked talismans. "Well, it's not that simple. I do have to carefully remove the spell already in the talisman before putting the new one in. Gemstone compatibility is also important along with not rushing the imprinting of the spell."
The hippogriff smiled. "You're just full of surprises, Miss Harp. I'm honestly in awe."
Longslide scratched his beak. An idea had clearly formed in his mind.
"Say, Miss Harp, if we could get our claws on the right gemstones, could you make talismans for energy weapons?" he checked.
I was taken aback by his question, but when I thought about it, it did make sense. "Maybe…" I answered awkwardly.
I passed him one of the burnt-out talismans as I said, "It's possible, but I'll need to see a talisman with an intact spell in it first. Also, the spark spells in these talismans are very simple… well, simple in terms of how making a carbon filament light bulb is to making a tungsten filament light bulb."
He cocked an eyebrow.
"I'll need some practice and a lot more gems, if you have them. After that, it’s all about gemstone quality," I explained.
Longslide nodded. "I got a few you can practice with. Just let me know when you're willing to give it a shot. I'll lend out one of our energy pistols we have in storage."
He left, then returned after several minutes with a rusty lock box filled with gems. "We like to collect these just in case we have to make a deal with a dragon. A few of them are talismans, but we don't know what they do. Father didn't want to spend the caps finding out."
Looking through the gemstones, I did find three talismans, but even I couldn't figure out what they did until I gave them a test.
"Thanks, but shouldn't I take this elsewhere?" I asked.
Longslide looked at the front door and shrugged. "We haven't been getting any new business for a long while now. I doubt anypony would even know what you're doing as long as you don't tell them. Just keep doing the reception work. I'll make sure you're paid a little extra for this. I'll definitely pay you for that spark talisman, not to mention if you can help us make energy weapons."
"Alright. It will, at least, give me something to do," I figured.
With a wave, Longslide left. I got to work.
Alone in the reception room, I started thinking that a robot would be better suited for this job. All the Gunrunners need to do is make sure nopony could tamper with it. They'd have a receptionist that can work all day and night.
"Order," I called out.
My drone's propellers spun to life. Hovering up and over to me.
"Yes, Madam?" Order asked in its mister helper voice.
"Order, could you keep an eye on the front for me? Let me know if anypony comes in," I instruct.
He bobbed and beeped as he replied, "Of course, Madam."
Taking a long look at Order, I began to wonder if I could copy any of the talismans inside him like the levitation spell, since walking everywhere was starting to wear down my hooves. Though, from what I knew about Orthrus talismans, they're not built for general use. Any spell from them would need significant modifications to be used in anything other than another drone.
I gave up on the dream of a hoverboard as I focused on the three mysterious talismans.
Two were like the spark talisman with their simple shape and spell construction but the third was a bit more complicated. Not by much, however. All three gemstones were shaped in a way that were clearly modeled to be inserted into a larger arcano device. From all the scratches on them, they were likely commonly changed out depending on power or spell needed. The gemstones were also far from pure. Likely, they were mass-produced for the common pony to use.
I figured that I should, at least, test the talismans with a very low bit of magic, in order to see what they did.
The first was a reddish carnelian gemstone. The spell inside responded to the magic I sent in it. Slowly I pushed in more magic. I was careful to not burn it out or risk it exploding. After a minute of concentration, a little flame formed above the gemstone. It flickered and danced.
"Nice! It's a flame talisman," I realized proudly.
The flame jumped from the desk and onto a small stack of papers.
"Fuck! It's a flame talisman!" I yelled as I frantically put the small fire out with my hoof.
Taking a moment to catch my breath while possessing what had just happened, I then grabbed an old coffee mug and put the next talisman inside.
This time I had a lapis lazuli talisman. I conducted the same test on it that I did with the carnelian. As I poured magic into it, I brought it to the same amount of magic as I did before, but nothing happened. I decided not to increase the power input this time but rather just keep at it for a minute or two in order to see if anything changed. I strangely started to feel cooler.
Reaching out and picking up the mug, I found it cold to the touch. This revealed the talisman to contain a cooling spell.
Last was a fire opal talisman. I suspected it to involve fire, so I took out the cooling talisman and put in the new one.
I performed the same experiment, and again, nothing seemed to happen at first. No heat or cooling came off the mug. It was a slightly more complex talisman, so I upped the magic a little then waited for another minute.
Eventually part of the mug exploded. This caused me to duck down.
Slowly I got up. I saw that the mug was shattered. I reached out and touched the part that still stood… and nothing. It was still cold?
Looking around, I found the mug shard that broke off. I went to scoop it up.
"Fuck!" I cursed as the mug fragment burnt my hoof. Because of that, I let it fall back to the floor.
"Madam, are you alright?" Order asked.
I sighed and shook my brunt hoof as I answered, "Yes, I'm fine. I just found out that I got a microwave talisman, Celestia darn it!"
I used a broom and dustpan to clean up the fragment. After that, I returned to the reception desk.
Placing the three talismans on the desk in front of me, I began writing notes as I felt the magic spells inside. Though my vague descriptions were hard for even me to understand. I tried to describe lines of magic or some echo of emotion which had me writhing in circles as well as my attempts to simply copy the spell onto the other talismans which didn’t yield much understanding either. But it was necessary for me to write it all down to eventually copy the spell down properly and consistently.
"Madam, the door is opening." Order informed me.
Looking up, I saw Cloudy Sunrise step through the door. She was in a gray and tan patchwork dress with a basket on her back.
“Hey, Cloudy. I thought you’d still be sleeping. You were working late last night,” I reminded my marefriend.
She gave a long yawn as she trotted over. “Neighbors were being loud. I’ll just take a nap later.”
Placing the basket on an unused part of the reception desk, she gave me a playful grin as her eyebrows wiggled. “But you can always come back with me and make some noise ourselves.”
I blushed.
I was still not used to having a pony coming on so strongly to me. I also motion, with my hoof, for her to come closer. When she leaned in, we kissed.
“M… maybe, but I promised I would give Longslide the time he needs to work on the Smuggler. Right now I’m seeing if I can make a new talisman, so I may be a while.”
Cloudy fluttered up and sat on the edge of the desk, thus showing plenty of leg as well as her cutie-mark that was a heart-shaped cloud in front of a sun. After that, she picked up one of the gems. In this case, it was a rough green one that reflected dully in her eyes.
“You can make new talismans? How?” she asked in wonder.
I shrugged as I answered, “It’s a mirage pony thing, just like how a pegasus can walk on and control clouds. I’ve managed to augment a spark talisman, but actually placing a new spell in one is proving to be more difficult.”
She put the gem back down then leaned in to get a closer look at the other talismans. After a while, she said, “Amazing! You could be rich if you can make a new water talisman. It would solve this whole drought problem that’s going on.”
Shaking my head, I held up one of the burnt-out talismans as I said, “I wish that it was that easy, but with the gems I have, I could maybe make one that could produce a gallon a day, and that’s being positive.”
“That would at least solve my own water problem,” Cloudy said as she used one of her wings to fan herself off and her other to fan me. This put a smile on my face.
She let her loose dress slip a little. This showed off her shoulder as she looked at me a bit too seductively while she said, “So ... you are planning on joining me at the Ruffled Feathers tonight? I was thinking we can put on another show together.”
I didn’t know that I could blush more than I already had, but I was. “Wh… what! N… no way! That was just a one-time thing.”
Cloudy leaned in even more and gave me another, more passionate, kiss. “Well, you can always give me a private show. I don’t mind having you all to myself.” She kissed me again. “But you are showing up tonight, right?”
I nodded before we kissed one more time.
She slowly straightened herself out on the deck. She still showed some more leg and put a playful grin on her face. “Alright, I really wanted to see you in that dress again. There's something about a mare in fishnets that just excites me… Stallions in them too…” She looked at me with a serious glance. “Don’t tell anypony I just said that!”
I chuckled. “I won’t tell anypony that you get excited over stallions in fishnet stockings.”
A cute frown formed on her face. “I’m serious! The last thing I need is for the customers to start coming in fishnets all the time.”
Nodding, I said, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
This time Cloudy chuckled, “I haven’t heard that since I was a little foal.”
She pointed at the basket with her wing. “Well, your dress is in the basket. I had it washed after what had happened to it, though one piece of clothing you had on was never recovered, so I replaced it.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “What piece?”
A long and annoyed sigh came from my marefriend before she said, “The panties. They never fail to vanish if any one of us takes it off. It’s why most of the mares in the brothel don’t wear any. It’s just just cost effective that way.
I reached over to open the basket. Inside, I found the new panties on top under the blanket. They looked hardly more than a thin cloth held together with strings and studs.
“I… I can't wear this!” I gasped.
Again, Cloudy chuckled before saying, “Don’t worry! that’s just for you to show me privately. There’s another one in the basket that you should be more comfortable with.”
I looked. I'd found a small, but not as small as before, red panties.
“Well, this is not as bad.” I huffed.
“You will get used to it, but just don’t get too used to it,” she said with an emphasis.
I nodded in agreement, then said, “Star said something similar.”
“She was probably thinking about Rusty. The mare is getting a bit wide in the barral, so she's likely pregnant again.” Cloudy rolled her eyes. “We're all betting it’s the general store owner's foal again. He sees her a bit too often.”
Getting off my desk, Cloudy straightened out her patchwork dress. “Don’t tell anypony I said this, but Heavy Hoof should just kick his wife to the curb and marry Rusty. It’s not like those two brats of his are even his.”
“Just wondering,” I spoke up, a bit nervous about what I was going to ask. “Did you ever work in the brothel?”
She froze for a moment. Her wings rufled out. “Ahh… well… there was this one time. It was with a mare, you see, and I was still hard on caps.”
Cloudy took a moment to take a deep breath as she shook her head. “No. It’s best not to lie to you. It was when I first got started at the tavern. Though Star did help by looking after me, she didn’t stop me when I let myself get swept away in the job. One thing led to another, and I rented a room with several stallions.”
She paused for several seconds before continuing. “It… was more than I could handle. I felt sick with myself after that. Worse, they didn’t pay me my caps and called me a whore.”
Her wings straightened out. She rolled her eyes. “Well, I still got my caps. Star made sure of that, and then some, so I’m no longer in desperate need of caps.”
“Still, that sounds horrible,” I lamented, trying to comfort her.
Cloudy just shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad. Just more than I was ready for at the time. What really messed me up was the pregnancy scare I had after.”
I gasped. Cloudy continued. “Turns out it was just because of how malnourished I was at the time. I had also forgotten that I stopped cycling because of it. I freaked out because I thought I had gotten pregnant, but after a few months of nothing happening, I finally calmed down. I said some mean things to Star at the time. She just took it, all the while still supporting me.”
Again Cloudy paused, then sighed. “Haven't been in the brothel since. Don’t need to go through that again. As for you, trust me, if you get swept up in the moment like I had, I will step in and stop it. You're mine and mine alone. You hear that?”
I think I turned into a teapot for a moment with how hot my face felt.
She trotted back to me with a warm smile on her face. She kissed me on the cheek. “Now let's not talk about bad memories and focus on making good ones. What do you say?”
I pulled her into another kiss, not letting go until I was satisfied.
“I’ll come over as soon as I’m done here. Maybe I’ll show you that piece of string you call panties.” I said playfully
Cloudy left with a grin and a wink, leaving me with the dancer outfit and the overly revealing underwear.
Looking at the pantie, I was unsure what I was even doing. It had been barely a week since I worked at a strip club and I had already made a marefriend who I had sort of promised to put on sexy underwear for and possibly make guns for griffons. I know, back home, I’d be kept as far away from this... well at least on the working end of it.
Home.
Maybe I should just stick around here and just start a new life. All I need to do is play nice and avoid becoming some ponies tool. I’d need to make enough caps to not worry about hard times. By Tartarus, I know I can be a better mayor than Espresso, though I’d need to learn all about the politics and factions of this wasteland first. At the very least, I wouldn't be as petty and short-sighted.
Anyways, if I left, then that means I’d have to leave Cloudy. I only just started our relationship. I doubt I’d find another mare like her so easily again. Her smile, her fluff, her curves, her smell, and her…
I put the panties back in the basket, now feeling overly excited. I needed to focus on something else. I turned my attention back to the gemstones.
My full attention.
I certainly didn’t think about Cloudy and I together.
Or what I wanted to do with her later.
The gemstone burst into flames on top of a plate it was on, then cracked before fizzling out.
“Alright, cool down. I’m not some virgin going in for my first time,” I reminded myself while giving myself a slight slap on the cheeks. “Well, not with mares,” I chuckled to myself.
Finally cooled down, I regained focus, but Cloudy still crept in the back of my mind. Still, I managed to have a gemstone activate a spell, so I just needed to recreate it at a less intense level.
I tested making a few more flame talismans on the gemstones. Forming the spell in my mind, I imprinted it with raw magic inside the gemstone then filled it with enough magic to have the spell stick. Strangely it was more effective when thinking about Cloudy, so I speculated that my emotion also had an effect, making me regret not taking an advanced course on talisman creation.
After nearly wasting half the gems, it worked. I had a small tiger’s-eye producing a small flame. It was not much. The flame was barely there, and the gemstone was too rough to be easily placed inside any tech, but I had made actual magic!
While still fresh in my mind, I took a fairly nice looking red jasper gemstone and applied the same spell imprint onto it. The red gemstone took in the spell a bit easier than the tiger's-eye, though I still felt it stressed under the magic being placed in it. It was probably the quality of the stone since none of the gemstones I was given were all that high quality. Also, neither were they cut into a better shape.
After a long moment of concentration, I let the gemstone go. It slowly passed a current of magic through it. There was a flicker, a spark, then it appeared; a small flame. It was far bigger than the tiger's-eye, but considerably smaller than that of the flame talisman I had copied the spell from.
Attached to the right device, this new talisman could be used for a small stove, a strong lighter, or maybe used for a lantern.
“Fuck YA!” I cheered loudly as I pumped my hoof in the air.
I was far from making a proper spell talisman, but this was a good and proper start. Once I had a good hoof hold on this, I could possibly repair or replace the spell talismans for my pipbuck. Maybe I could even make new spells.
While on a high due to my recent success, I decided to recreate the cooling talisman, but I skipped the microwave talisman since it was hard to tell if it worked and it was probably dangerous without some sort of shielding from it. It took me a few more tries, but I eventually managed to recreate the cooling talisman, if in a far lesser form.
“Madam, the door is opening.” Order announced again.
The pony mare that stepped in was bundled up far more than necessary. Her face was covered with a large hat and dark glasses. Her clothes looked far nicer than most of what I had seen out here in New Appaloosa, so it was safe to assume she was at least somewhat wealthy.
“Hello, Miss. Welcome to the Gunrunners. How may I help you?” I asked in the most chipper way I can muster.
The mare slowly trotted over and spoke with a muffled voice that made me feel uneasy. “Hello, Miss. Have you seen Star Charter?”
Real uneasy.
“I think she's currently helping out at the school. Are you a friend of hers?” I asked in a far less chipper tone.
“Yes, you can say that,” the mare confirmed as she removed her hat and glasses.
A long golden mane spilled to the side of a blue face which had two green eyes that looked at me with a predatory gaze.
“I’ve heard you’ve been enjoying yourself, Princess.” Victoria's words sounded like venom to my ears. Her grin was that of a pony I was ill-equipped to deal with.
As if by instinct, I reached for my father's gun in my jacket's inner pocket, but found myself paralyzed.
The world around me seemed to melt as I sat frozen, staring in Victoria's eyes. I tried to move, tried to speak, tried to scream, but I was frozen. As she stared at me, I could feel hooves and claws grabbing me all over, tearing at me and trying to pull me down. I could not stop it. Something sharp was poking me in the side and digging in. I could even feel a rope around my neck. It slowly tightening, cutting off my air.
Victoria slowly closed her eyes. As a result, it all stopped.
Free, I gasped for air as I frantically looked around. I noticed that nothing was around. I was untouched.
“That was for leaving me without a proper instrumental backup, Princess.” Victoria spat with a spiteful tone.
Unclipping her cloak that covered her, she tossed it onto a nearby chair then found another to sit on. The mare was in a filly-like short dress that complemented her features. Her makeup was flawlessly done, making her look far more elegant and gorgeous than any pony I had ever seen around here.
I fucking hated her for looking better than my Cloudy.
She clapped her hooves together. This snapped my gaze back to her face, but I managed to avoid eye contact this time. “Now, Princess, I know you have the thing for the mares, but please stay focused.”
I wanted to gag. “What do you want, and why do you want to see Star? Did she break one of your minions?”
Victoria laughed for a moment covering her mouth with her fenlock like a noble mare would. “By the goddesses, no. I’m just here to meet an old friend. That's all. Anyways, if she did break one of mine, all the better. All so much better.”
She leaned back and let her body relax. She dropped the air of elegance, thus giving off a feeling of a monster at rest. In her relaxed pose, I could see her cutie-mark. It was simply a green eye but red where the white should be.
Rolling her head to look at me, her looseness only made me tense up. In response, she chuckled. “Oh, relax, Princess. Nah ain’t goin' ta' bite ya.” She opened her mouth and revealed two larger than normal sharp fangs inside. “Not yet, that is.”
“What’s your game?” I snapped at her.
She rolled her eyes. “Me game? That’s none o' yer business. Nah unless ye wants it ta' be.” Her head snapped back up straight. “I’ve been thinkin', wit' all th' low crew ponies I’ve been pickin', I could use somepony o' real quality ta' help me expand me influence.”
“Like what? As your spokes pony?” I scoffed.
Victor smiled. “Aye, that’s exactly it. I can see it in ye,”
She slowly sat up straight and returned to a more elegant posture. “Where I had to teach myself to act the proper lady, rolling my arrs and such, it’s what’s natural to you. It runs through your blood.” Her words were slightly over-pronounced as she spoke.
“And if I say fuck off you monster?” I asked with a growl.
She again chuckled. “Oh, I can be very convincing. Be it by words, or by terror.”
Getting out of her seat, Victoria strutted her way to me. Order hovered down to get in her way.
“Order, not the time. Back away!” I commanded my drone, and it complied.
“And so smart.” She said as she eyed my drone, blowing it a kiss.
At my desk, Victoria leaned in closer than I ever wanted her to me. “You’re too much of a precious and valuable gem to just ignore. Some ponies are slowly starting to realize this about you. It would be a shame if I just let you go so easily.”
I looked away to avoid eye contact. “I’m not going to join you. Not after what your lackeys did to my family.”
“That was a real shame. Carving Doll was always quick to the kill. She never had the head for administration. That’s why I left her my apprentice as her first mate.” As she spoke, I could feel her breath on my ear.
“Black Spot?” I said the name of the pony that had dogged my friend all over the island and had taken me hostage before I ended up here.
Victoria growled like a beast then grabbed me. She pulled me snout to snout with her. “Black Spot? That retarded shit? He farrgin' ruined everythin'. I jus' know it! He had ye, 'n all he needed t' do was rape ye 'n throw ya inta th' brig fer safe keepin'. I could 'ave had th' blood o' Princess Platinum all t' meself, but he had t' be obsessed wit' that unnecessary mare. Bitch was naught special, so why her? wha' whent wrong wit' his farrgin' brain?!”
I froze. Not because I had made eye contact, but because she was scaring the absolute shit out of me.
“But th' goddesses smile on me, like a reward fer all th' good I do. Aye, ye’re here, right in me hooves,” She cooed calmly and coldly.
I watched as she opened her mouth, showing me her wet maw, then her tong. Still frozen in fear, I continued to watch as her tongue reached out and then… licked my eye.
There was a moment of absolute silence as I sat frozen. Victoria was looking at me like I was prey.
“Coming through!” Slowtrot bellowed as he burst through the door, sporting a black eye and what looked like several bite marks. “I KNOW I’M LATE FOR WORK! I’LL MAKE IT UP LATER!” he promised with a shout as he quickly galloped past us and into the compound.
A snarl came from Victoria. She slowly got off the desk. “The goddesses are showering me with so much fortune lately,” she said coldly before looking back at me. “I’m a patient mare, Princess, so I’m not going to take you right now. Ho no! I’ll give you the choice. You can come to me and become mine yourself, or I will take the blood of Platinum by force.”
Putting back on her cloak, hat, and glasses, she trotted to the door before looking back. “Just so you know, I want you, but I don’t need you. I can just have one of my corps brigadiers knock a foal or two out of you before selling you off. It’s the blood that I truly want, but it’s up to you how I get it.”
Victoria stepped out, slamming the door behind her which left me shaking.
I was on the brink of tears. It took a moment to calm myself down.
“Say, Harp,” Longslide poked his head in, “was that Slowtrot? He looked roughed up. Mind if you check to see if he’s alright? The bullet press is not all that dangerous, but it can still take a claw off if you let it.”
I nodded and got out of the seat.
“Thanks. If things are alright, just come back and tell me how the talismans are coming.” Longslid trotted in. His head was buried in a ragged looking book.
I was glad to leave the reception desk. After what just happened, I needed some air.
Harp can now craft simple spells into gemstones and crystals.
Talisman Spells obtained
- Spark - Makes a spark of electricity
-Flame - Makes a flame
-Frost - Cools down an area
-Microwave - sends out a microwave to heat up molecules through vibration. (Can be extremely dangerous.)
New Item Obtained!
(Sexy panties)
Harp receives a +1 to charisma whenever she is wearing this. If it is visible, it opens seduction dialogue options. (Not that Harp will have them on in front of any pony but Cloudy!)
"Staying on the topic of Talismans, Harp continued the explanation, but on the different kinds of talismans.
Common was the externally powered talismans that are often connected to spark batteries. They just needed one spell and a powersource unrelated to the pony using them. Their simplicity lent them to be used in daily life and creation of spark batteries themselves.
Then there were the self-powering Talismans. They are more uncommon than the external power talismans. They were talismans that could passively absorb ambient magic. Once they were full, they would activate the spell until the magic was spent. Some places used them for low maintenance light sources or as time activated devices. The idea for the talisman was to set it and forget it.
Multi-layered talismans were complex and only saw in military or high-end technology such as pipbuck or power armor. Using a control talisman, also known as a spell matrix, they could direct multiple talismans to work in unison, thus creating complex spells.
Last of what I was told about was the Zebra Talisman, also known as a fetish, where any object is given magical properties. It used to be gems, but when Equestria stopped giving them to the zebras due to the war, the zebras got creative. It’s unknown how they’re made, but most of the time a pony or zebra just needs to equip the fetish for it to work. Harp told me that her family owns a few of their fetishes, such as a sniper rifle that turns bullets into explosives, a sword that somehow causes more bleeding, and a padron that makes the user a little lighter.
This is something I might look into more later." ~ Azure Dice
I spent a bit of time just standing in the courtyard and letting the dry air brush past my face. To say Victoria shook me would be an understatement. Her wanting possession of my bloodline also seemed to have sealed my fate.
I would never have peace.
Maybe I could fall under some ponies protection, but it would require them knowing everything about me to likely even care. The chances that my new guardians wouldn’t just turn me into a tool would be fairly low… no, I’m certain I’d be a tool, as there would be no reason to keep me if I wasn't.
If it was impossible to stay, then the only solution I had was to go home and seek the protection of my own kind. At least on the islands, they already know who I was and my father would be able to hide me away from greedy hooves. He did seem to genuinely care about me and wanted me far from danger.
I felt the revolver in my inside pocket that he gave me. The imprint of his magic was subtle, but it was there. Same for the Equestria royal guard medallion on my hat. Vibraphone magic was there, but also the magical imprint of many others, each going back several generations. Both the gun and the medallion reminded me that I had ponies who cared for me and didn’t see me as a tool but as a friend and as family.
Feeling calmer, I trotted over to another small shack surrounded by old empty ammo boxes. I could hear Slowtrot grunt from within.
Entering the shack, Slowtrot stood in front of two bullet presses that looked like several pieces of thick metal bolted to an even thicker bench. It had a funnel and several tubes along with a big red lever. With another grunt, Slowtrot pulled down the lever and pulled back up to reveal a pistol bullet. He then turned to the other bullet press and did the same which made a rifle bullet.
I watched Slowtrot’s instruction on how to work the bullet presses. It was a multi-stage bullet press which meant that Slowtrot didn’t need to worry about pouring the gunpowder himself or attaching the primer of the bullet. He only needed to make sure that the press was properly fed. Then, if he continually pulled the lever, it would produce one bullet each time.
The Gunrunners told me they had an industrial bullet press back in Fillydelphia that could produce bullets at more than a hundred times the rate that Slowtrot was doing. The NCR had bought all rights to its production, so all the bullets that they use or sell to the wastelanders are hoof pressed.
Well claw pressed, in the case of the griffons
“Say, Slowtrot, what happened to you?” I asked him in concern.
“What!?” He stopped for a moment before turning around to look at me. “Oh, right! Well, let’s just say I had too much to drink.”
I nodded despite the fact that I was not convinced. Other than the black eye, he had several bite marks. One of those markes looked like somepony had tried to eat his ear. There were two others on both sides of his cheeks. His clothes also looked dirtier than normal. It was not just dust and grime of the town, but a few wet spots of likely spilled drinks. Clearly, it was beer and other booze from the smell, but what sealed the deal to it not being just drinking too much was the smell of cheap perfume and a smear of deep red lipstick.
All that didn't bother me. If he wanted to spend time with a bitey mare or stallion, it's fine with me. Instead of that, the thing that disturbed me was that I could feel a lingering mess of magic. I didn't recognize most of it, but I did feel a faint bit of radiation… no, bailfire. It wasn't stagnant either, but felt active, like he was near a freshly exploded bailfire bomb!
Slowtrot raised an eyebrow.
“Are you okay? Your eyes are all red,” he asked.
I rubbed my eyes, having not realized I had actually been crying.
"Oh, I just had a rough customer. Got a little shaken up is all," I said, trying to brush it off.
He huffed. "I hate that. That’s why I'll never work in a restaurant again. There's always somepony coming in to ruin your day. It’s as if they’re making a game of trying to upset the servers."
I nodded. "I can imagine. The servants back home always trotted on their hoofsteps around my family. I know my eldest sister enjoyed tormenting them."
She also enjoyed tormenting me relentlessly.
"So, had fun last night?" I checked while pointing at the lipstick on his collar.
He raised another eyebrow before he looked down at his jacket collar, then sighed. "Barely remember last night. To tell the truth, I wish I could forget that day.”
Finding a spot to sit, I watched as he went back to working on the bullet press as he explained. “I don’t know where to begin, but I got decked in the face by the sheriff. all because of Quicktrot. After that, I spent the rest of the night drinking with the Deparodose.”
“Wait, Quicktrot!?” I blurted in horrified astonishment.
He groaned. “Ya. The bitch had me practically dancing in her hooves even after revealing her grand plan. I'm just not equipped to deal with a pony like her.” Pressing down on the bullet press, he gave a long sigh. “Nothings changed at all.”
“Is it…” I caught myself from revealing more than I should tell, but looking at him, he was just as out of place as I was. I realized that he had no connection to this wasteland or any need to use me like a tool. I also needed somepony to say something as well and wouldn't call me crazy. “Is it because she's not a pony?”
He stopped and turned to me with an eyebrow raised.
“I mean, what is she? Some sort of… evil spirit that possesses ponies?” I sheepishly asked.
Slowtort huffed then gave a stressed filled chuckle. “If only she was that simple.”
Now I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Raising up his pipbuck, he spoke. “Ironbuck, do you have information on the pipbuck 2600 that was used to make your programming?”
His pipbuck 3200 beeped then answered in a flat digital voice. “Records show that the Ministry courier pipbuck, or pipbuck 2600, was used as the base to craft the spell matrix of the S&R pipbuck 3200 due to it’s expanded spell matrix capacity and advanced hardware.”
My ears perked up at hearing the 2600. It was the pipbuck I found in the timewarp and had downloaded its spell matrix program from. This didn’t explain anything else, however. “So how is that related to Quicktrot?”
“Because Quicktrot is the pipbuck 2600,” he quickly answered with venom in his voice. “The ministry courier pipbuck was meant to keep top-secret messages out of Zebras hooves. To the point that it seals the courier's memories of the message until they get to the recipient. Unfortunately, some group called the O.I.A. got their hooves on it and turned it into a tool of assassination.”
Slowtrot gritted his teeth, looking disgusted. “I still have some of those memories in my head. I can smell the blood. I can taste it, even. Thorn was no hero of Equestria. Rather, he was just a monster.”
“Thorn? As in Thorn Roseland?” The name ran a shiver down my spine since she was the patron saint and prophet of the marauders that invaded my home and took my family.
He nodded. “The 2600 was her pipbuck, and because of my luck, I ended up with it. Long story short, it was bait to lure out Stable-Tec’s upper brass. You see, she had intentionally damaged it, and with it on, it was slowly killing me. Stable-Tec couldn’t have such a scandal, so they rushed to save me, and well ... I’m still alive.”
As shocking as all that sounded, it hasn't answered my original question. “Then how is Quicktrot a pipbuck?”
Taking a deep breath, Slowtrot nodded. “Sorry. Like I said, it’s not simple. But, to get to the point, the 2600 didn’t just seal off memory, but it also damaged the user’s soul which caused little bits of it to be shaved off the user and into it.”
I gasped. He again nodded.
“Yep. The pipbuck gained its own soul from taking bits from those who had used it such as Thorn, myself, Healing Herbs, and… Phobetor.” The last name he said with even more disdain. It also felt somewhat familiar to me.
“Phobetor?” I said the name aloud. Slowly, a vague shape formed in my mind which was dark and elusive… with two golden eyes! “You mean that Dragon that was with the megaspell!” I shouted in startled realization.
This time his ears perked up. “Dragon? No.. wait! She did turn into something like that before I triggered the megaspell to implode on her.” He sat back, scratching his chin before nodding. “Alright, I’ll spill the beans. Phobetor is actually some ancient Nightmare that's trapped in Tartarus. As far as I know, she is still stuck there. I think she’s the reason that Quicktrot was able to break free from the 2600. Maybe, when Phobetor was messing with my head, Quicktrot was able to gain a small bit of her power. Well, now she's some sort of soul-eating arcano tech virus. I can't say for certain. She could just be pretending, but I think she needs technology to get around, like terminals or-”
“Pipbucks.” I finished his open thought. “Ya, she tried to get into my pipbuck on the first day, but my pipbucks spell matrix kept her out.”
I sighed since I felt it was time to explain a bit more on my end. “I met Qucktrot before ending up here. I’m unsure what exactly was going on with her, but I think she might have thought she was you for a while.”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
I pulled my hat off my head and looked at it with some regret. “Ya. When my friend Vibraphone and I entered the ruins of the R&D Stable, you were there, like a friendly ghost. You even sacrificed yourself to save me, but when you faded, Quicktrot was then in your place. I thought everything was fine, but as soon as we gave an old pipbuck we found, to another pony with us. She possessed them and stole our only escape out of that deathtrap of a stable.”
Slowtrot rolled his eyes. “Something similar happened to me. When I was stuck in… I don’t know what it was. It was mostly just darkness and storms. During that time, I think the soul fragments got scattered and Quicktrot used me to quickly gather them. Once she was whole, she used the 2600’eds teleportation spell to zap herself out and left me there to die.”
“It was a magical time warp, or did that lurker call it a dementia pocket?” I tried to clarify.
“Lurker?” he then asked.
“They’re like a pony if it mated with a crab, but they also have a glow for some reason,” I explained, but he only looked more confused.
I decided to just move on. “Forget it.”
“So, Quicktrot is some sort of Arcano tech abomination, made up of the four souls who originally used the pipbuck 2600.” It sounded even crazier as it left my mouth, but it also fit what I saw in the R&D Stable.
He nodded. “Basically, but well, it’s not just four souls anymore, but a lot of them, and the pony she possesses slowly falls apart. She called it soul rot.”
“Then that pony she left with is likely dead now,” I realized with a sad sigh.
I had one more question. “So how did she get the Sheriff to punch you in the face?”
“She put the crazy sibling card on me,” he told me as he pulled out a piece of paper.
Reading it, I couldn't help but chuckle. It reminded me of some of the back hoofed plays my own family would do to discredit other ponies they hated. Commonly it was our other family members. My eldest sister would often spread rumors of me being sterile or unstable, but she could never say I was not her sister even though I wish I wasn’t.
“Well, if you find a way to kill her, then maybe you can take over Blue skies?” I asked him hopefully.
He shook his head. “Not interested in some chem pushing company. I just hope the Followers can find treatments for the exotic chem’s she cut the normal chems with.”
“Cut chems? Ya. That’s even a problem back home,” I informed in agreement. “My friend was trying to hide it, but she was regularly taking chill pills.”
Slowtrot raised an eyebrow. “Chill pills? Is that like a pill version of a chem called chill?”
I nodded.
He let out a long and exaggerated breath. “Oh thank Celestia! Then you might be able to help Jali, one of the chems getting cut in is Chill.”
“What?! How?” I shouted in shock. “Chill can’t be here! It’s from the islands. There’s no way it can have gotten here. Besides, Orthrus should have burnt all of those fucking plants and shot any pony who tries to take them off the island!”
“Plant?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and explained. “Pung plants. They mainly stay as bushes but can grow into a tree. They also produce an okay tasting fruit that most poor ponies on the island eat as a staple food source.”
“Unfortunately, the plant produces a toxic pollen, and a lot of it at that. It, and the other trees that produce that pollen, are the bane of our existence since it has made the surface utterly uninhabitable and is the source of most of the genetic damage to ponies that live there.”
I took another deep breath then continued. “The sap of the punga plant can also be used to make a chem called Chill. Chill can be used as a muscle relaxant, pain killer, and will calm the mind of those who use it. It’s also a hallucinogenic that ponies use as a recreational drug where they paralyze themselves and see strange things. The chem also happens to damage your brain. Ponies who use it, over time, often end up schizophrenic and suffer from muscle spasms.”
“And you said that the plant is only on the island?” Slowtrot checked.
I nodded. “No way Orthrus would let it get off the island, because they knew that if the plant ever got out into the wild, it could possibly spread all over and make the world unlivable for ponies.” I then raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you know where Quicktrot could have gotten this Chill?”
He scratched his chin for a moment before nodding. “I think she said something about stealing it from mirage ponies in Cantercross.”
Again, the city of Cantercross was mentioned alongside mirage ponies, but now there's punga plants there. Maybe some ponies did leave the island, but the fact that they took punga plants with them didn't sit well with me.
“I guess there might actually be Mirage ponies in Cantercross then,” I realized aloud.
“Maybe they might know how to get you home?” Slowtrot suggested hopefully.
I nodded. “Ya. Maybe.”
Mirage ponies being there was still a longshot to be sure, but not as implausible now as before. When I do leave, Cantercross will be my destination. Maybe I can convince Cloudy to come with me! If there's anypony who’s not going to have a grudge against the pegasi, it would be other mirage ponies like myself.
Passing him back the note from Quicktrot, I still had one more question. "So ... I get why Ashy would be annoyed if she thought you're a crazy pony, but I don't see why she decks you like that. You were talking about Chems, if I'm not mistaken."
Slowtrot returned his attention back to the gunpress while adding a shell in each of them as he said, "That's what I was trying to talk to them about. For a while there, I had some of the attention from the sheriff. She clearly didn't think highly of Quicktrot, so it was possible to maybe get her to put Blue Skies under some pressure."
"But?" I said, expecting the word to pop up.
"False Cap and Stopped Clock thought that if the downtowners suffered, it was their own fault. They also changed the conversation to about how dangerous the Desperados are."
"Can you explain it to me in more detail? All of it?" I asked. In response, he nodded then began to relay everything that happened to him yesterday; from working in the clinic, to looking for the cut chems, to his chat with Quicktrot, and then dealing with the sheriff. It felt like he was leaving something out, but I didn't need to know everything.
I processed the information and mulled over it for a minute, then came to an understanding. "Slowtrot, if anypony asked you to ever do a negotiation, please tell them no or shoot them."
He looked confused but didn't look like he disagreed with me, so I explained myself. "First off, you told Quicktrot what you were going to do. Of course she was going to pull something like that. Second, you need to go with the flow of any debate, argument, or discussion. If they want to bitch and moan about the Desperados, then let them. Just tie the whole chem issue to them and it will make it harder to change the subject."
I sighed. "I loath to admit it, but False Cap and Stopped Clock are not wrong."
Slowtrot lowered his gaze at me. "You actually agreeing with them?" he asked in disbelief.
"By Princesses Platinum, NO! Those two dickheads may not be wrong, but they're far from being right either." I took a slow deep breath before I continued. "Even back home, there's little to be done about the slums. If we shut them down, they just pop up elsewhere. It's just easier to keep them where you can watch them, rather than trying to integrate ponies who don’t want to be part of your community. It's not perfect, or even a good solution, but when they outnumber you a hundred to one, it's just easier to protect your own than to try to give into an unsustainable beast."
I got up and dusted my dress off. "That said, those two deputies are asses. I won't be surprised if False Cap will just get stabbed or something someday. The slums are literally just across the tracks. If things get really bad there, they're looking at having an overwhelming riot.
"Now, if I was to try something and was still on the mayor's good side, I'd appeal to his ego and seed in that Qucktrot might be trying to take some of the power from him. That way, Espresso might become inclined to go over Ashy’s head and throw in some regulation, though it may take time." I explained.
Slowtrot looked a bit lost as he pulled the bullet press lever. "But ... how would that solve the chem issue?"
I sighed. "It won't, but it would give you an opening to get the town ponies to talk about the issue, and then you will have some leverage on the sheriff."
"And the Desperados?" he further probed.
"With them, there is not much we can do," I said with a shrug. "Ashy is the authority here, and the Desperados clearly exist outside of her control which makes them a direct threat to her power. Even if they don't plan to do anything, their presence alone makes them a threat.”
Again, he pulled the lever as he said, "You sound like you know from experience," he observed.
I looked at the stripes on my foreleg for a moment before answering, "You can say that. My family held a lot of power. Of course there would be a lot of fighting because of it. Even though I had no right to that power, I was still seen as the biggest threat to them all. My family are all unicorns. The Mirage Ponies outnumbered them, so it’s not hard to imagine that I could be used to start a revolt.
"Say, Slowtrot, what would you think if I told you I was an actual Princess?" I asked quietly.
He pushed down on the lever, again making another bullet. "Don't know. You do have wings and a horn, so I guess you could be related to Celestia and Luna."
"What? No! I mean just a regular princess of the Equestria royal family.
Anyways, as far as the records say, Celestial and Luna were only adopted into the royal family with Celestia never taking a husband or having a child herself," I corrected.
Slowtrot stopped what he was originally doing and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "You're serious, aren't you?"
Standing straight, I gave a curt bow. "I am Princesses Harp Melody, Daughter of Queen Gilded Gold, descendant of Princess Majesty, and an inheritor of Princess Platnum's bloodline."
He scratched his chin for a moment. "Wait, Princess Majesty? Didn't she go around on all those tours to support the troops early in the war? My mom thought it was irresponsible to have such a young mare so close to the front line."
I was a bit taken aback by what he just said. "She was in the war?"
"Well, no. It's been a long time. I only really remember it because she was around my age. I thought it was really cool at the time. A lot of the early propaganda posters featured her with the troops which became major collector’s items when the ministries took over."
He took a closer look at me as if he was struggling to recognize my face. "Actually, now that you mentioned it, you do look a bit like her… I think."
I don't know why, but that put a smile on my face. "Thanks Slowtrot, but you don't need to humor me."
"Just being honest, Princesses." He said with a shrug and a tip of his hat, then returned to the bullet press. "Thanks for the chat, and sorry if I sound so indifferent but-"
“Hangover.” I finished his statement. He just nodded.
Shrugging myself, I then left.
Returning to the reception room, I found Longslide's wife, Gyrojet, holding her youngest foal.
"Where's Longslide?" I asked.
"Where do you think?" She huffed. "He also wants to show you something in the garage, so make it quick. I rather not deal with any customers."
Leaving the grumpy mother hen alone, I made my way to the garage where Longslide was busy welding on a bit of armor to the Smuggler.
The vehicle had changed shape a bit. It became a little wider and sported larger black tires. There were also armor plates to protect the engine. The gun for the gunnery nest was missing. It looked like he was adding a cargo spot in the back.
Looking back and seeing me, he pulled up his welding goggles as he said, "There you are! So, is Slowtrot alright?"
I nodded. "Ya, but things might be a bit weird with him from now on."
"Ehh, as long as he makes that ammunition, we don't care," he said as he jumped off the Smuggler and wiped his claws off on a dirty rag.
"So you wanted to show me something?" I asked.
"Right. Just a moment." He trotted over to the driver's seat, jumped in, and pressed a button. The Smuggler came to life with a roar. Its engine was loud and strong. After a moment, Longslide turned it off. "It took some tinkering, but my baby works!"
I was not much of a tech mare, much less an engineering mare, so I was not all that excited. "That's… cool... Is that all?"
He shook his head as he said, "Alright, don't force yourself. I got something else. I just wanted to show this to somepony."
Jumping out of his seat, Longslide trotted over to a big metal box that had a large lock on it. "So how's the Talisman crafting coming?"
"Well enough. I managed to make a new talisman, though I doubt I can make anything complicated yet."
"Good, because I got my father's permission to open up this chest here." Longslide looked as though he hesitated, but then pulled out a key and opened up the box.
Trotting over, I noticed that, inside the large box, there were at least three battered suits of pegasus power armor along with three damaged magical energy rifles. All of them had very old stains of dried blood on them which had caused the metal to rust over time.
Something didn't seem right about this.
"Is there a reason they're locked away and unclean?" I asked him.
He nodded as he explained, "All this belonged to the ponies that killed my mother. She wasn't even armed at the time. They swooped down… I saw my mom turn to ash in front of my eyes…"
He picked up a rifle and hoofed it over to me. "Dad literally flew into a rage when he found out. He almost died himself, but he got his revenge, not that it brought mom back."
"I'm sorry," I apologized while looking at the rusty energy rifle.
"Don't be. Ponies die all the time in the wasteland, and I've already made my peace with the past." Longslide picked up an energy pistol, grabbed a screwdriver then began opening it up.
After a moment, he had the pistol open and pulled out a clear pink rose quartz talisman. After that, he took the rifle, opened it up as well and pulled out a similar, but bigger, talisman.
"It's about time we made use of these old guns. So ... you think you can copy these talismans?" he asked as he passed me the two talisman.
I studied them for a moment. I felt inside with my own magic, and… found the spell surprisingly simple! It just took in magical energy and shot it as a condensed beam. So, while not as simple as a spark talisman, it still shouldn't take me all that long to memorize.
I looked up at Longslide and smiled. "It will take some testing and time, but ya, I can copy these.”
"At some point, Star Charter talked a bit about her foalhood and mentioned that she spent the first eleven years of her life in a place called the Blackwater.
Two massive coal hauler ships were welded together. A compact city built onto it. The place sounded like a wonder to behold. From how she described it, the Blackwater was a mobile factory that resupplied other ships with gear, weapons, armor, and recruits when needed. It was a fascinating system that only begged more questions.
One question that I did bring up was where other ships came from. As it turns out, Star was born as part of a nation that existed on the sea called the Oceanic Illuminated Authority. She called them proud pious creatures that served their Goddesses. From how she described them, they sounded more like a horde of fanatical pirates that expanded the globe." ~ Azure Dice
“I know I’ve said this before, but Star ... thanks for helping me out.” Lucky Shot said before taking a sip of her coffee and whiskey drink. The older unicorn mare was covered in scars from her long time as a wastelander. She was missing a forehoof that was replaced with scrap metal prosthetic. Her horn was also cracked, and one of her eyes had been lost long ago. Overall, she was the coolest looking ponies in town. She was also just as skilled at killing as the sheriff was.
Lucky Shot was also the head mare for the Lightbringer Foundations School for bright foals and was considerably dedicated to her work educating the foals in town. Lucky for me, she didn’t care what the mayor or the sheriff thought. So, when I was looking for work after having Bridget, she took me in as a part-time aid. The pay was not all that much, but I enjoyed looking after the foals.
It also helped that she was with the Lightbringer Foundation, who though are mostly a loose collection of Lightbringer fanatics, they currently held a lot of influence in the wasteland. There was no way anypony was going to stir up trouble over me working here as long as they were flipping part of the bill for the festival.
“It’s no big deal,” I said with a smile. “I love those little psychopaths.”
Lucky chuckled. “Damned straight, they are. Haf’tah keep my eye on them or they get up to something.”
After sharing a laugh, we watched the foals chase each other around the play yard behind the schoolhouse. It was something I could praise the mayor for pushing to get built, though he only did it to inflate his own ego. I’ll take what good I can get out of the bastard.
It was a recreation of a play yard from the old world. The metal pipes that made the swing sets framework had paint to cover the rust. Though they still made a regular, rusty metal grinding sound when the swings were used. Old tires were all over the place as both toys and as linering to make the place safer. There was even a fort made from smoothed scrap wood for them to play on.
We also had several toys we would bring out for them to play with. Kickball and stickball were popular as they all can play together, though I hated having to recover the balls when they would lose them. There were also fake swords and guns they could play with. I even made a few sailor outfits for them to play pirate. Lucky also donated a few BB guns for the school for them to target practice with.
We used to also have lawn darts, but after I got pegged in the leg, we decided to not bring them out anymore.
“Didn’t you say you were the same? A gangger, right?” I checked.
“A crusader,” Luck corrected, “though I guess they were not all that different. Well, except that we were all foals. Still, we killed our fair share of adults together. There was some good times and bad.” Lucky reminisced.
She took a sip of her drink and sighed. “Lost many friends, too.”
“Ay. Life was cheap back home, too. I’m only alive because of Prism. If not for her, I would have been laying at the bottom of the waters as fish food long ago.” I thought back.
A nod of agreement came from Lucky. “Prism is a good mare, though she seems sad whenever you or Bridget’s not around. She throws herself into her work too hard.”
I sighed. “Prism… well, she’s got her own worries, and I know I’m not helping.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Star. I know I’ve had to do things I’m not proud of just to survive,” Lucky announced with a shrug. “Still, maybe it’s time to stop working at that stripjoint. Bridget’s going to find out eventually.”
“I know. I know, but right now the caps are too good to up and quit. Actually, I’m thinking of going back out west to meet up with a few ponies I know out there. Should be able to get decent work if I do that.”
I raised my left fenlock to look at the pipbuck attached to it. Selling it was still an option. Slowtrot didn’t seem all that bothered by me having stolen the thing. He also hasn't said a word about me still having it.
I guess it’s mine now.
Mom was less than happy when I told her the truth about the pipbuck, but was madder about my adventure. Still, she was happy to know that the Gunrunners were going to be just fine. Her and Hardballer may not see eye to eye, but they clearly respect each other.
Maybe we could all leave together and set up in a place where it’s not under full control of some assholes.
Sighing, I put the pipbuck down. “I doubt I can stay even if I wanted to.”
“Sheriff’s got a radroach up her ass again?” Lucky inquired.
“Had two standoffs in a week so far,” I explained
Lucky huffed. “That bitch really needs to learn to calm down. She’d be so much sexier if she’d loosen up.”
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, are you ever going to tell me how and why you had a relationship with that old sea hag?”
She just chuckled then sipped her drink. “No, I don’t think I will. But I will tell you that, while we were seeing each other, the sex was great.”
“Ya, thanks for that image in my head,” I complained sarcastically while doing my best to not think about it.
“No problem.” Lucky said while raising the remains of her drink to cheer, then finished the drink. After that, she placed the cup on a nearby stool. “Well, I got some papers to look over and a soup to check. So, again, thanks for coming today.”
I waved her off then turned to keep an eye on the foals.
At noon the school gave the foals a good hour to play. Considering how they played, they'd often be too tired to really move around for a few hours after. It was how Lucky liked it since the foals were far less rambunctious when tired. That’s when she decided that she would feed them and start her next lesson. They were fairly easy to teach when they were calm and fed, something I understood from my own foal hood.
Lucky was far less likely to hit a foal with a stick than the nuns back home on the Blackwater would. I still don’t regret killing that bitch! May the goddesses bless her soul.
So it was my job to make sure they spent all their energy before returning to the schoolhouse. I also had to make sure they got proper portions of soup to fill their small bellies.
In addition, I had to make sure none of them snuck off while out here, as sometimes a foal would get the wanderlust and try to explore the town instead of staying in the schoolyard.
It was also my job to make sure that ponies who weren't supposed to be here stay away. It had become an unfortunate fact that, due to how many somewhat wealthy ponies that had moved here, the chances of foal napping was a common worry. Though the uptowners didn’t like me, they also knew I was one of the better bouncers at Ruffled Feathers, so they saw me more as a mercenary of the Lightbringer Foundation who was hired to protect the foals.
It helped that I liked being around the foals and having more time with my daughter. It was a win-win for everypony. Even with how much the Deputies distrusted me, they would still take my warning about strangers seriously. No pony wanted a foal napper in town, and I was glad to help out the town in that regard.
Another perk of this job was that the foals loved to talk about what their parents were up to, as there was normally not much else going on. I’m not a gossiper or a snoop, but the juicy things they told me was more than entertaining. Most of them did not understand what they heard or saw, but I could put the puzzle pieces together easily.
As far as I could tell, several of the mothers in town were actively trying to bed the local artisan Spot Welled, but it seems that one of the widows had managed to snag him privately. It also seemed that two of the fathers had been hanging out more than normal, and in private. I even heard that our water talisman engineer had started up a relationship with an out of towner merchant. The poor stallion clearly needed some love.
It was all fun to hear and even more fun to tease the uptowners about, though I never outright blurt out what I knew.
Unfortunately, not all the foals here were being treated well by their parents. With how alcoholism was quite bad in town, both for the uptowners and downtowers, several of the foals would come in with bruises. Only a few times has the town gotten together to stop it, but some ponies are harder to touch than others. Sometimes they wander into the Ruffled Feathers only to go home with a black eye and a warning.
My ears twitched as the foals began making a louder racket than normal.
On top of the play fort was Bridget and her griffon cousin Pepperbox. Both of them were holding the BB guns meant for target practice. The two fillies seem to be having an argument with three colts below them.
Getting up and trotting over, I saw Pepperbox’s older brother, Lancaster, looking like a smug ass as he watched.
“Whatcha doing?” I asked the colt griffon.
He avoided eye contact as he said indifferently, “Nothing.”
Why must he always be difficult?
“Well, nothing sounds totally boring, and well, not cool,” I said as I scooted up to him.
With his talon, he scratched a small bald spot on his shoulder. He had a bad habit of scratching whenever he was nervous. “Well not nothing. I was just watching, Aunty Star.”
“Well just watching sounds less boring, but what are ya watching?” I probed playfully.
A smug smile formed on his beak. His little chest puffed up a little. “Watching Peppy and Bridgy show up those stupid up townies!”
On the play fort, I could see Bridget mocking the colts below. Pepperbox, on the other hoof, looked nervous. The colts, though not looking happy at what was going on, they seemed content with just mocking Bridget back.
“Nice, but I thought Peppy didn’t like playing talon?” I pointed out.
“Well… I may have betted my soup with Bridgy that Peppy couldn't take the fort and hold it.” Lancaster explained.
I sighed, knowing it had to be something like this. Lancaster always seemed to stir up trouble. Bridget would add fuel to the small fire, and Pepperbox would get dragged along. Luckily, this time, they weren't trying to fly on top of the schoolhouse and give me a heart attack. Still, it was better if I defused this situation before the foals got into a real fight.
Trotting over to the foal's fort, the other foals not involved were sitting and watching the show as Bridget was sharing words with three colts. Light Step looked worried, but Copper Wire and Roger Roger would, now and then, egg them on.
“Flying is cheating ya know!” the head of the three colts, Steel Bramble, shouted up at Bridget.
Bridget just stuck out her tongue. “It ain't cheating! You're just mad because... Be… Because you can't fly!”
I face hoofed. My daughter was not wrong, but it was still a shit argument.
“No way!” Steel faked a calm reaction, but his tapping hoof betrayed his irritation. “Ma n paw says flyers are easier ta shoot cus of no cover. Come down here and I show ya how ponies fight!”
He was not wrong, but my daughter has claws and the BB gun. Even if she didn’t want to hurt him, she could easily give him a nasty cut or two if they did fight. Griffins were not a joke, and Bridget was still enough of a griffin to do damage even at her age.
“Alright, I’ll come down.” Bridget practically squawked.
“Cuss, maybe we should stop,” Pepperbox spoke up just a little.
Bridget just leaned over the edge, ready to jump down.
Now was the time I intervened. I picked up Steel Bramble. “Are ya hitting on me daughter again? How bold of you!”
The colt froze in my hooves as I gave him a snuggle.
“And here I thought ya wanted to marry me! I guess I’m too old for you now,” I teased
Steel struggled at first, but he soon gave up. “I… but… She started it!” He pointed at Bridget accusingly.
“Ohh!” I said looking over at Bridget, who looked very confused. “So you're finally interested in colts?”
Bridget went from confused, to shocked, to disguised, then gagging at the idea of what I suggested. “No way, moma. Colts are… are icky.”
I let go of Steel who then bolted over to his friends to hide behind them.
“Then why are you trying to get their attention? You ain’t causing trouble, are ya?” I again teased.
Bridget scrunched up her nose and looked away. “I’m not.”
I reached out and ruffled her mane “Then what are ya doing?”
She lowered her head to get away from my hoof, but the mess was already made. “I was showing ‘dem I can take the fort. Me and Peppy.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Cuss Lancy said we couldn't,” She said before her eyes lit up with a realization. Her face then scowled. “Lancy!” she yelled.
I glanced back to see the older griffon colt laughing at getting my daughter in trouble.
Still, no foal was hurt, so no need to get mad an anypony.
Reaching out, I dragged Steel Bramble over to me by the tail and pulled both him and Bridget into a hug. Both struggled against me. “Okay, now what do ya both say?”
It took a moment, but they both eventually gave up against me and apologized. to each other. Following that, I let them go. I had Bridget and Pepperbox put back the BB guns before they could fly off and play with the other fillies. Steel Bramble stuck around longer than I was comfortable with. He was eyeing me before he eventually got dragged off by the other colts.
I let them run around, playing games, and messing with each other as they normally do. Most of them had an older brother or sister around, so I never had to worry about any fight getting too bad. One of the older foals would step in if they had to, so I just had to make sure they never got too riled up. They also liked how I was not as uptight as a lot of their parents were or always out of energy like the ponies who worked in the quarries.
If the adults were not too overworked to spend time with their foals, they were too into local politics to understand them. Still, even my job at the Ruffled Feathers was catching up to me. If I didn’t get sleep as soon as I got home, there was no way I could help out here.
I’d love to have worked full time here, but Lucky Shot barely got paid as it was, and that’s between the town's budget and donations from both the town, the Followers, and what the Foundation could spare.
Still, as rough life was for most of the foals here, I couldn't even imagine living as carefree as they are when I was that young. Back on the Blackwater, it was all about surviving until I was old enough to serve the fleet.
Something just caught my eye. It was a pony too bundled up to be normal, standing at the fence separating the schoolyard from the rest of the town. It was never a good sign. Even when it was just a parent watching, it always meant something bad was going to happen or that pony was up to no good.
With a sigh, I trotted over. The foals already knew not to hang out near the fence. We had also planted cactuses along it to further convince them to stay away. As a result, the little ones were not in any danger of being suddenly grabbed. I just hope the pony didn’t have a gun this time.
“Say, I know they're adorable and all, but maybe best to move along before somepony gets the wrong idea.” I openly suggested to the pony.
The pony shifted a little. I could, in that moment, could tell it was a mare. She was smiling with somewhat serrated teeth showing. Seeing it made me feel… nostalgic.
“It’s a big responsibility, looking after foals, not that anypony ever appreciates the pony that does it.” Her voice was familiar, like the wind across the ocean.
A frown formed on the mares muzzle “Ungrateful relay, those parents thinking that you’re taking the foals away from them when-”
“They're barely around to even be a parent.” I finished off her statement.
There was a moment of silence as a smile slowly returned on her face. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it Star?” Victoria took off her oversized hat. This allowed her golden mane fall. Her emerald eyes also lit from its shadow. “Have you been eating well?”
I… I… O My Goddess “VICTORIA !” I squealed, searching out to hug her… getting a belly of cactus for my stupidity.
We backed off for a moment. Victoria trotted around to the gate to get in properly as I pulled out the few cactus needles from my belly.
“I see that you still jump in head first. It’s still adorable,” Victoria said as she pulled out a white parasol and used it to block the sun from her face. “So tell me, why are you here?”
Her eyes became something of a serious glare. It was cold and serious with a hint of bloodlust.
As I looked into her gaze, I recalled the smell and the taste of salt and iron which seemed to fill my nose and dance on my tongue. I swear I could hear the sound of ponies yelling, fighting, and dying. The scar under my coat from where I was stabbed as a filly throbbed. The cold sensation of the sea splashing over me.
For a brief moment… I was back on the Blackwater. I was back home.
I relaxed, breaking eye contact. “Oh, you know, living. We can’t all be famous idols now. And what's with that? Weren't you going to get a ship for the gang?” I asked
She cocked an eyebrow before softening her gaze. “Hmm… fair enough. I guess we're both full of surprises.” She looked over at the schoolhouse as she proposed, “Why don't we have a seat and talk about the last eleven years?”
Her parasol floated above her. From out of nowhere, Puppet Strings had appeared behind Victoria.
I gasped. “Is Carving Doll here too?”
Puppet gave an annoyed sigh. “No, she is not. We suspect she is no longer alive. It’s likely fleet politics that ended her, but nopony has sent a message of her demise.” She sounded far more elegant, yet stiffer than I remember as well as cold and cool.
“Sucks. I really liked Carving. she was a real kill 'em all kind of mare.” I huffed.
The three of us trotted to the porch. The foals watched from a distance. Some got closer, but most went back to their games.
Under some shade, and on a few rusty chairs, Victoria Rosary began to explain about the last eleven years. “Well, after you left on the back of that false goddess, artificial alicorns as they call them here, there was an uproar on the Blackwater. Turns out no pony on the city-ship wanted a teenager to be in charge, even if I had the approval of the church of the Thorny Path on my side. It was still an open power vacuum to them. Blo…” Victoria stopped, seeing several foals gather to listen as she talked.
She continued. “Fighting continued for over two weeks after you left. Nothing as bad as the initial fight. It was just other ponies forming their own little gangs. I had to crush them as soon as they poked their heads up.”
Victoria chuckled. “It wasn't until the fleet finally showed up for a resupply that things calmed down. By the Goddesses, did they have a sight to see when they showed up. So many ponies hooked! We actually ran out of chain and rope to do it. We had to get creative.”
My eyes opened wide at what she had said, though I was not surprised at how much violence must have happened. Even imagining how many dead ponies must have been hanging by hooks was even hard for me to do. “So did the fleet at least accept your authority?”
Victoria smiled. “Of course! A few of the ships that were docking were ones I had Corps Brigaders on. It was why Blackpowder was trying to purge me so hard in the first place. It was why she tried to kill you. She knew I had them go convince a bishop to visit the Blackwater. A gambit, to be sure, but no way they passed up the full control over a city-ship, and the first one established by the prophet Thorn at that. With the church's endorsement, the bishop declared that the Corps Brigade was legitimate, and we were no longer under threat of purging. It’s been rough sailing from there, but we’re sailing into power.”
She leaned back. Puppet levitated over to her a bottle of water to sip. “What did you get up to after you left over the horizon?”
I smiled while pointing to my cutie mare. “Turns out I’m a natural navigator. I got it while helping Prism get back to the mainland. After that, I got caught in some shenanigans with a fight between three ponies tribes. It was a big battle, and there was another...” I stopped for a moment while remembering the sound of the ripper and Prisms muffled screams. “Mom was hurt bad, real bad… she came out the victor, but it was something that couldn't be fixed.”
“Mom?” Victoria said with a raised eyebrow.
“Right. She's the false goddess that saved me from the water. after getting to land, we just kind of stuck together, and she… well, she became my mom. I owe her so much. If not for her, I’d likely have become some savage raider or something.” A calm smile had formed on my face as I remembered the good times with Prism.
“I see… that answers a few questions.” Victoria said calmly. She did appear calm yet also a little annoyed. “Well, being a dumb as those raiders would have been a waste of your talents, but what have you done since then? Any ganggers of your own to give that pompous mare called a sheriff the runaround? You are a Corps Brigadier, afterall!” Victory reminded me.
I chucked. “A little here and there. Before going east, I actually got to go back on the water and helped a crew find some buried treasure. After that, I hung out with some vampires. They liked me. They wanted me to be part of the Family, but I liked being with Prism more. After that, I ended up here in New Appaloosa and haven't been up too much since. Well, I did go out on a little adventure recently.” I raised my pipbuck to show her. “I got me an overmare’s pipbuck. It opens doors and shit.” I then turned the pipbuck’s radio on for a few seconds, but it only had that annoying DJ Pon3 talking. “I can listen to you wherever I am now. I just wish your songs were on more often.”
Victoria looked at me with a blank stare for a moment. “That’s all?”
“That’s about it,” I said while nodding. “So how did you end up an Idol?”
She sighed. “That… It just happened. I’m actually on missionary duty for the Wiled Fleet. Those idiots are too stupid to do nearly anything right. If not for me and the wrench mares, the NCR would have sunk them years back. I took up singing at a bar in Manhattan as a cover. Next thing I knew, they were playing my songs on the radio and ponies wanted more of it. Now singing and dancing is about all I have time to do. Everything else has to be delegated to the gang right now.”
“That sounds like you,” I said with a chuckle. “You always had such a beautiful voice. It was the thing I missed the most when I left the fleet. Prism could sing lullabies, but not like you. She always sounded so sad when she sang.”
“Mama, who dis?” Bridget asked as she poked her head up onto the table.
Victoria raised an eyebrow again. “Mama?”
A wide smile formed on my face as I picked up Bridget. “Honey, this is an old friend of mine, Victoria Rosary. She was like a big sister to me when I was younger. Victoria, this is my daughter, Bridget.”
Bridget waved with her claws. “Vic… tor… are you the mare on the radio?”
Victoria nodded. “Yes. Yes, I am, and aren’t you adorable? You even got the horns from your mother, I see.”
I held Bridget a little tighter as I asked, “Wait, what do you mean?”
She placed her hooves on her head in the same place as Bridget’s horns. “It’s a side effect of becoming an official Corps Brigadier. A lot of the foals born from the gang have had two horns grown on their heads, though only mine have golden horns like Bridget here.”
I again gasped. “You have a foal?! Do you have pictures?”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Ya. It was part of the deal to become a higher rank in the fleet. I had to take a low nobility priest for a husband and produce an heir for the idiot.” She pulled out a little leather wallet and opened it up which revealed a photo of Victoria with an older stallion, a colt, and a filly. Both foals had two little horns on their heads. “They're on the Blackwater with their father. He is, at least, competent enough to run the city-ship in my stead, so I haven't been worried about their safety.”
“Oh, I’d love to meet them! I know they and Bridget would get along so well.” I said as I gave my daughter a hug. “Though I bet she’s a better crack shot.”
Bridget raised a claw. “I can shoot targets ten yards away.”
“And getting further every time,” I added proudly.
A smile formed on Victoria's face. “That’s good to know. Proper marksmanship is so often forgotten these days. I’m sure she would get along with my children so very well, with how much they would likely have in common.”
At this point, many of the foals had begun to gather. They were wondering who the two beautiful strangers were. They formed a large crowd a short distance away.
I didn’t want them to start touching Victoria with a stick, a habit they had whenever a stranger was in the schoolyard for too long, so It was time for me to distract them. “Say, since you all are gathering around, how about I sing you a song?”
They all murmured among each other. Bridget was the first to speak up with a request. “Sing one of the radio mares songs mama!”
Victoria chuckled. “So you've at least kept up your singing lessons.”
I chucked back, a bit embarrassed. “No, not really. I only started singing again after Bridget was born.”
She nodded. “That’s common. How about I join you? It is what I do.”
My heart skipped a beat. In response, I nod vigorously. “Oh, yes!”
Victoria scratched her chin. A smile formed on her face. “How about… Save the last dance forme?”
"Further requesting information on the water-born nation, the Oceanic Illuminated Authority, Star Charter’s knowledge of it was a bit limited due to her leaving it at a young age.
What she could remember was that there were multiple fleets led by Admirals and managed by commodores. Each fleet would act as their own independent region within the IOA, guardian supply ports that kept the ships in the fleet loyal to the admiral. The ports Star knows of are floating cities like the Blackwater. They were floating Islands that have plantations on them and the holy city of Avalon, in which all new ships are made and blessed.
The fact that such a civilization survived on raiding around the world and could make their own ships was more than worrisome to me, but how a floating city could build its own ships did spark curiosity." ~ Azure Dice
“So, Star, this is where you live?” Victoria Rosary asked as she stepped in my nice and clean home with Puppet Strings standing outside.
After I had made sure the foal had all eaten and gotten ready for class, Lucky let me go for the day. Victoria still wanted to know a bit more about what I was up to and to do it without all the foal around us. The best place I could think of for that was to talk to her at my home.
I was heading that way anyways since I still had a few chores to do.
“It’s not much, I know, but it’s lots better than living in an old train cart. It’s thanks to the Gunrunners and the Follower that Prism and I can afford this place, though I still have to do other work,” I explained.
“Yes, I heard that you do some other work, though the details were vague. Something about you causing and solving problems.” She trotted over to a windowsill. The open glass let a fair amount of light through.
She ran her hoof across the frame to check for dust.
She didn’t find any dust as I had cleaned it yesterday. If a pony told me six years ago that I’d become great at housekeeping I’d probably laugh and give e’m a bloody nose, now it was just natural to do. It filled the time when not much else was there to do.
“Well, I constantly did cause a lot of trouble. The deputies still bitch at me for almost burning the town down by accident, but I try not to cause trouble anymore. I don't want Bridget picking up any bad habits.” I trotted over some sheets we had hanging. They were up mainly to air them out and get dust off them. “It’s why I don’t tell her about my night job at the Ruffled Feathers.”
Victoria gave one nod. “The bar on the less wealthy part of town.”
“Well, the boss there likes to call it a tavern, but it’s more an exotic dance club with a brothel and bar,” I further explained as I pulled the sheets and began folding them up. “I work as a bouncer there, mostly. It helps keep my fighting hooves loose. Even the dancing helps. You’d be surprised how much exercise it is to just keep moving about like that.”
“That, at least, is good to know. It would be a waste if you got lazy and weak,” she commented.
I nodded in agreement. “Ay. This may not be the Blackwater, and the wasteland is certainly not the grad fleet, but this place will still chew up the weak whenever it can. If I let my guard down and something were to happen to me, then I don’t know what Prism or Bridget would do.”
Victoria trotted over, placing a hoof on my shoulder. “If Bridget is anything like you, I know she’d be fine. We, of the Corps Brigaders, are tougher than most. She's part of our family.
Speaking of which, have you ever thought about returning? Just because you left doesn't mean you ever stopped being a Corps Brigadier.”
“Sometimes,” I said honestly.
She raised an eyebrow as she prompted, “But?”
I sighed. “It's not the life I want for Bridget, and I know Prism is not going to come after what happened to her. Sometimes I do let my mind wander to what life would have been for me if I stayed with you. I wonder where I would have gone or how much power I'd have and all the fun I could have had.”
Victoria went and found herself a seat. She motioned with her hoof for me to join her.
Sitting on an old squeaky stool I had scavenged a year ago, she looked over at the window. Her gaze seemed far off.
“Well, about all that,” Victoria spoke up, “it seems that, recently, the position for my second has opened up. I was thinking that you could take it.”
“Your second?” I felt a bit confused at what she was saying.
She took a deep breath. “It’s a bit complicated, but I’ve managed to gain the rank of commodore, though under the command of a bishop and not under an admiral, so different rules. One of which is that I need a direct successor for the leadership of the gang who can act as my voice when I’m not around to speak. If I don’t, the bishop will assign one of their priests as my second, then probably have me killed whenever convenient.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. The nuns always said that ponies from the Holy City were touched by Thorn. I remember having nightmares about them coming for me.”
Victoria huffed. “You have no idea. Our benefactor is quite the sly cutthroat, all while giving off an air of nobility. It’s annoying.”
She turned to face me with an inquisitive look on her face. “Star, I need to test something, so look into my eyes.”
I again nodded then made eye contact.
My body stiffened. Again, I could taste and smell salt and iron. My hearing was filled with cries of battle that only got louder. After that, a twinge of pain prodded my body as though some pony was poking me with needles, and hot needles at that. It all got stronger as though ponies were screaming in my ears as I was drowning in blood with spikes through me. Then Victoria reached out. Her hooves pressed on my neck. She began strangling me.
My heart pounded as I endured her evil eye. My skin felt like it was on fire. It was both terrifying, yet… thrilling.
She closed her eyes, freeing me from her gaze. I held my mouth shut as I puked, thus preventing it from getting on my clean floor. Swallowing the bile back down, I wiped off what little escaped with my fenlock as I said, “Was that necessary?”
There was a long pause. Victoria took a handkerchief to clean off her bleeding eyes as she sat there. She tapped her hoof on the floor while a smile slowly formed on her muzzle.
“May the Goddesses curse me for letting you go so easily.” She then sighed. “When you left, I didn’t know I needed a pony to train to be my second, and then I had foalishly thought I could easily find another like you.”
I tilted my head slightly. “Wait! What about Carving Doll and Puppet Strings?”
She huffed. “Carving Doll was a good pawn. She was loyal too, but also easy to read which was a fatal flaw to have in the fleet. It’s likely why Carving is in the Pony Jones Locker right now. Her thick skull could never quite grasp a cunning trap or how a gift given could become a new weakness. I was hoping Blackspot would be a good counterbalance for Carving and that this mission would be short enough that I’d return before any grand scheme would unfold.”
“Then there's Puppet Strings. As smart as she is, she’s too inflexible and obsessed with work to deal with fleet politics. The bitch only took a political husband because I threw her in bed with the fat pony, and even then, she went back to studying under those harpies.” A groan came from Victoria. “I had to actively be the nurse maid for her foal, for crying out loud!”
I chuckled. “That sounds a bit cute… wait! Harpies ... as in bitches, or harpies as in… harpies?” I didn’t know much about the creatures known as harpies except that they had a small fleet within the grand fleet and that the adults-only talked about the large feathered predators in hushed, frightened tones.
Victoria smiled wide. “Aye. I got a deal with the witches of the corvid fleet. Lucky us that we have… similar interests.”
She shrugged. “So no, those two would not work well as my second. I’ll need to train a pony from the deck up. It would have been you, but you know, ya flew away. Little Blackspot filled in as backup with how young and moldable he was. At first he did well to learn what I knew.”
This time I said it. “But?”
“But the little shit loved ta mare too much and would ignore my orders to go bed some deackhoof.” She began rubbing her temples in frustration. “I just know it’s his fault why Carvings is likely dead. Should never have left that flippant shit with her, but I had no pony else who could fill in the role.”
She took a deep breath to calm down and gave me another smile. “So that’s why I want to extend my offer to you. Not as foals ripping through a ship, but as adults with the wisdom of a survivor.” She reached out her hoof to me. “I want you to be my second. I want you to return to your family. Return to the Corps Brigaders.”
I sat there, looking at her hoof, my jaw slack. “But… you work as an Idol now.”
She pulled back her hoof and covered her muzzle with that hoof like a fancy mare with her nose tilted up slightly. “I am, and as my second, you will have to join me while I’m on tour as I retrain you from the ground up. I’ve also been needing a good backup singer, and you're clearly fit for that job.”
The thoughts rushed through my head. All the caps and power, no longer having the deputies breathe down my neck, and being able to properly look after Bridget. It was not just more than I wanted, but more than I could ever need, and it was offered by Victoria. How could I say no?
Nervously, my hoof ran over the pipbuck on my left fenlock. I looked at it. I remembered what I might leave behind. I doubt I’d be able to just stay and be with my friends. Same for the Gunrunners. “So, how soon would you need me? You don’t mean joining you right now?”
Victoria shrugged. “Of course not right now, but the sooner, the better. I can't just hang around here and wait for you to make up your mind. I’ll give you before the festival starts to decide. That’s the most I have patience for.”
I nodded. “That’s understandable, but it’s been eleven years. Are you really sure you even need me? I haven't been leading a band of misfits, or really doing all that much fighting outside the odd drunk or two.”
She grinned. Her large canine was much larger than the rest of her slightly pointed teeth which was something Briget and I shared with our own mouths. “Oh trust me, you're more than qualified! Of that, I am sure.”
“But still, why me? All I did was carry packages. Ya, I killed a pony or two, but I didn’t do anything all that impressive.” I don’t know why I was arguing or what I wanted to hear from her, but something was holding me back from just jumping at saying yes to it all.
“Didn’t do anything all that impressive?!” She said as she cocked an eyebrow, then laughed. “Ye ripped the throat out of a full-grown stallion wit' naught but yer teeth as but a foal. Ye took bullets 'n kept on goin', even faced down Captain Blackpowder Blast with me. But most interestin', ye took to the evil eye faster than any pony in the gang.” The Blackwater accent came out of her like the rust tainted water of the ship. It was harsh and nostalgic.
“Oh,” I said, still rubbing the pipbuck, “Thought that was nothing all that impressive compared to you, but all that can’t help with your current job unless you're planning on trouble.”
She rolled her eyes and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Havant ye been listenin', Star? Blackspot 'n Carvin' are likely dead. No way I let that stand.
“Anyways, I 'ave other business back o'er th' waters. T’is business ‘n I needs a strong 'n trusty pony t' watch me back t' do. Yer that pony, Star. I know now that it has t' be ya.”
I pushed her hoof away, feeling frustrated and pressured. It was so much, so fast. “How can I be that important, ye cunt? I’m jus' some dumbass mare who can’t even lissen t' her mother about nah farrgin' a griffion. Then ye come out of the blue, 'n throw all this on me like th' prophet Thorn Rosland reboan, ‘n wantin' me ta return ta the violence of the sea as yer second. I can barely keep me own life in order. Now ye want’ten yer here? Wantin' me back?”
I covered my mouth, surprised that my old accent had re-emerged so forcefully.
Victoria was glaring at me at first, but quickly softened. “That's why I’m givin' ye time t' reckon it o'er” She cleared her throat. “And you have time, as that twice damned heretic called a mayor has yet to announce a date. So sleep on it, and may the Goddess Luna guide you to the right answer.”
Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “That be fair… that’s fair.” I was still unsure why I’m being argumentative at all.
Again I was rubbing my pipbuck as it occurred to me that I’d have to leave everypony behind. Leaving with Victoria would not be like leaving with the Gunrunners or simply moving out west. I can still visit here, or maybe have my friends and family come with me.
No. On second thought, I realized that it was all or nothing with Victoria. It was how things were on the Blackwater. I doubt that had not changed for her at all. The water was no place for the ponies of the wasteland who know nothing about the prophet's teaching or how weakness can’t be tolerated there.
Then there was Mother and Bridget. I know Victoria would never let harm come to my daughter. She was like a big sister to me, so Bridget would be like her niece. But Prism ... Victoria was the one who gave Prism her scars. I remember when the spiked chain dug into her flesh to hold her down. Leaving almost killed Prism, and if we didn’t get to land when we did, she would have died. I’d have been alone, and that’s if I didn’t fall into the water first.
Maybe there was a way to bring mom with me, possibly convince her to agree. Victoria did say she has foals of her own. Maybe mom could help look after them.
“Say, Star,” Victoria spoke up, regaining my full attention. “Leaving all this aside, I want to know more about your daughter. Though not unheard of, half griffins are still rare. Is there a way I could meet the father?”
The sudden change in topic snapped me out of my own head.
I nervously chuckled. “Unfortunately, no, he ran off to be a Talon before Bridget was born, but if you want to meet his family, they're the Gunrunners,” I explained.
She nodded. “Ah yes. That compound run by griffins on the edge of town. Maybe, on another day, you can introduce me to them. I might need a few new guns in the future, after all.”
There was a loud thud from the outside, then a gasp. “Let me go, ye miserable demon!” Puppet Strings shouted.
The door flung open. Prism stepped in, holding a rather unhappy Puppet Strings in her magic. “Give me one good reason why I should not snuff out your life right here!” she growled at Victoria.
Victoria didn’t flinch. She just tilted her head slightly and gave a smug smile. “Other than being weak, ye also become an outlaw, thus damning my Star to never live peacefully again.”
Prism let go of Puppet String. The rather angry unicorn mare flopped onto the floor. “She is not yours, she is my daughter. Now, leave before I make you leave!”
“Fair enough,” Victoria said with a sigh. She trotted over to Puppet, who had gotten back onto her hooves. Victoria brushed Puppet Strings off. After that, Victoria looked back at Prism who, in turn, avoided Victoria’s gaze. “But I am disappointed. I did ask you to make her strong, and I hate being disappointed.”
Puppet Strings’s horn glowed with an eerie green overglow as she reached a hoof out for Victoria.
Chuckling again, Victoria looked my way with a wide grin on her face. “And you, Star, belong with me. Never forget that.”
She took Puppet’s hoof. With a crackle like pop, they were gone, leaving the smell of ozone in the air.
Prism and I stood there for a minute. Not a word said. Just silence.
After what felt like an eternity, Prism turned to me with what was obviously a fake smile. “Well, at least nopony died.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course nopony died. She’s not some ravenous beast right out of the wasteland, and what’s the deal with grabbing Puppet like that?”
With a long sigh, Prism sat down on the ground as though she had lost all her energy. “I know. I may have overreacted when I saw her. I just thought they were here to take you away. I panicked.”
I chuckled. “It’s nothing like that. She was just offering me a job. That’s all.”
“Didn’t sound like that’s all she was asking.” she countered grimly.
I avoided her gaze. “Well, no. It’s not just that. She wants me to return to the gang, but that would involve joining the Idol tour! Just imagine, I can be her backup singer.”
She looked at me and sighed again as she got back up while pulling out a rag from her shirt pocket. “And she didn’t say anything about returning to the sea or running off to a fight?” Levitating the rag, she patted my eyes, thus cleaning off the blood from them. “You know you're better than that.”
“She didn’t say anything about a fight!” I lied.
“Are you sure? What was all that about you being strong?” Prism probed.
“Is how we lived. The strong live, and the weak… they suffer and die.” I looked away. “Out on the sea, it’s how life is.”
Prism took a step closer. “But we are not out on the sea. We are barely in the wasteland.” Pulling me in with her magic, I felt her embrace me into a hug. “Please don’t go.” Her embrace became tight, almost crushing.
“Mom… it’s hard to breathe.” She let me go. I took a deep breath. “You worry too much. I’m not going anywhere… not without you.” I again, lied.
I watched as Prism regained her composure, returning to the tall and strong pony that had saved me so long ago. Seeing her panic like that only reminded me how fragile she truly was. She was strong when she needed to be, but so quick to crumble if something were to happen to me. Even if my life was my own, I didn’t want to see her hurt because of me or to know that I somehow disappointed her.
Giving her leg a light hug, it felt warm and comforting. Unlike Victoria’s eyes which had the familiarity of the home I left, she had the warmth of the home I chose. “Ya, this is a lot better.”
“Star… are you okay?” she asked.
I nodded. “I’m good. It’s just Victoria’s just dropped so much on me that it’s still taking time to just understand it all. Still, I know you're where I want to be. If you can’t be there with me, then why bother?”
She gave a nervous chuckle. “I was worried you would suddenly leave, but now you're making me worry you will never leave.”
I chuckled back. “Well, I’m selfish and greedy… I want it all… even if I can’t have it all. It’s just who I am.”
A flat smile formed on Prism’s muzzle. “If you know that about yourself, then why not change it?”
“Nope,” I said with a playful grin. “If I changed, then I wouldn’t be me.”
Letting her go, I returned to the sheets I was folding up. “Anyways, Mom, I got a lot to think about and the chores to finish.”
“Thinking about what? You're still not considering Victoria, are you?” She asked with concern as she raised an eyebrow.
I sighed. “I don’t know… I don’t want to just leave with her, but maybe I can still work with her for the festival, just for that night. We both know we're going to need those caps, and if I perform with her, then maybe the town will stop being such assholes to us. Maybe let me get a proper job in the upper part of town. If that happens, I can stop working at the Ruffled Feathers.”
“Are you sure she’d just let you do that? Victoria didn’t sound key on just that,” Prism stated with lingering worry.
I nodded. “Well, she’s going to be just as selfish and greedy as I am. It’s who I learned it from in the first place, but she’s like a big sister to me. I know that she just wants the best for me. She’s just like you, but in her own way.”
“Star… she had you rush into gunfire as a filly,” Prism reminded me with a cold voice.
“It’s how life was back then,” I said with a simple shrug.
“She gave you that evil magic!” her voice raised.
I rolled my eyes. “That’s how I became part of the gang. It’s how she showed her trust in me, that we were family.”
“Family doesn't praise cannibalism!” Prism said in a low hushed tone.
“I…” my mouth became dry as I tried to find the words, but they escaped me.
Again Prism sighed. “Sorry, that was too far. It’s just that you… you just need to understand. Victoria may be like a big sister to you, but that doesn't mean she’s not a monster… I’ll give you time to think about it, but please just remember, the things she did to you, to me, to so many others, that doesn't just disappear.”
“Anyways, I should return to the clinic before Jali gets worried,” She said as she trotted to the front door. She hesitated to leave for a moment to look back at me before finally leaving.
I stood there looking at the half-folded sheet, feeling pulled in two.
I wanted to stay with Prism. She made me happy, and I knew she loved me as though I really was her real daughter, just as I loved her like she was my real mother. We had Bridget to lighten our lives. Even if he was a grumpy buzzard, I enjoyed being around Hardballer as well. I had friends and a place to call home.
But I also knew it couldn’t last, not with the deputies being the way they are. If they ever found out that I was the one who killed the Gravedigger, they’d hang me in a second. Caps were also always an issue. Between rent, food, and water, things were only getting more expensive by the week. Though I have been bringing in more caps, that was not going to last.
Even if I wanted to keep everything as it is, I was not dumb enough to think that it wouldn’t change.
But with Victoria, there is no way the deputies would fuck with me. I’d be able to make the caps to move into the upper part of town. However, there was no way Victoria would just let me stay. Not if she wanted me as her second. To be her stand-in for when she can’t be around. She clearly wanted to head back to the grand fleet for whatever reason. With her, I knew violence and bloodshed would follow. It was something that, if I chose, I could not take my friends and family with me, but maybe I could convince Victoria to leave them with the caps needed to live better lives. She had to be rich, and I knew Prism could look after Bridget. She just needed the caps.
Prism and Bridget aren't the ones with the bad reputation in town, it was me. Maybe, if I left, then they could have easier lives. All I needed to do is make sure they had the caps to get by.
I looked down at the half-folded sheet. On it, I saw a small wet spot, then another drop fell onto it.
I… I was crying.
“Fuck.” I muttered as I wiped the tears from my face and finished folding the sheet. “Why can’t I just have everything?”
"On our travels, we stopped by a large, if mostly intact ruin called a Supermarket which had the name Barnyard Bargains proudly displayed above it.
Slowtrot told me that Barnyard Bargains had started out as a small franchise in and around Ponyville before the war. It dealt mostly with groceries. They rapidly expanded during the Great War through the signing of exclusive deals with farms and then buying up of military contracts for the production of rations for the troops. They used their new wealth to open up new stores and push out competition all over Equestria. There was no pony that hadn't shopped at Barnyard Bargains.
He also told me that they were also among the first companies to start replacing their employees with robots. Slowtrot even reminisces about having walked into a store late at night in one only to find that he was the only living creature there. To him, the robots were regrettably helpful." ~ Azure Dice
Hardballer held one of the bullets in between his claws. He closely inspected it with a discerning eye before putting it in an old cracked bowl full of other bullets. “And you're sure their all properly pressed, Slowtrot?”
I nodded as I explained, “There were a few mistakes here and there, but my pipbuck has a sorting spell that separated the ones with gunpowder from those that don’t.”
The griffon picked up a clipboard with a sheet of paper on it as he began scribbling down with a pencil.
“I might just buy that pipbuck off you with how useful it is,” he said with a huff.
“Not sure you have the caps to afford it. This was a personal gift, after all. it even has my cutie-mark on it,” I said as I rubbed a bit of grease off from the pipbuck with my jacket sleeve.
Hardballer put the clipboard down and got up from his chair. “Well, I can't pay you until the NCR gets their rifles, so let's have a drink. You seem to need one.”
I looked away. I breathed in through my teeth at the sound of more booze as my head still hurt a little from last night. “I’m not sure. Drinking with the boss was not really a thing ponies did in my time.”
“Nonsense.” The old grumpy griffon said gruffly as he waved me off and pulled out a bottle and two small clean glasses. “Anyways, if I watch my son work on the smuggler by myself, I’m just going to drive him up the wall if I don’t have another creature to talk to.”
“You could leave him alone,” I pointed out.
“And let that idiot get lost in his project without any commentary criticism? Never.” He passed me the bottle then trotted off.
I followed. Through the courtyard, we entered the garage. There Longslide’s head was buried in the compacted auto wagon. Parts were scattered all over the place. Also in the room was Gyrojet holding her youngest as she sat in a rocking chair.
Trotting over to the griffon female, Hardballer gave her a warm smile, “So how's my son doing?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m starting to think he sees the Smuggler as his new child and I’m about ready to hit him with a wrench.”
Hardballer cleared his throat. “I still remember when it was the other way around, when it was you who could not get away from tinkering.”
Gyrojet huffed. “Hard to work on anything when I’ve been pregnant for the last few years. I’m hoping once our fourth is born, he will still be too busy with that vehicle and give me a break.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe you could just stop having kids for a few years,” Hardballer said with a sigh.
The female griffin blushed. “But why would I want to stop?”
Hardballer face clawed. “I miss the old you sometimes.”
“The old me would not be giving you your fourth grandchild,” Gyrojet pointed out as she nuzzled her youngest.
He shrugged. “Just don’t go overboard. I love my grandchildren, but I love them having a mother even more.”
The old giffin trotted back over to me. He continued to carry the bottle with him. Eventually he sat down on the floor.
“Longslide is a lucky giffin.” I remarked as he poured me a drink.
Hardballer nodded. “That he is, even though I’m still pissed he took my number one apprentice from me. I thought she’d spend her days in a worksop until she was old and gray like me. Now she spends most of her time caring for her children. Not that I’m complaining, but none of my other apprentices have shown the same motivation for work as she once had.”
I took a sip of the drink. I found it far stronger than I’m used to. “Wow! What is this?”
“Griffonstone style Gin,” Hardballer answered. “I got a little distillery here in the compound.”
I took another sip. I found it a bit easier the second time. “Not to be rude, but you don’t seem like you’re the ’sit-down and drink with random ponies’ kind of griffon.”
He poured himself a glass and took a sip. “No,” he agreed. “No, I am not.”
A long sigh came from the old griffon as he held up his glass and looked into it. “Maybe… ya, that’s it. I just want your opinion. As a pony from the far past and dealing with a changed world, you must know how it feels.” He lowered his glass and took a long look at it. “Unlike every creature here, you are not all hung up on Redeye or the Lightbringer.”
I nodded. “Ya. It’s all still strange to me. From what everypony has been telling me, it feels like it’s just some local legend rather than some Equestria saving hero. Actually, I keep forgetting that I’m still in Equestria, but then something will happen or I see something. When I do, it feels like a slap in the face. The truth is, I really do realize this is Equestria, or at least it was.”
Lightly swirling the glass, I breathed in the vapors through my nose. “But I think I’ve come to accept it... well mostly. Some pony trying to go back in time is what caused this whole mess for me in the first place, and… if I did go back, only baelfire awaits me. No way around it.”
A sigh came from Hardballer. "The world keeps changing. Every creature has to change with it. That’s what my brother said when we joined Redeye.”
“The villain everypony keeps mentioning?” I asked.
“Yes, the Great Slave Lord Redeye. He built his own army on words alone. With that army, he took a city and became the villain every creature now despises,” Hardballer answered.
I raised an eyebrow. “Why would the Gunrunners join a slaver?”
He looked off at nothing in particular as if he was seeing something that was not actually there. “If you were around fifteen or twenty years ago, you would be surprised how common slavery was in Equestria. Not sure why it was that way, but slaver camps were common because of how lucrative the slave market was. There was even ponies who would sell themselves into slavery just to not starve.”
Hardballer sipped his drink again before continuing. “The difference was that Redeye was far better at it then any pony had ever seen. Something about how he went about organizing things and how he spoke to every creature. I never understood the use of all the unnecessary terminology. To me, a slave was always a worker, just under a strict contract that they had no control over. Still, he was able to take the city of Fillydelphia and then began to change the wasteland.”
“That doesn't sound like a good change. Slavery and all that, I mean.” I elaborated.
He shrugged. “Not good for the slave, no,” Hardballer agreed. “Fillydelphia was quite literally an irritated shithole, but one that had an intact factory district. As a result, mercenaries and slaves were sent in to rebuild the factories. Both were dying from the monsters and radiation that hunted the city, though the slaves did die much faster. The more of the city Red Eye rebuilt, the more wealth he obtained, and closer he got to actually restarting civilization in Equestria. Yes, many would suffer, but the result would have Equestria back on the path to recovery, or so he promised.”
Hardballer cracked a smile. “The New Canterlot Republic can spout how the Stable Dweller is the one who founded their nation, but everything they have, the core of their power, it all came from the work of Red Eye. All the Stable Dweller actually accomplished was to steal all he had made and gave it to a new warlord. Not saying her victory was not well earned. She did kick the Enclave’s flank and kill the Goddess. It’s just that the foundation of her accomplishments stand on what Red Eye started.”
This time I sighed. “Sounds a lot like the promise the Ministries made to win the war, to change how things were done so to bring back the Equestria of old. In the end, it was only a new coat of paint over the problem, except the war, and everything else, just got bigger in scope.”
“And let me guess; no pony had any better solutions?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I understood what the anti-war ponies were getting at, but even I thought disarming would not have ended well.”
“There's an old griffon saying: Once both hold the other’s tail, only the sword or starvation will separate them,” Harballer quoted before he sipped his glass. “Basically, once bullets start flying, the situation will not end until one side is dead or no longer has the resources to continue.”
I nodded. “Ya. Even if Equestria did disarm, there would be ponies who would have still kept the fight on. Who knows what the Zebras would have done? There was too much hatred for it to just stop.
“Seeing how things turned out, how everything is different, I’m surprised with how quickly I’m getting used to it all,” I added.
“It’s how things are in the wasteland. First the rise of Redeye had changed Equestria, then it was the Stable Dweller, and now the NCR are changing things, if much slower than the last two. I’ve clearly lived through it all and just adapted accordingly. Those who couldn't adapt either turn into a recluse, die, or go raider,” he explained.
Taking another sip, I thought about what he was saying. “Must be hard having nothing stay the same. Well, I guess nothing stays the same forever.”
Hardballer looked over at the Smuggler for a moment, then sighed. “Sorry. I was rambling there. I just want to know how much is different because before, during, and after Redeye, it all just felt that things never really did change, even when everything had.”
Now I was starting to understand. “Well, before there was no wasteland, so that's a big change, but the ponies themselves ... no, they're still the same. Good ponies, bad ponies, those in the middle, even some great evil waiting in the shadows to do who knows what. Maybe that’s why things haven't felt like they changed.”
He nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. Redeye was not the first charismatic leader, he was just better at it than others. The Stable Sweller was not the first hero, she was just more determined and lucky.” Hardballer then finished off his glass and poured himself some more gin. “That's likely why Ashy has such a bug up her flank. Everything has changed, yet all the same ponies are around. I’ve seen a few, though they deny it, but if slavery ever did come back, they would quickly become the new batch of slavers.”
“Like who? The mayor?” I checked.
Hardballer shook his head. “That fat pony is a politician down to his bones, not that I doubt he would legalize slavery if the public opinion was for it, but he wouldn’t become a slaver. Same for Ashy. She is who she is.”
I rubbed my black eye. “Maybe, but she really doesn't need to be a bitch about it.”
Hardballer laughed. “Too true, and frankly I think she just needs to take some time off. Get away from everything, even if it’s for a moment. The mare has a right to be angry and I don’t blame her for hating me, but that hate ... it’s like a poison I know too well.”
Finishing off my glass, I put it down and sighed. “It doesn't help when most of the ponies around her seem to feed that hatred.”
“Talking about the deputies?” Star Charter spoke up from behind us. With her were three kids; Bridget and two small griffins. They all galloped over to Hardballer. Both Bridget and the small griffon filly gave him a hug.
I nodded. “I don’t know why, but they have some sort of hangup about the Desperados. When I tried to talk to the Sheriff, they just kept changing the subject to them. Willow tried to help, but Ashy was more sold on the Desperados being the problem, and not Blue Skies.”
Both Star and Hardballer raised an eyebrow.
“Long story short, Blue Skies is selling cut chems to the downtown ponies, and the sheriff doesn't care,” I explained.
Star trotted over. She looked at the bottle of gin with a glint of hunger in her eyes before looking away. “Ya, I heard that they were selling cheap chems. I guess cutting them would help lower the price. Still, not really our problem.”
“How is it… maybe you're right. I’m just an outsider, after all.” I don’t know why, but I just felt defeated on the topic. If nopony was going to even care, then why bother?
Well, at least Jali was trying to do something, but she was just one zebra.
She huffed, looking a bit annoyed. “That’s true. You are an outsider. It’s not your problem. Where I’m from, doing anything to mess with a ship’s order is likely to get an outsider killed. Then again, doing just about anything is likely to get an outsider killed. At least here you have the option to leave, though that’s no guarantee life will be any better.”
Star looked over at the Smuggler then gave it a whistle. “That’s looking better.”
I nodded again. The offer Quicktrot gave me bounced around in my head. “Say, Star, what would you do if somepony gave you an offer to leave? Like, if you were guaranteed a new start, but you just have to leave everything behind and ignore a wrong that you know was happening?”
She froze. Her eyes shifted around. One of her hooves started tapping for a moment. “I… can’t really say… I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like bad ponies are anything new, so why not just let them be and start that new life?”
Quicktrots words echoed in my head again, about her learning that it is better to give troublesome ponies what they want so that they leave her alone. It could also go the same way for me as well; just moving on and finding a place far from trouble.
“Well, that makes sense,” I said with an unsure tone.
A long sigh came from Hardballer. “That is true, until it’s not.”
The two of us looked over at him as the old griffon took another sip. “Out of all the praise I give to Red Eye for actually having a plan to make things better, there was one, no, two things that he messed up on. One being that he kept the Fillydelphia slaver lords around, and the second was that he could never leave things well enough alone.”
Hardballer gently pushed his granddaughters away, over to Gyrojet. When the two fillies were far enough away, he faced hardened into a sturn scowl. “Back during Redeyes rule, we had that attitude towards the slavers of Fillydelphia; Gunrunners, Talons, and the mercenary pony clans. Red Eye let the slaver run all the manual work as we focused on keeping the raider hordes out and the slaves in. It was, at first, a good setup. We didn’t have to deal with the slavers, and the slaver didn’t bother us.”
A chuckle came from Star. “Oh... that never lasts.”
He nodded. “No, it didn’t. Before long, the slavers were monopolizing Red Eye’s attention by trying to convince him to give them more power as time went on. As you see, our side work with contracts and our contract with Red Eye was Ironclad, or so we thought. None of us felt a need to get into the political struggles of the city, not with that bitch Stern as Red Eye’s second in command.”
“I’m guessing this Stern was a mercenary as well,” I suspected.
The griffin huffed. “A Talon, and a good one at that, but it turns out she had a lot more in common with the slavers in personality than as a Talon. It wasn't until the pony mercenary clans stopped renewing their contracts that we started to understand how much we had lost power within Red Eye’s army. Most of the Talons stuck around. Mainly they were banking on Stern taking over and reaping the benefits of being loyal to her. As for the Gunrunners, we had our own factory now, so there was no way we were going back to small hidden workshops out in the wasteland.”
He shot his glass of gin down and scowled. “Well, that’s when the Fillidelphia slave powered engine really started moving. We went from having quality slaves to having a mass quantity of disposable slaves. Methods of control became more brutal. The slavers became drunk on their own power. Of course, all using Gunrunner made weapons to help them maintain that power.”
Hardballer put his glass down, pausing for a long moment. “I still remember what my late wife would say. She’d say that there was no way the slavers would let Red Eye’s vision of the future come true and that they would rather burn everything to the ground than give up their power. She was right, and we just let it happen.”
Finishing up my glass of gin, Hardballer poured me and himself another.
I added, “I think I can understand. I knew a lot of ponies that regretted being for the war early on. A lot of them were parents that had lost their children who had fought in the war. There were some who’s businesses had been crushed for the sake of the war machine. I had also met a few soldiers who, for the lack of a better word, had become less of a pony than they had before fighting in the war.”
“You know that you two are making me thirsty, right?” Star complained in a huff before asking, “So ... what about Red Eye not leaving things alone?”
Hardballer shook the bottle of gin to tease Star before answering, “Yes, about that; Red Eye’s reach didn’t just stay around the Fillydelphia region, he made sure to extend his hooves as far as possible. He did it mainly to obtain more cheap slaves to feed the industrial machine that is Fillydelphia. Famously the watertalasmen New Appolusa uses came from Red Eye's stable, as a donation. They just had to look the other way as slaves passed through this town as the deal. There’s also that most cybernetics you might see out in the wasteland comes from his stable, or at least the knowledge on how to make them.”
“Like with Percussion Cap?” Star spoke up.
He shrugged with uncertainty. “I’m not informed on the details on where she got those legs, or how, but she did tell me that she got them when under the employ of one of the slaver lords. It’s safe to assume the pony who made them got their knowledge from what was given out by Red Eye.
“Knowledge and talismans aside, the real issue was Red Eye’s need for slaves.” Hardballer continued. “With the wealth that came from the factories, Red Eye practically gave the slave markets an influx of caps and a demand for more slaves. Instead of taking things slow and finding quality slaves to clear out the city, which mind you would not need the scouring of Equestria to find, he let the city become a meat grinder. Within a few years, there was no place in Equestria not touched by Red Eye.”
He again sipped on his gin, savoring the taste. “There were some raider clans that were more receptive to Red Eye’s message. It was not unheard of that they would target his rivals, or those who tried to rally against him. Those raiders would also be surprisingly well-armed and stocked with ammo. It’s probably why the Celestial Angels are the only large anti-slavery group to still exist, since they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut and stick to the shadows.”
“But what about ponies who didn’t speak out against him?” I asked.
“Well, if you weren't an easy target to be enslaved, the demand for tribute was not unheard of. Most small settlements in Red Eye’s reach that didn’t have strong defenses were either forced to pay what they could, or went underground so as to avoid retribution,” Hardballer explained, then chuckled. “I think that might be what caught the Enclave off guard when they finally came down to fight. They likely didn’t know that there was a shit ton of armed ponies hidden from sight. Once they poked that blote spright nest, they found themselves utterly outgunned.”
“Aye, it was strange how many settlements were harder to find the further east Prism and I went, “Star commented. “There were a few times we trotted right into a settlement without even seeing it.”
Hardballer nodded. “Red Eye was so keen on every creature being involved in his grand vision that there were only two options; you willingly work with him, or you were forced to work for him. It was not a matter of if, but when Red Eye’s troops would come knocking.”
I sipped on my gin. I took more into my mouth than before. I let it burn my tongue before swallowing. “So, even if I do leave things be and move on… there's no guarantee it would leave me be.”
“That's why you buy the best gun you can get and plenty of ammo,” Longslide said as he trotted over. He scooped up his son who tried to squirm out of his talons.
“Too true,” Hardballer agreed. “I have a nephew who didn’t join the rest of us in Fillydelphia. He traveled around in order to make guns and ammo for the wastelanders who were in hiding. He now lives in the NCR with his own gun store.” Hardballer offered Longslide the bottle of Gin. The younger griffon produced a small metal cup to take the alcohol. “Red Eye had turned the wasteland against him. It was only a matter of time before they came for him. The Stable Dweller just got there first.”
“Oh, so you're talking about Red Eye.” Longslid realized with a huff as he sipped his gin. “I’m glad I was a bit too old for all the propaganda he shoved into his school. Skipper, on the other claw, drank all that down. He actually cried when he learned about Red Eye’s death.”
A groan came from Hardballer. “Let's not talk about my other stupid son.”
Longslide rolled his eyes. “Well, I can tell you about how the Smugglers are coming,” Longslide offered as a potential change of subject.
Hardballer waved his son off dismissively. “Who wants to hear about your toy?”
The younger Gunrunner face clawed “Why do you have to be like that dad?”
I finished off my second glass of gin then trotted over to the Smuggler. It was now a bit bigger and looked far more sturdy than before. “So I’m guessing the new engine lets you do more with the Smuggler?” I asked.
“That you are correct!” Longslied practically chirped. “Before I had to cut down on a lot of the materials to keep the thing light, but with the tractor engine, that’s no longer a problem. I still can’t just slap heavy armor onto it as it will reduce it’s driving speed, but I can at least give it some protection now. I’m thinking of adding a gun rail for the passenger seats and attaching a fold-out workbench on the back. Maybe a booster to the engine and a large caliber rifle for the gunner nest. When I’m done, this thing will be death on wheels.”
A loud huff came from Hardballer. “Doubt that. The gunner nest is already far beyond what a Smuggler would normally have. All the ones in our record books were made for speed and rough terrain, not for fighting a war.”
Longslied sighed as he trotted over to the Smuggler. Along the way, he let his son on top of it.
“Right,” Longslide agreed. “Having it stay in a fight would only risk it getting destroyed. Still, I like the idea of it being able to fight back.” He looked over at me. “Say, Slowtrot, do you know anything about military vehicles?”
I shrugged. “Just what I saw in movies.”
“And?” He asked with a cocked eyebrow to prompt me for more information.
I thought about it for a long moment, but nothing like this vehicle came to mind other than whenever the military would show off their armored divisions to the public. In movies, if it wasn’t a tank, it was either a simple motor wagon or a motorcycle. As for the few light vehicles I saw in parades, they were mostly used for security. They drove all over the place, but not much more.
Wait, there was one movie!
“Right! Daring Do and The Curse of the Clover’s Box. In the movie, Daring Do and her friend, that looked oddly like Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash, were in a vehicle like this in a getaway scene. In it, they had to get away from the Zebra army. The vehicle proved as maneuverable as what the zebras had, but more importantly was its gun turret that kept the zebras from getting too close.”
Longslide nodded. “Right, that does sound like the original concept for this Smuggler. I’ll have to think about it more.”
I shrugged as I looked at the sleek autowagon. The thing looked like it could drive over a mountain if it wanted to. Something like this would be perfect for just getting away and leaving any problem as far behind me as possible, then keep going.
Taking a step back, I had time to think. Even if I did take Quicktrot up on her offer, nothing was stopping her from mailing me a bomb. As for New Appaloosa, there was little I can do, but that didn’t mean I could do something to help the ponies here, even if it was just to help Jali at the free clinic.
“Excuse me, boss!” one of the gunrunners spoke up. His head poked through the door into the garage. “We got some customers waiting to drop off their guns.”
Hardballer huffed in annoyance. “At this hour? Didn't we shut down the front desk?”
The griffon shrugged. “They didn’t seem to care. They also wanted to see Slowtrot, too.”
I now cocked an eyebrow. “Why me?” I openly asked.
Longslide trotted over to the door. “I’ll take care of it, dad,” he said to Hardballer before waving at me to follow. “Let's go see who wants to talk with you, Slowtrot.”
It was not like I had anything much better to do, so I followed Longside out.
"As Slowtrot explained, the Desperados were one of many biker gangs that existed in Equestria during the Great war. Many of them veteran soldiers from early in the war. He knew more about the Tartrus Angles, but as far as he knew, they were not all that different from the Desperados at the time.
He knew an older stallion who, unfortunately, had ties with the Taratus Angles. He explained to him how they were considered violent and obsessed with things like honor and family. A lot of them likely suffered from wartime stress disorder. The authorities were known to clash with them all the time, most of all the Ministry of Moral.
Strangely, unlike most open troublemakers, the biker gangs never went away as if the M.o.M. couldn't actually get rid of them. This, of course, attracted many rebellious ponies who saw no other way to defy the powers at be. There were also rumors that the reason why the biker gangs were never dealt with by the M.o.M. was because they were involved in the illegal Chem trade and that the Ministry, Pinky Pie in particular, were avid Chem addicts." ~ Azure Dice
After the two small glasses of gin, I was feeling a little loose, mostly because I hadn't had much to eat most of the day. The alcohol was affecting me more than usual. I wasn't stumbling or feeling loopy. I was just warm and a little buzzed, which was a nice feeling.
“Say, Longslide, if you just want to move around guns, why don’t you just make a truck? That light vehicle seems a bit much.” I observed.
“You're probably right, but I think having something that can go fast and shoot at the same time is just cooler. Anyways, the wasteland is full of dangers, like that hell hound from when we took the Smuggler out last time. It was a good thing we didn’t waste our bullets on it or I might have not had enough to keep the dragon ants away.” Longslide responded.
“That makes sense, and I like the idea of being able to avoid a fight.” I agreed as we entered the reception room.
Inside the Reception room, the Desparotos Live Axle and Dead Axle were standing at the desk. Several rusty looking guns had been piled on it.
“Sorry, but we are not taking any work right now. Can you come back in the morning?” Longslid asked the two mares.
“Typical griff,” Live huffed, “Told you it was a waste of time. Lets go.”
Dead chuckled, “Come now, sis. Don’t be shy.”
“Fuck you! I’m not shy! Anyways, we got other shit to do.” Live snapped at her sister.
Dead just shrugged and trotted over to us. “We're not asking for it to be done right now. Can you just take them and do the maintenance in the morning?”
A sigh came from Longslide. “Maybe. Let me see what you have.”
As Longslid trotted over to the reception desk, Dead got up next to me and bumped me with her hip. “Say Slowtrot, you got any more of those free beers? I don’t think I’ve ever had anything so crisp before.”
I shook my head. “Sorry. I still don’t know how I was able to even do that, so it’s likely a one-time thing.”
She pouted. “Well damn, maybe I should keep you around in case you do it again.”
For some reason, she was looking at me in a way that made me feel a bit uncomfortable. It reminded me of Karot, but without all the forceful eye fluttering.
“What are you doing, Dead?” Live stomped over, looking annoyed.
Dead Axle got closer to me. She brushed her shoulder to my own. “Just trying to secure some free beer.”
Live rolled her eyes as she forced Dead away from me. “Oh no you don’t! I’m not letting that stallion bribe you again.”
Another chuckle came from Dead. “Oh, are you jelly? Maybe I should remind him about the other night.”
“Don’t you dare!” Live growled as her fur raised on its ends.
I raised a hoof to catch their attention. “Sorry, but I don’t really remember what happened after we started drinking. I hope I didn’t do anything stupid.”
“Oh, plenty of stupid stuff happend!” Dead teased with a snide grin.
“Nothing happened!” Live growled in annoyance.
“I see,” was my response
Live Axle didn’t seem to like that answer as she got closer to me. “Nothing. Happened. That. Night.”
With each word, she got closer till we were nose to nose. After that, her face seemed to go a bit red before she quickly backed away.
With a playful grin, Dead patted her sister on the back. “Ya, not much happened other than a bit of fooling.”
Live blackhoof her sister, but Dead just smiled back as a bit of blood trickled from her nose.
“Enough!” Longslide shouted. “Keep that up and you're getting kicked out of here.”
Longslide picked up one of the guns. It looked like it was made with plywood and scrap metal. Pulling back a bolt, he dry fired the gun which gave a loud clunk sound. “I can do it, but why fucking pipe guns? These things are shit anyday, clean or not.”
Dead wiped the blood from her nose and trotted over to the desk. “Until our deal is done, it’s the only guns we can get in town, with how we can only do business with Blue Skies. I figured it would be better if we have you pussy cocks look them over before we have to rely on them. With how things are going with Blue Skies, I wouldn't be surprised if they're selling us faulty guns.”
Looking down the gun's barrel, Longslide moved the bolt back and forth before putting it down. “Well, pipe guns are already not the best guns in the wasteland. I can clearly see these are made with even cheaper materials than normal. There’s not enough oil, and there is rust inside the barrel, so the likelihood of it jamming is quite high.”
Pulling out a tin from her small saddlebag, Dead placed it on the desk. “Here's the payment for getting those shit guns in working condition. The rest can go towards my clan's gun order we made with you.”
Opening the tin, Longslide nodded. “This is more than enough. We can get started with the maintenance in the morning. Just come by around noon to pick them up.
“Perfect” Dead Axle cheered with a clap of her hooves. “I wish ya birds were up north in our territory. We could use critters with your talents.”
“I’ll run it by my father. Now, could you go? I got other business to take care of.” Longslide scooped up the guns and began to put them in a nearby box.
“I’m guessing things aren't going well between the Desperados and Blue Skies?” I asked Live Axle.
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s turning downright shit. While we were messing last night, a rider arrived at our camp and gave a message to our elder. It seems that one of our other clan herds, over in the west, broke ties with Blue Skies. I didn’t understand the details, but it sounded like something big is going on out west, and Blue Skies was acting like a foal hitting a blotesprite’s nest with a bat.”
“So they didn’t want to get caught up in whatever trouble is going on? Makes sense.” I figured out loud.
Live shrugged. “Maybe. My clan sisters and brothers don’t normally just cut and run, so it has to be something real big to get them to do that. All the same, Blue Skies are likely going to rethink our contract. Our elders feel it's better if we just cut ties on our own terms. It’s not like those assholes were giving us a reason to even care in the first place.”
I nodded. “Sounds like your clan has things already figured out, though I am curious about what could be causing them problems out west. I’m especially concerned since I’m probably heading that direction later on.”
“Like I said, it didn’t make all that much sense to me. It’s just something about some crazy group of ponies that Blue Skies was attacking. They had bigger guns then both my clan mates and Blue Skies together.” Live Axle scratched her chin before continuing. “Actually, a week ago, we got a message about another Clan herd, who were not in business with Blue Skies, is also leaving the west to regroup with our other herds. It was something about how some robo pony freaks were causing our vassals to rebel. They were requesting warriors to aid in the retaking of our territory.”
That last part sent a chill down my spine. “Sounds like war.”
“Probably. It’s not like the first time my clan had to beat some idiots down in force,” she said with a shrug.
I sighed. “Even after Equestria was destroyed, there’s still war. Are you going to go and fight?”
“I fucking hope so! You know how boring it’s been over here?” Live asked with an irritated huff. “It’s why the elder wants more guns and vehicles. We got to support our brothers and sisters, after all.”
“That’s right.” Dead Axle cut into our conversation. “If we don’t go and fight, then more vassals will think we're weak and start fighting us.”
Dead gave an exasperated sigh “This was never a problem when that Red Eye warlord was around. Back then, ponies were practically begging us to protect them from the slavers. As long as we kept those slavers out, the vassals paid their tributes with smiles, but now they think they don’t need us and get all stingy.”
Live rolled her eyes. “Right. That’s why we were even here in the first place. Because of all that sunshine and rainbows brahmin shit, now our vessels are trying to squirm out of their tribute, or they are outright leaving our territory. It also didn’t help that the NCR and some other new factions practically forced us to sign a treaty to dissolve the slave trade so that we and our merchants could freely travel into there territory. Still don’t know what the elders were even thinking.”
“You had slavery in your territory?” I asked, feeling a bit surprised.
Dead explained. “More like an indentured workforce. Sometimes a vassal settlement would not be able to pay tribute, so they would offer up a pony or two as the tribute. We would put them to work mines or have them make armor and weapons. They were set free after a year and could not be used as tribute again for another year. You’d be surprised how many of those ponies would go home to only stab the asshole that sold them to us. Made a good warning to others to pay their tribute properly.”
“But now that we can’t do that, we’ve practically lost a weapon we need to survive,” Live added.
I felt a bit more at ease by their explanation. “So there's other groups who are anti-slaver. I know it’s not good for your clan, but at least that means slavery has come to an end in Equestria.”
Both Live and Dead Axle looked at me for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“What?” I asked, feeling confused.
“Sorry Slowtrot, but that sounded too innocent to come from a full-grown stallion,” Dead said while suppressing a laugh.
Live elbowed her sister as she, herself, suppressed a laugh. “It’s wishful thinking to think that the slave trade would just up and vanish, just because a few young nations decided to be anti-slaver and force their neighbors to do the same. All it did was move the practice underground or just changed how a pony gets enslaved. I mean, our clan can’t force a pony to work anymore, but there are other ways to get them to do hard labor that doesn't involve a gun. It just takes more work to do it.”
“And the NCR are no different. With all their bluster about returning to the Equestria of old, they’re still just a bunch of wastlanders, with wastelander solutions,” Dead added.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Dead wavedher hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. A goody two-hooves like you will likely never have to deal with it. But trust me, from what I’ve heard, all the new anti-slave nations are utterly hypocritical. They just made it that their slaves are technically not slaves.”
This… did not fill me with hope.
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Well, I guess I should at least be happy that I didn’t arrive here when this Red Eye was around. If the NCR is interested in returning to how things used to be, I could go to them, share with them what I know, and maybe help them fix whatever they might be doing wrong.”
The twins again paused, both giving each other a questioning look.
“You really aren’t a normal pony, Slowtrot.” Live Axle observed.
“Maybe you should come with us instead. That knowledge is probably better served with my clan,” Dead added before looking at Live with a mischievous grin. “You could marry my sister. She did seem to really like you the other night.”
“Dead, go fuck yourself!” Live growled at her sister.
“Sounds fun. I’ll take Slowtrot along too. You did look like you were having fun with him,” Dead said with a chuckle.
“Say what?” I said, now confused again.
Live’s face lit up. “No… nothing happened! We only made out. Just that!” She became even redder.
Dead continued to tease her sister. “Then what's that stain that was on your dress?”
It almost seemed like steam was coming off Live Axles head. She was just standing there with her eyes wide open. After a moment she fell over, her whole body as stiff as a statue.
“Is… Is she okay?” I asked as both Dead and I trotted over to Live Axle.
Dead Axle chuckled. “She will be fine. Just give her time to cool down.”
We helped her up. The mare was still extremely stiff, making me feel worried about her. “Does this happen often?”
“I don’t get the opportunity enough to make it happen often,” Dead said with a sigh. “My sister may be a tough mare like the rest of us, but she tries harder than she really should to be the bitch in charge and hide her soft side. Frankly, if I don’t do this to her, she will likely never find a stallion. She may stay a virgin for the rest of her life. That, or get knocked up while drinking, which I rather not see.”
“That… sounds like a really inconvenient personality,” I commented.
“Your fucking telling me! I have to live with this shit,” Dead said as she started to push her sister out, but then stopped. “Say, can you help a mare out? I got to get her back to our ride.”
“Fair enough,” I said with a shrug. I helped to put the stiff Live Axle onto my back.
We trotted out of the compound. The sun was already getting low. The shadows were stretching across like many hooves crawling along the ground. It was the hardest thing to get used to in this wasteland. Other than a few lamps, there were no street lights, and the moon was strange now. Each day, it seemed to have a shadow grow on it. I had a feeling that soon there wouldn't even be any moonlight to keep the darkness away.
In the shadows, I could see ponies and other creatures peer out from it. They gave me a less than comfortable feeling as their eyes tracked us.
I looked over at Dead Axle, the mare didn’t seem to be worried by any of this, but then again, she was born into this world, where I was not. It made me wonder if these two mares were from my time, how would they have turned out? Probably still as rough and tumble, but maybe not with so many scars, and without such willingness to fight.
Who was I kidding? Mares like them would be thrown into the war, and if they lived, they would be worse off than they are in the wasteland.
Maybe it was best to not dwell on such things. It’s not like I can go back. Maybe I should start looking forward. I could just leave it all behind and find someplace peaceful to stay, but what Hardballer had said about Red Eye stuck with me about how he could not just leave ponies well enough alone.
Even if Quicktrot did uphold the deal she is giving me, I have a good feeling that there is no way she just let me be. Both those evil ponies Thorn and Phobetor were part of her, and what I knew about them was still in my head. Thorns hunger for power as she killed and backstabbed was carved into my memories as though they were my own. Phobetors hatred for the pony kind was so strong that I could taste it, and I still do.
There is no way Quicktrot would not end up endangering everypony in Equestria.
“Ya alright, softy?” Dead Axle asked and she kept paces with me. “You look mighty serious.”
“Oh, sorry. Just in thought,” I replied as I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind to deal with later. In the process, it caused another curious thought to take its place.. “Say, what happened last night?”
Dead gave an amused grin. “Well, truthfully, it’s all blurry, but I know we had fun.”
She trotted ahead of me and turned around to trot backwards. “I know we played a game of cards most of the night. We were doing mostly dare bets.”
“Dare bets?” I asked
“Ya. It’s where we put a dare out as a bet. The winner can pick a dare placed by the other players, and they will have to do it or take a punishment, “ she answered.
She hopped up to turn around then shook her flank at me. “It’s actually a good thinking game. It get’s a pony more invested in winning than just gambling. I like those games. It’s the kind that challenges your mind. You need to be extra tricky to win. Those are the kinds of games I did lose my virginity because I lost a game.”
This felt like a bit too much information, but I still had to ask, “You really put your virginity up in a game?”
She slowed down to get back to pace with me. “The price for playing as the dumb sister. Sometimes you do find yourself actually being dumb. Not that it was bad. I also did like the stallion at the time, but mostly I’m just glad we were having food problems at the time so I didn’t end up getting pregnant from it. Anyways, the dare was to go fuck over my sister, and I rather get fucked than to have sompony make me mess with her like that.”
She looked me in the eyes. Her eyelids were now fully open which showed me her ruby red eyes. “Only I fuck around with my sis, and only on my terms.”
I don’t know why, but she put an honest smile on my face.
“What?” she asked as she cocked an eyebrow.
Now I chuckled. “It’s just good to see that, under all that tough gangger armor you have, you are still a good pony. It’s actually a bit cute.”
She blushed a little, then laughed as she slapped my shoulder. “You're an odd one, Slowtrot. Anyways, we didn’t do anything all that extreme last night. There was the Lapdance Live did where she got way into it. Other than that, it was a bunch of little things like nibbling on you or a spanking. Oh, I was the one to have the makeout session with you. That was fun. But nothing much got beyond that, so don’t worry about possibly knocking one of us up.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh good. You made it sound like we went a bit too far last night, so I was a little worried.”
“Seriously, I’m starting to think you’re gay,” Dead huffed. “Most stallions would be disappointed, not relieved, that they didn’t get to bang a mare, and twins at that.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, sorry that I don’t know you all that well. Even if you two are attractive, it’s just un-gentlecolt like to go that fast with a mare.”
“Or maybe you’re scared. Afraid that you can’t perform?” she teased as she again trotted ahead. She found a wall to lean on and suck her flank out. “Anyways, isn’t this the fastest way to get to know each other?”
Raising an eyebrow, I began to feel uncomfortable again. “Are you asking me to fuck you here an now?” I asked flatly.
She wiggled her flank and gave me a wink. “If you want, we can go to a back-alley.”
I pointed to the stiff mare on my back. “You’re forgetting that your sister’s here.”
“She’ll be fine. Anyways, you're probably not even going to last a minute.” Dead Axle mocked me.
Not to say I wasn't interested. I mean, it has been a long time since I’ve last been with a mare. It was hard to deny that I did find her attractive in a ‘she could snap me in half if I pissed her off kind of way.’ Seriously, could I, for once, get some nice innocent mare to come onto me?
Truthfully, if it was just me and Dead Axle here, I’d go for it, but I just didn’t like the idea of leaving her sister here, in that state, in this part of town.
“How about we make sure Live is safe first? If you still want to fuck, then we can go find some large rock to go behind and have a go at it,” I suggested.
Dead Axle stopped wiggling her flank and got back onto all fours. “Really? You seriously went with a compromise? You are a dumb pony. What do you think, sis?”
I felt a fenlock wrap around my neck as Live Axle locked herself around me.
“You were going to do what with my sister?!” Live Axle growled.
Frozen in fear, I said the first thing that came to my mind. “She was offering,” and it was exactly the wrong thing to say.
Her grip on my neck tightened. “Oh, and you think that I’d just accept that?”
“No mam!” I answered in stiff fear.
“Then what should I do with a pervert like you?” she asked into my ear.
I didn’t know how to respond. I felt like anything I said would be the wrong thing to say. Dead Axle was no help as she hid her laughter with her hoof, clearly enjoying my suffering.
Strangely, I began to smell something nostalgic, “Flowers?”
Live Axles grip on me weakened, then she let go. “What? You're just imagining it!” she blurted out.
Dead trotted over and slapped her sister on the rear, causing Live to hop off my back. “Oh, come on sis, you're complaining to me about wanting a quickie when you're the one that tried to drag him into the brothel last night.”
“Wha.. what! N.. No! Never! Stop being stupid s… sis.” Steam again seemed to waft off Live Axle’s head as she stammered.
Pulling her sister into a headlock, Dead sniffed Live. “Seriously, you stole mom's perfume for what? To not impress a stallion you almost fucked last night, and a soft one at that? If you keep acting like that, I’m just going to take him for myself, free beer and all.”
“Why are you such a bitch today, Dead? Do you want me to beat your ass?” Live shouted.
“Then do it,” Dead dared. “Winner takes Slowtrot to the back alley.” Dead taunted her sister.
“Oh fuck you, and fuck no! I’m not agreeing to that.” Live spat back.
Live attempted to kick her sister, but because of the headlock, she couldn't reach Dead with her back legs or get in any good hoof strikes with her front legs.
As entertaining as it was to see the two mares fight, my interest in sex had completely faded. It was slowly being replaced with annoyance. “Can you two stop it now? You're acting like teenagers!” I said loudly and sternly.
The two stopped and looked at me, then said in unison “We’re nineteen.”
I facehoofed. “Of fucking course you’re still teenagers.”
Trotting over to them, I pushed the twins apart. “Alright, first off, I’ve barely known you two for more than a day, so cut it with this sex shit. The mood’s ruined anyways. Second, though I am flattered and all, maybe it’s better if I get you two out of here safely. This part of town is clearly unsafe, and I rather not see either of you get hurt. Alright?”
The twins looked at me .Live blushed a little, where Dead burst out into laughter again.
“Seriously? You're in more danger of getting hurt than us.” Dead pointed out before looking at her sister. “Ain't that a riot, sis… wait.”
Live was hiding her face in her hooves. She was mumbling something I couldn't hear.
Dead the sighed. “Alright, I think I’ve done enough for today. Let's get you home before you really overheat yourself.”
“Is she alright?” I asked.
“Ya, she’s fine. She’ll just need to get some rest, that's all,” Dead told me as she began to trot again, her sister hiding behind her. “Live just pents up all her real emotions to put on a strong face and ends up like this when it’s all let out at once. If I don’t force it out of her now and then, she tends to explode into an emotional wrecking ball.”
Trotting with them, it reminded me of something that was a problem back in my time. “What did they call it? Not wartime stress disorder… right. It was catharsis syndrome.”
“Cath...ars… syns… dome.” Dead attempted to repeat what I said.
“Catharsis syndrome. It was a big problem among ponies during the war. I think it was an early sign of Wartime Stress Disorder,” I explained.
“And why are you bringing that up?” Dead asked.
I doubted that I could explain it well, but I did have a helper on my fenlock. “Here, let my pipbuck explain.”
“Iron Buck, explain out loud what catharsis syndrome is.”
My pipbuck beeped, then spoke in a soft digital voice. “Catharsis syndrome is when the suppressed emotions of a pony are suddenly let out all at once as an emotional outburst. The outbursts can range from fits of sobbing, verbal abuse of others, binge eating, catatonic wandering, or outright acts of violence. Among unicorns, this is especially dangerous, as their magic can go wild, causing unpredictable effects. Repeated outburst can result in the development of several health problems as well as cause wartime stress disorder.”
Dead Axle then looked worried. “That sounds a lot like sis! Will she be okay?”
“Let me check,” I told her as I again turned to my pipbuck. “Iron Buck, are there any treatments for catharsis syndrome?”
Again my pipbuck beeped. “There are several medications that can be given to alleviate the cause of catharsis syndrome, but the Ministry of Peace advises for ponies to seek counseling, or a therapist.”
I scratch my head for a moment, then sighed. “I’m going to guess that both medication and a pony with that profession are considerably rare in the wasteland… maybe if we ask Jali at the free clinic about it? She might know a way to help.”
Dead Axle breathed a sigh of relief. “That sounds like a good idea, and I’m glad to know what it’s called. Everypony in the clan just calls it berserker moments. Our dad suffers from it as well. He drinks all the time to keep it in check. I rather not see my sis become like that.”
“I’m always glad to help. Just stop by the free clinic at any time during the day. Tell Jali what my pipbuck told you. I’m sure she will know something that will help.” I lifted my pipbuck to show the mare. “I also help out in the morning by giving medical scans with my pipbuck. You two should stop by then so I can make sure you're healthy.”
Again Dead Axle burst out into laughter. “You're really something, Slowtrot. Be sure that we will take you up on that offer. Good to know ya all slow and shit.”
I smiled back. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Trotting out into the outskirts, we came to one of the Desperado's motterwaggons. It had Tire Fire in the driver's seat, looking frustrated as he messed with a puzzle cube. Seeing us, he put the cube down and jumped out of the waggon. “The fuck took ya two so long?” He looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. “Ya didn’t fuck my sisters, did ya? Because there would be a problem if ya did!”
A swift hoofstrike came from Live Axle, knocking her older brother to the ground. “Do… dont b… be an f… fucking shitstain, bro!”
Live Axle looked at me, blushed, then quickly trotted onto the motterwaggons.
Dead Axle chuckled. “You’re really throwing her through a loop, Slowtrot, but don’t worry. She will be herself in the morning.” As she trotted to the waggon, she stopped to kick her brother. “Get the fuck up, bro.” She kicked him again. “And that’s for touching my puzzle box.”
The three Desperados got seated in the motterwaggons with an annoyed Tire Fire again at the driver seat. Live Axle hid her face and Dead Axle quickly solved the puzzle box. With a roar of the engine, they were off. A dust cloud obscured them as they vanished into the night.
Trotting back to the compound, I had a lot to think about. One being that the twins were clearly into me… Twins!
They don’t know what to say about Slowtrot, but somepony has been whispering about him being an alright stallion. Something about magically getting free beers and being more honorable than average Gangger.
"I asked Harp Melody a bit about her family history since the concept of royalty was known to me. Other than herself, they were all unicorns who had taken shelter in Stable 50. This included Princess Majesty, her family, and other powerful and/or famous ponies who were on the islands. After a generation of waiting, along with training a new Royal Guard, they left the stable to re-established order. The Island, known as The Gathering Island, had devolved into warring bandit stations. It was filled with mutating ponies, so Stable 50 started a campaign of re-conquest of the island." ~ Azure Dice
“Madam Harp Melody, it is nearly time to leave.” Order, my drone, informed me from outside. I had it keep watch outside in case somepony decided to peek on Cloudy and I. I also used him as an alarm before work.
Moving a little, but I found being next to my new mare friend too comfortable to just get up yet, so I just opened my eyes to look around. To describe the train cart as cozy seemed odd to me, but Cloudy had managed to make this place feel like a home. It had trinkets hung like ornaments and an old painting on her wall. There was also a small table that had an intact cooler under it along with a little camping stove in the corner. Next to us was her clothing chest, which was locked with a large padlock so to deter others from stealing her clothes and outfits. As for her bed, it was a simple mattress with a few towels over it to keep the springs from poking through and a thin sheet to cover us.
To say I missed the big fluffy bed back home would be an understatement, but right now there was no other place I rather be.
Cloudy nuzzled under my chin as she asked, “Was that your robot just now?”
“Yes. It’s nearly time to go,” I told her.
She groaned as she got up, “I wish I didn’t need caps so much.”
With a huff, I sat up as well. “You could always just leave to find someplace where work is easy.”
Cloudy chuckled as she unlocked her clothing chest. “Ya. There is no easy out in the wasteland. It’s why my dad settled here, it may be more expensive than the rest of the wasteland, but it is safer. I’d like to move to the NCR, but every pony that comes down here from there tells me that there’s no good work anymore. What work is to be found pays very little.”
She pulled out a white mesh dress with frilled clouds sewed onto the edges. She also pulled out a lacy red dress with hearts along the edges. “So, what do you think? Innocent, or saucy?”
I took an extra moment to picture it in my mind. Though the white a with clouds did give a more pure feeling, the fact it was mesh also felt more seductive in how it would cling to Cloudy. On the other hoof, the lace red dress with hearts was clearly more seductive but I also didn’t like the idea of her actively trying to seduce other ponies besides myself. At least, with the white dress, I can pretend she was not just a stripper.
“Maybe stick to white. It looks good on you, and is less on the nose,” I advised her.
Cloudy nodded and put the red dress away. “Ya, the red is a bit tacky. Rusty keeps telling me to use it, but then Rusty has never been one for good taste.”
She looked over at me with a mischievous grin then threw my panties at me. “Are you going to wear this?”
It was the pair of panties that was mostly strings. I had decided to wear it on my way here to show Cloudy. It was embarrassing, but worth it to see the look on her face.
I nervously chuckled as I took the panties off my face. “Ya, no… Anyways, didn’t you say that this was only for you and me?”
“I’m just messing. Last thing I want is some weird stallion stealing it.” She pulled out some stockings. They were a white lacy pair of panties and a small white hat with a valve.
Finally getting up, I checked the basket she had given me before making sure my work outfit was all there. Above it, on a shelf, was one of the cooling talismans I had made. I placed in some jury-rigged junk case that allowed magic to easily flow through it. It just needed a spark battery to work, but right now it was using my ambient magical energy I was letting out. Though not strong, over time it had cooled down Cloudy’s home, thus making it far more bearable in the heat.
Closing the basket, I looked about for my normal clothes. They had gotten spread around not long after I arrived here. As I gathered them up, I felt Cloudy lean on me. Her chest was on my back and her legs were gently wrapped around me.
“You do know you don’t need to get dressed. Just pack them up and trot over to the Ruffled Feathers. You’re going to be taking them back off anyways.” she advised, whispering in my ear.
I stood there for a few seconds, thinking about it, but still didn’t like the idea of going out in the nude. “I don’t think I’m ready for-”
Cloudy cut me off with a kiss, of which I reciprocated. When we pulled away, she slapped me on my flank, causing me to gasp.
Backing up a little, she held my normal pair of panties in one of her wings. “Seriously, you’re going to have to get over this whole clothing thing sooner or later. I mean, we ponies normally don’t wear clothes.”
I used my pipbucks levitation spell to take back my underwear. “I am very much aware how you all out here are nudists.”
“If we're all nudists, then that makes you the odd one here,” she pointed out.
Sighing, I put my underwear into my saddlebag. “Fine, but I’m at least putting on my jacket.” It had my revolver in it, so at least I’ll be safer as we trotted to work.
Stuffing the rest of my clothes into my saddlebags and picking up the basket, the two of us left the train cart house.
A wave of heat hit us. Although the sun was already dipping below the horizon, it was still considerably hot out here, making me want to go back inside where the cooling talisman was.
“Order, provide us with some light,” I commanded.
One of the eyes of my drone lit up, driving back some of the creeping shadows. I was going to need to fix the other eye at some point, and maybe get a few of its other talismans back to working condition. Currently, its invisibility and silence talismans aren't working, so everypony can easily see and hear it buzzing around.
“He is really useful. I wish I had my own robot servant,” Cloudy said wistfully before flying up to it and giving one of its antennae a playful tap. “Maybe you should give this thing a gun. I’ve heard about a few arcano tech-minded ponies that trot around with robots, letting them do all the fighting for them. This is true for even a settlement that managed to repair a few protector-ponies to guard them.”
I thought about it for a moment. I remembered that I did have the two spare bolt launchers. It would make a good use for them, and the ammunition would be somewhat easy to make with the right tools.
“Maybe. If I ever go out on another adventure, having Order being able to fight would be helpful,” I said in agreement.
The cartoon twittermight avatar that Order used, floated into my vision. It then let out a cartoon bolt of electricity. ‘Madam, this drone does have a built-in high capacity spark talisman for self defense. If this drone is fully powered, it can unleash a shock powerful enough to stun a full-grown stallion.’
I nodded at it and waved for Cloudy to join us. “I’ll ask Hardballer about it later, but I'd rather get going. I don’t like being so… exposed out here.”
Cloudy gave me a nuzzle, as we made our way to the Ruffled Feathers with Order lighting our path along the way.
Reaching the tavern, nothing much had changed since the last time I was here. Although the crowds had yet to gather, the ponies standing around at the front were still sober.
We got a few whistles as we passed the ponies as we entered the front. Star Charter was there to check the customers for weapons. The tavern didn’t have a problem with ponies being armed and all, but drunk ponies had been causing problems, so they were forced to leave their weapons at the front during late hours when they were going to be the rowdiest.
Star wiggled her eyebrows at me. “A little underdressed, aren't you tonight? Did ya not bother to get dressed after undressing?”
Cloudy brushed up against me. “Star... don’t be a bitch,” she said.
Star laughed loudly. “I’m not going to try and take her, Cloudy. She’s too cute to be my type.”
“Anyways, are you bringing in any weapons?” Star asked.
Placing a switchblade on the table, Cloudy gave Star a big grin.
I did the same for my revolver.
Star looked over at me and sighed. “Sorry, I’m just teasing. Like fuck were leaving our girls here defenseless.” She pushed the revolver back to me. “But, if you can't hide it on you, you can’t take it out.”
She then looked over at Cloudy, who then hid the switchblade inside her wing. She actually had a little clip to hold the little knife under her feathers.
“Here, after tonight, we can go look for a knife in the market. Your wings may be small, but I’m sure we can hide something nasty in them.” Cloudy advised me.
I shrugged.
We made our way to the back.
The usual ponies were back here; a dishwasher, working mares on their break, and Waterspout, who was working in his small office.
The older hippogriff spotted us then waved us over.
“Cloudy, can you go on stage next? It’s almost time for a night rush.” He asked my marefriend.
She nodded. “So give them all a little taste as others come in, then do a late-night dance,” she reasoned.
He smiled. “And that’s why you're my favorite mare! Though, depending on the demand, just be ready to dance earlier than that.
“As for you, Harp, I’m going to advise that you avoid drinking anything but water. Though you were fantastic the other night, that also put you in a lot of danger,” Waterspout told me before looking up and pointing at Order.
“And what’s that?” he asked.
“It’s my recon drone, Order” I answered. “Order, say hi to Mister Waterspout.”
“Hello, Sir Waterspout,” Order said as it bobbed on a bow like manor.
He gave an inquisitive look at the drone. “So it has a mister helper program? Those things had the least amount of program decay of all the robots I’ve seen.
“Say, Harp, can it do anything useful, as in serve drinks and the like?” Waterspout checked.
Order chirped proudly before talking. “This drone has a built-in minor levitation talisman, so serving drinks would not be a problem.”
I gave the robot a glare to shut up, as it had talked out of turn, and it shrunk back a little.
“As it said, it can pick up small objects, and as you can see, it can fly. But, other than that, not much until I get it fully repaired.” I explained.
Waterspout nodded in approval. “Alright. If you take that thing out with you, it would help give you an edge at impressing customers. Just remember to be careful. The last thing we need to happen is a mid-air collision with any flying customers.”
“Does that happen often?” I asked.
Cloudy chuckled. “Whenever the Gunrunners come down here to drink, they often just fly over the crowd instead of pushing through it. After a few drinks, they will eventually knock into each other.”
That reminded me of some of the silly stories my caretaker would tell me about how pegasi in the metro would commonly knock into each other when flying. The tight corridors of the underground were not meant for flying ponies to be living there. She even had her own story of it happening to her inside the stable. I used it as a lesson of why I should not run around corners.
“I’ll try and keep an eye out for any flying creatures,” I assured them.
Waterspout turned back to his desk. His attention refocused on some paperwork. “Also, Harp, if things slow down later tonight, can you come back here and help sort out the accounting?”
“It’s never-ending, isn’t it?” I figured.
“No, it’s just that we got a lot more caps flowing right now. That’s all,” he corrected me.
“Alright. If things slow down, I’ll help update your books,” I agreed.
Trotting to the dressing room, Cloudy and I got ourselves ready.
The dancer outfit clung to me just as tightly as before. Although I was glad to have more clothes on, it was still embarrassing to throw these clothes on. At least I was not wearing the skimpy underwear. No way I’d do out with that!
Cloudy had gotten dressed far faster than I had. She finished her makeup right as I was applying mine. It was still amazing how such crude makeup even worked, but it did, and she applied it very smoothly.
As I got to applying the lipstick, Cloudy trotted over and gave me a strong kiss on the cheek. She had left a red kiss lipstick mark behind.
“That’s to mark you as mine and you look a lot cuter like this too!” she told me in an admiring tone.
I wasn’t sure about this, but I did have to agree it looked a little cute.
Looking at my marefriend, I gave her a deadpan reply, “You want me to do that to you as well?”
She grinned as she lifted up her dress a little. She also lifted back one of her back legs to show her inner thigh. “Maybe?”
I had to struggle to not show how hot that sounded to me. I wanted to keep my calm. “How about after tonight? Anyways, won't it smear if you're on the pole?”
Cloudy blinked a few times, then her eyes opened up wide. “Right! Then maybe the other side?” She turned around to wiggle her flank at me.
I sighed, feeling that this was getting a bit much.
“Alright, I’ll stop. I do have to get ready to put on a show,” Cloudy said, relenting her assault on me.
Finishing up getting myself all pretty, I left Cloudy to do a few finishing touches on her own outfit. She needed to look extra special when going out on stage.
One last thing I needed to do before I started work was to figure out where to put my revolver. Unfortunately, my outfit was made to hide very little, so the enforcer would stick out no matter where I put it. The corset would work if it wasn't already threatening to suffocate me. My little hat could hide it well, but I didn’t like the idea of the gun rattling around next to my head.
I had one idea, “Order, can you hold this revolver and still perform all your duties?” I asked my drone.
The cartoon twittermight appeared in my vision. “Most certainly, Madam. I can use one of the clamps to hold it. Easy as pie,” it spoke telepathically.
Wrapping the revolver in a small cloth, I passed it to the drone. It wiggled one of its little legs and clamped down onto the revolver. I gave it a little tug, but the gun didn’t budge.
“That will do,” I told my drone. In response, it gave a happy-sounding beep.
It was not that I felt I’ll need the gun, but the more I learned about the wasteland and it’s dangers, the more I felt like it be stupid to be anywere without some protection. At least now, if something were to happen, Order could at least drop me my gun.
Feeling ready, I trotted out of the dressing room.
Looking out the door to the travern’s main floor, a sudden wave of uncertainty washed over me. I backed up. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I knew I had chosen to do this myself, but without somepony next to me, it felt like an even bigger step.
“Seriously, have you seen that new mare?” My ears perked up as I heard a mare speak from outside.
“You mean the zony, right?” a second mare answered.
I was sure they were talking about me, so I figured what stupid gossip was being talked about behind my back.
“Ugg, ya. She's been all some of our regulars talk about,” a third mare added.
“Oh, that’s only because she's exotic. It’s why Cloudy is so popular. Not too many pegasuses in town. I also heard that the boss has been looking for a zebra, too.” the second mare continued.
“I know! I think it’s also because they're younger and smaller than the rest of us. Fucking perverted stallions!” the third mare said with disdain.
A groan came from the first mare. “It’s always like that. They get all excited over the new mares like a pack of radroaches after some fresh shit.”
“You got that right,” the third mare agreed.
“But like fuck we can’t do anything about it. You saw what Star did to that other mare who slipped her the Luna Shine.” I could feel the mare cringe through her words.
The first mare laughed. “Ya, that poor stupid mare did do that. She broke the rules, so she got what’s coming to her. So don't worry, I’ve been working this job for years now. There is no way I’ll risk this job now when the caps are this good, though I did let a few of my clients know about her working tonight.”
“You don’t mean him, right?” The third said, sounding nervous.
“Maybe. No guarantee head shows up anything soon. Anyways, like it will matter with how Zonies are. I’m just letting her have a little fun before she, you know.'' The first mare had a devious tone to her voice which reminded me of my eldest sister when she was scheming.
I didn’t like the tone, and now needed to know more.
“Know what?” The second mare asked.
“Sorry, but I’ve never actually met another zony,” the third mare added.
The first mare sighed. “I’m talking about how they all eventually commit suicide. I knew a few, and even the one who was doing well for himself went and hung himself. Something about not fitting in with ponies or zebras, but they require the littlest provocation to get them to off themselves.”
“That’s a bit messed up,” the second mare pointed out.
“Hey, if she wants to put herself out of everypony's misery, I’m not going to stop her.” The first mare said without a hint of shame.
I was annoyed. Not because of what they said or how callous they were about it, but because it reminded me too much of home and how everypony whispered just loud enough that I could hear them. If I didn’t hide away in my chambers, it would be nonstop with my cousins and other nobles. They all wanted me to know what they thought of me, but never straight to my face.
Whoever this bitch was, she knew I was here, and I could hear her. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong about me. Oh, so wrong. Where she was raised to be some whore, I was raised to be far greater than that.
“Do you wish me to zap those distasteful mares?” Order telepathically asked me.
“No, leave them be. It’s not like they will amount to anything worthy of my ire.” I thought back at my drone.
The tavern’s main floor was only starting to fill up, both local and outsider ponies finding their seats. This time there didn’t seem to be any well off looking ponies among the customers, so I decided to find a pony not currently busy.
Turning up my charm for an older stallion, the pony looked happy to just get some attention and was impressed when Order flew around to drop off a glass of whiskey for him. The conversation started off with a few pleasantries, but I was able to get him to talk about himself which also got him to drink more. Lucky, he wasn’t an ass like the last stallion I had to chat up.
“So you don’t hunt the radhogs?” I asked as I poured him some more whiskey.
“No no. We raise the hogs then sell them to the NCR for butchering. It would be too much trouble to rely on hunting them,” the older stallion told me before he took another sip of his drink.
“I can see that. Back home, the radhogs are a real problem. I had a friend that got stuck in a radhog stampede. She said it was like thunder all around her,” I explained.
He took another long sip of his whiskey. When he was done, I topped off his glass. “Oh, that sounds like a huge sounder of big hogs. Your friend is lucky to be alive to tell you about it. Fighting a big radhog is like fighting a disarmed steel ranger still in power armor. You'd need plenty of high caliber armor-piercing bullets to be able to take it down before it gets to you.”
The conversation went on a bit longer. I learned more about a radhog ranch than I’d actually care for. Eventually the stallion polished off the whole bottle of whiskey then stumbled off to the bathroom which freed me to find another customer.
Star waved me over. Order was next to her with a beer in its telekinetic hold. As I trotted to her, Order flew up and over to some random table which surprised both the customer and the working mare there.
“So, you getting a hang of things?” Star asked.
“Not to be mean, but can’t I just move on after I get them to buy a bottle of spirits?” I asked with a huff.
Star chuckled, “If only it was that easy. If we did that, it would be just a normal strip club with a brothel. Most ponies come here to just get chatted up, and it’s why they keep coming back.”
“Here let me show you.” She said with a smile.
As I followed Star, Cloudy finally came onto the stage. She got great fanfare as she slowly trotted to the pole. Like before, she looked like she was in a wedding gown. It had enough glitter to sparkle more than it should.
The table Star took me to had three Desperados sitting at it. There were two earth pony stallions and a rather rough-looking pegasus mare. Star just sat down on one of the stallion's lap, putting a hoof around his shoulder.
“Shouldn't a big stallion like you be enjoying yourself more?” She asked the large stallion.
He actually looked nervous for a moment, then annoyed as the other two Deparodos began laughing.
“Every time, they come right to you, Greased Gears,” the other stallion said in between laughter.
“Sorry, missy, but he drives on the other side of the motorwagen,” the mare informed Star.
Star just shrugged, rolled over, and took the Desperado mare’s hooves into her own. “Then what about you? What side do you drive on?”
“Wh… what, I certainly-” the mare stammered, but Star put a hoof on her lips to quiet her.
“Why don’t we get you something to drink first, eh miss?” Star asked.
Star took her hoof off the now blushing mare’s lips. “Crack. The names Thunder Crack.”
“Alright then, Miss Thunder, let's see. You already had a beer, so how about one round of the local mute-fruit cyder?”
The mare nodded. The other two stallions did likewise.
I sat next to the second stallion and gave him a wink. This one was much thinner than the other stallion but also had a lot more scars on him, giving off a less than safe vibe.
“The name is Slashed Rubber,” he said in a gruff tone, “Aren't you two the mares Crankshaft told us about? The ones with the Gunrunners?”
“Yes, we are, but who is Crankshaft?” I answered then questioned.
“He’s the stallion sent with Burning Asphalt to talk to ya about your vehicle,” he answered,
Right! So that’s what that muscle headed stallions name was.
“I’m Harp Melody, and she’s Star Charter. Thanks again for your clan's help back then.”
Order flew over, dropping three bottles of cider.
Slashed Rubber opened up the bottle with his teeth and took a long pull of the drink, then gave it an odd look. “This is a bit too sweet!?”
“It’s cider. I heard that, before the war, ponies lined up for miles to get a drink of stuff like this,” Star explained as she personally held the bottle, pouring a little of the drink into Thunder Crack’s mouth like she was feeding a baby. The poor mare looked confused, yet compliant for such a rough-looking pony.
Grease Gears just sat there, sipping on his cider while watching one of the working stallions.
Looking over at the pegasus mare, I couldn't help but ask, “So your clan don't have a problem with pegasi?”
Slamming a now empty battle down, Slashed Rubber gave a long and disturbing burp. “Why the fuck would we… Oh! You mean that hole Enclave bullshit like ten, no ... eleven years ago? Naw. They put up a damn good fight, so we good. I just wish they sent their real power at us and not some underpowered company. They should’a made us really work for it.”
Thunder Crack pushed herself out of Stars hold and punched Slashed Rubber on the shoulder. “You fucking cocky fuck! You’d all be dead if we had used our main force, or even one thunderhead!”
Slashed Rubber laughed. “Yeah. Ya say that, but none of ya flying bastards expected we have AA gun batteries all stored away.”
The pegasus mare crossed her hooves and slouched back onto Star’s lap, letting her get babied again.
Order once again flew over, placing down a second bottle of cider, of which I now opened for Slashed and poured into a glass cup.
“So, I guess you won? then what happened to the pegasus?” I asked.
He snorted in amusement. “Shot their leaders. Well, most of them. They had this right bastard who was too willing to fight to just get rid of. The rest of the soldiers, since they gave us such a good fight, we put them through our right of initiation. If they survived, they got to be one of us. The rest died. We also have a few Enclaved vassal settlements as well. They're not good for much, but they pay tribute on time so we leave them be.”
“Don’t know why everypony has such a stick up their ass over the Enclave,” Greased Gears spoke up then finished off his cider. “It is not like they were the first group that tried to take over the wasteland. They’re not going to be the last, either. It’s not like a pegasus is any worse than everypony in this fucking wastland.”
Slashes snickered. “Don’t mind him. His main fuck didn’t want to come down here with the rest of us. The dainty softy was too afraid of ponies down here wanting to hang him for having wings.”
“Fuck you!” Grease Gears growled back a Slash.
Two more bottles of cider were dropped off by Order. Thunder quickly reached out to grab it, but Star got to it first. She popped it open and forced the pegasus to be submissive again.
“Actually, the NCR has been pushing hard to get everypony to tone down their hate for the pegasi,” Star spoke up. “Something about being stronger together and other shit. Lately, it has been having an effect on ponies coming out of the NCR and they're more likely to be nicer to the pegasus, if only in public.”
She pointed to the stage where Cloudy had half her outfit off. Now she was just in underwear and stockings on all four legs. “If it keeps going like that, even the mayor will have to change his policy. Cloudy there might even be able to get a job in uptown.”
I rolled my eyes. “That slimy Espresso? I guess he is good at changing his point of view to whatever is popular. But like Tartarus does that make him any good at being a mayor.”
“Oh trust me, I know,” Star agreed.
“Personally, I could do his job a hundred times better than him. Like, why raise the fucking tax right now with so many ponies coming in? You want to lower the tax! It would make the town more attractive for ponies to migrate and get the residence to spend more. This is the basics of running an economy,” I ranted.
The three Desperados and Star looked at me, a bit confused.
“I mean, it would make sure the ponies living here can make more caps. With those extra caps, they can buy more stuff, which is good for everypony.” I dumbed down my rant.
The four gave out a collective “Ohhh” and then laughed.
After that, we changed our topics. We letting the three ganggers talk about the things they liked as they guzzled down their booze. It ended up that stuff like motterwagons and fighting were popular topics, and at one point Star Charter and Slashed Rubber had a hoof wrestling contest.
It was actually nice being sober to see it happen.
Several have gotten to know Harp and Star better. Their opinion of them has increased. It also helps that the ganggers find the two good looking mares who know how to have a good time.
"Harp Melody had continued her history lesson as I simply jotted down notes. Upon conquering a station, the royalty of Stable 50 would kill off the mutants then begin breaking in and educating the surviving population. They later found uses for them to feed the campaign of conquest. She explained that it was a slow process that took years, as the metro of the Marewaii Islands was a long unending chain of bottlenecks and monster dens." ~ Azure Dice
The three Desperados were eventually feeling a little drunk. Star didn’t want them getting too rowdy, so we talked them down from drinking more and to enjoy the show. After that, Star explained to me that, when they sobered up a little more, another mare would come to sell them a few more shots before sending them home. Right now nopony wanted them ending up throwing up in the middle of the tavern.
We parted ways. Star returned to the front to help one of the other bouncers, and I scanned for other customers.
One table had two stallions that had just taken a seat. Both were wearing similar tan shirts. On their shoulders was embroidered NCRCF. The two seemed far more put together than a lot of the other ponies here. They clearly were washing regularly and lacked a lot of the scars most wastelanders took pride in.
“Hey Star!” Cloudy called to me as she trotted over. She was back in her normal-ish white mesh dress which still sparkled from all the glitter she had on before.
“See any good customers?” she asked
I pointed at the two NCR ponies.
“Oh, those two,” she said with a frown.
“Anything wrong?” I inquired.
“Not really. They come in once a week. They’re big perverts, but not big spenders. If you want to give it a shot, I’ll help you.” Cloudye offered.
I gave her a, “Why not?” gesture along with a smile and a nod.
Trotting over to the table, we both took a seat next to each of the two stallions who then gave each other a hoof bump. “And here we thought you didn’t like us, Cloudy.” said the stallion next to Cloudy.
“Oh, that’s not true, Rock Thrower. I’m just a bussy mare, that's all. You and Stone Spear are our loved regulars. I thought I would show one of our new girls a thing or two with you.” Cloudy put on an alluring gaze as she talked.
Rock Thrower looked at me with an all too happy grin. “She is cute. Say, bro, ya want to switch? Let me show the new girl a thing or two.”
Stone Spear pulled me closer to himself, “Na, bro. The new cutie is with me.”
Rock then shrugged. “Fair is fair. Anyway, this is Cloudy, who has the hottest flank in town. Can’t fucking do better than her.”
There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence as both stallions took a swig of their beer while each held onto one of us. I was already getting why Cloudy was not too thrilled about the two of them since they firmly held onto us as they watched Brass Chain dance on stage.
I held back a gage as the smell of expired cologne wafted off the stallion. It was, this point, that a bit of real regret hit me. I was already making a fair bit of caps with the Gunrunners, though I still had to wait to get paid. This job was only so I could get caps faster, yet here I was flirting up stallions.
At least I had Cloudy and Star to help me.
Stone chuckled. “Now she gives me a confused boner. It’s super hot, but with all those bandages and scars, it throws me off. It’s like a group of dancing radroaches in top hats.”
“Now that Star Charter bitch is a nine out of ten. Wish she let me bang ‘er.” Rock blurted out.
The two then took another swig of their beer.
“So this NCRCF, is it-” I tried to start a convocation, but got cut off by Stone.
“Remember the joint back near Manehattin? You know, the one where the mares dress up and shit?” Stone asked his partner loudly.
“Ya. It’s the one that had the stable pony dressed up like the lightbringer. Now she was one bang-up gal!.” Rock answered.
The two hoof bumped again then said simultaneously, “Roasted that bitch good!”
They took another swig of their beer, thus finishing their glasses off.
I looked over at Cloudy who looked back at me. Her eyes were telling me that this was normal with these two.
“I do miss her,” Stone went on with a sigh. “She was always down for some fun.”
Rock rolled his eyes. “Bro, that mare is pregnant. If you go back there now, she’s going to claim you're the baby’s daddy.”
“Not true. I’m sure she’s already found some dumb farmer hick to clam by now. I was not the only one tapping that flank, Bro.” Stone retorted. I felt like gagging again.
“She gave blowjobs. You were the only one banging that plot! The bitch was trying to baby trap ya,” Rock explained, making me feel like gagging even more.
Despite the two not paying us all that much attention, they were still holding onto us, so Cloudy and I were stuck dealing with the two pebble brained oafs.
What I needed was a way to break the ice. To get the two to focus on us and not just on the stag, or their own conversation. Also, to get them to drink more than they were. As a result, I quietly called Order to bring two cheap beers over. I figured it would be easy to sell them on something easy first as well as catch their attention with a robot they had never seen before.
Lowering down on the table, two bottles of beer were placed down gently. “Do you gentle colts require more refreshments?” Order asked them.
The two stallions looked at my drone with mouths agape. Both Cloudy and I helped refill their glasses while being careful not to spill the drinks.
I was not going to like it, but I had an in with the two now, and needed to make the most of it.
“You two look like you're getting thirsty with how enthralling your conversion is. I know that it’s making me… Thirsty.” I said as seductively as I reasonably could.
It was surprisingly hard with how shit these two stallions were.
The two slowly nodded and took the beers.
“Order, you can go now,” I told my drone as I got comfortable under the dumb stallions hold.
“Yes madam. I will return to my hospitality duties,” Order announced before flying away.
“That’s yours?” Stone asked as he looked down at me. I looked back with my best seductive gaze.
“Yes. It’s a recon drone, one of a kind out here in the wasteland.” I then fluttered my eyes a little.
Stone loosened his hold onto me then sipped on his new beer.
“With something like that, you can sell it and go find a better job,” Rock noted as he sipped on his new beer as well.
Cloudy didn’t waste time with this opportunity. She spoke up while they were not focused on their own hogshit. “So ... how has working at the Correctional Facility been going? Keeping little us all safe?”
Both Stone and Rock cringed a little then took a long swig of their beer.
“Can’t be that bad?” Cloudy asked with rising concern.
Rock sighed. “We got this crazy bitch in a few days ago. The mare is some ex-steal ranger paladin or something. She’s built like a brick wall. Don’t know why she was sent to work as part of the chain gang. General Calamity should have just ordered for her to be taken out back and shot.”
I raised an eyebrow since I remembered hearing about a steel rager not long ago.
“Steel Ranger Paladin? Are you talking about Spritz Cookie?” I asked
“Ya. That’s the bitches name,” Rock confirmed. “She’s already got the rest of the prison wrapped around her hoof. I always complained about how much Wardin Led Rain was a power-mad asshole, but after dealing with Spritz, I can finally see why we need him.”
“Bro, if you're agreeing with how Led Rain does things, maybe it’s time we get a transfer,” Stone suggested.
“Sounds rough. What makes them such a problem?” I pushed the topic as I made sure Rock’s glass stayed full.
A huff came from Stone. “The Warden has a god complex. You know how those old merk clanners are. If they live long enough, they start getting all religious. They probably just take too many blows to the head to get that batty. Because of that, if we're not completely obedient, he’s liable to beat us as badly as the prisoners.”
Stone took a gulp from his beer. “I do love how he lets us do what we want as long as it’s within his rules. Nothing is as high stakes as gambling with the convicts.”
Rock gave a less than pleasant chuckle. “The mares there are fun too. Since we keep ‘em separated from the stallions, there's always a thirsty bitch needing a fuck.”
A long annoyed huff came from Rock. “Well, used to be. Spritz somehow got all the prisoners all pissy with us with her incessant ranting.”
“Ranting?” Cloudy said inquisitive. She got the Rock to drink some more.
“How the NCR is just new Red Eye, or how president Gawdyna is no better than the Enclave. She never fucking stops,” Stone further explained.
“Makes me glad Gawdyna is stepping down in the next election. Hate to see her go, but I think she is doing to spit in the eye of all those who keep calling her a tyrant,” Rock figured with a grin on his face.
Stone raised his glass. “Aye. I heard that her biggest naysayers are now scrambling to find a good candidate to run against her successor. No fucking way Calamity is going to loos this election. He’s got the whole war hero and happy father shit going down.”
The two clinked glasses then gulped down the rest of their beer.
Cloudy quickly shared a quick seductive glance with me then looked back at Rock. “Say, you want to move onto something stronger for Calamity and your sanity?”
The two hoof draggers shared a glance, then grinned .
“Maybe if you do something for us first,” Stone offered, then pointed down to his lower end.
Cloudy smiled and moved out of Stone’s hold. “Sorry, you're going to have to ask one of the brothel mares for that. So, how about I give you an up-close show instead?”
She motioned for me to get closer. I scooted over.
Whispering in my ear, she kept a seductive gaze at the stallions. “Alright. You did a good job. They seem loose enough. We just need to get them to drink soming hard, and then they will start drinking till they're sick.”
Cloudy pulled me closer. Our cheeks touched. “So how about it? A shot of Lunashine each, and you get to see me give Harp her a lesson in tongue wrestling.”
There was a pause, then Rock leaned back. “Molest the little mare or-”
“I’m fucking down!” Stone blurted out.
“Bro!?” Rock looked over at his friend.
“Lesbians, Bro! Maybe they give us a shot if we play along.” Stone said excitedly.
Rock glared at Stone. “They’re baiting us, Bro! It’s literally their job. We can at least haggle for more.”
Stone nodded. “Right. Kiss and slap her ass, Cloudy!”
Before Rock could ask for more, Cloudy shouted, “Deal!”
Order again flew by. It dropped off a small jug of Lunashine. Cloudy poured the two stallions a shot glass each.
After a moment, the two of them shot back the drink. Both cringed a little as it likely burned its way down.
So, with their end of the deal done, it was our turn. Pulling me close, we both had one hoof on the table for support as we stood on our hind legs to make sure they could see. I could feel my face flush as I was muzzle to muzzle with Cloudy. I knew that more than just the two stallions were watching. I hesitated, pulling back. I found it a bit much with so many ponies watching. I could only pull back a little because Cloudy leaned forward.
Cloudy whispered to me. “Sorry, Harp. Maybe it's because I’ve been working here for a while, but I’ve found that I like to be watched.”
I sighed then whispered back, “You’re lucky that you’re impossible to resist.”
With our muzzles pressed together, our mouths opened up, we began. A cheer erupted from the ponies around us. With a slap on my rear from Cloudy, another cheer roared out.
It lasted a while. Cloudy got more aggressive than I expected, but never taking it too far. The two stallions, on the other hoof, were very much enthralled. A passing by working mare poured them another round of Lunashine, of which they gladly guzzled down the shot glasses.
It wasn't long until Stone and Rock were plastered. A brothel mare came around to lead them up to a room before checking to see how many caps they still had.
The two of us then took a break in the back, both to continue in private, then to cool down. It was both exciting, but also made me feel unsettled and a little panicked the more I thought about it.
I gave Cloudy a light punch on the shoulder. “Never do that again!”
“Why? You seemed to really enjoy it the other night when on stage,” Cloudy said as she wiggled her eyebrows.
“I was drunk!” I reminded her.
I watched as she lowered her ears and a bit of sham formed on her face. “S… sorry! I got carried away.”
Now feeling bad myself, I pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. “You get one. Just that. Okay?”
She kissed me back and grinned. “We will see about that.”
I just gave up then and there. I was too much in love to argue with her right now. “Is this why you wanted me not to get dressed before coming here?”
Cloudy forced a cutie look on her face that only a little filly could pull off, causing me to groan. “So that’s how it is. Trying to pull me into your depravity. You should be glad you're too lovable to hate.”
“So?” she said as she fluttered her eyes.
I sighed. “Fine… but nothing weird, and only here.”
She squealed in delight. “I always wanted a dancing partner on the pole!”
What little I could remember from the other night of me on stage came flashing back. It was the most unladylike thing I had ever done in my life.
“Ohhh no!” I protested in embarrassment, but then she gave me a good and long kiss. When she finally let me go, I felt… melty. “Alright, maybe another night.” I relented in a daze.
We spent a few minutes on the nearby couch just relaxing and not worrying about customers for a brief moment.
Rusty even joined us. She looked a bit winded as she drank a small bottle of water.
“I haven't felt like this since I was pregnant with Light Step. Maybe I’m getting too out of shape,” Rusty commented about herself.
“Seriously?” Cloudy said, raising an eyebrow at the light green mare.
Rusty just looked back, clearly not understanding. “What?”
Rolling her eyes, Cloudy lightly felt Rusty’s slightly expanded stomach. “You do know you are pregnant, right? We all can see it.”
Looking down at her stomach, then back at use, she laughed. “That’s what you think! It can't be. I got this oil from a merchant to prevent pregnancy, Python extract oil it’s called. Been taking a drop of it to keep that from happening. Truthfully, I’ve just been eating more than normal. One of my clients has been paying more for us to fuck regularly for a long time now, so I’ve had a few extra caps to spend on myself. That’s all.”
Cloudy face hoofed. “Why won't Heavy Hoof just get rid of Karat already. Well, have you been drinking more?”
“I was for a while, but then Star started nagging me all the time, so I haven't been lately. I know she’s being all responsible and fuck, but she doesn’t need to be a bitch about it.” Rusty Clever complained , sounding quite annoyed.
“Well, just listen to her for now. Trust me, you won’t regret it,” Cloudy informed her friend.
Rusty just shrugged. “Fucking whatever. I’ll just use ma booze caps on my little Light Step. She only gets prettier the more she grows!”
As we let Rusty gush over her daughter, an annoyed working mare trotted out from the main floor over to us. “Ya got a visitor, Cloudy, and new mare.”
Cloudy seemed to deflate a little. “Please don’t tell me it’s him.”
“It is, and please get him to move on as fast as possible. The other customers are getting uncomfortable,” the mare said before returning to the main floor.
“Who is she talking about, and why me as well?” I asked.
A long and very annoyed sigh came from Cloudy. “Who else would call for the two of us?”
I thought about it for a moment, then realized it could be no pony else. “Deputy False Cap?”
She nodded.
Now I gave a long annoyed sigh. “Fuck! Can we just not come out?”
“I wish we could, but False is the one who keeps the mayor from running the Ruffled Feathers out of town, so long as we play nice with him,” she explained.
We both sighed.
Stepping out, we quickly saw where Deputy False was, the fat stallion sitting by himself at a booth, sipping beer. Seeing him put me in a bad mood, but I managed to keep a pleasant smile on my face.
Taking a seat on either side of the deputy, he gave us both a grin and a tip of his glass.
Cloudy topped off his beer before being asked to. “So free tonight? Haven't you been busy lately?” she asked.
He laughed. “I have. The dumb fuck degenerates keep causing trouble. I had to convince Ashy to send one to the gallows just last night. I don’t know why she keeps sending them to that NCRCF. I say just kill them and be done with it,”
False took a gulp of his drink. Cloudy topped it off again. “But I heard that little Harp here got a job at this shithole, so how can I not pass up seeing her in some sexy number?”
Now I know who that random mare was likely talking to before. I should find out who she is and get Order to give her a good shock.
“I’m flattered, but shouldn't you be focused on the town? I heard there's a new chem problem going on right now,” I noted, hoping he’d then leave, but knowing he would likely not care.
He huffed out, sounding annoyed. “Talking about the fuckwit Slowtrot? That stallion clearly would have been dead if we weren't around keeping order. Turns out he pissed off half the slum merchants in town asking about cut chems. Ashy gave him a strike to the face was light compared to what I’d have done. Ponies should really know their place.”
Know their place
Hearing that from some low life commoner would have been funny if it was not insulting. Ponies knowing their place, if he was on the Marewaii Islands, he would be groveling in hopes I or my siblings would not just have him executed for incompetence. I’ve seen my fair share of corrupted security ponies, but they at least hid their corruption far better.
“Well, it’s good that you're keeping the order considering how chaotic things have been. I dread to find out how things would be if the deputies weren't around.” Cloudy spoke up.
“Oh, no doubt the ponies here would just go wild if we weren’t here to keep you all in line. Half of you are savages, after all” he said while glancing over at me.
I sighed, half annoyed, but also half in agreement. “Too many ponies here seem hungry for chaos. I can’t argue with that. I’m just glad I got friends to look after me.”
False pulled Cloudy and I closer to him. It was too close for my liking.
“Well, if you ever want to get out of this shithole, you can always stay with me. Both of you,” he invited as I averted my gaze to avoid eye contact.
“As flattered as I am, I actually have accommodations with the Gunrunners.” I informed him.
“I rather like my place. Sorry.” Cloudy added more diplomatically.
He let go of us and picked up his drink to take another sip. “Why must you two be so cruel? I have such a nice place, yet you rather stay in the shithole part of town? You do know my offer still stands for both of you. Be with me, and not only do you get to live there, but work there too.”
This time I topped off his drink, pouring the last of the beer in the bottle. “Sorry, but I may not be here all that long. I got good word, that more like myself are out west,” I told him.
“More Zonies? That must be a depressing place,” he said with a chuckle.
From what I heard earlier, he must be talking about how Zonies commonly commit suicide. The fact he found it funny made me disgusted.
“Maybe. I should still go seek them out, but thanks for your concern,” I said while trying to not gag.
“No problem, cutie,” he said as he slowly moved his glass around. Some of the beer sloshed out and landed on my dress. Not batting an eye, he continued. “I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve come to this conclusion; I’d love to see more cuties like you.”
I was glad it was not wine that hit my dress. Still, fucking apologize at least, you fucking asshole!
He got closer to me than I liked. “I’m sure some of them would fuck like it’s their last.”
I really held back from cringing as I smelt his putrid breath.
Cloudy loudly cleared her voice. Thank Celestia that it got his attention away from me.
“I was wondering, deputy False, have you found a new pony to be a graveyard digger yet? You did say that Ashy had executed a pony recently.” Cloudy asked, changing the topic.
He took a gulp of his drink. “Got some chem addicted pony to take the job. The fool has some connection over in the Hoof, so I got the Mayor to give him the job. He was part of some gannger clan who says they are related to royalty, not that I give two fucks, but he did have some pony send over a bunch of caps to ensure he was well taken care of. Payday for me, I always say.”
“Which royals?” I asked without thinking. Tensed up with the possibility of locating relatives of mine.
False shrugged as he took another sip of his drink. “He kept saying something about a Shining Shield ... or was it Armor? Fuck it! I don’t care.”
I deflated a little, no longer caring as much about false royals. “That would be ministry Mare Twilight’s elder brother Shining Armor, a Captain of the Royal Guard. He married Celestia's adopted daughter Cadence. She’s basically royalty in name only.”
“That’s a bit harsh, Harp. Wasn't Cadence an Alicorn?” Cloudy asked.
I swallowed the disgust of even the idea of a third alicorn, or her being part of my family. I was not surprised Cloudy was ignorant on history, but at least she did know of the names.
I chuckled. “No no. She was just a pegasus Celestia adopted. She did that a few times during her thousand year rule, but one of them was ever considered proper royalty. It was just propaganda that she was an Alicorn. I mean, you hear that Celestia has a daughter and of course the first thing you think is Alicorn.”
“Oh, aren't you a smarty pants?” False said as he held me a bit tighter and then sipped on his drink.
“You're put to such a waste out here. I know you can do better,” he said as he got too close to me. “If you don’t want to stay at my place, how about we just spend some time in the brothel? If you do that, maybe I’ll go talk to the Mayor. Get him to forgive you.”
I tried to squirm out of his grip, but he was stronger than me.
Cloudy again loudly cleared her voice to get his attention. “Deputy False, could you please not bother our new mare so much? At least give her a week before asking such things.”
He pulled Cloudy closer. “Oh, are you feeling jealous? You can come too. Maybe show me what you did with those stallions the first night you worked the floor!”
Heat filled my face as I felt anger boil within me. The fucking bastard really just brought that up!
A sharp whistle caught all three of our attention. We saw Star Charter standing in front of the table. She did not look happy at all. Her glare actually made me feel a bit afraid of her.
“Deputy, even if we skirt some rules for you, it does not mean we will just let you break them,” she said with a cold and stern voice.
False Capt let the two of us go and leaned back. “And what are you going to do?”
“Right now, not much. But trust me, if you try and do something stupid, I know Mayor Esspresso will have a hard time brushing your activities under the rug.”
There was a long pause, then False Slammed down the rest of his drink. “If any of them wish to come with me to the brothel, that’s none of your damn business. You hear me?!”
Star kept a flat annoyed look on her face. “If that's what you want, we got mares here who actually do work at the brothel. Just take one of them.”
“Already tried them all,” He bragged.
She looked at the two of us. “Either of you two want to do some brothel work?”
We both shook our heads.
“There you go,” Star declared as she glared back at False. “Not happening.”
She picked up the empty bottle of beer. “How about this? You go find a brothel mare you like and fuck her all night, and I get you a free bottle of our best beer. Two even.”
Again there was a pause. The two staring each other down.
“Alright. I’ll take one beer and leave the two cuties alone for the night,” False relented.
Star nodded and trotted away.
Once she was gone, False again pulled us close, “I don’t know why you even like that violent mare. You know she actually bit the Mariff Railright when they first met. From day one, she has been nothing but trouble. Why, I betcha she will get some pony killed. Probably kill them herself. A fucking timebomb, that one.”
We both kept our mouths shut. I just wanted this to just be over.
“Stopped Clock may be overzealous at times, but he is right about her. It would be better if we just took her out into the wasteland and shot her,” he continued, then pointed at her and said, “Bang!”
Star trotted over with a beer and placed it on the table. “Here you go. Now can you let them go.”
“Fine fine,” he said as he let us scoot away from him. “But can you come closer? I got something I need to tell you.”
Nodding, Star stepped in and leaned over the small table.
We watched as Falce picked up his beer bottle then poured it over Star’s head.
All of it.
Everypony in the tavern watched as the bottle emptied out, but none did or said anything.
“You really think your such tough shit, don’t you! You can do whatever you want and we will just let you step over us like you're the queen bitch. Well I’m sorry, but the world does not work that way anymore, Star. You do know the only reason Ashy has not strung you up already is because I have been protecting you from her all this fucking time. I protect you from her, and this is the shit I get? An arrogant bitch who doesn't know her Celestia damned place!” False ranted.
Star just stood there, glaring at him, but not even lifting a hoof.
False continued. “I know all the little things you get up to, Star. Every pony you have attacked, the shit you've stolen, the ponies you covered for. You're nothing more than an educated raider, and will never be more than that, Star!”
He glared down at her with a grin on his face. “What are you going to do? Touch me once and I tell Ashy everything, then you're dead! I’ll enjoy seeing that freak of a daughter look up at you as you hang in the wind.”
*Slap*
I could barely hear it as Cloudy ran her hoof across False’s face.
Everything became still. Even the music lowered its volume as False slowly looked over at Cloudy. Her hit had done no damage to him at all.
Tears had welled up in her eyes as she glared at the deputy with pure hate as she cried out, “Stop it! You don't know how wonderful she can-”
False punched Cloudy in the face.
She hit the ground without a sound except for a crack and a thud.
Still.
Unmoving
...
Just like Stratus Dancer.
...
I looked around, but everypony was looking away, pretending they had seen nothing.
Star was glaring up False, shaking, but not doing anything.
“Bitch! Know your place!” False growled with disdain in his voice.
“Fucking peasant” I muttered.
False craned his neck over to look at me. “What was that?”
My body was shaking. It was not just because I was scared. I know how it feels to be absolutely terrified, but this is different. I was angry. No, not just angry.
I was now absolutely pissed off!
“You fucking dirty ignorant peasant. This happens every time we give your kind any kind of power. It all goes to your head and you think you're Celestia's gift to pony kind.” I chastised him to his face.
“And what do you think you're going to do about it, you little slut?” he spat back at me.
“Order, give me my gun!” I demanded of my drone
It flew over and dropped the cloth-covered revolver. It was caught in my pipbucks magic.
We both stared at each other for a moment. He looked at my gun, still as sure of himself as before.
“Missy, do you even know how to use that?” False said with a cocked eyebrow as he pulled back his duster a bit to reveal his own revolver.
I squirted and Order cocked the gun with the pipbucks levitation spell.
“My father made sure I fired this gun over a hundred times before letting me keep it. I know what I’m doing,” I informed the low-life peasant.
I looked up at my drone. “And Order here, It has a strict command to protect me. Try anything and, even if I fail to kill you, it will.”
“I can even fire that enforcer for her if need be,” Order added.
“Shoot me, and this place burns down,” False threatened. He hadn't even flinched, as though he held all the cards. “Cutie, I’m one of Ashy’s three top deputies. She’s not going to care why I got shot, only that you needed to die. Pull that trigger, and you ensure that not only you will suffer, but everypony you know. Star here, Cloudy, the Gunrunners. Ashy is already on a knife's edge. Killing me will only push her to clean out this town of everypony she sees as a threat to the peace.”
False took a step closer. “So why don’t you put that little thing down before somepony gets hurt. I’ll even forget all this even happened. That is ... if you come over to my place and let me do. Whatever. I. Please.”
“Order, did you get all that?” I asked my drone.
“Most certainly, Madam,” it replied.
False looked confused.
“Order reply to the audio right after the deputy got the free beer.” I then told it.
“No visuals,” it added.
“Save it for later,” I told Order once again.
The drone began playing False’s rant to Star loudly in the now silent tavern so that everypony could hear it loud and clear. All the cocky confidence on False’s face drained away, leaving fear and anger.
“Order, that's enough!” I commanded the drone right before it got to where False hit Cloudy, not wanting to hear it again. “I can make sure that everypony with a pipbuck in town knows what you did. Actually, I wonder if I can get all of this put onto the radio and let the whole wasteland know what you did!”
He glared at me with fiery hatred.
“That’s right! Hate me, but I still have you by the balls,” I warned him.
There was a thud next to us and the racking of a shotgun. “What the fuck did you do, False Cap?”
Next to us was Waterspout standing on his two hind legs, towering over us with a shotgun.
False shrank back. “It was their fault!” he shouted as he pointed at Star and I.
The hippogriff just glared at False coldly. “Then why is my best mare on the ground?”
The stallion slowly looked at the motionless Cloudy, then at us, then at Waterspout.
“Get the fuck out,” Waterspout ordered coldly. “I will talk with Ashy about this in the morning.”
He didn’t say anything. He just backed away before running off with his tail between his legs.
With a sight I put the revolver into my corset and dashed over to Cloudy. Waterspout beat me to her and scooped up the unconscious mare as he tossed his shotgun to Star.
I opened up my mouth to explain what happened, but was stopped by his glare.
“I don’t fucking care! Tell me what happened after we made sure Cloudy is alright!” he told me as he flew to the back.
In the right or not, Harp still pulled a gun on a Deputy, an act not soon forgotten, or forgiven.
-Ruffled Feathers-
The image of the helpless Zony mare that the tavern had of Harp is now gone, replaced by a mare willing and able to defend herself and those around her. Several ponies will now think twice before messing with her, but others now see her as dangerous to the business with.
-Down Towners-
They have mixed feelings about Harp now. They understand why she challenged the Deputy, but now seeing her as a marked mare.
"The end of the Campaign of Conquest” as Harp Melody called it, came when Stable 50 finally made contact with the rest of the Islands. They found the remnants of Stable-Tec, now called Orthrus, along with what was left of the Equestria Government, simply called The Republic. With their help, the rest of the bandit clans and mutants were cleared out of the stations, thus allowing the Royal Family to simply govern.
Though many of the nobility were against it, the now old Queen Majesty agreed to let Orthrus to start their Mirage Pony treatment on the Gathering Islands. This stopped the birth of more mutants as well as helped the population of the island to finally grow properly." ~ Azure Dice
Waterspout placed Cloudy on the backroom couch and quickly ran to get a healing potion. He poured a bit on her face before forcing a bit more into her mouth. I could see the damage on her face slowly fix itself, but it wasn't perfect. A little bit of bruising remained.
An annoyed sigh came from Waterspout as he fed a bit more healing potion to Cloudy. “If I knew that Elements of Harmony would lower the effectiveness of healing potions, I’d have buried my stock deep underground.”
Holding onto Cloudy’s hoof, a thought of what I could have done to stop this ran through my head. It was my fault in the first place. It’s always my fault! By working here, I, of course, would have attracted the attention of that asshole peasant. “She will be okay… right?”
Waterspout grimaced. “I hope so. She took a blow to the head. That can cause damage that healing potions can't simply just fix. We should probably take her to The Followers in the morning to make sure she is fine.
“And she was due to perform later, too,” he added with a frustrated sigh.
“Is that all you actually care about?!” I growled.
He gave me a cold glare that sent a shiver down my spine. “Miss Harp Melody, you do know that if she can't work, then she can't get paid. My concern for this business is directly tied with her ability to buy food for herself. So ya, it’s all I care about, and that includes my best mare being happy and healthy.”
With ears lowered, I felt... deflated. “S… Sorry.”
Finishing giving Cloudy the rest of the healing potion, Waterspout corked it and put it to the side before placing a claw on her neck. “You should be. Pulling a gun out like that ... if there was a shootout, who knows how many would have gotten hurt or killed.”
After a moment, he took his claw off her neck. “Looks like she will be fine. Physically, at least. Now, before any of you ponies go on about how False was in the wrong, please remember none of us here has any control over that son of a radroach, so just focus on Cloudy.”
He then huffed in annoyance. “Anyways, I’ll go talk to the mayor about this first before seeing Ashy. No matter how good he is at sweet-talking, the mayor still cares more about his reputation and the bottom line. Any incident like this is not going to reflect well on the town. There’s too many witnesses.”
A groan came from Star Charter as she patted down her beer-soaked mane with a rag.
“I know at least ten ponies willing to shoot that fucker for enough caps,” Star suggests.
“And I know that most of those ponies will take half the caps and pay somepony else to do it, and spend the other half on chem.” Waterspout countered.
“Right, right. Last time somepony put a hit on Ashy, the caps actually went through four hitponies. That fourth pony was just some bumbling oaf who actually challenged her to a shootout at noon,” Star added.
“And Ashy was able to go up the line to find out who originally paid the hit. Five bodies were swinging from the gallows that night.” Waterspout said with a sigh as he picked up his shotgun and trotted back to his office.
I felt Cloudy moved a little. Her eyes were slowly opening.
“She’s awake!” I yelled.
Waterspout poked his head over. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. If she was out for much longer, then it could have been bad. Just make sure she stays awake.”
Cloudy looked up at me as I held onto her hoof. “Did something happen?”
She then winced, pulling her other hoof over where False had hit her. “What hit me?”
“Somepony that should be taken out back and beaten like an ill-tempered gecko, that's what,” Star grumbled angrily.
As Cloudy sat up. I gave her a hug, feeling relieved that she seemed fine. “There was… an incident with False Cap. He hit you.”
There was a momentarily silent pause before Cloudy nodded. “I… think I remember something like that. It’s still hazy, and I got this ringing in my ear.”
Pulling back, I could see that, on her confused face, tears were forming in her eyes.
“Oh sweetie! It’s going to be fine.” Star said as she trotted over and gave Cloudy a hug. “You're safe and we're here for you.”
We let her cry for several minutes as we held onto her. The fun-loving and alluring mare now felt so small and fragile.
As much as I was relieved that she was fine, I couldn't help but think of ways to get back at False. Not something so simple as a beating or loss of his positions. That was for ponies who could still return to being productive members of society. Knocking them down so they can build themselves back up.
What I wanted to do was install fear to his core. Something he would never be able to forget or truly recover from.
The royal guard’s favorite interrogation technique involved food, water, and sleep deprivation along with random beatings. If done long enough, the pony would be left mentally scarred.
I know that my eldest sister was a fan of removing the hooves and making the pony march. I never saw it myself, but she would tell me about it to give me nightmares. The pain would cause the pony to cry and wail until they passed out. Even after the hooves regrow, the pain only dulls but never goes away.
Then again, mother knew best. Castration and the removal of any healthy origins they could live without. She would only do this when there was more than one pony to torment, giving the others the opportunity to confess or suffer the same fate.
“It’s okay, Harp,” Cloudy said as she pulled me into her chest, “It’s okay.”
I don't know why, but tears also welled up from my eyes. “I thought I lost you! I thought… I thought I lost somepony I cared about again,” I said as I choked back a sob.
She patted me on the head as the smell of cheap perfume filled my nose. “Gees, and weren't you the one who said that we’ve only known each other for a few days?” Cloudy reminded me.
We stayed in each other's hooves for several minutes. Star trotted off to wash the beer out of her mane. It was comforting and put my mind at ease. Thought about tormenting False still ran through my head, but each time they seemed too good for him and too much effort on my part. Eventually I just let it go, fingering it was better to see what happens later. Maybe I’ll come up with a way to punish him after.
When Star had returned, I couldn't help but be shocked how good she looked with a wet mane. It was wavy like seaweed. It had a shine to it that reminded me of the crystal clear waters of my home. Yet, something about how her wet mane hung to her face, hiding it, which made her appear like a predator waiting for her prey to come near.
“What?” Star said as she again started padding her mane down.
“N… nothing. You just look good with a wet mane. That’s all,” I replied.
A sharp jab to my side from Cloudy got my attention.
“Don’t be going after other mares when you have me,” she pouted, then chuckled. “But ya. I don’t know why, but Star is just stunning when drenched. There was one time she got caught in a sudden downpour before going out on stage. The customers were absolutely silent watching her.”
Waterspout trotted over to us then passed a rag and a vile of healing potion to Cloudy. “I’m not going to ask you to go out on stage, but if you're feeling good for work, go help the bartender. I’ll also pay you for the wage lost, so don’t worry about the caps. I’m going to make sure to wring those lost caps out of False.”
Cloudy applied some of the healing potions to her bruise, wincing a little. “Thanks, boss, but I really shouldn't have stepped in like that.”
The hippogriff looked over at a still pissed Star, then back to Cloudy with a stern look. “You are absolutely right, Cloudy Sunrise! A mare like you does not have the strength to give or take a hit. Not like Star. So, the next time someone pushing Star’s buttons like that, go get me.”
He again looked over at Star. “You, on the other hoof, handled it… as well as we can reasonably expect. Frankly, if he was any other pony, I’d let you break all his legs.”
Waterspout’s eyes shifted again, landing on me. He reached out with his claw and flicked me on the head. “But you are an idiot! I know I already said this, but pulling a fucking weapon out, a gun no less, fucking Tartarus! I know I let you girls defend yourselves, but not at the risk of a shitstorm king shootout!”
He grabbed me by the muzzle, holding it shut hard. “I’ll say this once, as I know you're smart enough to listen the first time. If you ever pull that shit again, make sure you're ready to die or leave town forever. You put not only my business in danger, but all my employees at risk too, and a lot of them know ponies who don’t care about Ashy’s justice. So, next time you want to play hero, do it off the clock and go somewhere else.”
His claw let go of my muzzle. “You understand?”
“Crystal,” I said, looking him in the eye. “Next time I’ll make sure this place is not involved.”
For a moment we stared at each other, then he nodded. “Right. As long as you remember that, you will be fine. But…”
I raised an eyebrow, “But what?”
“But you still need to make up for the commotion you caused. You did spook several customers.” Waterspout pointed out. I felt like I was going to not like what he was going to suggest next.
“Boss, can’t you let her off?” Cloudy spoke up.
He shook his head. “No. An example has to be made. Even if I can pin this shit all on False, Ashy is still going to want some sort of punishment for Harp. If we do it here and now, that should be enough to appease her.”
“What kind of punishment?” I asked, feeling dread wash over me.
Tapping his beak, Waterspout sized me up with his eyes. “I think we should take this discussion to my office.”
I nodded. I was about to follow until Cloudy held onto me tighter. Star also gave the boss a less than pleasant look.
The hippogriff sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll explain it to her here.” He looked down at me with a serious stare. “I’ll require you to do special work to make up for the trouble. If you want it to be easy, I can put you up for auction for the brothel. Half your earnings will go to paying off Espresso.”
Cloudy shoved her hoof in front of me. “Like that’s ever going to fucking happen!”
“That’s up to Harp, not you.” Waterspout said coldly.
I thought about it for a moment, not even sure how I’d even feel about it, but I did know that the idea of ponies I didn’t know doing whatever with me filled me with absolute disgust.
Shaking my head, I gave my answer. “No. I’m not going to whore myself out, and absolutely not because of that bastard False.”
Waterspout nodded. “Thought as much. Then how about this; for free, you can put on a special show later tonight to really get our customers in the mood for the brothel, or you can put on a dance. You’ll have to wear a special outfit and be out there until the customers demand you leave.”
I really didn’t like the sound of going on stage.
“What a special show?” I asked.
Star spoke up as she slowly shook her head. “In short, you simulate sex in front of the customers and the brothel workers hang over them like vultures. You normally get a small cut from the brothel mares for it, so several new mares will do it to make a quick cap. Unfortunately, they rarely understand how long some customers will just stick around to watch, so unless you're into that, it can be excruciatingly humiliating.”
She gave Waterspout another annoyed glance. “I know what you're trying to do, and no, she is not going into the brothel, so stop playing this game!”
“Wait, what are you talking about? Didn’t he agree to not push the brothel?” I asked.
I felt Cloudy hold me from behind and said. “He may care about us working mares, but don’t ever let your guard down around him.”
Star nodded. “He is trying to give you two time consuming and clearly embarrassing options to make you think the Brothel is actually the best of the three.”
I was missing something here, so I asked. “What's wrong with the pole dancing?”
Waterspout explained. “The special outfit you would wear, if you choose the stage, is magical.”
“It’s the saddalarabian dancing slave dress he picked up long ago,” Cloudy said, holding me a bit tighter. From the corner of my eye, I could see a slight smile.
Waterspout continued to explain. “It’s made of an enchanted silk and gold that makes whoever wears it dance against their will. Without somepony to stop it, it’s possible to dance yourself to death.”
I was seeing the logic. As slimy as it was and how much it sickens me, I understood my options.
The problem with the special show is, as Star said, there's no guarantee that it will be quick. Worse, if it goes on for long enough, a mare could still give up and choose the brothel. I also already didn’t like not having my clothes on and Waterspout knew it. This option was a trap.
As for the pole dancing, there's a good chance it could last all night, possibly become torture for me. It would be like performing several ballet performances in a row.
Memories of my pirouette instructions came flooding in. My instructor was way too into teaching princesses how to dance and use harsh disciplinary methods. It even gave me nightmares for a year.
I suddenly felt faint and lost my balance.
Cloudy held onto me. “Are you okay, Harp?”
I took a moment to regain my composure and smiled. “I’m fine. Just remembered something I rather not have.”
So, with how awful those two choices were, the brothel sounded like the easy solution. Like what I was told, a mare's first time in there often nets them a lot of caps. On top of that, I was still young, never slept with a stallion, and as those random mares said before, I was exotic.
Still, I really didn’t like the idea of sleeping with some pony I don’t know. It might be fine with a mare. But, if it’s a stallion, I don’t even know how it would feel like or how I would feel about it.
I knew one thing for certain, and that was Cloudy didn’t want to share me. I don’t know how long this relationship was going to last. I didn’t even know if we were just caught up in passion and next week we will feel nothing for each other. Right now I wanted to just stay with her and have no pony else with me.
“Alright. I’ll put on the slave dress,” I decided.
Again, Cloudy held tightly on me. “You can just not do any of it. Just trot away.”
I shook my head. “No. Waterspout is right. I should have held my cool. If I don’t do something to help the tavern, and at least make some penance, then I’m no better than that fat piece of hogshit.”
Waterspout looked a bit dejected. “I’ll go get the dress, but if you ever want to make those extra caps, just tell me. I’ll get a special room ready for you.”
“Fuck off, boss,” Cloudy shouted.
I looked at Star who had returned to padding her mane down. “Say, Star, did you ever do any of that?”
She chuckled. “Well, I already told you, I never do brothel work. The same goes for the special show. If Bridget ever found out about my job here, I want to at least say I never did that stuff and not lie.”
“And the slave dress?” I probed.
She tried to hide a smile from behind her hoof as she looked away. “Oh, how do you think I learned to dance so well?”
“What?” I said.
“Waterspout suggested it when I first started, and it became my theme for the first few months. Now, I just do it once a month for a party hour,” she explained.
“Why? Shouldn't that, like, hurt?!” I exclaimed.
She shrugged. “It hurt for a while, but after a month, you get used to it.”
A huff came from Cloudy. “I don’t know how you do it, Star. I was out all the next day the one time I threw that damn thing on.”
Popping his head out from his office, Waterspout spoke up. “Go get yourself freshened up before getting redressed.”
With a sigh and a nod, I did just that, accepting my fate.
When I finally saw the dress, I didn’t think it would look so beautiful. It was made from fine transparent silk in a vibrant red, all held together with several gold rings. The dress was decorated with what looked like ancient gold coins from saddalarabia that shined like they were still new. More interesting was the engraved gold cuffs and collar that radiated with magic.
It was a magic much like a talisman, but stronger than I had ever seen. It seemingly flickered as though it was alive. I figured I could suppress its effects a little with my own magic, but when I put it on, it grabbed hold of me. Drawing magic out of it only made its hold on me stronger. Giving it magic clearly fed it.
Whatever this magic was, I had no ability to resist it at all.
Fortunately, they didn’t close the collar in the dressing room, though I could feel it trying to close itself on me.
“Say, Waterspout, where did you get this dress?” I asked the older hippogriff.
A wicked grin formed on his face. “I got involved in tomb raiding in my youth. I found this in the burial chamber of some ancient warlord. From the inscriptions, it seemed that he liked to execute mares by having them dance to death for his amusement. When he died, they put the dress on his wife and locked her in the tomb with his corps.”
Cloudy shivered in disgust. Star just shrugged.
“So a standard nobility burial,” I said flatly.
Waterspout patted me on the shoulder. “You, Harp, clearly grew up around powerful ponies for that to be standard.”
With myself prepared, I was escorted to the stage by Star where plenty of ponies began cheering, and a few others looked confused.
“Alright, our wonderful guests, we got a special treat for you,” Star shouted over the now lowered music. “For all our regulars, you know what's about to happen. For the new company, count yourselves lucky. Now, for your enjoyment, and as an apology for the shit show earlier, Harp Melody will be performing the saddalaraibian slave dance.”
The music picked up, and Star shut the collar before hopping off stage.
The magic now wrapped itself around me as I began to lose control of my body. I thought I’d fall over, but I stayed standing. I was only able to move my eyes.
Slowly at first, my body moved on its own, swaying with the music. Then I began trotting around the pole, eventually placing a hoof on it and standing on two hooves. My hips began to shake, and shake, almost nonstop. My hips only gave it a break when my body decided to do some sexual pose, making me glad that my backside was well covered by the dress.
I was forced to stand on the tips of my hooves several times during the dance. This was something I had already trained to do when I was younger, so it was not the problem for me. But, after several minutes of this, by fuck were my hips starting to hurt!
A crowd of ponies started to form to watch me. They seemed to be in a trance, but it was hard to tell because of not having any control over my own head.
I lost track of time. The burning of my mussels only got worse as the dance went on. I at least had solace in attempting to feel the magic holding me, though it was hard to feel it when the collar was on. But, now that I was partially used to this and didn’t need to control my own body, I put as much mental effort into studying what this dress was.
It might have been because of it controlling me, but it responded less to my attempts to probe it with my magic, as though it cared more about controlling my body. Closing my eyes as I felt it, I could make out a shape in my mind. It was something more than just a spell.
A mare, much bigger than me, slender and graceful.
This was not a talisman, nor a spell, it was a pony. A saddalarbian. It was faint, but this dress had a similar feeling to that of a pony, yet lacking the feeling of life. It was stagnant like a ghoul, but without the feeling of chaotic or necrotic magic. Strangely, it felt... happy.
Opening my eyes, I was… not in the Ruffled Feathers, but in some large decorated tent. Strange music was playing particularly vigorously at me, as a tall and thin ponies watched me dance. The outfits they wore reminded me of the portrait of a saddalaribian prince my family kept in our vault.
As I danced, I looked over to see several other dancers try to get the sultan's attention, but he had only eyes for me and my dance. They can wallow in their own jealousy, for I was the greatest dancer in all the land, and I will be till the day I die.
All I wanted to do was dance. I will dance for the sultan, then maybe show the world itself my splendor.
...
“Harp! Wake up!” Cloudy said frantically.
Opening my eyes again, I found myself on the couch. My head was on Cloudy’s lap.
I felt confused. “Uhh, what happened? I was just dancing a moment ago.”
“You were, but then you passed out after a few hours,” Cloudy informed me.
“Hours!?” I said in shock.
“Well, we did say that it would make you dance forever,” she reminded me.
I tried to get up, but my body screamed at me in pain. “Ow…” I whimpered.
Cloudy patted me on the head. “There, there. It will be alright.” She looked over at Waterspout’s office and spoke up. “She’s awake, boss.”
After a moment, the older hippogriff trotted out, holding a glass of water.
Passing it to me, he then pulled out a small jar filled with tablets. He passed several to me. “Take this for the pain. You clearly need it.”
“Is this normal?” I asked.
If this pain was normal, then maybe the brothel was not a bad idea after all. I just need to find some wealthy mare before hoof.
“Some pain is normal, but you went wild out there,” he told me as he passed over the glass of water. “You practically became another pony out there. Normally, like with Star, you would put on a series of dances that would rotate. Lots of hip-shaking, several seductive bending, the normal. It catches the eyes of the customers and makes it easier for my mares to get them to drink more.”
“But?” I spoke up before taking the pills and water. I spilled some due to my poor sore muscles not wanting to move right.
He answered, “But you started doing dances I had never seen before, and with a lot more energy. It really got every ponies attention, as though you put a spell on them. Because of that, we all lost track of how long you had been out there. When Star had gone to check on you, she found you passed while still dancing.”
I thought about it for a moment, remembering what I saw, and what I felt. I was certain now that this was not just magical, but possessed by a dancer from long ago. It was a strange sensation, feeling that I was her, even thinking I was. The magic I felt was still fresh in my mind. I couldn't get it out, as though whoever she was, she wanted me to forever remember her, and that she was the world's greatest dancer. Unfortunately, I could not recall ever hearing the name of the mare.
Thinking about it, I decided to not tell the others that the dress was actually possessed by some ancient ghost, whoever she was. At least she was not malicious. It’s just that she loved to dance more than life itself. It would be a shame if it got locked away again.
“I think I might have just been more susceptible to whatever magic it was. That’s probably it.” I half lied.
Waterspout scratch his beak. “Maybe. I’ve met a few creatures who are just more affected by magic than others. Saw one pony that basically just exploded when they touched a killing joke vine. Chunks were blown everywhere. If you're like that, you should be really careful out there. The horror stories know no bounds about such things.”
When I was finished with the water, he took the glass from me. “Alight. Just sit there and wait for Star to finish her show. I want her to make sure you two get home safely.”
Cloudy and I watched him go back to his office and shut the door. As we snuggled, I came to the realization that I was naked, but I was too sore to care right now.
Some time passed, and Star came to the back of the tavern where we put our work clothes away. From there, I got dressed. Cloudy complained a little, but I was about done being exposed for the night. I just wanted to go straight to bed.
With Order lighting our way, I found that New Appaloosa was surprisingly cold at night. It was as though, without the light, the heat had been drained away, leaving nothing but a cold that felt like death. I didn’t like it since I was used to living underground where it was rarely ever cold. At least I had clothes on to keep me warm, which, as a result, got Cloudy to stick as close to me as possible.
The ambiance of the town was quiet. Aside from the random pony yelling or a glass bottle breaking, it was practically still. I imagine that there would still be ponies mulling about, some thief watching us from the shadows, or a drunkard stumbling about.
Everything was too still. I could feel it.
“Hold up, girls,” Star called out, her ears having gone flat. After that, she shouted, “COME THE FUCK OUT! I KNOW YOU’RE UP TO NO GOOD AND I REALLY NEED TO BREAK SOMEPONY’S BONES TONIGHT!”
There was a breeze as we stood there for several seconds, waiting for a reply.
A set of eyes shined back at us.
“Well, look at that. Here I was hoping I’d get the drop on ya mares,” a unicorn stallion in rags stepped out into Order’s light. His eyes were pinpricks surrounded by yellow, and the rest of his face was painted white to form a skull.
“And do what? Beg for some caps to buy chems with?” Star mocked him.
He smiled, showing his yellow rotting teeth. “Oh, something like that.”
The stallion whistled. Over a dozen ponies stepped out of the shadows, surrounding us. Many of them were in crude armor made from scrap which had an overused application of spikes. They also sported the white skull face paint.
“Remember, our sponsor wants the pink one alive, but I want the other two for myself. Rough them up if you must, but don’t ya fucking kill ‘em. I’ll even let one of ya have first dibs on the pegasus,” he said. Shortly later, the other ponies rushed in.
Cloudy and I got close to Star who gave a hoof jab to the first pony to get close to us, knocking them into another pony.
I fumbled to get my revolver out of my jacket and aim, but even with my pipbuck levitation spell, my body was just too sore to do much of anything right now.
A rather haggard-looking mare ran up on Cloudy and I. Her eyes were wild and yellowed with chem abuse. Cloudy slashed the foul pony with her knife, but the mare didn’t flinch. She just smiled with a bloody mouth.
The attacker stopped as Order sent a bolt of energy at her. It knocked her to the ground as a smoldering burnt pony.
Three more ponies came upon us. I looked back at Star for help. She currently had two ponies on top of her, trying to pull her down, and two more were joining in.
“Don’t resist! You two have pretty faces. I’d hate it if I have to rearrange them,” one of the ponies said as he grabbed onto me. His breath was putride as though he was rotting from within.
“Order!” I shouted, but only to see a net get thrown over it. My drone got tugged to the ground with a thud.
Looking over to Cloudy, they already had her on the ground. A look of terror was in her eyes. One of them pulled out a rope.
Star had been overpowered as well, but she had one of their hooves in her mouth and was spilling a lot of blood.
I looked back at the first stallion and shouted, “WHO ARE YOU?!”
“YOU’LL KNOW SOON ENOUGH, MY LITTLE SLAVE!” he shouted back.
Looking around, I knew there were ponies all around us, watching us, but why has no pony done anything? Did they not care, or were they paid to be quiet?
Damnit, why won’t somepony help us!
As a second dirty pony grabbed me. This one was a unicorn levitating a gag.
Then, out of nowhere, like a violent gust of wind, both of my captors and I were knocked to the ground. Getting up, I noticed that, next to the downed attacker was the pegasus mare Thunder Crack in her Desperado black vest. She looked really pissed.
“Who fucking told ya raiders you can go doing shit with us around?” Thunder Crack asked loudly.
“Kill the gangger!” the first stallion yelled, but then got tackled by a very large stallion.
From the shadows, several more Desperados charged out and began fighting the raiders. Slashed Rubber had a rusty machete and Grease Gears was using a tire iron.
The fight was brutal and quick with the raiders who were holding down Star and Cloudy unable to put up a fight fast enough. The Desperados were clearly stronger and more vicious, taking the raider’s hits just so that they could hit them back harder.
“FUCK! LET’S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” the first raider shouted.
With a flash of light that blinded everypony, the raiders had vanished, only leaving a few rusty weapons and several trails of blood behind.
The Desperados didn’t give chase, letting them get away.
After another moment, the largest of the Desperados trotted up to us.
“You alright? I’m glad we got back here in time.” It was the pony that had talked with us at the Stable-Tec factory, Crankshaft.
Star brushed herself off after using a bit of dust to get some blood out of her fur. “In time, but how the fuck did you know we were under attack?”
Crankshaft pulled out a rag and hoofed it over to Star. “Some asshole asked one of ours to do an under the law job. They told them to fuck off since as we’re trying to play nice out here. Still, luckily they listened in, and whoever it was wanted to abduct a mare. Your name was dropped, Harp. When they told me, I had a small crew rush over to make sure you're safe.”
Great! I was now having pony nappers after me. I was too tired for this shit right now as well as too sore. I wanted to blame False for this, but there were two other ponies who wanted to take me, and I could see them doing this as well. It was all too frustrating and frightening.
“But why come and save me?” I asked the Desperado.
He thought about it for a moment, but then shrugged. “We got our own honor and shit, and you're related to a good deal we're getting, so you're under our protection. Technical.”
“Then thank you! I owe you a debt for saving me from whoever they were,” I told Crankshaft.
“Midnight Raiders. It has to be them,” Star said with confidence. “They are the only active raiders still in this region. The fuckers are so sneaky that we only know rumors about them.” She spat on the ground.
Cloudy held onto me tight, trembling. “I heard that their actually evil spirits of the raiders that the Lightbinger killed and banished to the shadows.”
I pulled her in closer. “Spirits or not, they were driven off. We should be safe now.”
“I wouldn't put my caps on it,” Crankshaft cautioned. “We will escort you mares home to make sure they don’t try for round two tonight.”
With several Desperados around us, I felt more at ease as we trotted to Cloudy’s place. At first I was going to just drop her off and then go back to the Gunrunners, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone, so I decided to stay with her for what was left of the night. Her place was sturdy and had a big fucking bar lock to keep the door shut, so I was sure it was safe there.
I still wanted to figure out who sent these Midnight Raiders after us, but I was too fucking tired and too fucking sore to do much about it. I doubted I could do much about it anyways, but I knew I was going to get Order some fucking guns.
As my head rested on Cloudy’s chest, my thoughts dulled and sleep took me.
Today was way too much, and in my dreams, I could feel eyes following me wherever I went. Greedy hooves reached out to take me away, yet none could get me.
In my dream, a headless mare in black armor stood by me, keeping the nightmare at bay as I danced.
The flying radio called a sprite bot cracked, announcing the beginning of the DJ’s message of the day. Thought I was sure it would be the same as yesterday.
"Hello every pony. This is DJ Pon3. Still here. Still fighting the good fight. I hope you are too."
The sprite bot cracked again, cutting off the radio signal. It even stopped in place. It turned to a pony hiding behind a rock. He was a dirty brown pony with a dark blond mane that looked like it had a bad run-in with a lot of fire.
It was a strange behavior for something mechanical, so I decided to just sit and observe.
“Hello, Gin Fizz,” the robot spoke in a deep tinny voice.
The pony practically jumped out of his skin, then dashed to the ground.
“Are you trying to kill me? Shut the fuck up!” Gin whispered.
“Don’t worry. The raiders are elsewhere right now. You're safe,” the robot informed Gin.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Gin cocked an eyebrow at the bot. “Hey, ain’t ya that watcher fella from Lightbringer story? I heard ya were Ministry Mare Twilight’s pet dragon or something.”
Somehow the robot looked a bit annoyed.
“I was her little brother, not her pet!” It corrected Gin.
“Oh. Sorry. But ... why are ya talking to me?” Gin asked.
“Your friends, they’re still captured by the raiders. I know how you can save them,” Watcher told him then looked over in the distance. “Not far from here there's a sewer that connects to their base. Take it while the raiders are out looking for you and you should be able to get to them.”
Gin chuckled nervously. “Calling ‘em friends is a bit much, ya know. More ponies who I just need ta run faster to survive than anything.”
Watcher lower it’s… eyes? Well, it looked very annoyed at the pont. I was surprised that it could even do that with what little ability it had to move its parts.
“Well, now you’re by yourself, and if the raiders even see you, you won’t have a pony to run faster, now won’t you?” it chastised Gin.
Gin’s eyes shifted. “But I’m no sneak, or much a fighter. They’ll catch me if I go there. If that happens then we all die.”
I had a feeling that I could help, and with how the strange sprite bot knew things, it figured I could help.
“Excuse me,” I interjected as I took off my sprite bot helmet, “maybe I could help.”
Gin screamed loud enough to may my sensory appendages hurt. Following that, he ran off to the sewer that the watcher told him to go to.
The sprite bot also looked surprised. “What… are you? And how long have you been here?”
“I guess I’m what’s called a Sparkle-Lurker. I’ve been following that spright bot for a few days now.” I informed this Watcher.
There was a pause before Watcher asked another question. “And where did you come from?”
This inquisitiveness was a good sign. Well, at least I hoped it was a good sign. From my experience, inquisitive people were far less likely to kill you on the spot, but that didn’t mean they won't try and kill me later.
“I’m from another world. I fell through some warp portal on my side, got lost, then ended up in this land of ponies.” I explained.
Again it paused. “Please don’t tell me you're from Canterlot High?”
I shook my head. “Don’t know what that is.”
A sigh came from the bot. “Right. Let's say I am experienced with dimensional travel.”
I breathed a sigh of relief since I have found someone who might be able to help me raise my spirits a bit. “What can you tell me that you know? Frankly, even though I was given the explanation of tears in the fabric of reality, it still confounds me. Walking through a door should not send you to different worlds.”
Watcher paused for a moment... “Well, it would not hurt to at least share what I know. You see, Caterlot housed several magical mirrors that connected to parallel worlds that mirrored this one. Sometimes they led to radically different worlds where creatures walking on two legs and wore a lot of clothes. Humas, I think they're called.”
“Humans,” I corrected him. “Tricky folk. Surprised I haven't seen any here.”
“Because they turn into ponies if they come here,” Watcher informed me. “Magic is… well ... confusing, to say the least. But, if you use the mirror, you take on a different form on the other side. That is, unless the other world is the same as it is here. Don’t ask me why. I’m not an acano scientist.”
Looking at my hoof-like appendages, it made me glad that I was already partially quadrapedic before coming here, but I still missed my claws.
“I understand. Would you be so kind as to point me to this Canterlot, then? Even if it doesn't take me home, just being near one of these mirrors may help a friend of mine find me.” I requested politely.
The sprite bot turns and bobs at a mountain with a large ruin on it. From the few surviving buildings, I could tell it once was a city. Maybe even a palace. Likely was a sight to behold. Now it was nothing but a long trail of rubble that extended down the mountain.
“Sorry, but Canterlot was destroyed eleven years ago by the enclave, along with most of the treasure it held. The NCR managed to scavenge some of the lost artifacts, but there's no way the mirrors survived any of that,” Watcher explained.
The sprite turns back to me. Somehow it looks sad. “I always wanted to return there, to go home…” The bot shook side to side. I could hear the watcher taking a deep breath. “Sorry. Got stuck in an old memory.”
“Well, if there are any mirrors left, then they're hidden away in places I don’t know. Again, I’m sorry.” He added.
I did my best to smile, hoping to put whoever Watcher was at ease. “Oh, don’t apologize. I’m just glad that this world at least has such magic. But, if you still want to help, can you point me in the direction that takes me somewhere safer? A place that has water would be best. I need to restock on traveling rations before I can go look for that young mare.”
“A young mare? Why? Who?” he asked.
“Harp Melody, to be exact. I met her inside a time-space warp before falling here. She seemed to know what might have caused the distortion. Right now, she’s my best lead to finding a way home,” I explained.
Watcher floated in silence for a moment. “This sounds familiar.”
The robot then nodded “Here, I’ll program this bot to take you someplace nearby that has what you need, and I’ll ask a friend of mine there about this Harp Melody.”
I gave the robot a little bow “Thank you Mister Watcher.”
With that, the sprite bot began playing music again and floated off in a new direction.
Putting my sprite bot helmet back on, I began following the bot much like I had before, but now with a real direction.
"When the subject of chems came up, it became clear that they were talking about drugs and narcotics. With a mix of chemistry and a bit of alchemy, the chem of Equestria are drugs that can do many things not normally possible. Most of the time they are just painkillers and steroids, but some chems can make you smarter, stronger, or cause magical effects like regenerating limbs and predicting the future.
As Star Charter explained, all chems are addictive with the risk always greatly outweighing the reward." ~ Azure Dice
Jali’s free clinic was far busser this morning than normal. Cloudy was getting checked by Jali to make sure she was fine. Harp was with Cloudy as suppot. The two not wanting to separate from each other just yet. Then there was Slowtrot with the two Desperados mares.
It seemed that one mare, Live Axle, suffered from something called catharsis disorder, which sounds like she was an emotional time bomb. Mom was helping the mare talk it out, as it seemed to require a pony to share their feelings, and not just medication.
The other mare, Dead Axle, was just spending time messing with Jali’s busted electronics. Every now and then she gave her sister a verbal jab.
I was still pissed because I got attacked by raiders, getting overpowered by them before I could properly fight back. If I was not already tired from work and had a proper weapon on me, I’d have broken open a few skulls. Fuck Topsoil and the Sheriff! Just because I was “Involved” in the gravedigger’s death, they didn’t want me trotting around openly armed.
I was getting sick of all their rules meant to hold me down.
The mare with the orange coat and blond mane trotted up to me. Dead Axle was her name. “Hey, you're that mare that bit a chunk out of Gear Shift’s leg, ain’t ya?”
I had to think back to recall the most recent pony I had bitten. It turns out it was one of the Deparados the gravedigger Topsoil had hired to attack me.
“Right, so that’s what the idiot’s name was. How is he doing?” I asked casually.
Dead shrugged. “He and his sis got a beating for taking an unapproved job. The elder was glad it was not some setup, but the fucking sherif had been giving us the side-eye ever since then.”
I raised an eyebrow as I asked, “A Setup?”
She sighed. “Ya. It happens sometimes. A pony throws caps at us just to lure us into traps. When you control as much territory as us, you make enemies by just existing. I mean, we do have ponies we have screwed over, but that’s just gangger politics. It’s just like the NCR and New Appaloosa. They are no different.”
“Too true,” Harp spoke up as she trotted over. “Back home, even when things were considered peaceful, there was still a lot of fighting between the different powers. Fortunately my Island and the Island the Republic were on didn’t have any connected tunnels between them, otherwise it would have become a never ending war. Orthrus really did work hard to keep the peace between us.”
I was reminded of all the fighting I heard about back when I was a filly on the Blackwater. Whenever a ship would dock with the city ship, the sailors always had stories of near violent conflict between ships. There was even one time two fleets started shooting at each other over the control of the Blackwater. Now that was a fun show!
I shook my head to refocus on the problem at hoof. “So, about the raiders last night?”
There was a pause as everypony's faces darkened a little.
“Ya, Crankshaft told us about that incident. A real close call for ya gals,” Dead Axle said nasally.
She pulled out a piece of tattered paper and began reading off of it. “Thin pony mare with a dark semi long dirty blond mane, and light brown cote. Had your standard wastelander rags on and buck ball caps hiding their eyes.”
Dead passed me the paper. It did not say anything different.
Dead explained, “It’s all we got on who paid for the attack. The pony was likely a middle mare. We're not from this area, so that's all we can help with, but Crankshaft did say that, if you locate the raiders den, then let him know. If you do, then he’ll convince some of us to go help clear it out. Fuck, I know I’ve been itching for a fight. Can’t even start a bar fight around ‘ere.”
I eyed the gangger mare. “Hey, were you the one that tried to get on stage with me the other night?”
Dead Axle’s eyes wandered away from my gaze. Her sister gave a loud laugh.
Harp cut in. She looked unsure of herself as she asked. “You think we should go after those midnight raiders? Wouldn't talking to the sheriff be a better idea?”
She was not wrong. If anything, the raiders was something that got Ashy to stop being such a bitch and go bother some ponies who should be harassed, but it felt all too convenient that the attack happened right after False got run out of the tavern.
I could tell the same thought was going through Harp’s head but, if that was true, why ask?
“Harp, you sure it was not Fales that did this? You did pull a gun out on him.” I reminded her.
She shook her head. “No. His type will try to get the Mayor to screw us over or make up some fake crime to pin on me. Hiring bandits to… I mean raiders to pony nap me is too soon for a pony in his position. This is more in line of a pony who doesn't have any good options to go after me publicly, or can’t risk damaging their reputation blatantly.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Like who? The mayor?”
“Well, no. I’m just saying hypothetically. That's all,” she half-heartedly explained.
She wasn't telling me something, but the way she looked at me, it was like she knew something that I didn’t, but I want to know it. I didn’t like it one bit.
“Maybe you two are thinking too hard and in the wrong direction.” Dead Axle spoke up as she scratched her chin. “Instead of asking who paid the raiders, maybe you two should be thinking about getting rid of those raiders first. If they were able to attack within the night, they got to live not far away from town.”
“That shouldn't be possible,” I proclaimed aloud.
A creeping feeling ran up my spine. Raiders so close to town really should not be possible, not with Sheriff Ashy on the watch for them. In fact, New Appaloosa’s location made it hard for raiders to get close considering how flat it was here. Most of the nearby ruins had been demolished years ago. Something just didn’t add up.
This could only mean one thing.
“It could be possible the raiders are hiding in town. Did you get a good look at any of their faces?” I asked Harp
She nodded. “They all had face paint on, but it wouldn't be hard to recognize them in a crowd. All of them looked like they were heavy chem abusers, and the leader’s eyes, for some reason, reflected light back at us like some night predator.”
That last part… it didn’t add up at all. Why would a raider's eyes shine? He was a unicorn, so it is possible he used some sort of spell.
“Sounds like the chem, cat’s eye to me,” Jali spoke up as she trotted over to us. “It’s a chem given out to zebra soldiers on night watch. Well they did for a short time during the war. The chem causes the user to go color blind and become light-sensitive if used for long enough. It did end up on the black market, so I’m not surprised it got into the hooves of ponies.” She grimaced. “But the ingredients are quite rare from what I know. Not even the angels make that chem.”
“They could be getting it from Blue Skies!” Now Slowtrot joins in on the conversation. “They already have access to some exotic chems, so it’s not a stretch that they have other chems. Have you seen them sell anything like that, Dead Axle?”
The Desperado thought about it for a few seconds, then shook her head. “Can't say. We're not paid to be on the business end of things. We even stopped buying chems from them because of how shit their product is. If they're selling this cat's eye, I bet it’s cut with some other nasty shit to make it more addictive.”
I caught a glance of Harp frowning as though she was about to say something like, “That bitch” but held it in to not give away her feelings. It reminded me a lot of some of the working mares who were reminded of mares they knew who had grudges against them, blaming them after something bad happened to them.
I was getting the feeling that Harp had made more enemies then just False Cap in the short time she was here.
Still, it was something I could work with. I just needed to find out where the cat’s eye was sold or could be made. These raiders were tricky. They had to have been to have survived for so long, but they were still raiders. Chem abuse makes the brain go soft. If they're buying a cat's eye, then they will leave a trail back to them from the seller.
I turned to everypony and gave them a smile. “I’m going to stop by the Gunrunners in order to see if my new sword is finished. I rather not get caught off guard like that again. A small switchblade is not enough protection.”
“I’m coming with you,” Harp spoke up.
“Need a bigger gun?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I already have bigger guns. I just need to make use of them.” She looked over at her robot. “Order, follow me.”
The flying robot lifted off of the bed it was on and hovered over to Harp.
“I’m no good in a sudden fight like that, but Order here is,” Harp told me. “I was thinking of having my two spare bolt launchers installed onto it. They will be more effective then the one charge shock spell it has.”
I smiled at Harp. “Oh, I loved to see that! You sure you don’t want to give it two SMG’s?”
Again, she shook her head. “No no. I need to conserve my caps for now. Anyways, Order’s advantage is going to be his stealth. Well, once I get his other talismans working. Once those are repaired, the far more quiet bolt launchers will do just fine.”
I shrugged. “Alright, then let's go. Daylight is far more valuable right now, and I don’t want to waste it.”
We looked back at the others. We got a happy wave back. It looked like Cloudy was going to be just fine. She just needed some rest. The issue was what to do when night falls and they attack us again. If I can’t find them first, that I’d be damn sure I won’t be taken so easily again.
The Gunrunners were as busy as usual, with the pregnant Gyroget sitting at the reception desk. She was polishing a few service rifles as the griffins finished making the rest.
The crates the rifles were being loaded in were labeled “NCR” in big bold letters.
Unlike the normal service rifles the Gunrunners normally made, these ones all had slight modifications. They had larger sights, extended magazines, and bayonets.
“These don’t look like they're going into NCR gunts hooves.” I observed out loud.
“They're not, Star,” Hardballer agreed as he loaded another rifle in. “Our order is for NCR expeditionary troops. They don’t have a stable supply line, so they need rifles that are a grade above the normal. Fillydelphia is already too busy with all the standard orders, so we get the custom jobs,” he explained with a smile on his beak.
There were at least ten crates with ten rifles to each one. Almost all of them were fully loaded.
I gave in the best innocent smile I could. “So then, since you’re looking like your almost done, can I ask you about those knives I gave you?”
He dropped his smile. “You mean those monstrosities of kitchen knives? I didn’t have time for them, so I let Javelina take a crack at them. She did enjoy superheating them and then cutting everything. She’s with Longslid in the garage.”
I thanked him before trotting off, leaving Harp there with her own request.
The Smuggler that Longslid had been working on was looking more solid now, though still mostly a bunch of vocal shaped pipes. The thing now had light armor, which included steel plate sidings and steel pipe bumpers. I was sure that if this got into a chicken match with a brahman bull, it could actually win.
Longslid himself was working with his little sister Javelina on what looked like several energy weapon parts.
Totting over to the two hippogriff hybrids, I watched as they seemed to be studying all the parts and drawing a blueprint.
Softly, so to not upset Javelina, I asked. “What kind of monster gun are you making?”
There was a pause as they both slowly turned to look at me.
“Were seeing if we can make a low-cost auto wagon mounted beam rifle,” Longslide replied.
He pulled up a piece of paper with several sketches of some kind of gun system. It looked a bit like a belt-fed minigun, but with beam rifle parts.
He continued. “Seeing how Harp can act as an external battery, I thought maybe I can use that same concept for guns. Unfortunately, spark batteries have size and weight issues.”
“Not infantry,” Javelina whispered.
Longslide nodded. “Javy here suggested that we just make it a turret for the Smuggler. I had thought about it before, but that has its own issues.”
Javelina picked up a beam rifle's power cell. “Problem is power transfer. We need a cell that can recharge. We need an intermediary power converter. We need a power source. All three can’t be connected or the gun would be too heavy and it tangles with Smuggle.”
A sigh came from Longslide. “My sister never does things the easy way, but if we can pull it off, we would have a modular weapons platform for the Smuggler. Just imagine it! With enough time and resources, I could throw a gatling beam cannon on this Smuggler.”
He put the blueprint away. “But right now we're just trying to get a standard beam rifle to work.”
The two were clearly enjoying themselves, so I didn’t want to take too much of their time.
“I’ll make it quick; your father said he passed those knives I found to Javelina to work on. Was it possible to make them into a new sword?” I asked.
Javelina's eyes widened. She hopped off the workbench and over to a rusty metal case.
Longlside frowned. “You gave us some scary metal, Star. Cosmic knives are what they were called. Javy even used one to cut out a bit of the Smuggler’s armor.”
Pulling out the rusty case and opening it up, Javelina presented me with my new cutlass inside its scabbard. The scabbard had brilliantly polished brass fittings that visually popped out alongside the rich black lacor of the scabbard. It even had my cutie mark in brass near the hilt.
“Cosmic Cutlass,” Javelina announced proudly.
Taking the sword, the hilt and guard were oddly made of black lacquered wood with brass inlays. The bit hold was also made of wood with a vibrant rust red.
I unsheathed the blade from its scabbard. What greeted me was a gleaming silvery metal that looked too pretty to be used for combat. Its shine was too perfect, and the edge had no flaws.
“H...How?” I asked in shock.
Javelina smiled. “It did not sing like iron. Iron calms in heat, is stubborn in cold. This is stubborn in heat, calms in cold. Where Iron sings to strength, wants to be bent by the strong. This sang when given a drink and told a story, promised to it that it would be beautiful. It wanted it’s friend to stay with it, so I promised the wood would continue to be with it.”
She pointed at the scabbard as well as the other wooden parts. “Vulcan Iron Wood from the Flame Geyser Swamp. Used in heavy guns that overheat. Wood doesn't burn, resists heat. Wood is strong like iron, but heavy like wood.”
The hippogriff mare was difficult to understand at the best of times, with how she can see sound, feel colors, and overall experience the world in a way nopony can. I could only guess that she saw something we couldn’t, and went all in making the sword because of it.
“You know, this is far beyond what I expected. How would I even afford a cutlass like this?” I asked in awe as my gaze was fixated at the beauty of the sword which was unworldly.
Javelina shook her head. “No, it wants you. You saved it from its tomb. I gave it a new form. I cannot take it out into the world.”
“Anyways, you helped save this workshop. I think this is a perfect reward for what you did for us,” Longslide reasoned. “Not many ponies or griffins use swords out here anyways, so that piece of art would only gather dust with us.”
The hippogriff stallion pulled out a drum magazine and passed it to me. “Take this as well. It should let you used that dumb SMG on a battle saddle.”
With a smile, I sheathed the cutlass and took what looked to be a fifty-round drum magazine. “Again, thanks. Now I’ll leave you with your project.”
Trotting away, it was good to see Javelina out and talking. The poor mare could barely stand being around anyplace too active. I was told that Fillydelphia was really bad for her since the city never stopped working. Because of that, she never could get any peace for more than an hour.
I found where I stored my Rust Gun here in the compound. I thought about it for a moment, knowing that openly trotting around with my weapons was likely going to piss off the deputies, but fuck them! If I had to worry about raider attacks here in town, then I was going to stay armed.
Also, I needed to talk with some ponies about a chem. Being fully armed was a good way to show them that I’m not fucking around.
Loading the drum magazine took quite a bit of time. It took nearly all my spare 10mm ammunition which left me with a standard magazine and a small magazine to load.
I shoved the small magazine into Rust Gun while placing the other three into my saddlebag. That gave me 15 rounds to shoot, but it had a low profile compared to the other magazines. Even if I didn’t care what the Deputies thought anymore, I still didn’t want them stopping me every minute like they thought I was going to go on a killing spree.
As for my Cosmic Cutlass, I used a cloth strap to go through the brass rings on the scabbard and attached it to my saddlebag. I placed it in a way that I had easy access to the sword if I needed to use it.
As I was leaving, I spied on the workshop for a quick moment. There, Hardballer was holding one of Harp’s bolt launchers. The rifle was interesting to say the least, though I was unsure how he was going to fit it onto the robot. Then again Hardballer was one of the best gunsmiths in Equestria, if any creature could do it, it was him
As expected, a few deputies were more than curious as to what I was doing as I trotted around with a gun and sword.
I wanted to tell them to fuck off and mind their own bussness, but I knew that was only going to draw more unwanted attention, so I gave a simple explanation. I told them about the attack last night and how fucking useless the deputies were for letting raiders get into town. I also told them if they had a problem with me protecting myself, then the sheriff better make it a damn law that ponies in town can't carry weapons to protect themselves.
Fucking love to see that riot.
It wasn't my best move. I did have the option of taking smaller guns or knives with me, but I wanted everypony to know I was dangerous right now, both those who knew me and those who didn't.
Downtown New Appaloosa has many dark alleys, but few actual places to hide from the deputies. One of those places was a section of the old wall that was turning into a ratty bar that sold shitty booze. The deputies didn’t care about this place for two reasons.
One, they paid their bribes on time.
Two, this was where ponies go to get the chems they planned to kill themselves with.
It was called Lethe’s Watering Hole, and it was a little dark spot of the town where those who have lost hope gather. Here ponies buy chems too dangerous to casually consume then wander out into the wasteland to get high... then die out there.
The ponies here were the thin as rails whores, failed scavengers, mercenaries who had seen too much, and old raiders who lived long enough to want to just die.
This place was also great for buying booze when you're too young to buy it anywhere else.
“Long time no see, Star, though is it too soon for you to come back to a place like this.” The Unicorn ghoul, Lethe, spoke in a wispy voice as she shook a drink mixer, sloshing with booze and clanking with ice.
As ghouls go, she was both the best and the worst looking ghoul I had ever seen. She was entirely intact with a full black mane and a gray-blue coat that had not a bald spot or missing skin on it. But she was so thin, I could swear she was just a skeleton with the skin of a pony draped over her. Add her clean slick black suit, the mare never ceased to unnerve me every time I saw her.
“Just here to ask a few questions, that's all,” I told Lethe.
She gave me a toothy smile. It was far too pearly white to be natural.
“Is that so? Then why don't you have a drink? It’s on the house,” she offered as she levitated a cracked glass in front of her then poured a bright glowing red drink.
I sat down on the rusty stool and looked at the drink. “How can you afford to give out free drinks?”
She chuckled. “Who said it’s free? Just think of it as a future investment. No strings, just expectations.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
But, right now, I could use at least one drink.
Whatever it was, it was strong with alcohol, but also exploded with the sweet flavor of… radish!?
“I call it the Red Light District, though a less than adequate imitation of it. A clear cherry-cola would be used for the flavoring, along with a bright red food coloring, but sparkle-cola rad just visually pops out more,” Lethe explained.
I put the empty glass down, getting ready for business.
“You know of any raiders buying Cats Eye?” I asked.
Lethe poured herself a glass of her glowing red drink. “You’re looking for those Midnight Raiders, I’m guessing?”
“Then you know! Tell me where to find those fuckers!” I demanded.
She took a long sip, savoring her drink.
Then she replied. “No.”
“What do you mean no?” I asked in frustration.
She put her half-finished glass down. “I mean no, because I can't give you that information. Anyways, most ponies around here already know that you were attacked. It's common knowledge. Maybe you should be rephrasing your question.”
With a sigh, I let her finish her drink as I thought about how to ask her.
I knew that she knew every bad pony in town, but he bitch had always been cryptic. If I wanted anything from her, she’d never give it, but if I convinced some pony else to go ask her, then she would give it. This pissed me off, but I learned to work with it.
“Alright. Is there anypony around that sells, or did sell, cat’s eye around here?” I asked.
“That I can do,” she answered as she pointed to a random pony in the open bar.
It was a skinny stallion with dark bags under his eyes and plenty of patches of missing fur. “You remember Thrilling Heights, right? If you want a chem, he can get it for you, but you knew that already. What you don’t know is that he spends all his time here now, trying to sell to my customers. Not that I care if he does business here. He is just too damn upbeat about it. It ruins the mood.”
I didn’t understand why, but Lethe only liked depressed ponies being at her bar. I always would joke that she fed on hopelessness to keep her skin looking as good as it was despite being just a skeleton under it all.
Though she never seemed to have a problem with me, no matter what my mood was.
Leaving that mystery for me to never solve, I trotted over to the very tired stallion.
“So you're still selling chems, Thrilling?” I asked.
Thrilling Heights looked up at me. Through his tired gaze, he put on a big smile.
The pony I remember as a teenager was a big and strong pony who oozes with confidence. Both Skipper and I got our chems from him, getting convinced by his slick words that he was our best choice, not that we needed much convincing.
Now the stallion looked thin and weak. His clothes seemed too big for him. Although he had a confident smile, nothing else about him smiled at all. He was a wreck, and the white powder under his nose didn’t help his look.
“Oh Star, glad to see you again! Yes, I’m still selling. Just name the chem, and I can get it for you.” Thrilling Heights said confidently with a strained and scratchy tone.
“Cat’s Eye .. where are you getting your supply?” I added to my question.
For a moment the smile dropped, but he quickly forced it back up. “Ah, planning some midnight mischief, I see. Well, it may take some doing, so I hope you can wait a few days.”
Looking down at him, I was annoyed that I had to repeat myself. “Your supply of Cat’s Eye ... where do you get it?”
He held onto that smile, but he began scratching a bald spot on his fur. “That’s a trade secret, Star. You know I can't go around telling ponies about that.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know I’m not buying, Thrilling. I just want to know where you get it so I can find the raiders that are buying the shit.”
The stallion shrinked a little.
“Are you sure you're not interested in anything, Star? I recently got my hooves on some mintats mixed with some booze for a wonderful high. It’s super cheap, too.” Thrilling tried to sell to me in as much of an upbeat tone he could muster.
“I’m not wasting my caps on chems, Thrilling. Now tell me!” I demanded.
He pulled out a small glass jar with several white tablets. “How about some buck? This batch has an extra kick to it.”
Knocking the jar out of his hoof, I got muzzle to muzzle with the chem pusher “Cat’s eye! Where is it?!”
“How about some Dash?” he offered, still forcing a smile.
I was done just talking. I didn’t have the time to fuck around like this.
Locking my eyes with his own, Thrilling Heights froze in my gaze. I pushed my anger, my hate at him, imagining pain and suffering onto him. I could feel it. It was like I was finally scratching an itch that, before my hooves, could not reach. This relieved me of my frustration and fear.
…
Why fear?
What was I to fear? If the raiders did manage to capture me, I know I’d find a way to free myself. They were raiders! They were only strong in numbers. I know I could fight them as long as I could get myself a weapon.
What's the worst that could happen?
Well, I could have died. That be bad.
If I died…
If…
My Bridget would have been left without a mother!
She would forever be left wondering what happened to me. Her and Prism both.
I would just be another wasteland disappearance. Something the sheriff would celebrate over.
I didn’t want that. No. I couldn’t let that happen.
Those midnight raiders, they had to die! They needed to die!
I would not suffer them to live!
…
Breaking my gaze, Thrilling Heights fell back quivering in fear as he shielded his face from me with his hooves.
“I’ll tell! I’ll tell. The sewer system under Old Appaloosa near the demolished slave pens. The mushrooms for making cats eye grow there. Just leave me alone! Please leave me alone,” he whimpered.
Looking down at him, Thrilling Height’s smile was gone. All that was left was a sad pony begging for his life.
Sighing, I trotted back to the dirty bar where Lethe had another Red Light District sat on the bar, clearly there for me. Lethe herself seemed quite pleased with what I did. Her smile on her unnerving skeletal like frame was quite disturbing to witness.
“Why are you like this, Lethe?” I asked as I just looked down the drink. A drop of blood fell from my cheek and into the drink. My evil eyes again showed itself to the world. The drink turned a darker shade of red as a result, practically a deep scarlet now.
Lethe chuckled. “It’s just who I am and what this place is. Cheerful ponies like Thrilling can come here and do business, but this is a place for ponies to accept their misery, not revel in it. It is a cruel thing to force yourself and others to be happy all the time, like being tortured, but not being allowed to admit what is happening.”
She lifted her glass. It was still half-empty from the last time she took a sip. “The end eventually comes for us all, Star. Is it not better if we accept it and move on than to struggle and suffer until the end takes us anyways?”
Picking up the glass, I gave the ghoul a suspicious glance. “Am I evil to you?”
“Depends on what you think is evil, Star.” Lethe drank the rest of her red drink and gave a satisfied sigh. “You're a violent and dangerous mare who cares not for the order of this word, except when it can protect those you care about. Like how you are with that adorable daughter of yours. You're not much unlike a timberwolf or a major ursa who kills all that threaten its young. Evil, to me, is something that will sacrifice its own young to extend their own life, breaking the natural order. You have yet to do such an abhorrent thing, so no, to me you are no different than any creature who fights to survive.”
That… didn’t make much sense to me, but I at least understood that she thought me loving my Bridget didn’t make me evil.
So I drank the free booze. This time it tasted far better, having a slight taste of iron.
“You sure can afford to just give me this for free,” I noted with a grin.
She took the glass. The smile was now gone from her face. “Like I said, it’s a future investment.”
Despite how hot it was starting to get and with the drink now in my stomach, I somehow felt cold.
“There you are, Star,” a familiar voice of Puppet Strings called out to me.
Turning, I saw the well-dressed mare standing at the edge of the open-air bar. She motions with her hoof for me to come closer, clearly not wanting to step inside.
“Well thanks for the drink. I got places to go, and as it seems, ponies to see.” As I gave Lethe one last glance, I could see a snarl on her face. She was practically radiating hatred. Her eyes locked onto… Puppet Strings.
She then relaxed her face, returning it to a blank emotionless state. “Take care, Star, and remember what I said about evil.”
Feeling a bit confused, I trotted away from the ghoul, thus leaving the bar and joining Puppet.
I couldn't put my hoof on it, but whenever I left Lethe’s Watering Hole, it felt like I was returning to the wasteland, as though I had unknowingly left it. Still, I got free and good booze, so I was not going to bitch about it.
Reports of Star trotting around armed and pissed off has set the deputies on edge. Now more eyes are on her than before.
-New Appaloosa Down Towners-
Word has gotten around that Star is gearing for a fight with some raiders. They know to stay out of her way, and quietly wish her luck, as nopony like raiders.
-Unique Item Obtained-
-Cosmic Cutlass-
A sword that both holds an edge and is more durable than any known metal, but most strange is its ability to take in and hold heat.
“Again, the buyers are requesting refunds, and I was sure these cosmic knives would sell like donuts with how good they are. I guess there’s such a thing as too good. I wanted to get in contact with Applejack, but it seems that Twilight hasn't talked to her in months. I’m not surprised, she does that, drifts away from her friends, just like she drifted away from us, Lemon Hearts.” ~Twinkle Shine
"Star Charter also knew about a chem known as a Zebra battle brew. Though she doesn't know the details of it, it seems that some of the zebras here in Equestria have a habit of mixing chems into booze, along with other unknown ingredients. It gives them a short boost to their combat abilities similar to a chem call rage that is used by raiders, but the brew does not turn them into a slavering mad mare." ~ Azure Dice
“You look like shit, Star.” Puppet Strings told me as she passed over a pair of darkly tinted sunglasses.
Putting them on to hide my bloodshot eyes, I felt at ease being sound somepony who understood the problems of having the evil eye.
“I heard that you got into some trouble last night,” she went on as she eyed my weapons, lingering her eyes on my sword with a curious gaze. “That’s an interesting looking blade.”
I smile. “Ya. I found some rare materials some time back when helping out my friends. Almost got incinerated by some ants, but I got this cosmic Cutlass as my reward. I plan to put it to use soon by showing those raiders they made a huge mistake pissing me off.”
Puppet Strings gave a small smile and an approving nod. “Never suffer the weak, wicked, or the foolhardy.” She turned and began trotting off. “Then why don’t you come with me? Maybe your family can help you in this endeavor. It’s what family is for, after all.”
Trotting alongside Puppet Strings, we slowly made our way to the upper side of town.
“So ... Victoria is still in town, I’m guessing?” I asked.
She nodded. “We’ve received free room and boarding from the Mayor, so long as Lady Victoria makes several public appearances. The greedy heathen thinks to use Lady Victoria to increase the town's standing. A disgusting request.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yet you're doing it?”
“Lady Victoria has surmised that the more work she does, the less other parties will keep an eye on her,” Puppet quietly explained.
This left me a bit concerned. I knew Victoria was still working with the fleets. She made it clear as such, but I was sure being an idol had helped keep any heat off her. She was the most clever pony I had ever known.
“President Gawd of the NCR doesn't like Victoria,” Puppet said quietly and sternly, as though reading my mind. “They only met once, and it might be because they are both predators without equal, as Gawd’s first words to Victoria were; How did a killer like you become some flimsy singer?”
I had only heard about Gawd from ponies who had come from the NCR, or from the book of the Lightbringer. The elderly female griffon was a Talon commander and had co-lead a group of raiders before meeting the Lightbringer. They had become something like friends from what I read, and the two managed to found the NCR over a mountain of corpses. In the last eleven years as the President of the NCR, Gawd has managed to absorb or destroy most rivals to the NCR, establishing trade routes across east Equestria.
As much as the NCR likes to show how great and honorable they are, even I was not dumb enough to not see how much of a conquering empire they were growing to be. Gawd’s talons must be so soaked with blood. I'm sure she would have made a fine admiral in the great fleets.
“I’m not surprised. I’ve heard that great and deadly leaders can easily spot each other,” I said knowingly
Puppet’s eyes returned to look ahead of us. “Victoria said something similar. Still, since then, she has had to be extra careful when conducting business in NCR territory. With the rangers as their call, there is always one nearby keeping an eye on us. Luckily slip teleportation gives us a movement advantage, so as long as they just watch Victoria, they might as well be blind.”
“As expected of Victoria,” I commented.
We eventually arrived at one of the newer buildings in town, a three-story high apartment. Like all the new buildings, it was made from salvaged wood, stone, and scrap metal from the surrounding ruins. Along with a fresh coat of paint, it looked like one of the old world buildings I’d seen in the few old photographs that had survived, though that was only the outside.
Inside the building, like all the others, was a mosaic of mismatch wood. It had its charm, so I didn’t complain. Compared to about anything else downtown, this was the height of luxury for a building. It even had little bits of artwork decoration inside, both of which were ancient and recently made. Seeing that some of the art was Spot Welds abstract attempts to make something a pony could call art, it was also clear that the mayor was also trying to boost his fame, though adding price tags to each piece of junk that Spot made just seemed plain dumb to me.
There were some ponies staying here, relaxing in the lounge. The guests of the mayor were old ponies in clothing too clean to have been won outside. They even had a servant doing whatever they needed.
As we trotted up the stairs, the old wooden stairs creaked, betraying the flaws in the building's construction. I was not one who would be afraid of heights, but if I had been given the choice between living in one of these new buildings, or in one of the tall ruins, I say at least the ruins has a record of not falling over for the past two hundred years.
After a bit more trotting up, we arrived at the penthouse, the super special place that Espresso would try and invite mares to stay the night with him. Fortunately, the mayor was not here. Though, considering how stylish the penthouse was, I couldn't help but feel annoyed that my own house could fit in here and still have room to fit a second house.
“Oh good! You found her,” Victory said cheerfully as she lounged in the sizable parlor.
In front of Victoria were two mare performing a dance. The two mares were nearly in sync with each other as music faintly played on an old record player. One looked over at me and tripped over her own hoof, falling over, which caused the second mare to then fall over.
Victoria sighed as she got up and trotted over to me, giving me a hug. “My little Star Carter, don’t think I’m rushing you, but I do hope you have given our little chat some more thought.”
“Well, it’s hard not to have, though something has come up since then,” I replied.
She let me go and took a step back. “Yes, I have received word about the raiders. I gotta stay informed about the goings-on in town.”
Her eyes lowered, falling on my sword. A smile formed on her face. “Now that is interesting, and here I was expecting you might still have Blackpowder Blasts cutlass, but what is that beauty?”
“Unfortunately the fucking sheriff destroyed all my old gear from the Blackwater. My new gear I got from a precious friend of mine.” I explained.
With a quick motion, it happening faster than I could react, Victoria had pulled the sword out and now held it in her hooves. “Now this is a true work of art! What is this metal? It’s clearly not steel. It’s too radiant to be orichalcum and it’s too light to be adamantium… Must be mithril. No, a mithril based alloy.” Victoria corrected herself. “The pieces of eight that this could fetch could possibly buy a small ship, yet it is in your hooves.”
Victoria studied the cutlass that reflected the light while examining the edge.
“Say, Star, have you gotten to test this blade yet?” Victoria asked.
I shook my head. “Only just got it, and haven't found the raiders yet.”
She smiled, showing her slightly overgrown canine fangs. “May I get the first proper swing then?”
Thinking about it for a moment, I guessed she had a large chunk of radboar or radigator nearby and wanted to cut off a piece. I knew, all too well, of how the hunger can creep up on ponies like us, and having the food properly stocked was a must.
“You may,” I invited her.
Grinning, Victoria turned around and trotted over to one of the dancers. In this case, it was the dancer who initially fell over. She cowered back a little but was then trapped in Victoria's gaze, shaking, but not moving.
With one effortless swipe, the front hooves of the dancing mare were cleanly sliced off. Her blood slurred out as she simply stood there shaking.
Craning her neck and finally breaking eye contact, Victoria looked more pleased with herself. The other mare gave a guttural pain-filled moan as she fell down into her own blood, her own eyes had gone bloodshot as she glared at Victoria with terror and hate.
Trotting back to me, she hoofed back over my sword. It had not a drop of blood on it. “A fine blade. A damn fine blade. I’m looking forward to seeing you put it to use.”
She then turned to Puppet Strings. “Do put her back together. This should be a good lesson to what will happen if she continues to fuck up.”
“And the blood, Lady Victoria?” Puppet asked.
Victoria glared at Puppet. “Need I say more than I already have?”
Puppet shook her head. “No. It was a worthless question. Forgive my slip of the tongue.”
“Good. I will retire to my room. Star will follow.”
Putting my sword away, I watched as Victoria trotted off and around a corner. She flashed me a grin once more before trotting out of sight. My eyes shifted to Puppet Strings as the mare trotted over to the mutilated mare.
“Filthy vermin!” Puppet growled as she began kicking the injured mare. With each kick, the bleeding mare kept her mouth shut and moaned in pain, all while avoiding eye contact with Puppet.
The second dancer simply stood by, watching it all unfold while licking her lips.
Eventually Puppet stopped attacking the defenseless mare. She levitated her up with her magic, her horn taking on a green overflow. Forcing the hooves back onto the stumps, Puppet levitated a needle and thread, quickly sewing the mare back together before shoving a healing potion in her mouth, then tossing the mare to the side.
“Stay there,” Puppet demanded. “I still need to collect the blood.”
Again Puppet’s horn glowed with a green light, but this time the overflow came with a purple haze that raised the hairs along my back and made me feel uneasy. As the magic was cast, all the spilled blood began raising off the ground and out of the mare's fur, gathering into an orb.
Uneasy was an understatement. My heart pounded. My mouth ran dry, and one of my back legs shook. Whatever Puppet Strings was doing, it made me feel… afraid.
The blood condensed into a small deep-red crystal, of which Puppet Strings placed inside a purse she was keeping on her. She then turned around to look at me, giving me an annoyed glance.
“Please don’t keep Lady Victoria waiting,” she told me.
I had no words, no witty remark. I just left. I wanted to get away from Puppet Strings as fast as possible, not wanting to give her an excuse to perform that spell again.
Despite how hot everything was, I felt cold.
Away from Puppet Strings, I entered Victoria's room. It was nothing to really express how great she was. It was simply an overly decorated room of the average wastelander. It was mostly salvaged material that Mayor Espresso could afford to furnish it with. Still, far more impressive than what I could decorate my home with, but then again, if I had any of what was in here, I’d sell it just to give Bridget a pretty dress.
Victoria was washing off her hooves, making herself more dazzling.
“I assume you stayed and watched Puppet?” she asked.
I nodded.
She opened up a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. “You’d be surprised at the price it costs to get a harpy to share their secrets. Had to offer several of our brothers and sister up as a sacrifice for their captain to take dear Puppet as her apprentice. The price for power.”
Victoria took a long sip of her wine. “It was pure luck that she was compatible with such magical arts. Finding such ponies are rare, which is why it was such an utter misfortune that I let you go.”
There was a momentary pause before I responded. “How am I important?”
Placing her wineglass down onto a small coffee table, she then looked at me with a gleeful smile. Her eyes pulsed with power. The smell of blood and battle waved through me, reminding me of home once again.
“Oh, trust me, you have the spark of something special. Something I need.” She offered me a bottle of wine.
“Sorry, but I already had a bit to drink. I can't go home drunk,” I said, turning down the drink.
A momentary glare of annoyance flared in Victoria's eyes.
She sighed. “Just think of it as destiny, pre-written by the goddesses themselves, so who are we to judge?”
I didn’t quite understand, but then again, Victoria always knew more than I ever did. Still, I couldn't just follow her blindly. Not when I had Bridget and Prism to look out for.
“I can’t argue with a plan written by the goddesses, but what was that phrase the nun would say back on the blackwater?” I responded, probing.
Victoria nodded. “All th' faith in th' world can nah make seawater drinkable. I’m a tad amazed you still remember those sermons. Eleven years and still hold’en to the faith.”
I shrugged. “It’s just what I know.”
I haven't given much prayers to Celestia and Luna since leaving the fleet eleven years ago, but it’s not like I just forgot what I was taught. Truthfully I had found the faith to be… flawed. But, even if the faith seemed flawed, their strength was real. I felt it was better to be safe and remember the scripter in case they ever did leave the waters.
“I’m guessing you want to make a deal first, then. Some financial incentive,” Victoria said as she topped off the wine glass. “For the adorable daughter of yours and that thing.”
“Her name is Prism, and yes, if I go with you, I want to know that they will be fine without me,” I explained.
She took a long sip of the wine, savoring it.
Placing the glass back down, Victoria shifted her position, taking a more commanding pose with her back legs crossed in front of her and looking down at me, judging.
I took a deep breath, knowing that I needed to give something to get something. “If I prove myself worthy, then I want a guarantee that both my mother and daughter will be safe. I want a guarantee that they will get the caps needed to live a good life.”
“If caps are all that's needed, I can do that,” Victoria responded, her eyes seemingly looking through me.
There was a hunger in her vision.
“Alright. I can give that creature and your daughter the funding they need to live, but I need something in return,” she said softly.
I felt more at ease, as nothing was for free. I was finally feeling that I could follow her train of thought.
“I want you to do something for me.” Victoria grabbed the wine bottle itself and took a long swig of it, drinking half of it in one go. “I wants ye t' convince Harp Melody t' join us. A pony o' her quality cannot be ignored, 'n I be nah t' make th' same mistake I made wit' ye.”
She… wanted Harp Melody!?
I wasn't all too sure about Harp joining the fleet. Her skinny little legs revealed her to be anything but a fighter. She did seem smart and was a good talker, so maybe that’s what Victoria was interested in.
Still, something didn’t sit right with me about this deal.
Slowly, I nodded. “You want me to get Harp to join you? I guess I can talk with her about it.”
Placing the bottle down, Victoria clasped her hooves together. A smile grew on her face.
“Good good. I was told you two were hanging out. Could call you two friends. Now how about we do something fun and stretch our legs?” she invited cheerfully.
I was a bit confused.
“Do you mean like dancing?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes and huffed. “No. I do enough dancing as it is, and I’ve heard you as well. I was thinking we should try something more blood pumping.”
Getting up, Victoria trotted over to the door and stuck her head out. “Puppet dear, could you get in contact with our hideout? I’m thinking of going hunting.”
“At such short notice, Lady Victoria? It will be hard to do.” Puppet answered back.
She pulled back and then craned her head back at me. “Say, I know you must have some pony you’d love to get rid of.”
It was all so sudden, but… I actually did have something in mind.
“I was planning to go to Old Appaloosa. I’m trying to find the midnight raiders,” I told her.
Puppet totted into view, looking mildly displeased. “That's the former slaver base. From what I heard, most of it has been picked clean by scavengers. I don’t see why you'd want to take Lady Victoria there.”
Victoria placed her hooves on Puppet’s face, squishing her cheeks. “Isn’t that the place taken over by those chem fiends? You must have one of our unicorns keeping watch over them.”
Puppet took a step back, freeing her face. “That you’re right, Lady Victoria. I have been keeping an eye on them. They are too unpredictable not to.”
A slight smile formed on my face. “Then that’s where the midnight raiders are hiding.”
“Some.” Puppet corrected me. “The raiders only set up there recently, and from the information I have been given, it’s only a small fraction of their numbers. It seems they are using that area to produce chem ingredients.”
It made some sense. The chems, I was told, was where the main ingredient for Cat’s eye can be found.
“Well, I should be able to find some clues to where the midnight raiders are hiding if I go there,” I commented openly.
A chuckle came from Victoria. “Then it’s settled. Let's make a quick stop at the hideout. Get armed, because we’re go’en hunting.”
I stumbled over. Traveling by slip teleportation felt weird. It was like I was falling backwards and forwarders at the same time. Of course, Victoria and Puppet Strings managed to do it with grace while I fell over onto my face.
It was, as Puppet told me, a spell that was gifted to the Corps Brigade by their patron bishop. It required two unicorns to do, one sending a pony out, and the other receiving the pony teleporting. It was safer and easier than the unicorn just teleporting themselves, but first required a Unicorn to be in position for it to work.
“Well well, isn’t it Star Charter. Ye're lookin' beautiful.” An older mare trotted up to me. Her back left leg was missing. Peg legs had replaced them, and she had scars running up her flank. She was also missing her right ear, with her left ear decorated in gold rings.
She was familiar. She had a brown coat and tan mane along with a cutie mark of a knife on a spring coming out of a box.
“Well fuck me! You're still alive, Spring Box!” I said loudly as I gave the mare a hug. “Is Trip Boom still kicking?”
“That farrgin' stallion? Ya. Victoria has 'im lookin' aft our secondary hideout. Can’t keep th' crews two best trappers in one ship.” She got muzzle to muzzle with me, giving me the look the brothel mares give to the clients. “I heard a rumor that yer workin' adult mare jobs like yer big sis here. Maybe I can show ye a few tricks.”
“She’s not a whore like you, Captain Spring Box, now let her go so I can show her the hideout,” Victoria said loudly as she trotted by.
Spring Box gave me a kiss on the cheek before stepping back. “Offer still stands. Just come and find me for some fun.”
“Maybe I will,” I said pleasantly, giving Spring a wink before trotting off to follow Victoria.
The Hideout, as Victoria called it, was a large shack on top of an isolated highway bridge. From what I could see, it was in the middle of nowhere with nothing but dried wasteland as far as I could see and with no way in except by an elevator, teleportation, or flight.
It was a lot like the Enclave remnant compounds Cloudy had told me about, but here, cleanness was not a top priority. Instead, it focused more on fortifications and defenses. Half of the turrets along the side were automated, connected to a rusty terminal. The other turrets were simply mounted rust guns with extended barrels.
The shack on top of the broken highway bridge was much more impressive. Though crude compared to the building made in New Appaloosa, it reminded me a lot like the old wooden ships in the fleet, as though a boat had crashed landed here. Inside was like a wild saloon with the different banners of the fleets along the walls and skulls of beasts decorated around the banners. On the floor, ponies were playing cards and dice. Some were drinking and two were hoof wrestling.
“Commodore on deck!” Puppet yelled. Everypony stood at attention. Some were more clumsy than others.
Victoria scanned the crowd. Her eyes stern and sharp.
“I see our new recruits have been properly integrated. Now, don't be drinking all the grog celebrating. We may yet have more recruits joining us,” she told the pack of pirates.
“At ease, ya damn fools!” Puppet shouted. As a result, the pirates returned to their fun.
Trotting passed the crowd, I was amazed to see so many. There were more than two dozen of them right here alone and more outside of the building.
Following Victoria, we entered what had to be her room. Her real room.
It was a far cleaner and better built room with a large bed. Above the bed was the banner of our gang which was a green bloodshot eye on a black flag. On one wall was a collection of swords and guns, and the other had a desk covered in paper documents.
There was also a painting of Victoria, standing with her kids and husband, all in front of a massive cannon.
“Amazing! It’s almost like you have a ship on the land itself,” I commented, feeling impressed.
Victoria trotted to a dresser that sat in a corner of the room. “If only,” she said as she pulled out a bicorn hat and captain's jacket.
“I’ve been chasing rumors of airships for the last few years, but nothing quite yet. Right now we have to settle on sending small groups out to secure resources or take out threats,” she explained.
I trotted over to a window that overlooked the celebrating pirates.
“And them?” I asked.
She trotted over as well, looking like a regale captain. “Some of them are from the Blackwater, the rest are ponies I’ve picked up along the way. Despite how braindead the wild fleet sailors are, they are surprisingly loyal to their captains, so I’ve been recruiting from the locals. Raiders and such as expected. They make good shock troopers, but my guise as an idol has given me a stock of ponies who are not as obvious with their bloodlust.”
I had one more big question. “Isn’t this place a bit flashy for an undercover mission?”
A wide grin formed on Victoria's face. “You would think, but I have long learned that hiding in plain sight is the best way to hide. As far as President Gawd knows, this is simply a mercenary group made up of former raiders and wastlanders looking for adventure. Nothing she can complain about with how most of her rangers are former Red Eye Talons.”
She sighed. “There is the problem of the pirate banners, as the NCR knows of them well enough to have a bounty for any pony part of the wild fleet, but this hideout is so far from the waters, most ponies assume we just love the aesthetic as it does invoke strength.”
Pointing to the banners, she listed them off. “Of course there's the wild fleet.” It was a black flag with a red skeleton on it. “The Grand Fleet.” This flag was an hourglass above two crossed swords. “The Holy Fleet.'' It depicted the two goddesses, and in between them the prophets cutie mark, a green circle of thorns with a red teardrop in the middle. “And last, but not least, our symbol of the Corps Brigade.” Just as in Victoria’s room, there was a black flag depicting a green bloodshot eye.
“If the fleets were ever to make a move on the mainland, the Corps Brigade will have forwarded bases ready for them all over Equestria,” she explained.
“We currently have five hideouts setup,” Puppet spoke up as she placed several guns and swords onto Victoria’s bed. “Some less conspicuous than this.”
“Not putting all our apples in the same barrel, as the phrase goes,” Victoria said as she trotted over to her bed, looking at her weapons.
There was the boarding cleaver which was a wide, nasty serrated blade with a mouthguard. I knew that the blackwater made a shit ton of the blades. Supposably every sailor got one, if possible.
Then there was clearly a custom made Cutlass. It was engraved with Victoria's cutie mark. The sword was elegantly made with a brass guard and a red and green wrapped bit hold.
The third blade was a polished ripper, with Saint Roselands cutie mark engraved onto a brass back shell. I had seen weapons like this before, but none like this. It had both a mouth guard and a back shell, giving it a much stronger and elegant look. The teeth were not blades like the standard ripper but more like a standard chainsaw, but thicker. It was the weapon used by high ranking religious ponies, and was rumoured to be far louder than any of its kind and would drive fear into hearts of heathens.
As for the guns, she had the same kind of .45 auto as Slowtrot did, just with Roselands symbol on it.
Dwarfing all of the guns was a fully intact battle rifle. It long, well polished, and beautifully engraved with the scripture of Saint Roseland
Lastly, one big ass pistol!?
“The fuck is that thing?” I exclaimed as I pointed questioningly at the oversized sidearm.
Victoria picked it up and rubbed the gun on her cheek. “This fucking baby? It’s my O.I.A. 50 cal special. I use this when I want to fuck over the pony in front of me, and the pony on the other side of bulletproof glass.”
She pulled out the magazine and showed me the bullet inside. It was one of the biggest fucking pistol bullet I had ever seen. It was comparable in size to the .45-70 govt that Hardballer and Ashy used in their hunting revolvers.
Slamming the magazine back in, she gave the gun a smile. “Ya. I’ll be taking this with me. And the ripper as well. I want those poor souls to know we’re coming to save them.”
“Save who?” I asked.
She looked at me with wide-open wicked eyes. “The ponies we’re going to kill, of course. It is the duty of us, the chosen, to rescue souls from sin.”
I backed up a bit, having forgotten how devout everypony actually was.
Putting a holster around her waist and placing the 50 cal and ripper on it, Victoria trotted over to me, her muzzle next to my ear.
Whispering, she said. “You're going to need to put on the act of a devout warrior of the goddesses when you return with us. Our bishop is quite the bitch about such things.”
I nodded. She backed up. Victoria trotted over to a mirror to adjust her hat and check her makeup.
“Say, Puppet, where is our most holy and honorable bishop?” Victoria asked.
Puppet sighed. “Last I was informed, she flew off to spread the word of Saint Roseland to some raider camp further west. She was due to return yesterday.”
“If we're lucky, she got that damned spawn of hers killed this time,” Victoria grumbled.
Smacking her lips together after re-applying a deep red lipstick, she got up and trotted to the door. “If we're lucky, we can go play and get back before dealing with any nonsense.”
I looked over at Puppet with a raised eyebrow.
“Long story short, our beneficiary, the good Bishop Purity Spiral, is a fanatic of the highest degree. Please do mind your manners if you were ever to meet her. The lashings she gives are only entertaining for the first hour,” Puppet explained.
I got the message loud and clear.
Following Victoria, we headed back down, out, then under the shack where several Unicorns and Spring Box were waiting for us.
“We’ve managed to contact the scout, Commodore. Slip teleportation can begin at yer say.” Spring Box informed us.
Spring Box then winked at me. “Have fun with the hunt, Star.”
I double-checked my rust gun, loading the drum magazine in before putting it back in my saddlebag. “Alright, take me there.”
"Some of the side effects of the chems out there made my chitan
itch as Star explained it to me. Some were simple, such as the shakes, or lack of energy. Others chems causing schizophrenia, and other mental instability. There was even one chem which rotted the skin and effectively ghoulified the pony who used it.
When I asked why would a pony use such poison, she simply told me that sometimes ponies just want a way out of the wasteland, and they didn’t care how they did it." ~ Azure Dice
I stumbled as I arrived at our destination, except this time I was ready for the sudden stop. Still, my stomach churned a little. It took a short moment for me to regain my balance.
The unicorn that stood as our beacon for the teleportation spell was a rough-looking stallion. He was thin yet muscular and covered in scrap metal armor painted in shades of light brown and gray which blended him in a bit to his surroundings.
He motioned with his head over where Victoria was. As he did so, I trotted off to her.
The ledge she stood at overlooked Old Appaloosa. The place was mostly stripped bare long ago by scavengers. The materials had been used for New Appaloosa’s expansion. What was there now was some poorly constructed shack, in which I could see a pony standing on top.
The unicorn stallion trotted over, passing Victoria a brass spyglass.
“Most o' the raiders stay underground an' be less active durin' the day. If there be a jolly time to attack, now be that there time.” He informed us.
“Could any of them make good converts? This one looks rather mangy.” Victoria noted as she looked through the spyglass.
The stallion shook his head. “From what i’ve spied, all the ones 'ere be 'eavy chem addicts, commodore. I believe that there their nocturnal nature be what keeps them under the radar. I’ve spied the New Appaloosa deputies pass through twice now, an' the raiders managed to 'ide from them successfully both times. I also believe that there they block the underground from the inside, so even if the lookout gets caught, the deputies still can’t get under to find them.”
Victoria passed me the spyglass. Looking through it, I could see the raider far more clearly. The ragged pony was covered in bald spots and regularly twitched. From the amount of bottles and inhalers around him, he seemed to live off a regular supply of booze and dash. Still, his armor looked relatively good despite it being made from scrap, covered in spikes, and painted black with a crude symbol of a red circle on it.
“What's with the circle?” I asked.
“It’s the Blood Moon Clan,” Puppet said as she joined us. “From what we could investigate, they were a minor raider clan that once worked for the slaver lord Red Eye who weekend targets for him. After Red Eye fell and the destruction of most of the major raider clans in the area, they absorbed most of the stragglers to bolster their numbers.”
I passed the spyglass to Puppet Strings. “So why have I not heard of them if they have been around for so long?”
Puppet lazily looked through the spyglass. “Simple; they don’t openly advertise themselves. We only know their name because of the few smart raider converts we managed to gain. They have a policy of staying as unknown as possible. They make sure that, if they are discovered, they are only seen as normal raiders. It’s why their called midnight raiders, and not an actual raider clan.”
She folded the spyglass before passing it back to the stallion. “It’s an effective strategy to avoid getting hunted down by the larger factions out here, but they also attract the kind of ponies not suited to be converted. Their voracious appetite for chem leaves them too unstable.”
I raised an eyebrow at Puppet. “If they are unstable, then how do they stay under the radar so well? Fuck me, they even caught me off guard.”
“From what we know, their chem abuse has left them extremely paranoid and their eyes light-sensitive. Simply, they unintentionally exist in a blindspot for most ponies who would hunt them down.” Puppet explained.
“A damn shame. Ponies who are good at staying out of the spotlit would have been useful,” Victoria commented.
“So how are we getting in then?” I asked.
There was a long pause. Victoria tilted her head a little before wondering aloud, “I was thinking we just torcher the lookout until they tell us how to open up the door to the underground. If that doesn't work, well, we have all day.”
Puppet nodded. “That is a sound strategy, Lady Victoria.”
“I don’t know,” I said as I looked back at the shack. “If I were in their position, I think I wouldn’t leave a pony who can get in and out as the lookout. You did say they were paranoid, right?”
I felt a hoof on my shoulder as Victoria leaned in, giving me an inquisitive look.
“If you have an idea, I love to hear it. This is your hunt, after all,” she reminded me.
I thought about it for a moment. Ideas of sneaking around came to my mind, or looking for some back entrance. But I didn’t have all day. Then one idea came to mind, one that was sure to get us inside and surprise the raiders in there.
“Could we just use explosives? I doubt they are expecting some pony to just blow a hole into the sewers,” I explained my idea to them.
“Well, that is a savage idea.” Victoria then pondered it for another moment. “Yes, that might actually work, and be fun too. If I had to guess, they already have some system to warn them when somepony tries to get in, so why not just make it as loud as possible?”
She turned to Puppet with a big smile on her face. “Go fetch the breaching charges.”
With a bow, Puppet trotted over the unicorn stallion. His horn lit up with a green overflow. After a moment, Puppet zipped away with a pop.
Following that, we waited for several minutes. Watching my pipbuck only made time seem to go slower.
When Puppet returned, Spring Box came with her. The trapper looked very happy.
“Fuckin' love yarr, lasses, fer lettin' me finally use this here babies!” Spring said as a large satchel hung off her side.
Victoria gave a soft chuckle as she looked over at me. “Alight, Star, you go kill the lookout. After you do that, Spring Box will join you at one of the entrances.”
I nodded. I again looked over at the lone shack while waiting for the pony there to look somewhere else.
I sighed. “Ya know what? I fucking suck a being all quiet and shit. This won’t do us any good.”
I made my way down a small path along the cliffside, not caring about how visible I was or how much noise I made. It was nearly the middle of the day, so there was no way I’d get close without being seen at all, and at this point, trying to sneak would be far more suspicious.
I learned, long ago, that sometimes being visible made it a lot easier to get close to some ponies. It makes a pony think that you may not be smart enough to be up to anything, or at least up to anything yet.
As I got close, the lookout saw me coming, I waved at him and yelled. “Hey, I’m a bit lost. Where the fuck am I!”
The raider looked annoyed. “Not where ya should be, bitch. Get lost.”
I wanted to use my evil eye to stun him, but the fucker had welding goggles on, so I just trotted closer and hoped he didn’t start shooting right away.
*Blam*
Fuck that plan!
The bullet went wide, missing me by a lot. The fucker was holding a very crude-looking pipe rifle. It’s barrel was slightly bent, and the shitty gun was shaking in his hooves.
“FUCK! I MISSED! YOU STAY STILL, BITCH, AND LET ME RELOAD.,” the raider yelled at me.
I rolled my eyes, knowing this idiot couldn't hit a brahmin even if he was at point-blank range.
I trotted closer.
*Blam*
He missed again. It was as though he refused to even acknowledge the idea of aiming, not that it would help much with that crooked rifle.
“OH FUCK YOU!” He shouted again.
As he tried to safely load a third round, I pulled out my rust gun and aimed. When he finally pointed his gun back down at me, I unloaded my small magazine. The ammo blared loudly, peppering the flimsy shack and tearing into the raider.
My own accuracy was not to much better, but I had two advantages. One was that my gun was not a piece of garbage. Two, unloading 15 shots was more than enough to guarantee a few hits.
I could hear him gurgle for air as his blood dripped from the shack.
Not long after, Spring Box trotted down with Victoria and Puppet not far behind.
“Fuck, I spy now why the Cap'n just wants to kill these 'ethans. That there been just a pathetic display o' weakness,” she said while eyeing the area.
I followed as she entered the shack. The inside looked like a mole rat nest. Pulling back a moldy carpet, Spring spied a pony hole cover with enough scratches around the concrete to tell us that it was opened and closed quite often.
Attempting to open it myself using one of the rusty pipes in the shack, the cover didn’t budge at all.
“Like a bulkhead door, me guess. Jolly thin' Puppet went an' got me.” Spring Box said as she placed the satchel on the cover.
After that, she attached some wires onto it and slowly began backing out.
Following, we trotted a fair distance away to where Victoria and Puppet were standing next to a large boulder.
It was big enough for the four of us to hide behind.
I then watched as Spring Box pulled out a small box with a lever. It slowly flashed with a red light. Attaching the wires to the box, she pulled back the lever then hoofed it to me. “Think o' it as a ye be welcome 'ome gift.”
“How can I resist a good explosive?” I asked as I took the box. I took a deep breath then pulled down on the lever.
There was a short pause of nothing, then a loud boom. Smoking pieces of the shack flew past us. After that a cloud of dust entered the air.
Waiting for it to all settle down, we then peeked from behind the rock.
The shack was gone. There was just a smoldering burnt junk in its place.
“That was fucking awsome!” I cheered before trotting out.
At the center of the blast, the pony hole cover was gone. From the hole, I could hear a siren going off.
Loading my drum magazine into the rust gun, I peered over the edge of the hole, but I did not see anything passed the light from the sun.
“Talk about one fucking loud wakeup call,” Spring Box declared as she trotted over while pulling out two bombs from her bag.
She pulled the pin on them and dropped them into the hole. Backing up a bit, I heard two very loud bangs and saw two flashes from the hole.
Screams came from the hole, followed by rapid gunfire.
As soon as the shooting stopped, Spring Box nudged me. “Best jump in before they can see again.”
Not wasting any more time, I got my hoof around the fortunately intact ladder and slid down.
Inside were four raiders struggling to reload their automatic pipe guns. I also saw a fifth raider who was dead on the ground, riddled with holes.
Drawing my rust gun, I opened fire. The gun rapidly unloads into the raiders, sending blood and gore all over.
When they were all dead, I yelled up. “Got the guards!”
Victoria and Puppet descended with the elegance of ponies of their status. Victoria was like a rogue from the old stories, and Puppet like a lady from the holy city Avalon.
Looking around, the sewer was large enough for the three of us to comfortably stand in, though too cramped to us to effectively move or fight in together.
Taking the lead, I turned on my pippuck and trotted down the tunnel. I turned a corner to see several sewer tunnels stretching off into the darkness with two branching paths. A few radroaches scurried along the walls, hiding from the light as I attempted to spot any pony trying to peek around the corner.
Victoria chuckled as she stepped ahead. “I take the right, Puppet will take the left. Star, you can take the middle line.”
I nodded as I again trotted ahead.
I trot slowly in order to be ready to knock down any attacker that may jump from the shadows. I found my heart pounding with excitement. It was like when I was in the Dragon Ants nest, yet more. Unlike running away from monsters, I was going to them. I was hunting them. It felt good.
A loud grinding buzz echoed through the tunnel followed by a blood-curdling scream. Victoria had clearly claimed a kill.
Further in, there was a blast door to my right. With my gun at the ready, I pressed the button to open it. The door hissed and squealed loudly as it retracted into the wall. Within it, I saw a pony holding a long barrel pipe gun with a box magazine under it.
I jumped to the side just as small-caliber ammunition blasted passed me. One bullet hit my leg.
It was a minor wound, so I didn’t pay it much mind. I also got myself ready to fire back.
Jumping back out and holding down on the hoof size trigger, we exchanged lead. A few more grazed me as I unloaded into the raider. We were using the same tactic of spray and pray, but like before, my gun was better. My gun clicked, announcing the magazine was empty, which left me in silence other than the ringing in my ears.
The raider laid dead on the floor in a pool of her own blood, perforated with holes.
Changing out the drum magazine for the thirty round stick, I moved on.
I finally came to the end of the tunnel which was blocked by an iron gate. To my left was a hole where the wall had crumbled. Feeling that there is no harm in going further in, I stepped passed the threshold.
*Snap*
A raider rushed out at me. I fired as the fucker collided into me.
Beating him back with the butt of my gun, I realized that it was a rotting corpse attached to a rope.
A sharp pain erupted from my side. I looked over to see a raider holding a long rebar pole, its pointy end in my barrel. She cackled as she twisted the spear, causing me to lose my hoof hold on my gun.
“Keep the bitch there. I want to have some fun with her first,” a raider stallion spoke as he trotted into view. The fucker dressed in spikey black leather, including a black spiky cockpeace for fuck sakes.
I didn’t feel like messing around, much less letting this asshole rape me. Drawing my sword, I slashed at the rebab spear, cutting it in two.
The raider mare stumbled back in surprise right before I dashed at her, my blade making contact with her neck, cleaving it right off.
“Ahh, a fighter. I so love it when they struggle!” the raider stallion said with a chuckle as he pulled out a large concrete club.
I just rolled my eyes as I charged.
He swung, but it was slow and easy to read, thus allowing me to get in close and strike at his legs with my sword. It all happens in a flash.
The stallion seemed to be in too much of a shock to scream or whimper when he fell over. I had managed to sever all four of his hooves from his legs.
We made eye contact. His eyes were yellow, bloodshot, and looking at me with pinprick rage. Likely he was too hyped up on chems to even feel pain. When he attempted to bite me, it was clear he was also too stupid to know he was dead.
I stabbed my sword into his head, letting it stay there for a moment. I pulled the other end of the rebar spear out of me which caused a small spit of blood to splatter onto the ground.
“Fuck, that hurts!” I complained
I had been in my fair share of fights, so this kind of pain was nothing, but I still hated getting stabbed. It reminded me of when I was a foal and howI was executed by captain Blackpowder Blast for the crime of following Victoria. Stabbed and kicked overboard, if Prism had not plucked me out of the water and patched me up, I would never have lived to have Bridget.
Finally pulling my sword out of the raider, I cleaned the blood off before I returned it to its scabbard then grabbed my rust gun, slinging it onto my back.
Checking, I noticed that I only had ten bullets left. Javelina was right. More bullets was better for me.
Finding my way onto the other side of the iron gate, the noise of fighting ahead caught my ear, so I galloped forward.
In a room full of glowing mushrooms, I saw the raiders fighting… another raider? Stranger still was one of the raiders was missing their eyes. Two daggers were sticking into them instead, but they still trotted to the other riders while being shot at. The blind raider lunged at one of the other riders, holding them down as it bit onto the other raider’s leg.
With a green glow of magic, the daggers from the attacking raider flew out of its eyes. One stuck into the grappled raider’s neck, and the other slashed a second raider.
Puppet strings stepped into view. Her horn was glowing green with a purple mist coming off it.
The second raider was struck by a third dagger as it flew from Puppet and hit them in the throat.
“Ya fucking bitch!” a big and loud mare of a raider shouted as she pulled a rocket launcher from within a box.
*Blam!*
The sound of a gun defended me as the raider’s head exploded into a confetti of brain matter.
Looking around, I saw Victora standing not far from me, her 50cal pistol in her mouth.
It took a minute, but my hearing did return. The three of us stood in the small field of mushrooms.
Though shocking, I was not all that surprised to see that the mushrooms, the raiders were growing them out of the corpses of ponies. The room itself filled with half-rotten corpses and skeletons.
“I think that’s all of them,” I said, still rubbing my ears. “Fuck, that’s a loud gun.”
Victoria was also rubbing her ears as she replied. “Well, it’s not meant to be used in such confined places.”
I looked over at Puppet who was cleaning one of her daggers. Next to her was the clearly dead raider, dragging one of the other corpses out of the way.
“The fuck is with that corps?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow,
She put her daggers away and flashed me a small, yet creepy smile. “Just a little necromancy I learned from some harpies.”
“Nifty,” I said, trying not to sound nervous about her being able to make corpses dance for her.
“Enough questions. Don’t you have something you wanted to do around here?” Puppet asked before her horn flashed with green light. The walking corps collapsed a moment later.
I nodded as I trotted off to look around.
Not much was in the mushroom room, which made sense with how thick the smell of rot was in here. I did think about keeping the rocket launcher, but decided against it. The thing was just too big to hide, and the last thing anypony wanted was for me to trot around with explosives again.
I found their prisoner room. The poor mutilated pony in the cage likely had died at least a day or so ago and was left there to rot.
Opening one door had me quickly close it as the smell of piss and shit rushed out. Once the door was closed, I spent a minute dry heaving, making me want to go back to the mushroom room again to get some fresh air.
Another room was where they clearly did most of their drugs, as well as other stress-relieving activities. Several pony body parts were all over the place, and lines of blood splattered across the walls and ceiling. If it weren't for the two severed heads in here, I would have guessed Victoria killed far more than that.
I finally found what I was looking for, the place where the Blood Moon Raiders kept their loot. The room was mostly plain with several lockers on the floor and other junk on some tables.
The lockers were simple to open as I just had to stab the padlocks to get inside. What I found was several old rusty guns and plenty of salvage that the raiders likely got from ponies they killed. One locker also had plenty of old preserved food.
One locker caught my eye. It was crudely painted red with the letter 24 inside a red circle. It is clearly a mark of their clan, but why the 24?
Inside was a whole lot of jars with ground down glowing mushrooms inside. They likely meant for whoever makes their chems. Something else was in the locker at the far end. It was some peace of clothing that was bulky.
What I pulled out was what looked like old tattered stable barding, but it had thick padding around it along with the raider modification of spikes. The word “Security” was boldly printed on the chest, and on both shoulders imprinted in yellow on the blue suit was the number 24 with a red circle painted around them.
The security barding had seen better days considering that the color faded and part of it looked like it was falling apart at the seams. Still, from what I know, raiders normally don’t wear stable barding, and this one was decorated and armored. Also, why was the number 24 painted on the locker and that same number on the stable barding? Likely there was a connection.
It was not much of a clue, but maybe if I asked the two not-stable ponies, they may know something about this 24. I knew Harp was a smart mare.
Folding up the barding in a way so all the spikes poked inward, I shoved it into my saddlebag and trotted out to find Victoria.
“Did you find any clues?” Victoria asked as I met her at the exit out of the sewer. She had the rocket launcher strapped to her back and several rockets poking out of a bag she had taken.
“Not sure, but I found something that might be a clue. I just need to ask a pony that might know,” I answered.
She smiled a toothy grin. “Good, good. Anything is better than nothing. I’m going to send some of the crew back here later while the sun is still out. The ponies here may not be shit, but they did have a lot of shit for making chems. Figure we sell ‘em to make some extra caps.”
I smiled back at her. “I better get a cut, then.”
We both laughed, then exited this grimy place and back into the light.
Returning to the hideout, things were far quieter than before. The unicorn who received us was oddly stiff.
Looking at the other three mares, they seemed to know what was going on, as they looked absolutely annoyed.
“Uhh, what’s going on?” I asked.
Victoria raised a hoof to quiet me. “Remember what I told you about remembering your faith and shit? Start doing that now. Also, do your best to not say a fucking thing unless absolutely necessary. Now follow me.”
Staying behind Victoria, Puppet, and Spring, we trotted into the drinking hall.
There all the pirates were standing up straight, all except for one on the floor. His back was covered in lashes. Further back, the one holding a whip was a pure white pegasus mare with a golden mane and tail tied up in a tight bun. She wore a pure white robe that had gold trim as well as a tall white hat with gold trim. Also on the hat was the symbol of the Holy Fleet; Thorn Roseland’s cutie mark in between Celestia and Luna.
Next to her was a younger pegasus mare who was ivory white with an almost white platinum blonde mane and tail that was long and practically sparkled. She wore a white suit with gold embroidery along the edges and a red frilly undershirt. The nobility looking mare was busy looking at herself in the mirror.
Victoria stepped over the lashed pony and up to the mare with the whip. “Bishop Purity Spiral, so good to see you again, and you brought your… son Utopia Reflection with you.”
I did a double-take. The young mare next to the Bishop was not a mare, but a stallion. A bit unfair that he looked better than me. Personally I liked my stallions to be rougher around the edges. The more scars, the better. He was just too pretty.
Purity Spiral pulled back her whip, coiling it up in her hooves. On the end of the whip were several small chains with metal spikes on the end.
“Victoria Rosary, my darling. There is my favorite hero of the fleet. I do hope you're doing the prophets good work.” Purity Spiral spoke with a clear and elegant voice, much like Harp Melody, yet colder than the young mare.
“Lucky you say that, bishop. Just now we cleared out a den of worthless heathens. It’s always good to get out there and do proper work,” Victoria said cheerfully.
The pegasus eyes scanned over us, looking unimpressed until her eyes fell on me.
“You! You’re new here. What's your name?” she probed while pointing at me.
I looked to Puppet who just gave me a slight head nod.
“My name Lady Bishop, It’s Star Charter.” I answered.
Purity Spiral’s eyes widened a little and a grin formed on her face.
“So, Victoria, you finally found that twice whore born foal that you let the demon snatch away. That’s one sin I can start forgiving you for. Yes, indeed,” she said in a smug tone.
I was feeling a bit confused. I had made an impression on the Blackwater when Victoria had used me to capture Prism, but why was the bishop interested in me?
She fluttered her wings, flying over and landing next to me. I got a glimpse of her cutie mark. It was a gold lily surrounded by spiraling water. With her wing, she used the butt of her whip to start probing me. “Strong body, healthy mane and tail, no visible abnormalities.”
The mare then asked, “Miss Star, are you a virgin?”
I had to hold back from kicking the bishop as she probed under my tail.
“No, no. I have a daughter, Lady Bishop,” I said nervously.
She frowned. “A shame, though knowing you’re not sterile is still good. Do you have any diseases or addictions that may affect any future foals, Star?”
I glared at Purity, but then I caught a counter glare from Victoria which sent me the message to not be stupid.
“No. None of those, Lady Bishop. I haven't been with another stallion, or had much in the way of chems since my daughter was born.” I again answered.
She checked my teeth and eyes. Her eyes were a brilliant green, much like Victorias.
Actually, I could feel it; the power of the evil eye from her.
Purity again fluttered up, returning to where she was before, only this time she looked to be contemplating. “I don’t know. She certainly can pass off for a member of the Wayfinder family with how she resembles Dead Reckoning, and that cutie mark does give off the feeling of a navigator.”
She looked to her son. “Utopia, what do you think? Will she do?”
The mare-looking pegasus stallion briefly looked up from his mirror to eye me, but only for a brief moment.
“Maybe,” was all Utopia Reflection said before returning to gazing at himself.
Purity Spiral frowned. “You’re right. Having a twice whore born mare may not be the wisest of choices to bear me a grandchild. I will need to think upon this.”
“Victoria, I will be retiring for the day. Do keep my son entertained,” Purity commanded before trotting off.
Victoria and the others breathed a sigh of relief once Bishop Purity had left the room. After that, everypony began talking in hushed voices.
I trotted up to Victoria who shoved a hoof in my face before I could say anything. “I know what you're going to ask, so stay calm. The last thing I need is Purity possibly hearing you blaspheme the prophets name.”
She took a deep breath before explaining. “You may or may not be the bastard daughter of the bastard son of a minor noble family, in which Purity wants her grandchildren to be a part of. If I had known about that before you flew away, it would have saved me a lot of trouble and lashings.”
I looked past Victoria and at Utopia Reflection. The stallion was engrossed in his self-grooming, ignoring everypony. “Are you saying that the bishop wants me to fuck her prim and proper mare-like son?”
She nodded, and I face hoofed.
The fact that I might be minor nobility in the Holy Fleet sounded awesome, but I had a feeling that, if anything, I would only be used as a breeding mare of questionable heritage. Also known as some rich pony’s personal whore.
“Ya, no thanks. Even if I was up for having another foal, he is just too… clean. Completely not my type. I’m actually more up for banging Spring Box right now than him. The whole fight had me in the mood, though the bishop ruined that.”
Spring Box chuckled. “Yarr, blowin' that there 'ole open got me a bit wet, too. I got a few toys in me cabin we can play with if ye want.”
This time Victoria cocked an eyebrow. “You're adapting back with us far too quickly.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s just good for me to let loose. To go out and cause some trouble. Still, I probably should be heading home soon before some pony starts asking questions.”
Victoria nodded. “Well, when you head back, you can use the bathing chamber in the penthouse to get rid of some of the blood and stink on you. But before that, stick around for a bit. You are back with your true family, Star. You should get to know them again.”
I thought about it for a moment. It didn’t seem all that bad of an idea. Everything here, it just felt… right.
The captain likes Star, and they know she can handle herself in a fight. The new recruits are unsure, but the original members remember the filly that helped them rise to power. Star is one of them, always has been.
-Reputation-
-Illuminated Oceanic Authority-
The word of the prodigal daughter of the wayfinder family having returned has slowly reached the fleets. Although Star is but a drop in the bucket, some ponies may not like the waves that are being made.
"Among the things Harp misses from her homeland, it was the food. Not simply eating it, though her describing the different kinds of dishes freshly made that didn’t involve mutant plants and animals made my mouth water. As she said, it was the whole process of how the food got to her that she missed.
The Marewaii Islands had a complicated system revolving around the growing, processing, and distribution of plant-based food. The plantations grow pigmy plants in their vertical farms, maximizing the yield within the smallest of spaces. Small factories take much of that food and convert it into high nutritional and long-lasting foods that are often low cost. Then the distribution by a train system that has run for over 200 years.
As Harp explains it, none of that could even work if the Marewaii Islands were as much of a disorganized mess as the wasteland was. It downright sounded like the most stable and civilized place in this world.
Still, I get the strong feeling that her home has, as a human once expressed to me, the sword of Damocles hanging over it." ~ Azure Dice
Hardballer tapped his crude pencil on his desk while looking at the crude drawing of the robot Order. Though he had agreed that attaching guns to Order was worth giving it a try, he still had to do some quick brainstorming.
He then pointed at the underbelly of the robot drawing.
“The main issue, Harp, is the clamps. The best position is the belly, which would block them.” Hardballer moved the pencil to the underside of the robot's wing. “This leaves the position between the clamps and wings. The harness for the rifle is going to need to be thin and strong, otherwise it will obstruct the propellers or break from any strong force.”
I could see what he was getting at. Order was not some combat drone, so weapons larger than a pistol would be an issue on it. Also, the rifles themselves were a bit awkward, not designed to be placed on such a robot. Then I had an idea that, maybe, the rifle too could be changed.
Presting one of my bolt launchers, I pointed to the air tank on the back. “What if you added an extra part to have the air tank tilt to the side? Maybe shorten the barrel a little?”
Hardballer drew a rough sketch of the rifle, then nodded. “If you don’t mind me making a few more modifications to both the guns and the robot, I think I might have something that could work.”
Next to the sketch of the gun he drew another, but with the air tanks removed. “Your bolt launchers are well defined to be shot by hoof, with a mostly sleek form. Robots don’t need this. If I strip down the rifles and integrate them into the robots shell, I think it should be possible.”
“How long will that take?” I then asked.
He tapped on his beak. “Maybe until tomorrow. The gun itself is not the issue. It’s basically just a beefed-up syringe gun. I’ve made a few of those in my time. I know I have the parts for what I’m thinking of doing. It’s remaking your robots shell, and housing the talismans, that is the issue. But, when I’m done, I would have the rifle practically half the length as part of the robot.”
Hardballer gently took my rifle and lightly brushed the engraving of the gun's name. “The pony who made this was quite smart. The enter gun is modular, as though they had it in mind for it to be modified. If I wanted to, I probably could turn one of these rifles into an nasty sniper rifle, or maybe a micro grenade launcher if I was so willing to do.”
Now that he mentioned it, air rifles were commonly modified back in the metro. Some were turned into turret machine guns while others turned into shotguns. Sometimes two air rifles were strapped together as some double barrelled monstrosity.
I smiled a little. “It’s probably due to the culture back home. Air rifles were the norm there, and most of the ponies who used them would personalize them. I think the pony that made this is what they had in mind for it.”
I thought about what I just said for a moment, having an idea. “I probably should add a modification too.”
Hardballer nodded. “Not a bad idea, though best not to rush it. Give it some more thought.”
His suggestion felt like the best course of action for this idea. “You’re right. Unlike Order, I can't just calibrate.”
With that, our deal was done. Basically part of my pay would go into fixing and modifying my drone Order as well as giving me a fair amount of ammo for my revolver. This deal was good for the two of us. The Gunrunners needed to keep their caps to pay taxes and to pay scavengers for the raw materials. So the suggestion to pay us in labor sounded like a good compromise.
If I could get Order back to full working condition, with better defensive armaments, things will be different next time. Star had been quickly overwhelmed and Cloudy was no fighter at all. As for myself, I bumbled pulling out my revolver. The only one that got a good hit in when we were ambushed was Order, but he can only do that shock spell once before needing to recharge.
The bolt launchers may not be the ideal gun for an attack drone, but defensively, it may provide me the time to properly get my gun out or cover any pony with me.
Unfortunately, I would have to wait till tomorrow before I can test Order’s modifications, so I was going to stay here for the night. If some raiders were after me, no better place to be then a compound filled with heavily armed griffins.
Still, I had a few other things to take care of. First of all was to check in with the Ruffled Feathers to see if Waterspout had talked with the mayor.
As I trotted to the door out of the compound, Longslide startled me when he landed nearby.
“Sorry about that, Harp. Didn’t mean to surprise you,” he said with concern in his voice.
I took a deep breath and smiled. “It’s quite alright. It’s not the first scare in my life. At this point, I should be quite used to it. Is there anything you need?”
He nodded his head. “Mostly just making sure you're okay, but also I like your opinion.”
“The energy gun you're trying to draw up?” I asked.
Again he nodded. “Ya. The problem is that we lack the gemstones to make something as strong as old-world energy guns. Ya, we could use what we have to make some bigger gun, but that’s not making anything new. Javelina suggested using the lower quality gems, but-”
“They lack the power or distance,” I finished.
“Also, there is the issue of burnout. The rose quartz talismans can take the energy output that the other games can’t.” He pulled out a green and blue gemstone. “Javelina keeps suggesting to just use more than one, but even I know that will make the shots go wild.”
I thought about it for a moment, then something clicked. “What if we reduce the range and just have more beams shoot out? Would that be possible?”
Longslide tapped his beak for a moment. “Like some beam shotgun? Ya, that might be possible. Still, I might need to cut the gemstones into a more fitting shape before, but I’ll pass it by Javelina. Thanks Harp and stay safe out there.”
“No problem, and I plan to,” I said back before leaving the compound.
Even though it was still the day, I found myself watching every shadow and keeping an eye out for ponies watching me. I hated how I let some low life ponies shake me.
Who sent them? Well, I know that Victoria wants my bloodline, but she has her own goons. However, I wouldn't put it past her to send such ponies to force me to join her.
Then again, Quicktrot could have sent them. She does know who I am and what I can be used for. From what Slowtrot had said, she requires technology to live, and I am a powerful walking magical battery.
Still, though I doubt he is that level of petty, Deputy False Cap was made embarrassed by me, so if not last night, then he will pull something.
There was also the dreadful possibility that those midnight raiders aren’t connected to any pony I know. It’s possible some pony else wanted me for themselves. For what, I don’t know.
It was all too much, as things always were. I just hated not knowing who to direct my wrath. At least, back home, I knew it was likely my elder sister who was setting me up.
Arriving at the Ruffled Feathers, I noticed that it was slow as normal during the day. Cleaning ponies were hard at work, with Waterspout helping them out.
The hippogriff looked over at me and sighed. “Are you sure you should be out and about right now? Not only should your legs be sore, but I heard about what happened after you left.”
I moved my leg a little. The soreness from my dancing last night was considerably dulled. “Jali gave me a mild sedative. She added that it would help with both the pain and to keep me from having a panic attack.”
He trotted up to me, still looking concerned. “That ghoul is a treasure trove of medical expertise. Still, what are you doing here? You and Cloudy have the day off, so go cuddle or something.”
“Well, Cloudy is staying at the clinic for now. Jali wants to test psychological counseling on her and another mare,” I respond.
“And you don’t need that?” he checked.
I chuckled. “I doubt Jali has the time to deal with my issues. Anyways, I figure it’s better to get at the heart of the issue, or at least make sure it goes my way next time.”
I then sighed, steeling myself to get to what I really wanted to ask. I hoped to hear good news. “So ... have you talked with the mayor about last night?”
Waterspout covered his face with his claw, looking irritated. It was a bad sign, one I knew well, as mother made it all the time whenever a station started making demands. It was the look some pony, or hippogriff, gets when others are being unreasonable or irrational, and the solution would be something no pony likes.
“Espresso and I had breakfast this morning. Even if he openly denies it, the Ruffled Feather brings in a lot of caps to the town. Well, I told him about what False Cap got up to last night, and ya, he did get mad. The last thing this town needs is the local law stirring up trouble before a large event, so Espresso does plan to punish him.”
“But?” I prodded.
“But the news about the raiders getting into a fight with the ganggers spooked him even more. How the fuck the raiders got into town in the first place is beyond me. Because of that, the good mayor wants to increase security and give the sheriff more authority to make sure that does not happen again.”
I groaned. “Meaning that False Caps punishment will be postponed until after the festival.”
“Correct,” Waterspout confirmed.
Waterspout grabbed a rag and began wiping off a nearby table. “At the very least, False Cap will not be visiting this tavern anytime soon. That, at least, I can promise you.”
“Well, that is at least a relief,” I said with a sigh.
Still, I was hoping for more, such as having that asshole get fined or some actual punishment. I’d settle for him getting some lashings just to know he did get hurt in some way. What he did to Cloudy and Star, I was not going to forgive and forget any time soon, if ever. Maybe I should just go with the classic Marewaii assassination and have him pushed in front of a train in order to make it look like an accident. Realy, as long as something big, heavy, and fast hits him, I would be happy.
Waterspout grinned, telling me he had something less than pure in mind. “On the topic of the tavern, what do you say to putting on another show tomorrow night? I got this nice dress you can use, and maybe a rich customer to use it on.”
Right on the money. “I don’t know. I’m still recovering from last night.”
“It’s your choice, Harp. You and Cloudy make an excellent team for this. That’s something I rather not see wasted.” He said with a shrug.
I saw a glint in his eye before he continued. “Oh, and that rich customer I mentioned, I heard it’s some wealthy mare from out east who has some connections to the railway reconstruction, I think. Heard she’s into mares more than stallions, so I figured you and Cloudy could loosen her up.”
I rolled my eyes. “And what, take her to the brothel with us?”
“Your choice. Just come by tomorrow night, and I’ll make sure nopony bothers you or Cloudy. Alright?” Waterspout asked with a wink.
Well at least he wasn’t suggesting I fuck a random stallion, but still ... the brothel sounded like a really bad idea. “I’ll run it by Cloudy. Just don’t get your hopes up.”
Parting ways, I left the Ruffled Feathers feeling a bit annoyed by the request. Afterwards I headed my way to the uptown market.
I was looking for some scavenged electronics, the kind of things that could pass a spell through it with a magical energy current. When I was a foal, I had made a light talisman in my arcano science class using a potato as a power source. I was determined to try to remake that on a much bigger scale. From potato battery to spark battery!
It was still going to be a bit more complicated than that from what I remember, but if I can make the arcanotech device, the Gunrunners would be able to make simple talismans without my help. If I can pull that off, then I should have a big payout coming my way.
Now what I needed were electronics and wires mostly, along with an energy converter with a power breaker to help keep the talismans from burning out if the current is too strong. Actually the control of the magic flow would be the most important part.
One rough-looking merchant shook her head. “Sorry, got scrap metal and corn.”
Another merchant pointed to several old gun parts and canned foods.
A third simply told me to buzz off.
A lot of the traveling merchants in town seemed to be in a bad mood, not interested in questions. That's when I saw a familiar face. I trotted over to the merchant Moody Peddler, who had just finished selling a white scorpion supply box.
“Well I’ll be. Miss Harp, is it?” he said in his sales pony chipper tone. “I sure hope you're looking for anything I can sell. I see you have those glasses yo marefriend bought from me.”
“That’s my name, Moody, and I do hope so too,” I responded as I wiggled the orange shades on my face. I looked over what he had on display, but I did not see any electronics. “Say, would you happen to have anything for making arcano tech devices? Like electronics, cables, and anything of the like?”
He scratched his beard for a moment. “I might have something, but most of my good salvage is already sold.”
Moody got out a smaller sized chest. Inside was a bunch of what I could guess were robot parts. Picking through what's there, I found a few things that I was going to need. There was a power breaker, but no power converter.
I clicked my tongue.
“Let me guess, one of the more important parts is missing,” Moody correctly surmised.
“I need a power converter. Nothing major. I am just testing an idea, but without it, what I’ll make will just be garbage,” I told Moody.
He closed the chest then looked over to the general store. “Well I’m not one to tell you to go to a competitor, but if you buy all that, and one of my mystery lunch boxes, I’ll give you a tip to where you can find a small power converter.”
Great! He was trying to sell information.
“What’s in the mystery lunch boxes?” I asked.
He slowly waved his hooves up in a big archer. “Nopony knows.”
Pulling back a curtain to reveal over ten Stable-Tec and Sparkle-Cola lunch boxes stacked on top of each other in a pyramid. “Well, my kids know. I let them stock them after I got a load of random stuff from a less than great deal. You may get a bunch of junk, or you might get something useful. I just didn’t have the time to look it all over.”
He leaned in and whispered, “Also, might be best if you open it outside. My little bastard loves their pranks.”
I looked at him, eyebrows raised.
“Fine, I’ll buy.” I then took one of the lunchboxes, a fairly decent Sparkle-Cola box, which had a friendly green unicorn printed on it.
It took a minute for him to check and count the caps, reminding me of a casino mare folding a deck of cards with how he hoofs around the caps.
When Moody was done, he gave me a big smile and then told me what I needed to know. “The New Appaloosa general store does not have any power converters for sale right now. Trust me, I checked. But what they do have is a pinky party toast-o-matic in good condition. They can toast the perfect toast, or burn Ministry Mare Pinkie Pie’s face into the toast. More importantly, those things have built-in power converters to keep them from setting the toast on fire.”
I had a real hard time understanding what the old world was thinking with all their unnecessary tech. Well, at least it was not a solarus toaster. I hated those things! For some reason, the one kept in stable 50 had a radio speaker attached to it. Whenever I used it to toast bread, a message about burning down the world would play. I once had a nightmare about the toaster actually setting the stable on fire.
“Say, Moody,” I spoke up with one more question. “The merchants out here look a bit miserable. Did something happen?”
Moody Peddler sighed. “It’s more like what hasn't happened. We're all here for the festival, but there has been no set date. All of us have staked our small plot of land here to sell during the festival, so without a set date, we're stuck here until we give up or run out of junk to sell.”
“Let me guess ... a lot of you rather move around than stay in one place.” I suspected.
He shrugged. “Mostly true. We got products that we know will sell better in other places, but selling during the festival will be better caps. It’s a catch 22, and some of us merchants are just getting ornery because of it. Lucky other traveling merchants have been helping us resupply, though at a slight mark up, as expected of a merchant.”
The stallion pulled out an empty bottle with a big grin on his face. “Right now bottles are a big commodity considering how we're going into a drought soon. Several merchants have been hired on to work with water caravans, so this festival might be the last big ye-ha for the next few years. It all makes us on edge, as you can see.”
That makes sense. I was not the only pony trying to make a lot of caps before making a big move.
I copied his smile. “Are you going to try and sell everything and join the water caravans? Or are you going to just sell water independently?”
He scratched his chin with the bottle, trying to look as though he never gave it some thought before. “My wife suggested as much, as it would guarantee NCR protection and a steady income even though just moving some water would be a waste of my talents. Still, if the water dries up, no way ponies will be buying the random junk I have to sell. All caps will have to go to water.”
Throwing the sheet back over the mystery lunch boxes, he waved me off. “Good chatting with you, but you should buy that toaster before some other pony snatches it up.”
Why he needed to cover up the mystery boxes was a mystery in itself, so I waved back. After that, trotted over to the General store.
Inside, it looked like it sold almost every little bit and bob a pony could be fine with. All of it in various conditions. Finding the toaster was easy. The bright chrome appliance sat on the top shelf with the face of Pinkie Pie on it. Her face felt like it was really looking down at me.
The large stallion, who I guessed was Heavy Hoof, sat behind the counter while reading a book. There were a few other ponies inside. Some were looking like merchants themselves as they browsed the aisles. Trotting up to the counter, the stallion Heavy, looked over at me, and put his book down before he drearily said. “How may I help you?”
I pointed at the toaster and said, “I like to purchase that toast-o-matic up there, and any electronics you might have.”
Heavy nodded and grabbed the toaster, placing it on the counter. If it were not for Pinkie's face, the thing would have been charming looking.
Trotting over to where the electronics were, I found a few more cables and some circuitry. I wanted to make sure I didn’t need to trot back here, so buying some extra was a good idea.
We haggled, then came to a fair price. At that point we exchanged caps. Heavy hoof seemed to be an upstanding pony. He was nothing special, but not some slimeball either.
As I turned to leave, I heard the soft chuckling of Karat Gold as she stepped through the front door. One of her hooves was wrapped up and braced. “Oh, is that you, Harp? How's working at that whore house?”
Star warned me that she was going to be a bitch if I were to bump into her again. I also figured she was going to be this way. Ponies like her never knew what to do with power but abuse it. Now that Karat saw herself as socially higher than me, she felt in the right to act this way. It was a combination of being drunk on the littlest of power, and likely a lack of accountability.
It was common back home among the spouses of Station mayor’s spouses where they acted as though they actually ran the place. My family was not much different. My siblings would try to throw their authority around whenever they could, but unlike ponies like Karat, they had some actual power to make ponies fear them. Karat was just a boasting no pony who can’t even do her own work.
Another pony stepped in. It was the tall and thin unicorn Stopped Clock.
“So the new trouble maker is here.” Stopped said as he looked down at me.
I rolled my eyes. “If you’re talking about the incident with False, then maybe you should tell him to keep his hooves to himself.”
“Threatening a deputy's life is still a crime, even if we were told to not pursue it. Don’t think you’re above the law,” the Deputy said coldly.
I laughed. “If you're going to throw that at me, make sure I can’t easily call you out on your own hypocrisy. How many times has Ashy stuck a gun in someone's face? I was there for the standoff you all caused, and I heard about her incident with Hardballer a few days later.”
He lifted his duster jacket, showing his revolver. “Known criminals don’t deserve the same respect as decent ponies. But with who you choose to associate yourself with, I’m not surprised you don’t seem to understand this concept.”
I know I shouldn't argue, but knowing that he was just going to let False Cap go, it made my blood boil. “Known criminals? False knocked Cloudy unconscious over nothing. If any pony in all that is a criminal, it’s False. How in tartars is Cloudy a criminal?”
“Spoken like a stable pony who knows nothing. Even if she was not directly involved, she was part of the Enclave. That same Enclave that went on a bloody rampage all over the wasteland to wipe out the rest of the pony kind. All the pegasus are guilty of this crime. They were all complicit in that atrocity.” Stopped looked down at me with his one cold eye. I could see it; hatred. Pure hatred. It wasn’t the friary passion of a pony in rage, but a cold calculating hate that only a pony set on their path could have with no way to change their mind.
The only other pony I had seen with eyes like that was my eldest sister. The same mare who sold my family out to Victoria's goons. They literally walked through the front door. Their captain in the armor of the head of the royal guard, my once precious caretaker, Status Dancer. I had to watch as ponies I knew from the time I was born faced slavery or slaughter. Some were not even given the choice as they were cut down to satisfy the pirate’s bloodlust.
Whatever Stopped decided on doing, he was going to feel justified in it.
I broke eye contact. “Say what you will, but the Enclave I knew were heroic ponies that I owed my life to, and unlike you, I don’t tie civilians to the actions of the greater organization.” I gritted my teeth. “I’m not some damnable equalist.”
Stopped huffed. “Then you're a fool, and on the road to becoming a criminal. Step out of line, and I will be there.”
He trotted past me without another word.
I had nothing else to say to him. It would be a waste of my time and sanity.
That’s when I caught the smug smile of Karat.
“What?” I asked through gritted teeth.
Her eyes wandered away, looking off into the distance. “Oh nothing, just wonder that if you're working at that whore house, you must be hard up on caps. Maybe enough to take something without paying.”
I glared at her. “False accusations now, is it?”
She looked over at Heavy Hoof, a disappointing frown on her muzzle. “A mare like you can easily take advantage of that pathetic husband of mine.” She looked at my now full saddlebag, pointing at the toaster. “I know that’s all not cheap. Nothing a capless mare like you can afford.”
Karat began making an up and down motion with her good hoof while smugly smiling at me. “So did you do it here, or at that whore house like the slut you are?”
I was not going to let her get to me. I trot passed her to the outside.
“I heard that you and that pegasus bitch have teamed up. I guess the town's bicycle does need two wheels after all,” she said with a chuckle.
I whipped around, my left hoof still up, and the weight of my pipbuck sending it out. Or maybe I wanted it to fly. I know I did want to hit her, and I was pissed.
My pipbuck connected with her face. Karat stumbled back and fell over.
It was too late to hold back, so I felt now was better than any time to tell her how I felt about her. “Don’t you fucking even dare to say that again! Not when everypony knows how much you whore yourself out. Just because you can ride a dick to get some power does not make you any bit better than anypony else. No, it makes you just another pathetic whore who pretends to be better than what you are. You do know eveypony wishes that your husband would just ditch you already, not like those kids of yours are his anyways!”
I took a step towards Karat, who was now cowering as she held a hoof over her eye.
“That’s enough!” Stopped shouted.
His magic wrapped around me. I was slammed to the floor hard.
Stopped began dragging me to the door, his one eye glaring at me. “I’m taking you to the jail.”
I didn’t argue. It was going to be a waste of time. Better to just get this over with, not like I cared what this damned town thought about me.
"Listening to Harp Melody, I learned more about the Marewaii Metro.
She went on about how one of the three big factions had fallen. Known simply as The Republic, they were what was left of the old Equestria government and businesses. They had survived on the Gathering Island. Marewaii’s mayor, along with several business CEO’s, Ministry heads, and Military leaders had survived and managed to maintain order. Unfortunately, the flaws of the old world got passed on through them, which tore the Republic apart.
Many of the leaders of the Republic were bought out by the corporations, throwing the lower class into a slave-like existence. Others still fell into a new dogma about equality, fairness, and how everything belongs to everypony, refusing to see that any pony should be allowed the fruits of their own labor. Infighting began to happen, and when push came to shove, the Republic fell into chaos.
The smoke of the old power was left dead through the slaughter brought on by those who believed only in Equality. Any pony who didn’t agree with them were killed. Any pony who did not show enthusiastic support were killed. To them, you were equally miserable, or you were dead.
It sounded like the typical downfall of a Utopian vision to me. A horrible nightmare made from corpses and painted gold. It was a flaw I saw many times with the Harpies, where hypocrisy was preferable to honesty. I never wanted to stay in their lands for long, not if I could help it." ~ Azure Dice
Being dragged to the jail was wholly unnecessary. I knew Stopped Clock didn’t need to struggle to move me at least a little above the ground. Though I didn’t struggle or complain, other than it being useless, I also figured that he wanted me to do something. All he needed was any excuse, then he could be rougher with me. Ponies like him may justify their own actions, but they were not stuipd enough to expect others to accept their justification.
Though it didn’t help that the asshole took my saddlebag and gave it to Karat. The bitch decided to stick to that accusation of me being a thief, and me striking her being because she caught me. Stopped just taking her word for it.
Then I had the whole town watching as I was dragged away like I was some unwanted animal being removed.
With a thud and a clunk, the jail door was closed behind me. It had looked ill-kept from the last time I was here, but now that I was inside, it looked relatively worse. The floor was rough with uneven sided wooden boards that threatened to give me a splinter if I stepped on them. The bars were rusty, and the bed was nothing more than a frame with a few wooden planks on it.
Worse was the lone bucket in the corner that had a bunch of flies buzzing around it.
I brushed myself off while trying to remain calm. On the other side of the bars was Stopped, holding my jacket as he removed my Enforcer revolver.
In the most calm but stern voice I could, I said, “Better give them back once I’m out. Both were gifts from my father.”
He put them both on his desk. “You think you're in a position to negotiate?”
“After you gave my property over to that bitch, I think I am. You didn’t even check what was in my saddlebag,” I complained.
“They all say that. Every last one of them,” He said, brushing me off as he turned to his desk and pulled out some paper. “Now shut up. I have some paperwork to do.”
I could understand that not giving a fuck was a good quality for law enforcment, but this was too much. Even back home, both the guard and Orthrus security knew to confiscate all involved items. Just hoofing over one ponies belongings to another was inviting a lawsuit.
…
But I was not home.
I could possibly get that toaster and the other materials I purchased back. My saddlebag too. Maybe my caps…
Why did I lose my cool there? It was just not like me.
It’s this place! This fucking place just won’t let me catch my breath. If I just had the time to just hide away, figure things out slowly.
No, there are ponies who know me. Who wants to use me, and nopony to protect me from them.
Maybe the Gunrunners… No, I don’t want them to get involved with my problems.
I need to leave as soon as I have the supplies and caps for it. Make my way to Cantercross as fast as possible. At least there I should be able to hide.
But I’m sitting in a fucking jail cell all because I let some insignificant peasant goat me!
I banged on the cage and then trotted to the bed. Now I needed to think of a way out of here.
Some time passed. When a few of the regular deputies came by, I tried to talk to them. Unfortunately, Stopped glared at them. After that, they refused to talk to me, dashing my hopes to at least get word out to ponies that could help me.
One silver lining was that I didn’t need to relive myself as time ticked by. Whatever that was worth.
There was a commotion outside, and then the door to the outside kicked open. “Oh fucken let me go, pretty colt. Atta fuck ya up!” Dead Axle shouted as deputy Willow dragged her in. She had been hogtied.
With a quick motion, Stopped opened the jail cell to let Willow toss her in. With a quick snap of the rope, Dead was untied, and the jail door slammed shut right as the angry mare charged at them. She stumbled back, stunned for a moment, then shook herself as she regained her anger.
Dead began her shouting again. “When my bros find out about this shit, you know there's going to be trouble. Trust me on this.”
Willow just gave an exhausted sigh. “You and the Desperado’s aren't going to do anything. You hear me? Now just sit there and cool the fuck down, you mad mare! By Celestia, starting a fight with a merchant over auto-wagons.”
Dead gave a short laugh. “That’s because Chrysalis Motors made shit motterwagons. Even their attempt at a motorcycle was garbage. That asshole said that their family had a Marauder that lasted a hundred years after the war, brahmin shit. I bet it was only the trunk that was left after fifty years.”
She sat back, her forelegs up as though she was shrugging. Her face looked prideful.
“Now the H-D W.L.A, that is a truly perfect vehicle. Made by the best company old Equestria ever had,” she boasted.
“You do know I both don’t know what you’re talking about and don’t care. Now sit there and shut up for an hour,” Willow told the gangger.
The younger deputy’s eyes then wandered from Dead over to me. His eyes widened with shock. “What are you doing here, Miss Harp?”
I was about to explain, but Stopped Clock cut in before I could. “She attacked Miss Karat Gold and stole from the General store.”
This was getting really annoying, and I was not going to just sit and take it. “I didn’t steal a damn thing, and you know it. Now ya, I back hoofed Karat, but she really needs to learn to not push a pony’s buttons. Still, that was no reason to give her all my stuff, so if anypony is a victim of theft, it’s me.”
Willow cocked an eyebrow. “You did what?”
I sighed. “Ya, I know I’m in the wrong, but after last night, I’m not the calmest pony, alright?!”
A chuckle came from Dead. “Oh, I know that feeling whenever I’m on the losing end of a fight. I just need to find something to destroy to get my spirits up.”
Both Willow and I glared at the Desperado, causing her to frown as she then shut up and sat next to the wall.
Turning his attention back to me, Willow looked conflicted. “Well, I’ll see about your things, but attacking another citizen like that, we can’t overlook it.”
I didn’t blame him. This situation was all my fault in the first place, though Karat deserved it.
“Well, can you at least let me out? I got things to do, you see. It’s actually why I was buying all the electronics in the first place. If there's a fine, I would see about paying it, but Stopped gave all my caps to Karat.”
Willow looked annoyed as he scratched his head. “Stopped, you didn’t do that, did you?”
“It’s what thieves get!” Stopped said as he put his paperwork down before coldly saying, “Or did you forget Fillydelphia?
Leaning back to turn and look at us, his one good eye was cold and uncaring. “One of Ashy’s rules, no thieves! No attempt at thievery, no openly talking about thieving. If a thief is caught, they lose the right to whatever possessions they have; no exception. Or do you need Ashy to drill those rules into you again?”
Taking a deep breath, Willow’s expression darkened, as though remembering something he rather not. “I… remember. The rules were how we made sure the slavers left us alone, and that we stayed strong and unified.”
“Good.” Stopped said, sounding mildly satisfied. “It’s no different here. Thieves disrupted the unity of the town by sowing mistrust and inviting strife. Now leave her be. I’ll let her out when I feel she has learned her lesson.”
Willow took a step away from the jail cell, which sent a twinge of anger through me. Was that all he needed? A simple lecture about the past, and he was willing to turn a blind eye? Just the other day he was all mister understanding and wanting to change the attitudes of his peers.
I had to force myself to relax, as getting pissy now would get me nowhere. So I spoke, though I couldn’t help but speak with some venom in my voice. “Seriously, is this why my father distrusted the council representative of security? Rules, rules, rules without thinking why. Aren't you going to even talk to Heavy Hoof, or the other ponies in the shop about what happened? I’m sure they will tell you that I didn’t steal a thing!”
Willow looked back at me, seemingly disappointed. “Miss Harp, I know how to do my job. I’ll talk with Miss Karat about the incident later. See if I can clear things up.”
“Later? What about now? For all I know, she could be reselling all my stuff right now! She could be spending my caps on more of her garish hoof polish!” I told him.
He turned his back on me. “I said later, Miss Harp.”
That was it. I was still stuck here, and my things that were taken from me. “That saddlebag is probably a one of a kind now, and you assholes just gave it away.” I slumped back, pouting.
Several minutes passed in silence. There was little to do but count the lines in the ceiling or mess with my pipbuck. I attempted to see if Order could help me out, but the Drone was currently too far away, and the program simply had no spells or advice for me.
Breaking the silence, Dead Axle spoke up. “Didn’t imagine you were the fighter type. Among all the softies here, you're pretty much the softest looking one. No offense.”
“None taken,” I said back.
“Say,” she spoke up again. “You stable ponies all have jobs in the stables. What was yours? I’m thinking you were a songbird or some smarty administrator type.”
I didn’t want to be questioned right now. It only made me more annoyed.
But it also was a distraction.
So I responded, “Nothing.”
“Not a thing?” she asked back skeptically.
I gritted my teeth. “Ya! My job was to stay out of the way and not embarrass my family. Someday I would get married off to some lesser noble who would likely have foals with another mare. That was my job.”
Dead gave a sharp whistle. “That’s fucking stupid and a waste of a smarty like ya. Then again, back home, you be too weak to do much with the clan, but the elders would likely find some problem vassal settlement to put ya in charge of. Get ya to fix their shit before we have ta beat the problem out of them.”
She got up and trotted next to me, sitting down on the bead. “Ya sound like you’re from some bigshot family, though they sound not the brightest to not put ya to work in some way. Why would your father just have you do nothing?”
I felt a pain in my heart, like a needle.
“Because he wanted me safe,” I said, remembering how much he wanted me to just find a new life with him in order to get to know me for more than just a week.
Rubbing my eyes a little to keep me from crying, I just started talking. “My father, Phorminx, was not from the Stable. We had only found each other recently. I’m sure if I had lived with him, I’d have been just a normal mare. Maybe I’d be a desk mare filing paperwork, or working in some lab, safe from the troubles of the Islands. No pony would need to know my heritage, or would care.
“But no, I had to live in Stable 50, where my pedigree was too high to live anywhere else, but my blood was too impure to be trusted with any power or responsibility,” I said as I felt a smoldering anger build up inside of me. Both at my family and at myself. “I had thought about running away, but to where? Everypony in the metro already knew who I was. Maybe that's why I let my eldest sister set me up. Why I accepted to go on a safari to the wild big island. There was no way she wouldn’t attempt to kill me there.”
I sighed, remembering how my vile guide took me so far away from civilization then attempted to court me as though I would ever think of him as anything more than some low life. I remembered as the Enclave crash-landed into him, saving me. I remember as the pirates learned of me, and the existence of the metro.
I remember how everything was my fault. Every death from then on was a result of my own selfishness.
Sweet lost her eyes and wigs to the Sparkle-Lurker queen to protect me.
The Islands fell under attack because the pirates discovered me.
My stable was raided because my eldest sister found new allies with those pirates.
Vibraphone lost her sister to insure I escaped.
And Vibraphone was forced to do Blackspots bidding because he took me hostage.
At every turn, I make everything worse.
“Should I even be trying to go back home?” I asked myself.
Another chuckle came from Dead Axle. “Sounds like your sister needs you to kick her shit in.”
I looked at Dead, who had a big gin on her face.
“What!?” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “Fuck if I’m going to know the interplay of rich and powerful ponies, but trust me on this; ya soft ponies only think you're all high and mighty because ya don’t have to dig through the mud to survive. It not only makes your bodies soft, but your minds soft as well.”
Dead pointed at one of her scars. “Ever fought off a cazador? They are big nasty fucking wasps with a venom that stings like a real bitch. Ya, rich ponies can say they have, but most of the time it is as far away from the fight as possible with mercenaries attempting to hold the fucker down so their boss can get an easy shot. After the bug is dead, they stuff it, mount it, then tell other rich ponies how much better they are.”
She smiled wide. One of her teeth were broken, and another was missing. “But the funny thing is, all the caps in equestri can’t buy shit if there is nothing to buy. When the food is all gone, mercenaries dead, and the bullets all spent … that’s when they realize how low on the totem pole they can fall. Oh, they may have money to throw around, but a little baby cazador don’t fucking care.”
I looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “Sounds oddly specific. How does that relate to my eldest sister?”
The mare patted me on the back. “Simple, really. If ya got a beef with your sis, then just drag her down to your level. Make her taste the dirt. After that, you can stand over her and simply say, “Crawl back up like everypony else.’”
She chuckled again, satisfied with her own statement while rubbing my shoulder like we were friends.
I brushed her off. “It doesn't work like that. Even if I wanted to, she’s both far more powerful, and more important than I am. Silver Majesty may be a cripple, but she is the most magical pony I have ever seen.”
Dead Axle rolled her eyes. “Magic doesn't stop bullets unless she sees them coming.”
I lightly knocked once on her shoulder. “Yes, it fucking does! She can cast spells that both blocks and deflects. She also has her own personal guard and savage allies who likely put her in power.”
The gangger mare tilted her head up as though looking down at me. “You know so much about her. Must be why you think such a pony is invincible. But no pony like that exists.”
This time I chuckled. It was filled with bitterness and doubt. “Some things might as well be.”
Dead Axle let herself relax as she wrapped a hoof around me in a friendly manner.
“You know, I love puzzles, solving problems, and most of all making smart ponies look stupid.” She let me go and leaned back, getting herself comfortable on the uncomfortable bed. “One thing I learned; never think nothing is unbreakable.”
She squinted her eyes at me and said softly as she smiled. “Ya do look like the Majesty on the elder’s cherished poster.”
Just then, I remembered something Slowtrot had said as well as something about the Desperados. My Ancaster Majesty took part in the early war for propaganda, having posters made of her among the troop. The Desperados themselves were descendants of early war troops, so of course they might keep such things.
“Your elder owns a poster of Majesty?” I asked.
She nodded. “Oh, it is one of his prized possessions, along with his hog.”
That got me interested. Back home there were plenty of photos of Majesty from when she first entered the stable to when time had stolen her youth away. My own mane style was based on hers. It was a feeble attempt to emulate my ancestry.
Dead Axle tapped on the bead, looking around as though analyzing her surroundings. After that, she ran her hoof on the wooden board’s edge, pulling out a lodge splinter.
“Say, how long do you think it takes for me to pull this thing to splinters?” she asked.
It was a dumb question, but I had nothing better to do. “Maybe a few hours?”
She again smiled at me as though I was a fly caught in a web. “So I can destroy this time by just slowly pulling it apart then. It just takes several hours.”
I quickly got what she was trying to say to me. “Right, right. Given time, anything can be whittled down. Even I know that.”
Dead shook her head. “Ya don’t get it.” She then applied a bit more pressure with her hoof and pulled out a bigger splinter. “Time destroys all, but a pony can destroy it faster. It’s all a matter of how fast or slow you can to do it.”
The mare let the splinters drop and rested her head on my shoulder again like we were friends. “If you wanted to drag that sister of yours down to the dirt and not get close to her, how would you do it?”
I pushed her off me. “First off, no. Second, I’d have my nephew killed, and unlike her, he is a weak idiot.”
My mouth ran dry from my own words due to the suggestion of killing my own nephew coming out of me which so easily caught me off guard.
“Good, good. And?” she prompted.
“She has an attendant she trusts,” I said, not stopping. “He was trained at birth to be loyal; to be trustworthy. But Silver trust nopony. He could easily be set up for her to think he had tried to kill her.”
Dead got muzzle to muzzle with me. “And then?”
I averted my gaze as I added, “She is allergic to nuts. Really allergic. While she is having one of her temper tantrums, I’d rub the stuff on all her things in her room. Then I would set up a camera to photograph her while she is puffing up and paint a picture of it.”
Dead backed up a bit, looking a bit confused.
“What?” I asked.
She rotated her hoof around, clearly unsure with what she had just heard. “I just don't know if that is too mild, or way too far. Personally, I just get into a hoof fight,” she explained.
I stretched out, showing her how thin I was. “Do I look like I get into hoof fights regularly?”
Dead laughed. “No. No, you don’t.” She gave me a light jab on the shoulder.
“Owch!” I said, faking pain.
She rolled her eyes. “I barely touched you.”
Now I laughed. “I’m a delicate flower. What do you expect?”
I don’t know why, but I began to feel more comfortable. Despite being in a jail with a barbarian, I finally started to relax. At least here I did feel a bit safe and with ponies who didn’t care who I was.
The two of us continue our chat. It was more about unimportant things such as food and other ponies we liked. Dead Axle was clearly a smart mare with a poor education, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. It felt, for once, that I was talking to a pony who could somewhat understand me, though on the more violent side.
Actually, she was probably not more violent than my own family. She was just more willing to do the violence with her own hooves.
It began to drive home the fact that, even though we didn’t kill ponies ourselves, we of Platinum’s bloodline brought death all the same. The difference was that we were able to get others to do it for us. Though Dead did not see the value of getting other ponies to do the work for us, she did respect that it was a talent. I, on the other hoof, understood that she was telling me about the values of personal strength.
When all is laid bare and there was nothing between me and death, could I fight?
Probably not.
But that’s why I must make sure I have that barrier between me and death. That something or somepony was my sword and shield. If I ever fight my sister, Silver Majesty, I’d do it by proxy. I’d never let her have a direct chance to end me.
It all became clear to me.
If anypony wants to take me, I must make them bleed for it. By mercenary or robot, they need to bleed.
Maybe the Deparado’s could be used for that.
My thought’s on the matter were interrupted by a screeching pony stopping into the office.
An angry Karat trotted into view while sporting a black eyes and smoke wafting off of her mane. She looked about the room as everypony stood shocked, and then she locked eyes with me.
“You!” she shrieked as she stomped to the jail. “You think it’s funny to endanger my foals?!”
As she got closer, I could see that a canister was stuck in her mane. It weekly bellowed smoke out of it and lightly filled the room.
Dead Axle laughed like she saw the funniest things in the world, and I’d have joined her if I was not worried about Karat adding more accusations onto me.
“Oh, you bitch! I will see you hung for this; endangering my foals with an explosive!” She accused me, then reached up to grab the canister. The thing stuck in her mane no matter how hard she pulled.
I addressed her without showing any emotion. “Miss Bitch, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you think any pony will believe that I stuck a smoke bomb in your mane from inside this jail, you may need to get your head fixed.”
She kicked the jail. In response, two deputies ran over to pull her back.
“Fuck you! I know you planned this! Take her away! Take her to JAIL!” She screeched.
“I already told you, I am in jail. Is there a superjail?” I asked back at her, suppressing a smirk.
I have no fucking clue what had happend, but it was making my day. I only wish I could give her a second black eye.
Finally, Stopped Clock stepped in, first eyeing me with annoyance before trotting over to Karat. Willow also trotted over to help.
“Tell me what happened, Miss Karat?” he asked her.
She put on her best tears, but It was nothing more than her spreading her own mascara with her hooves, the amateur. “Well, I gave my foals the lunch box, but they had a hard time opening it, so I went and helped them. When I wrenched the damn thing open, this fucking grenade popped out and filled the shop with smoke. I was so scared that I thought she would booby trap my store's own product!”
Karat pointed at me accusingly.
Willow trotted over to help get the smoke bomb out of Karat’s mane by levitating a knife out. “Now miss-”
“Not your case, Willow,'' Stopped grumbled, and the younger deputy clapped up. After that, Stopped looked over at me, his eyes judging. “Is this true-”
“Oh, I’m so sorry for the trouble, Deputies!” Moody Peddler said loudly as he stepped in. Behind the merchant was Heavy Hoof, looking rather guilty.
Stopped Clock whipped his head around to look at the new pony, quite annoyed now.
Moody bowed his head at the Deputy then continued. “I had warned Harp about the possibility of pranks with the mystery box, but my foals thought not to tell me about their recent discovery of wonder glue and how it could make pranks worse.”
He produced a glass bottle. “Free of charge. I have this dissolving agent. It will unbind the glue from whoever the glue is stuck to in seconds, as an apology.”
The merchant then tossed the bottle to Willow who quickly spritzed the liquid onto the smoke bomb. After a moment, the thing fell out of Karat’s mane.
Karat indignantly kicked the smoldering smoke bomb into our jail cell.
“Oy bitch, ponies are in here!” Dead Axle yelled as she kicked it back at her. The thing missed her by just a bit.
Willow caught it and threw it inside a container before closing it and sealing the smoke away.
Then, for several seconds, everypony became quiet. The chaos of the moment had settled down, but a thick veil of tension remained.
Moody tapped his hoof and looked back at Heavy Hoof.
The larger stallion stepped forward and addressed Stopped Clock. “I like you to let Miss Harp go. This incident was all my wife's fault. On her behalf, I’d like to apologize for causing such a scene.”
Karat gasped and Stopped’s one good eye twitch as he looked at Heavy Hoof. “So are you denying that I saw the assault myself?”
Karat trotted up to and poked her husband in the chest. “Have you gone mad? She attacked me!”
Heavy looked away, his own eyes catching Moodies. He seemed to visibly shake before looking back at his own wife. “Honey, please listen; we need to let this go. The other merchants are-”
“-Oh don’t you honey please with me!” Karat screeched, again poking her husband in the chest. “It was bad enough with this leg brace, but how am I supposed to be seen after she hit me in the face? What will the neighbors think or the wealthy ponies coming into town? Siding with such trash over me?!”
I could see it. Heavy Hoof’s emotions were starting to boil over. But it was not anger. No. He was scared. Terrified, even.
Karat continued to poke her husband as she chastised him. Then it happened.
*Slap!*
Karat stumbled back after being struck by her husband.
“WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS THINK?! THEY’RE NOT GOING TO CARE ABOUT US WHEN WE’RE OUT OF BUSINESS!” Heavy shouted in an almost pleading tone. “All the traveling merchants in town are already upset with the mayor. They are only getting more irritated as the days pass without a date for the festival, and now you pull this. Everything she had was legibly purchased, both from those merchants and from me. To have them get taken away like that and then you just put them on the shelves to be re-sold… there is no way they will not talk about that.”
Heavy trotted up to Stopped, looking him in the eye. “Let her go, or I will tell the mayor how you ruined my business by stealing from my costumes. With what caps I have left, I will drag you down with me!”
“Is that so…” Stopped glared over at Moody. “Fine then, but I will make sure to write this in my report. All of it.”
He looked back at me. His cold hatred was still in his glare. “You're free to go, but if I ever catch you breaking the law again, don’t think you will get off so easily.”
Willow trotted over to the jail cell, opened it, then offered out a hoof.
I looked at it.
Then at Willow.
Slapping the hoof out of my way, I trotted passed the deputy, not even waiting for a word on him.
I grabbed my jacket from Stopped’s desk and put it on before taking my revolver back.
There was a clang and a squeak behind me as Dead Axle spoke up. “I’m with her, asshole!”
“No, you're not!” Willow growled as he tried to push the mare back in.
Dead managed to slip out of the jail and trott next to me before looking back at WIllow. “Bite my flank!”
The younger deputy pulled out a lasso, With his magic, he got ready to throw it. “Oh no you-”
“-Let them go.” Stopped grumbled, causing Willow to drop the lasso and look back at the older deputy. “Ponies like them will trip up again. Just be ready to put them down when they do.”
I sighed, thoroughly annoyed with Stopped’s hogshit. “You know, back where I’m from, ponies like you were kept in the dead-end stations where you can do the least harm. It always ends the same, where they try to go on some crusade for some self righteous goal and get themself, and all those who follow them, killed. Maybe you should retire before history repeats itself.”
Stopped picked up an old tattered quill, dipping it in a rather scratched up inkwell. “You stable ponies have only ever been trouble. Now get out!”
I did just that, passing a stunned Karat and a shakened Heavy.
Trotting outside along with Dead Axle, I found Moody Peddler along with one of his foals who was holding my saddlebag.
Taking my belongings back, I cocked an eyebrow at Moody. “Not to look a gift pony in the mouth, but… How?”
The merchant gave a hardy laugh. “Come back to my stall and we can talk about it.”
“Harp Melody told me about the brewing war between the now false Republic and the peacekeeper Orthrus.
When the old powers of the Republic fell, many of the survivors fled to the Orthrus controlled territory of Pineapple Island. The Republic demanded the runaway leaders to be returned, and Orthrus told them no. Since then, the relations between the two factions had been bad, and only growing worse.
A cold war was what Harp called it, where both sides invested in covert soldiers and spies. The Republic had plenty of normal ponies who secretly believed in the Republic's messages. They also used heavily modified cyborgs to hide among the ponies and attempted assassinations. Orthrus, on the other hoof, had access to the witch moth changelings who covertly kept them informed, but also used their highly trained special forces called Specters, who were armed with the best tech ever created. ” ~ Azure Dice
Dead Axle and I followed Moody to his merchant stall, where the rough-looking mare, that was his wife, sat. She clearly was no merchant herself as she glared at any potential customer then giving her a pleasant smile.
The mare, Keep, got up with a huff and trotted over to us. “Are ya done? I need to get out of this damn sun.”
“Go take a break darling,” Moody insisted to his wife, nuzzling her.
As Keep trotted off into their covered wagon, Dead whistled sharply and chuckled. “Ain't she one of them White Scorpion Clan ponies? How'd you managed to tie one of them down? They ain’t known for settling down and such.”
Moody bashfully scratched his head. “Luck I guess. We eloped when we were younger, and just somehow managed to stay together.”
I looked at Dead Axle, eyebrow raised. “So you know about them?”
She shrugged. “I bit. Their clan worked with Redeye back when, so there were plenty of clashes between our clans at the time. Also, they’re well known for living in between two radiation hot spots, making it suicidal to attack their home.”
Trotting over to his seat, Moody stacked out before getting comfortable. “Since the radiation has cleared up, the Luna Glass Cannon Bridge has become a relatively nice place. Her clan has been making good headway in expanding their home now that they have the room to grow. Still, feral ghouls and radscorpions are still all over the damn place.”
I sighed, remembering the problems of my own home. “The Marewaii Islands could really use those Elements of Harmony. It would be nice if ponies could live on the surface again.”
“That aside,” I then said, moving on from reminiscing, “What did you say to Heavy hoof to make him so… scared?”
Moody smiled wide, like the cat that ate the canary. “Oh, just reminded him why he is even able to stay in business.”
He pulled out a cap and balanced it on his hoof. “You're a smart lass, so what do you think is the most important quality a merchant must have to succeed in business?”
His question caught me a bit off guard, as I did not follow him to get quizzed. Still, I owed him for getting me out of jail and getting my stuff back.
Dead chuckled before giving her own answer. “A slick tongue. Ya merchants always talk big and friendly.”
It was hard to tell if Dead was smart or dumb. She wasn’t wrong, but being able to talk fast was more a tool than a quality.
Clearing my throat, I gave my own answer. “What a merchant needs to succeed is honor. A good honorable merchant is able to sell their wares wherever and to whoever. No pony wants to buy from a dishonored merchant.”
Moody scratched his chin. “Close. So close. Well, not Dead, slick tongues is just a skill we develop. But honor, that’s close. Unfortunately, honor is something you can buy, and though useful, can be used against you.”
He flipped his cap up, and let it fall into his coin pouch.
“The important quality a merchant must have to succeed is trust. Without trust, ponies will look to do business with other merchants before doing business with one they don’t trust.” From an inside best pocket, he pulled out a stack of greenish-gray rectangle papers.
I had seen them before, but never paid much attention to them. They were NCR bills, a new kind of currency the NCR was trying to establish. The one-cap bills he held had the image of a two-headed bear on one side, and a pipbuck on the other.
As far as I knew, no pony in town liked using the NCR bills, as each bill was basically worth a bit less than an actual cap despite it meant to be worth one cap a bill.
“Bills and caps require trust in their value to, well, have value. Same for a merchant.” Moody pointed at the general store. “Right now, the trust between Heavy and the rest of us merchants is on shaky ground.”
Dead Axle stomped on the ground once, thus getting our attention.
“I see, y’all are getting all pissed with the town and that store is an easy target,” she said before pounding her hooves together. “Let me guess; ya plan on starving the store by making sure buses go around them. One of my elders told me about that, where they made sure the traveling merchants avoided the more asshole settlements by upping the traveling tax until those settlements learned to have respect.”
Moody sighed, then said in a deadpan tone. “I’ve heard about how you Desperado's love to control the trade routes.
“But she is not far off,” Moody admitted before pointing at his own stall, and several of its wares. “Being a traveling merchant is a huge risk. You never know what disaster is waiting for you. But life is flexible, and as long as you have some product to sell, then you have a business.”
I nodded. “But having an actual shop is different. You can’t just pack up and go to where the business is.”
“Correct, Miss Harp,” Moody agreed cheerfully. “Places like that general store require not just business to come to it, but they need other ponies to bring them the merchandise to sell.”
He picked up several glass bottles with a purple like cola inside as he went on to explain, “Merchants with stores need to buy products in bulk to lower the cost, thus allowing them to make a profit when selling. We traveling merchants know this, and stock up on more generic products we can get at an even lower cost, then travel to stores like this to unload the product. Sometimes they even make requests, in which we traveling merchants pass along until one of us can fulfill the request.”
Putting the cola bottle down, Moody grinned once again. “Now what would happen if we traveling merchants started selling all our products at the same price we sell to the general store?”
“Ponies would stop buying from the store,” I answered.
“Again, correct,” Moody said as he dropped his smile and sighed. “That, and poor Heavy would have to lower his prices.”
That all made sense. Heavy Hoof may have the support of the town, probably some under the table help from the Mayor as well. But I doubt the wasteland has anything close to a proper infrastructure, so he must primarily rely on the traveling merchants to get restocked. With the train, he could do business with ponies from the NCR, but that would piss off Espresso.
Slowtrot did mention that he got some of his junk from Blueskies. Relying on them would likely not end well for him.
All roads lead to the traveling merchants. Worse for Heavy was that they were almost all here for the festival. It would be one thing for one merchant to get pissed off at this town, but there were at least twenty merchant stalls along the main road, and a lot more scattered around town. There were also merchants still just passing through, and with them came mercenaries and scavengers.
I doubt it would be hard for the traveling merchants to set up some other pony to become rich off the trade flowing through here. It would also be easy for them to spread rumors about the store, maybe something about him selling faulty products, or in my case, blatant false accusations of theft.
Looking at Moody, the slick stallion, he very much looked the type that would take me for every cap that I owned, and I would not be able to call a foul. Also he looked like he doesn't do this for free.
Checking my bag, I noted that I was lucky my caps were still in there. I pulled them out and displayed them on my hoof.
I put on my best smile, knowing that Moody wanted me to buy something from him. “Alright, I get it. With how things are right now, trust is running quite thin. But still, why reach out your neck this far? I doubt, when the mayor learns of this, he will be friendly with you.”
He picked up one of the surprise boxes and put it in front of me along with the cola bottle. “The drink was in your first box so it’s already yours.” Next, he pulled out a ration box and placed it next to the surprise box. “As for why, think of it as the principle of it all. There are plenty of bad merchants out there, even though I've taken part in a bad deal and had bad deals happen to me. That’s just life. But, for the most part, we try to keep things fair, if a bit tilted in our favor. We do have to make our caps after all.”
I passed him the payment for the two items I didn’t want to buy, but it was only fair that did.
Moody continued. “The problem is that we witnessed it happen, and even if Heavy didn’t take part in the incident, his wife had, and she put the stolen product back on the shelf as though nopony was watching her. Worse, it was done through the local law, meaning there was little chance a complaint would be heard.”
Quickly counting the caps, Moody then nodded and put them inside a small chest. “Now a lot of us were already sick of Miss Karat. The mare fancied herself a haggler, but all she would do is make unreasonable demands and stomp her hoof. So, when word got out about the incident, it was like wildfire because I directed you to them. Of course, my name was also mentioned as part of it. Long story short, I fingered I nip this in the flank before it got out of hoof, starting with a chat with Heavy Hoof. He was already nervous before I trotted in, so it was not hard to say a few words to tip his emotions over the edge. I had planned for him to calmly tell the sheriff about this, but when Karat ran out screaming with a smoke bomb in her mane, well . . . I wouldn't be a successful merchant if I can’t think on my hooves.”
His wife, Keep, poked her head out from their wagon as she announced, “If that bitch was my wife, I’d have given her a black eye long ago to get her under control.” She looked down at Moody with a small smile that didn’t look friendly at all.
Moody smiled nervously back at her. “Now honey, that attitude is what made us leave that other town ahead of schedule. Remember?”
She rolled her eyes, then addressed us. “Ya know my clan has an old saying: Better to get slapped around by family then get a bullet from a stranger. Frankly, I know a few of the ponies here already had a plan to kill the bitch before leaving town.”
Moody face hoofed, clearly not wanting that out in the open.
Dead Axle, on the other hoof, seemed to think it was just fine as she said. “Oh, we have a saying like that with my clan. Though Mom just hogties Dad whenever he is having one of his moments. She also drags him outside of camp to calm him down.”
Keep chuckled. “I do that too whenever my hubby here gets all worked up.”
Moody loudly cleared his throat. “Enough about private matters. Let’s just leave it at that. We merchants needed to send a message. Notably, the right message. Word is clearly going to get around about this whole mess. Maybe even get the mayor to finally give everypony a date to when the festival happens.”
I gave Moody a polite bow. “Still, thank you for your help. I just wish I didn’t get myself into that mess in the first place. I’ve just been a bit stressed, and lost my cool.”
“Happens to the best of us,” Moody said cheerfully before leaning in and whispering, “Actually, a lot of the merchants are glad ya did it, so I’ll give you a tip if you're ever heading out with some caravans.” He leaned back with a smile on his face. “There's a place called Platnum Hills far to the northwest. It’s prewar and protected by old magic. An old merchant family set up a camp there. It’s become the treasured rest stop for us traveling merchants for a long time now. If there's any safe place where you can find anything and everything, it’s Platnum Hills.”
Keep added, “Just watch out for a group called the Old Guard. They have a stick up their ass about keeping the ancient buildings clean and undamaged.”
Moody nodded. “Well the native's rules are easy to follow, so don’t worry too much about them. Anyways, just ask any caravan if they're heading there and not taking any short cuts. Unless you can outfight or outrun any of the monsters out there, then shortcuts are unused for a good reason.”
“Again, thanks,” I said before trying to pack my newly purchased things. The rations were too big, so I just balanced it on my back for now.
Trotting off, I was glad to be returning to the Gunrunners. Today was already getting to be too much, and the idea of staying inside and making a talisman was sounding peaceful. Actually, I was starting to think that maybe I should just stay there until I was ready to go. It would help keep what happened today and last night from happening again.
“So, whatcha going to do with that toaster?” Dead checked as she trotted alongside me.
“Turn it into a talisman copying devi....” I said before realizing Dead Axle was still with me… and that I just let out valuable information.
Shit...
Her eyes went wide. “Fucking really?! What kind can ya copy? Are ya making those...” she stopped and gave me a mischievous grin. “If it ain't something ya can say out loud, maybe we should stop by the clinic. It’s all private there.”
“How is the free clinic private?” I asked her.
“Well, for one, the normal assholes don’t come in there, and second, it's so loud outside that it’s damn hard to eavesdrop on a pony inside. Also, I doubt ponies think ya go there to talk about secret stuff,” she explained.
I… I could see her logic. At least I have an excuse to go there. It had been some time, but maybe Cloudy was still there.
“But why would I tell you anything about it?” I asked.
“Business,” she answered simply. “We do use motor wagons.”
She had a point, so with a shrug, I gave Dead a nod. Together, we trotted over to the free clinic.
There were a lot of things I was not expecting to see inside the free clinic. Among them was what I could call a princess tea party, though far more cruder, and without any princesses, a duchess, or even a baronesses. What was at the makeshift table was three fillies and two grown mares in old dresses.
“How's your tea. Lady Bridget?” Live axle asked in a terrible attempt at sounding high class.
Bridget smiled as she sipped on a crud looking teacup. “Most wonderful, Lady Axle”
At least Bridget could fill the accent, even if it was a bit off.
Cloudy saw us and gave a nervous smile. She motioned with her head for us to join them.
I sighed, seeing why not.
The other two fillies were Light Step and Pepperbox. Both looked cute in their little dresses.
Bridget saw me and gave a toothy smile. “Lady Harp, care to join us?”
I curtseyed as I found a seat at the table. “Most lovely. Your invitation does warm my heart, Lady Bridget. If it is not too much to ask, pray tell what tea is being served? It has been a spell since I last had warm tea,” I said in the most elegant tone possible.
Bridget, Light, and Pepperbox all gasped. “You sound like a real princess!”
Taking a deep breath, they regained their composure, and Briget gave me an answer. “Were serving mutefruit and broc flower tea. Jali said it is healthy for us, as well as tasting good.”
She poured me a teacup. Taking a sip, I found it… mehh. It had a slight fruity flavor that masked the more medicinal taste. Though not up to my standards, it was tolerable enough to drink.
Still, tea was tea. I should ask Jali if she has any proper tea to share.
“This is wonderful. You should make me some more later,” I told the young filly.
My eyes shifted to the gangger mare Live Axle, who now was looking nervous. “Lady Live, how has your day been going? Mine has just been dreadful.”
She sipped on her tea for a moment. “I have been here. Looking after the young fillies with Cloudy.”
“Aheam, Lady Live!” Bridget spoke up.
Live Axle straightened up, putting on her best attempt to look elegant as she tried and failed to talk with elegance. “I mean, I have been relaxing with the young ladies, joined by Lady Cloudy.”
“And they have been such wonderful hosts,” Cloudy chimed in, doing far better at acting elegant. “While the madams are out, they have been showing us their hospitality.”
Cloudy sipped on her tea before eyeing Dead Axle, who was standing behind her sister. “Lady Live here has been a joy. I’ve never known a pony from such an honorable warrior family to have interests so outside the battlefield.”
Live Axle put her teacup down, again smiling nervously. “Well ya know.. Well as you would know, a Lady like me can not be on the battlefield all the time, and I do love my teddies. My sister, on the other hoof, always manages to damage them, so I learned how to fix them. I’ve even made a few teddies of my own. It’s so much fun!”
Live nervousness faded. I could see a warm, genuine smile on her face. “I want to make them for whenever I have my own foal so that we can hug them together.”
Despite her roughness, the gangger mare actually looked cute for a moment.
That moment was ruined by Dead Axle placing her hooves on her sister's waist and chuckled. “Maybe ya should lay off the snake cakes for a bit then sis.”
Live Axle froze in place for a moment before slowly turning to look at her sister. “H… how long?”
With a wide mischievous grin, Dead Axle said in a rough attempt at elegance. “How's your tea, Lady Bridget?” Dead Axle asked which was followed by a laugh.
Staring daggers at her sister, Live quickly regained her composure and took a sip of her tea. “If any pony should eat less snack cakes, I think it would be you, dear sister.”
She returned her attention to the tea party. “By Celestia, you know my sister has a secret snack hoard. We all pretend we don’t know to save her from the embarrassment.”
Dead Axle’s face went a bit red. “Oh, so you're the one who took one of my sweets sis.”
I saw where this was going. Since I didn’t want a fight in front of the foals, I spoke up. “No need for raised voices here. Better we relax and have a pleasant chat. Let’s talk business later.”
Dead sighed and calmed down, taking an open spot at the table. “Alright. So how’s the therapy session going, sis?”
Live Axle slimed a little. “Elder Jali wants me to return here again. She says that she may have an idea how to help me.”
Looking about, Dead asked. “So where's the stallion?”
Now Live Axle looked a little annoyed. “That bit…. His sister came in to have a chat with him, so they left a while ago.”
His sister? They must mean the abomination Quicktrot Fragment. I didn’t like the sounds of that at all, not when she could have been the one to send the raiders after us. There were too many questions and not enough time left in the day.
Feeling out with my magic, I noticed a faint trace of something off. Two things. One was a very faint sense of twisted wrongness, and the traces of Slowtrot’s almost elusive magic.
Now the question of what I should do. It was not like Quicktrot would do anything publicly. Maybe she was going to try and convince him to leave again, so he was likely safe. But I did have some questions myself. I wanted to know if she knew anything about what’s happening on the Islands. There was also Cantercross and the Mirage ponies there. The more I knew, the better.
No, I can’t let her know my plans...
Still, maybe she knows more about the raiders.
I finished my tea, so as to be respectful, and got up. “Sorry, but I got to go. We can talk later, Lady Dead, but I must do something first.”
Dead Axle yawned. “If you must. I will be around if my sister is.”
Trotting over to Cloudy, we both hugged and nuzzled each other.
“Are you coming to my place later? We do have the day off?” Cloudy reminded me as she looked at me with surly eyes.
I didn’t have to think about it, not like I skipped another night with her. “Looking forward to it.”
Trotting off, I still didn’t know what to think about Dead Axle. Was she smart or was she dumb? Was she simply using me for entertainment to get out of jail, or was she actually being a… friend?
I’ll figure that all out another time. Right now I had an abomination to ask a few questions.
Nopony knows why Harp was simply set free, but they do suspect that some self-entitled mare may have gone overboard. Though their opinion on Harp has not changed, they at least will discredit anything Karat says about her from now on.
“So what exactly did happen to you? This was a question I asked Slowtrot. His reply was filled with confusing answers.
From what I could put down simply, the stallion got caught up in two different plots from two different evil ponies. Both were after the megaspell lab at the deepest part of the R&D Stable, though they were after it for different reasons.
Thorn Rosland, the war hero and Admiral for Equestrias western fleet, wanted the ability to make her own megaspell warheads. To have the ultimate power which, in the end, had destroyed this world.
Then there Was Phobetor, an ancient nightmare that was long sealed by Celestia. She had bent the leader of the R&D Stable to turn the megaspell into a portal in which she could free herself and once more terrorize pony kind once again.” ~ Azure Dice
“Alright, looks like nothing out of the ordinary is going on, so just see doctor Jali for a proper examination,” I told a wethered mere. Her hooves were cracked and her mane in desperate need of conditioner.
“Are you sure? I just haven't been feeling right for a while, Mister Slowtrot,” she noted as she rubbed her foreleg.
“Well it does say that you're a bit dehydrated. That could be the problem. Just let Jali know. She is the doctor here and will know what's up,” I explained.
The mare shifted her eyes over at Jali, looking unsure. “I don’t know. She is a ghoul after all. What if she wants to eat my brains?”
I sighed as I gave the mare a stern, flat stair as I explained, “Miss, that myth comes from an old movie called ‘The Night of the Living Un-pony.’ Though a fun horror-comedy, it has nothing to do with ghouls. Jali is simply a zebra kept alive by chaotic magic. That’s all.”
She still seemed usure, but eventually relented with a nod. “Alright, but if she starts talking about brains, I’m out.”
At first it was confusing with how ponies believe the craziest of things out here in the wasteland, but more and more I was coming to understand that they were simply left with bad information. Not just the past, but about each other too. As it turns out, most ponies could read, just not all that well. Unfortunately ponies of more privileged places just assume that the average wasteland was utterly illiterate and were suspicious of those who could.
It didn’t help that Redeye was actually prolific with setting up school wherever he could, causing an extra level of distrust to the more educated ponies. It was like Redeye wanted to make Equestria better, but then decided to do it in the worst way possible. At least everypony else is trying to make things better in a less asshole way… which is not saying all that much.
One group I couldn't fault was the Follower of the Apocalypse, who were actually trying to do things the right way. Unfortunately, the right way also happened to be a long slow path that will probably take generations to truly bear fruit.
Speaking of which, Prism Paint was assisting with the counseling of Live Axle. They had taken the counselling to the other side of the room so that others could not eavesdrop on them easily, but I still got some of what they were talking about before they picked a new spot to talk.
It was basically just Live talking about her upbringing and points in her life. It was clear that life was not easy for her, so I tried to not eavesdrop intentionally. Still, hearing about her watching her family publicly beating others can’t make the most stable pony. I could only guess it did help steel a pony to violence, so it was harder to break when around it.
Back during the war, I saw plenty of soldiers who had come back broken in one form or another. The ones who were able to at least mentaly stay unbroken were those who came from more troubled homes or were from military families. Something about growing up around violence makes it easier to just accept violence.
Looking at my pipbuck, I still didn’t understand why I hadn't cracked yet… Good ponies had died in front of me, and I had killed one as well. I’ve seen another murdered in cold blood. So much needless death.
Yet, I feel numb to it. I was angry, even a bit saddened still, but at the same time, I was indifferent. Something felt missing inside, and in its place was something… different in there.
Shaking it off, I waited for the next pony to come in for a scan. Whatever was off with me, it no longer mattered. I just needed to figure out what to do with myself, whatever that might be.
A tired-looking mare trotted up. I got my pipbuck ready. “How are you today?”
“Could use a smoke and some black coffee,” the green mare replied with a wispy and familiar voice.
“Well let's hope that’s all you need,” I said as I started scanning her.
But my pipbuck simply gave me an error, telling me nopony was there to scan.
Looking up, I took a closer look at the now familiar looking mare. She had on a lab coat and stable barding, along with a hole in her head.
My mouth moved, quietly saying the name. “Healing Herbs”
“Have you seen June? I need her report on that teleportation project she's been working on,” Helling said as though she was not some ghost.
“Didn’t you get the report that the project was a success?” I asked, unsure what to do with this ghost.
She looked off into the distance, realizing something. “Right, I… remember now. We just need to produce them and get the system set up in the stables.”
I nodded. “You all planned on fixing the main flaw with the stables by allowing ponies to teleport between them. It was such a brilliant idea.”
Healing Herbs nodded as she faded, leaving me with the guilt of not being able to save her.
“Slowtrot, are you alright?” Prism asked as she trotted up to me.
I tried to laugh it off, but somehow I knew I sounded a bit weird. “Oh I’m fine. Just lost in thought.”
She smiled back at me. “I know how that is. Just be careful to not get too lost. Sometimes it’s hard to bring yourself back.”
Looking at Prism, It was both amazing and terrifying to hear her story about Unity and how she had become one with so many others. I could only imagine how hard it had to be for her.
Prism looked over at the door. “I don’t know what my daughter is up to right now, but I have a feeling that she may not be back soon, so I’m going to pick up Bridget. If you see Star, let her know I’m taking care of the shopping as well, and to take Bridget home.”
I nodded and watched as she left.
The sound of a wispy chuckle caught my ear, and a cold chill ran down my spine. “Unity, such a waste of potential of a failed showpony.”
Turning around, I saw a long shadow on the wall. Two golden eyes looked back at me. “But then you ponies were never the smartest things in creation,” Phobetor said as she too, faded like a ghost.
I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes.
There was no way she was here. I was just seeing things. Healing Herbs was dead, and Phobetor was trapped in Tartarus. Why was I seeing them?
“Hey, Idiot!” the scratchy voice of a mare spoke up at me.
Looking over, I had the displeasure of seeing Quicktrot’s host looking back at me. She was now sporting several bandages and a heavy dose of perfume.
“So how's the soul rot?” I asked flatly.
“Could be better. For some reason it’s been a bit worse than normal. I was thinking that maybe being near some dumbass stallion is making it worse,” Quicktrot said with disdain in her voice.
It put a bit of a smile on my face to know that I was causing her a bit of discomfort, but I didn’t like the idea that she would need to take over another pony any sooner.
With a sigh, I asked the poignant question. “What do you want?”
She rolled her one eye and huffed. “What do you think? Why are you still in town? Is there some mare you fancy or something?”
Something didn’t feel right. There was no way she was here for just that. “No, and I am not leaving just because you told me to. Now is there anything else? You could have sent one of your lackeys to ask that. Why come here personally?”
Quicktrot glanced over at the door outside. “So you're not as dimwitted as I remember. Come with me. We can talk, privately.”
I looked over at Jali. The zebra ghoul already watched us. “I’m going to head out for a bit.”
Jali nodded, and I left with Quicktrot.
Fortunately the trot was not too far. She took me to some barn-shaped warehouse at the edge of the nice side of town. Two armed ponies stood guard, each bearing a blue rectangle on their jumpsuits with the word Blueskies on it. They didn’t look like the healthiest or strongest ponies, but the look in their eyes gave me the feeling of danger.
“So get new muscle?” I asked as we entered the warehouse.
“The Desperados are good for intimidation and can transport themselves, but relations have grown strained, among other issues they have. They have decided to not renew our contract,” Quicktrot grumbled
The inside of the warehouse was wall to wall boxes in different states of decay. Some looked clean and new while others were extremely weathered with rust stains coming off the nails. A few boxes had the apple symbol of the Ministry of Wartime Technology with the words “FOR DISPOSAL” on it.
The air in here also smelled stale with a hint of chemicals and magic. It reminded me of the waists holding rooms. Some of the factories had rooms that smelled like this for when the flux expired and became tainted. No pony liked to be on cleanup duty when having to take the barrels to those rooms and almost everypony paid for the F&F Brothers disposal company to haul that toxic shit away.
Still, I wonder where they dumbed all that taint...
“I thought all the taint was gotten rid of by the elements!” I said out loud.
“You should already know that answer,” Quicktrot told me as she trotted to the back.
I recalled the Stable-Tec factory. “Right. Some places were protected from the outside. Then why do you have it here? That shit is dangerous!”
Trotting over to her, she looked at some papers on a clipboard. She scrunched up her muzzle before putting the clipboard down. “More dangerous than you might think, but also good for making explosives, chems, and power cells for weapons. But that’s not why I had you come here.”
She passed me another clipboard, this one with Harp Melodies face on it. “I’m sure you two have talked by now, and she must have told you about herself.”
Looking at the file under the picture, it had all Harp’s information. From her size, her age, and even some of her interests. It also listed Cloudy Sunrise in a relationship with her. Moreover, the document has her listed as a Princess and related to an important figure of some group called Orthrus. Most strangely, it also listed her magical potential as “Very Magical”.
I gave the clipboard back, feeling a bit annoyed that she was spying on one of my friends. “Some,” I answered. “I’m not one to pressure ponies for information.”
“Well, I guess it’s natural to not tell a pony about certain problems,” Quicktrot agreed with a smug smile. “In short, Miss Harp Melody is a very desirable commodity, and will likely be drawing the eyes of many greedy hooves and claws. For her magical power, for what political power she has, and for her blood itself.”
I raised an eyebrow as I asked, “Blood?”
Quicktrot clapped her hooves together. “Oh yes. As you see, just like the Ministry Mares, the Equestria royal family loved to use their magical biometric seals to keep their secrets and treasure out of the hooves of other ponies and zebras.”
She tapped on her pipbuck, and my Eye Forward Sparkle hud flickered. As a result, her real form floated in my vision.
Looking at me devilishly, Quicktrot giggled. “Unlike the Ministries ever progressing to the future, the royals were more interested in the past. Over a thousand years of history is quite a thing preserved, so I doubt the few places the royals locked away have things like weapons or experimental tech. They would have artifacts of ancient Equestria. Some would be worth more caps than anypony could ever spend. Others could be used to rally the rebirth of a new empire under the banner of a true monarch.”
I glared at her, seeing where she was going with this. “And you want all that I bet.”
She shrugged. “Maybe a bit of it. It would do my company some good to discover a few lost artifacts. With the influx of money, I could dump some of the more risky endeavors and break into some of the more competitive markets.”
Quicktrot’s digital form leaned closer to me. “All you need to do is convince little Miss Harp to join me. Not free of charge, of course. I’ll give you a big reward if you do. I can make sure she is nice and safe, far from the conflicts of nations and the wars they will fight.”
“Wars?” I asked.
She got muzzle to muzzle with me. “Oh yes, there is much war coming. With much of the radiation and taint gone, but the land still very much contaminated by everything else, powers are beginning to move.”
Floating back and placing her forehooves behind her head like she was relaxing beside a pool, Quicktrot chuckled wickedly. “I’ve been spreading out my feelers since I returned to Equestria, getting what information I could, and damn are things starting to get spicy. You got the NCR rapidly expanding, some raider warlords gathering power in the south, some reminisce of the Ministry of Arcane Science stirring up trouble in the north. Then there is the west-”
The door creaked open. Stepping into the dimly lit room was Harp Melody. She looked less than pleased.
“Speak of the Tirek, and so he shows himself,” Quicktrot said to me bemused.
Her body moved. She looked over at Harp with a displeased frown. “I thought I told my guards that nopony was to come in.”
Harp trotted over to us, clearly not comfortable being inside this room. “Your guards are quite easy to wrap around the hoof of a pony as pretty as I,” she said as she fluttered her eyes at Quicktrot mockingly.
The floating form of Quicktrot laughed. “That, too, I want that in my company. Just imagine her as my poster mare!”
Quicktrot’s host huffed. “I’ll have to reprimand them later.” She looked back at Harp Melody as she asked her, “Is there a reason you're here?”
Harp flashed me a nervous smile before focusing her attention on Quicktrot. “Right. I need a few questions answered and I know you have the answers.”
Harp took a deep breath and straightened herself up.
“Quicktrot Fragment, are you involved with those midnight raiders?” she asked.
The possessed mare glared down at Harp and spat on the ground. “Raiders are bad for business. To even suggest something like that is bad for business, so no. Blueskies does not deal with raiders.”
A chuckle came from Quicktrot’s true form. She waved a hoof over Harp’s eyes.
Surprised by the digital form of Quicktrot, Harp stumbled back with a loud “EEP!” which only caused Quicktrot to laugh louder.
“Well, unless raiders are good for business. You wouldn’t believe how good the gun sales are when the locals think raiders are about. Unfortunately, they're terrible for making hosts out of. Some minds are too broken for even me to work with,” Quicktrot said cheerfully.
Harp growled at Quicktrot’s digital form. “So you are behind last night's attack!”
Quicktrot waved her hoof dismissively. “Say what you like, but trust me, I have far better pawns than some junked up raiders. They are good as sledgehammers, not scalpels.”
The digital ghost of a mare got up close to Harp. They pretended to squish her cheeks. “But why would I want to harm you in any way, my little Mirage Pony Princess?”
Floating back and looking down at the two of us, she had a wide grin on her face. “But why are you so worried about pathetic raiders when I can tell you about something you care more about? Like how to get to Cantercross.”
Harp’s eyes widened in shock. “How?”
Quicktrot rolled her eyes. “I didn’t. I just guessed correctly. You are a Mirage Pony, so it is natural that you keep your ear out for anything related to the Marewaii Islands.”
I sighed. “The chem, chill, right?”
My female doppelganger nodded. “I had a feeling that, after I told you about that, it might reach the dear princess. Chill can’t just be made by anypony after all.”
Harp sat down, sighing as though she was deflating like a balloon. “Why am I always on the back hoof here?” she grumbled.
Another chuckle came from Quicktrot as she floated over to her possessed host, sitting on the poor ponies back. “Because you're not as smart as you think you are. Or, to be more exact, you’re not smart in the right way. Now you can always join me. I’ll keep you safe and you use all your assets to help me ascend beyond this ethereal form.”
Looking Quicktrot in the eyes, Harp gritted her teeth. “Fuck you!”
Quicktrot sighed, then leaned down on her host, looking bored. “I’ll give you some information for free. Think of it as an investment. You don’t want to go towards Cantercross. That region has an… infestation”
She clapped her hooves. Once she did, music began playing on our pipbucks. It sounded a bit like the classic equestrian anthem, then the lyrics started.
~
“United forever in friendship and equality, our mighty collective will forever endure.
The Equlist Techno Collective will live through the ages. A dream for the ponies, their fortress secure.
Long live our glorious collective, built by the ponies mighty hooves. Long live our glorious collective, united in equality.
Strong is our friendship tried by fire. Long may our rose flag inspire, Shining in glory for all creatures to see.”
~
The strange anthem cut out, leaving us again in silence. It didn’t sound all that bad. Friendship was a cornerstone of Equestria after all.
Looking over at Harp, I saw a different story. Her eyes were wide. She was chewing on her hoof, and ever so slightly, she was trembling.
“Are… are you okay Harp?” I asked in concern as I reached out.
She almost jumped when I touched her shoulder. Her eyes darted around before taking a deep breath.
A yawn came from Quicktrot. She smugly smiled at us. “As it seems, some of the mirage ponies of the Marewaii Islands have freed themselves from their isolation. A troublesome lot, putting chips in ponie’s heads to make them nice and obediently equal.” Her smile became unnaturally wide. “Didn’t that friend of yours set out to destroy them? I guess she must have failed!”
Harp slammed her hoof down onto the ground and began shouting. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! You're wrong! I know you're wrong!”
Tears were rolling down her face as she shouted, her voice cracking. She also began to shimmer with magical power. Lots of magical power. “When I get home, Vibraphone and I will put an end to you. You hear me?”
Two blue hooves wrapped around her in a hug.
“There, there. Do you need me to beat the shit out of that pony?” Star Charter asked as she held Harp.
Harp took a deep breath, still staring daggers at Quicktrot who faded away as she waved at us.
“I’d advise that violence would be far from a good idea,” Quicktrot’s host said flatly.
Another mare trotted out from behind Star who was blue with a gold mane. “Oh too true, not when I need her to put on a show.”
I could feel my heartbeat pound in my chest, so hard that It was like it was trying to jump out my throat. Those unwanted memories rushed up along with the smell of blood and the cold sensation of the ocean water. There was no way, yet there she was.
Quicktrot’s form materialized in front of me. She crossed her hooves in a way to tell me to stop. “I know what your thinking, but no-”
I trotted through her, not caring what the doppelgänger bitch wanted to tell me.
Looking her in the eye, I asked, “Thorn Rosalind! How are you here, how are you still alive?”
Thorn tilted her head back as though looking at me with disgust. “What did you say?”
Star Charter reached out and lightly knocked me on the head. “Yo, calm down. That’s my good friend Victoria, and how do you know the name Thorn? Stable ponies aren't the most worldly kind ya know.”
Looking at Star, then back at Thorn, something did seem off. Real off. First off, Thorn wasn't that young. This mare, Victoria, looked closer to my age, than that of the navy veteran. But her eyes, and the feeling of her, it felt the same. I didn’t like it one bit.
Stepping between us, Quicktrot’s host pushed me back. “Are you two just going to keep being problems? This here is the celebrity Victoria Rosary, not this Thron you speak of.”
The ghostly body of Quicktrot tapped me on the head. “No tugging from her, unlike with you. Anyways, Thorn did not jump through a portal, so no way she is alive. Dead of old age, just like you should be.”
I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Sorry. She just looks like a pony I’ve met before. Forgot when I was for a moment, though that monster had returned. Again ... sorry.”
Looking over at Harp and Star, they both had a look of shock on their face. Harp was looking at this Victoria. She was seemingly scared as she hid behind Star. Star, on the other hoof, was slackjaw while looking at me.
Star slowly closed her mouth, looking at me inquisitive. “Wait, ya still serious about that time traveling shit? Are you saying you meant Saint Roseland?”
A twinge of wrongness snapped through me. “Saint… Roseland?” The words felt wrong and filthy, likely a horrible misunderstanding.
Shaking off that feeling, I chuckled. “No, no. The Roseland I meant was the war hero Admiral of the Luna ochan navy, not some tribal religious figure.”
I felt the ghostly breath of Quicktrot on my ear. “You really need to learn to shut the fuck up already.”
“Well ya.” Star Charter said, looking at me confused. “Saint Roseland was the hero of the Equestria navy before being gifted a vision from the goddesses. She united every creature under her banner so that we may prepare for the end times.”
Everything she said was wrong, and everything felt wrong. Why was Star praising that murder as some great hero and religious figure. No way. There was no way. Thorn should have rotted away at the end of the war, to disappear like all the villains from those old foal tales.
“You're saying it like she is some big religious figure,” I said nervously.
A hoof reached out. Victoria used it to turn my head to look at her. “She founded the Oceanic Illuminated Authority after the war, a religion that spans over every ocean and sea in the world.”
I felt my stomach churn at her words. She founded a world-spanning religion… she won. I may have stopped her from getting the secrets to a megaspell, but she still won in the end.
Victoria got muzzle to muzzle with me, forcing eye contact. “You seem to know something about her that most don’t. Tell me!”
Her eyes, something was wrong with them. It was like I could see a little green flame in them. It looked wrong, felt wrong.
“Shit! I don’t need this!” Quicktrot grumbled loudly. “Just relax. I’ll take control of your S.A.T.S. and I'll force your eyes closed. I really need to avoid getting her attention on me. This is fucking why I needed you gone. Fuck!”
“What?” I thought out. Finding that S.A.T.S. had activated cause my time to slow to a crawl and everything had a green tint.
Quicktrot sighed. “It’s your fault, you know. When I was still pulling myself together from getting ripped to shreds by some damn magical abomination, your peace of my soul took over. I fucking derped around the damn network, and eventually came across this crazy bitch during some magical call. So she may not know me, but that’s because I was you at the time.”
“Is that so?” the voice of Victoria revertibrated in my head, “So it was you, whatever you are, that interrupted that message. Then you may know what happened to my ship and my crew!”
“HOW!” Both Quicktrot and I shouted in our minds.
I felt light. My stomach lurched as though I was falling. Everything became dark, and darker still.
I reached out, yet I had no hoof.
I tried to scream, but no voice called.
All there was, was a deep black darkness.
And two golden eyes looking at me.
“A secret for a secret,” Phobetor's voice whispered into my ear like a cold and cruel breeze.
Slowtrot never had terrible Nightmares before. Now he has nightmares of crimes he didn't commit. Sleep now has a -%25 to rest, and -5 to all skills for a short time after sleeping, but he gains 5% to critical chance.
“Slowtrots knowledge on Thorn Roseland was sparse, but painted a very bleak image of Equestria’s future in the war.
Openly she was a Navy war hero who was responsible for several victories over the Luna Ocean. She made her mark as a hero when her captain had died from a Zebra assasination. She successfully fought the zebras off then successfully warned the main militat port at the Marewaii Islands about an upcoming surprise attack.
She also happened to be an agent of the Office of Interministry affairs. A sub-ministry in charge of keeping ministry communication organized, or so Slowtrot had originally thought. From what he had learned about the O.I.A. through Thorns memories, she was used as an assassin to weed out ponies unloyal to Luna within the fleet and then use her connections to raise her rank. Using Zebras to cover her own assassinations was one such trick Slowtrot knew about.” ~ Azure Dice
"Surprise!" With a pop, confetti covered my head. The brown earth pony Prancer Dancer, and the filly zony Hydrangea had waited for me behind the door to the atrium with party poppers at the ready. Prancer had a big grin on her face, the mare in her element at this moment. "You may be going away, but that doesn't mean you can't have a party before you go."
Party ponies; they never change.
The atrium was decorated with long green and purple ribbons that were hung from the balcony overhead. In the center was a cake that had the words “Farewell Slowtrot” on it and a box. Standing around were several ponies, all of whom I recognized: Candy Pop and Doctor Lifebeat from the medical ward, the maintenance ponies Easy Fix and Stress Test, the Pipbuck technicians Cloud Bank and Emerald Fields, and even the chef Pear Tart. There were also some of the foals from yesterday as well as some of the other tech's, but they were mostly off doing their own thing instead of paying much attention.
"Well, I'm more used to just getting a card with everyone's signature on it." I tried to keep a stoic face to all of this, but a smile won out. I was more used to ponies not caring all that much about another pony leaving, me being among them… yet why does this feel so familiar?
Hydrangea jumped off Prancer and onto her father's, Zaan, back. This won her a big grin from her mother Underbrush.
Prancer Dancer walked up to me and blew some of the confetti out of my face. "Well, here at Stable-Tec, everyone is family and family gets a party. So go have some punch. We set up a bowl near the lounge. It was funny how Candy Pop was adamant that it had to be grape, but I spiked it with some sparkle cola to give it an extra kick." Looking over to the lounge, there was a big glass bowl with purple liquid inside. My mouth watered a bit at the sight.
Having something to drink sounded like a good idea, but I felt it would be best to say hi to everyone first. Lucky one of them was right next to the punch bowl, trotting over to the group. Candy Pop levitated a cup over to me while hovering a second cup in her magic. "Morning, Slowtrot. I heard the foals had you running yourself ragged." I took the grape punch, drinking it a bit greedily. It was really good stuff. Not too sweet or strong with the grape, and a hint of sparkle-cola.
Yet my throat was not quenched, it felt like I was just remembering the taste.
"Ya, they thought it would be fun to play Princesses of Slowtrot Mountain. And, seriously now, Hydrangea has got way too much energy," I said.
The words coming out of my mouth felt distant, as though I was not actually saying them.
"That sounds about right." Candy Pop laughed. "That filly's got the making of an adventure. She's already managed to sneak herself into Labs B twice now."
"If she wasn't so cute, I would have had her punished." June cut in. "But I just gave her a bowl of candy and hoofed her back to her parents." Looking over to Zaan, he physically shivered.
Looking at June Log Baird, she was an older, no-nonsense earth pony mare and the inventor of the pipbuck. She was the one that got the pipbuck 2600 off me and was working on a way to connect the stables through teleportation with acting overmare Healing Herbs…
And I had been here before, said all this before…
Taking a step back, I seemingly exited my own body, now like an outside observer.
June walked over to where the box was, waving me over to follow her. "It's too bad that we can't stick around all day. Let's get the present opened, and then we can have cake."
I knew what was in the box, my pipbuck 3200. The R&D staff were eager to get their creations out in the world. Sadly, they didn’t know that everything was going to be burnt by megaspells very soon. Even then, they were not going to get that time. Not with what was coming.
"I'm guessing I'm one of the ponies that can't stick around," my past self said.
June frowned a little. "That's right. Something about all distractions needed to be sent away. Truthfully, I think she is just overworking herself, and you're an easy target for her frustration. So don't take any of it personally."
She was talking about Healing Herbs. If they only knew she was under the control of a nightmare, maybe the worst of this could have been stopped. I wished I could have told them about Phobetor, about the secrets she had stolen, and what she was planning to do. The nightmare had sealed my memories of her away. Not permanently, just long enough to get me out of the stable.
"No worries. I was never meant to be here in the first place," my past self spoke, not knowing how true that will be.
I watched as I opened the box and got a face full of confetti before pulling out my new pipbuck.
"I figured somepony outside this stable should have one." June was trying to get some of the confetti out of her ear as she talked. "You did have that abomination on your leg, so why not have something better? Trust me, this one will never try to kill you."
Right, the 2600 was defective. Having it on was killing me… no, it was a trap! One the R&D Stable fell for, and I was an unwitting pawn.
Watching everypony, they were all laughing and smiling with me. They gave their farewell gifts and told a few jokes. Even June seemed to enjoy herself in spite of how serious she was. It was fun, and I felt like I had some proper friends.
But the moment could not last forever as red flashing lights suddenly turned on.
"Ether the overmare wants you to get going now Slowtrot, or some damn fool just opened the stable door without clearing it with security first." Underbrush rolled her eyes. Turning to her husband, the unicorn mare lifted her energetic filly in her magic and levitated her over to Zaan. "Zaan dear, can you take Hydrangea to her room? We can't have her sneaking out of the stable for an adventure."
Hydrangea looked shocked "But.. How... That's no fair!" The filly crossed her hooves as her father held her by the scruff of her neck and dragged her off.
June stepped in with a yawn. "I'd settle for a bed." She looked like she was ready to just find any spot on the floor and sleep. "But first I have to see you out."
My past self looked back to the others. Most of them were enjoying themselves. The others gave me knowing smiles and nods. "Well now is as good as any time," I had said as my past self followed Underbrush out of the atrium, not knowing that I’d never see them again.
The top floor of the stable was a massive warehouse with any part they could ever need to fix a stable, possibly even build another one if needed. Remembering now, the R&D Stable was actually meant to be a staging point for Stable-Tec to fix their broken stables after the war came to its dreadful conclusion. By how the world wound up over 200 years later, it was clear that Appabloom never made it back here before the world went up in balefire. She never got to fix her mistakes.
As it had happened before, a security pony came scrambling over, yelling for June, needing to contact Healing Herbs.
"What's going on!?" June, now fully awake because of the security pony's sudden arrival. "You should be able to contact Healing Herbs from your station?"
The security pony took a deep breath, but didn't calm down. "We've been trying to contact her, but Lab's D isn't responding. We even tried to contact Headquarters, but we couldn't get through to anypony!"
"What's going on?" June repeated.
The security pony looked confused again as he opened his mouth. "It's... it's the navy. They’re here to... Well, they said that she... It's a lie, right?"
"Explain. Don’t ask questions!" June demanded to the panicked pony.
"We’re here to arrest Healing Herbs for High Treason!" The voice of a mare echoed with cold authority.
I felt a lump in my throat as I knew that voice, and knew what was about to happen while trapped in this nightmare of a memory.
Thorn Roasland stepped into the light, flanked by two Unicorn sailors and two ponies in power armor. One was in the large ranger power armor, and the other in the black pegasus power armor. Thorn stood in her uniform, heavily decorated with the medals from all the battles she had taken part of and won. On her head was a navy cap depicting Luna on it.
She looked like a big damn hero of Equestria, but I knew she cared nothing for Equestria, only for her damn ship, the Leviathan. She was here for one thing, the megaspell lab in Labs D.
June face hoofed. "I know Healing Herbs can be a bitch sometimes, but this is a bit too much. So who are you? And you better have a warrant for this intrusion."
Thorn simply smiled as one of the unicorns that flanked her, stepped forward and announcing loudly. "You are speaking to Admiral Thorn Roseland, and hero of the Equestria navy."
June briefly glanced at the unicorn. "Don't give a shit. Now, unless you have a warrant to even be down here, you can expect Stable-Tec to bring this up with Luna herself." The other guards quickly trotted to June's side, forming a pony wall of six.
Thorn's face contorted to a grin at June's response. "Oh, trust me, I have a warrant." She glanced over at one of her lutenists, who pulled a piece of paper from a saddlebag, then levitated it to June. "Now not to have you continue your rude behavior, tell me who you are, and on what authority do you have here." Her voice was calm, composed, and overall cold.
June didn't answer, choosing to look over the paperwork first.
"Miss Thorn Roseland was it? Did you just shove this at a judge to sign?" June threw the paper back at Thorn. "This is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read. I know Healing Herbs did work on the first magaspell, but you would think if she gave the zebras the megaspell, she would have ran to them, not to Stable-Tec."
One of the unicorns lifted the paper and paced in back into a saddlebag.
Thorn narrowed her eyes at Jun. "As an Equestrian citizen, your opinion is respected. Now tell me who you are, and what authority you have."
June laughed with a spiteful tone, stepping up to Thorn. The tall mare seemingly towering over Thorn. "My name is June Log Baird of the Highlanders, and I know that the likes of your kind never respected the opinions of my people. Here I'm the head of the pipbuck development department, which also happens to be enough authority to send your sorry flanks out of this stable. Now leave, or I will drag you out of here myself."
A swift hoof to the face sent June to the ground.
"So you're telling me that not only you have no authority to hold me up, but you're not even an Equestrian citizen. And here you got me hoping to pin the label of traitor on you. I guess I will just settle with a spy." One of the Unicorns pulled out a .45 auto pistol and levitated it over to Thorn. "But I can't say I'm surprised. Stable-Tec is full of bleeding hearts who are too stupid to know that there is no neutral ground. You are either the one shooting, or the one being shot." She took the pistol in her mouth and pointed it at June.
As like before, the security ponies had rushed to June's aid, armed with only batons. The navy ponies had taken positions to the sides of Thorn, guns at the ready. June looked up at Thorn and Thorn looked down at June.
Time had then stopped, and I could see the panic on my past self’s face. Underbrush and I had moved to the side as this was happening, my past self having remembered who Thorn was, and was watching in horror as I could do nothing. Even if I had a gun myself and with a 100% chance to hit, there would be no way to stop Thorn as she shot June point-blank. All my past self could do was run, pushing Underbrush with me.
Ya, there was nothing I could do, or do right. I couldn't stop Thorn at all.
“Because you're nothing but a weak and pathetic pony,” The nightmare, Phebetor, spoke as she trotted up next to me with a sneer on her face. “But if that bitch had not shown up, you would have been out of the stable, and none would have known my plan till it was too late.”
I laughed. “At least I stopped you! So how's Tartarus? I heard it’s a cold place.”
She looked me in the eyes. They were cold and lacking energy. “Wouldn't know. I’ve been trapped as part of that fucking abomination along with a piece of you!”
“You're a fragment!” I said with surprise.
Phobetor smiled wide. “For now, but I will free myself. I will become whole!”
Everything began fading to black with only Phobetor’s golden eyes still visible. “But now is a rare opportunity to indulge myself. Thanks to you and the magic from that mare Victoria, I can now see some secrets. Oh, I wonder what strife would their knowledge cause.”
Light began to return. The sound of a ticking clock filled what was a clean and silent room. A mare sat across from me at a coffee table. Both of us were in our formal military uniforms.
I sipped my coffee. No sugar. No milk. Always hated sweeteners and milk. It made the coffee too weak.
Fleetfoot, on the other hoof, loved her sweets. Her coffee had four sugar cubes and plenty of creamer. But today, she was adding three more sugar cubes to her drink. The mare looked intently at the little bit of information I brought her personally. After that, she sighed as she turned over the document. “Thorn, how did you come about this… this disaster?”
“Oh, you know. The Office of Interministry Affairs has so much documentation floating around. Sometimes it ends up where it doesn't belong. I thought you might be interested in seeing it, Major General.”
I watched as Fleetfoot’s eye twitched and, in response, I covered my mouth while pretending that it was a mistake of my lips. “I mean former Major General. Who knew Ministry mare Rainbow Dash would force you into retirement? All because you believe the Ministry of Awesome shouldn't have direct control in the air focus affairs.”
Fleetfoot sipped on her coffee, looking dejected. I didn’t know how close she and Rainbow Dash were. There were rumors that the ministry mare was into mares, and the two had gotten real close early in the war, but it was all that. Just rumors. Still, the fact that Rainbow would take away the job of her friend had to hit Fleetfoot hard, making this the opportune time to make my play.
Luckily for me, the head of the OIA is still quite distracted with throwing himself at all his new projects. The tragic loss of a foal will do that to a pony, as I hoped it would. Still, I couldn't make any big moves, not with the damn zebras seeding their spies everywhere.
“How could she do this to me? I thought…” Fleetfoot again sipped on her coffee. Her eyes drifted towards the document. “And now this. Have the ministries gone mad?”
“Power will do that to a pony,” I said in annoyance. “The ministry of Moral is all over the place, spying on our own citizens. The Ministry of Image is quite literally burning books. Then there’s the Ministry of Wartime Technology, which might as well be the Apple family nepotism network.”
Fleetfoot put her coffee down and said in a very bitter tone, “And the Ministry of Peace gave the secrets of the megaspell to the zebras.”
I nodded. “It’s almost like they want to lose the war.”
She looked up at me. I could see it in her eyes; the hope she had for the future, it was fading. “But why give me this information? What can I do?”
I smiled wide. “Actually, there is something you can do. It’s not much, but it will help save as many lives as possible when the Ministries finally reap what they sowed.”
Pulling out a flyer, I passed it to Fleetfoot.
She looked at it with a hint of confusion. “The Enclave? Aren't they that fringe pegasus Isolationist party?”
“One that is growing in popularity,” I said as I leaned in and pointed at an important part on the flyer. “In a few months they will be having an in party election. In a year they will be voting for a representative party leader. Most of their politicians are idiots with no merit under their wings, so it’s unlikely they get all the attention of those not already sold Isolation.”
I then leaned back, picking up my coffee. “But with a strong leader, more pegasus will be likely to listen.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “And why would they vote for me? I’m not a politician. Anyways, they hate the ministries and are anti-war.”
I took a sip on my coffee. It was hot and bitter. Just the way I like it.
Giving her the best sincere smile I could fake. “Then it’s perfect for you. You do want the war to be over and it’s clear you don’t agree with the ministries. They did strip you of your position, after all.”
Fleetfoot sighed, putting the flyer down. “You have a point, but how will this save ponies?”
“Simple, really,” I said before going in for another sip of my coffee, letting the moment build. “Now that the Zebras know how to make megaspells, it’s only a matter of time before they will use those megaspells on Equestria itself. When that happens, who knows what city will be hit or how hard? Likely the Zebras will send their assassins to kill our leaders in the madness and keep Equestria from regrouping.”
I looked her in the eye, and though she was now being stoic, I could see the fear in her eyes. “The pegasi will need a strong leader to take charge. They will need some pony for them to gather around and guide them to safety. Relying on the ministries will likely get them killed, as you know how incompetent they can be.”
Fleetfoot took a minute to think it over, with her soon to be former office quiet, except for the clock.
She then nodded. “I… understand. We can’t just rely on the ministries, not with all that they are doing. If such a disaster were to-”
“-It will happen.” I corrected her.
“Right. When such a thing happens, I can gather all the pegasus together and use them to set up safe zones for other survivors.” Fleetfoot pondered. A flare of hope in her eyes rekindled.
Not that I care what her plans were. As long as she was turning her back on the ministries, that’s all that mattered. Among all of the ponies, getting the pegasus to break off with the other tribes was the easiest and most necessary. All I had to do is stir the pot a bit more, and the pegasi will do the rest for me. The longer they break away from Equestria, the more damage it will do.
If it all goes well, Equestria will be destroyed completely, both by the Zebras, and by the ponies within it.
A buzzer caught the attention of our ears and the secretary spoke through the intercom. “A Miss Scootaloo of Stable-Tec is here to see you, Miss Fleetfoot.”
I took the document, placing it in my briefcase as I pulled out another, giving Fleetfoot a nod.
“Send her in,” Fleetfoot said sternly.
Trotting in was an orange and pink pegasus mare about my own age. The founder of a successful scooter and sports supply business, Scootaloo had used her wealth to found Stable-Tec with her foalhood friends. It was a construction company that specialized in using the new technologies coming out of the war. They had also been contracted by the ministries to build underground military bunkers, and they were good at it.
They also had the advantage that two of the founding CEOs were the younger sisters of ministry mare. It was easy to see that, once the ministries start worrying about zebra megaspells, they will be contracting Stable-Tec to build better bunkers. Ain't nepotism grand.
The OIA was also interested in using Stable-Tec for the construction of their own blacksights, something about conducting experiments that may not be legal, and I had taken up the mission to get this mare in our pocket.
Scootaloo was the only CEO not a relative to a ministry mare. As a fan mare of Rainbow Dash, she too was in a similar mindset as Fleetfoot. Since becoming the Ministry mare of the Ministry or Awsome, Rainbow Dash had been alienating a lot of her friends. A loss for her, and an opening for me.
She looked at the two of us, and though she gave off an air of confidence in her three-piece suit, I can see it in her eyes. She was doubting herself.
“You wanted to talk to me about a new contract?” Scootaloo said with a very rehearsed smile.
I put on a smile of my own. “Go pour yourself a cup of coffee first and then sit down. I’m sure you know Fleetfoot here.”
Scootaloo relaxed a bit as she trotted over to get herself some coffee. “Oh of course. It’s always good to see a friend. When was the last time we saw each other?”
“At the Ministry founding ceremony,” Fleetfoot said with a hint of bitterness.
Now smiling honestly, Scootaloo took a seat at the coffee table. “Oh, I remember! You two got so drunk that I had to carry the two of you to the back lounge.” She looked down at her coffee, seemingly losing a bit of her confidence. “So how has Rainbow been doing lately? She has been too busy to even talk with nowadays.”
Fleetfoot huffed and sarcastically said, “She is just doing... Awesomely.”
It was a gamble binging the two together, but nothing breeds negativity like two ponies with similar problems about the same pony. Still, before I let that start, I had to push one other plan forward first.
I passed a document over to Scootaloo, making sure she focused on just it. “I know your company focuses on land-based construction, but the navy required a deep-sea listing posted to watch out for zebra submarines. Of course, we can't just build bases on land and drop them anywhere. There is too much of a risk for spies to figure them out. So we were thinking about the first ever underwater construction base, fully autonomous.”
Scootaloo flipped through the documents. Her eyes rapidly read over each line. “This is crazy! Pressurized rooms, deep-sea mining, hydroponics, and geothermal power! This is far beyond what we're capable of!”
I passed her another document. “Of course. These are all theories and science fiction, all works of imagination. But, if you were to develop the technology that could construct such an idea, the navy would be more than willing to buy it off Stable-Tec. All under the table so that no spies catch wind.”
She picked up the last document. This one showed the process in which this project would be made a reality. “It has been codenamed, Project Despoines.”
Time again stopped, and I was finally in control of my own mind, thus freeing me from Thorn’s memory.
Phobetor trotted out from behind Scootaloo, looking at the document. A wide grin was on her face. “Now this is interesting. I do believe that, by the time you came to the R&D Stable, Stable-Tec had completed a fully functioning underwater stable. I wonder how much technology that went into that was then given over to Thorn?”
I didn’t like where this was going, and that grin on Phobetors face told me that there was more.
She nodded as everything faded to black once more.
The smell of stale air filled my nose as ghostly creaking reverberated over me. It was dim and humid wherever I was. My body, weak with hunger.
No… it was not my body. I was in another memory.
At least I had control over my own mind, for the load of good that does for me.
The sound of a clunk was followed by an upbeat, yet out of tune music, and with it the flickering of lights. The head of the body I was in looked its way and began trotting to it.
The hoofsteps were small and light, like a foals.
I then saw it… two animatronic fillies in pink dresses. They were simple robots with only the ability to turn their bodies, their heads, and one leg each. Between them was some sort of vending machine I had never seen. A sign above it said, “Ambrosia Orchards” printed in bright colors and lit up in lights.
But It all was dirty and rusted, much like a lot of the things I saw in the wasteland. Yet here it didn’t seem old, just neglected.
Everything here seemed to suffer from neglect. The floors were grimy, pipes were leaking, some freezing over, and mold was all over the place.
A loud creak caught her attention. Her head then turned and looked at a window. I could see the pony whose memory I was in, a little filly covered in grime. I could see that her coat had to be a blue color and her mane was maybe a brown. It was hard to tell. She also had a similar dress as the animatronics did, if far dirtier and tattered.
Beyond the reflection, I could see lights and buildings. They looked somewhat similar to old Manehattan, but with the old art deco style turned up dramatically. Several fish swam past followed by a massive shark. It… it was all underwater!
The animatronic fillies began to sing as they mechanically danced. “In these orchards we are tendin’. Many changes will be flowin’. If you want to be awesome. See the fruits we are raisin!”
Inside the vending machine were several of what looked to be glass apples filled with a red glowing liquid inside. It reminded me of Sparkle-Cola Rad, but felt more… sinister.
Several other fillies trotted into view, gathering around the vending machine. Each one looked exactly the same. Bluecoat, blond mane, pink dress and all of them covered in filth as they smiled widely at the machine. Strangely, each one had green glowing eyes and two small golden horns on their heads, unlike the pony I was in.
The pony my mind was in, the filly, had also gathered like the others, but unlike the others, she was not smiling.
A pain winged in my head, and the world shifted, becoming brighter.
Now I was in a marble made room which was inlaid with gold. The music was not warped, but coming through crystal clear like a beautiful orchestra. The vending machine had become some wondrous contraption grabbed by the two most beautiful fillies I had ever seen.
The other fillies too were now clean and pretty, with not a speck of filth on them. The horns were missing, and in their place were golden tiara.
Looking over to the side, I saw a large gold framed window. Through that crystal blue water, I could see a vibrant forest of seaweed and brilliantly colored fish. In the reflection I could see the filly I inhabited.
She, like the others, was a blue-coated filly with a golden mane and a pink dress on. Unlike the others, she was not smiling as she looked back at herself with silky vibrant green eyes.
It was, it had to be. I was in the memory of Victoria.
The hiss of a blast door caught Victoria's attention. Out of it walked a stallion in brilliantly polished golden armor that covered him completely. The helm he wore had one round glass viewport with several bars in front of it, much like a deep-sea diver. On his back was what looked like a large air tank and just as large of an energy rifle made of gold.
The other fillies cried out in unison “Daddy!”
The “Daddy” let out a loud bellowing noise that was pleasant to Victoria's ears, but reminded me of a whale cry.
From behind daddy, two light blue pony unicorns trotted in. They both had curly light brown manes and a flat unamused look on their faces. One was a stallion in a tan suit, the other a mare in a tan dress. The two had to be twins with how much they looked alike.
Stranger, unlike everything else here, they didn’t have that same clean glow to them.
“How many times has this been?” The mare said in a very canterlot-like accent.
“Six hundred and seventy-three, not that it matters,” the stallion replied in the same accent.
“No, it doesn't,” the mare agreed.
The two then trotted passed the daddy, and up to Victoria.
Smiling, the Stallion looked down at her. His eyes still showed an unamused stare. “Oh, give us a smile.”
The mare rolled her eyes. “She never smiles.”
“No, she doesn't,” he agreed.
Another pony trotted in. This one was a stallion in a vibrant white suit. His face was covered by a golden mask. “You two again. Where do you even keep appearing from?”
The masked pony snapped his head down at Victoria, freezing in place. “Finally, we found that precious little sister! Now hold her!”
Victoria jumped back and hid behind some golden pipes, staying out of reach.
“You rambunctious little princess!” the masked stallion called out in such a friendly tone, but Victoria only retreated further.
“Amazing how what they see and hear is not what is real,” the brother said in amusement while not showing it on his face.
“Downright dreadful I’ll say. How can you know what is real when nothing you see and hear isn’t?” the sister asked, scoffing.
“When was the last time anything felt real to you or I?” the brother retorted.
“You’re real,” The sister countered.
“Don’t feel real,” he argued.
“Neither do I,” she agreed.
The masked pony strangely chuckled. “Will you two stop playing, and help me with the adorable princess?”
The sound of hoofsteps came from the open door. Yet another pony trotted in.
It was a pony I knew all too well. Vibrant blue coat, long golden mane, cold emerald green eyes. It had to be, but couldn't be her! She was dressed in a fine silver and white gown with a golden crown on her head.
Flanking her were two mares in similar armor as the daddy, but armed with swords.
All the fillies screamed “Mommy” as they sat in a straight line, smiles wide.
The masked pony bowed down low, almost hitting his face on the floor. “Queen Redrum, what brings you to this part of the city.”
Her eyes scanned the room, seemingly filling it with warmth. “Making sure all things are done properly. They are my adorable children.”
Her eyes fell onto the twins. “So you two are still about with your nonsense. Like an itch I can't scratch”.
The sister twin pulled out a stick of chalk out of thin air. “Maybe you’re willing to make a bet.”
The twin brother pulled a black chalkboard out of thin air as well. It was divided between the middle. One side said the truth, and was covered in tallie marks. The other said a lie. “Which one will he choose to see? The lie or the truth?”
The twin sister nodded. “Yes, he could continue to see the beautiful Queen Redrum. Never quite understanding exactly if what he saw was real.”
“Or maybe choose to see Admiral Rossland. Confirming that without a doubt what is true,” the twin brother added.
They both looked at Victoria with the same board looking eyes. “He will choose the truth of course, though it will only open more and more questions.”
…
Wait! Why are they saying, “He?”
Unless…
Ya, fine, I want to know what exactly is going on. I already know all that Victoria is seeing is a lie, and nothing here is gold plated.
Show me the truth.
…
The twins smiled, and the sister struck a tally on the truth.
Everything faded. The clean feeling, the brilliant golden shine, even the beautiful music. It all became a depressing gray like before. The “daddy” was some hulking pony in a tarnished brass diving suite. The masked pony was in a blood-covered lab coat with a dirty and cracked porcelain mask on.
Strangely, the twins had not changed at all.
But this Queen Redrum, she changed the most. Her gown was gone. In its place was a clean gray suit with a white undershirt. Her legs looked mangled with tubes and metal of cybernetics which ended in golden cloven hooves. On her head were two gold plated artificial horns that parted her long mane. But, most importantly, was her cutie mark. It was a green circle of thorns with a red teardrop in the center.
This Queen Redrum was without a doubt Thorn Rosland.
“I’ve had enough of your damn games. Must I find a way to make you die permanently, or will you finally free me from your incompetence yourselves?” Thorn chastised the twins.
She looked over at Victoria. “And finally grab that disgusting wretch and dispose of it properly. I can’t have defective products trotting about my city with my face. If you need to, set the room on fire along with the others.”
Thorn then turned around and left, followed by the two dull brass armored ponies.
The twins looked at each other.
“Is it time,” the brother said.
“Yes, it is,” the sister agreed with a nod.
They watched as the masked pony trotted out of the room.
While he was gone, Victoria picked up a flat piece of glass near her… it was a mirror. She carefully placed it up so that it stood up straight then backed away to a darkly covered pipe.
The masked pony returned with what looked to be a flamer. He saw Victoria then sent a gout of fire at her reflection. He stood there for a few seconds, eyeing the daddy, then sighed.
“Whoever thought to program the big guys to not respond to the sisters being incinerated was a fucking genius,” the masked pony said as he closed the valve.
Shooting out like a rocket, Victoria, with her mouth open wide, bit into the masked pony’s leg, causing him to yell in surprise and kick her into the wall.
The masked pony then growled. “You fucking little bitch! I will make you die slo-”
A heavy armored hoof came down onto the Masked pony. A red light glowed from inside the daddy as he began to stomp the smaller, weaker stallion. The mask flew off, and under it was what looked like a half-melted and mangled face of what used to be a pony which was held together with staples. Stranger yet were the two dirty and cracked white horns on his head, much like the fillies had.
With one last heavy hoof stomp, the daddy crushed the masked ponies head.
Victoria watched as all the other fillies trotted over to the vending machine and began pulling out large gun-like needles. “The angel is sleeping,” one said as she stabbed the corps. Glowing red liquid began to fill a glass container connected to the gun needle.
The other fillies began to do the same, but when the red glowing fluid didn’t come out, they then began repeatedly stabbing the corps over and over again. All repeating “Sleeping angel.”
The daddy began to leave the room, and Victoria started to follow.
Time stopped, and from the shadows, Phobetor appeared. She had a wide grin on her face as she looked at me with her golden eyes.
“Now this is interesting. A city, did she say? And is it all underwater? There is so much I don't understand. I can’t wait to tear myself free from that abomination of a fragmented soul and take all these secrets for myself.” Pobetor said gleefully.
“Then we will await your arrival.” the twin sister said.
“Yes. I’ll even have a boat waiting for you at our dock when it’s time,” the twin brother added.
Both Phobetor and I turned to look at them. The two of us were in shock as we said “HOW!?”
“It took a bit of time for Slowtrot to explain to me what a Nightmare was as he barely seemed to know what it was himself. From what I could understand, Nightmares are some sort of special demon that haunts a ponies dreams and tries to take control of them. The most famous one among ponies being Nightmare Moon.
The Nightmare Phobetor was an even older but mostly forgotten demon who was imprisoned by a pony called Celestia. From what Slowtrot could remember and put together, Phobetor was a fake pony made of gold named Pandora, who was made by forgotten gods. Her duty was to safeguard a jar filled with all the evil in the world, but decided to just open it to curse pony kind. The action destroys her body, leaving only her golden eyes behind. Now she seeks to plunge the world into darkness by stealing all the secrets the world holds so as to turn ponies back into ignorant animals.
It all has the mark of a creation myth, old legends. Yet this world had proven to me to be too magical to simply brush his story off as a simple fairytale.” ~ Azure Dice
I once again found myself back in the warehouse looking Victoria in the eye’s. No sound; just the stillness within the green haze of S.A.T.S.
It was hard to believe, yet I had proof of it staring me in the face, Thorn Rosland was still alive. She ruled an underwater city, likely protecting Despoines. But what was she doing there? What was she planning, and why had she not surfaced to do whatever she wanted?
I didn’t like it at all.
And now I have a location; an invitation.
Maybe I should take those twins up on their offer.
Time slowly began returning to normal. The hustle and bustle from outside once again became a constant background noise only matching the sound of my own heartbeat.
Victoria took a step back, confusion in her eyes, but she maintained a straight face. Quickly looking around, she took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, it seems that you all are busy, and I do have a few other things to do first. I’ll make an appointment later Miss Quicktrot, as we have things to... discuss.”
Turning, Victoria quickly made her exit. From the door, I could see several ponies in sunglasses waiting for her.
Once the door was closed, all eyes fell onto Quicktrot, who then returned to her paperwork at the small desk. “I, too, have things to… ponder over. You all can go.”
“Weird?” Star Charter said loudly before looking at me suspiciously. “Well, I guess we can go hang out at the Gunrunners. Slowtrot, I really got to hear your story now.”
Harp Melody looked at Star suspiciously. “Yes, I think we have a lot of stories to hear about.”
I was sure of it. Both Victoria and Quicktrot saw those memories. Mine, Thorns, and Victoria.
But did Quicktrot see Phobetor? Looking back at her, the possessed mare was going through documents one by one, comparing them. My eyes drifted to her shadow that flickered in the unsteady light. There, two golden eyes looked back at me, and like a barely existing wind, I heard her.
“Shhhhh…” Was the noise Phobetor made before closing her eyes and becoming nothing more than a shadow within Quicktrot.
That was all I needed to know. Quicktrot knew nothing, or maybe simply suspected. Still, a piece of that nightmare was in her and wanted to be free. It made things all the more complicated, though that didn’t change the fact that Quicktrot herself was evil.
Still, this was too much. I needed a break from this madness.
Looking over at Star, I recalled what Prism asked me. “Say, we should stop by the free clinic first. Hydrangea is there.”
Star looked back at me. “Who's that?”
I face hoofed. “Sorry. Wrong filly.” I lowered my hoof from my face as I focused back on Star and I clarified, “Your daughter, Bridget, is at the free clinic. Prism is out doing chores last I saw her.”
With a smile and nod, Star left. Harp followed and I stayed for a moment, looking back at Quicktrot.
A cartoon version of Quicktrot floated in my E.F.S. looking quite grumpy. “Remember, if you can convince Harp to join me, I will give you whatever. I can even help you get to that strange destination those weird twins marked in your pipbuck.”
Entering the free clinic was an odd sight to see as three fillies had a tea party with three young adult mares. Cloudy Sunrise seemed to be enjoying herself, where Live Axle looked quite nervous upon seeing us. Dead Axle, on the other hoof, looked half asleep.
Our arrival seemed to snap Dead Axle out of her sleepy state. She said with an exhausted sigh as she got up, “Thank Celestia you're here.”
“Mommy!” Bridget beamed with excitement as she fluttered her wings and leapt up and over the tea party and landed in Star’s hooves.
My eyes twitched as I heard that word and saw the filly. She had horns just like the fillies that called Thorn their mother.
Star held Bridget tightly, to the point that her filly began to struggle. She had to let her go. “Sorry darling. So. how was your day?”
I felt a bump on my shoulder. Finding Dead Axle with an annoyed look on her face. “Hey, can you get my sis to go home now? She's being as stubborn as a mule.”
Live Axle trotted over, staring daggers at her sister. “Am not! I just wanted to thank Slowtrot.” She looked down as she talked. “We don’t know much about medicine and treatments and such within the clan, so we never thought anything might have been wrong. That zebra elder, Jali, she wrote down a list of activities I can do to keep myself from, well, losing control of myself and magically going berserk.”
Dead Axle laughed. “Ya, and here I thought we Earth Ponies had no magic. You know, not having wings or a horn. Well, that at least answers why we earth ponies sometimes just do the impossible. It also explains how Dad was able to lift and throw one of those wrecked motor wagons at a Hell Hound during one of his moments.”
The two sisters shared a chuckle between themselves. While they did that, everypony helped pack away the tea party. Cloudy gave Harp a hug and a kiss before going home with Harp. She promised to meet her there later. The Fillies went with us. Jali still seemed to be out at the moment, and Prism was likely still running errands.
I don’t know why, but the twins also followed us. Something about really wanting to see the Smuggler.
Strangely, through the whole thing, Harp had been mostly quiet. She also looked very irritated.
Arriving at the Gunrunners reception room, the small griffin filly, Pepperbox, fluttered over to her father yelling “Daddy” which reminded me of the gigantic armored hulk I saw in Victoria’s memory.
Star trotted over with Bridget on her back. Light Step followed her. “Hey Longslide, can you look after the girls for a bit? I need to talk with the others about adult things.”
He waited several odd seconds before patting his daughter on the head. “Alright, I’ll go take them to dad. He’s been in a good mood since we got those service rifles shipped out. He wouldn’t mind playing with his grandchildren right now.”
With that, Longslide trotted into the compound with the three fillies. Along the way, he carefully closed the door behind him.
“Good to see them all in high spirits,” Star cheered with a huge grin on her face.
She then tossed off her saddlebag. I saw a new sword hanging off its leather harness. Its buckle… its buckle had Thorn’s cutie mark on it! Opening her saddlebag, she pulled out what looked like really old, tattered, and modified stable barding. It had leather padding that was riveted with spikes. It also had streaks of red paint all over.
“Thanks to Victoria's help, I was able to get a lead on those raiders that attacked us.” Star turned the barding to show a number 24 on it with a red circle around it. “The raiders are known as the Blood Moon clan. I think this might lead us to where they might be. It seemed really important with how their chem materials were in a locker marked with the number and such.”
“So a stable. They do make great hideouts,” Dead Axle spoke up. “There's a few along route 50 that my clan found. They’re all dead, unfortunately. If we don’t keep an eye on them, they turn into some critter nests or a raider base.”
“Oh, I remember hearing about that,” Live Axle chimed in. “The war with the raider lord that grandfather fought in. The raider lord had found a half intact stable filled with food and clean water. He used it to rally all the other raider tribes under her banner. They tried to take over our territory, but were crushed when we brought out our artillery.
I raised an eyebrow at that last part. “The Desperado’s has artillery?”
Dead nodded. “Cannons, AA guns, and long range mortars. A lot of it is old early war guns our ancestors kept nice and safe. We even started making our own when Redeye was pushing into our territory, though the blacksmiths can only make 'em so fast, along with the shells.”
Star petted on the stable barding to get our attention. “Then you think they could be in a stable?”
“Well…” Harp spoke up after not addressing us since we left the warehouse. She was tapping on her pipbuck with an annoyed look on her face. After that, she clicked her tongue. “I can’t deny it would make a possible location. It is not too far from New Appaloosa from what the map shows me, and a stable can be easily defended, along with being well hidden.”
She finally looked up at us. No, at Star with a hate-filled glare. “It would also make a great place for a trap!” she growled.
Star raised an eyebrow. “The fuck are you glaring at me for? And what’s this about a trap?”
Feeling a bit confused by the sudden aggression, I tried to interject. “Harp, is there something wrong?”
Her glare drifted to me now. “Something wrong? Ya, there's something wrong.” She resumed her glaring at Star. “What wrong is that she’s a Corps Brigadier, one of Victoria's hench ponies.”
Star took a step back. “What? How do ya know about ma gang?”
“How!” Harp growled. “They raided my home, took my family, and hurt my friend!”
Harp began to shimmer with magic as though heat was raising off of her. “Your fucking gang chased me all over the islands! Because of them, I lost ponies important to me, and those important to my friends too.”
Star took a step back as Harp took a step closer to her, almost shouting.
“And, of course, the first friend I make out here is one of that bitch’s lackeys! You all are vile barbaric monsters, and Victoria is a psychotic blackhearted abomination only pretending to be a pony!” Harp said with hate and vile in her voice.
I couldn't say anything as Harp ranted at Star. I just watched as Star’s face went from surprised to scrunching up in her own anger.
Taking a step closer, Star got muzzle to muzzle to Harp. “I don’t give two fuck what you think about me bitch, but I will not have you talking shit about Victoria. She's a mare that stands above all, unlike you who is just a little lost filly who thinks you’re all hot shit! If anypony is an abomination it is you, the most crossed bread fucking thing I have ever seen.”
Poking Star in the chest, she didn’t break eye contact. “You’re accusing me an abomination? At least I’m not some mutant with vile eyes made with evil magic! Why don’t you show them those eyes of yours. Prove to us how much you're an evil monster, just like Victoria!”
A nudge came from Live Axle who looked worried. She motioned with her head, conveying that maybe somepony should do something.
That somepony, of course, was me.
“Alright, that's enough!” I said sternly.
A snake came from Star, ignoring me as she shouted. “I AM NOT EVIL!”
Harp gave a short and snobbish laugh. “Your magic distinctly feels evil.”
Then Harp poked Star again. “I should have known from the start! That you’re only pretending to be a good pony, that deep down there is only a fucking monster, just like the rest of your-”
Star sneered back at her. “You don’t know the shit I’ve dealt with, you stuck up prissy bitch!”
“I said enough!” I said louder, but they didn’t respond. They just kept staring each other down.
Pulling out my gun, Chekhov's Promise, I racked the barrel and shouted as loudly as I could. “STOP THIS BEFORE I DO SOMETHING STUPID TO MAKE YOU STOP!”
Star wiped her head around in surprise as Harp fell back. Even I shocked myself with how loud I was, but I was even more shocked by Star.
Her eyes were bleeding.
“Fuck! Are you okay? Your eyes.” I cried out as I trotted over.
Star covered her face as she turned her head away. “I’m fine. It’s… it’s just a condition.”
“The fuck it is.” Harp snarled. “She has the eyes of a-”
Stopping on the ground, I demanded, “Enough!” which shut Harp up.
Taking a deep breath, I sat in between the bickering mares, hoping it would be enough to keep them from starting up again. “Maybe you two should give an explanation that doesn't involve shouting and insults. We all already have enough problems as it is without trying to tear each other’s throats out. Okay?”
I looked over at Harp. “Maybe you should tell us, calmly, what you know about Victoria.”
Harp avoided my eye contact. She trembled for several seconds before giving a huff. “The Corpse Brigade spearheaded the invasion of the Marewaii Islands. They were lead by a pony called Carving Doll.”
Star perked her ears up and opened her mouth, but I shoved my hoof in her face to make her wait her turn.
“I can't forgive that bitch! She wore the armor of a pony I cared deeply about. A pony I had just lost. She snuck into my home and just started mindlessly slaughtering the ponies inside. She even killed Rototom, the sister of my friend. I had to watch as the hope was draining from her eyes, and…” Tears welled up in Harp's eyes.
After that, she glared up at Star before continuing. “I watched as they used that strang injection to rob her of her beautiful yellow eyes and gave her eyes just like yours. I had to watch Vibraphone change into something not like herself. Last I saw her… I don’t think she was even a living pony anymore. Her main had turned white, and two golden-like horns had grown out of her head. She was so... cold.”
Harp let herself slump onto the ground as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “They took so much from me, and it was all my fault! They found my home because they found me first. It was all my fault. Why was I even born?”
All the rage and hate was gone from Harp. All that was left was a small quivering pony.
“DON’T EVER SAY THAT!” Star yelled. Her voice was void of any anger, but filled with… worry?
Star took a step closer to Harp, wiping the blood from her face. “Bridget really likes you. I like you, and you keep mentioning this friend of yours. I’m sure they, like myself, would be sad if you weren’t around. So never say that. Never ever say anything like that.”
There was a quiet pause before Star continued. She avoided eye contact by looking at the ground. “I… I already know I’m not a good pony, but I’m trying. By the goddesses, I’ve been trying. I want Bridget to grow up proud of her mother, even if I am leaving her and Prism.”
“Leaving?” I asked.
Star nodded. “Victoria appeared out of the blue the other day. Hadn't seen her in over ten years, then there she was. Wants me back with her crew. She regrets letting Prism take me away and she thinks I can be her second. I can't take Prism and Bridget with me, but I can make sure they will have the caps to live.”
A smile formed on Star's face, but it didn’t look happy. “Even if I have to do bad with Victoria, I can at least do good by Bridget.”
Harp picked herself up, also avoiding eye contact. “What you're saying is… you're not actually with Victoria, just knew her from long ago.”
Star nodded and took a deep breath. “Maybe I should start from the beginning. Tell you how I met Victoria and how I became a Corps Brigadier. It’s a bit of a story, so I’ll skip over the unimportant parts.”
“So I come from a place called the Blackwater. It’s a ship. Well, it’s actually two large ships welded together. It acts as a city and supply port for the fleets, so it’s quite active as floating cities go.” Star turned her head from us, lifting the back of her mane to reveal a small tattoo on the back of her neck. It was a symbol of two bits; one with a Thorn’s cutie mark on the face, and the other having a compass. “We receive this mark from the church after completely reading the book of the Prophet on our own. That where I meant Victoria.”
She let her mane drop as she turned back to face us. “Victoria was one of the few survivors of a ship that had its crew up and disappeared. The other survivors were two other slave fillies, Puppet Strings and Carving doll, as well as the captain, who I was told had gone mad. So, when she was brought to the Blackwater, I’m told it was quite the big deal. So much so the captain of the Blackwater took her in where she was then put to work at the church on the captain’s behalf.
“At this time my mother, my real mother that is, was working in the production factory. She was selling her body to make extra pieces. Then, one day, she just disappeared. Maybe she joined a ship to get away, or simply died and was thrown overboard.” Star shrugged as though it was nothing. “It was not an uncommon thing and, like a lot of foals, I ended up living in the walls of the ship where adults can’t go. We relied on the charity of the church for our daily meal where a lot of us would get to know Victoria as she both hoofed out food and led us in song.”
Star chuckled as she looked a bit distant while she reminisced. “She was really popular aboard the ship, you see, and quickly got her own following of ponies and other creatures. It was the start of her gang, and we foals were paid in extra food to move messages around for her. It was interesting to see her talk up the adults, get them to do what she wanted, though there were always some who tried to hurt her as well. Victoria was a brutal fighter for a young mare. It even scared the adults with how well she could destroy a pony.”
Another sigh came from Star. “Well, something happened between Victoria and the captain which caused the two to start fighting, like shooting guns at each other, which forced her to go into hiding. The captain began rounding up the ponies who followed Victoria and causing them to go into hiding as well. I didn’t understand why all that took place at the time, so it caught me by surprise when the captain had captured us foals who were running for Victoria.”
Star lifted up the shirt she had on and brushed up the fur on her chest which revealed a scar. “The captain then had us executed. I, unlike the others, tried and fought using a spring knife Victoria gave me. I got her in the eye, but then she stabbed me and kicked me overboard into the water.” A wicked little smile formed on her face as she let her shit drop. “Took her sword with me when I fell.”
Her smile relaxed, looking warmer. “That's when I met Prism. She saved me from the waters and patched me up. I was so confused at that time. Was I alive or dead? Did the goddess Luna save me? So many other thoughts ran through my head as well. What surprised me the most was how kind she was being and how she seemed worried about me. Other than Victoria, not many ponies worried about me.”
She pointed at her eyes with one hoof. “My survival, and the stealing of the captain's sword, gained me the right to join Victoria's crew officially. She gave me the evil eye as the mark of being part of her family. After that, I helped her in killing the captain so as to take over the Blackwater.”
Harp cocked an eyebrow. “So you were Victoria's foal soldier? She was just using you?”
Star gave a sharp laugh. “Using me? We used each other. By working with Victoria, I, and any foal with me, were guaranteed protection from most of the other ponies. The Blackwater is not a place for the weak. Foal or adult, death comes easy for all of us there. Without Victoria looking out for me or seeing me as a useful tool, I would have likely been kicked overboard long before I met Prism. I was just another abandoned foal, and Victoria was there for me.”
I could see Star’s eyes watering up. “Where my real mother pretended I didn’t exist, Victoria taught me how to read, fed me every day, and made sure I knew how to survive. She may have used me, but I needed her. She meant the world to me.”
“Then why did you leave her?” I asked.
Star became silent as she looked down at the floor. “I don’t know.”
“And why do you want to leave Prism now?” I then asked.
Her head snapped to look me in the eyes. “I don’t fucking want to leave!”
Star’s body posture slumped. She wiped the tears from her before they could escape her eyes. “I want to stay here. I want to stay with Bridget and Prism. I want to keep my family happy, and I want Victora to join my family. I want Victoria and Prism to like each other, but I know that is impossible. But at least I can make sure they're safe.”
I looked over at Harp. In doing so, I noticed that her irritation and anger finally subsiding as she listened. It was good to see everypony starting to calm down because I still had some bad news to share. I was still unsure if I should tell them or not, but the more I let it rattle in my brain, the more it was clear that if I didn’t tell anypony what I knew, I’ll never know if I was going crazy or not. Frankly, it was all madness from the start.
At least Harp believed what I had told her about Quicktrot since she had dealt with her once before.
Harp got back up. Still shimmered with magic as she lowered her head at Star. “I… I think I understand now. I’m sorry for not listening to you. I should have known better.”
Star looked down at Harp flatly for a few seconds before giving a smile that had a hint of regret. “Ya, I got a bit full of myself there, too.”
I cleared my throat. “If you two are done fighting now, I get some strange news I recently learned.” I scratched my chin as I tried to think how to start. My eyes drifted to Star before panning to the twins. “Maybe I should start from the beginning to get some context, but first.”
I looked at Harp. “You remember about how I said that one of Quicktrot’s main soul fragments is from a nightmare?”
She nodded. “Phobetor, you said.”
“Right. Well, It turns out that particular soul fragment is sentient, like some smaller version of Phobetor in a different cage,” I explained.
Harp took a step back in surprise. “Seriously!?”
This time I nodded. “Yes, and she is no different from her main form, sniffing out secrets and trying to break free. Ended seeing two of those secrets she dug out of Quicktrot and Victoria.”
Star whipped her head around to look at me, surprise clearly on her face. “Victoria's secrets? And who is this Pho pony?”
Harp stepped in the answer. “Phobetor; she’s the pony responsible for our teleportation here and she’s a nightmare. She had either aligned with, or had taken control over the Corps Brigaders who held me hostage. I’m not sure which, but before I had fallen into the megaspell, she was using Blackspots corps to fight my friend Vibraphone. No matter how much she shot him, he just kept getting back up.”
This time Star took a step back. “Moving corps.” she said in a worried tone. “Like… necromancery?”
There was a pause as Harp and I glanced at each other, then we both repeated. “Necromancery?”
Star’s eyes shifted a little. “It’s ahhh… it’s a magic that let you control the dead, I ahhh… I heard that harpies know such magic.”
Harp flinched. Her magic flashed with a boost of her simmering. “You mean one of those, bird-like monsters?”
“Maybe. I've never seen one before.” Star replied.
I felt a nudge on the other side of my flank as both Live and Dead Axle gave me concerned looks.
“We’re a bit lost here, Slowtrot,” Live Axle admitted to me.
“Ya. Care to tell us this secret the boss had? She is your sis, after all.” Dead Axle reminded with a smirk on her face.
Right. Time to start explaining. “Well, first off, you see, Quicktrot is, well ... she’s not my sister, or even a real pony. It all started when I won a pipbuck at a raffle.” I started my explanation. The memories from the past came out clear as day.
I skipped over the unnecessary details as well as the embarrassing one. Harp paid close attention about the R&D Stable, likely because one of her ancestors came from there, if what Qicktrot said was true. Star’s eyes went wide when I mentioned Thorn’s involvement, and everypony was dead quiet when I brought up the nightmare Phobetor and how she controls me like a puppet. Finally, I came to how Quicktrot Fragment came into existence, and how I was trapped in the void, or a time-space bubble, as Star called it.
Lastly, I explained what I saw after meeting Victoria. I elaborated on how Thorn was somehow involved with the Enclave and Stable-tec, and then about the underwater city there Thorn currently resides.
A sharp whistle came from Dead Axle. “That’s crazy stuff. I mean the wasteland can be a weird place, but all that is a bit much. Nightmares, time-traveling, and a city under the ocean. Also, the boss being some soul-eating pipbuck virus. If ya just said soul-eating monster, I’d believe it, but ya went too far with that story.”
Live Axle nodded in agreement with her sister. “Ya got some weirdness around you, but how in fuck do ya expect us to bite that lode of bramin shit?”
A chuckle came from Star. “Right. You had me going there for a moment. The prophet is still alive, living under the waters, and Victoria being a daughter of hers or something.”
A sigh came from Harp as well. “Well, I can confirm that he is from the past, but only really that.”
Right. Even I wouldn't have believed me If I had told myself all that. “Oh, and I can move through time and space, somehow.” I heard myself say.
“Ya ya. There's that too, but I might have been just delusional at the time,” I replied to myself, waving me off dismissively.
I then froze for a moment before turning my head slowly to see who just spoke. There I was across from myself, covered in mud and holding a small shovel with a shotgun slung over my back.
We all jumped back in surprise and stumbled over ourselves. Harp fell into me, and I felt a wave of… Magic?
*Splash*
Pulling myself up, I found myself in a mud puddle as a light rain fell. The sounds of explosions were all over me and the smell of death violated my nose.
I was clearly not at the Gunrunners compound but in some long and deep muddy ditch.
*Splash*
Turning to the noise in the dim light, I saw an injured zebra stallion in brown and green fatigues.
My Eyes Forwarded Sparkle marked him red, hostile.
The Zebra was staring daggers at me as he said. “Omunye wenu amaponi ama-curst, afe njengabanye!” then pulled out some sort of short spear from his side and charged me.
“Ironbuck S.A.T.S.” I yelled.
Time slowed to a crawl to the point I could see the raindrops slowly fall around me like green jewels. I was still fucking confused, but at least I had time to think, though I wish I didn’t have a Zebra charging me. Why must this day be so weird and terrifying?
Returning to the main problem at hoof, the Zebra, he was clearly hostile, even without the E.F.S. help I could see that. Checking the actions I can take while S.A.T.S. it was the same two as I remember. Where the normal pipbuck’s S.A.T.S. could do more actions, I had Tactical S.A.T.S. which was limited to two actions, but I can do more than just attack.
I didn’t have a weapon ready, so that needed to be fixed. A green holographic image of my gun then formed in front of my mouth. Parts of the Zebra were then highlighted, giving me different percentile numbers to my chance of hitting him.
All were bad. Real bad. Nothing above 25% chance to hit, and though slowly, he was still getting closer.
I only had one shot, and I didn’t trust the Zebra to go down easy, so I selected his head and initialized the actions.
As time began to move faster, Chekhov's Promise levitated out of my bag. The bit zipped into my mouth. The Zebra's eyes widened as he got closer. The spear pointed in my direction. My gun fired right as he got close enough to hit me.
As the spear cut into my cheek, the Zebra's head exploded into a bloody mess. I watched as flesh, bone, and graymatter flew through the air along with a freed eye of the zebra somehow still looking at me as it drifted off.
When time resumed to normal, the zebra and his spear fell to the ground.
“Oh thank Luna! You got that stripe. Can you help a pony out?” the voice of a stallion nearby called out in a pained voice.
Trotting over, I saw an equestrian solder laying with his back to the muddy wall with several injuries while holding a shotgun. Around him were several dead Zebras. Most of them looked like they had been shot, although one had a shovel stuck in their neck.
He also had the pipbuck 2600 attached to his foreleg. The same one I won in a raffle. The one Thorn Roseland owned.
Shaking off the bad feeling I was getting from seeing what would eventually make Quicktrot, I opened my saddlebag to put Chekhov's Promise away and pulled out some healing bandages Jali gave me to hold onto. “Just give me a moment. I’ll patch you up.”
“Again, thank Luna! You’re a fucking medic.” He sighed in relief. “The fucking stripes caught me by suprise and managed to break my healing potion. Thought I was a goner for sure.”
I bandaged his wounded to the best of my abilities and tried to help him up, but some of his legs were too torn up for him to trot on his own.
“Here, let me help you,” I offered as I Pulled him to my back before I realized I had no clue where I even was. “This might be a strange question, but where am I?”
“You're in the stormland trenches… Wait! You don’t look like a soldier. Who are you?” He asked as his eyes drifted down. “And that pipbuck, I’ve never seen one like it before.”
At this point I don’t think lying or telling the truth would matter much. It was too crazy as it was. “Names Slowtroot, and I’m a Stable-Tec courier. I kind of got caught up in a teleportation accident.”
He squinted at me, then sighed. “Seeing ghosts was bad enough, now lost civics.” The soldier then pointed down the trench. “Go that away. The commanding officer is there. I need to give her a message. Also, don’t forget the shovel. The damn thing saved me too.”
I saw the shovel in the zebra’s neck and sighed. Taking the shovel, I then trotted in the direction he had pointed.
The sound of war was all around me. An explosion happened near us which shook our bodies. There was even a Zebra that saw us from above, but got cut down by machine gunfire.
When we finally got to our destination, we were at a large dug in fortification with several soldiers manning machine gun nests and sniper positions. Several unicorns formed a shield above the area to prevent shells from landing inside.
There was a bit of an uproar when I arrived, but it turned out the soldier I saved outranked most of them, so they didn’t detain us. He then said, “I’m with the ministry’s advanced corriero division. I need to talk with Lieutenant Colonel Spitfire. I have an important message for her.”
All the soldiers straightened up, and a medic unicorn came to levitate him off of me.
“Hey Slowtrot.” The soldier I saved threw his shotgun to me and a large hard canvas pouch that had a long knife attached to it. “Hold onto the Boomstick in case of a Zebra raid and just give it to another soldier when they get an escort to send you home.”
“The Boomstick?” I said questioningly as I held the heavy shotgun.
He shrugged. “Just its name. That gun has been passed around since early in the war. It saved and took a lot of lives, so it’s tradition to pass it to another soldier when you no longer need it.”
Looking closely at the shotgun, it clearly had been used a lot. There were plenty of nicks and scuff marks on it with a canvas binding wrapped around the neck of the stock. On the barrel was a metal grate and at the end was a lot of extra metal that looked like something fitted onto it. Then on the back end of the stock was the word “Boomstick” carved onto it. Stranger yet was that the thing was a pump-action shotgun, something that the Ministry of Wartime Technology didn’t make for the war.
With that, he was taken to an underground bunker. I slung the strap of the shotgun over me, unsure what to do with it.
Looking inside the pouch, there were a whole lot of brass shells inside, all neatly stacked together with only several empty slots.
Two soldiers trotted up to me, clearly confused by the situation. They had to be around nineteen years old, twenty at most. “Ahh, stay there until... Well, until we know what to do with you.”
I nodded and slung the shotgun further onto my back. I also continued to hold onto the shovel.
… Wait! Wasn’t I sitting like this when I reappeared in front of myself?
Like a flash, I was back at the Gunrunners, looking at myself and others.
A chuckle came from Star. “Right, you had me going there for a moment. The prophet is still being alive, living under the waters, and Victoria being a daughter of hers or something.”
A sigh came from Harp as well. “Well, I can confirm that he is from the past, but only really that.”
This was just too confusing for me to question, so I just repeated what I had said to myself before. “Oh, and I can move through time and space, somehow.” It felt odd to say that, but not wrong.
“Ya ya. There's that too, but I might have been just delusional at the time,” my past self replied to me, waving me off dismissively.
They all froze for a moment before turning my way and jumping back in shock. It happened fast, but felt slow to me. Watching Harp collide with me, her shimmer disappeared like a popped balloon. My past self’s eyes went all black before I vanished as though I was never there.
That made me feel uneasy. I would need to ask them about that later, but right now I needed to get all this mud out of me.
Live Axle trotted up to me, still looking confused, but also focused on something. “Say, did ya blow some pony up? Ya got a bunch of gore on ya.”
Looking at my right foreleg, there were indeed bits and pieces of the Zebra on me.
Nodding at her, I just said, “I need to clean that off me.”
Everything began to spin around me, and what food I had in my stomach violently came out as everything became dark. Everyponies voices also sounded muffled.
A simple short handle shovel used in the trenches by the Equestria army. Its handle is wrapped with a coarse canvas, the metal covered in black paint, and the blade sheared to a fine edge. It also gives off the faint scent of earth, gunpowder, and blood.
“If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't care about all that new fangled multi-use shovel business you want to give the troops. It’s too expensive, heavy, and has weak points. They just need well-forged steel and a strong wooden handle. From there, they will make it work any job they need it for.” ~ Applejack
-Boomstick-
The trench gun was Equestria’s counter to the Zebra close-range fighters, allowing a pony to quickly slamfire five shells in a wide con. The Zebras eventually fazed out much of their close quarters troops because of it. This gun has passed through many hooves in the Stormland, never failing to fire even once, and always being hoofed over to those who need it, never retiring.
“Why do the troops keep using those dreadful looking guns? Brutish in every way, lacking in any elegance at all. I don’t care if they’re an effective gun, I absolutely will not have any soldier be photographed with a damn trench gun, and that is final. Make sure that every officer knows and enforces this rule!” ~Rarity
Just wanna wear a smile and come find you for a while
The colors all so vivid
our friends so green and livid
when we touched I felt like my skin would melt
and I don't want you to quit it”
The cheerful song put a bit of a hop in my step as I followed the spright bot. It was sung by a mare known as Velvet Remedy, whom the DJ seemed to be a huge fan of. There were not all that many songs from her compared to the other singing mare Victoria Rosary, but Velvet seemed to just have this hopefulness to her voice that drew me in.
Having followed the floating robot, how it floats was something I really needed to investigate whenever I had the time.
I arrived at some sort of walled-off campsite. I hoped Watcher was right about this place being able to help me. It was strange how it was just in the middle of nowhere with no other structures surrounding it. The walls were a combination of brick and old rust machinery that was all over the place. There were also several ponies in makeshift towers standing watch while holding binoculars with rifles nearby.
One of the guards gave me a friendly wave, which was nice.
Trotting into the campsite, it was made of over around ten tents, all white with a pink cross on them, with one actual building to the side.
The ponies here were all standing in the shade. Many had gathered around one tent that covered a water pump. The ponies in charge filled large jugs with the water.
More fascinating was the different robots that walked around here. Most of them looked like ponies, but a few were entirely alien.
One was a white-colored sphere with three arms dangling from the bottom with different tools attached and three more arms on top that held smaller spheres that looked strangely like eyes. If it weren't for the smaller spheres, it would look a lot like a squid.
The squid robot also seemed to be directing the ponies as it hovered around, holding a clipboard, so I felt it was safe to at least ask this robot for assistance. Walking over and getting a closer look, one of the small spheres of the robot had a white cap on it that had the same pink cross as well as a checkers shawl on its body.
“Excuse me… is it sir, miss, or just robot?” I tried to ask the robot as politely as possible, unsure how deadly it could be if angered.
The little flame that was under it burst for a split second as the robot jumped into the air a short distance. It really looked like I had startled the robot, which made me feel a little guilty. The robot then spoke with a very clear and feminine voice. “Oh my, you managed to sneak up on me. That almost never happens. I am a model five, miss nanny. I was made for the purpose of the daily care of injured soldiers near the frontlines, but you can address me as Miss Nightingale. May I ask for your name, sir?”
“Azure Dice. I was told by a friendly fellow called Watcher that this place may be able to help me,” I told Miss Nightingale.
“Watcher, you say? Then I know who you should talk to. Follow me and I’ll take you to the director.” The robot turned its body and began to slowly float to the one building inside the walls.
As I followed, I couldn't help but ask, “Miss Nightingale, what is this place?”
One of the eye spheres looked at me as she floated. I somehow got the feeling that she was smiling, as odd as it sounded.
“This is the Followers of the Apocalypse forwarded operations camp for the distribution of clean drinking water. We followers are assisting the New Canterlot Republic in preparations for the drought by locating clean reservoirs of water. Currently, we are making a more efficient water pump while distributing water to whoever needs it.”
“A drought sounds terrifying. If it was not for Miss Derpy, I would have suffocated before getting this far,” I said as the thought of a drought made my throat feel dry.
Entering the building, there were several masked ponies with tools that made a very bright light while working on some large machinery. I believe they were using what was called welding torches. There were also quite a lot of metal drum barrels, all filled with water.
A unicorn mare trotted up to us. She was charcoal black in color with a white mane and tail that both had one red and black highlight in it. “Director Velvet Remedy, a mister Azure Dice is here to see you. I believe this is who Watcher asked to help out.”
If I had eyebrows, I would have raised one. The singer from the radio was also the Director here.
Velvet Remedy inquisitively looked at me, then nodded. “Right. You do match the description Watcher gave me. Come with me to my office. Miss Nightingale, if you could check on the heatstroke tent. Make sure they're doing alright.”
Nightingale bowed her eyes and then floated off.
Now following Velvet, I entered what I could only guess was a modest office. I still didn’t know what the standard of this world was, but it felt modest. Only two things really stood out. One was a picture frame that held a photo of Velvet with a rust-brown stallion, and two small foals. The second was a small statue of a friendly yellow pegasus with a long pink main and tail.
She sat down at her desk and then pointed at her head. “You can take that off. I won't freak out.”
I figured that Watcher told her about what I was, so I removed my Sprite bot helmet. She was clearly taken aback in surprise when she saw my face, but quickly relaxed.
Velvet then shrugged. “The wasteland never ceases to surprise me. No matter how much I think I’ve seen it all, something new and strange will always pop up.”
I chuckled. “Tell me about it. It was only meant to be a five hours tour of exploration and now I’m in a magical land of multi-colored ponies who all have guns. As fascinating as this all is, I’ll likely be institutionalized if I ever told anybody about this back home.”
The mare seemed to be quietly contemplating my words for several seconds. During that time, a curious look was on her face.
She then spoke again. “From what Watcher told me, you're looking for a mare named Harp Melody, who may know how to get you home. Is this correct?”
I shook my head. “No. I doubt she understands trans dimensional magical rifts any more than I do, but she might be able to tell me how she got sucked in the time-space pocket I found her in. If I can get myself into one, then there's a chance a friend of mine can find me and bring me home.”
“Right. I’m not going to even pretend to understand even half of that.” Velvet said nervously.
“Best not to. Even the people who have researched that don’t even know what they're doing most of the time,” I said honestly. “Frankly I’m just taking a shot in the dark. Even if I am successful, I could just end up in another equally strange world.”
“Fortune favors the bold, as the saying goes,” Velvet said as she levitated a piece of paper over to herself. “Speaking of fortune, I happen to know where this Harp Melody is, and I need some creature to deliver a package to her and her companion.”
My fin-like antenna perked up upon hearing some good news.
“But,” Velvet said, causing my antenna to droop, knowing that I was not going to like what she was about to say next. “It’s going to be several days before any reliable transportation will arrive here, and several more days to get to New Appaloosa. You could just trot there, but this part of Equestria is both dangerous and empty, so I advise against that.”
“So the problem is just time. I can deal with that. I probably should take a break after walking so much for so long,” I said as I felt my mouth foam a bit. “That said, do you have any water I can drink? You see, my lungs are starting to dry out.”
She raised an eyebrow for a moment before sighing. “Don’t worry. The water here is free. We will also give you a private place to sleep in the meantime. The Followers are here to help every creature, even if they are some alien from another dimension.”
The term “alien”, I haven't heard that in a long time.
I then remembered something Harp had told me. “Oh, it’s just a curiosity, but Harp Melody said that there are creatures like myself in this world. She called them Sparkle-Lurkers. If you have heard of anything called that, then let me know. I love to see how they live and if they are actually the same kind of creature as myself.”
Velvet looked a bit worried. “I’ll ask, but don't get your hopes up.”
“Well thanks again. I’ll make sure not to bother any of you ponies here,” I told Velvet as I put my helmet back on.
“It’s my pleasure. And, if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.”
Stepping out, I finally felt like I was on the right track home. It didn’t matter if Harp could actually help me or not. What mattered was that I had a goal and a destination. From there, I just needed to pick up any clues I might find along the way, just like any good explorer.
“Head?” A blue unicorn stallion asked me. He was holding a black chalkboard in his magic.
“Or Tails?” A similar blue unicorn mare asked and she levitated a plate.
The board was divided between the two choices, and all the tallies were on heads.
“Uhh, who are you?” I asked. The stallion tossed me a coin, then they repeated their question.
Seeing how only heads had landed so far, it must be some kind of trick coin. I didn’t like to gamble. It was always a losing game to me, but I couldn't hurt to at least play along with the odd ponies.
“Tails,” I said as I tossed the coin up, unable to actually flip it with my hooves.
The coin landed on the platter, bouncing about for a moment.
Both of them raised an eyebrow, and the stallion placed a tally mark under tails.
They walked off after that while quietly muttering between themselves. The strange encounter simply being just that.
Seeing where the water tent was, I walked over there. A radio played loudly as ponies waited for something to drink.
“Hello Equestrian wasteland. This is your charming DJ Pon3, here to bring you some good news! We finally have a date! That's right. The mayor of New Appaloosa has finally set a date for when the Lightbrigher festival will begin. In two weeks from now, the festival will happen, and from what I heard, it will be the biggest celebration yet!
Food, drinks, music, and fireworks. It’s going to have everything!
For all of you who will not be able to go there yourself, I have good news for you as well. The Followers of the Apocalypse will be broadcasting the concert over my radio live, so tune in this station in two weeks to hear Victoria Rosary live!”
"Harp Melody, having lived inside a stable, was a wealth of information about them. Large underground shelters, they can house between three hundred to six hundred ponies. They come with everything a pony needs to live comfortably, and can be cut off from the world for over a hundred years if needed, as they come with self-sustaining talismans that could potentially last forever.
The stables were basically the safest place in the wasteland, making me wonder why ponies would want to abandon them at all.
Though, I must admit, being restrained underground would make it hard to really live." ~ Azure Dice
“Madam Harp, almost all systems are back up and running,” my drone reported to me.
I watched as Order hovered around as it doubled checked it’s systems for any flaws and recalibrated it’s flight balancing to deal with the two guns now part of it. It’s two stealth talismans were still nonfunctioning, so Hardballer had taken them out and passed them over to me for possible copping.
In the place of the missing talismans, I placed two crude shock talismans which gave it’s shock ability a more area burst then direct attack. It’s possible Order can now knock out several ponies, not just one. This also got me curious about what my Drone can do if I changed out its three talisman slots with other spells.
But, right now, I was finished setting up my attempt to copy the drone’s original talisman using a new device I threw together. Simply running a magical current through one talisman into an empty gemstone would hopefully imprint the spell onto it. The only problem was how long it would take, and the quality of the gemstone. If it worked, then the Gunrunners could make their own energy guns. I still needed to test if the new talisman actually works once the imprinting is done.
But that was an experiment for another time. With that part done, I had more pressing issues to deal with. That being the raiders.
Sleeping on the Gunrunners torn up the couch, Star looked quite comfortable. She had stopped by the Gunrunners as soon as it was sunrise and let us all know about what the patrons at the Ruffled Feathers had told her.
It seemed that the raiders were still wandering about, and a few ponies had gotten snatched downtown. It was also clear they were still looking for me and had raiders watching the tavern.
Hardball told Star to go home, but she insisted on sticking around. She wanted to help us deal with the raiders if they tried anything. We suspected that she didn’t want to lead the raiders to her home either in case they might come for Bridget and Prism, so we let her crash here.
It was beyond annoying that the raiders were able to move about so freely in town. Ashy had most of the deputies focused on protecting uptown, with few going into downtown. None of them were sent there at night either.
If things were not dealt with soon, it was going to make our lives very difficult, to say the least. Our best option now was to find where these raiders were, and somehow get the sheriff to go and do her job. Easier said than done, but we did have a lead thanks to Star, the Stable 24 barding.
I checked my pipbucks map. I had Order quickly locate the stable for me. It turned out that the place was relatively close to New Appaloosa. It could be a staging ground for their attacks, or simply a place to store their ill-gotten loot. Whatever the stable was being used for, we needed to investigate it and find out where their base was.
*Slap!*
A sharp pain at my rear caused me to jump. The laughter of Dead Axle pissed me off. The Gangger, and her sister, decided to stick around after Slowtrot puked and passed out onto Live Axle. Live couldn’t return home after that since she needed a wash and something to calm her down, so they crashed in the reception room.
“Fucking awesome robot, but I’d have given it rockets!” Dead Axle commented on Order.
I sighed. “RPGs are expensive. I much rather have Order be able to shoot twelve bolts and be easy to reload rather than two big shots that could harm it.”
Dead shrugged. “You're the tech mare, but you sure that will be enough firepower?”
“Order, return,” I commanded, and my drone floated over to me. The two Lelantos bolt launchers had been made more compact as part of Order with the talisman mechanic placed inside the shell and the two large air tanks on the back of the drone. Striking out of its side and extending past its face were two box toobs that housed the barrel and secondary air tanks. Closer to the body and under the propeller was the cylinder for the bolts.
Overall I was very impressed with the outcome, though Order was still having difficulty with targeting.
“For what I need Order to be, it will be enough. If we are attacked again like the other night, Order will be able to give us the cover we’ll need to be able to fight back. I don’t need a murder bot, just one that can bloody whoever comes after me,” I explained.
“Makes sense, though if I ever get my hooves on a robot, it’s murder bot all the way for me, baby,” Dead said with a sly smile.
The door from inside the compound opened up. Both Solwtrot and Live Axle trotted in. The two looking embarrassed.
Live saw her sister and pointed at her. “You!”
Dead Axle burst out into laughter. “Oh, come on! It can’t be that bad waking up next to a stallion.”
Getting muzzle to muzzle with her sister, Live growled, “Bitch, never do that again!”
“Alright, I won’t put you in a stallion’s bed again,” Dead said as she raised her hooves up in surrender, yet still smiled.
Slowtrot still looked confused, as were we all with what had happened to him. For the brief moment, we previously got him to wake up. He mentioned going back in time, about being in the trenches of the gate war. Again I got my hopes up about fixing my mistakes, but with how he returned to us and did exactly what his other self did, it quickly dashed that hope.
Time travel was not a foreign concept to my family, with several ancestors attempting the magic. But true time travel was impossible. One result in a false timeline made where the time traveler was eventually returned to the original timeline. Or a time loop was made and the time traveler simply reenacts the action of their future self.
I could only guess Slowtrot got caught up in a time loop. If I had the time to look into it more I would.
Things quickly calmed down. Star finally woke up because of the commotion which allowed us to all get talking over a breakfast of nature bars and corn.
Star yawned as she struggled to stay awake. “Let me get this straight, you want to go to stable 24 to investigate.”
I nodded.
“Well it’s our only lead” Slowtrot added.
Taking a swig of her water, Star sighed. “I don’t disagree, but there's likely raiders there, and nasty ones at that. You know what might happen to you if they capture you, right?”
How could I not? “Trust me, I am aware. Even my home had similar dangers with the bandits.”
“But you still want to go?” Star again asked.
I again nodded. “It’s clear that the deputies aren't going to do a damn thing about it right now. They're going to just let the ponies on this side of the tracks suffer.”
A loud bang came from the door as Hardballer stepped in, dragging a large case behind him. “Then you're going to need to be properly supplied.”
Placing the case near us, he opened it up to reveal our guns, ammunition, and other supplies inside. “Trust me when I say this: Raiders may not be the biggest threat in the wasteland, but they will more than likely surprise you. Over my years, I have heard many stories of fights going horribly wrong with raiders. Often it’s because a pony ran out of ammunition and were overrun. The raider left only the broken behind to tell others about what happened.”
Trotting over, I picked up my enforcer, its metal practically shining. “You know you didn’t have to. I mean you were busy as it was.”
Hardballer pulled out the shotgun Slowtrot had reappeared with when he had his adventure in the past. “No way am I going to skip going to work on a relic like this. The Windchester trench gun is a legend for changing how the zebras fought in the war, along with the griffonstone typewriter, Equestria utterly exterminated the Zebra spear units. Had my apprentices make a blueprint on the whole thing while I did maintenance.”
He sighed as he looked down at me. “But, more importantly, I want you all to get back here safely. Being unprepared is how so many have suffered at the hooves of raiders. They may not be the smartest or strongest of threats out there, but I’ve seen even the most skilled of talons get taken out by raider unpredictability.”
A groan came from Dead Axle. “You're sounding like gramps with our war with the Blood Mane tribe. They were clever and cruel with a fondness for raping. Around fifty year ago or more, they were able to take out a herd of Desperados which invoked us to go to war with them. Supposedly they were good at getting into pony’s heads and setting up ambushes, making the war quite brutal.”
Live Axle nodded before continuing her sister's little rant. “Ya. The elders said that we managed to dive them off to the south once we brought our artillery onto them. The remnants of the Blood Mane were said to have been annihilated by some local hero after they foalnapped her daughter. But, even still to this day, there are many hidden places filled with Blood Mane traps.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Blood Mane? Could they be related to the Blood Moon raiders?”
Dead Axle shrugged. “Fuck if I know. Raiders just love their big old scary names. You will find them use the words blood, skull, bones, death, and killers all the time for their names. I think there are at least three different raider groups that call themselves the Bone Breakers along route 50 alone.”
Hardballer pulled out three service rifles. He passed one to both Deperados and to Slowtrot. “All the same, you need to be careful. That's why I’m lending out these spare rifles for you to use. You’ll need the extra firepower.”
Slowtrot took a suspicious look at the rifle he was given. The wood on it was somewhat discolored. “Say, isn't this the one you gave me last time?”
Pulling out several magazines, three for each rifle, Hardballer pointed at Slowtrot’s rifle. “I can’t sell a damaged gun at full price, so I’m just going to give you it.” He then gave the two ganggers a stern look. “But those are not free. Either return them in perfect condition or you're buying them.”
Next, he pulled out several battle saddles. “You all can borrow these as well. They should help you shoot while on the move. Let’s test them before you head on out.”
I hated battle saddles. They reminded me too much of a corset, but I was not going to ignore the elderly griffin who was trying to help.
It didn't take too long for all of us to get suited up. I was glad to have other points shared in my discomfort as the saddles were tightened on up. I was also thankful that the bit was clean and well maintained. I was worried that it was going to be some over two hundred-year-old thing from the war, tasting of its age.
The real tricky part came with mounting the guns as both my bolt launcher and Star’s rust gun were a bit awkward in rigging up. They weren't made for a cylinder based loading mechanism and needed the rigging for a much bigger gun to even fit properly. The rust gun, on the other hoof, had the issue of its normal magazines moving within the gun to cycle ammunition then being spring-loaded. Her drum magazine had an internal mechanism that solved it, so they just gave her a second drum to use.
In the end, the five of us look ready for a fight, like some group of murder misfits.
After some test firing at the Gunrunners makeshift shooting range, everything was found in working order. The accuracy was not ideal, as battle saddles left little for any real aiming other than whatever was standing in front of me, but Order could help with aiming through my pipbuck S.A.T.S. and levitation talisman inside my pipbuck.
Every pony also had other ways to fight, with my drone and revolver to help me. Slowtrot had his pistol, shotgun, and a shovel as backup. Then Star and the two Desperado’s had melee weapons to help them. So the lack of any real aiming was not going to be a major problem.
I even put the bayonet combat knife in my boot for safekeeping.
The Gunrunners themselves looked impressed by how armed we were. Several joined us in the test firing of the guns and gave a few tips. Overall, I felt that they took pride in that their work was going to get used on raiders.
They did seem a bit disappointed that there was no armor for them to give out. Most of their resources went to the manufacturing of the guns. Supposedly they had plans for a Brigandine style combat armor. It's simple metal plates were held together with canvas and rivets, but demand for armor had been too low for them to invest in it.
Removing the guns from the battle saddles, we trotted over to the garage. Longslide offered us a ride one more time as well as support. The Smuggler now looked far less of a rusty mess and more like an armored light strike vehicle.
The twin Desperado's both whistled in unison when they saw the Smuggler.
“Fucking rad! Maybe we should commission you to build one for us,” Live realized with a proud smile.
Dead Axle trotted over to the vehicle while brushing along its side. “Better yet, we should get you Gunrunner’s to move into our territory. Get ya set up with our gear heads.”
Longslide gently pushed Dead off the Smuggler. “An interesting offer, but this compound is meant to be independent. We're not looking for another Fillydelphia factory situation.”
Looking at the two gaggers, and then at the rest of us, Longslide sighed. “You do know the Smuggler can't fit more than four ponies, right? Not unless you're fine with cramping up or some pony riding in a trailer?”
Dead gave one of the tires a kick, making a loud thump. “No worry. There should be a clan pony of ours along the outskirts of town with a ride. Just drop us off with them, and we can follow you. Maybe even bring a few more fighters, too.”
“Alright, then pile in,” Longslide invited as he jumped into the driver seat.
We all got on board. I had to sit on Dead’s lap and watched as an embarrassed Live sat on Slowtrots lap. Star, of course, took the gunner nest.
The old griffin, Hardballer, flew over and landed on the Smuggler. He gave us all a stern look. “Now you all don’t go getting yourselves into danger that you don’t need to be in, alright? That goes double for you, Star. I don’t want my Bridget getting heartbroken. You understand?”
Star gave him a salute. “Loud and clear.”
Getting off the Smuggler, Hardballer trotted over to the garage door’s switch and pulled.
Once again we drove off into the wasteland. Saying along the outskirts of town in order to locate the Desperados.
Waiting for his sisters was Tier Fire, who was playing a game of cards with Slashed Rubber and Greased Gears. It didn’t take long for Dead Axle to convince them to follow us to Stable 24, freeing the Smuggler from its extra passengers.
Finally, we were off.
“So what do you expect to find inside the stable?” Slowtrot asked as he fiddled with his trench shovel.
“Not sure. Maybe any information on where their hideouts are. I just hope there’s not too many raiders inside,” I answered.
“Makes sense, but what if the stable is their mane base?” he then asked.
I don’t know why, but that thought hadn't crossed my mind. I mean, a stable was a nearly impenetrable bunker with room for a proper fighting force to live inside, but it’s also a tomb with one way in and out. If it was their base, then all we needed to do was block the entrance to stop them.
It was a major fear, back home, that some rebels would bomb the entrance to Stable 50 and trap everypony inside. We could survive for several generations in that stable, but it would be only a matter of time before we run out of supplies.
Personally, I would use a stable as a forwarded base. Have it a place where supplies are stored and distributed from. It also would make a good place for captives to be held.
But as a main base? That would be suicidal without any proper defense to keep ponies away from the front door. With how Star had explained her encounter with them, that would go counter to staying below the radar. Likely their main base is further out in the wasteland and has several defensive and escape routes in case of attack.
Looking over at Slowtrot, I laughed. “No way. No group of ponies who are actively hunted would be so stupid to trap themselves in a stable.”
I tapped on my pipbuck to set up a quest log for the three of us. Naming it “Stable 24” with the goal of Investigating the stable for information on the raider’s main base and to element all raiders inside.
“The fuck! You can do that?” Star shouted from the gunner nest.
I stood up and presented my pipbuck, getting a face full of air. “It's a note-taking function to help ponies plot out their daily activities. I don’t know why Stable-Tec named it a quest system, but it just stuck. It should help us keep focused on or task ahead.”
When Star began to mess with her pipbuck, another quest maker appeared.
“Victory Party at the Ruffled Feather!” the quest log said in my EFS, with the goal of “getting drunk” next to it.
Another quest log popped up.
“This is Useful” scrolled in my EFS, with the goal of “This id use”
I looked down at Slowtrot who shrugged and said “Sorry. Just testing the thing out.”
“You misspelled IS.” I told him as I sat back down.
He deleted the quest log then turned on the radio to Spectrum Federation.
DJ Pon3 was on, chattering away. “Enough about those Buck Ball gangers. I got some news coming in from the west. The Enclave remnant group, Spectrum Federation they call themselves, seems to have made allies with that strange airship moving along the coast. Now color me surprised when one group of flying ponies makes friends with another group of flying ponies. But, thanks to that, we now have a name to who is flying that massive airship out west. They call themselves the Orthrus Technocratic Democracy, or Orthrus for short.”
I grabbed Slowtrots pipbuck and pulled it closer to hear it better, catching him by surprise. If Orthus was here, then my father would be too. My friends too.
The DJ continued. “Don’t know what this Orthrus group is, but President Laika of the Spectrum Federation has insured every creature that they are friendly. Now, I’m not one to blindly trust a government leader of any faction east or west, but that Diamond Dog has proven herself as a trustworthy creature. Practically Gwads mirror over in the west. So, take my word on this, there is no new Enclave envision out in the west. That said, I still advise not taking a vacation to Las Pegasus any time soon with all the other crazy stuff going on.”
Slowtrot looked confused as he said, “Wait, didn’t Laika get lost in space or something?”
I sat back and a pleasant smile formed on my face. Now I knew that I needed to go west, there I could find the protection I needed and ponies I could trust.
Time quickly passed and we soon got to our destination where we arrived next to a dried-up river and what looked like a mining tunnel.
Getting out and gearing up, I trotted around, looking at the surroundings. What caught me off guard was the signs of flooding at the tunnel entrance and rubble next to the now dry river. It looked like somepony had set off some high explosives to divert the river into the tunnel which seemed odd unless they were trying to block off or flood the stable inside.
It only solidified, in my mind, why a stable is a horrible place for groups, like raiders, to make their base.
As for the tunnel itself, the ground had been clearly brushed over to hide hoof steps, but the pony who did the bushing had left several of their own footsteps behind. Even if the raiders were not here, somepony clearly was.
One of the Desperado's trotted over to me. It was Tire Fire, the stallion with a mischievous grin on his face. “Taking the fight to some raiders? I can respect that. Just save a few for us to take back to camp. We’ve been needing some good entertainment.”
“Entertainment?” I asked, feeling concerned.
Tire did a few punches in the air as if he was pretending to fight. “Ya, entertainment. Elder Big Papa wants us to keep ourselves in fighting shape through sparing. It is fun to watch, but he hates it when we pummel each other too much, so capturing raiders for us to fight in the ring is a great alternative to fighting each other. They put up a good fight, and nopony cares if we utterly wreck a raider.”
I felt myself cringe a little. “That’s… barbaric.”
He gave a little laugh. “That’s the wasteland, little filly. If you're not able to fight and kill, then don’t be surprised when others stomp you under their hooves just because they can. Our history in the wasteland is full of meeting ponies who tried the whole peaceful act, only to get ripped apart by anything and everything. Most don’t mess with us because they know we can and will destroy them if they try.”
“I get it,” I said with an exacerbated sigh. “My family did the same thing actually, but with far more elegance and terrifying efficiency. I guess I’m still getting used to how crude everything is out here.”
Tire Fire patted me on the back a bit roughly. “That’s the spirit. We're not all that different. Have you ever heard the story about the rich pony and the Cazadores?”
“Ya. Dead told me yesterday,” I replied.
He looked a bit annoyed. “Of course she already told you about that. But ya, in the end, the same thing can kill us all, so it’s good to know how to use your hooves to fight. So, when you have nothing else left, you can at least use your body to fight.”
Just like with Dead, I showed Tire my thin legs. “Not legs for fighting.”
Tire shrugged. “Then use your teeth, or think of another way to fight. Only fools think they're all out of options in a fight.”
It was strange how the Desperado’s only seemed to care about fighting all the time, like some barbarians from the old comic books my elder brother loved to read. Yet I was getting the feeling that there was more to it, or maybe it was simply that they were not in a position to stop fighting. If the wasteland was as dangerous as everypony tells me, then fighting was the rule out here, and those who can fight well, survive.
Putting all that to the back of my head and refocusing on the task at hoof, Tire and I trotted back to the vehicles. Longslide was taking a look at the Desperados guns. Disappointment was on his face as he moved the parts. The other two Desperados, on the other hoof, looked extremely impressed as they looked the Smuggler over.
We were not all going inside. Not at first. Longslide and the other Desperado stallions were going to keep watch outside while the rest of us took a look inside the stable. Last thing we needed was having some raiders sneak up behind us and destroy our vehicles. If it looks like there would be trouble inside, then we would call some of them in to help.
With Order leading the way, lighting up the tunnel with now two working eye lanterns, the five of us trotted into the tunnel.
Inside and further back, we could see it, the entrance to the stable. Its door was open, like it was inviting us inside. There were signs of flooding on the metal, a coating of dry brown mud, and red rust all over. The smell inside was also bad as though the stable was a rotting carcass itself, it was stale and somewhat putrid.
Catching my eye was how clean the inside of the doorway was, where the large gear would be shoved in place. It likely meant that the stable door might be still working and had been closed at some point after the flooding.
Trotting inside, the stable was no better in the flickering lights, we could see all the rust and mud everywhere. Even here there was a poor attempt to hide the hoofprints left behind, which only seemed odd this far in.
“What's with hiding the hoofprints!” Dead Axle said out loud. “If I were them, I’d make more of them. Make a pony think there was a shit ton of us down here.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine as I thought of something I failed to think of. What if the stable was a trap itself?
A distorted siren went off as yellow flashing lights turned on. It was the signal of a stable door opening… or closing.
We all turned around to see the large gear-shaped door of stable 24 rolled into place. The large mechanical lock pressed down on it to push it closed. The sound of rusty metal grinding on rusty metal was ear piercing and caused everypony to flinch.
Star was first to react as she plugged her pipbuck into the doors control, but the thing had no power. Aiding her with my own magic, it flickered to life only to then burn out right there.
With smoke rising from the door’s control, we took a step back as we truly realized that we are now locked inside the stable with an unknown amount of raiders.
There was the crackling sound of a radio coming out of several speakers in the room. It was distorted and filled with static, but we could hear the voice of a stallion begin to speak.
“Hello, my little intruders. We have been waiting for you. This is your overstallion, Nocturn Bloodrage, here to let you know the fun now begins. Fight with all your might, for you now deal with the full force of the Blood Moon Raiders. Also please do scream as loudly as you can as we make you our playthings. The sound is enthralling.” The stallion began laughing maniacally over the speakers. His voice echoed as the sounds of banging and hollering came from deeper within the stable.
I face hoofed. “Okay, so they are dumb enough to make this their main base… and we’re dumb enough to trot right into it.”
"To explain to me about how the stable could be self-sufficient, Harp told me about how many were built with underground orchards like a small forest of apple trees, along with other foods they could grow such as carrots and potatoes. Unfortunately, the underground food was often bland tasting despite it being nutritious. But, when living underground, a pony takes what is given.
Personally, I don’t think I could live like that. If I had to go without sugar or honey my whole life, I’d lose my glow without it. But, unlike a pony, I can just move to the bottom of the ocean, and start a farm there… unless there are no abyss crops in this world." ~ Azure Dice
Several raiders burst in and Star cut them down as she unloaded her SMG onto them. Her wild firing missed a few of them, allowing them to scatter behind several barricades they had set up in the hallway.
“Paranoid fucks! They knew we were coming!” Star shouted as she ducked behind the door control panel as several bullets whizzed past her.
The speakers came to life again. “That’s right bitch! You must be the ones who raided our shroom production garden. You know how hard it is to kill enough ponies to grow that many mushrooms?”
He then, again, began laughing maniacally. “But this time we got you by surprise. Ya hear?! And we will make sure to have fun with ya all, alive or dead. That stallion you have is looking mighty tasty.”
I looked over to see a dread-filled expression on Slowtrots face.
This was bad. Real bad, but we have plenty of ammo, and three fighters with us.
“Say, how long can we hold out here?” I asked out loud.
“Not a good idea, Harp,” Dead Axle responded. “If they were waiting for us, then they must have a plan to smoke us out or something.”
She was probably right. I was wrong about them making this their base, but I also didn’t think they would also make this a trap.
“Order, get a better look at those raiders,” I told my drone as I viewed his video feed through my pipbuck.
The dead raiders were incredibly thin and, other than the bullet holes, they were covered in scars. There were also clear signs of damage from excessive chem injections. In addition, they were wearing dirty rags with the red circle mark that Star said was their symbols.
Order backed up and zoomed its vision down the hallway, getting a look at the raiders that didn’t rush into gunfire. Unlike the dead raiders, these ones had spiked covered armor that likely saved them from Star’s bullets. The rusty armor was made from scrap metal and crudely painted black with red splotches. On the shoulders and flank of the armor was the red circle. Each of the armored raiders also had an armored mask which, underneath, were welding goggles and also an air filter sticking out.
An air filter?
Looking past them, I could see several other raiders armed with some sort of large cylinder pipe...
“FUCK! DEAD IS CORRECT! THEY'RE LITERALLY GOING TO SMOKE US OUT!” I shouted.
Star jumped out from behind the door control box to join us right before a flaming ball came down the hall and into the stable entrance. The door control box was engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed out from whatever hit it.
“So what's the plan then?” Star asked with a grim tone.
“I say we rush them!” Live Axle suggested before getting a smack from her sister.
“That gets us cut down like their cannon fodder,” Dead pointed out.
“How about we send the smoke their way?” Slowtrot asked.
I shook my head. “Even if we could, they have gas masks on.”
Another fireball came flying in. It landed further back. More billowing smoke issued from it.
As the room started to get hazy, filling up with a noxious smell, I knew we needed to act fast. We had to get out of here before we all suffered from carbon dioxide poisoning.
“Shouldn't the smoke, ya know, like fill up the rest of the stable?” Dead asked pointedly.
A third fireball came crashing in which was followed by the hiss and clank of a door closing. The Raiders had now trapped us in a room that was quickly filling up with smoke.
“OH FUCKING FANTASTIC!” Dead shouted in frustration.
Rummaging through my saddlebag, I pulled out my advanced gas mask and put it on. “Everypony, stay low. I’ll get that door open.”
The four of them went prone, staying below the smoke.
With the door closed, I trotted through the hazy smoke-filled room to the door that had the raiders on the other side. I was no locksmith, but I remembered that neither was my friend Vibraphone. She just took a screwdriver to the door’s control panel and crossed wires. I didn’t have a screwdriver, but I did have a super zappy robot.
“Order, I’m going to need you to fry the lock and then help me with targeting my rifle,” I ordered the drone.
“Yes Madam. just tell me when,” it said loudly.
I closed my eyes to focus as I channeled magic into myself. I could feel them, two earth ponies and a unicorn standing on the other side of the door. One close, two further back. There were more, but too far away for me to feel their magic properly.
Moving to stand in front of the door and just a bit to the side so I could more easily get out of the way of any bullets. I then pushed my magic into Order which caused sparks of electricity to come off it.
“NOW!” I shouted.
Sparking with energy, a bolt of electricity shot out from Order and into the door’s control panel, causing it to explode.
With a hiss, the door opened and I entered SATS, slowing time to a crawl.
The raider by the door was on the ground, smoke coming off several scorch marks. As for the other two, they were in my sight. I gave two shots at their necks where they weren't as protected.
With a slow and loud pop, the bolts went flying. The first flew through the air, reaching its target and cutting right through the raider, sending a trail of blood behind it as it made a large hole in his neck. The second bolt flew, but the last raider had grabbed the now dying raider and shoved him in the way as the Unicorn ducked.
As time slowly returned to normal, I watched the raider raise his pipe rifle. It aimed at me.
Everything became a blur as I hit the ground, followed by the sound of gunfire. Looking around, I found Star standing over me as the two Desperados fired down the hallway.
Star looked down at me with anger in her eyes. “That was your fucking plan?! I thought you were going to do something super magical or some technobabble, not blow open the door and start shooting!”
She pulled me up and checked me for any injuries as she coughed a little. “Next time you do that, have us help you with the gun part.”
“You’re… you’re right,” I agreed as I watched Dead and Live Axle fire several more shots down the hallway.
Star spat out her bit and told the gaggers. “Fire a few more shots to get their heads down. I’m going to charge in.”
The twins nodded and fired down the hall as Star drew her sword and dashed out.
Through Order, I saw Star rush in low. She tackled the armored raider. Her blade cleanly cleaving through a leg before thrusting it into his head. More gunfire came Star’s way as she used the now dead raider to absorb the incoming led.
Several more ragged dressed raiders charged as they fired their pipe pistols, closing in on Star.
A loud bang rang out and two of the raiders fell over as their blood went everywhere. Slowtrot held his trench gun up to his shoulder and fired a second shot. As a result, another raider went down as the rest retreated.
Those fleeing raiders were shot in the back by Stars counter-attack.
Following that, everything became quiet other than the ringing in my ears. The smoke flowed into the rest of the stable, dissipating as it spread out.
Loading two more shells into the trench gun, Slowtrot slung it onto his back. “Next time, let's all pack gas masks,” he said with a grimace.
Sending Order ahead, it caught sight of two more raiders loading a mortar with a shell full of garbage and black tar. I had my drone fire on the raiders before they could lob another fireball, impaling them with the metal bolts.
No more raiders could be seen, so we cautiously trotted onward.
The speakers crackled back to life with the angry voice of overstallion, Nocturne Bloodrage. “Oh, we got some lively ones here. I will make you regret not just lying down and accepting your fate when I rape you bloody! But, until then, enjoy this victory. You will need it. The only way out is through me, and I have a whole lot more raiders waiting to have their fun with you. Now pick a door and get fucked!”
I sighed. “That must mean the stable door can only be opened from the overmares office.”
“And that raider boss likely has more traps waiting for us,” Dead added.
Looking around the room, it was clearly a reception and security room. The place once housed a checkpoint for those entering or leaving the stable. But now everything was covered in graffiti and mud. The security room was used as a place for them to throw their trash.
There were also three doors for us to choose from; the Auditorium, Living Quarters, and Maintenance.
“Oh nice. We have a map of this place!” Slowtrot said as he looked at his pipbuck, but then frowned. “Ehh, I barely know what I’m looking at.”
“Let me take a look.” Following his lead, I opened my pipbuck’s map function. When I did so, I noticed that all of the stables map was open to me. Having an overmare’s pipbuck was proving it worth once again.
From what I could see, this was a three-level stable with the maintenance below us, living quarters and the auditorium on our level, and above that was the overmares and security offices with a third room labeled as “backup”. It was a very simple layout with few twists or turns. One odd thing was that there were several hidden passageways. One of them connected the stable entrance to the overmares office, a second passageway connected maintenance to the living quarters, and the third connected the living quarters to the security office.
I didn’t understand why they needed these hidden pathways other than for the quick escape of the overmare. That said, I doubted that the raiders knew of them, so I wanted to take advantage of it.
“Sooo… got a plan?” Star asked as she looked over my shoulder.
I showed her my pipbuck and wispered. “Since this is all a trap, going through the auditorium would be suicide. They would have raiders shooting down at us for sure. The Living quarters are also a no go since there are too many nooks they can come at us from. That’s why we should go through the maintenance and take a secret passage to the living quarters.”
Star cocked an eyebrow as she whispered back. “Didn’t you say the living… Oh, I see! There's a second passage not from the first. By doing that, we'd catch them by surprise and rush to the next passageway.”
I nodded and trotted over to the maintenance door. I pulled on its pannal.
The door buzzed, not opening.
“Wrong door, Bitch!” Noctem shouted over the speakers. “You only have two choices. You can go to the big hall and take part in a gange bang, or go to the sleeping spot and get railroaded!”
Live Axle kicked a piece of junk. It flew up and hit one of the speakers. “Shut the fuck up! Is rape the only thing this pencil dick can talk about?”
I looked over at Star. “Say, you want to see if your overmare status is higher than his and open this panel?”
Star trotted over and looked at it confused for a moment, then her eyes lit up in an epiphany. “Sure thing, sugar.” Drawing her sword, Star took a few swipes. The panel fell off.
With the electronics to the door now open to me, I pulled out a few wires and began crossing them.
With another buzz, this time followed by a hiss, the door opened. The smell of rot and decay hit our noses hard, forcing me to put my gas mask back on.
Nocturn’s voice then blared through the speakers. “How the fuck did you do that?! All you cocksucking shitbags, get down to the maintenance, now!”
“Fuck! Leg it!” Dead shouted as she rushed down the stairwell. We all followed.
What greeted us was cold muddy water in a mostly darkened stable. Worse, the water caused my pipbuck to click, indicating it was radioactive. Oh, our fuckinging luck.
Using Order to light our way, we all stopped when we saw the carcass of some strange creature. The thing was too far decayed to tell what it was. Likely it was dead in this water for years. Whatever it used to be, it seemed to be some sort of snake, but with a head that resembled a cat.
Star pushed the rodded corpse for me and then we began trudging through maintenance.
With the mildly radioactive water all around us, I held back on using my magic to feel for the raiders. Instead, I relied on our E.F.S. to keep an eye on the hostiles. Red markers were everywhere with none able to tell us how close, but we could see that they were above us.
Pushing through the knee-high water as fast as we could, I began to wonder how this place even had power. The water should have been utterly soaked into the systems here, killing the reactor. Likely the backup room near the overmare’s office was a backup generator room. I could only guess at this point.
One of the red markers indicated above us then changed to being on our level, followed by a few more.
“Raiders incoming!” I warned as I pointed in the direction of the markers.
Order’s light shone in that direction as a door opened up. Two raiders, with their eyes shining back at us, jumped through and began shooting.
Order fired back, taking out a raider, followed by Live shooting the second. We could see several more piling along the side of the door, staying out of our gun’s reach.
We all sayed low as two raider unicorns peppered the wide hallway with wild blind fire, thus forcing us to hide behind several rusty steel boxes.
The sound of a lighter caught my attention as I saw Live Axle holding a molotov cocktail, and Dead Axle was lighting it. The firebomb ignited. Live shouted before throwing it, “SEE HOW YOU FUCKING LIKE IT!”
The molotov sailed through the air with violent purpose. It smashed just above the door and rained fire down in front of the raiders. This was the distraction we needed to run around the corner and make some distance between us and the raiders.
“Let’s go!” I told the others and they began trudging through the water.
Then the fire grew… and spread!?
The water itself caught on fire. Only now did we realize that a maintenance floor would have oil all over the place, and that oil clearly was in the water.
“Go Faster!” Slowtrot urged in a panic as he lifted me up onto his back and began galloping around the corner, splashing the oil-slicked water around.
As we got out of the range of the raider’s guns, we heard a loud “Reee!” and several splashings as a heavily armored raider rounded the corner to chase after us.
“Purified by flames so all can be cleansed! I am the fire! I will eat your liver!” the raider shouted as she charged at us with a flaming sledgehammer.
Star quickly responded by unloading her rust gun at the large and armored raider mare. The bullets bounced off the heavy plates or just got stuck in it, though it looked as though some did get past the armor and into the raider. The raider herself didn’t seem to care. She charged at Star all the same. As she got closer, the fire that was sticking to her armor made her look like some fiery monster that had escaped Tartarus.
Drawing her sword, Star readied herself for the fight as we rounded the next corner and into a room where the secret passageway was.
To our bad luck, several large boxes were in the way. Quickly acting, the twins and Slowtrot began pushing the boxes out of the way. The boxes themselves spilt out tools and parts, all rusted by water and time.
Flying into view, Star crashed into one of the flaming spots, sending a wave of fire flying around her. Getting up, she had clearly taken a few blows, and her sword was missing.
“I am the fire! I am the death that springs from the pits of misery and the blackened life!” the fire raider said as she trotted into view. Charging, Star just barely got out of the raiders way as she got shoulder checked. “Embrace the flames, and be reborn!”
Star took a few limping steps backwards into the room then jumped to the side as the raider attempted to tackle Star again. She was clearly on her back hood with this raider and needed help.
Not wanting her to get hurt more than she was, I took aim. I again entered SATS. With time slowed. The bulky raider was an easy target, so I aimed at her head with two shots. Both shots blasted out with loud pops and both hit their target.
Both shots didn’t penetrate the thick amor. It simply stuck to it.
Turning her head to look at me, the raider then shouted. “YOU WILL BE FIRST TO BE BAPTIZED BY FIRE!”
Raising her hammer, the raider began to trot in our direction. Having forgotten about Star, the raider didn’t see her jump onto her back and pull her sword free. With a swift strike in between the plate, the raider screamed in pain as Star pulled out her cutlass and stabbed another soft spot, causing the flaming raider to fall over.
With the raider immobile, Star jumped in front of her and performed a coup de grace as she thrusted the blade through the eye slit, ending the bitch.
Star pulled her sword out and dashed to us just in time for more bullets to go flying. My friend was a little worse for wear, both singed and bruised, but still alive.
“It’s clear!” Slowtrot told us as he buckled the last box out of the way, spilling out a load of worthless damaged electrics.
Totting to the door, every pony else positioned themselves behind the boxers, ready to shoot at the raiders. I wiped off the mud from the wall, looking for some hidden panel I could use. Bullets began flying while I frantically looked as I cleaned the wall in a near panic.
“Fuck!” Dead shouted as she retired behind the box, a bullet having hit her in the foreleg.
Slowtrot quickly responds by opening up his saddlebag and pulling out a healing potion soaked bandage. “This will be quick,” he told her as he wrapped her injury with some skill.
A shot came close, causing me to flinch. But then my hoof hit something, a wider than normal groove. Pushing the mud away, I found what we were looking for. Now we just needed to open it.
Finding an old rusty sign, it was oddly easy to move to the side. A simple panel was behind it. Opening it up, I found a port for a pipbuck connector behind it. Plugging my own pipbuck to it, I quickly got an access denied.
I had a feeling that I needed proper administrative access, so I turned to Star. “I think I need your pipbuck to open this!”
Nodding, Star fired another burst from her second magazine before dashing over to me. With her pipbuck plugged in, I then heard a heavy click as the wall became loose.
Water rushed in as I opened the door. This was followed by everypony piling in. Last was Slowtrot letting out both shotgun and rifle blasts at the raider before following. Shoving the thing closed, Dead grabbed a lever and pulled it which caused the door to make a loud clunk as it locked.
Stepping back, we could hear the bullets impact on the thick wall, followed by a thump, likely caused by one of the raiders changing at the door and failing to even dent it.
Seeing some stairs, we trotted out of the water then sat down to catch our breath.
Slowtrot passed Star a healing potion, but when he attempted to wrap one of her injuries, she held him back.
“I’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ve trotted away from worse,” Star said as she pulled out one of the nature bars and quickly devoured it. “But fuck! I did not expect such a monster of a raider. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she had power armor on.”
“Well, there have always been ponies who were scary strong.” Slowtrot comments as he puts the bandages away.
“I’ve seen this before,” Dead Axle spoke up. “That raider probably was a buck addict, and if she was regularly ingesting radiation, then it could cause a mutation which made her bigger. We got a few Desperados who did that before the radiation cleared up. Strong as a mountain, but also batshit insane.”
Live Axle nodded. “Ya, I heard that one of those addicts killed his family in a rage-fueled madness.”
Shaking the water off my legs, I took a few steps up. “Enough chatter. We need to get moving before they find a way to get through that door.”
“Oh, the little miss is taking charge?” Star teased as she got back on her hooves and loaded her second drum magazine. “You know, Victoria would likely give you a nice position in the fleet. Let you become a real leader.”
I shook my head. “Don’t bring that up again. My answer is still going to be no.”
Trotting up, we came to the door of the living quarters. Luckily it didn’t require a pipbuck to open. Looking back at the others, I came up with a simple plan. “Alright. As soon as we open this door, I need Star, Live and Dead to run in and silence any pony before they can make a noise. After that, we will enter the walkway where everypony will start shooting. Star takes the center and Slowtrow takes to the left. Live and Dead, I need you to go right and clear the way to the next door.”
They all nodded. I pulled the lever to open the door.
Star burst out with her sword in her muzzle. There were three raiders standing around playing a game of dice with chems as the prize. The first raider was cut down. His blood flew onto the wall before he could understand what had just happened. The other two were tackled by the gaggers who began pulling their faces in mercilessly.
When they were done, we had one raider gargling for air and who had their faces carved in. It was all a bloody mess.
The room we were in looked like it was once a standard storage room long ago, but now was used as a crude meat locker with one of the gutted creatures dead and rotting. It was a pony, pieces of their flesh carved out.
Slowtrot wretched at the sight of the hooked pony as the Desperado’s simply averted their eyes.
“By Celestia, they’re that far gone.” Live Axle said with disgust in her voice.
The speakers bleared again with the angry voice of Nocturne. “I don’t know how, but you useless lot have lost the fucking intruders. Everypony, get your guns ready and your knives sharp. They may appear anywhere. I want you to take the little fuckers out when you do. Any pony who captures an intruder can have first go at them, dead or alive!”
“It’s now or never,” I told the group as the door opened.
With a hiss, it opened. Standing in front of the door was a rather confused raider mare. “I-”
Firing a bolt into her neck, the mare stumbled back and was finished with a second shot.
“NOW!” I shouted as I reloaded my rifle with six more bolts.
Star charged out, catching the eyes of a few raiders standing around and being met with a torrent of lead from her rust gun. Slowtrot followed. His eyes clearly showed the sign of SATS, they glazed over and blank as he fired two shots. Next, the twins ran out around the corner, firing their guns as they did.
Lastly, Order and I trotted out. Since the raiders have been caught by surprise, it allowed me to safely follow the two gaggers as they drove the raiders back. Order aided by firing a few shots itself at any raider that tried to counter-attack.
With Slowtot and Star covering the rear, we quickly got to the next room and made our way inside. The other four set up a firing line to keep the raiders pinned as I went to look for the hidden door.
Knowing what I was looking for, I found a danger sign and trotted to it, stopping when I saw a horrifying sight. On the floor were two ponies battered, broken, and covered in body fluid and blood. One looked up at me with hopeless eyes for a moment before looking away. The other seemed to have a glint of hope, but when she spoke, her voice was weak and pained.
“Help… us..” she said, barely able to even say those words.
“Damnit!” Dead Axle gowled, “This is their fucking rape room.”
With shock on his face, Slowtot rushed over, giving one of the mares one of our few healing potions. The battered mare was barely able to drink it down.
“Here, let me help you up,” Slowtrot offered as he attempted to get the mare up, but then she let out a guttural moan of pain. “Sorry!”
I watched as he held his pipbuck over the mare, scanning her heath. The color slowly drained from his face, and he grimaced as a tear formed in his eyes.
“It’s that bad?” I asked.
Several bullets whizzed inside the room. Everypony ducked.
“Can ya hurry it up? The raider’s reinforcements are now showing up.” Star called out before letting out another torrent of bullets, then clicking. “Fuck, I’m dry!”
Slowtrot averted his gaze as he spoke. “Massive internal bleeding, bone fractures everywhere, liver failure, and several diseases I’ve never heard of.” He then held his pipbuck over the other captive. “Dammit! He is in the same condition.”
I looked at the two dying ponies, knowing we could not take them with us. We can’t even save them.
“We need to find a stretcher, then we can take them out of here and get them to Jali.” Slowtrot suggested as he began to frantically look around. “Maybe if we make one.”
If… If… If this… If that. Mother always told me that “ifs” were like fools gold, only having worth to fools. It was what we could or couldn't do. What we must do.
I wanted to save them as no normal pony deserves this fate. Not like this.
A spiked covered raider charged in, attempting to tackle one of the Desperado sisters. The damned pony was quickly cut down by Star who then glared at me to get moving.
“Let me patch them up first!” Slowtrot said frantically as he opened up his saddlebag.
I pulled out my revolver and, with two quick motions, shot both the dyeing ponies in the head, freeing them from their pain.
Slowtrot looked at me with horror as I put my gun away and said, “We neither have the time or bullets to save them, no matter how much I wish we could.”
Turning, I trotted over to the danger sign and uncovered the panel to the secret door. Star rushed over and plugged her pipbuck in, opening it with a click.
Rushing, we all went through the door and slammed it behind us. What followed was an even more violent attempt to get through the door.
Looking at Slowtrot, I could see he wanted to say something, but held his tongue.
Trotting past him, I also said nothing. There was nothing to be said. What I just did was not a good thing, but neither was it the wrong thing. It simply had to be done.
"What was the best thing about a stable, I asked Harp, and she gladly answered. She said that the stables were made to have ponies to live in comfort as they waited for the world above to recover. They had everything that a pony could ever need, and some of what they wanted. When the stables would finally open up, the ponies could leave and find each other. Together they would rebuild Equestria.
It all sounded like a wonderful idea made from a terrible fate, so then I asked her why was Equestria still so broken and wild.
This made her go quiet for a while. After that, she simply told me that something must have gone wrong. I personally don’t think it’s that simple. Not with how cruel the old Equestria seemed to be. It’s possible that maybe the stables were never meant to succeed." ~ Azure Dice
Aside from the frantic banging below us as the raiders attempted to break through the solid door, it was all quiet. Those two ponies deserved to be saved. Truly they did, but they were in no condition to be moved, and the raiders were closing in.
Yet, did I need to shoot them…?
Star placed a hoof on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “I know that look, Harp, and no, you don’t have time to regret your decision. Right now all that matters is getting out of here. If ponies can't be saved from this place, at least save them from what this place will do to them. Last thing I want is for me, or any of my friends, is to become the playthings of raiders. Death is a mercy to what happened to them.”
I felt a nudge on my shoulder as Dead gave me an annoyed look. “She’s right, ya know. Raiders who are that far gone can’t even be considered ponies anymore. It’s why my kin hate dealing with me. Even if we can get some peace out of them for a time, they eventually go mad and attack everything around them. Too many old tales about how raider tribes that were left alone then became a huge problem.”
Dead looked away with a grimace on her face. “Anyways, you saw what was in that first room. As soon as those two were dead, they were going to get eaten. I wouldn’t put it past those mad bastards to not even wait for those ponies to die first.”
A bit of bile rose up in my mouth, thus forcing me to swallow it back down. They were right. No way around it. I had heard the horror stories about the metro bandits back home, but it never got this bad. Not cannibalism. Whatever these raiders were, they certainly can’t be seen as ponies. They were monsters, and should be treated as such.
Still, I wished there was a way to have saved those two ponies.
Looking over at Slowtrot, he had slumped himself against the wall. His gaze slowly looked up at me, making eye contact.
“Sorry.” I said, “But-”
“-I have no place to complain.” Slowtrot said with a sigh.
He took a deep breath and looked over at Star… no, at Star’s pipbuck. “At least you have a better explanation. I mean, the pipbuck even told me the likelihood of saving them was considerably low. I, on the other hoof, took a rash action because I was too stupid to think of a better way.”
Pointing at Stars pipbuck, he then sighed again. “The overmares pipbuck, I killed its owner. Shot her in the face.”
Slowtrot retreated into himself, hiding his face. “Maybe… what if… she was only possessed, so I could have saved Healing Herbs… I could have…”
I trotted over to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “My mother once told me this: Life is not fair and we will not be prepared for everything. At such times, we must simply act, for allowing fate to run its course is the worst action one can take.”
The words of my mother echoed through me. She was wise for her long life. She was hardened by a cruel fate and had a fairness that made the blood of all those who opposed her run cold. I never knew how much she truly cared about me. Was I simply a mistake? Or did she see me as her daughter?
All the same, she made sure I grew up like my siblings as members of a royal bloodline.
That’s right. I don’t have time for regrets. I must push forward and get the job done. Once it is all over, only then can I let myself become weak.
Taking my hoof off Slowtrot, I turned to the door’s opening switch. “If you want, we can talk about it later, but right now it’s a really bad time to keep up this heart to heart. We need to get out of here first and let the town know about this raider base.”
Slowtrot wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. “Ya, you’re right. They're only going to keep hurting ponies if we just keep sitting here.”
“Ya know.” Live Axle chimed in. “You can just leave it to us Desperado’s to take out the raiders. Once we get out of here, my sis and I can go tell the elders. I know they would love to get the clan to go stretch our legs and stomp some raiders.”
Placing my hoof on the switch, I let out a slight laugh. “As long as these monsters are exterminated, I don’t care who does it.”
Again, we repeated the same action as before with Star, and the two sisters, rushing out into the backup room to dispatch any raider inside. Fortunately, the room was empty. No hanging corpses or badly hurt ponies. Just a smaller generator and plenty of boxes.
This was clearly where the stable was still getting its power, what little it could provide. Also, oddly enough, the room here was relatively clean with some muddy hoofprints and a few drawings of dicks on the wall.
Closing the door behind us, we slowly trotted to the proper door where the entrance to the overmares office was.
“Oh, they got untouched shit here!” Dead spoke up as she showed her sister a poster.
“We don’t have time for scavenging you two… the fuck it that!” I said in confusion.
On the poster was a classic image of Luna… except Luna was a stallion. I watched as they pulled out more posters. Each one of a famous mare from the wartime, but all were stallions. Celestia, Twilight, Fluttershy, Sapphire Shores, and even a poster of Captain Andromeda. All stallions.
“Oh! Here's a mare.” Live said as she pulled out an image that was clearly the King of Rock, but as a hip-swinging mare.
The two sisters began putting the posters inside some tubes and attaching them to their saddlebags with mischievous looks on their face.
“Why are you taking them!?” I asked, still confused.
They grinned widely as the two mares looked at me. Dead pulled up a poster of Applejack. “Well, they're hot! Just look at this beefcake!”
Slowtrot opened a box where he found a few suits of security barding and placed it in his bag. Looking at the poster, he gave it a confused look. “I don’t know how to feel about this, but the King looks good as a mare. Whoever this is has the whole tomboy look going for her.”
I face hoofed. “Can we move on?”
“Just a moment!” Star said as she sat on top of several stacked boxes. She began pulling out several stable-tec retractable batons and shoved them in her saddlebag.
“WHY?” I shouted.
She tossed one to me with a smile. “Just a moment. I found something really good.” From the box, she pulled out a 10mm pistol. She tossed it to me before pulling out another. In this case it was a six magazine for the guns.
Jumping down, she passed the two Desperado mares each a baton and three magazines for the pistol to me. “Alright, now we can go.”
Loading the pistol, I then shoved it, and the baton, into my bag before trotting to the door. Checking the map, we only had one direction, with the overmare’s office on the left side of the hallway, and security across from it. “Order and I will shoot first if there's any raiders in the way. My guns aren’t as loud and don’t sound like bullets when fired.”
Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and… no raiders. What was in our way was a crude barricade. Around the door were crude but clear signs of “Keep Out!” which included a dead pony on top of the main barricade, left to rot. Likely the raider boss wanted to keep the other raiders out in case they damaged the only power supplies in this stable.
Still, it was odd that none of the stuff in the boxes were taken.
Maybe the boss was smart enough to keep others out but too dumb to look around?
Leave that question to likely never be answered. We quietly totted to the over… Stallion’s door? Yes, above the door said Overstallion.
Shaking the oddness, I reached out to open the door.
The crackling of the speakers froze me in place. “How, how, HOW did you lose them again!? That's it! After I’m done riding those mares bloody, you all are next! That’s right! I will make you all taste my rainbow like the good little chem sluts you all are… But to the one who captured the intruders, I will let you join me in everypony's punishment. That's right! Capture them, and then you can fuck anypony you want!”
The speakers quieted down and soon after we could hear an uproar from further down the stable.
Opening the door, we all slowly stepped in. The raider boss was sitting in a chair watching while several screens, as he held a microphone in one hoof and a chain in the other. The chain was connected to a rather battered and pregnant mare who saw us with wide-open eyes, but said nothing.
“You shit sniffing chem sluts had better find those intruders if you're coming in here, unless you want to take your punishment early.” The raider boss said to us, not even turning around.
The overstallions desk was covered in chem bottles and inhalers, along with several lines of white powder. Knives stuck into the desk like decoration and one knife had a pony’s skull covered in brown dried blood hanging from it. The walls were no better, as several mutilated ponies and other creatures were hung up like grotesque trophies. There was also the standard trash all over, mainly empty bottles of booze.
Past Nocturn was the screen he was fixated on watching. All but two were broken, and three were heavily distorted, but it gave him a god-like view of the stable. I could see the Stable entrance, it was still filled with smoke. There was the auditorium which had a statue that depicted a stallion with a plunger in his mouth facing off a toilet as two meres clung onto him like the plummer was a hero. The auditorium also had a whole bunch of barricades which the raiders were likely going to shoot at us from. The orchard could be seen with much of the trees chopped down or dead. The raiders used the orchard as some sort of campsite. There were also a few hallways where raiders were frantically running down, looking for us.
I wanted to say something to Nocturn, give him a peace of my mind… but that was for ponies who could change their ways, but he could not be considered a pony.
Entering SATS, I, at first, focused on his head, but that was too good for him, so instead I focused on the hoof holding the microphone. I didn’t need him calling for backup.
One bolt flew through the air, finding it’s target. Impaling on his hoof, the old rusty microphone exploded into scrap. Nocturn looked over at his hoof, seemingly unfazed. He was more confused as to why there was a steel bolt logged in the hoof.
“Now what’s the big fucking deal?!” Noctem growled as he swiveled his chair around to look at us. The Unicorn Stallion was a bone white, peppered with scars and burn marks all over. His own mane was a long grimy black with several red streaks. His face was half burnt with metal piercings all over. “Ohhh, so you've come to me yourselves. Which one of you wants me to mount first?” He spoke with mad glee. One eye a pinprick and his tongue split like a snake.
“Girls, take him down, but don’t kill him yet. I have a question to ask.” I told my friends.
Star Charter charged in. I heard a loud boom as she collided with the raider boss and the twins soon followed. After a few heavy hoof strikes, they threw Nocturne's bloodied face into the overmare’s desk.
Trotting over, I saw that Star had been shot. A short double-barrel shotgun was next to her. Rushing over to her, she simply got up and pushed me back. “I’m fine. Just do what you want with that asshole first.”
I trusted her, so I returned my attention to the raider boss. “Who hired you to come after me?”
“Who knows? There are always some horny fuck that wants us to break in a mare for them.” I pulled out the baton that Star gave me and extended it. “Ohh! The slut gonna beat me? Better do it hard or I won’t get off!”
Swing my pipbuck to hold it, I slammed the weapon down onto his face. The raider smiled back with a mouth full of blood.
“Harder!” he demanded.
I hit him a few more times, getting my stress out on the monster, but he seemed utterly unfazed.
The raider laughed. “My mother beat me harder than you. Now why don’t you all give up and I’ll make you all my personal fuck mares? The stallion too, he would look good in a dress.”
Seeing as it was getting me nowhere, I put the baton away. “Throw this monster on the floor.”
With a kick, the two sisters knocked him over the desk as I stepped aside and I drew my revolver.
Nocturne looked at me with a devilish grin as he began to stand up. “Big mistake my little-”
*Bang!*
I sent a bullet into one of his kneecaps and he fell over as he groaned in pain. I may not have been the best shot, but with Order’s assistance, I could be dead accurate at this little distance.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
All four of his kneecaps were now shot. I emptied my revolver of the spent casings, then loaded four more.
I looked down at Nocturne, who was clearly in shock and in pain, then I demanded. “Sit and stay.”
Trotting away, and over to the Overmare terminal, he began shouting. “GET BACK HERE BITCH! I’M GOING TO MAKE YA TASTE MY DICK AND YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE-”
Star gave him a swift kick and began shoving trash into his mouth. “Shut the fuck up, cunt! Just shut up!”
Looking through the terminal, nothing about a secret passage was here, but I did find the Main door control. There was a locked part in the terminal’s options. I had a feeling that I was going to need Star again. So I opened the Stable door before calling her over.
Stepping back, I saw a worried Slowtrot come over to me with the pregnant mare behind him. “Don’t worry. We're going to take her with us.”
He shook his head. “No, we have another problem. There’s a few captured ponies in the security room, along with the raider foals.”
I looked at him. His eyes clearly pleaded for me to agree to help them. I was not cold-hearted. Maybe we can help.
“Alright, but only if they can actually be saved. We can't save those who are already too far gone.” I told him
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Dead chimed in. “The captives I get, but raider foals are raider foals. Some of those fuckers are likely going to call their parents right to us. Frankly, most ponies have a kill on sight for raiders, foals or not. They likely have just as bad of a life out of here as they do staying here.”
“We could bag 'em and take ‘em to camp,” Live suggested. “If they're young enough, I’m sure the elders can beat them into proper fighters for the clan.”
Star coughed a few times, hacking up a bit of blood before standing up straight. “I’m up for saving some foals from raiderhood.” She unplugged her pipbuck from the Terminal and the Overmare desk then lifted up to reveal the secret pathway.
We then hear a hiss as the door to the hallway opened, bringing a raider with a skull painted face on the other side. I shot at him immediately. The first missing and the second hitting him in the neck. The raider fell over, but was not dead. The raider managed to yell out, “THEY’RE HERE!” before Dead Axle unloaded her rifle into him.
“Well, let’s act fast!” I told the others and we all ran for the security room.
Slwotrot and the twins took a defensive position as we entered the security room. Inside was more of the same raider decorations of graffiti and garbage. The captives were easy to find. Two mares and one stallion were blindfolded and chained to the ground. One of the mares was also pregnant and having a very young foal nursing from her.
Star wasted no time cutting them free with her sword and getting them up. “We’re getting you all out of here. Now get trotting. There's a way out in the overmare’s office.”
“Oh thank you!” one mare said as she hugged Star, but then was pushed away, and pointed to the door. The mare didn’t say any more. She limped to the exit.
As for the foals, we were staring at seven of them, all without a cutie-mark, and most clearly abused in some way.
“You, you, you ain't one of us!” the oldest said, a little colt trying to puff up his chest. “I, I, I’m going to beat you up and get a cutie-mark. It’s gonna be real bloody, juz like boss Nocturn! Just you wait, ya are all-”
Star growled at the colt and looked him in the eyes. “Listen here, you little shit, you're going to shut up and follow us out of this shit hole of a stable. Am I loud and clear?!”
The colt clammed up, shaking in fear.
“Thought so,” Star said as she pointed to the exit.
Collecting the other foals was far easier as they obeyed Star’s stern commands. There were two who could only crawl, so they went into Star's saddlebag as the other five were then herded to the door. One of the captives was standing and shaking like a leaf.
The gunfight started. We were able to keep them from getting close, but the raiders were still able to fire back.
“We need them to stop shooting for a few seconds so we can get these ponies to the other side,” I told the other three.
Live growled. “Don’t ya think were-”
“Run when I say now!” Slowtrot said, cutting Live off as he unslung the trench gun. “NOW!”
He let out a blast from the trench gun. As soon as he racked the gun, it fired again.
Shoving the Mare through the doorway and the foals with her, Star pushed them to trot faster to the overmare’s office. The counterfire soon returned once Slowtrot stopped firing, but now the other ponies were out of the gun's range, allowing them to safely enter the office.
“FALL BACK!” I shouted again. The other three fired several more shots before backing up and running to the door.
Closing the door behind us, we all made our way to the hidden passageway. The foals were shocked to see the raider boss with all his kneecaps obliterated.
“Papa!” the oldest colt screamed as he ran to the monster, only for Star to bite onto the scruff of his neck and carry him to the passageway. All the while the coal started yelling every profanity he knew, coming up with a few creative ones as well.
I looked down at the raider boss. He clearly had some pony kicking him in the face after we left him there. Blood oozed from his mouth.
“I. Will. Fuck. You. Raw. For. This.” he gargled at me.
I shook my head. “No, no you will not.” Then with a gleeful tone, and looking down at him like the rotting trash he is, I said. “Enjoy being a crippled eunuch!” Using my pipbuck levitation spell, I dew my combat knife and cut off his dick and balls before shoving a healing potion in his mouth to ensure that he got to live with this pain a little longer. Drinking a healing potion with shattered kneecaps would leave them internally misshapen, needing a doctor to fix and the potion can not regrow lost body parts, only stop the bleeding.
He screamed. Oh, did Nocturne scream. The blood from his mouth flying, landing on my jacket and dress.
“Celestia fucking Luna!” Slowtrot shouted as he saw what I did. He rushed over to me and began shoving me to the hidden exit. “We need to go now. This place is already affecting you!”
Putting the knife away, I trotted into the passageway, but then stopped. “We need to make sure they can’t close the door on us. Order, fry all the electronics!”
My drone levitated up and began sparking with electricity. Several bullets whizzed by him. A raider appeared, looking down at me with serrated teeth. “I’m going to have so much-”
Order unleashed a wave of electric bolts, sending sparks everywhere as all the terminals exploded. The raider below him convulsed before falling into the passageway.
Floating down to me, Order began following me as I galloped down the passageway. He floated backwards, firing a bolt at the raiders who jumped down.
Rounding a corner, Slowtrot was waiting for me with his trench gun ready. Turning the corner, he unloaded his shotgun, slamming back then racking mechanism as fast as he was able into the raiders.
Catching up to the others, Star had just pulled the switch to open the door to the stable exit, the 10mm pistol in her mouth. One of the captives was holding the older colt tightly. Kicking open the door, there were a large group of raiders exchanging gunfire with the Desperado stallions and Longslide. Bodies were everywhere.
With the element of surprise on our side, Star, the two sisters, Order and I began firing into the raiders. They didn’t understand what was happening until it was too late. They were not quick enough at turning their guns on us, and those who attempted to maneuver out of our sights were then cut down by Longslide and the others.
Charging in with Little Devil in his claws, Longslide took out the last raider then began firing down the hallway they were coming in. “Thank Celestia you're alive! Now get the fuck out of here!” the hippogriff commanded.
The other Desperados joined him, firing their pipe guns down the hallway to hold the raiders back.
Helping the four captives and foals out, they quickly limped to the exit.
As the last of them excited, gunfire followed as Slowtrot barreled through and hit the ground hard, blood splattering out from under him. He had been shot several times and now struggled to get up as he bled from multiple holes.
Slamming the door shut, the twins joined their kin in firing at the raiders. Longslid backed up to grab Slowtrot, and began to help him walk. I quickly reloaded Order and had him stay in turret mode as I followed the others out of the stable.
The raiders didn’t let up. More of them burst out, firing wildly at us. The ones who charged in a maddened dash were cut down by either Order or Longslide.
Finally exiting the cave, we saw Star Charter in the gunner nest of the Smuggler, a big smile on her face as she aimed the rifle, Bozar. Trotting out of the way as fast as we could, she unloaded it into the raiders as soon as they charged out, they quickly regretted their decision.
Each raider was turned into a bloody mess as the Bozar blew buck ball-sized holes out of them. It sent body parts flying which painted the entrance to the cave red.
Live Axle galloped over to help Longslide drag Slowtrot to the Smuggler and force our last healing potion down his throat. Doing so stopped his bleeding. With Star providing us cover, we made sure everypony was loaded into the two vehicles. The Desperado’s motor wagon able to hold all the new ponies and foals.
After that, we drove off, quickly leaving stable 24 behind us. Once we felt we were far enough away, we made a quick stop to figure out what to do next.
Slowtrot was doing better now that his bleeding had stopped and could finally rest, but we still wanted to have Jali look him over just in case.
Tire Fire trotted up to the Smuggler, a lit cigarette in his mouth. “So, where the fuck are we taking those ponies? I know Live suggested we keep the foals, but she is an idiot. No pony right now wants to take care of a raider foal when we're preparing for war, and no fucking way we’re looking after the for ponies ya rescued.”
He had a point, and I had a solution. “Say Star, can the Followers look after the foals?”
Star scratched her chin for a moment and then nodded. “If we drop them off at the followers camp outside of town, they can hold onto them until they find a better place for them. I think they have set up several orphanages out east, and it’s not uncommon for them to take in raider foals. Something about giving them a chance.”
From the other vehicle, we could hear the faint scream of a colt, “FUCK YOU BITCHES!”
“I mean Prism gave me a shot and I turned out alright,” Star said with a smile.
Again the colt screamed. “YOU’RE ALL WHORES!”
Star turned her head to the other vehicle and yelled back. “IF YOU MAKE ME COME OVER THERE, I’LL BREAK YOU LIKE WE BROKE YOUR FATHER!’
We waited for a good solid moment and heard nothing.
I sighed. “Ya, let's go see the Followers. I know those four ponies, and Slowtrot, will need healing.”
“Good. Then lead the way, sweet flank.” Tire Fire said.
Glaring at him, I then said in a low and authoritarian voice, “I just cut the dick and balls off a raider boss, so watch your tongue!”
He backed up in clear shock. “Yes mam! Sorry, mam,” he said before trotting back to his vehicle at a quick pace.
Star chuckled. “Ya know what? I think you're going to do just fine out in the wasteland.”
Quest, Stable 24: Competed! With the raider base located, many of their numbers dead, and the boss left a shadow of himself. New Appaloosa can breathe a sigh of relief as soon the Blood Moon raides will be wiped out.
-Reputation-
-Desperados-
To say they are impressed is an understatement. Fighting off a tribe of raiders inside their own base and the humiliation of a raider boss is an achievement few can say they have. But, more importantly, is that the two daughters of the Desperados also survived the ordeal. For this, Elder Big Papa wants to personally meet the three. They are now seen as friends of the Desperados.
-Followers of the Apocalypse-
The unexpected rescue of those captured by raiders, as well as the mercy of removing raider foals from their home has left the followers both busy and looking upon the three as ponies capable of great deeds of good. If they can spare it, the Followers are willing to donate medical supplies to the three.
-New Appaloosa Downtowners-
Word has gotten around that the three took the fight right to the raider’s doorstep, and two of their own have been rescued. They have nothing to give, but now and then they may receive a free drink.
"Religion was nothing new to me. My own kind believed that life was nothing but a test we must live through in order to be ready for the true challenge that awaited us in the next life. So I was curious to learn more about Star Charter’s faith.
They call themselves The Prophet Thorn Rosland’s Chosen, or just the Chosen for short. It is a faith that believes that the two princesses, Celestia and Luna, were in truth benevolent Goddesses who descended from the heavens to guide them all from the path of evil. This Thorn Rosland had it written in her book that the six ministries mare, who wielded elements of harmony, were in fact false heroes, or false prophets in the religious context. They used their power to usurp and kill the goddesses then bringing the world to ruin. Now the chosen must continue on without the Goddesses and guide all creatures from the path of evil.
Like with many religions I have seen, their view on salvation often came at the blade of a sword, or the barrel of the gun. Also, the more I learned about Thorn Rosland, the more she sounded like a warlord who placed herself as the closest thing to god. Something not new to me, either." ~ Azure Dice
“Fucking seriously, Star? You’re not shitting me, right?!” Rusty Cleaver prodded me as I sat near the front, keeping an eye on the floor of the Ruffled Feather.
“No, I’m not. We literally got stuck inside a raider base and shot our way out,” I told my friend in all honesty.
I had gone to sleep not long after we got back, both to recover and to catch up on the sleep I missed. It had gotten chaotic at the Followers camp as soon as we arrived. The one older colt jumped out and bit one of them. Still, those egghead ponies took it all in stride, taking the captives, the foals, and Slowtrot into the camp for immediate examination and treatment.
Slowtrot was going to be just fine, but they wanted to hold onto him for the night.
As for the Desperados, they quickly left after letting us know they will return to the stable with more of their clan to wipe the rest of the raiders out. Something about collecting the raiders guns and ammo to add to their warchest. It didn’t sound like a bad idea if they were expecting a bigger fight in the west, gathering what resources they could before they left.
But, right now, I was back at my night job, earning my caps by making sure drunks don’t get too touchy with the mares. Harp too had joined us, though I imagine she was trying to forget what happened in the stable and what she had done.
Cold would not begin to explain what I saw her do; executing two ponies and the mutilation of the raider boss. Still, she helped save several ponies and likely gave some foals the opportunity of a better life. I just didn’t know what to make of it, with how she reminded me of Victoria in her focused determination through it all, yet there was also a warmness to her.
I had the same exhilaration with them, just like I had with Victoria, but there was more to it, not just simple carnage upon those who wronged me. Unlike before, there was no question that what I did could ever be seen as evil. I saved ponies, not simply killed them.
It made me feel… good.
Still, mom was going to be pissed as soon as she found out about it, but that was tomorrows problem, and one I’ll gladly deal with.
“If I’d have been with ya, those half cocks would have been stomped good!” The chubby Rusty boosted with unearned pride.
I cocked an eyebrow at her, but decided to not call her out. “Help would have been nice. Those fuckers were off their rocker cannibals.”
She cringed a little. “That far gone? fucking shit. I only heard rumors when my group was still alive. I remember one of my bros back then telling me about how he saw roasted pony on a spit at a big gathering place. That’s why we stayed out of their fucking territory.”
Brass Chain clung onto me, getting close. “You really should stop putting yourself in danger. It makes us worry.” It was clear she had something to drink and was now getting clingy. It helped her butter up clients, but I also had to keep a closer eye on her so they didn’t take advantage of her.
Giving her a smile to reassure her, I let her get closer to me. “Don’t worry. I have no plans for getting into a gunfight any time soon. Seriously, that was as close of a call I ever want to be in again.”
“Good. We need you here, Star.” She said to me caringly.
It hurt my heart hearing that, with me planning to leave with Victoria. To leave them all behind. Every lie felt like a needle. With Victoria, I would be running into a fire. I would be diving into bloodshed. There was no way around it, but I could not bring myself to tell any of them about it.
It would be better if I just vanished. Let them think I found a better job far away.
As for Harp, I decided to drop trying to get her to join me for now. How she conducted herself in that stable full of raiders, it was marvelous. She would make a fine Corps Brigadier, yet I had a feeling she would not love being one. It didn’t help that she had a grudge against us. Fucking Blackspot! He had always been kind of useless as a foal.
Looking at her, she and Cloudy were buttering up some wealthy mare on Waterspouts request. The mare was a freckle dusty pony whose looks screamed wasteland pony thoroughbred. The kind of pony who can trot unendingly for days without food or water and still be able to kill any pony who would come after them. They were more common in the more desolate parts of the wasteland. Their colors blended into the grays and browns that was most of the wasteland. Supposedly even raiders couldn't survive in those parts, both from starvation and from the native inhabitants shooting them on sight.
Lately, a lot of these self-called “Wastelandians” have been migrating to the NCR and joining up with the army, or starting their own businesses like the mare there. Not sure why. Not my place to know why.
The mare herself was not my type. Despite having the signs of a hard life, she didn’t have the looks of a fighter. No battle marks that I love. She was just simply… Dusty.
“You three, get back to work!” Waterspout said as he trotted over. The hippogriff was glad to hear that the raiders were gone, and had the news quickly spread through downtown. The Blood Moon raiders had spooked a lot of ponies, and last night was a slow night because of them. Business still had not completely picked up, but all our regulars had returned.
Rusty grabbed onto my leg. “Oh come on. Can’t we take a little Star brake?”
Waterspout just shook his head, and Rusty puted at me before letting me go.
“Oh well. Don’t go getting in any more trouble, Star,” she said, trotting back to the floor.
Brass let me go as well. “I guess I’ll… do something.”
I watched as Brass trotted to the bar where she was then given a drink to deliver to a table.
Turning my gaze over to Waterspout, I gave him a slight smile. “I do hope you're not letting Rusty drink any of the booze?”
“For the tenth time, no I’m not,” he said gruffly as he took a seat near me. “I’m sly, not malicious. Last thing I need is to make enemies of prostitutes. My father learned that the hard way.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “What? She killed him after sleeping with him?”
Waterspout nodded. “A he, actually. Still don’t understand my father’s taste when he was clearly not gay, but it turns out, no matter how much of a hardass you are, you’re still as vulnerable as a baby during sleep after a good fucking.”
The image of two hippogriff stallions going at it in bed left me conflicted. It was one part disgusting, yet the idea of it was also… fascinating? I shook my head to try and clear my thoughts.
“That all aside, Star,” he said as the hippogriff pulled out a rusty box then passed it to me. “This is from one of our regulars. One of the ponies you saved was his daughter.”
The box was a bit bigger than my hoof. Inside were several rough-looking blackish-brown rocks… no, crystals, that sparkled when the light hit them. They looked like they had been polished, but were still uncut, from what I could tell.
“Crystals... as a gift?” I asked as I took a closer look at one of them.
“Yep. The quarry miners find some of them here and there. They don’t tell their boss about the things, and sometimes they use them to pay off their tab as long as I tell no pony about it. Good business for everypony. The old stallion must have been saving them up for a few years now with how rare they are to find around here.”
They were interesting to look at, but I was unsure if the crystals were anything important. Maybe if they were made into gemstones I could sell them for some good caps, but even then, they are not worth running through a raiders den for. Still, beggars can't be choosers, so I was not going to complain. Maybe I can turn one into a necklace for Bridget.
Still, I did like getting a reward. Both for what caps I could get out of it, but also the appreciation of it. Being acknowledged for a good deed felt really good.
I closed the box, figuring that I should show Harp and Slowtrot them later, as they should get a cut.
“Anything else, boss?” I checked.
Waterspout looked over at Harp and Cloudy. “Make sure nopony fucks with them. That client must leave happy. She could become a big spender here if she does.”
Placing the box behind the nearby counter where we kept a baseball bat, I then gave Waterspout a friendly jab on the shoulder and chuckled. “No problem. After what I saw Harp do down there, it will be more protecting the idiots from her.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Should I ask?”
“Ya… best if you don’t.” I advised him.
Waterspout shrugged. “You mares have always found new ways to be cruel when you need to be.”
“What's that supposed to mean? Aren't we all ladies to you gentle stallions?” I asked jokingly.
He laughed back. “I may be a Gentle stallion, but other than Harp and Cloudy, none of you here are ladies. You gotta earn that title with grace.”
The hippogriff then put on a bit of a serious face. “Anyways, from my travels around the world, though males have managed to kill each other in great numbers, it was always the places under the rule of a female where the most suffering occurred. Trust me on this. If you were going to get raped, pray it’s by a male and not a female.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “They don’t got dicks! How can a mare be worse?”
Waterspout looked away with a cold stare. “Ya, they just improvise on their victims.” He got up and gave me another glance, this time softer and with some care in it. “I’m just saying be more careful next time. Though you have been a pain in my flank for these last five years, you're still an important part of our family here. We were all truly worried when we heard you had been attacked by raiders.”
A sigh left my mouth as I felt a bit lighter from him saying that. “I get it, and thanks. I don’t plan on doing anything crazy again for a long while. I’ll be here.”
That lie sent a pain into my heart, making me wish I didn’t have to assure everypony that I was not going to run off again, that I was not going to rejoin my old family and return to a life of violence.
I hated it.
Waterspout returned to the bar for a while before he disappeared to the back as I kept an eye on the floor. Nothing out of place was going on. Ponies got drunk as a mare or stallion hung close to them, all as they watched the dancer on stage wiggle her flank. The bar had several ponies chatting as they drank and the brothel workers were finding their marks.
This place has been a home for me for five years now. I still remembered how much I fucking sucked at any of this. Getting a job as one of the cleaners was a lot of brahmin shit, but I needed the job, and it was simple, or should have been. Don’t know what was going on in my head. I think I was just angry… at the town for being asshole, myself for fucking up, Skipper for running of instead of taking his beatings. Still, when that stallion tried to mess with me, maybe throwing a table at him was the wrong way to go about it.
I don’t fucking regret it, though.
I know that's how I actually ended up in the cursed dancer’s outfit in order to pay for damages I didn’t have the caps for. At least Waterspout didn’t try to sell me on the brothel. He was probably scared I’d kill somepony if they tried to literally fuck me.
After a few months of that, the boss somehow got me to start working on the floor and having me do bouncer work as well. Actually being able to rough up some of those assholes helped get my aggression out and talking up ponies did fix my normal attitude to those I hated. Able to play nice while plotting to kick their ass later was so much more satisfying than just punching them right then and there.
I made friends with Rusty and Brass here, and Bridget became friends with their foals. Stange how I became part of a stripper mom group…
Two ponies passed me by. There was nothing on them but a flimsy bag that jingled with caps. The two stallions already looked a bit intoxicated. It was nothing new, but they smelled of dash. They quickly found themselves a seat to watch the show and were clearly not regulated. They still had the rough look of working ponies, so likely part of the crew building Victoria's stage. If they had only come in smelling of booze then no problem, but with how much the cut chems have been floating around, I was a bit more on alert now.
Things continued as it always has. New dancers took the stage, and the two out of towner stallions got a mare’s attention. What caught my eye was when the two new stallions pulled out a dash inhaler, of which was not allowed inside the tavern. Ponies tend to do real stupid shit when getting high.
Trotting over, they were already offering the working mare with them some of the dash. Dry Flowers was her name. As expected, she was doing her best to turn them down politely. Unfortunately, they were being stupidly persistent.
“Excuse me!” I spoke clearly to get their attention. They both looked over at me. The look on their face clearly asked why they were being bothered. “If you wish to use your chems, you need to do it outside.”
One clearly was annoyed, blatantly taking a hit of the chem. “I want to watch the show, bitch!”
The other stallion laughed. They clearly were too high to be properly reasoned with.
Lucky they weren't belligerent yet, so I could still get them to leave before I have to bruise them up.
“I know,” I replied. “The mare on stage is quite the looker, but that's the rules. Say ... I can go out with you and we can all enjoy a hit together.”
They looked unsure and the little cogs in their head began to turn like a long-dead clock being given a bit of power for one last tick.
“We will not leave, not unless… ya give us a private show. You are a looker,” one of them stated, putting a smile on my face.
The mare, Dry, also smiled wide, giving me a wink. She wanted me to drag the time out a little bit in order to let her get them to buy a drink or two before I get them to leave. Easy enough.
“Alright. I’ll have to check with my manager first. They don’t like private shows being given out for free, but for you two,” I winked at them. “I’ll make an exception.”
They both looked dumbfounded, clearly not expecting a yes. One of them formed a small, stupid grim on his face.
Dry then made her move, clinging closer to one as she gave him a seductive glance. “Ahh... She’s stealing my stallions again! And here I was hoping to share a few drinks. Maybe even some shots.”
I trotted to the bar as the soon to be bamboozled stallions were buttered up and sold on buying some booze for themselves. It was hard to pull off, but the jealous mare act was often a killer move to loosen a stallion up for suggestions. It really pumped up their ego.
The sound of whirling blades could be just heard over the pumping music as Harp’s drone, Order, flew over to me. The front part of its gun had been removed and a metal plate put in front so that it didn’t frighten the customers, by Watersputs demand. “Miss Star Charter, Madam Harp wants to let you know that she may be staying here a bit late.”
I leaned back to see that she and Cloudy were actually enjoying their time with the dusty looking client. Not my place if they wanted to get in that part of the business here. At least it was with another mare, so they should be just fine.
“You can still be easily rearmed, correct?” I asked Order.
It bobbed in a nod motion. “Correct, Miss Star Charter. The barrel and tank can easily be rescrewed back in place. I also still have the three shock talismans installed for defensive spell activation.”
I didn’t know much about robots, but it was becoming clear that it could do some crazy shit.
“Alight,” I acknowledged. “Then I won't wait for her.”
Order flew off, picking up a bottle of the house Vodka and took it to the two stallions I was about to throw out. Ruffled Feathers Vodka, as it was called, was Waterspout’s own batch he sold. It was basically cheap booze that had medical herbs soak in the tank for several days before being bottled. It helped smooth out the harsh bite of the booze enough for it to be sold as a higher quality drink.
Letting the mare, Dry, get them to take a shot before trotting back over, she gave me another wink, signaling it was time for me to get the chem addicts out of here.
“Good news. The manager said yes,” I told them. The stallions took a second shot to celebrate.
Taking them to a side door, we had four ways to get out here in case of emergencies. Waterspout believed that having only one exit was a recipe for disaster, something about fires. Lucky for me, taking a side exit lets me quickly get rid of troublesome ponies and keep them out of sight if I need to rough them up.
Unfortunately, I could not simply close the heavy door on them, as they would simply try and get back into the tavern from the front, likely causing a scene. I would need to get the message across that they should fuck off and get drunk elsewhere while still telling them that they’re welcome to return without the chems.
“So, show us some leg, sweet flanks,” One of them said before taking a swig of the cheap vodka.
“Ya! Shake your hip and take off those clothes!” the second added.
I thought about what I should say for a moment, trying to come up with the best way to say no.
“You’re fucking idiots. I’m the goddess damned bouncer!” Ya, that should get the point across.
The second stallion snickered. “Ya, bouncer on my dick!” His dilated eyes told me that he was already in his own world and soon will be crashing down like a wing shot pegasus.
Taking an even longer pull of the bottle, the first stallion then passed it to his friend. About half the bottle was already gone, so he was going to start getting real drunk, real soon. “You're a what, bitch? Better start the show. I’m getting real bored, missy.”
I rolled my eyes. “The bouncer,” I tried to clarify. “My job is not to get you off, but to get you out. Chems, like dash, are prohibited from being used in the tavern, so you two need to leave and sober up before coming back. Am I clear?”
The first snarled at me. Clearly this was going to get a bit fun. “Bitch!”
Going in for a tackle, I just let him collide with me as I braced myself. Drunk and high ponies could take a hit, but they were sloppy fighters. I learned this from Victoria so long ago. She showed me that having a clear head was better than the extra focus from chems. The boost chems could give were great, but the crash soon after left a pony easy to destroy.
As I predicted, I only got pushed back a hoofstep and he then slipped onto the floor. With the aggressor at hoof level, I simply stepped on his head and held him there, pushing his face in when he struggled.
“MY TURN!” the second stallion muffled out a shout as he then swung the now nearly empty bottle with his mouth. Weapons were only good if you can hit a pony with them, making getting under the strike zone a good way to avoid the worst of it. He only managed to hit me with his jaw as the bottle passed overhead. With a quick thrust forwarded, I collided my own head with his jaw, knocking him back a few steps and dropping the bottle.
The first pony growled as my movement pressed his face into the ground more.
Looking at the two mess of stallions, this fight felt… boring. I sighed.
“Listen here, you two. I literally ripped through a shit ton of raiders just today, so save yourselves the trouble and fuck off. You don’t need to get your asses beat raw, and I have better things to do.”
I let go of the first stallion. He got up, stepped back, and dusted himself off.
“Here, if you come back tomorrow without the dash, I’ll personally sit with you two,” I offered. “Maybe introduce you to one of our more passionate mares in the brothel.”
I lowered my gaze at them, making sure to add a hint of fear through my eye’s magic. “But if you two keep this up, I will be breaking a leg each. Got that?”
There was a quiet pause. Again, the gears in their heads flaked off rust.
The first then huffed. “Fuck it, fine!” He turned to trot off. His now crashing friend followed him as the jitters made him twitch.
Taking a moment to breathe in the sour-smelling air, I returned to the tavern.
Victory also taught me to be ruthless, not to give a pony a second chance to come after me. All her lessons never quite solidified until after I left the Blackwater. But then I was with Prism, who kept telling me not to go and get into fights. To try and talk shit out. She wanted me to be a good filly, not some thug.
Yet fighting was all I was good for. After running through that stable, going hoof to hoof with that armored raider, I now knew myself better. It was exhilarating, both hitting and getting hit, crushing my enemies under hoof, and the taste of blood in my mouth. I was truly myself among the violence. I know that now.
Returning to my post, I again eyed the floor. Nothing out of the normal going on.
My eyes again returned to Harp. Did she feel the same as me? No, I decided. She clearly hated the violence. She was too strict with her actions and too ready to fall apart when we were safe. Yet she took the more extreme actions, and she did it without hesitation…
Harp and Victoria were so much alike, yet nothing alike at the same time.
Also, fighting with them felt different. With Victoria, we split off. We fought in our own way, and we came together once the enemy was dead. It was fun, but… unfulfilling.
On the other hoof, fighting with Harp, Slowtrot, and the Axle sisters was… I don’t know… but we were a team. We stuck together, and stomped those raiders underhoof. When I was struggling with that raider, Harp gave me some covering fire to open the raider for my counter-attack. When I got hurt, Slowtrot was ready to help patch me up. I was needed, and I did good.
With the threat of night attacks by the raiders over, the tavern workers and patrons can breathe easy. They know who to thank for that, some even singing a song about the story the three have told them. The three are idolized among the workers of the tavern.
"The more details I gained about the religion Star Carter grew up with, the more I didn’t like it. I was not one to get into debates about religion with others. My own people would argue for days about how one can achieve divinity in the after life. The Thorn’s Chosen, on the other claw, arguing with them would be like trying to stop a bullet with your head. A really bad idea.
The core element of which I had an issue with is their belief that every creature is cursed at birth because of the Goddesses death and will be drawn to evil unless they are placed on the right path set by Thorn Roasland. It is an original sin concept tied to a conversion mandate. Worse is that they believe all souls that have not accepted Thorns teachings and are not fully corrupted by evil can still be saved by the goddesses, but only if they are sent to them.
It is a pure convert or die religon, of which murder is a form of saving a soul. Effectivity murder is part of their religoin, and all but their own kind are to be killed." ~ Azure Dice
“You have to stop doing this, Star. One of these days I’m going to have a heart attack, and that’s if you even return.” Eventually the news of my runthrough the raider nest had reached mom. She was understandably cross about it.
It had taken me a few years to truly understand why Prism worried so much… No. Deep down, I understood from the start. I was just too focused on my own issues to bring myself to see her eye to eye. Bridget forced that to happen, which allowed me to feel the same as she did.
Yet she could never understand me. Could never understand why living here just made me so… restless.
“Trust me, I don’t plan to. Anyways the raiders are all gone, so it’s up to Ashy to keep this from happening again… I’m not going anywhere.” The taste of the words were extra bitter this time. But I knew, by leaving, they can have better lives. I just needed to make sure they could not follow me.
Prism’s disapproving gaze pressed down on me like only a mother could do. It was like my evil eye, but worse. The feeling of guilt was my own, not forced into me by eye magic.
She gave a long sigh. The kind she does when she is giving up on arguing with me. “You’re going to be the death of me. You know that.”
I smiled. “Good, because I don’t plan on you dying for a very long time.”
Prism again narrowed her eyes at me. “I get what you're saying, but you really make me worried sometimes.” She levitated her nurse hat over to herself. “Well stop by the clinic after you drop off Bridget. You owe Slowtrot an apology for dragging him into that mess. It’s amazing he actually survived.”
“Can’t have been that bad. I’ve been shot before,” I stated.
“He had fifteen bullets in him!” Prism emphasized with a slightly raised voice. “If even one had hit a vital organ, he could have died, even after getting the healing potion.”
I think I did hear about that. “All right. I understand. Anyways, it’s not like he got into a brawl with an on fire raider. The bitch was a heavy hitter.”
“Star…” She again looked down at me.
“Just saying,” was my defense.
Prism finally gave up and left, leaving me with my still sleeping filly in the bedroom. She had been playing until late with her cousins, so I figured I let her rest a bit more.
I trotting over to our little food cupboard. It still had several ears of corn and some cans of carrots which Prism found in the market. There were also a bunch of boxes of the nature bars, but the dried meats were all gone. The stuff had become expensive when all the ponies started showing up. What we did have got gobbled up by Bridget.
That filly loves her meat. Maybe I should take her to that food vendor on the edge of town to buy her a geco stake, if he has any to sell.
Taking a nature bar from the cabinet, along with a small bottle of water, I trotted over to the bedroom, knocking softly to get Bridget's attention.
It took a moment before she stirred. She rubbed her eyes with her little talons. “Mamma…” she said softly as she pushed herself up.
“It will be time for school soon. You should eat first,” I told her as my daughter slowly trotted over to me.
With a yawn, Bridget sat at our little table. The old stool creaked under her. “Are you going to eat, Mama?” she asked.
I smiled. “Already ate darling, so don’t worry.”
She quickly tore into the food bar, needing to choke it down with the water. It wasn't much, but it would help fuel her until it was soup time at the school.
We didn’t need to ration our food right now, but with how things have been, both Prism and I had decided to just be careful on the subject of food. It was never a guarantee that food would be regularly available, or if we will, all the sudden, be out of caps. Until things settle down, it would be better to make everything stretch when reasonable.
Still, I wanted to at least have a few nice meals as a family before I leave.
“Mama, are you okay?” Bridget asked.
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?” I replied.
She tilted her head a little, clearly thinking about what she just asked. “Well mama, you looked a bit... sad, I think.”
Chuckling, I ruffled my filly’s mane. “Silly. You know mama doesn't get sad. Now let’s get you to school. I can tell you how I recently fought off a bunch of raiders.”
Her eyes brightened up. “You fought raiders?!”
“Ya. There was a whole nest of them. They were real evil” I told her as we left.
“That's when I started shooting from the Smuggler. They didn’t know what hit them as I went; blam, blam, blam!” I explained as we stopped in front of the school.
Bridget enjoyed every word of it, asking. “S… so, what happened next?”
“Well, we took the ponies we saved to the Followers to get patched up. Mister Slowtrot too.” I finished the story.
It was far shorter than I expected when not including all the threats of rape that Noctern shouted at us, the half-eaten pony, or the two Harp put out of their misery. It was all guns, swords, and the beatdown of evil.
Lucky Shot was standing by the door with a cigarette in her mouth, watching the foals run by her. She waited for Bridget to pass before saying anything.
“Went and got yourself in trouble again, Star?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “How much do you know?”
“That you tangled with raiders two nights in a row and came out with barely a scratch,” she told me.
“I wouldn't say without a scratch. I just heal fast.” I responded with a smile.
She finished her cigarette, letting it drop before stopping it with a hoof. “If only we were all that lucky. Dealing with raiders was one of the few big mistakes I’ve made in my life.”
“What? No way you'd get caught by raiders,” I dismissed with a chuckle.
She shook her head and waited for another foal to pass by before responding. “Not quite. More a crew I ran with went raider. Real ugly that was when the rest of us finally woke up to it. You have heard the stories where gangers or bandits have a bad year and turn to a little raiding to get by? Mostly just theft and intimidation. Back then, ponies would simply drop what they could live without so as to run away from raiders. It’s how it worked out there, those who couldn’t provide for themselves just lived off the fear of others.”
Another foal ran by before Lucky continued. “Long story short, what started as an act became real. Of course, the ponies who had not lost our minds stupidly protested, thinking we could get them to stop. But, instead, we all got the full raider treatment.” She looked off into the distance with a pain in her eyes, along with a long since grown cold anger. “The few of us that got out alive and unbroken, later return to get our revenge.”
She looked in to count the foals and nodded. “Anyways Star, I’m just glad you're alright. It’s also good to know a raider nest is good and dead. Still, I wish Ashy had found it first. She's been needing to let off some steam. That bitch is wound tighter than the ropes I used to bind her with when we were dating.”
“Can you not!” I garbled, again trying to get that image out of my head.
“No,” Lucky said with a laugh before trotting into the school.
She gave me a stern glance and quietly said, “Not to be accusatory, but you always gave me the feeling that if things were to fall apart, you’d quickly become a raider boss. Like violence was in your blood or something. So, trust me when I say this; I’m glad you're here with us, and not out there with the mad ponies.”
I shrugged. “Who knows where I’d have been if Prism didn’t find me?”
Lucky chuckled. “That mare truly doesn’t get the respect she deserves from this town. At least she has you.”
Closing the door for her, I trotted off to the clinic.
Thinking about Lucky Shot, she had always been a mare of insight. A mare with more experience than most, yet so few ponies knew about her, She talks about herself the least. I think I remembered Waterspout said he had met her once when she was younger. Something about her in a brothel, or was it at a slave camp? Hard to remember, but the two like to flirt whenever they get together. Sometimes they compared kill counts.
And now the image of Lucky and Watersput fucking was stuck in my head… Goddess dammit!
Slowtrot was fine, as I had suspected. The followers do good work at patching up a pony, though it was funny seeing how they patched him up. His flank and back legs that were wrapped up with healing potion treated bandages, making it look like he had some strange pants on.
“Ya. Ya keep laughing. I nearly died you know,” Slowtrot huffed.
I patted him on the back trying to lighten the mood. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make fun of you. Anyways, we're all alive, so why waste time pouting? Still, what did they shoot you with?”
“A Trot 9 is my guess,” Jali said as she trotted over. “Other than the Imperial M38, there weren't many 9mm SMG that were sent into the war. I saw a lot of the trots here in Equestria.”
“Trots?” I asked.
“The Trottingham MK2 SMG,” she answered. “My seniors in the war told me that they were put into battle when Luna was taking power. Like the heralds of a new era of the war, I think he told me, where the war went from like a chess game to a mad rush and waves of lead. Before coming to Equestria, I only ever saw the 10mm pony SMG’s. But I’ve quickly grown to hate the Trot 9’s.”
“I remember now!” Slowtrot said. “They were sold as a cheap, everypony SMG. The gun you can buy if you can't afford an Ironshod IF-44, the 10mm SMG they made. As far as I know, most ponies saved their bits to get the IF-44 as it didn’t jam as much and they wanted the same guns the troops used.”
He paused for a moment to scratch his goatee before adding. “Still don’t know why it was called the Angel Bunny.”
Jali cringed a little. “Likely because it was meant to stomp out zebras like Fluttershy's combat bunny, Angel.”
She began tapping Slowtrots injuries with her hoof. “Any pain?”
Slowtrot shook his head.
“Good, but make sure to let me know if your injuries start hurting in any way. Healing potions may stop the bleeding and close your wounds, but they can't stop infections,” she informed the stallion.
He again nodded.
I never really paid much attention to medical advice, but before I had Bridget, I learned the hard way that Healing potions don't fix everything. Whatever got in me after a fight often put me in pain for a month. But I got right back into the fight whenever I felt better.
Slowtrot got out of his seat and we trotted over to where Live Axle and two other Desperado mares were. All three were bandaged up and joyfully chatting among each other.
I had to ask. “Was finishing off the raiders that much trouble?”
The two other mares raised an eyebrow at me each before they proceeded to ignore me. Live, on the other hoof, turned to talk with me. “Fuckers boobytrapped the whole stable, so a lot of us got knocked around real good without a proper fight. Me and my friends here ran into a shitty nail bomb as we were clearing rooms. Hurt like shit, but we found a few full ammo boxes and guns we got to call dibs on.”
Jali shook her head. “How good can a raider gun be?”
One of the other mares clicked her tongue at Jali. “Oy stripe, if I want ya kinds opinion, I’d go look for a grave.”
A little smile formed on Jali’s face. “So you can ask your mother where the best zeba dick can be found?”
The Desperado mare got up, ready to fight, only for Live Axle to force her back down. “I swear to Celestia’s Transmission, if I have to beat the shit out of you to keep you from causing trouble, I will do it with a smile and use a chair to do it!”
The mare quickly sat back down.
Live eyed Jali with annoyance. “And what’s your problem, bitch? Trying to start a fight when you're old and decrepit and shit.”
Jali sighed. “Right. I’m not with the other ghouls here. Spent some time with the tank ghouls up north. Old war insults was how they kept their brains working right. You mares remind me of some of them.”
“Right... those elders,” Live said as she stretched. A twinge of pain could be seen on her face. “Our elders always call them the young fucks whenever they meet up. I think one of our elders is actually the father of one of them. Or was it the other way around?”
Shaking her head, Jali pulled out from an old ammo box some strange metal paddle with a bunch of wires connected to it, waving it over Live. It clicked a bit like our pipbucks had in Stable 24. “I remember you saying that some of your elders were early war veterans. It would be interesting to have a game of poker with some of them.” She waved the device over the two other mares. It clicked as well, but a bit slower. “Right, It’s minor, but you all got radiation poisoning. I’m betting all of you that went into that stable are the same. I suggest you have your clan take half a pack of rad-away each. The radiation may not hurt you now, but it will cause long term health problems if not taken care of. Just stop by the Followers camp later and let them know. They have a good cheap stockpile of rad-away since few need it anymore.”
Jali turned to me with a smile. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about not fucking around with raiders, Star.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, you don’t, though everypony has been anyway.”
“Thought so. It just means they don’t want to see you get hurt,” she said with a satisfied tone.
“Aren't you going to give me a lecture or story?” I stupidly asked.
Jali dropped her smile and looked off in the distance for a moment before looking at me. “Nothing in particular. Once you see one pointless massacre, you’ve seen them all. They were rarely any real threat to my comrades and I unless they had numbers. The big danger, as we saw it, was that a smart one would blend in among the normal wastelanders, then do as much damage as they can before any zebra knew what was happening. Other than that, if we wanted to avoid raiders, we just stick to feral ghoul territory.”
She waved the devices at me. It clicked a bit as well. “Also make sure Harp comes to see me later. I just know she is going to be more irradiated than the rest of you.”
Right. Harp was extra susceptible to radiation, though I don’t remember her using her magic when in that irritated water. I was sure she was fine, but it couldn't hurt to check on her. Also, I wanted to show her the crystals, see if she can make talismans out of them so to make the things worth a lot more caps to sell.
“Alright. I need to see her anyways,” I told Jali as I turned around.
Giving Slowtrot a little bump, I decided to tease him a little as I whispered. “So which of the sisters do you like more, Live or Dead Axle? They seem to like you.”
“What?!” Slowtrot quietly exclaimed in surprise. He was clearly a little flustered.
I nudged him a little. “Oh come on! We all can see it. Just ask one of them out, or both. Not many stallions are ever so lucky to get with twins.”
Figuring Harp was with the Gunrunners, I trotted over to the compound to take a look. As predicted, Harp was at the reception desk messing with some contraption as Dead Axle watched.
Raising an eyebrow at the two, I had to ask, “Did ya two become friends or something?”
The two stopped what they were doing to look over at me as I trotted closer.
“Here I thought Dead wanted to sleep with Slowtrot,” I said, trying to mess with the two mares.
Harp gave me a “your serious?” look, but Dead looked like she was giving it a serious thought.
Then Dead shrugged. “Not into mares much, but she’s cute, so I wouldn't mind having a threesome with her and a stallion.”
I watched as Harp gagged a little, which caused Dead Axle to laugh. “Oh come on. I’m not that bad looking, and how would you know you wouldn't like dick?”
Harp glared at Dead, telling her to shut up with her eyes. “I have a marefriend, and I don’t plan to bring another pony into the relationship, mare or stallion.”
This time I chuckled. “Then what about last night?”
She went beat red. Her magic shimmered a little.
“Th… That was a one time thing,” She meekly responded.
I didn’t want to push her too hard, so it was time to try and embarrass the ganger.
“Brothel lesbians aside, Dead, what the fuck do ya see in that dope?” I asked the Desperado.
She leaned back in her seat, looking too relaxed. “Ehh, he reminds me of some dopey dog I guess. My sis seems to like him, so I can't help but jump in and stir the pot. It also helps that he didn’t bitch and moan in that stable. Killed a lot of raiders too.”
Dead looked me in the eye and smiled. “I’d let him plow me. It would scratch that itch I’ve been having.”
Alright, this mare was shameless, making her no fun to mess with. But I was going to try anyway. “Big talk for a mare whose sister is going to get the stallion first. I’m sure they are having a nice little chat right now. Maybe making plans for a date. You know what happens next?”
She got a little less comfortable in her seat. “I doubt it. My sis is a wet noodle on her own. Shit at talking up another pony.”
Ha! Got her! I just needed to go a bit further before pulling back.
With a smirk I said, “Well, she was with her friends at the clinic. I also told Slowtrot to ask her out. Though-”
“Her friends!” Dead shouted loudly as she slipped off her seat. Quickly getting back up, she looked a bit more worried. “Fuck! I forgot those two idiots came to town with us. Fuck!”
The ganger mare glared at me. “If they make sis do anything stupid because of you, I’ll pay ya back twice fold. Fuck!” She galloped out of the compound, kicking up dust as soon as she was past the doorway.
Harp confusingly looked at me. “I’m confused. Are you trying to get them to sleep with Slowtrot?”
“I don’t know anymore. I was just trying to fuck with her. That all,” I explained while also feeling a bit confused.
She sighed and returned to whatever she was working on. “At least I don't have a mare incessantly probing me about what I was doing anymore.”
A smile crept on my face. “What are you working on?”
Letting herself go loose, Harp’s head gently hit the table as she huffed air out of her nose.
After a moment of silence, she straightened herself up and presented the device. “It’s a talisman copying doohickey box. You place a talisman on one end and a cut gemstone on the other. Running a controlled amount of magic through them and given a day or three, it should make a brand new talisman with the blank gemstone. It can't do anything complex, but it would help with making beam talismans.”
I whistled in surprise. “So you're saying I could get myself a laser blaster gun after a few days?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s magical, but not that magical, Star. This is just a crude talisman copying device, so nothing that nice can be made. Also, the gemstones the Gunnrunners have are mostly minor quality. I need at least a quartz to make an energy weapon quality talisman.”
Again a smile formed on my face and I pulled out the box I was given last night, presenting her with the smoky quartz inside. “Would this work?”
She gave the crystals a long look, then sighed. “Ya, those might work… Where did you get them?”
“A gift for saving those ponies from the raider den,” I told her as I passed over the crystals.
She picked one up then studied it.
“So, I was wondering if you can turn them into talismans. I want to make a lot of caps off them.” I announced.
Harp studied the crystal a bit more, bringing it close to her eye as she seemed to shimmer a little. All before putting it down.
A big yawn came from her mouth as she rubbed her eyes, speaking as though she was ready to go to sleep. “Quarts is the standard for most military talismans, but only the clear ones. Smoky Quartz, from what I remember, can't be used for anything super useful. The impurities in it tend to distort anything stronger than basic magic. Using it for energy weapons would just get you a scattergun. It would be nothing like the guns used by old Equestria, unless it has extra talismans to work through.”
She paused for a moment. Her eyes clearly came up with some kind of Idea. “Say Star, mind if I take this to Longslide? These crystals might be what he is looking for.”
I didn’t know why she wanted to show him those, but I trusted the two of them, so I was not going to just say no.
“Alright,” I accepted, “but you owe me if you break them.”
Harp smiled as she closed the box. “Good. Also, if this goes as well as I think it will, I’d like to know who you got the crystal from in case more might be needed.”
“One of the miners from the quarry. They find the chrysalis every now and then. Just don’t go telling nopony, otherwise the company might start watching them a lot closer,” I said as I mimed zipping my lip.
I didn’t owe the miners a damn thing, but they left me alone, so I didn't want to needlessly cause them problems. They were just trying to live their lives in peace, like I was.
… The words Hardballer told be about Redeye found its way back into my head. “He could never leave things well enough alone,” was what the old buzzer said. I don’t know why it was in my head, but it was now stuck there.
I didn’t want to bother any pony, and most ponies didn’t want to bother me. It was the sheriff and her deputies that were up in my business all the time. The raiders too. We would never have come looking for them if they never left that stable. Ya, that was it… Ponies who can't leave others alone were the worst. They were the ones who were making me pissed off about everything.
“Star, are you okay?” Harp asked.
Taking a deep breath, my mind calmed down. “Ya. Just been doing a lot of thinking. Everypony has been warning me to not tangle with raiders again. Not outright saying it, but it’s clear they were worried with how rape happy raiders can be.”
Harp looked away for a moment. “Ya. Those poor ponies. I hope they will get better.”
“They will,” I assured nonchalantly. “They were all wasteland ponies, from what I can tell. They all know that this shit happens. I mean, if Prism was not looking after me back on the Blackwater, some asshole stallion would have had his way with me. She killed his ass good.”
Harps mouth went slack.
“What?” I asked Harp with a shrug. “Like I said, that shit happens,” I told her, but she looked at me in confusion. “On the Blackwater, you can't be weak. The weak suffer the most, as the nun’s would say. If it wasn't for Victory or Prism, I’d likely ended up as a whore like my real mother, or just another deck-hoof taking what scraps I can get.
“I also had a few close calls in town with some assholes trying to slip me some rape chem. Waterspout catches onto that shit real quick, so I only had to deal with an upset stomach and a hell of a headache whenever it happens,” I explained.
“That’s horrible!” Harp exclaimed, with genuine worry in her voice. “I can’t believe a pony would do… well… I mean what would you have done if they got their way?”
I shrugged. “Likely hunt them down and kill them. I guess raise the foal to not make the same mistake.
As I said, this shit happens. We all just have to live with it. I wish it didn’t happen. I mean, I love to have it that Brass Chain was never abused like that, but then Copper Wire would never have been born, and I love that colt.”
Harp returned her attention to the talisman box she was making. “I guess you're right. I mean… it has been screaming me in the face from even before I found myself here. Bad things will happen, and the world will just keep moving on… But I still can't imagine how those ponies must feel, not to mention the two I executed. Could they have lived on?”
Right. I see now. Harp was trying to distract herself. Trying to ignore how bad things can be. I heard about this from Jali, calling it something like a wasteland break that all creatures deal with at some point. I think she said it’s where a pony possibly starts turning raider. Where their minds start to break or something.
I was not sure that was what's going on with Harp, but I knew what could help.
“Ya, should talk with Jali,” I encouraged. “She wants to scan you for radiation, and I’m sure she can talk to you about this far better than I can.”
She nodded before looking at me. “Say, if I ever end up like those innocent ponies I killed, what would you do?”
“I…” a twitch of pain hit me in the heart as I imagined the scene. Also… anger and… fear. Just thinking about it made me upset. Really upset. “I guess I’d kill every goddess damn one of them first. Make them hurt.”
There was another pause, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
“Such barbarity must be answered with righteous violence.” A haughty voice spoke up, causing the hairs on my haunches to stand up.
The older white pegasus, Purity Spiral, had trotted in. She was dressed as some lovely clean rich mare
She eyed me with a smile as she trotted over to us. “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. It’s the natural state of the world. Something we all must never forget.”
Harp looked confused for a moment before straightening herself up. She took a more professional stance and reached out a hoof. “Harp Melody. And you are, mam?”
“You can call me Lady Purity Spiral,” she said, shaking Harps hoof. “You're quite the well-mannered mare. Almost like a princess.”
A genuine smile formed on Harp's face… I think. “Why thank you! You clearly have the poise of a true lady yourself. If I’m not so bold to ask, but are you here to see the Gunrunners?”
Purity chuckled a little. “Oh, you're a charmer, but no. You can say I am, for a lack of a better word, a talent scout. Right now I’m here to see Star,” Purity said as she glanced over at me, but then looked back over at Harp as she went on to say, “but I love to have a private talk with you later.”
I couldn't tell if Harp knew if something was off with Purity or not. That mare actually had a dead-on poker face, second only to ghouls whose faces had fallen off. Still, I didn’t like the idea of Purity having her eyes on Harp. If Harp were to join the Corps Brigade, I wanted it to be through me, not this bitch.
Bishop Purity turned to me with a smile. “Shall we go? We all have places to be, and little time to waste my dear Star Charter.”
If there is anything they respect, it’s acts of heroism and mercy. Just like the Lightbringer, the three wiped out a raiders nest and saved ponies from it. This story is bound to spread around and ponies will likely know of the three’s good deeds.
"Star Charter was a bit vague on the leadership of Thorns Chosen, as effectively Thorn Rosland was still the leader of the religion.
At the top was the Pope, a pony that Star knows almost nothing about. The pony is in charge of interpreting all the religious dogma of the chosen follows. They adapted them to any changes and delivered crusades on any group they see as agents of evil.
Under the Pope are the bishops and archbishops. They act as the Pope's eyes and ears, welding his authority as agents of the saint Rosland. They often own territorial property such as islands, city ships, and ports all around the world, of which they use to produce materials to donate to the Pope and the fleets.
In short, the religious leaders are no more than an emperor and nobility. Through faith, they wielded absolute power, and all must bend to their will or suffer the consequences. Makes me wonder how many of them are actually devout followers and how many just want power. It’s a tale older than time itself." ~ Azure Dice
“Such a wonderful place, don’t you think, Star?” Bishop Purity Spiral asked as we trotted through the slums of New Appaloosa.
I looked around to see what was all that good about this part of town, not seeing much a mare like her would enjoy. Actually, to a noble of Thorns Chosen, this place should be quite the center of evil, with the only ponies who know of Saint Roseland in sight being me and her. I also remembered what Victoria told me. I needed to be as religious as a devout follower around her.
“Compared to how life was on the Blackwater, it is far better, but the word of Thorn doesn't reach out this far, so most ponies here are… Lost.” I almost stumbled on the last word as I answered.
I watched her carefully, hoping this does not turn into a shitshow. My only real experience with the higher up holy folk were nuns. They found any excuse to beat me raw if Victoria was not around. From what I knew about the bishops, they were another level of worse.
She frowned coldly. “Yes. This town has so many souls that are damned to be consumed by evil. It almost breaks my heart to even touch the ground they walk on, and disgust me to breathe the same air.”
As we trotted, a thin and ragged unicorn mare bumped into us. Her horn was covered in a cloth to hide its overflow as she attempted to pickpocket with her magic. A not uncommon tactic of poor thieves who try to steal from newcomers.
With a flick of her hoof, Purity tripped the mare, sending the unicorn to the ground face first.
Quickly turning around and coming to the mares aid, Purity helped her up. “Oh heavens me. My deepest apologies. Let me get some of that dust off you.” She used her wing to brush the dust off the mare.
Purity pulled a book out from her small saddlebag, hoofing it to the mare with a smile on her face. “Take this as my apology.”
It was the holy book of Saint Thorn Rosland. Written inside was the story of the saint's life and her teaching to her chosen. I knew the book by heart, as it was the only book we had on the Blackwater. Reading it completely out loud was how I was inducted into the chosen.
The confused mare took the book and quickly trotted off. As she vanished into the crowd, I could see a small trail of blood left behind.
Looking over at Purity, she had the same pleasant smile before covering her mouth with a wing. “Oh dear me. I think she might have nicked an artery. Could be dangerous if she doesn't wrap it up soon.”
In her wing, I saw the slight glint of a razor blade. It was clean as her wings, as though it never even touched the mare.
Not wanting to be on her wings receiving end, I smiled at Purity. “I do hope she can read. The illiterate are known to burn books for heat.”
The smile on Purity's face dropped a little. “Not being able to read the Saint’s words would be a fate worse than death. Such ponies should be saved. We should send their souls to the goddesses before evil takes them.”
I didn’t want to step on a landmine with her, so telling Purity that murdering a mare for not being able to read was a wrong move.
“In time, Lady Bishop. I mean, there are so many who can be… saved, in a less direct manner.” Quickly looking around, I saw several outsider merchants browsing the local slum merchants for any hidden treasures. “Maybe you can put the holy book out for trade. Have ponies who can read, discover it and find the true path.”
She raised an eyebrow at me and spoke in a cold tone. “An interesting idea indeed, though a crusade would be a thorny path I would rather take. Show the heathens the error of their ways. Give them a chance to prove themselves worthy of being one of the chosen.”
Purity sighed. “Yet holy Avalon refuses to begin a crusade even though Equestria is finally ours for the taking. Without the Enclave’s continued punishment of those who betrayed the goddesses, it is now up to us to finally make things right… yet they say, ‘Not yet!’”
I didn’t like the sound of that either. I was sure the fleets could manage to take some of Equestria, I think. Last I heard, the fleets were over a hundred ships, or was it just the fleet the Blackwater was part of? Maybe I should have paid more attention to the sailor ponies when they were at port.
Still, it was at least a subject less likely to end in Purity killing somepony.
As we came to the railroad tracks, we stopped. There was the disapproving gaze of Stopped Clock. “Lately you have been keeping interesting company of lately, Star. Who is this mare?”
A different grin formed on Purity’s muzzle, reminding me of a cat who found a mouse. She trotted to the deputy with a skip in her step. “Oh my! Aren't you a fine specimen? I do love a stallion who has clearly overcome great suffering. The name is Purity Spiral. May I have yours?”
She held her hoof out in the manner of a mare requesting a stallion to kiss it. I’ve only seen it done by rich ponies, and dominatrixes at the brothel.
Stopped Clock looked at her hoof before looking her in the eye. “Names Stopped Clock, and may I ask why are you hanging with this known trouble maker?”
Purity put her hoof back down. “You men Star? Oh, I’m just here to talk with Star. A trouble maker she may be, but soon she will become a fine upstanding pony.Trust me on that.”
He narrowed his eyes over at me before looking back at Purity. “I don’t know what you're seeing in her, but trust me, once a criminal, always a criminal. It’s only a matter of time before she is caught committing her next crime.”
Yep. The never forget, never forgive deputy never changes. If I could punch that cold glare off his face, I so would.
Purity again covered her mouth with her wing like a high class lady as she chuckled and said. “Oh dear me! It is so unfortunate you think in such a way. You see, I believe all can be changed... with the right motivation.”
Now he narrowed his glance at Purity, clearly sizing up the mare. “That may be, but what a pony is at their core never changes. A raider will always be a raider. A thief will always be a thief, and Star is a danger to all around her. That will never change.”
Folding her wing back to her barrel, she then trotted past the deputy, stopping on the other side of the train tracks. “It’s such a waste to be so inflexible. One needs to be able to bend and twist for when the goddesses decide to test us. Even the strongest of steel beams will break if under enough pressure, but if made like spring steel, it will bounce back and slay those who dare try and bend them to their will.”
“From what I’ve seen, once bent a steel beam is forever useless, Best to just replace it.” Stopped responded.
He trotted away from her, pausing for a moment to look at me and say, “Your time will come soon.” Then he was slowly off into the slums. Ponies gave him a wide berth as he passed.
Trotting over to Purity, she had a mischievous smile on her face as she quietly said, “When ponies like him break, their screams are the holiest of sounds.”
She looked at me, putting on a more normal smile. “Shall we be off? It will be supper time soon. I dare not let it get cold before I can taste it.”
I nodded, “We… shall.” I hated trying to talk fancy. It never felt right.
Following her, we came to the storage warehouse. Inside was a well-dressed unicorn. Symbols of the Holy fleet were on a black armband. Her horn glowed, ready for us.
Finding myself back at Victoria's hideout, we were having lunch. Or supper, as Purity put it, on a balcony built on the side of the hideout. Two large umbrellas hung overhead, thus blocking the sun as Victoria, Puppet, Springbox and Utopia sat with us at the large enough table.
The view itself was unremarkable. It was a vast expanse of brown flatland, making me wonder how far it exactly was from New Appaloosa. How far could slip teleportation send a pony?
Another Holy fleet unicorn poured us all some hot tea into the nicest and cleanest teacups I had ever seen. The stallion himself looked too proper to be a sailor or slave.
Taking her cup, Purity smelled the tea before giving it a sip. Placing it down, she gave a satisfied sigh. “A fine cup of gunpowder tea. It’s just what I need to help cleanse myself from being around all those dirty heathens.”
She gave me a glance that told me to drink.
I was no tea drinker, so when the drink reached my tongue, I was unsure what to really think of the bitter drink except that it was… smoky?
Victoria also took a sip of the drink before finally addressing this get together. “I am grateful that you are willing to share with us your personal stock of tea. Last I heard, your plantation had come onto hard times, so this must be quite the gracious act.”
Purity sipped her dink again, savoring the smoky bitter drink. “It was a shock to hear that a plague passed through the island, killing most of the slaves. Finding and training new slaves to perfectly roll my tea has been an expensive affair, to say the least. If I did not have my holy duty here, I would be personally overseeing the training. If not for so many heathers to crack my whip on, I surely would have gone mad.”
I felt that she was already far past that, though I could be wrong. There was always a deeper level of crazy a pony can go.
“But you are right. This is a moment for celebration,” Purity said with a cheerful voice. She narrowed her eyes at Victoria. A grin formed on her muzzle. “For as it should now be known, you have failed to keep that adorable little mare hidden from me.”
Victoria clicks her tongue. “Fuck!”
Purity dropped all the pleasantness from her face. “Must you use such crash language around me?”
A sigh came from Victoria. “My apologies, Lady Bishop. You just masterfully caught me off guard, so much so I forgot myself. It’s such an embarrassment. I feel like throwing myself off this balcony.”
The pleasant smile returned to Purity muscle. “Please refrain from such an act until I have a proper replacement for you. Until then, mind your tongue.”
We were all silent as Purity took another sip of her tea. I felt a bit confused as to what this was all about.
I had to ask. “If it’s… ahhh, was it rude to ask, or not rude to ask? But what mare are you talking about?”
Purity again put her tea down as a mischievous smile formed on her face again. It made me feel uneasy. “If it is not rude to ask, that's what you meant to say.” She glanced over at Victoria, who looked a bit uncomfortable. “Our fellow chosen here deemed it necessary that she had located somepony quite valuable. A princess, in fact, though she doesn't look as though she is from pure stock. A shame, but a fine prize, if I do say.”
“Princess… do you mean Harp Melody?” I asked, feeling a deep sense of dread from the pit of my stomach.
The bishop nodded ever so slightly as she gestured for more tea to be poured. “A descendant of the equestrian royal family. The family who founded the holy land before it was blessed by the goddesses themselves.”
One of Purity’s personal attendants poured the tea into her finely crafted teacup. The mare then dropped a sugar cube into it. “The same family who abandoned our homeland to the windigos.” Another sugar cube was dropped in. “The ones who cast out our ancestors to have no homeland of our own.” She dropped three more sugar cubes into the tea. “The queen that turned our goddesses against us and so arrogantly placed herself as the family of the Goddesses.”
Her face twisted. Her wicked smile was filled with malice. Her voice reminded me of an unreasonable mad mare.
Bishop Purity shot the still hot and very sugared tea down her throat before putting the teacup back down again. With a sigh, the calmer smile returned. Her voice was, again, an unnervingly pleasant tone. “To make the blood of Queen Platinum my own, it would be the height of revenge.”
“A most wondrous idea, Lady Bishop,” Puppet Strings agreed in a flat, emotionless tone.
Springbox gave a little chuckle. “As long as ye keep me out o' yer games o' royals an' clergy, I’m to the sky fer whatever ye want to do, Lady Bishop.”
Victoria gave a disappointed sigh. “And here I was planning on making her your birthday surprise, Lady Bishop, but you had to go and outsmart me once again.” She looked over at me with a cold glance. “I have an agent of mine working to bring the princess over to our side, to have her join us willingly. To be brought onto the righteous path and see the errors of her bloodline.”
Purity narrowed her eyes at Victoria. “Is that so, Commodore? Then I do look forward to seeing the princess being brought into the flock, though I much rather you just bring her here now where I can save her soul through pain. Make her mine.” She looked over at her meticulously groomed son. “Utopia, my beautiful colt, how does having a princess as a bride sound?”
The stallion finally stopped brushing his mane long enough to look as though he was thinking. “If she is truly a princess… then she might fit my standards. She’d at least make a good concubine.”
He looked over at me. His mare-like features were just too perfect for me to take seriously as a stallion. “Her too, If she washed up. I’ll let her into my bed after supper.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine. Not sure why, though. He was definitely not my type, but if I was to sleep with him, it could be fun.
No, the idea of sex did not bother me. It was more how disinterested he seemed to be about it.
I’ve had my own share of ponies wanting to bed me, especially after I started dancing at the Ruffled Feather. Eyes of lust, eyes of longing. Some simply wanted a pony to talk to. I got intimate with a few myself. But Utopia had this feeling about him as though he was deciding to do a simple task. One that was neither a burden or something enjoyable. It was just that, a task.
Looking over at Victoria, she motioned with her head for me to reciprocate with the feminine stallion.
Personally, I rather say no, but I knew that Purity Spiral likely would not take kindly hearing that. “That would be an… honor, but... would another time be more appropriate?”
I felt Purity’s wing on my shoulder. “My son is a bit finicky about letting a mare touch him. The dirt of this wasteland has him not feeling his best. I dare say, what opportunity is better than now?”
I glanced over to Victoria, who glanced back at me with eyes that told me, “Just do it.”
Fucking bitch! Both of them and that feminine stallion too.
Putting on my best pleasantly fake smile, I decided it was going to be easier to just get fucked than get fucked up by the bishop. “Well, I don't have any pressing matters at the moment.”
With that, our supper turned to more idle chatter about the daily things everypony was doing. From reminding the chosen of their duties, to purging ponies who would not listen to the word of Saint Roseland. It sounded like everypony here has been busy. I, too, got to add my own purging of the Blood Moon raiders.
Food eventually came. It was a finely cooked cut of brahmin with some sort of corn soup. It was all amazingly fresh. Compared to it, all the food I have had up until now tasted like it came out of the garbage… which likely some of it had.
In Victoria's private bed-chamber, I was given a wash from Puppet, who scrubbed me extra hard before using her levitation to wash the suds off with a small amount of water before putting them into a barrel. It reminded me of when Prism would wash me when I was younger. Unlike Prism, Puppet was not gentle.
Victoria passed back and forth, her tail swishing in irritation.
“I’m guessing this is not how you want things to go,” I pointed out.
For a moment, Victoria’s eyes flared with anger at me, but she then quickly calmed down as she trotted to her booze cabinet. “No. No, it is not.”
Uncorking a bottle and emptying it into two glasses, she then tossed the bottle against the wall. “That there fuckin' bitch! I thought I 'ad 'er goddess damned blind. I knew I did. Every move I made, every word I said, there should 'ave been no way 'er prissy servants should 'ave caught word about 'arp!”
She tossed a glass over to me. It was caught in Puppet’s magic then offered to me to drink.
Victoria slammed back her own drink. It all disappeared down her throat. “Drink up. You will need it for the ride you're going to have.”
I raised an eyebrow as I took the glass and sipped the strong booze. “He can’t be that bad. I mean, I can break him like a twig. What? Did you sleep with him before?”
“Yarr, an' the fuckers got 'is kinks. Probably because 'e grew to the sky as mommies little fuck toy. Why did it 'ave to be a Purity Spiral to show the sky to the Blackwater them years ago?” Victoria lamented.
Now I shot back the booze, It burning its way down. “Anyway, I can… ya know, skip it?”
Victoria shook her head. “Not out o' fuckin' that there stallion no. I at least got a pill fer ye later. Last thin' I need be ye gettin' pregnant on me when yu still 'ave a job to do, though now a bit more fuckin' annoyin'.”
“That be?” I asked.
She took a deep breath, calming down before saying, “Not now, Star. Last thing I need you to do is say anything stupid which Purity may want to hear. We will talk about Harp after you're done getting fucked, so just try and enjoy it, if you're into that shit.”
I was starting to get really worried now, hoping it wasn't some insane raider-like shit. There were stories of how those crazy fucks got their rocks off. Something to do with spark batteries, I think.
Taking a deep breath myself, I swallowed that worry, knowing that both Victoria and Purity wanted me to be alive. “Alright. We will talk later. I just hope this does not take too long.”
Trotting out of Victoria's room, I saw one of Purity’s unicorns waiting for me, horn glowing. Well, at least it meant that nopony here will be hearing whatever happens…
I really didn’t like this now.
Feeling the slip teleportation take me, I was ready for it. Managing to land on my hooves with only a little bit of bile coming up.
I found myself in a… absurdly pink room with hearts everywhere and portraits of Utopia Vision on all the walls. Each portrait had Utopia in a different pose that made him look vulnerable, his privates exposed. One in a tight dress, another bound by pink leather, tied up, on a torture rack and even one where he looked like a pet.
One portrait made it all click all too clearly. It was a portrait of Purity sitting on a younger version of her son as though he was a piece of furniture.
“I do hope you can sing for me. The louder, the better,” Utopia said as he trotted in from another room, pushing a cart filled with leather straps, ropes, whips, and what was clearly several sex toys.
What sent the biggest chill down my spine was the outfits that were in the cart. They were looking way too cute to be for some sex dungeon.
The booze had barely helped at all for my time with Utopian Vision, and now I had sore muscles I didn’t think could be sore.
I was sitting in Victoria's penthouse back in New Appaloosa. Victoria, herself, sat across from me drinking a bottle of wine.
“Take this.” Puppet told me as she levitated several pills and a clear glass of rum. “To keep you from getting pregnant.”
I gladly took it, dowing the booze as fast as possible. “Why so much fucking pink? And those outfits?!”
“Worse is he takes photos as a memento,” Victoria added.
“Don’t remind me,” I groaned. “Now there is a photo of me as a pretty-pretty pink princess together with that ‘stallion’.”
“He had me dress up as a sexy pink pope…” Victoria grumbled.
A long sigh came from Puppet Strings. “I would think you two would complain more about the sex, not the style.”
“Ehhh.” I said shrugging. “It hurt at first, but I’ve gotten my shit kicked in harder than what he did. I mean, if it was not for the dress up and all the pink shit, I’d do it again.”
“Too true,” Victoria added. “I’m not one for the sub role, but Utopia is a really good fuck after you get used to his toys. Tried to get my husband to do some of that last time we were together, but it was not the same.”
I blushed a little, remembering the actual sex part that happened. “Ya, the stuff with the ropes and straps were actually fun, and the whip too. Just wish he looked like a real stallion, not so mare with a dick.”
Puppet gave me a sideways look of disgust.
“What?! I’ve hadn’t had sex in six years. Can’t a mare enjoy getting ravaged once and a while?” I asked the stuck up Puppet.
Victoria clapped her hooves together once, getting our attention. “As much as I’d love to keep this discussion going, it’s time we get to the meat of the issue.”
“Harp, you mean?” I checked.
She nodded as she hoofed over the bottle of wine to me, letting me take a swig before she took it back.
“If the bitch Bishop gets her hooves on her, she will be locked away into a little box where she will only bring out to show off as a prize,” Victoria said with a sigh before continuing. “That means I’ll not have access to her at all, putting me back to square one.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. If Harp were to be forcefully taken, it would be no different than if it were raiders.” As the words slipped out of my mouth, I felt a pinprick in my heart.
Victoria took another long pull of her wine. “Most regrettable, I agree. Having the princess become a simple breeding mare for that vain stallion is such a waste. Personally, I wouldn’t mind letting the pissy colt mount her every night as long as I had access to the mare.”
Another pinprick hit my heart. Her words and my thoughts were making me feel uneasy.
“But no. Purity has her eyes on the mare now, making that part of my plan even more difficult,” Victoria said in frustration.
I didn’t like how callous she was talking about my friend. It was how things were, I knew that, but something in me wished she would say that she would want to protect Harp, not give her away for her own goals. Maybe if I convinced Harp to join us, then Victoria would keep her safe as she promised. I could be put in charge of her, keep an eye out for her.
I took a deep breath, calming my mind. “This plan, if I get her to join us willingly, would you keep her safe?”
Victoria eyed me like Prism would look at me when I was being foolish.
“Sure. I could convince Purity to not drag the princess away, but she would want her pound of flesh. Likely to make sure you and Harp give her grand foals as the mare demand,” she said, sounding annoyed. “That damned hag is starting to show her age, so having an heir that is more competent than her son is her top goal right now. Other than that, likely a show of faith.”
Placing the wine bottle down and getting off the couch, Victoria looked displeased by what she had just said. “It’s all to just undermine me. From day one, she never let me have a victory without her hooves all over it. She knows I want you as my second and the princess as my bargaining chip. By letting Utopia keep you both as his personal playthings, I’m at Purity’s mercy if I want what I want.”
“And that is?” I asked.
A smile formed on Victoria's face as she trotted over and found a spot right next to me. Getting even closer, I could smell the booze on her breath.
“You see, I need to make a request of the pope, but without a proper offering, it’s not going to happen. Harp would be perfect, you see. Not only her bloodline, but her magic too. The pope would not skip on such a rare and powerful sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice?” I again asked.
Victoria let herself flop down on the couch, looking at me with cruel eyes. “She will be sacrificed to the soulfire generator, feeding the holy city of Avalon for years to come. As a reward, I get to return home and finally kill that bitch!”
I narrowed my eyes at her, anger welling up. “You're going to kill Harp!”
She laughed. I felt even angrier. “Oh come now. That’s how life is. For any pony to activate anything great, a sacrifice must be done. You will come with me too, down under the waves, and to the rotten city of miracles. To-”
“Despoines?” I said without thinking, remembering what Slowtrot had told me about his strange interaction with Victoria. Then I remembered the last part, the part about Victoria herself, and that her mother was actually… “You're going to see Thorn Roasand yourself!”
She pulled herself up, eyes wide, the magic of her evil eyes directed at me. The smell of rust, blood, and salt, the sounds of celebrations and death, the feeling of pain from fighting… there was none of that coming from her.
Now I felt a bitter cold, an acrid chemical smell filling my nose. The sound of laughter without end. Something was in my body, worming around my insides, making my blood pump harder and my head throb. I could feel it move, going up, up, to my head!
I wanted it to stop. I needed it to stop. Why won’t it stop…
It all then faded away, and I felt… good.
I don’t know why, but the room looked brighter, cleaner. Victoria and Puppet were in beautiful dresses, like truly noble mares. I then saw something odd. It was right out the window.
Trotting over, it was a field of green… seaweed? Strange fish were swimming in the water and the ponies down below, happily indeed whatever this was.
It was not real.
This was too absurd to be real.
Taking a deep breath, I slammed my hoof into my own head, causing everything to distort. Another hit and I felt dizzy, but things had returned to normal.
Taking a moment to catch my breath, I noticed that my own eyes were bleeding more than they ever had before.
“WHAT… WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” I shouted.
Victoria smiled. Her eyes were bleeding too, giving her already twisted look an extra level of madness. “Amazing. You just punched yourself out of that trance, rejected that world, just like I did.”
I growled at her. “Tell me now!”
“Oh it’s just a little mind control, not that I have any control over it. It just makes you see the world how she wants you to see it,” Victoria answered as she got up and trotted back over to her bottle of wine.
Taking a swig of the bottle, she continued. “When I first came to the surface, I was still unstable. The crew that found me became entranced. They all trotted off into the water. Had to tie the fucking captain to the wheal to make he didn’t take a dive too. Used the trapped slave for practice until another ship found us. Only Carving Doll and Puppet Strings survived in the end.”
Puppet sighed. “It took me a year for the trance to fade. Everything looked so beautiful that it hurt for reality to return.”
I again took a deep breath to calm down. “Alright. I get it, but why?”
Victoria chuckled. “Because you know things you really shouldn't. You said a word that should not come off your lips. You made me feel… nostalgic and angry.”
She slammed the bottle back, fishing it off, then pointed it at me. “That stallion, Slowtrot his name, he told you about it, didn’t he? From the first time I saw him, I knew I wanted to kill him. Such a useless stallion, maybe I’ll turn his hide into a bag.”
Another pinprick hit my heart.
“What? You don’t like that?” Victoria looked at me, a knowing smile on her face. “Are you attached to them?”
Am I?
They are good ponies. I know this.
They had also been friends.
But I was not attached to them. How could I be?
Slowtrots distress over ponies that could not be saved. It was foolish.
I felt the pipbuck on my fenlock and remembered the strange solemn look on his face. He greatly regretted killing the pony that once owned the pipbuck that was now mine. Slowtrot also threw himself into helping others, but he was useless at it. It was all too absurd, and yet, deep down, at his core, I knew he was a good pony.
Where I was anything but a good pony.
Harp was a good pony too, but where Slowtrot failed, she might actually succeed. Smart, beautiful, and had the air of a leader much like Victoria. It felt as though if she was left on her own, she could become a real hero. Do something big that nopony else could do.
All I could do was make other ponies miserable around me.
Was I attached to them… no, I am not. A bad pony like myself wouldn't be attached to them. Where they were good, I knew I was evil, so there was no way I would care.
Victoria was my true destiny. Always had been.
“No,” I said.
Victoria relaxed, tossing the empty bottle over to Puppet. “Good. Now, the stallion can wait. I want to deal with him with my own hooves. As for the princess, time is not on our side if Purity wants her. Now since you are friends, I need you to-”
“No,” I said again.
“No?” Victoria said as she raised an eyebrow at me. “Then do you have your own plan?”
“No,” I said, not having a plan and not understanding why I said it the last time.
Victoria narrowed her gaze at me. “Then why did you speak up?”
I tried to think why I said no. What I was being difficult at. Why I was not just going with the plan. It was for mom and Bridget. They would get better lives without me there. Their life will be easier. If Harp and Slowtot had to suffer…
I felt another pinch of pain in my heart.
If they had to suffer…
Would it be worth it?
For Bridget, anything…
But how would I tell this story? How would she understand? Would she forgive me?
No. No, she would not. She loves heroes, not some forgettable villain. Not evil ponies.
But that’s what I was, a violent pony who enjoys fighting. Who… loves to shed flesh and blood. I could still remember it, out of my mind and ravenous, Victoria's gift gave me the power, but also the hunger. That bastard stallion didn’t think a filly could rip his throat out with her teeth. I showed him. I ate him.
Puppet and Carving praised me. They said I reminded them of Victoria. It made me happy.
But I could never bring myself to tell Prism or Bridget how much a monster I truly was.
I didn’t belong with them... they deserve better.
“Tell me!” Victoria said impatiently, her bright green eyes still bloodshot.
I looked back at her, still unsure, but I had to give an answer.
“I… Don’t like it. Can't we just leave them be? They don’t live in the same world as us,” was my response.
Victoria looked disappointed as she sat back, legs crossing, head resting on her hoof.
“I see… A lovely thought. To think that the world would just keep ponies separated from those who would do them harm. That the violent would just stay on their own side, leaving the ones who would just sing and dance to do as they wish.” Victoria shifted her body up straight, stretching out a hoof so as to receive something.
As though on cue, Puppet Strings levitated Victories 50cal gun to her.
Balancing the gun on her hoof, and spinning it, Victoria smiled at me, teeth bearing. “Ever wondered why guns exist in this world?”
I didn’t understand why she was asking, so I just guessed. “to kill things?”
Victoria nodded. “To kill things, but not just anything; we use them to kill each other. The gun is the true child of war. A thing of cold steel firing hot led with an explosion contained in a brass cylinder. Guns exist because war exists. War exists because ponies don’t just stay on their own side.”
She racked the gun, spitting out a large bullet. “War exists because, as long as there are at least two ponies, one will want to kill the other.”
She racked the gun again, sending another bullet out. “The one who wishes to kill will use their hooves, so the pony that is attacked picks up a rock to defend themselves.”
Another rack of the gun. Another bullet came out. “So to counter the rock a club is made, to counter the club a spear.”
A fourth bullet came out as she racked it again. “The spear is replaced by a sword, and the sword is replaced by a bow.”
I watched a fifth bullet hit the floor. “From a bow to powerful magics to crafted talismans.”
A sixth bullet flew out of the gun. “Talismans to a gun to a bomb”
The seventh bullet tumbled down. “Then Mega Spells and Baelfire Bombs.”
Victoria pointed her gun at me. “You think that a pony can just be left alone, but you're wrong. Harp is merely a tool to be used, and Slowtrot is a pony who should have died over two hundred years ago. In this world, no pony leaves others well enough alone, otherwize this wasteland would have died long ago and the equestria of old would have been reborn.”
She racked the gun an eighth time. The bullet flying up and getting caught in Puppets magic. “What is that old saying… War never changes? Ya, that’s it. War is simply one group of ponies not leaving another group alone, and that other group choosing to fight back. Justified or not, it’s how things are. You either are a taker, or you get taken from.”
Tossing the gun over to Puppet, she again relaxed. Puppet ejected the magazine and began reloading it.
Victoria looked me in the eyes, a smile on her face. “Hasn’t that been how your life worked out so far? Working at that bar selling yourself, letting ponies trample all over you because some other pony has forbidden you from fighting back? A life not your own filled with letches who only know how to get others to fight for them?”
She stretched out her hoof to me. “Just let it go and join me. Some sacrifices must be made, but you will be free to be who you truly are.”
I looked at her hoof. It was like the sweetest liquor being offered to me. A lifeline to get me out of the water, to bring me back.
I wanted to take it, I needed to… yet I wasn’t.
The word then came out of my mouth again. “No.”
Shaking my head and taking a deep breath to clear my mind, I finally started to understand.
I was a bad pony, a cannibal, a monster. I accept that about myself. I always had, but that didn’t mean I wanted to willingly act like one.
No. I wanted to be a good pony. I wanted… I wanted.. To be like the hero Bridget thinks I am.
“Sorry Victoria… I can’t go with you,” I apologized.
Looking her in the eyes, I could feel the anger radiating from her. The magic of her evil eyes attacked me.
“Ya,” I said, “life is shit right now. I got the sheriff breathing down my neck, and even if I make a lot of caps during the festival, the mayor will likely take them all through taxes. I’m not some kickass cool pony who saves the day. I’m just a stripper who is also a bouncer. All my friends are just as disliked by the town as I am. I also worry about my daughter’s future all the time.”
I smiled at Victoria. Her evil eyes were not working on me. “But it’s my life and mine alone. With you, I may be free to be my true self, but what leash will I be put around my neck in return? Become that feminine stallion's mistress and pop out a few foals I’ll likely never be allowed to love. Turn a blind eye to every evil, then have to act like I’m enjoying it. Live with the knowledge that if my daughter ever finds out, she will come to hate me with all her heart.”
Breaking eye contact, I shook my head. “No. I may be free to be myself, but I’ll not be free to be what I want to be. So I think I’ll just take my chances with the wasteland. If somepony can't leave me, my family, or my friends alone… Then I’ll just have to put them six hooves under!”
Victoria sighed. “I see, but I’ll warn you, freedom like that comes at a cost, as all things do. Now wash up before you leave. Get that stink of a stallion off you.”
As I turned to trot off to the washroom, I heard a pop. I looked over to see Puppet Strings sanding alone, scowling at me before teleporting away herself.
The room was now silent, cold, and filled me with unease.
I didn’t know if I made the right choice. Maybe it was the worst choice… But whatever may come, I knew it was my choice.
Trotting to the washroom, I gave a silent prayer to the Goddesses. “May the price I pay be worth it.”
"I asked Slowtrot about how things ended up the way things are now. What led up to the wasteland? He said that everypony could not stop, simple as that. Nopony wanted to listen, nor did they want to talk. Those that suffered from the stress of the long war were seen as ill, or working with the enemy. So, if you wanted the war to be over, you just stayed quiet and out of the way.
A one minded goal to destruction. Seeing what their world had become, I can believe it." ~ Azure Dice
“So ya really fought with Live and Dead through that fucking raiders nest, Slowtrot? Ya don’t look like pony who can do that!” The Desperado mare, Transmission, again pointed out as she drank her beer.
I had somehow found myself in the Ruffled Feathers with four Desperado mares. Live and Dead Axle looked annoyed as their friends chatted away.
“As I said, even I’m surprised I’m alive. Never been shot at so much before,” I again explained.
“Clearly with how soft ya are,” Transmission said with a laugh. She was a rather rough-looking unicorn mare with a gray coat and black mane. She also had several scars over her body.
“So what was the second most time ya got shot at then, softy?” The second mare asked. Suspension was another earth pony mare with a durty brown curly mane and tan coat. She, too, had several scars, but they looked more like burn marks that peppered one side of her body.
Both mares were clearly older than the twins, maybe in their early to mid-twenties, if I had to guess. It was hard to tell with mares sometimes. Also wise to never ask.
“Last time I got shot at nearly that much?” I thought about it for a moment, and remembered when I had gone with the Stable-Tec security team down to the bottom lab, Labs D. where Thorns troops were waiting. On top of that, the whole security team was wiped out by a griffin mercenary in a kind of power armor.
To say I got lucky is beyond an understatement. If the griffin’s helmet had not already been cracked open from another fight, I would be dead. But, thanks to Chekhov's Promise, I was able to get the gun to fire into the small hole in the helmet. Now that I think about it, he had nearly killed me before at the stable door where the navy and Stable-Tec security were in a full-on gunfight.
Sighing, I began recounting the fight I had far in the past. “Got lucky with a griffin, twice. It’s hard to remember everything, but the navy had a griffin mercenary decked out in power armor and a gatling gun tearing everything up. Thanks to my pipbuck I was able to do anything at the time.” I lifted the pipbuck to show them it. “Used a battle rifle to crack the griffin’s helmet to get him to stop shooting at a friend of mine.”
As I spoke, I remembered. Underbrush had her back leg shot off by the minigun. I was desperate to save her life before the griffon could finish her off. I owed her my life and I was not going to let her just die.
“I think I was able to get him to fall back, but got shot myself before he vanished.” That part was all a blur.
“Then we fought again soon after. The ponies I was with were not so lucky that time. I think he wanted to kill me up close. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, but I was able to use my gun in between the cracks of his helmet to kill him.”
It was the second creature I had killed in my life, but was unfortunately not the last.
Transmission leaned in a bit too close to me. “What gun did you use?”
Sipping on my beer, I figured that it couldn't hurt. I pulled out Chekhov's Promise from my bag. The gun was kept unloaded, so I didn’t worry about misfiring the thing.
“Oh, doesn’t Elder Papa have a gun like that?” Suspension said, also getting a bit too close.
Transmission nodded as she picked up my gun. “Ya. His old army pistol from the great war. Elder Papa uses it to show the youngers how to properly clean and oil their guns.”
A chuckle came from Dead Axle. “Really now, you expect us to believe ya fought and killed a pussy cock? I heard softies doing it by accident, but that’s only a fluke.”
I shrugged. “Can't argue with that. He was the biggest griffon I had ever seen, though I’d die right there. Lucky I had advanced S.A.T.S. It let me target the hole in the griffin’s helmet. That’s all.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Don’t they already do that shit?”
“Well, I think a pipbuck only does more general targeting. Nothing super precise or complex. My pipbuck also lets me choose body movements, so I can doge before shooting, or simply dash off real fast.” I explained.
Dead shrugged herself. “So the damn pussy cat got too close and ate lead all because of a targeting spell. Eh, I can see that. They are too damn arrogant for their own good.”
Transmission passed my gun over to Suspension for her to look at before giving me a nudge. “So a fight with a griffin and a raiders nest? You're not as soft as you appear now, aren't you? Stick with us and you might get a nice scar or two.” She looked over at Live Axle, who was quietly drinking her mixed drink. “Maybe ya should pop her cherry while at it.”
Live merely spit up her drink, then glared at Transmission. “Shut ya cuntflaps Missy, and stop telling every stallion I meet ta fuck me!”
Transmission laughed. “Ya are already nineteen years old, almost twenty. Ya going to need to cross that line sometime, Livy.” She nudged me again. “Say Slowtrot, what do ya think? She is a fine virgin mare.”
“Ahh…” My face flushed a little, unsure what to do or say.
Dead Axle huffed loudly. “Maybe ya should fix your own relationship before trying to set my sister into one. Didn’t your stallion leave you for another stallion?”
Transmission glared back at Dead and slammed back her drink. “Fuck you, bitch! I’ll rope myself a new stallion in no time, so fuck off with that shit!”
A giggle came from Suspension. “Well, I could always-”
“I’m not going to fuck you, Susy!” Live quickly cut the mare off.
Suspension looked a bit dejected before bouncing back. She jabbed me in the arm. “How cruel! None of the mares want me when I want them. Such a lucky stallion to get our Livy’s attention.”
“I’m not into him like that!” Live shouted.
Pulling me in close, Suspension was practically hanging off me. “I’m not into stallions, but I don’t mind getting roughed around by one. Care to show me how not soft you are?”
Dead Axle slapped Suspension on the side of the head. “No you don’t, you freak.” Suspension smiled at Dead, causing Dead to shiver a little. “Fucking shit, Susy. Can you put a damn lid on your kinks for at least a day?”
Suspension let me go then hung onto Dead, nuzzling her. “Oh, but then I wouldn't be me. Say, maybe you should join me tonight? I’ll bring another friend.”
Pushing her off, Dead looked a bit disgusted. “Last thing I need is to have a threesome with my dipshit brother, so can it!”
I looked over at Transmission, a bit confused. “Is she right in the head?”
“Suspension? Naw. She was born that way,” Transmission explained. “Her father thought it was a brilliant idea to fuck a raider mare. Turns out the mare was a raider for a good reason. Full-on batshit crazy. Her daughter got some of that crazy too.”
“That’s… sad,” I said, feeling a bit sorry for the mare.
Transmission laughed. “Don’t be. Susy is just fine the way she is, though for a mare who says she’s only into mares, she fucks stallions more than most of the herd. That masochist is already on the third foal and driving her marefriend up the wall.”
Now I cocked an eyebrow. “How does that even work?”
Transmission shrugged. “Fuck me if I know. I think the two just enjoy hurting each other. Better these two at each other's necks than ruining other ponies’ lives, I say.”
“So that means you're not all crazy then?” I asked jokingly.
A smile formed on Transmission’s face. “Hard to tell. Ya got to be a little crazy to live in the wasteland. Life’s hard and we don’t got the luxury to be all safe and soft. Sometimes crazy is how we survive. Like the old saying goes; No risk, no reward.”
She finished off her beer. “Talking about crazy, whatcha think about Live Axle there? She’d make a fine wife if ya crazy enough to tame the bitch.”
Live quickly responded by shoving her hoof in Transmission’s face. Her own face was flushed. “Stop asking that, damnit! You’re not a fucking matchmaker!”
“Oh come on, Livy. Just pick a stallion and go for it. At least your sister got the balls to go for it,” Transmission said with a smile.
Live backed off, pouting. “I’m perfectly happy as I am, anyways. I don’t need to get laid to be an adult.”
“I agree!” Star Charter spoke up as she placed a few drinks on the table. “It’s only immature mares that think sex makes them grown up.”
Live pointed at Star. “Ya. She gets it.”
Star grinned widely. “It’s becoming a mother that makes you all grown up!”
The color from Live's face drained as Star got close to her. She placed a hoof under the younger mare’s chin. “Want me to share all the details to help get you started?”
Another laugh came from Suspension as she leaned over me, “That mare gets it. I got three foals, making me three times the mare as all of you!”
Rolling her eyes, Transmission pushed the overly excitable nympho back to her seat. “She said being a mother, not a broodmare. Anyways, I got my own foal, so don’t pull that crap with me.”
She looked back at me. “So, whatcha answer?”
Agin put on the spot, and now without the other mares pushing me around, all I could think of was the other mare I had met in my life. So many were aggressive or withdrawn. The war had taken its toll on everypony at the time. The mares that seemed really nice I only met for a fleeting moment, or had interests elsewhere. Live Axle was no different. She was clearly aggressive because she needed to be, not because she wanted to be, I guess.
“She’s… A mare that doesn't need taming. Just a partner who can let her be herself. I’m sure she will find a nice strong stallion who can do that for her. Somepony better than me. I’m just a nobody who is over his head. I mean, I should have died over two hundred years ago.”
Transmission frowned, giving me a jab on the shoulder. “When a mare asks if you’d fuck her, or her friend, ya say yes, not some sappy shit. Ain't that right, Livy?”
Live Axle had shot down another mixed drink as Star cheered her on. Her face was now even redder.
*Hic* “what?” Live replied, her gaze now unfocused. “Ya, big strong stallion to take me away.” *Hic* “To a nice house with a white picket fence and a dog.” *Hic*
Dead Axle totted over and sniffed Lives drink before cringing. “Fuck ya gave her? This shit burns my nose.”
Star sniffed it too then also cringed. “Ohhh… sorry. Must have been a mixup. This clearly has Lunashine in it. Stuffs hundred fifty proof and flammable.”
“MORE!” Live demanded.
“No, it’s time ya go home, sis,” Dead countered before looking at Transmission. “And you take her home with Suspension. I expect you won’t do any stupid shit with my sis!”
A sigh came from Transmission. “Ya, ya. It was starting to get boring anyways.” She glanced at me. “This pussy isn’t any fun. No real backbone.”
We watched as Transmission started to lead Live Axle out of the tavern with Suspension following. Star Charter made sure the more wild mare of the three didn’t cause any trouble on their way out. Live attempted to struggle, but she was too uncoordinated to really do much to resist getting pushed around by the bigger mare.
Dead Axle sat next to me, taking a beer and slamming it back. Drinking it all in one go. “Sorry about that. We Desperados respect bluntness over more namby pandy ways to talk. Too many ponies who spoke that way had done us wrong in our history. Pops said that's why we fought Redeye over joining him. The fucker talked too smoothly to be trusted.”
“I guess you were proven right from what I know about this Redeye,” I commented.
She nodded. “Redeye was a bad bet in the end. A lot of merc clans suffered from working with him. It’s why most of them now work for the NCR, as no pony is willing to deal with ‘em because of their time with Redeye. The Desperados, on the other hoof, despite so many ponies calling us raiders, they can’t say we ever worked with that asshole. It’s why the NCR tolerates us. Redeye would have expanded his slaver network much faster if he had access to route 50.”
I tried to sip on my beer, but I found it empty, so I grabbed another. My thoughts moved to the Equestria of old and how every atrocity the Zebras caused only solidified the hate. “Remember Littlehorn?” I said as I slammed down the beer as well.
Dead raised an eyebrow. “Littlehorn? Ya talking about the Zebra attack, right? The one that caused Luna to take the throne?”
I nodded. “I was only a teenager when it happened, but I remembered that it dashed any attempts at peace talks.” Everypony was so shocked and angered by it. A school full of foals were gassed by the Zebras in a place so far from the fighting. Then Celestia stepped down and everypony only got even angrier. “I think the mares who would become the ministry mares were attempting to negotiate a ceasefire with the Zebras. I mean, the war had gone on for ten years at the time. Ponies were getting sick of all the fighting.”
It was all a blur. Luna taking over, the Ministries being formed, a change in flags, and everypony ranting nonstop about how the Zebras must pay. “The war was so close to ending from how I remember. So close. But the attack on Littlehorn proved all the Zebra haters right, or so how they thought. Anypony who still wanted the fighting to stop just got shouted down. Traitors and Zebraphile were common words used back then then.”
Looking at Dead Axle in the eyes, I felt the weight of hatred bear down on me from those ten years of the war. What it created was the world she grew up in. “Took me years to understand that, once vindicated, there was no way to change a ponies mind… I just gave up trying.”
“Let me guess, ya got your ass kicked over it?” she said chuckling, but somehow it felt… understanding.
I shook my head. “Worse, I was alienated. I wasn't even arguing against them, just saying that maybe the fighting should stop so that both sides can find out what actually happened. Somepony needed to pay, but that didn’t mean we should just start killing as many Zebras as possible.”
Dead Axle sat back, letting her body relax. “Once vindicated… ya I can see that. Not that it does my clan any good. They're just going to keep hitting their head against the wall until it breaks because they know it’s a way to get through. All while they ignore the door next to them, all because the way they do it eventually works.”
She tipped her beer bottle at me while smirking. “Ya know the whole reason those two idiots want Live to get laid is all because they got laid around that same time, likely younger. They think it toughens up a mare. Makes ‘em grow up and stop acting like a filly.”
I took my beer bottle and tapped it with hers. “But sex is just a fun thing you can do with another pony. You're still the same pony you were before.”
Dead smiled. “Damn straight. After my first time, I was like; oh that was kind of fun. Then I went on with my life. Those idiots then started treating me differently, like I had gone through some great change. Become some mare that was better than I was before, but I was still the same idiot I had always been.
“How about you? Was it the same?”
“It was… a thing,” I responded. The memory of it was now distant and a bit hazy. “It was fun while it lasted, but once the mare moved on, I realized I had been obsessing over something that was not that important. Probably because the mare didn’t care about me. I think I actually just wanted a real relationship. Not to say I’m not interested in it, I just don't mind going without.”
She playfully dug her elbow into my side. “I get that! Pissed me off when the stallion I fucked just moved onto another mare. I was just a fun thing for him to do, but in the end, it was the same to me. Still cried and shit, but I got over it.”
Dead sipped on her beer again, now looking a bit more solemn. “My sis is not as smart as I am, so she’s going to buy into all that bramanshit. If she gets drunk and knocked up, it will tear her apart inside. If she is convinced to fuck a stallion, it will break her heart when that stallion moves on. That's just who she is… So thanks for actually thinking about her feelings and shit.”
I smiled at Dead and bumped her shoulder with my own. “She is lucky to have an older sister that loves her so much. Maybe you should stop teasing her so much.”
A chuckle came out of Dead Axle, spitting up a bit of her beer. “Fuck that. If I didn’t keep her on her hooftips, she’ll start letting her guard down. Like ya said, she needs a big strong stallion to help let her be herself. Ya know, to beat all the other idiots away.”
With a flop, Star Charter joined us again, a big smile on her face. “I’m good at keeping idiots away.”
Dead cuddled up to Star. “I bet you are, but to be rude, ya got too much baggage ya aunty.”
Star narrowed her glance at Dead, clearly annoyed. “I’m not fucking old enough for you to call me Aunty. You're not even cute enough to get away with it.”
Laughing, Dead got off Star and took another sip of her beer. “Hay, while we’re already on the topic, what was your first time having sex like?”
“My first time? So that's what you two are on about,” Star said as she flipped back her mane and puffed up her chest. “Well, Skipper and I had managed to get some cheap booze from a ghoul we knew and got drunk. We eventually thought it would be fun to do and fucked. It was sloppy and clumsy, if I remember right. Was drunk at the time so it’s all blurry, to tell the truth.”
“And recently, a mare like you has got to get around?” Dead asked bluntly.
Star huffed at the gangger. “One, I’m not that kind of mare. There's no birth control around here unless you’re willing to spend a lot of caps. One filly is enough for me. I don’t need anymore.”
“And two?” Dead added, poking Star as a reminder.
Star paused for a moment, clearly thinking about something before shrugging. “Well, I did get into this whole… thing, earlier today. A bit fucked up with how I didn’t have a choice and the stallion has odd tastes. All complicated, so don’t ask. The sex was great, if a bit wired, though I’m a bit worried that I might be a masochist with how much I enjoyed it.”
Both Dead and I looked at each other before saying to Star. “WHAT?!”
She blushed a little as she leaned back and avoided eye contact with us. “Well you know, when you have a small amount of noble blood in ya, it comes with some responsibilities. Some other bigshot wants me to fuck her son and give her a grandfoal. Not that I’m going to do it, but you know how powerful some ponies can be.”
Again Dead and I glanced at each other before saying to Star simultaneously. “No, we don’t know.”
A long sigh came from Star as she let herself flop onto the table, looking a bit dejected. “Okay. You don’t know and I don’t feel like explaining it all right now. I much rather think about the fun parts, like the rope and whip, and how big his-”
“Ya, I don’t want to know either!” I quickly cut her off.
Star smiled. “Oh come on! It’s a fun little side story.”
“No! But we can talk about that other stuff later, okay?” I offered, on the edge of pleading.
Star pushed herself up and got out of the booth, eyeing the empty beer bottles. “Later it is, then. You two want more beer to drink?”
“Fuck ya!” Dead said excitedly.
I shrugged. “One more can't hurt. I should have enough caps for that.”
Emptying out my cap bag, I just about had enough for two more drinks, leaving me with a small hoof full.
With a wink, Star trotted off as we finished off our own drinks.
“She’s got some fucked up shit going on,” Dead said as she put her empty bottle down.
“Everypony seems to have some fucked up shit going on,” I mentioned as I put my empty beer bottle down.
Cracking my neck and taking a deep breath to relax, I couldn't help but then think about my problem with Qucktrot Fragment. “At least her problems probably don't make her sound like a lunatic.”
“Ya mean that whole time thing and the former boss lady being a ghost?” Dead asked.
I nodded. “I’m half expecting to just wake up in the Stable-Tec infirmary to find out this was all a dream.”
“So, how's the whole breakup with Blue Skies going?” I asked Dead.
She rolled her eyes. “Acting like assholes. Can’t leave the area or make a new contract until after that fucking festival. It’s something about keeping us from fucking around, I think. All Braminshit, I say, but Elder Papa has agreed to the deal, so we’re going to sit around till then.”
“A non compete clause, I think it’s called. But why force you to stay? That’s odd.” I pondered. “Maybe I should talk with Fragment?”
Dead cocked an eyebrow “About what?”
“A few things actually. Though I’m sure I’m not going to like the answers,” I guessed.
Star trotted by, dropping off two beers for us and winked. “I’d love to sit and chat, but I’m going on stage soon.”
We watched as she trotted her way to the backstage.
Taking my beer, I then sighed. “I’m not sure I want to see Star straddle a pole again… it’s a bit weird for me.”
“Ya. Last time I saw her on stage, I tried to get up there. She made a fool of me,” Dead added.
“Drink on the go?” I offered.
“Let’s,” she agreed.
Putting Chekhov's Promise back into my bag, we stumbled a little as we got out of our booth, taking the beers with us a we trotted out.
Despite how hot it had been, the night air of New Appaloosa was nice and cool. The breeze gently flowing through our manes.
“So, other than that war thing, what's the Desperados plan for the future? I mean, it sounds like things aren’t going well for you all right now.” I asked curiously.
Dead groaned, then took the bottle into her mouth and tilted her head back, guzzling the beer down. Tossing the empty bottle aside, she kicked the dirt. “Fucking same shit they always do! Everyponies been playing the empire game lately, like whenever we get a runner to stop by, they tell us some new group has popped up and calling themselves this, that, or the other. New territorial lines are being made, and fighters are all getting organized. I even got to go to an NCR town once. Those troopers got new guns and armor. They even get real combat training.”
She spat on the ground. “The NCR is just fucking with us. They can knock us over whenever they want. They’re just building themselves up first by getting rid of their other easier problems while we're still keeping ourselves scattered, so certain we will survive whatever comes for us.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “So you're saying that the Desperados needs to start acting more like the NCR?”
Grabbing my beer, she forced it into my mouth and made me drink it all, causing some of it to shoot out my nose. “Fuck no!”
She let me go, the mostly empty bottle to fall to the ground. “The NCR is acting like old Equestria. I’m just thinking we should too, but not in the same way as the NCR… I just don’t know how.”
Coughing up some of the beer and wheezing, I trotted in front of Dead Axle. It taking a moment before I could properly speak. “Well I’ll say acting like Old Equestria is a mistake. Trust me, I was there. They were so sure that they were right that they never thought about us normal ponies who just wanted the peaceful Equestria back. You should just tell your elder that. It can't hurt asking.”
“Right. Like they ever listen to me,” Dead scoffed.
“Have you ever tried?” I pushed.
She looked away, avoiding eye contact, much like Star had earlier. “Well... no,” she eventually admitted.
Totting around to be right next to her, I gave her a little bump. “Then do it. You’re a smart mare. Smarter than me, at least. I’m sure you can at least explain why the Desperados need to change.”
She bumped me back. “Maybe, but I got a shit ton of rituals and braminshit to get through before an elder would hear me out.”
A mischievous smile formed on her face. “Ya know, if you keep talking me up like that, I might start thinking you're flirting with me.”
I smiled back. The alcohol made me feel a bit fuzzy in a good way. “Maybe I am. You're not a bad looking mare despite being rough around the edges.”
Dead chuckled as she trotted ahead of me, stopping to wiggle her flank. “Does this look rough around the edges to you?”
“Not at all.” I gained a silly idea. “But it looks like you're asking for a quickie in the back alley again.”
She froze, looking a bit taken aback, but then narrowed her eyes at me. “What if I am? Gunna chicken out again?” Dead emphasized her dare with a shake of her hip.
Not wanting to get buffed again, I decided to tease her back.
Trotting up to her, I slapped Dead’s flank. She became stiff from the hit. “It’s just you and me, so why not?”
I laughed.
“Well… alright…” Dead said timidly.
I froze.
I looked at her, her face flushed as she gave me a shy look.
“What?” was all I could say.
Grabbing me by the collar, Dead Axle pulled me into a kiss.
After a moment she broke it off and began pulling me to a nearby ally. “We’re just doing this once, so don’t get a big head about it.”
"Continuing the discussion of how things got to how they are now, Slowtrot explained how the ministries tried to help keep everypony calm and how that made things worse
Mainly the Ministry of Peace, Image and Moral were the biggest offenders, from how Slowtrot explained. If a pony was feeling stressed, depressed, or just a bit unhappy, the M.o.P. would regularly issue out pills to help make a pony feel better and all for free. The M.o.I. was constantly changing out books, posters and any other information for the sake of the war. It mostly left Slowtreot confused on what actually happened even a year back. As for the M.o.M. they were around every corner to remind ponies to be happy. They even visited ponies to make sure they were actually happy, or that pony would have to be taken to get personalized help.
Just imagining it, when that war ended, it must have been utter chaos. A whole nation of drug-addicted ponies, who have a confused idea of their history, were likely considerably paranoid and repressed. The raiders every pony feared, they weren't born, they were forged." ~ Azure Dice
My mouth was dry and I had a headache. Two clear signs that I had a bit too much to drink last night. Fortunately, it looked like I made it back to the small shack that I was renting out just outside the gunrunners compound.
What sounded like a saw blade next to my ear caught me off guard. I looked over my shoulder to see Dead Axle on her back, drooling and snoring with a pleased expression on her face.
“Right. That happened,” I said to myself as I got up.
The small room gave me little space to move around. Almost everything I touched made some kind of noise. Despite that, Dead didn’t wake. She just kept on snoring with a dumb grin on her face.
I checked my things to make sure nopony stole anything. This is something everypony reminded me to watch out for. I normally kept my things with the Gunrunners so I was a bit worried, but fortunately everything was still here.
I picked up Chekhov's Promise. The gun still weighed heavy in my hooves, even when empty. I even checked, pulling back the slide to see if any bullet came out.
Nothing.
With a sigh, I let the slide go, making a clunk noise as the slide returned to its normal position.
Dead stopped snoring and jolted up, which startled me.
“Oh fuck! We didn’t, did we?” she asked, sounding worried.
“We could just pretend we didn’t,” I answered sheepishly.
A long groan came from Dead Axle before she slapped her face and got up onto all four hooves.
“I’m sure I can make an excuse, but it’s not like nopony will care. I just got to be careful when collecting tha Silphium.”
“Silphium?” I asked.
She trotted up to me, collecting her clan vest. “It’s one of the only plants we bother cultivating, though it’s more that we just randomly plant it all over the place. It makes great seasoning and smells good, but we mainly use it to keep ourselves from getting pregnant.”
My mind did a loop as I realized that we hadn't said protection… wait, is there any protection out in the wasteland?
“Well thank Celestia for that,” I said with an exacerbated sigh.
She bumped me. “Oh, afraid of having a little you running sound? I thought you softies liked having the little fuckers.”
I bumped her back. “Don’t get me wrong now. I’d like to have a family of my own, but there's just too much going on right now to do that. Anyways, we barely know each other. You really want to get pregnant after that drunken affair?”
Dead made a gagging motion before chuckling. “Ya… no. The mom thing is going to be Live’s thing, not mine. I would rather be the badass aunty who gives the foal all the sweets before sending the bastard home.”
“You would make a terrifying aunt,” I told her.
We laughed.
Putting my jacket back on, I still had to ask. “So, what does that make us?”
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know. We ain't lovers. That was just a one-night thing, so don’t get a big head about it. Okay?”
“Alright. I was just making sure, that's all. As you know, I’m not the best at reading mares,” I confessed, feeling a bit relieved, but also disappointed.
“I can see that,” Dead said as she turned around and then bumped her flank with mine. “But, I wouldn't mind saying we're friends.”
She gave me a wink and a wiggle of her flank. “But before I go swipe that plant, maybe we can have one more go. Ya know. Help a friend scratch an itch.”
Thinking about it for a short moment, I figured why not. She was asking, after all.
As we entered the Gunrunner compounded, I was now questioning if I had made a smart idea since Dead Axle still had a dumb smile on her face.
At the reception desk was the old balding griffin Hardballer who was cleaning a very stylish looking gun…
“Isn't that a Griffinstone Typewriter!?” I asked in surprise. The thing looking right out of an old movie, from the boxy frame, wooden buttstock, wooden grip, angled wooden foregrip, and topping it off was the iconic large drum magazine.
I saw a small smile form at the edge of Hardballer’s beak. “You are correct. The GM .45 Submachine Gun, officially named the Griffinstone Typewriter because my ancestors wanted every creature to know who made this work of art.”
He did a little pose with the gun, holding it upwards with a talon on each grip. If he had a fedora, he would have looked right out of an old silver screen Shadow Spade movie.
Curiously, I wanted to know how old that gun was. “So is that from the war? I remember that they were used when Celestia was in charge.”
Hardballer shook his head. “No. I made this one back before Redeye’s time. My grandpappy had a real one from the war and gave it to my brother before he passed. Now it’s kept just as a relic for all of us to look at but never touch.”
He patted his SMG. “But this baby, I make sure to feed her and take her for walks every now and then. Isn't that right “Gabby?”
Dead Axle snorted. “You named your gun Gabby?”
Pulling back the charging handle of the “Gabby”, it made a heavy clunk, making the two of us flinch.
“Gabby was the griffin responsible for a lot of the advancements that Griffinstone Mechanics made in arms development. She was also responsible for the development of the GAR, the Gabby Automatic Rifle which helped counter the zebra gatling guns.” Hardballer lowered his SMG “This model I made is actually based on her own version of the Griffinstone Typewriter. She simplified the gun to an ingenious degree. Making it blowback operated, using an aluminum frame, and a few were made to shoot the more commonly used 10mm round. I’ve made a few of the 10mm ones with pony hooves in mind as the ammunition is still cheaper to spray and pray with.”
“Right. Gabby it is,” Dead accepted with a nod.
The name finally rang a bell. “Oh! You're talking about the ambassador for Griffionstone, Gabriella. Right.? I heard she was involved with almost everything going on in Griffinstone during the war. It was almost like she was good at everything.”
Hardballer put his Gabby down and leaned back in his seat. “Hard to tell with how many holes there are in the historical records. She’s more of a folk hero for Griffinstone than anything, though strangely too cheerful and giving in most of those tales. Still, it fills me with pride to know that she is our folk hero and always inspiring me to do my best when I was still young.”
I smirked. “Imagine you being young. It’s hard to believe.”
“Ya ya. Even my bones don’t remember being young anymore,” Hardballer said as he waved me off dismissively. “So you're here to do some work?”
“Ya, but I also want to check and see if Star is here. She said she wanted to tell us something last night,” I informed the old griffin.
“In the garage. You just missed her and Harp,” He told me before his eyes glanced at Dead Axle. “You can go too. it seems whoever sold you those guns didn’t know they had something good among the junk.”
Predictably, Longslide was in the garage working on the Smuggler. He looked like he was attaching a strange looking magical beam weapon to the gunner nest. Star and Harp were here too, along with Bridget and two of Longslide's kids.
Trotting over, I asked. “What is he putting on the Smuggler?”
Harp glanced over at me before answering. “A prototype gatling beam gun. Turns out the Gunrunners has an old blueprint for a gun called a beam sweeper. It uses rotating-beam talismans to consistently fire without overtaxing the talismans. Javelin figured if they used the talismans from the three enclave beam guns they had and placed them into a rotating system, along with a focus cristal, then they would have a reliable beam gun for the Smuggler.”
“Does it work?” Dead asked.
“Well, in yesterday's testing, it did, though we had to keep the talisman rotation down so that we can fire it at a higher power without burning out a talisman. It’s no beam minigun, but as the Smugglers turret, it should work.” Harp explained.
I heard a loud whine sound as Longslide aimed the beam turret and fired it at a makeshift turret. I don’t know what Harp was getting at when she said they turned the rotation down, but it seemed that it fired well fast enough to make me not want to be shot at by it.
After a moment, the firing stopped along with the whining noise the gun made. Jumping off the Smuggler, Longslide landed near us, looking as happy as the cat that caught the canary. “The thing just needs a proper gun platform and some insulation for the wires, but overall, I say the thing is good as a proper gun.”
“That's so cool! Dad, can I fire it next!” Longslisd’s son excitedly cheered as he jumped over to the Smuggler.
“After I finished the gun's body,” he said before turning to Harp. “I got to say, with your help, I’ve managed to possibly take years off of development for this. Once you have those new Talismans done, I’ll be able to try and make that beam shotgun.”
Now I cocked an eyebrow at that. “A beam what now?”
“Star got some smoky quartz gemstones the other night. I’ve been turning them into alright beam talismans. Nothing like the ones from the old beam guns, but good enough for short-range scatter fire,” Harp explained.
“I soo what one!” Dead exclaimed excitedly.
Seeing the beam gun in action was actually exciting. During the war, they were rarely seen outside advanced robots and pegasus troops. Several civilian beam guns were sold out on the market, but to say they were expensive was an understatement.
I soon remembered why I was here. “Oh, Star, you said you wanted to tell me something last night?”
Star's ears perked up, but she didn’t look all that happy about it.
“Right, that…” She said. She looked a bit dejected.
Harp quickly caught on. “What? Did something bad happen?Does it have something to do with that odd mare yesterday?”
“Well, kind of ya.” Star nervously scratched her leg as she looked over to Bridget. She saw that her daughter was busy playing on the Smuggler with her cousins.
Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly before telling us what she wanted to say. “I decided to not go with Victoria. It’s the better option for me, as I would be able to provide for Bridget without holding her back, but it didn’t feel right. Maybe it was how the Bishop wanted to use me and Harp as a tool, or how Victoria wanted to sacrifice Harp and attack Slowtrot. I just couldn't bring myself to tell Victoria yes.”
Harp raised her hoof. “Wait. Who is this Bishop? And… can you be more clear?”
Star nodded. “Alright, a bit more detail. I can do that.”
It wasn't a long story, and Star managed to tell us enough that we understood, except she avoided the one part we didn’t want to hear. What caught my attention was Victoria's plan on going to rapture and meet Thorn. As it seemed, the only way to get to Thorn was through this Pope, who lived on Avalon, a city floating in the Luna Sea.
I checked my pipbuck map. I saw the marker left for me by the Lutesses. It was out in the ocean.
Harp looked a bit worried, placing a hoof on Star’s shoulder. “Aren't you worried? There's no way Victoria, or that bishop, won’t do something.”
Star just smiled. “I’m more worried about you, little miss popular. Whatever comes for me, I can deal with it.”
She turned to Longslide who looked like he was having a hard time understanding any of what she had said. One of his talons was covering his face, almost expecting the question. “Speaking of shit coming my way, could you tweak my gun? It started having trouble shooting near the last bullets.”
Longslide sighed as he took his talon off his face, now looking annoyed. “That's because the rusted gun is a garbage gun. The thing is made to be belt fed for crying out loud! You’d might as well use a pipe SMG. At least those things are meant to be cheap.”
“Maybe Hardballer can lend her one of his Griffinstone Typewriters. He did say he made a few 10mm ones for ponies to use,” I suggested.
A mocking laugh came from Longslide. “Not going to happen. Those guns are works of art. They’re far above what she could ever afford.”
I felt another bump from Dead Axle as she spoke up. “What about those threshers the old griff said he found among the pipe guns?”
Both Harp and Star looked over at us curiously.
“You mean those rifles? Let me go grab one,” Longslide said as he trotted over to a crate.
Trotting back, he presented us with a fairly large rifle that was clearly made from pipes and scrap metal, yet looked quite strong despite looking junky.
Dead gasped and grabbed the rifle. “It’s a fucking Redeye rifle! This thing is the shit!”
“Language,” Star and Longsled scolded in unison.
“Oh chill,” Dead responded with a roll of her eyes.
Looking at it, I still didn’t see why she got so excited over the gun. I mean, even the stock was just a shovel handle. “What a Redeye rifle?”
Dead Axle smiled as she practically shoved the rifle in my face. “It’s Redeye’s last fuck you to the wasteland, that’s what!”
Fortunately, Longslide decided to step in and take the rifle away. “It’s the last gun my dad made for Redeye before that asshole died. Both him and my Uncle had been tasked with making a proper gun that was to be as solder proof as possible, and that’s the result. It’s based on a minotaur design. It’s chambered in 7.62mm just like the minotaurs used. The guns are still junk, but not like the pipe rifles or rust guns. It’s the gun dad used to kill the enclave soldiers that killed my mother.”
He flipped the gun around, showing us a stamp in the frame that had “GR” on it.
“Likely this gun saw action during the battle for Fillydelphia with the enclave. Unfortunately none of them are wing leader guns, those had the bypass talismans installed in them, allowing them to shoot right through power armor.” he explained.
“It’s not going to cost more to get the rifles fixed up, is it?” Dead checked.
Longslide shook his head. “No. Actually, they're the easiest guns to fix up.” He cracked a smile. “Actually, since you're here, can you deliver the Redeye rifles ahead of the rest of the guns? The pipe guns will be ready tomorrow, but Pops wants these guns out of town sooner than later. Sheriff Ashy is bound to confiscate and destroy them if she found out we have any.”
Dead nodded. “Sure! I know Elder Papa will love to get his hooves on a new one. His last one was given off as a gift.”
With that Longslide trotted back over to the crate, taking out a few more of the rifles, and putting them in a long box.
Harp and Star trotted over to the foals, joining them with playing on the Smuggler.
I turned to Dead Axle, who had a satisfied smirk on her face. “Well, this is turning out to be a good business deal for your clan.”
She bumped my flank again. “Getting laid by a stallion and getting my hooves on a sweet ass gun? Hell yeah, this is a good day!”
I rubbed the back of my head, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Hey now. I do have a name.”
She laughed, giving me a playful jab. “That you do. Maybe we can go for another round before I go. Seeing that gun has got me a bit in the mood.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. You Desperado mares do seem to like that stuff.”
“That we do. It is our lives,” Dead said before giving me another jab. “Say, ya never gave a proper answer to Transmission last night. You danced around the question and whatnot. Truthfully now, would ya fuck Live Axle if she was interested?”
Great! This question again. But, unlike before, I did feel like I could be more honest and blunt about it.
“If she was interested, ya,” I answered. “I’d sleep with her. That softer side of her is cute. It reminds me a bit of how ponies used to be, though wrapped in spiky armor.”
She gave me a mischievous grin. “Good to know. Next time she is in town, you should go on a proper date with her. I’ll even swipe some extra Silphium for her.”
Narrowing my eyes at Dead Axle, I wasn’t sure what her game was here. “If you’re going to use me to mess with your sister, please don’t.”
“Anyways, isn’t it a bit odd to try and get your sister to have sex with a stallion you just had sex with?” I asked.
Dead then fluttered her eyes at me and licked her lips. “Maybe, but I like to think of it as testing the goods first.”
“Anyways, at least with you, she won’t have any expectations of a real relationship. That means no broken heart. She gets to have her cherry popped, and then you two can have your romantic goodbye.”
I think I was understanding what she was on about, but I still didn’t like the idea of using me to get her sister her first time without strings attached.
Sighing, I gave Dead an annoyed but friendly bump. “I think it’s a bad idea. You're only going to piss Live off trying that.”
“Well that all aside, I’ve got to go and talk with Quicktrot. Try to get some questions answered.”
She gave me a bump back. “Alright. Just wait for me outside first. I still got an itch you need to scratch.”
Looking at the entrance of Blue Skies entryway, I rubbed my sore ear in the hopes that there were no bite marks on it. “Why do mares love biting so much?” I complained to myself, a question I knew they would ever answer me.
At least my time with Dead Axle filled me with enough confidence to come this far, along with a more clear head on my shoulders.
I had originally planned on trotting in and shouting for Qicktrot in the hopes to force her to me, but now I think a calmer plan should work just fine. Anyways, that doppelgänger gave me the perfect weapon to use against her.
Trotting over to one of the guards, I saw a dirty pony in a ragged looking suit and fedora. It made sense as the Desperados were no longer working with them, but this pony seemed too weak to do much but stand around.
“You! I’m here to see my… sister.” Calling her that felt bitter and slimy, but I knew it should get results.
The thin guard cocked an eyebrow at me then looked over at the other guard at the gate before addressing me. “What now? Who are you?”
I gave a dramatic sigh, making it good and loud. “I swear the quality of the ponies she hires gets worse every year. At least the Desperados knew who I am without me needing to remind them. My name is Slowtrot. Sounds familiar, right? Now go get me an escort to see Quicktrot, your boss!”
The guard gave me a confused look as if I was some mad pony, which I probably was. But Fragment already played this card on me, so I had to flow through with it.
I clapped my hooves together condescending, acting like a stereotypical stuck up rich pony from the comedy films back in my time. “Chop-chop, now. I don’t have all day. Or is your brain as shriveled as your body?”
The guard snarled at me as he took a more aggressive stance. I may have failed that speech check a bit too hard.
Though I may have brought my guns and all with me, I was not ready for an actual fight.
A sharp whistle got my and the guards’ attention. A worn down looking pegasus mare in a suit was standing just past the entrance. “Ahh, the less than sane brother. The boss is quite annoyed at the moment. Mainly because you're still around.”
“Well, she can overdose on dash for all I care, but not before I have a chat with her,” I told the mare and trotted past the guards. “I assume you will be my escort again?”
She gave me a yellow-toothed smile. “Of course. Anything to get this farce over as soon as possible.”
A flicker in my E.F.S. hud display gave way to S.A.T.S being forced on. Fragment appeared over the pegasus mare. She was still in that straight jacket like a lab coat, looking rather crossed, and somehow having dark bags under her eyes.
“It’s a tragedy that you survived that raider nest. Truly it is,” she spoke to me with her digital voice.
She gave a long yawn and produced a large pillow to rest her head on. “You know how much work I’ve been doing because of those damn gangers pulling out of their deal with me? The new mercenaries may be cheep, but fuck are they annoying to organize.”
From the pillow, Fragment glared at me. I could feel a deep hatred from her, not that I cared. “But if you want to bother me, I can suffer a few minutes of it, but you better not waste my time. Our deal still stands, but don’t think my patience is infinite. I may have all the time in the world, unlike you, but I am still a busy mare.”
She flickered out of existence and time resumed its normal flow.
Looking around as I was led to Fragments train carts, I could see that not too much had changed other than the Desperados no longer being here. In their places were even more ponies in dirty suits. Some of them with armor under the suits, and many of them armed with pistols and pipe like clubs. There were also other ponies doing the more menial labor, who looked in worse shape than the suit ponies and avoided eye contact with everypony nearby.
It gave me a bad feeling.
In front of the train cart entrance was a large unicorn stallion. He was in far better shape than most of the ponies here, and in much cleaner clothes. He had a clean black suit with a white undershirt and black tie, all topped off with some really dark shades over his eyes. “Now he looks right out of the Ponies in Black movie. Does he have a crazy magical gun too?”
The stallion ignored me as he hopped the train car door.
The pegasus mare chuckled. “He's got a plasma defender pistol, so if you ever want to be turned to green goo, then please do pick a fight with him. I’ll get one of the idiots to clean your melted mess off the floor.”
“Ya… no. I heard they were notorious for only half melting a pony, making them wish they were dead,” I told her as I trotted inside. The door quickly closed behind me.
Again I was in the waiting room, and again it gave me a less than comfortable nostalgia feeling. Not feeling like waiting, I trotted over to the door to get right to business.
“Wrong door!” the intercom called out. “Idiot!”
Turning around, I trotted to the other door to get right to business.
Quicktrot Fragment’s office was the same as before, with two rows of filing cabinets and terminal screens on each of them. They were all on this time. Each screen had an eye looking at me. A different eye for each screen.
“Right. You're a creepy bitch. I get it.” I told Fragment as I trotted over to her desk.
“It’s how I relax. I mean, we all must have our hobbies,” the pony behind the desk said. Her voice was strained and wispy.
Turning her chair around, I saw that the mare she possesed was looking even worse than last time. The mane had thinned, making the failed attempt at a mechanical eye visible and the boils around it had popped, thus leaking puss down her cheek. The mares body also looked more frail, not helped by several missing patches of fur.
“As you can see, I’ve been needing some relaxation.” I saw that several teeth were missing as Quicktrot spoke.
Maybe it was because of the raidr stable, or possibly I was expecting to see something like this, but I was not shocked in the least. The gruesome sight was horrifying in all regards, yet I felt numb to it.
I did feel sorry for the poor pony she had possessed and for the pony she will possess next.
Sighing in annoyance, I told her, “You really are a monster, but you don’t need me to remind you of that.”
The screen on the desk terminal turned on, and Quicktrots doppelgänger form appeared on it. “No. No, you don’t,” she said before my E.F.S. flickered and she popped out of the screen and grew to the size of a normal mare. “So what do you want to talk about? There are so many things I don’t feel like saying to you.”
“Fist of…” I wanted to bring up Thorn, but I needed to confirm something else first. “Were you behind the Blood Moon Raider? Did you send them after Harp?”
Quicktrot gasped, placing a hoof on her nonexistent heart. “Send out raiders? Goodness me, no. They are sooo unreliable. They are like using a sledgehammer to drive in a nail while attempting brain surgery. One fuck up of a glorious mess.”
She leaned back on her desk, reaching over to rub the cheek of her decaying host. “Though the Blood Moons were good at capturing mares mostly intact. They even broke the mares in for me, free of charge. Ain't that dandy of them?”
I swallowed my disgust as I glared at the abomination. “So you did have involvement with them, then.”
“Well, they did buy all the shit chems we could not quite sell in town. Though they did take a few of my agents for their own fun before any dialogue could start. Fortunately they were replaceable assets.” She turned back to look at me, a smug smile on her face. “There was this time where some fool wanted some new mare in town for himself and came asking one of my agents for a deal. Well, Blue Skies can't be breaking all the rules. There’s a limit to everything, so I had my agent sell the pony information to those who would.”
I swung my hoof right up to her face, but Quicktrot didn’t flinch. Not like I could even touch her. “So you are responsible for this whole damn mess!” I accused.
Quicktrot shrugged at me. “A bit. What are you going to do about it? Tell the sheriff again?” Her smug smile only seemed to get even smugger.
She leaned in, passing through my hoof. “We both know what will happen if you do that now. Don’t we?”
Taking a step back so that she wouldn't get too close, I took a moment to calm down and think rationally. I was only here to ask questions, not take fruitless actions.
“Ya, we do,” I agreed with her.
She excitedly clapped her hooves together. “Oh good, good, good. If the same thing happened like last time… well that would be boring… No. Actually, it would be funnier the second time around. Still, I rather have you stay out of my mane. Keep you somewhere I don’t have to be.”
Quicktrot took a step back and floated up onto her desk and sat with her back legs crossed. “Now I presume you want to talk about Thorn as well?” she guessed correctly, then started rubbing her temples, clearly annoyed. “And no, I had no clue that bitch was still alive, or what she is up to.”
“Yes, Thorn…” I pondered for a moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase the question. “What do you know about Rapture, and how was Stable-Tec involved?”
She rolled her eyes. “That. Yes. I do hold a few memories of that. Thorn did guard such memories so jealousy from Pinky Pie, so she stored them in me whenever the Ministry mare came knocking.”
Giving her desk a kick, all the terminal screens flickered. The faces of many different ponies appeared on them. I recognized some of them. More specifically; the six ministry mares, the CEO’s of stabletech, Luna, and Fleetfoot. The rest were unknown to me.
“At the time everypony was playing their little games, there were so many secrets and misinformation that it became hard to know fiction from fact.” She gave her hooves a clap. The screens switched to just Schootaloo and Fleetfoot. “What I know about that memory you saw for some damn reason? Thorn managed to wedgie herself into the lives of several ponies connected to the Ministry mares at their most vulnerable moments.”
The screens shifted again to even more ponies I didn’t know, but Fleetfoot stayed, now flanked by two ‘E’s “Fleetfoot never hated Rainbow Dash, but once trust was lost, it's hard to regain. The enclave was the perfect tool for keeping them from fixing their relationship, and that gave Thorn a strong political ally. The main goal was to keep the ministers as distracted as possible, as well as be part of Thorn’s own information network. Who knew the Enclave would survive as the only political party among the Pegusus? Trust me, Thorn had no bigger plan than for the Enclave to be a… thorn in the ministries hoof.”
Again the screens flickered as they switched to Schootaloo, Sweetiebelle, and Applebloom. “As for Stable-Tec, most intriguing. Once disillusioned, twice a great pawn. Poor Scootaloo. So angry and filled with betrayal. She wanted to be Rainbow Dash's sidekick, her trusted friend, and probably her successor. But Rainbow Dash banned her from the Ministry of Awesome. She even cut contact with her out of the blue. Now the ministry mare was, in truth, protecting her number one fan, but fortunately for Thorn, Rainbow Dash is an idiot.”
One of the screens shifted. This one showed Schootaloo having tea as seen through the eyes of what I guess was Thorn. Schootaloo’s voice came out of the screen. “I just wanted RD to trust me. To let me help her. She didn’t have to shut me out. Not like that.”
Another screen shifted, showing another image of Scootaloo who looked quite angry. “Your right! It’s this damned war and the ponies who started it! Why do they keep making us fight in their fucking cunt waving contest?” Scootaloo said abrasively.
A third screen shifted. This time Scootaloo had a near empty bottle of wild pegasus whisky in her hooves. “They’re all the same. All of them. No matter how much I try and tell them that this war is wrong, it will be the end of us all, and they still want to fight. Maybe you're right. Maybe starting over is the best idea.”
“But wouldn't ponies just make the same mistakes as before?” the voice of Thorn spoke up.
Scootaloo nodded. “Ya… ya… ya… that’s right! They would just do this all over again. No, worse… they will do this again.”
“You mean the... princesses?” Thorn said clearly, calmly, and coldy.
“Celestia ruled for a thousand years,” Scootaloo said, pointing her bottle at Thorn. “Her and Luna can live forever, so what's stopping them from just doing what they’ve done before? Yeah! Fuck them all! We don’t need any of them. Not the princesses, not the ministries, and not… not… not Rainbow… Dash.” Scootaloo began to cry right before all the screens turned off.
Looking back at Fragment, she was playing with her mane, giving me a satisfied smug smile before she continued. “Truthfully, it wasn’t all Thorn handiwork. She was just the best at manipulating others, so she was used to get poor little Scootaloo under the Office of Inter-Ministry Affaires control. Of course, she also carefully planted her own hatred for Equestria into the mares head. More as a joke than anything else. But that did give her access to a lot of Stable-Tec secrets, though unfortunately, Applebloom caught wind of it all. Thorn knew that the younger apple would attempt to fix all of Scootaloo’s mistakes before they got found out.”
I remember that part. Of how the 2600… how Fragment was used to try and lure Applebloom to the R&D Stable so that Thorn could kill her.
“And Rapture?” I asked.
Again, Fragment shrugged. “Not all that much, really. All I know is that Scootaloo was delivering any surplus materials to Thorn’s dropoff for some OIA project involving a deep-sea listening post. She never talked about the details with anypony. It’s all bits and pieces. What I do know is that she had far more materials and personnel sent there then What should she have been getting? From what we saw in Victoria Memorise, she made sure whoever was sent down there could easily expand the project far past a simple listening post.”
“Like a damn city!” I growled at her.
“Makes me really want to take a look. How wonderful it must be to live down there,” Fragment mused with a gleeful look on her face which quickly turned to disgust. “Unfortunately she's down there, and you alone are a huge headache.”
Feeling that it was nearly time to go, I had one last question. “So, that pony who got the raiders to go after Harp… where is he?”
Fragment vanished and her host began to move again. “I believe he had a run-in with some local raider gangs. It was quite ugly with how he died. Oh, how an unfortunate way to die, I do hope the sheriff will deals with those ruffians soon.”
An eerie laugh came from Quicktrot. One that made me very uneasy.
Turning to leave, I didn’t say anything more. No threats or complaints. It would all be wasted on an abominable monster like her.
Somepony has further put in a good word for Slowtrot among the Desperados. There may be some of them who will want to have a talk with him. Just keep an eye out if there's any shotguns involved.
"Moving away from the subject of the Ministries, I asked Slowtrot about any other aspects of how things went so wrong. He told me about how miserable ponies seemed to flourish wherever he went. Adding how they seemed to love being miserable by actively dragging everypony down with them as they pulled themselves up.
Sometimes it was some sort of self sacrificing pony who would do all the work. After that, they would proceed to whine about how they are under appreciated. Others were the ponies who spread drama wherever they go and with every pony they talk to. But most were simply pessimists, waiting for something to go wrong just so they can’t tell everyone that they told them so.
What seemed to bother Slowtrot about them was how they were always in charge of whatever job he had back then. My guess would be that in a miserable world, those who are naturally miserable flourish while dragging everyone down with them. I can also see those people not actually doing anything to make things better, even after their world ended. Likely they would have probably attempted to start their own fires as everything burns down around them." ~ Azure Dice
Placing the last set of bullets into an old paper box and that box into a metal ammo box, Hardballer closed it and used a metal wire to seal the ammo box. “That’s the last of the ammunition the Desperados ordered, Thanks for the help Slowtrot.”
I let myself relax, sliding onto the floor. It had taken me all of yesterday, and a far bit of today, to press all the bullets that had been ordered. I also did a whole lot more when I mistakenly miscounted what I had done.
“Great,” I said, “I’m going to take a day off now. My legs still feel a bit like jelly.”
The older griffin nodded. “You should. You worked harder than a slave yesterday. I’m actually curious, did anything happen yesterday?” He smiled. “You did show up with the Desperado mare that morning.”
I chuckled nervously. “Well ... a few things happened. Let's just leave it at that.”
Hardballer leaned back, looking smug as he looked at me knowingly. “Just be careful with those strong-willed mares. They can be quite a claw full. I should know.”
The smile dropped from his face before he took a deep breath and returned to his stoic look while patting the ammo box. “Well, now that this is done, we should get loaded up for the delivery.”
It was a familiar feeling, finishing a load of ammo I knew was going to be used on another living creature. Back then it was the Zebras. Now it is other ponies. I was just making the bullets, but I don’t know how much that kept the blood off my hooves.
At least with this wasteland, no pony pretended they were innocent. There was no acting like things were alright. Just an acceptance of the truth of their lives.
“I’ll take it to the garage and get it loaded up,” I told Hardballer.
He pushed the ammo box to me. “Alright. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”
“Your coming?” I asked.
Hardballer gave me a stern look. “This deal is signed in my name. Like fuck will I not see it through.”
With a smile, I took the ammo box. “You griffins have really changed from back then.”
Now I got an inquisitive look. Hardballer raised a very high eyebrow at me. “Changed, how?” he asked curiously.
“Well, back then, you all seemed so… disinterested in everything. Like you were all trying to be as miserable as possible and had no pride in whatever you did. I didn’t see many griffins back then, but I was sure that most of them I did see were just, well… not happy.”
“You think I’m happy now?” He asked in an annoyed tone.
“Well…” I gave a sly smile, trying to be humorous. “I can't say I've ever seen a griffin smile before until I met you.”
Placing the ammo box on my back, I dropped the playfulness, trying to be as serious as Hardballer. “I don’t know what it is. I mean, I’m not the sharpest tool, as they say. But trust me when I say this; all of you Gunrunners look as though you truly enjoy what you're doing. Like you know where you belong and take pride in it… It actually makes me feel a bit envious.”
We silently stared at each other for several seconds.The room feeling cold before then raised a claw up under his beak.
“Maybe so. I can't deny that we take pride in our work. It is who we are and what we aspire to be.” He sat back with a small but honest smile on his beak. “My own great grandfather told me about how harsh things use to be. He said we cling to the glory of times long past and spitting on the world for it shunning us. The only thing that kept us together was our love of the craft and the gold it made for us… well, caps.”
He let his talon relax. It softly fell on his desk. “Ya. I remember it. The stories of Griffinstone’s glory days long before the war. We once tried to remake it during that war.” A chuckle escaped his mouth. “What absurdity, chasing an idol we long lost. Our greatest treasures are what we made ourselves. Nothing more, nothing less.”
The old griffin looked content, much like the old ponies were before the war turned for the worst. There was some worry, but overall they knew they did their best to leave behind something good. Most of them had made something of themselves. A plot of fertile land. A home to live in. A family to share it with. All things I could never do.
A question then formed in me which found a way to worm out of my mouth. “So are you still planning on leaving New Appleoosa?”
“I don’t think I will,” He said with a satisfied tone. “Ashy may hate me, but we all have to move on.”
Hardballer pulled out a picture frame from his desk. Catching a glimpse, I saw a griffin that looked a lot like him but with more feathers on his head. There was also an earth pony mare and three young hippogriffs. The eldest looked a lot like Longslide.
Placing it on his desk, Hardballer sighed. “We all have the right to hate, but it does the memory of those we love no good to stay there. We may never be friends, but we both are working toward the same goal. So no, I will stay here. Do what I can to help make this town what it wants to be, even if it’s simply making sure everypony can defend themselves.”
The thought of everypony here owning a gun filled my head. Suddenly I feared for the idiot who pulled their gun first. I didn’t know how that would make things better, but I felt it was at least in the right direction. If I was sticking to the sound, it would be interesting to see how things would change after the festival.
“Well good luck at making things better. Celestia knows that this town needs the help,” I said with a smile before trotting off. As I left, I could hear Hardballer humming to himself. It was a familiar song that sounded a lot like the old winter wrap-up song everypony sang before the ministry had public servants take care of the winter cleanup.
Trotting out of the workshop, I made my way to the garage. Outside, several of Hardballer's apprentices were relaxing. The younger griffins were puffing on cigarettes as they chatted with each other. I never got to know them all too well, but they were all good griffs, if a bit abrasive. They didn’t have much interest in interacting with ponies, more content to stay in the compound. Considering how the town tended to treat them as outsiders, I could understand.
Still, I did hope that thighs would lighten up for them soon. Let them become part of the town. Maybe help drive Quicktrot out.
If only things were that easy.
Inside the garage were the usual ponies; Harp, Longslide, and Javelina, who was finishing installing the Smuggler’s new gun as Star and Gyrojet sat by watching.
Nearby was the delivery carriage. It was the same one we used to bring all the machine parts back here from the Stable-Tec factory. It was already loaded up with all the fixed up pipe guns and the rest of the ammo. Trotting over to it, I slid the last ammo box in, thus completing the load.
“The Vengeance. That's what it would be called!” Longslide said with pride.
Harp clicked her tongue loudly. “Who are you even avenging against? I think naming it Final Judgment fits far better. Gives it a feeling of authority.”
Javelin stuck her claws in both their face’s “Aeternus is a best name. It is Aeternus now.”
Harp removed the claw from her face. “Isn’t that from the ancient pony tongue… Eternal, I think it meant.”
The younger hippogriff mare nodded with a smile. “Yes, Aeternus. It can… or will shoot for all Aeternus with enough power. So Aeternus.”
Longslide shrugged. “So the gun that shoots forever, hmm… I like that. It is made for sustained firing, so with the right power converter, three more beam talismans, and the right power source… I can see it firing long enough that it seems like it never ends.”
“Aeternus,” Javelina repeated. She got a smile from her brother in response.
The three climbed down and I got a good look at the newly installed Aeternus gatling beam gun. What I saw looked like a much larger sized Griffinstone Typewriter. It’s as if they took the typewriter and upscaled it to that of a battle rifle and added a bunch of lights to it. Just above where it connected to the gunner nests rigging was an odd box-like magazine that gave off a pink glow.
Trotting over to them, my own curiosity grabbed hold of me once again. “How does that thing even work with such a small magazine?”
Javelina held a talon up on each claw and brought them together. “We send from one to the second. Though they never touch, they do touch.”
I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Harp lowered Javelina’s talons while smiling at her before addressing me. “What she means is that the magazine that you see is actually the house for the beam talismans. The powersours can be either attached to the front of it with a spark cell, or place a power converter there and draw energy from a spark battery kept next to the gunner's nest. The latter lets it fire without it needing to be attached to anything.
I felt my head tilt a bit, trying to understand the second part. “Is that even possible? I mean, even during the war, I never heard of anything like that.”
A chuckle came from Longslide. “I bet. Javelina here figured that we could copy Harp's magical ability to touchlessly send magic from herself to an object. It’s not quite the same, but thanks to Harp, we have made it work. This gun might be the first of its kind.”
I still was not entirely getting past the gun not needing to be plugged into fire. “That’s pretty awesome. I wonder why Equestria never had guns like that?”
“Because that hadn't gotten that far yet,” Gyrojet said from her seat. “Also I don’t think they had Mirage ponies. Anyways, MEW’s were still a new technology at the time. From our old history texts, it seems that every creature around the world was inventing new Magical Energy Weapons with a lot of them being garbage from what our ancestors had written down.”
Star nodded. “Ya. Back on the Blackwater, I remember one time a ship wanted to show off its new beam cannons. Big old lightshow till it blew up. As far as I know, only Gulls have beam cannons installed.”
“What’s a Gull?” Longslide asked.
Raising her forelegs up, Star began to wiggle them a bit. “You know, like those flying things the Enclave loves so much. The ones with the whirly bits.”
“You mean that junk built looking vertibucks the pirates fly?” Harp asked.
Star nodded. “Ya, that. But a Gull can land on water. I remember one of the nuns said that the beam cannons used on the Gulls were invented by Thorn Roseland, making them holy weapons or something.”
Or more likely she just stole some blueprint for a beam cannon before the war ended. “Okay. I get it. Beam weapons back then were a crapshoot as guns go. Still, it’s amazing you now have a gun that doesn't need its ammo with it to fire.”
Longslide sighed. “Unfortunately, no. The Aeternus will need to stay close to its power source to remain functional. It is alredy on the edge of its limited range, so you're not going to just be able to take the gun off and fire it away from the Smuggler. Well, maybe Harp can.”
“I’m the exception, not the rule,” Harp informed us. “Anyway, that gun is a bit too big for me to run off with it.”
Looking at it, it was almost as long as she was and likely was quite heavy too. I wasn't all that acquainted with guns, less so with MEW’s like that, so I was just going to take their word for it.
“Right. So the gun stays on the Smuggler, not that I was ever planning to take it off.” I commented in all seriousness.
Longslide huffed at me. “Good. Last thing I need is the Aeternus to get damaged by somepony dropping it.”
He trotted over to the carriage and checked on everything inside, pulling out one of the pipe guns. “Now these, on the other talon, I don’t think anypony will care if they get damaged. Seriously, even after some polish, they still look like the junk they were when we first made them.”
Alright. They had mentioned, the other day, that some of those guns were originally made by them.
“So why did that Redeye want those guns?” I asked aloud. “The ones you made here are far better than those.”
Longslide put the gun back, closing the box it was in. “I think it was to arm his army as quickly as possible. The first thing he did was capture the factories. Then hoofed it to us so that we could make the guns he needed. Junk as they were, we were able to make a whole lot of them, arming both veteran mercenaries and simple-minded raiders.”
Stepping away from the carriage, he trotted back to us. “While the Fillydelphia slaver clans mostly had old and rusting guns, Redeye was bringing in new guns to the war. A lot more of them than the slavers had. It also helped that it meant he could keep the quality guns for his more trusted soldiers in that war. Eventually he pressed those slavers into submission. After that, it was all about keeping a large stockpile.”
Strange how that sounded familiar… “Wait! Wasn't that the tactic used for the Ironshod guns during the war?”
Everypony looked at me, eyebrows cocked. “Sorry. I just remembered something about gun production during the war. Most of the guns Ironshod made were meant to be as cheap as possible. Several soldiers also had told me that there were always extra guns available, so it was advised to just throw a damaged 10mm away and grab a new one over getting it fixed. A bit of a waist if you ask me.”
“Well getting repairs on the battlefield is quite difficult,” spoke Hadballer as he stepped in. “Also those Ironshod 10mm guns are a bitch to fix and clean. Though I’ll admit that the recoil reduction system they built-in is a work of genius. It even made the SMG capable of muzzle fire. Unfortunately, it meant that if the gun gets busted, there are a bunch of little parts you need to change out.”
I sighed, remembering one of the factory jobs I did for Ironshod. Spending all day pulling a lever to stamp out little parts for the 10mm pistol. “Ya, and those little parts loved to scatter all over the place if you bump any surface they were placed on.”
“That too,” Hardballer agreed. “Anyways, a lot of the ponies Redeye was throwing into that meat grinder were from the raider tribes he recruited, so it was expected that the guns would be misused and lost regularly. It was also a good way of keeping his costs down so that he could spend his wealth in other places. As cheap as these guns may be, they did the job they were built for perfectly.”
“And they're going to war once again,” Longslide said solemnly.
The old griffin trotted up to his son, patting him on his shoulder. “As they were built for. Nothing wrong with that.”
Longslide looked up at his father with a concerned look on his face. “And what if they get into the hooves of another Redeye? The last thing we need is that coming back to bite us again.”
The older griffin cracked a smile. “Then we do what your cousin did and make guns for those who fight the tyrant.”
A smile formed on Longslides beak. “Ya. That might actually be fun.”
“Oh no you two don’t!” Gyrojet chirped up. “You bird brains are not going to galavant across the wasteland when I got a fourth child on the way!”
There was a pause for several seconds before the two male griffs burst out in laughter.
Hardballer shoved Longslide over to his wife. “Son, take a break and comfort Gyrojet. Looks like her mood swings are coming on.”
“I am not having a mood swing, you baulding vulture!” Gyrojet shouted as she threw a tin can at Hardballer.
Dodging the can, Hardballer trotted over to the Smuggler then stopped. Once there, he scratched his beak. “Right. I don’t know how to dive this…” He turned around as he asked, “Do any of you know how to dive this?”
“You think anypony would even let me try?” Star Charter asked with a chuckle.
“Well, I always have others to pilot any motorized vehicles back home,” Harp added.
I raised up my hoof. “I never owned a motor wagon myself, but did do transportation for a few months, so I should know how to drive it.”
“Dad, no!” Longslide pleaded.
But Hardballer shook his head. “No. You’re staying here with Gyrojet. You're in charge until I get back.” He looked at me. “Get in the driver's seat. I’ll take a gunner.”
Fortunately the Smuggler’s controls were quite simple. A steering wheel and three pedals. One pedal for gas, a second for the brakes, and the third was for… Wait. Why are their three pedals? Unless… “Oh, it's a stick shift,” I realized as I tried to hold back my nervousness.
“Anything wrong, Slowtrot?” Harp asked as she buckled herself in.
“Well… this may be a bumpy ride. I’m not the best stick shift diver,” I explained. She cringed.
It felt like several grueling minutes of me attempting to maneuver the Smuggler in position to take the carriage. During that time, Longslide gave me extensive instructions on how the gear shift works. It even felt like he was a disapproving father watching a stallion take his daughter out on a date. I even got the, “Better bring her back before sundown” from him.
With the supplies of guns and ammo hooked up, it was time for us to get ready to leave. Lucky we didn’t have to get geared up in battle saddles this time, but Hardball made sure we were armed. Luckily for me, the Smuggler had compartments to stash our guns. The Trench Gun got a place next to me, as for the service rifle, it was put behind the driver seat with its strap in easy reach of my hooves.
Star and Harp did much of the same, storing their bigger guns where they could easily grab them. The two also had the 10mm pistols they recovered from the stable strapped to their back legs. They offered to do the same with my Chekov's Promise, but I didn’t like the idea of that gun being displayed so openly.
Hardballer himself had brought along a large scoped revolver and his SMG Gabby. With the gun, he also had several drum magazines with him. The old classy kind that were always used in the movies.
Longslide gave his father a raised eyebrow “Dad, you really taking those drums with you? You know the sticks are more efficient and less likely to malfunction. Not as noisy, too.”
Picking up one of the drums, Hardballer shook it. The thing barely made a sound. “Sonny, I've been in this business for a very long time. You don’t think I wouldn't have figured out how to fix those damn problems?” He put the gun and drums away in a secure slot. “Now stop trying to henpeck me. I know what I’m doing. No creature alive would be dumb enough to try and ruin this deal.”
Longslide relented, giving the Smuggler space as he backed away. “Alright, Dad. Just don’t go and bust a hip or something. And make sure nothing happens to the Smuggler!”
The two smiled at each other for a moment before Hardballer looked over at me. After that, he gave the Smuggler two light kicks. “Hit the gas, Slowtrot. Don’t let your name rule you now.”
With a sigh, I gently pushed down on the gas and the Smuggler began to drive off.
It felt odd. Twice now I had been the passenger, watching the wasteland pass by while holding onto the Smuggler for dear life. Now I was the driver, and it all felt calm… Well, as calm as avoiding rocks every few minutes can be.
The scenery was still that of dry browns and grays. The blowing wind made it a bit hard to concentrate at higher speeds, but it was still… fun.
Guided by Hardballer, we soon came to the meeting space. It looked like the remains of an old drive-in theater, the place looking more like an attempt at a fort. Old motor wagons had been pulled and stacked to make crude barricades and the concession stand building was a lookout tower. Inside were several Desperados who were either standing guard, or playing some games like knife throwing.
As we got close, one of the Desperados waved us in. I drove the Smuggler between the barricades and parked it near the middle of the theater.
The first pony to greet us was Tire Fire. A big smile was on his face as he trotted over.
“Nice. You're even early,” Tire said as he looked up. “It’s not high noon yet.”
Hardballer picked up his gabby and a drum for it. After that, he jumped out of the Smugger to land next to the ganger stallion. “I like to exceed expectations.” He loaded the drum into his gun. “Now about those caps?”
Everything became quiet as I watched the Desperados become tense. I didn’t know what that old griffin was doing, being so aggressive to a pony he was selling too. The last thing I wanted was to get shot at by ponies I had actually gotten in good with.
Tire Fire stared into the old griffin's eyes, offing himself up for several seconds. Then Tire burst into laughter. “Granny Burning was right about you. You are an intense pussy cock. Most of the asshole ponies down here have been major disappointments, but you? Oh boy! You’re scary.”
He backed up and pointed at the concession stand. “We got what you want. I’ll go fetch some of it now.”
“Hay, Slowtrot,” Hardballer called out to me, “go help him bring some of the trade. We’ll get our end of the deal ready.”
Nodding, I hopped out of the Smuggler, putting on my saddlebags and quickly caught up with Tire Fire.
“So this must be a lot of caps if the boss wants me to help you,” I said to the Desperado.
Tire shrugged. “Well, it’s not just caps.”
Trotting inside the concession stand, I saw several boxes with an assortment of metals, tools, and only one filled with caps.
Kicking one box that was filled with a bunch of pipes, Tire Fire smiled back at me. “Elder Burning made sure that we can use more than caps to pay for gun repairs and ammunition. Fortunately for us, we knew where to find an old Ironshod parts storage. Took a day for my clans ponies to get there, and a few more days to get back with all these preserved parts.”
Looking closer, he was right. The box with the pipes were all rifle barrels without a speck of rust on them.
“I hope they didn’t have trouble like we did,” I said, feeling a bit concerned.
Tire Fire cracked his neck, “Nothing major, no. They just had to clear out a radscorpion nest. Something anypony can do if ya got enough guns for it.” Next, he pointed at one of the boxes. “You take the rifle barrels, and I’ll take the caps.”
We both lifted our load. As I moved to leave, Tire blocked my path.
“Say, Dead didn’t come back to us the other day, and when she did, she was being a bit more stupid than normal. You didn’t do anything with her that night?” he asked me with narrowing eyes.
I avoided his gaze. Instead shifting my gaze to the outside as more Desperados began to gather around the Smuggler. “Well, we did a lot of things last night.”
“And that would be?” He further inquired.
Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage and looked him in the eyes. “Look, I’m not some rough and tumble pony. I’m not very eloquent with my words either. So, whatever Dead and I did was of her own decision. If you want to know about it, you should ask her, not me.”
Tire looked me in the eyes for several seconds before giving a drawn-out groan. “She was right. You do love dancing around that topic.”
“What?” I said, a little confused.
He sighed. “I caught Dead Axle swiping some of the Silphium. She spilled the oil about that night when I threatened to tell the others.”
“Ohh… so are you going to kill me later?” I worriedly asked.
Tire raised an eyebrow before laughing. “No, of course not. If we got all uppity when our clans mares go off galavanting with some stallions, we would have stomped out half the wasteland by now. As ma says, it’s their own damn business if they want to make mistakes. Most learn quickly why ya stick with a strong reliable stallion. Well, that's what Ma says.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, but then got a poke in the chest from Tire Fire. “Don’t think ya is off the hook. If we find that Dead got herself knocked up, be damn sure we're coming to look for you and make sure you make her a right honorable mare.”
“With a shotgun?” I nervously asked.
He nodded before turning back around and leaving the building.
Following, we got back to the Smuggler where Hardballer began to inspect the rifle barrels. Next to him was Harp, who was taking notes as Tire Fire and several other Desperados explained what they else was inside the concession stand. Hardballer was actually quite impressed. The parts were well worth their weight in caps.
From what I could understand, with all the parts the Desperado's had gathered, the Gunrunners would only need to do a little bit of milling work to make at least twenty IF-64 assault rifles. They were the rifles the Equestria military mainly used and were all over the place, though I didn’t see them used much among us non-military ponies back then.
As for the metal bars the Desperado’s were trying to add to the trade, Hardballer was actually interested in taking them. It seemed that quality metals had become hard to find in this region considering most of the scavengers tearing down the old buildings and selling the scrap at high cost.
Unfortunately, the Desperado’s brought a pony who had an eye for business, a strangely thin unicorn with large glasses. They were utterly out of place among the Desperados. It reminded me a lot of a lawyer with how they spoke. In the end, Hardballer got to keep the gun parts, the caps, and some of the metal bars in exchange for the refurbished guns and ammo.
The Desperados still wanted to trade with the Gunrunners as they had even more salvage and all the guns they recovered from the Blood Moon raiders.
“So it’s a deal?” Tire Fire asked Hardballer.
The old Griffin shook his head and told him, “No. Not without a contract being signed.”
Tire huffed in annoyance. “Alright, alright. You griffins and your contracts. How about I go back to town with you to pick up that contract? My clan's ponies can send an elder down here to write it down with ya.”
Hardballer scratched his beak for a few seconds, then nodded. “That’s fine.”
“Alright! Then let's get everything loaded up first. We’ll continue this later.” Tire gave a sharp whistle. “Ya heard me! Get our shit and their shit loaded up. We will be back in an hour to sign another contract with an elder.”
With that, the Desperados quickly moved around all the heavy boxes with little effort. It took no time at all for everypony to be ready. Once it was time to go, Tire Fire hopped into the carriage attached to the back of the Smuggler.
Engines roared and I shifted the Smuggler into drive, carefully driving it out of the fortified theater. We watched as the Desperados drove away before leaving ourselves, retracing the path I took getting here and finding an old broken road which had less rocks in the way.
It wasn’t going to be a direct path to New Appleoosa, but at least it was going to be mildly less bumpy.
*Clunk!*
The Smuggler lurched to the left as it slowed to a crawl. “Fuck! Every time I dive these things,” I complained with a frustrated sigh.
“What the fuck did you even hit, Slowtrot?” Star asked as she looked over the side.
I hopped out to take a look myself. “With my luck, it could be anything.”
What I found was a… Net? A net had gotten tangled up in the left tire, thus preventing it from turning. “What in Tartarus?”
A very sharp whistle caught my attention.
I turned around and saw Sheriff Ashy Oaks trot out from behind an old and rusty billboard. “I got some choice words for all yall.”
Following out from behind her was Deputy False Cap and Deputy Stopped Clock. Many other Deputies also popped their heads out from behind their hiding spots. Several were also from a nearby cliff, armed with scoped rifles.
She eyed us all, focusing mainly on Hardballer, who sat in the gunner nest of the Smuggler. “If you even think about touching that big gun there, I’ll have you know my deputies up on there cliff are ordered to drop you dead. Now all of you come out and disarm all nice and slowly.”
A long and very annoyed sigh came from Hardballer. “You heard the lady,” he said before slowly taking his revolver out and putting it down inside the Smuggler.
We all did the same with any weapon we had on us.
“Your revolver too, Harp Melody,” Stopped Clock insisted.
Harp rolled her eyes before taking out her revolver from her jacket and putting it inside one of the compartments. She looked over at Order, saying. “Stay there.” The drone gave a quiet beep in response.
Getting out of the Smuggler, I stumbled as I realized that I had also grabbed my saddlebag. As a result, I fell over. My medical box made saddleback thudded on the ground. One popped open, spilling some of its contents.
I didn’t have all that much inside. A water bottle, a nature bar, and my Chekhov's Promise with one filled magazine.
Singing, I went to pick up the gun. The bit now had dust on it, but stopped when Ashy whistled at me sharply.
“Stay there, ya idiot,” She said as she trotted over then used her magic to take the gun and the magazine. “I’ll be holding onto this.”
She trotted back to her deputies as she signaled for us to move further away from the Smuggler.
All five of us were standing several hoofsteps away from the Smuggler as Ashy stared at us with contempt. The hot sun was bearing down on us. “You all thought you were smart?”
Annoyed and confused, I responded, “Well, I wouldn't…”
“Shut it!” Ashy cut me off. “You talk when I say you can.”
She loaded Chekhov's Promise and pulled back the slider as she eyed me.
I nodded.
“Selling to raiders? How low can you even go? You thought I wouldn’t find out?” she accused us.
Tire Fire groaned at Ashy. “Oh get off ya pedestal, you petty bitch. We ain't some damned raiders!”
With Chekhov's Promise, Ashy swung it out, hitting Tire in the head. “Talk when I say you can, you filthy raider.” She hit him again. “I’ve been protecting this town for years, and your filthy kind wander in and act like you're not the scum of the world. I’d have ya’ll all hung for just breathing if that dumbass mayor didn’t get in my way.”
A snarl came from Tire. “You're asking for a war, ya stuck up…”
Another blow from my gun came down on Tire, knocking him to the ground.
“Don’t think we're not ready for your kind. I’ve seen the tricks you raiders pull. We will not be caught off guard a second time.” Ashy assured with vicious hate in her voice.
“Like how you were ready for the Blood Moon raiders?” Harp spoke up.
Ashy raised an eyebrow, trotting over to Harp, and said in a calm and cold voice. “Care to explain?”
Harp glared over at False Cap before speaking her mind. “While your own deputy was ordering others to wet his dick, you had raiders sneaking into town and pony napping the ponies you are supposed to protect. Frankly, we did your damn job for you.”
Placing the gun barrel under Harp’s chin, Ashy looked over at False Cap. I could see the blood from False’s face drain. She shifted his eyes over to Stopped, who simply ignored her.
“I will be making an example out of him in due time.” Ashy looked back at Harp. “But I do not tolerate ponies pointing guns at MY deputies. You stable ponies think you have it all figured out, that how you want to do things is the way we all should do things. Trust me, the wasteland will come knocking soon enough, and I’ll be there to bring justice onto your pretty little head. Even if the mayor has told me to drop it, I will bring justice one way or another.”
I could see that, even though Harp put up a brave face, she was scared. She was ever so slightly trembling.
The gun swung over to Star Charter, who cracked a smile at the sheriff.
“Why am I not surprised you're involved in this? You could never seem to keep yourself out of trouble. From the day you arrived to now, you never change.” Ashy sounded more annoyed with Star than angry, as though the sheriff had done this with Star far too many times.
Star rolled her eyes, also looking more annoyed, as though this was nothing new. “Maybe you should stop getting into everyone's business and relax for a change. Go take a damned vacation for once in your life. I heard Fillydelphia is looking a lot better now.”
A hard smash from Chekhov's Promise slammed into Star's stomach, knocking the wind out of my friend.
“Stopped was right. You will never change.” Ashy snarled.
She then eyed Hardballer. She trot up to the old griffin. “And you, finally showing your true colors. What do you even have to say for yourself, slaver?!”
Hardballer just looked bored with all this. He took his time to answer as he brushed off some dust from his body. “Now, Sheriff Ashy Oaks, how many times must we do this dance until you realize that things have changed? Redeye is dead, I’m not a slaver, and all your rash actions are why the NCR have been acting like such a pain in the ass for this town. I have an official merchant permanent and the Desperados are not considered raiders by the NCR. If you keep this up, you will be inviting more legal trouble than Mayor Espresso will be forced to deal with.”
He slowly pushed the gun away from pointing at his face before continuing. “Why don’t we just bury the hatchet and move on with our lives? We both know that Spotwelled can only do so much with the guns you need, and what Blue Skies sells is anything but quality. Just let me help you help this town. You know that we can arm your deputies far better than anypony else in this region.”
Ashy narrowed her vision at Hardballer. “Like I would ever accept guns made with talons as blood-drenched as yours.”
“And how clean are your hooves, Ashy?” Hardballer responded. He also narrowed his eyes back at her.
Turning from him, Ashy trotted back to her deputies. “Say what you will, but you all are coming with me for crimes against New Appleoosa.”
Hardballer sighed. “Ashy, I am a very busy griffin, and this is getting ridiculous. If you have a problem with us selling to ganggers then…”
Stopped Clock cut him off, saying, “Raiders, Mister Hardballer.”
“Their gangers, Mister Stopped Clock.” Hardballer quickly corrected, looking quite annoyed with the older stallion.
“Call them what you will, but that doesn't change what they are. Same as it does not change what you are,” Stopped said coldly.
Hardballer raised one talon at Stopped, forming a rude gesture we ponies could never do. “And what does that make you?”
“ENOUGH!” Ashy shouted. “Arrest them, and drag them to the jail.”
“And the vehicle?” False asked. “It is full of evidence of their misdeeds. Surely we can't keep it here?”
Hardballer glared at the portly pony. “If I even find one cap missing, I will be carving it out of that hide of yours.”
A chuckle came from False Cap. “You should be more worried about that compound of yours. I mean, we can’t just leave the rest of you criminals off the hook now. Ain't that right, Deputy Stopped Clock?”
Stopped nodded. “Aiding and abetting at least, along with everything inside considered as evidence.”
I watched as Hardballer clawed the ground, putting in deep grooves into the dirt. “You take even one hoofstep…”
“Or what, slaver?!” Stopped Clock snarled threateningly. “Make one more threat and I will see to it that you go to the gallows.”
“Ya. It will be quite the show,” False said with a smile. “But don’t worry about your family. We will make sure they are well cared for in jail. Though that cute daughter of your ... I’ll make sure she is well treated.”
“Keep talking!” Hardballer took several steps towards, his rage clearly boiling over now.
Ashy fired Chekhov's Promise at the ground where Hardballer now stood. “One more outburst and I will end you here.”
This calmed Hardballer down as he glared at Ashy. “If any of my kids, grandkids, or apprentices are harmed in any way, be sure this will be the last mistake you will ever make.”
“Ashy does not make mistakes,” Stopped Clock assured as he trotted over, levitating a pair of hoof cuffs.
“Well, other than letting you in town, but that's more the fault of the mayor,” False said, as he too trotted over.
With a click, Hardballer was cuffed. His front, back, and wings were all held together by the steel cuffs.
Hardballer winced in pain as Stopped tightened the cuffs further. “Finally the crimes you committed will finally be given justice.” Ashy said with a laugh.
A little laugh came from Hardballer. “And what about your crimes? Don’t think I never heard of what you all did back in Fillydelphia. The slavers loved to send the more rebellious slaves to your pen and take a bet on how long before they were killed by you.” The old griffin addressed Ashy with a growl. “How many was it, Hanged Mare? How many fellow slaves did you kill?”
Ashy stomped over to Hardballer, getting muzzle to break. “Raiders and criminals all. They deserved the noose. None of them were innocent!”
“Stop making excuses. At least I have the dignity to admit I was wrong.” Hardballer took a deep breath and calmly looked Ashy in the eyes. “You need to stop this. It’s not going to bring any of them back alive. Just enjoy what you have now before it comes crashing down around you.”
“Tall words,” Ashy said, seemingly calming down herself.
“From the griffin who worked ponies to death to make guns for raiders!” Stopped Clock spoke up behind Ashy.
“Let’s not forget those guns used by the bounty hunters that tracked down escaped slaves were all made by your own claws!” False Cap added.
“The same guns used to attack all of our towns!” Stopped huffed.
False pointed his hoof at Hardballer. “The guns used to enslave and kill our loved ones.”
“He and his family made the bullets for Redeye,” again Stopped added.
“How many would be alive if he was not!” False goaded.
A growl came from Ashy. “Will you two shut the fuck…”
*BANG*
Hardballer took a few steps back. A trail of blood hit the ground, dripping from his chest. He stumbled and then fell over.
“NO!” Star screamed, but as soon as she began to dash over, several of the deputies grabbed her and held her down. “WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!” she screamed again. One of the deputies took his gun and slammed it at the back of her head.
Star fell silent as her body went limp.
I took a step forward, but found a few other deputies blocking my path. They had cuffs ready for me. I watched as Hardballer clenched his chest. The light from his eyes faded. One last gasp escaped his beak. I knew that, then and there, he was dead.
A well of emotions hit me; anger, sadness, shock, and confusion. But one emotion felt like a dagger to my soul; hatred!
“SO THIS IS YOUR JUSTICE?!” I shouted at Ashy. “Executing an unarmed and restrained griffin?! There is a word for that from my time; murder! You’re nothing more than a murder.”
She turned to me, pointing Chekhov's Promise at my face. Shock and panic was on her face.
I just looked down the barrel of my gun. A wave of calm came over me. “Go ahead and shoot me. I know you already have an excuse. It's not like I should have died long ago.”
She just stared at me, gun at my face.
“DO IT!” I shouted.
*Click*
Chekhov's Promise misfired again, so threw the gun at me. It impacted against my chest before landing in the dirt.
“I’m fucking done. Take them away. I don’t care where!” Ashy shouted as she turned around and began trotting back to town.
I pushed against the deputies around me, but they had me in place. “So that's it. This is how you make the world better, through murder. You're no different from…” I felt a sudden slam to the back of my head. Everything went fuzzy.
(New Perk) Toughness- Slowtrot has been knocked around by the wasteland quite a bit. Shot, too. Be it thicker skin or simply learning to live with it, his ability to keep standing when the hits start coming has improved noticeably.
-Harp Melody-
Lv,6
Small gun is now at: 25
Science is now at: 69
(New Perk) Empathy- Harp has grown to understand the ponies in the wasteland and knows how she must talk to them to get a favorable or negative response from them.
-Star Charter-
Lv,6
Small gun is now at: 60
Melee weapons is now at: 57
(New Perk) Pathfinder- Star’s intuition leads her in the right direction, even if it is down a twisting path. She will commonly find shortcuts when traveling or avoid going down the wrong path. All through intuition alone.
With the sound of a blaring whistle, the screeching of metal on metal, and the chattering of ponies waiting to leave our confined compartments, the train came to a stop. The workers aboard trotted along the hallway, checking on each of the ponies or other creatures aboard.
The young stallion came to my cart. He froze, clearly unsure what to say or do.
“We’re at New Appleoosa, correct?” I asked.
He nodded. “Next stop will be Ponyville... I need to see your ticket… you?”
“It’s Azure Dice, and no need. This is my stop,” I informed the confused pony.
Getting out of my seat and grabbing my luggage, I proceeded to trot off the train. It had been a relatively peaceful ride, mostly because all the ponies avoided me after the staff confiscated my helmet. Fortunately Velvet had given me a bag of caps that I gave to the pony in charge and, like she explained to me, they made sure I would be at least left alone.
No matter when and where I am, bribery makes all the eyes look elsewhere.
Velvet had also donated a change of clothes for me, as what I had before had gotten all torn up from my robot disguise. Now I had this nice, if quite old olive green jacket that was a comfortable size larger on me. A cowboy hat topped off the ensemble to help block the sun.
Now I just needed to find the New Appleoosa’s clinic where the followers worked at and drop off the package Velvet wanted to give to Harp Melody.
Fortunately all the ponies gave me a wide berth as I trotted into the dusty town. This gave me space for my annoyingly inflexible tail. It had become quite the chore to make sure I didn’t hit the ponies whenever I turned around when I was with the Followers, but here it was going to be even harder still.
I could only hope that this will fix itself the next time I molt. Maybe even give me my claws back. Hooves are really inconvenient when trying to pick anything up.
I saw one building that had the word Clinic on it, but it was blocked off with a sign that said “Closed”. The inside was also dark. I didn’t like the looks of that. Closed medical facilities never did, but I still hadn't seen the rest of the town, so I pushed on.
After a bit more looking, I found another clinic. It advertised with a large billboard. The place seemed a bit… louder, then the impression I had from the followers. More selling medicine over aiding others. Still, this world was alien to me and individuals had their individual tastes.
The inside was narrow, to say the least, with several ponies sitting on a bench. Clearly they were waiting for their turn inside the room at the end. Taking a cue from the line, I took a seat on the bench. I had to lift my tail up. It made me feel like I was now a green glowing lamp.
As I waited, I stretched out my finned antenna to enjoy the radio in the next room. The music had an uplifting song of an acoustic guitar backed up by a piano on brass instruments. All before a mare began to sing with a husky voice.
The warden threw a party in the county jail
The prison band was there and they began to wail
The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing
You should've heard them knocked-out jailbirds sing
Let's rock everypony, let's rock
Everypony in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock
....
The music eventually came to an end. It had a fun tone, but it felt a bit out of place for this depressing wasteland. With the end of the song came the DJ.
“That was Victoria Rosary singing Jailhouse Rock! Once again, thanks goes out to Happy Trails for donating his old record of the King of Rock for it to be recorded and be covered. Whoever this King was, he knew how to sing and party! Next up is a classic from Sweetie Belle…”
The radio turned off as a rather banged up mare stepped out. “I knew they were trouble. All of them, Doctor Quacksalver!”
“I know, Miss Karat. I know. Now just make sure to take your pills once in the morning and once at night.” A stallion in a clean white coat told the hurt looking mare.
The pony mare called Karat began to whine, “The sheriff should have run them out of town long ago. If it was not for that hussy Harp, my marriage wouldn’t be in tatters.”
I hopped off the bench at the sound of Harp’s name, getting the shocked attention from those I had been sitting next to. “Miss, might you know a mare by the name of Harp Melody?”
Karat gave a loud and dramatic huff. “Now, I downright have the displeasure of having met that no good whor…” When she locked eyes with me, confusion was evident on her face as she studied me.
She then fainted.
“Oh my! That was not my intention.” Looking up at the doctor, Quacksalver, I think his name was? I then addressed him. “Maybe we should get her off the floor?”
He nodded, a cigarette falling from his mouth.
Propping up the mare Karat on the bench, I was then allowed to cut in line to talk with the doctor.
Knowing what he was going to ask, I decided to answer it first. “Names Azure Dice. I’m a Lurker. No need to know what that is. I’m looking for Harp Melody.”
Quacksalver put a cigarette in his mouth before offering me one.
“Sorry. I can’t smoke tobacco. My lungs filter it out and the taste lingers terribly,” I told him.
He nodded. “Right. So, you said you're looking for the mare Harp? Why?”
I placed my luggage down and sat on it. “Well first off, I have a delivery for her from a Velvet Remedy. I think it’s medical supplies and such. But I also need to…”
“Medical supplies!” Quacksalver spoke up, interrupting and annoying me. “Right. Miss Harp is a bit indisposed right now, so you can leave that here. I’ll make sure she gets it.”
Looking at the “Good” doctor and sensing the air with my antenna, I was not getting the best vibe from him, or this room. It was sterile and clean, but all the jars of materials he had were more reminiscent of a witch doctor than a real doctor. The Doctor himself gave off a slight chemical smell, similar to cleaning materials, but a bit too strong, and they were on his breath.
I placed my… hoof, onto the luggage. “Doctor Quacksalver, was it? That is so kind of you, but I rather give it to her directly. It’s been a long journey and my stomach has not been feeling the best from eating all the preserved foods from around here. So, could you just tell me where she is?”
“Well that might be hard right now, but rest assured that I can get it to her for you,” Quacksalver said before pausing for a moment, then smiled. “Your stomach, you say? I have a medicine that could settle your stomach at a fair price.”
He turned to a drawer and pulled out a small jar with several tablets inside. “This is a homeopathic cure made from Viper extract and mole rat gallbladder. Very effective.”
If I had an eyebrow, I’d raise it at him. “So snake oil and random animal body parts,” I said skeptically.
With a sigh, I picked up the luggage, placed it back onto my back, and addressed him one more time. “Just tell me where Harp is.”
A knocking on the wall to the hallway caught our attention. There stood a white pony with black stripes. It looked like she was a corpse. A ghoul, I think they were called. “She's not in town anymore. Come with me. I’ll explain.”
Nodding, I followed the undead mare out of the building.
She took me to the closed down clinic. It had several boxes inside filled with random medical stuff that looked a bit too old to be at its most useful. There was also a hole in the roof and the sign of some creature having had a temper tantrum from how several tables were scattered all around.
“I got word you would be showing up. Sadly, your timing is a bit bad. The name is Jali, by the way,” the ghoul mare politely told me.
“My name is Azure. So did she already leave? Here I was hoping to relax a bit. First time in proper civilization since getting here. I could do with having a cold beer as well,” I said, hoping for some good news out of this.
She shook her head. “It’s not that.”
My antennas dropped at hearing that. “She's not dead, is she?”
Jali’s eyes widened a little and shook her head again. “Oh no. She is, fortunately, still alive. It’s just that there was an incident. The sheriff accused her of working with raiders and being involved with the death of an associate of hers. She is currently held at the NCR Correctional Facility with several other ponies we knew.”
“Well damn. That’s a wrench in my monkey.” I sighed. “Could I at least get directions to this place?”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “You sure that is a good idea? You look like you stepped out of the movie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. You're lucky some trigger happy pony hasn't shot you yet.”
This had been bothering me for quite a while too. It's almost like ponies and other creatures don’t see me right away, even if I was right in front of them. “Strange luck is my guess. But I need to talk with Harp to see if she can help me find a way back home. Well... to a time-space tear in reality which I can step into.”
“What?” Jali said in confusion.
“Oh. Sorry. I’m not from this world. I kind of fell here when I bumped into Harp in some bubble in unreality. It’s like having a number inside zero… I think. I’m no scholar on theoretical magics, my job was just to record what was seen, not really understand any of it.”
Jali scratched her head, clearly trying to process what I just explained. “Excuse me, I’m a doctor, not a theoretical acano scientist. So what you're saying is… you're an alien?”
I shrugged. “Technically, yes, but the form I have is slightly different from my real form, such as I don’t normally have hoof-like ends on my legs. Also, I’ve met two ponies who have been around creatures that look like myself.”
Her eyes again widened, seemingly brighter than before. “You're from the other side of a magic mirror! I’ve only heard stories about creatures like you. Now that I think about it, the pony Starswirl the Bearded had excelled in the research of otherworldly travel through magic mirrors. But those are ancient tales.”
“Yes. The watcher said something similar,” I said with a head nod.
Jali paused for a moment, clearly thinking. “How about this? You let me study you back at the Followers camp and, in return, I’ll talk with the NCR about you getting to visit Harp Melody, though it might take some time after what recently happened.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, though I didn’t like the sound of a lot of things since falling to this world. “I’ll agree, but what happened to make things more difficult?”
She sighed. “My nurse figuratively flew off in a rage when her daughter was caught up in the incident with Harp. Never seen her so angry before. She was making demands of everypony that had any authority. Nearly got shot by the sheriff too. The NCR ambassador is a bit upset by her outburst right now, so it’s best to wait for things to cool down first.”
Somehow I had a feeling that politics was involved if there was an ambassador here. If I knew anything about anything, it was how nasty and annoying politics was. Mainly petty fights over the smallest amount of power. Some people were willing to set everything on fire just because they can't get their way.
Understanding how sensitive the situation likely was, I figured that slow and steady was the best course of action in this situation. “If you're willing to help me, then I will help you.”
She smiled, which caused some of her exposed muscles on her face to move, reminding me of a skinless monster that the miasma back home would sometimes make. “Thank you.”
The sound of the door opened which was followed by heavy hoof steps. This caught my attention. Looking around, I saw a more portly stallion, one that could use a better-tailored suit to better fit him. “Hey zombie. Stop dragging your hooves and move your junk out of here,” the stallion commanded.
Jali rolled her milky white eyes. “False Cap, go fuck yourself. You may be able to lie to this town, but I know it’s you and the other deputies who are responsible for Hardballer's death.”
False chuckled. “We have many eyewitnesses to the incident, but if you still want to cause problems, then I might as well just kick you out now and sell all that junk you have there.”
“Once this gets to the right ears, there are going to be a lot of questions asked from some very pissed off griffins.” Jali sternly told the deputy.
The stallion didn’t lose his grin. “Let them. It will only prove us right about how dangerous those thieves are to this town.”
A mare behind him trotted in. False quickly tighten his lips.
Jali glared at the mare. “Sheriff Asky, here to shoot me like you shot Hardballer?”
The mare, Ashy, pulled out a flask and took a swig of whatever was inside. “Shut up, monster. Just be glad I didn’t shoot your assistant. Now get going.”
Jali picked up the boxes as she muttered, “Not even going to deny it.” Shen turned to me. “Mister Azure, care to help a lady carry her luggage?”
I nodded. “Only fair.”
Picking up the last box and placing it on top of my luggage, we then trotted to the door. The Sheriff and Deputy gave me a confused look.
A sudden tug stopped me, drawing my attention to the Sheriff. “What in Celestia's ivory ass are you?” Ashy asked in confusion.
I simply told her. “Not in your jurisdiction, Officer.” before trotting off to wherever Jali was leading me.
"When I asked Slowtrot if it was normal for ponies to falsely accuse other ponies of crimes, he had a mixed response about it.
From what I understood, on the surface of the question the answer was no. Ponies were generally trusting and gave others the benefit of the doubt. But they were also quick to panic and were taken in easily by rumors. It’s like the old saying about how an individual was smart, but a crowd was dumb. Ponies seem to be like that, but to a more extreme.
Furthermore, from the other things Slowtrot had told me about old Equestria, the prolonged war had not done well for pony psychology. It was only made worse by the nonstop propaganda all around them." ~ Azure Dice
I stood before a New Canterlot Republic officer, who looked annoyed and bored at the same time. “Name,” she asked. Her tone sounded eerily similar to the ponies at the job placement office I once went to during the war.
“Slowtrot,” I said in a depressed and defeated tone.
She tapped at a terminal. A tag printed out with my name on it. She pressed it under the collar of a simple blue shirt before shoving it to me.“Here's your uniform. Make sure not to take it off when out of your cell.”
Putting the shirt on, I found that it had the letter “NCRCF” printed along the side in a bold dark blue.
“Now move it!” Another NCR Officer told me. The unicorn was holding a baton ready to swing. They all were wearing tan uniforms. Some with simple padded armor and wide brim helmets, making a clear distinction between them and I.
Complying, I trotted to the next room, knowing there was no way to argue my innocence.
Falce Cap and Stopped Clock had done their work to frame us as criminals along with help from the other deputies under them. I don’t know what was said, or who was likely paid off, but when they had hulled us to the New Canterlot Republic’s Correctional Facility, no pony here cared to hear us out at all. Any attempt to say anything in our defense was met with threats of violence and plenty of insults.
As I entered the next room, there I saw Star Charter, Harp Melody, and Tire Fire standing next to each other, all in the same uniform that I was in.
Trotting over next to them, I stood in front of a raised podium where a red stallion sat behind. He was an older earth pony with a big bushy beard and several scars that looked like he had gotten shot in the face with a shotgun long ago. The stallion was smoking a cigar and had a bottle of wild pegasus whisky next to him as he eyed the four of us with contempt.
Of course, Star was first to speak up. “I don’t know what those assholes told you but we did nothing wr-”
A baton hit her back legs, cutting her attempt at defense off and causing her to stumble.
“You will speak when you are told to speak,” The older stallion spoke loudly with an authoritative tone. “In my prison, you will do as you're told and you will do it with a smile.”
“Fuck you!” Tire Fire said with a sneer. Following that statement, he also got a baton strike to the back legs.
I looked over at Harp. She was clearly trying to think of anything she could do or say to get everypony out of this situation, but with how frustrated she looked, it didn’t look good.
Knowing what was coming, I still had to ask, “Where is our lawyer?”
Clenching my teeth, I felt the baton hit my back legs. The pain caused me to buckle.
The old stallion, who I guessed was the Warden of this place, looked down at me like I was an idiot. “A lawyer?” he said with a raised eyebrow.
Another tan uniform mare trotted up to the Warden. She had thick glasses on and a long dirty blond mane tied up in braids. “The ponies whose job it is to know what is the law, and represent those in a court of law.”
The Warden began to laugh. “A fucking lawyer! Why the fuck would we give raiders a lawyer? Or even a trial? You’re lucky Ashy Oaks didn’t shoot you fuckers on the spot. Celestia bless that mare.”
“Were not raiders!” Harp said in surprise. She, too, got a baton strike to her back legs, causing her to let out a cry of pain.
Looking over at the glasses mare, the Warden then asked her, “Lieutenant Ginger Rhizomes, read them their crimes.”
She nodded as she looked at a nearby clipboard. “Yes, Warden Dynamite, Sir. Their crimes are as listed; aiding raiders by informing the raiders with information on local law enforcement to avoid detection, warning raiders of an upcoming sting, providing a distraction for the raiders to prevent the law enforcement from pursuing them. Worst of all, the supplying of guns and ammunition to raiders.”
“Brahmin shit!” Tire Fire spoke up, “Those guns were for my clan, not some-” He again got knocked down by a baton.
Wardin Dynamite spat in a bucket, making a loud ping sound. Why he was using chew and smoking a cigar at the same time was odd to me, but that was the least of my concerns at this moment. Maybe it was how absurd it was, or how absurd everything had become, but I just didn’t feel anything right now. I guess I was just waiting to know my fate, knowing that I could have just left like Quicktrot had told me to and all this would have never happened.
No. This was going to happen. In some form or other, it was going to happen.
“Ah, clan of raiders. Just because you four didn’t take part in raiding, that ain’t making you not raider. Naw. It makes ya all worse. At least those monsters have the decency to show their true colors, unlike you lot,” Warden Dynamite chastised.
He puffed a cloud of cigar smoke at us. “You all will work off your crimes, and you will like it. Ya hear? The stallions will break rocks in the quarry and the mares will hall those rocks away. It will be long, grueling work. I expect it to be done in a timely manner with no complaints.”
A wide grin formed on his face. “But if you wish to find out what happens if you disobey even one order, I will be more than glad to show you. Am I clear?”
We all looked at each other then him in concern.
Warden Dynamite looked very displeased before shouting, “AM I CLEAR?”
Harp squealed, “Yes sir!” before eying us to do the same.
Following her lead, the three of us grumbled, “Yes sir.”
“LOUDER!” he shouted again.
“YES SIR!” we repeated, knowing we had no choice.
Warden Dynamite relaxed. His eyes scanned us. “Miss Ginger, why do they have pipbucks?”
The mare again looked at her clipboard, flipping through whatever documents were on them. “It’s listed that they are stolen property. We have already issued out a request for a pipbuck technician to be sent over for the removal of the pipbucks from the convicts.”
Harp visibly flinched and hid her pipbuck behind her hoof.
I raised mine up, showing the guard behind me that it had my cutie-mark on it. He didn’t seem to care.
With a huff, Warden Dynamite relaxed again. “Well, if they're seen doing anything suspicious, be ready to just cut their legs off. Don’t need them being another trouble maker. The one we got is already too many.”
I quickly lowered my pipbuck so as to bring less attention to it.
The NCR mare, Ginger, nodded before turning to the other guards in the room. “Take them to the courtyard. We will collect them once the chain gangs are back.”
With that, the other guards herded us out of the room. I could hear the warden laughing as we left, as though he enjoyed all this. It was another reminder that I was not in the Equestria I remembered… though thinking about it, what did I even know about my Equestria in the first place?
Left in the hot sun, the four of us trotted out to the middle of the courtyard to get away from the NCR guards. Four watchtowers loomed over us, each with a sniper inside. The glint of their scope was a reminder that they were keeping a close eye on us.
“Goddesses fucking damnit!” Star Charter grumbled. “When I get out of here, I will rip Stopped Clocks throat out with my bare teeth! I just know he was the one to write down that crime list. Probably added what he thought were crimes that go back years.”
She began kicking the ground with force, which was a lot better than all the thrashing she had been doing before. She had knocked around several Deputies while on our way here. Compared to the rest of us, they bound her up as though she was a raging monster.
I couldn't blame her. Harp and I only knew Hardballer for a short time, but she knew him for years. The old griffin was her daughter's grandfather and, from what I came to know, was an upstanding griffin with a long and troubled past. I could not imagine how she felt right now.
But this was not the first time I watched some creature I had grown to respect die, and in the same senseless way. I looked down at my Pipbuck 3200, remembering it’s inventor, June, a stern no-nonsense mare who smoked heavily. She was also not fond of the war and had hated how the pipbucks had a targeting spell for attacking. I watched as Thorn killed her, unable to do anything to stop it from happening.
Again it happened.
Hardballer may have had a connection to that Slaver Lord everypony hated, but I was not there. I did not see it. What I saw was an old griffin surrounded by friends and family doing his best to make the future better for them. Ya, he deals in guns, but after dealing with giant bugs and the crazed ponies called raiders, it be stupid to not own a gun. Then Ashy shot him all because she didn’t like the Desperados!
All I could do was watch.
“Are you okay, Slowtrot?” Harp asked me as she put a hoof on my shoulder.
Water had been forming in my eyes, of which I quickly wiped it off. “Ya. About just as dandy as the rest of you.”
Harp gave me a sad smile. The kind that had a slight upturn for her mouth, but everything else drooped. “Well… I guess all we can do is wait. I’m sure someone will come get us out. No way anypony would believe we did all that. I mean, even in your time, these kinds of things didn’t happen.”
Turning to her, I gave my best, “Pinky Pie is watching us” smile. “Oh nothing ever bad happened to an innocent pony. It’s why we smile all the time. Otherwise the Pinks would come for us.” I dropped the smile. “Sorry… It’s good to hope. It really is, but there’s just too much going against us.”
“Quicktrot?” she asked. In response, I nodded.
An annoyed laugh came from Tire Fire who had been observing our surroundings from where we all sat. “Trust me, my clan ain't going to take this shit lightly. When they figure out what happened, that bitch will be knee-deep in the shit.”
“Fuck the gangers!” Star growled. “Once the Gunrunner catches wind of this, Ashy is going to have Talons up her fucking ass.”
“Maybe,” Harp said, giving me a glance. “But Slowtrot is right. We have a lot more going against us right now… Well, at least I know I do.”
She glanced around. Her head clearly still calculating as she eyed the towers that loomed over us. “If we wait for somepony to come get us out, it’s likely not going to be somepony with our best interests in mind.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t mean what I think you're getting at?”
She nodded. “Ya. We need to break out of here before any pony makes a move on us.”
Star Charter gave Harp a light jab. “Crazy thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I like it, but I also don’t like the idea of becoming some outlaw. Mom and Bridget... I mean how… how would I even talk to them if I got a bounty on my head?”
It was clear that Star was holding back her emotions. She was trying not to cry.
A long sigh came from Harp. “I already know that Victoria and Quicktrot want possession of me, and they're both ponies who don’t care how they get their hooves on me. So, if you want to sit and wait for fate to unfold for you, I’m not going to stop you, but I need to get out of here before one of them comes for me.”
Star pulled Harp into a tight hug. “I get it. I know nothing good will come if I wait for somepony to fix this mess for me. But what options do we have? Where would we even go?”
Tire Fire snorted. “You mean where will you go? Personally, I’m going to return to my clan. Like fuck anypony will come for a bounty on my head and risk the clan coming for their’s.”
“Oh, that's an option,” I said. They all looked over at me. “I mean, well if, and this is a big if, but if we do break out of here then maybe the Desperados can shelter us. They are heading west, so why not go with them?”
“Why would we take a bunch of softies like you three?” Tire snarked back.
Star let Harp go and gave Tire a much harder jab. “I literally bit a chunk out of one of you gaggers and sent the two running in fear. Harp here has a few talents I’m sure you gearheads would go to war over. And then Slowtrot… well, I’m not sure.”
“He fucked my sister.” Tire said flat out.
I tensed up in fear, but neither Harp nor Star seemed to be surprised by that statement.
Star just shrugged. “Still don’t know what Dead Axle sees in Slowtrot. No offense.”
“None taken,” I said before double-taking the statement. “You knew?”
“Well, you two were not the most subtle ponies in town,” Star replied.
“And you did spend the night together,” Harp added.
A frustrated huff came from Tire Fire. “Alright, I get it. If we get out of here then I’ll take you to my Clans campsite. Now I do hope you have a plan because those guards up in them towers don’t look like they're armed with BB guns.”
Harp scanned the towers with her eyes. An annoyed frown formed on her face. “Give me some time to think this out before making a move. The last thing we need is for them to know we're plotting to escape. On that note, let's not mention it again and not to anypony.”
Tire nodded. “I can dig. Speaking of anypony, it looks like some of the locals are coming.”
We all clammed up as we watched a rough-looking thin stallion trot over. His uniform was one size too big on him. Flanking him were two larger stallions covered in scars and tattoos.
“Oi new blood. Welcome to our wonderful resort where ya can do jack shit while under the watchful eyes of the glorious NCR. Names Cattle Prod. Consider yourself lucky I’m here to greet ya.” He had that kind of accent reminiscent of ponies from the east coast cities, where they sound like they're always trying to intimidate other ponies or start a fight. If I had to put my hoof on it, it had to be a New Jenny accent, if a bit off.
Harp stepped forward. “Names Harp. I’m guessing the other prisoners are out at the quarry. If that’s so, then what are you doing here? Are you some pony with power here with how you got two guards with you?”
Prod looked at the two larger ponies flanking him. “Oy! The fuck you two doing? Go get back to work before the Warden gets another stick up his ass.” The two stallions quickly scattered over to one of the buildings.
Alone with us, Prod quickly looked around as though keeping an eye out for anypony eavesdropping. “Once did, before that bitch showed up. Long story short, my pa owns the biggest independent brahman ranch on the east coast. I’m here doing hard time for doing dumb shit. The ponies listen to me here because I can get them good work after serving out time in this shit hole. Also, before you ask, I’m in here for tax fraud. Nothing like the shit some of the other psychos are in here for.”
“Is that why you're not breaking rocks?” I asked.
Cattle Prod puffed up his chest with pride. “Well, other than not being a savage, I have been quite well mannered, so the guards trust me and my colts to do the laundry and other clean up jobs here in the NCRCF.”
“Charming,” Harp said, not sounding impressed. Shen scratched her chin before as “You said a bitch showed up. Would that be a Spritz Cookie?”
The Stallion visibly quivered. “So she’s already getting known outside of the NCRCF? Go figure. Well, we still got some time before she returns so I’ll give ya the rundown.”
He took a deep breath before explaining. “Well, what I know about her is that she was some crazy Steal Ranger paladin or something, like the ones who would kill other ponies for a toaster kind of crazy. So big, mean, and not interested in what other ponies have to say. Well the NCR finally got their hooves on her some time back and, for some Celestia forsaken reason, they didn’t put her out of our misery like some crazed brahmin and sent her here. Something about having her work to undo the damage she had done to the NCR or some stupid shit like that. Well, Spritz Cookie didn’t care and just started ranting all day. Every day.”
“And the Warden didn’t shut her up?” Star said as she rubbed her back legs.
Cattle Prod huffed. “He tried, but Spritz is that special kind of crazy. The kind that likes the pain, both giving and receiving it. Well, don’t ask me how, but she somehow got others believing in her mad ranting, and now she's got most of the prison on her side. I mean, I like it that the other inmates are a lot less violent now, but on the other hoof, we all know she is planning on something real bad.”
“What… mad rantings?” I asked.
He looked around before motioning for us to follow him. “Oi walk and talk. The guards don’t like it when we stand around too much.”
We slowly followed him to one of the larger buildings inside the prison where several other prisoners were pulling out sacks or dragging some in.
“Now don’t tell nopony I said anything, or I’ll make your life worse than it already is.” As Cattle Prod told us that, he looked back to see if we all acknowledged. Once we all gave him a nod, he continued. “Spritz Cookie, you see, believes, for some Celestia forsaken reason, that the NCR is just another Redeye army. But with their access to technology, she thinks they will abuse it to destroy Equestria all over again. Worst of it all, she is not entirely wrong.”
“You’re talking about the Redeye part. I heard that the NCR took in a lot of the Redeye mercenaries,” I commented.
He nodded back at me. “More than that. You see Redeye, that silver tongue bastard, had managed to form alliances from east coast to the west coast in order to rebuild Fillydelphia. Supply lines, farms, ranches, all the things needed to keep a city alive. Of course, most of it was done through his slaver’s connections. Well, when he fell and the NCR formed, Gawdyna Grimfeathers quickly snatched up all those connections. It took over a year to do, but everything that was once Redeye’s became the property of the NCR, though with a new paint job and laws.”
Prod whistled at a pony by the door to the larger building. They opened it up as we entered. “Now don’t go thinking that nothing did change. I mean, not much really did. My own family still had to pay a tax and shit, but now it was just soldier ponies coming to collect instead of slavers. Still, the soldier ponies were a lot more polite. They kept their hooves to themselves and such.”
Harp chimed in. “So this Spritz Cookie uses this fact to what? Get ponies to side with her against the NCR? Is she some sort of revolutionary?”
“If only.” Prod said as we entered a mess hall.
High above us was a walkway, of which a few NCR guards watched over us with their rifles at their side. The ground floor itself was considerably clean and organized with the kitchen further back. Prisoners were in the kitchen preparing food as a few more guards stood by at a safe distance.
Taking a seat at one of the tables, we joined Prod as he further explained. “I’ve seen ponies fight against a shit system. One of my older brothers tried to be a revolutionary when Redeye was around. Got a nice possy too before the slavers killed them all. There's a certain credence to them with a way they pick their targets and tactics. Those who went after Redeye always tried to save the slaves and kill the slavers. Hard targets even before the Alacorns joined Redeye.”
“And Spritz Cookie doesn't,” Harp asked.
“Well the NCR doesn't have slavers to go after, so no.” Prod answered. “All the NCR actually has are the soldier ponies which are used to guard caravans. You know, the things mainly populated with hard-working folk who risk their lives delivering shit other ponies need to live. They were around before, during, and after Redeye, and will be around when the NCR eventually falls. The only things that come after those caravans are monsters, riders, or the occasion bandit trying to charge a bridge toll.”
Again Prod looked around, making sure no pony was trying to eavesdrop on us. “Spritz Cookie, on the other hoof, believes that attacking those caravans is for some greater good. Strangle the NCR while it’s still in its infancy as she so eloquently says. She weaves the history of Redeye with the NCR, picking the bloody parts to justify the murdering of caravan ponies, all while ignoring that she is a Steal Ranger who killed ponies for just having a toaster. There is no goal other than chaos with Spritz, but she is good at convincing others that she is right.”
Harp nodded. “One more question: Cattle Prod. Why tell us anything? What’s your aim?”
He smiled. “Oi a smart one, ain’t ya? Now that I gave you all a heads up, you four owe me a favor.”
Feeling a bit confused, I spoke up. “Wait, but we didn’t ask for you to-”
Tire Fire jabbed me with his hoof. “Doesn't matter, Slowtrot. Nothings free. Even if a pony says they're giving it away, they will still come back for their payment.”
Turning to Cattle Prod, Tire Fire addressed the convict. “Now I ain’t no fag, so if you want me to suck your dick for that info, I’m going to beat your shit out of you right here.”
Prod laughed. “Good to know. Last stallion who chose to go the bitch route became every ponies bitch. But no. I ain’t no fag either, though I wouldn’t mind getting some alone time from the two ladies here.”
Both Star and Harp gave him a flat “No!”
“Fair enough.” Prod said without any shame in his voice. “Not like the guard would let us fuck without them getting in on the action too. Ruins the mood.
Anyways, what I’m after is not some cheap one night stand, but access to what you three go on your fetlocks.”
Harp, Star, and I looked at our pipbucks.
“How are they any use to you?” Star asked.
Prod smiled. “A use to me? No. Not at all. But to Spritz Cookie? Well, I did say she was a Steal Ranger, didn’t I?”
Star sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fuck, so you want the tin can to come after us.”
“Yes, but more accurately, to go after you while you stay away from me.” Prod further explained, pointing at us, then himself, to emphasize his words.
The sound of a whistle could be heard outside. A few of the guards on the catwalk left.
“What's that?” I asked.
“The chain giants are returning,” Prod told us.
He pointed to the far corner of the mess hall. “I’ll be over there.” He pointed to the opposite side of the mess hall. “You all will be over there with your pipbucks visible. Do that simple task without telling Spritz that we had this talk, and I’ll make sure my ponies keep an eye out for you. If you keep Spritz off my ass, I’ll even return a favor for you.”
We watched as Cattle Prod got up and left to his side of the mess hall, leaving us to talk amongst ourselves.
Star was first to state her disagreement. “Fuck ‘em. He looks too much like a vulture to trust.”
Tire Fire was next. “We could just beat the shit out of this Spritz Cookie? Make us the new big dogs.”
“We could just not get involved?” I suggested.
“No, those are all bad ideas,” Harp chimed in quietly. “What we need is allies. Ponies to watch our back if we are to get out of here.”
“So you want to work with that softy?” Tire Fire scoffed.
Harp closed her eyes. She took a deep breath before answering. “No, not at all. Cattle Prod is honest, but I have no doubt he will sell us out as soon as it will serve his best interest. Also, he clearly doesn't want to get on NCR's bad side, so being party to a prison break would be far from his best interests.”
“Then what?” Star asked her.
With full confidence, Harp said, “We’ll talk with this Spritz Cookie. That’s what.”
Being labeled as Raider supporters is not going to win any friends, much less ponies who want to hear what you say. The soldiers who guard the NCRCF see Slowtrot, Star, and Harp as nothing more than criminals that cannot be trusted.
-Cleaners Convicts-
Cattle Prod has his eyes on the new ponies in lockup and hopes they will be useful to keep a problem prisoner distracted. They will not help or hinder until the three help them.
"Slowtrot told me about the biggest instigator for a lot of accusations over being spies that happen in old Equestria. With the Ministry of Moral, also called the Pinks, as he described them, was to make sure ponies were happy. Any pony who was very much not happy would be taken away to get help.
A lot of the ponies who returned from being taken by the Pinks were fine, having just needed some help or a pony to talk to. Slowtrot also said that, every now and then, one of them would come back odd, as though something about them was missing. Even though it was rare, the fear of coming back off was thick and made ponies paranoid about the Pinks.
Slowtrot explained that there were many times where he kept his head down as some ponies pointed others out to the Pinks, hoping he would not be next. The silver bullet, as some called it, was to accuse a pony of spying for the Zebras. Sometimes it was because they were not acting normal. Other times it was because they had slighted the accuser. To him, as he explained, it was just how things were." ~ Azure Dice
I had to admit that, though this plan didn’t fill me with the confidence that Harp was trying to portray, it was also clear that we didn’t have the options or time to just wait and hope for an opportunity to present itself.
From what we knew, Harp had two timberwolves circling around her, each wanting to use her for their own ends. Maybe she would be safe with Quicktrot, but she may also become her new host, doomed to suffer from soul rot. With Victoria and the OIA, it was no different, with her either being kept as a political bride or a literal sacrifice.
Star’s option didn’t seem too great either considering this Purity Spiral sounding like a nutcase with too much power. I could imagine she would be kept as some trophy at best.
I would likely be left here to be forgotten. Quicktrot could easily pay somebody off to keep me here, probably using the caps she was going to use to send me away originally. Thinking about it, it would not be hard for her to just pay somepony to kill me while I'm here.
Having both little time or options were right.
Agreeing with the plan, well what little plan we had at the moment, we moved to the other side of the mess hall, far from Cattle Prod. We were not going to rely on him, but we were also not going to get on his bad side either.
Tire Fire sat a small distance away. He didn’t have a pipbuck, so Harp felt that it would help if he stayed out of Spritz Cookie’s sight. His job was to watch as an outsider and make his own connections.
With the plan in mind, we quickly went to observe the prisoners as they arrived.
What we saw looked like some unrailed train had arrived inside the prison. The prison itself seemingly has one side reconstructed to let this thing in and out without risk to security, thus allowing the NCR guards to be all over the place while separated from the prisoners. The unrailed train itself was pulled by a large bulldozer covered in what looked like thick armored plates. This made the thing look more like a tank than a piece of heavy duty construction equipment. Pulling this was several stripped down motor wagon frames, each packed with prisoners, all chained together and to the frame.
Unlocking the prisoners from the motor waggon frames, I counted ten prisoners to each chain gang, five to each side of the motor wagon frame. There were six frames being pulled, thus three hundred prisoners were marched into the courtyard. It was almost an even split between stallions and mares. Not just ponies were here either. Among them, I could see several zebras, a few goats, two deers, and a yak.
“I don’t see any pegasus or griffins,” I commented.
“They can fly, so they're likely kept somewhere they can be more easily contained,” Star figured.
“Makes sense,” I replied.
Scanning the prisoners with my eyes, I couldn’t tell which pony would be Spritz Cookie. So many of them looked rough around the edges and dangerous. There were a lot of scars on them. The more tough looking seems like they had a close encounter with a meat grinder. All of them looked dusty and very much worn down, likely from the long day of labor, which also made them look similar in coat color from all the dust on them.
From a balcony, the Warden trotted out, flanked by two NCR troopers armed with service rifles that had longer barrels and scopes. Pulling out a megaphone, Warden Dynamite spoke. His voice was filled with disdain and authority. “Looks like you worthies trash have finished your required day of labor, and with no fighting this time. It seems that the virtues of a good citizen are finally being beaten into you. Maybe, after a year of this, I might consider you all something close to a real pony.”
A loud snort came from the prisoners, causing several of them to move away from the pony who made the noise. It was a larger earth pony mare who was completely covered in scars and tattoos that resembled military symbols from my time. If she was from back then, she would be seen as a Ministry of Wartime Technology fanatic. Even her cutie mark resembled this, an apple grenade over a gear.
“Already asking for another beating, Spritz Cookie?” The Warden called out to her.
The mare, Spritz Cookie, spoke with a loud and commanding voice. So much so that we could hear her clearly from where we were. “I KNOW YOU JACK OFF TO IT AT NIGHT, SO WHY NOT COME DOWN HERE AND DO IT YOURSELF? TRUST ME, IT’S SO MUCH MORE TRILLING WHEN YOU BEAT PONIES WITH YOUR OWN HOOVES.”
A snarl formed of the Warden's face. “All but Spritz is relieved to go eat. She gets five lashes for insubordination.”
All the prisoners but Spritz began to trot to the mess hall. Several of the guards trotted back in, looking down at us from the catwalk. “You four, the new inmates! Grab a seat. Each row will be called on to get their meal once all of you trash has been seated.”
We did as we were told, sticking to the current plan.
As the prisoners funneled in, we made sure our pipbucks were visible, getting a lot of murmurs from the other inmates as they eyed us with curiosity. They also gave us a wide berth, causing our row to fill in slower than the others.
With a loud thump, the Yak I saw in the chain gang plopped down on the other side of the table from us. The male yak spoke in a jovial tone. His yak accent was heavy. “Ah, new friends. What are you in here for?”
The three of us looked at each other a bit confused by this big, hairy, and oddly friendly yak.
Star answered him. “We were framed because the sheriff in our town is a cunt.”
He laughed jovaly. “Oh, is that so? I can relate!”
I raised an eyebrow. “How?”
He banged his hoof on the table. It flexed under his strength. “Back home, the prince had too much pride for his lack of experience. Needs smash more, wash less. When Yak tried to show him, he had Yak exiled. Yaks all knew he was being fool, so told Yak to smash elsewhere for a year, let Prince wise up before returning.”
Right. Yaks love to break things all the time. It’s why the ponies at home didn’t like them all that much.
“So why are you in here?” Harp asked.
Again the Yak laughed. “Yak likes to smash. Tries to show ponies the joy of smashing. Ponies got mad, now Yak here.”
I face hoofed. “Yaks... Yaks never change.”
“Not true!” the Yak spoke up with pride. “Yaks current king brings back the joy of the smash. Before Yak’s smashed to take, to show anger Yak’s had. Now we smash to show Yak’s joy. Yak’s smash old things so Yak’s can make new things.”
We all looked at each other a bit confused.
The Yak again laughed loudly. “You ponies always have hard time understanding Yak’s. Always cling to old things that don’t matter, where we Yaks smash them, then make things that do matter.” He banged his hoof on the table again, causing all of us, and other prisoners, to bounce. “Yak tried to show ponies, but ponies don’t understand. Want old things that don’t matter, not build new things that do matter.”
I sighed and muttered. “Like holding onto the war even after we no longer had a reason to fight.”
Then I felt two large hooves lift me up. “Yes! Yes! Pony gets it! Smash old hatred, then build new. It may be new hatred, it may not, but it is new.”
His hold on me made me feel like a ragdoll. I was unable to do anything in his grip. “Uhh, please put me down.”
The Yak froze for a moment before letting me go, causing me to fall back onto my seat.
“Yak sorry. Yak got overjoyed that pony understood,” he said as the Yak sat back down.
Harp scratched her chin for a moment, then a small smile formed on her face before she asked, “Say, Mister Yak, what’s your name?”
“Amralt,” the large Yak said with a smile. “It means recreation. Mother always said I like to remake things that I smashed, and it’s true.”
“I see. Well, I hope we become good friends,” Harp said before sighing. “We could really do with rebuilding after what we just went through.”
Amralt again laughed. “Like old grandpa yak always tells Yak; as long yak is alive, yak can keep building and smashing. It’s not like anything is made to last forever. All things fall apart in time. But, if Yak smashes it first, then Yak chooses how it falls. Makes it fall in a way no Yak is hurt. Smashed pieces can be easily reused for things Yak needs.”
I raised my hoof up to ask a question. “But why not make things that last forever? Wouldn't that be better? I mean Celestia ruled for over a thousand years.”
Amralt smuggly huffed. “Princess pony has not ruled for over two hundred years. It was stripe ponies who smashed Equestria, not Equestria smashing itself. Equestria is smashed in way it not be easily remade.”
I lowered my hoof. Feeling I just got intellectually outmaneuvered by a Yak that only cares about breaking and building things… no, wait… I actually just did.
Our conversation died down a little as more and more of the prisoners filed in and a clear gap between us and them had formed. I was sure that they were deliberately making space for us to avoid causing a scene, unlike the Yak. This is something that I never heard about with prisons, though I didn’t know all that much in the first place.
It just felt too… organized.
Then she finally showed up, Spritz Cookie. She was sporting several fresh and deep cuts on her, but didn’t show any sign of pain on her face. Eying the mess hall, her gaze fell on the spot where we were and she grimaced.
Trotting over to us, it grew more obvious how big she was. She was like a large stallion kind of big. It made her even more intimidating. The mare herself, other than her size, scars, and tattoos, was a very plain mare with a light tan coat, short brown mane, and amber eyes. Unfortunately, that didn’t make her any less frightening with the scowl she looked down at us with.
“Oy Savages, get the fuck out of my spot!” she said in a menacingly husky voice.
We all then instantly looked over at Cattle Prod, knowing he intentionally left that peace of information out.
Star then rolled her eyes before looking up at Spritz. “And what the fuck are you going to do about it… Bitch?”
The large mare sat down next to Star, a smile on her face. “Oh, what’s your name, sugar?”
“Sta-” As Star began to talk, Spritz back hoofed her, knocking Star out of her seat.
We watched in stunned silence as everypony just ignored what had just happened.
Spritz Cookie looked at Harp and I, then said. “Any questions?”
We both got up and Spritze took over the spot where we were.
Helping Star get up, a small bit of blood dripped from her nose, but she quickly shook it off and took a seat next to Spritz.
“You hit like a damn hellhound.” Star said as she smiled. Her blood covered her teeth.
Spritze grunted, seemingly in approval. “Cunt, your skull seems to be as thick as one.”
She looked down at our pipbucks. “And you three seem to have something ponies like you shouldn’t have.”
I grew a bit more nervous, knowing that the crux of the plan was about to come into motion.
Harp paused for a moment, looking down at her pipbuck. Her eyes scanned it as she was in deep thought about the words she chose to say.
When she spoke, she sounded even more like she came straight out of Canterlot. “That... depends on what kind of ponies you think we are. You called us savages, but I can say the same thing about you, with how you're covered in tribal markings and the like.”
She lifted up her pipbuck a little so that Spritz could get a bit better look at it. “Do the likes of you even know what this is?”
Spritz huffed in annoyance. “It’s a fucking pipbuck. I bet you don’t even know half the things that can… wait… somthings off with that one.” She peered at each of ours with curious eyes. “None of those are pipbuck 3000’s, are they?”
Resting her hoof down on the table, Harp took a deep breath. “Star here has a 3100 overmare pipbuck. It has administrative authority over the Stable-Teh network, meaning it can open any stable door and has access to all encoded information still hidden by Stable-Tec. Slowtrot here has the Pipbuck 3200, a search and rescue pipbuck with a built in medical scanning spell and onboard virtual intelligent assistant.” She tapped her own pipbuck. “Mine here is the Orthrus spell assist pipbuck that has an advanced VI assistant and can have a spell talisman holo tape inserted into it to give me access to a magic spell.”
Harp waited for Spritz to process the information. The large mare’s face slowly scrunched into a frown. Harp continued. “As far as I know, all three pipbucks are one of a kind out in this dreadful wasteland which makes them all more powerful than any pipbuck you have seen, I bet. Now Order explain a bit more about yourself.”
Her pipbuck lit up and beeps before a polite sound robot voice spoke from it. “This platform is a modified standard issue Orthrus Pipbuck made for madam Harp. Givin the feature of integrating with a recon drone to act as Lady Harps protector in case she is ever without a guard herself. This platform can do several features to assist Lady Harp, up to including recording any information relevant to madam Harps safety.”
“That's enough, Order,” Harp said while patting her pipbuck as though it was a pet. “I hope this shows that we, or at least I, am far from a savage.”
Spritzes face relaxed as she leaned an elbow on the table. “Alright. You got something else nopony has. Does not mean ponies like you are worthy of it.”
“Well that can all be true, yes,” Harp strangely agreed as she subtly looked over at one of the NCR guards that were keeping a close watch on us. “But you can imagine that they would not be thrilled with us keeping the pipbucks. Now imagine what will happen if they find out that it’s more advanced than any pipbucks they already have taken.”
This time Spritzes face scrunched up into a snarl. “Ya! Those fuckers would love to get their filthy hooves on what they should never touch.” She then smiled, the tension on her face again relaxed. “I see, I see. We can talk later. It's time we eat.”
Nothing else was said after that, but it seemed that Harp managed to get a message across. I would need to ask later, but I could only guess it involved Spritz hating the NCR, and they possibly getting our pipbucks. Not sure what was going on in either of their minds, but if it got us out of here, then I was all for it.
Still, Spritz came off as a dangerous pony to me. Not like the Desperadoes who had a more wild and free feeling to them. Spritz felt more… oppressive.
The time to eat came. The row we were at got to line up first. Spritz Cookie was the first in that line. The food we got was served on a metal tray that acted as the plate which separated the portions into four parts. One small round part in the upper left held a bottle of water. Next to it, on the upper right, was a long thin rectangle with some sort of processed food bar. On the bottom left was a larger round part filled in with a kind of gruel. Last, and what took up much of the tray was a larger square that had a yellow loaf of bread on it.
As we sat down, no pony ate until every pony was finished gathering their food and had sat down, including the row on the other side of the table. After that, the line ponies began breaking off a piece of their food bar and sent it down the line of prisoners, passing us, and being given to Spritz. Seeing all this, and not being idiots, we did the same.
There was a moment of pause as nopony ate. We all sat in silence as we watched Spritz. She took her own food bar and threw it in her mouth, chewing for what felt like a hole minute before swallowing. Only then did everypony start eating.
To say the food was bland would be giving it too much credit. The food bar tasted a bit off. Not a rotten kind of off, but as though made of something I would normally never eat. The grual seems undercooked, and the bread was too hard for what turned out to be cornbread. I watched as the other prisoners broke the bread to scoop up the gruel. This helped us figure out the best way to eat the slop we got. It only made it more bearable to eat, not taste better.
At least the water was mostly clean. It had a slight metallic taste to it that concerned me.
I got a good glance of Cattle Prod as he trotted to his seat. The ponies in that row seemed to have slightly better looking food. Not sure what it was. It just seemed to have a bit more color to it.
“The snitch will get his,” Spritz muttered as she chowed down on one of her extra food bar pieces.
I didn’t need to be told any more about that situation. Even in my time, there were poies like Prod who sold out the others around them for brownie points with the boss. I saw it time and time again, even to the point that some ponies spied on others just so they can call them out to the boss. Whenever they got the authority they so wanted, no matter how small that authority was, they would go on a power trip like nothing else.
Harp was right. Cattle Prod would sell us out as soon as it benefited him. Some things never changed.
Some of the other inmates slowly filtered out of the mess hall as they finished their dinner. Others stayed at the tables talking. We all had free roaming time after our meal, though most of the prisoners were clearly too exhausted to do much of anything but lie down. It was a depressing sight. Harp used the time to look around a little.
When the free time was over, a loud whistle was blown, causing all the inmates to gather together in the courtyard. Filing out row by row, we were then separated by gender. The guards went down the line to make sure every creature was accounted for. Once they were done, they would signal to the NCR guards above that all was accounted for.
With the whole prison population here and lined up, I could tell there were around over four hundred of us here. Maybe five hundred. The NCR guards, on the other hoof, may be numbered around just one hundred. Most stayed up high above us and away from the prisoners.
From a podium above, the Wardin trotted out. Clearly he had just eaten something far better than what we had. He smoked another cigar. With the sun setting behind him, he looked all black like a shadow. Only his cigar lit up his face. His eyes were hidden behight mirrored sunglasses, of which reflected the red light of his cigar tip back at us. What stood above us didn’t look like a pony. It was more like some creature that had escaped from Tartarus. Even more likely was something that guarded the prisoners of Tartarus itself.
With his megaphone position for him, he spoke with vosterus authority. “Once more you all have been so Generously given food and drink by the Kindness of the New Canterlot Republic’s Citizens, all so that you can learn to show Honesty and Loyalty to your fellow ponies. So before you all turn in for the night, I want to hear you all be filled with Laughter and show me that you all are on the road to be reformed. Now show me the Magic!”
I was confused at this speech, mainly because of what he was demanding… Then some of the prisoners began to laugh.
Just hearing it had me do the same like in involeter composition.
It was a laugh I knew too well. Far too well. Whenever a pony felt that they were being watched by the Ministry of Moral, they would do this laugh at every joke. Every slight thing that made them feel any emotion, all to hide their discomfort and fear. Even I had done this laugh so many times back during the war that it was natural. But now that I was doing it again, and on demand. It made me feel sick.
Laughing like this just enforced the idea of how much had not truly changed at all.
I felt a heavy hoof slap my side as a jovle deep laugh bellowed next to me. It was Amralt who seemed to be enjoying himself somehow. Actually his own laughter put my own nerves at ease. I began to laugh as though this whole situation was too ridiculous to take seriously. All my fear, stress, and anger melted away in that short moment. It ended by a yell from the warden.
“SILENCE!” Warden Dynamight called out. All the prisoners quickly quieted down. All except for Amralt and I. We had to actually wind down as laughing like this could not simply be stopped so fast.
Then I noted that the Warden was eyeing me with disgust. I don’t know why, but I felt as though I offended him by not stopping right when he told us to. It was annoying and stupid, so I gave the Wardin a big smile.
Warden Dynamight squinted at me for a second before talking again on the megaphon. “Now then, as you go to sleep, do remember that generous republic has given you a second chance. Anywhere else would have had you all executed, putting you all out of our misery. But, because the ponies at the top want to Do Better, you all are here to become better. So you better start trying to be more than the trash you all are. As good as all the money that is being wasted on you all.”
With that, the Warden left. The NCR guards began to herd us off to our barracks. The Stallions and mares were separated. Each of us were kept on either side of the prison as we were taken to our cells.
There was little organization once we were inside the cell chambers since the prisoners picked and chose where they were going to stay. With how it was set up, each cell contained two bunk bed cots. The cell itself looked like it should have only fit two ponies comfortably. Also, inside, there was a bucket in a corner and that was it.
I ended up bunking with Amralt who quickly took the top bunk. That threatened to break under the large Yak. I was going to take one of the other two cots in the cell, but they were quickly snatched up by two other prisoners. Both looked rough around the edges and thin, giving off a sense of danger, but not like the other ponies here.
With a sigh, I sat on the cot under Amralt. I was careful to not hit my head on the bump he made above me.
“ALL LOCKED UP!” an NCR guard called out. After that, every cell closed all at once. The guards began making their way out as they turned out most of the lights.
It was not complete darkness, but doing anything in it was going to be impossible.
Sighing, I just layed down. I was again unsure what was coming next.
“Oy, new blood?” one of the other ponies in the cell called out to me. A spark of magic lit up. A weak ball of light formed on the tip of the horn of the pony on the top bunk. “What are ya in here for?”
Looking up at the unicorn, he had a real shifty look on his face. It was as though he wanted something, but I didn’t know what.
Not seeing a reason to not answer, I said, “False charges of being a raider. That's what.”
The bottom bunk pony chuckled. “Ya. Sure. And I didn’t burglarize that rich pony’s house at all or rob a caravan at gunpoint.”
The top bunk pony grunted. “Fuck off. Pilfer. Ain’t no pony cares about your opinion.”
“My opinion.” Pilfer sarcastically said. “Said the pony who posed as an NCR soldier so as to steal their guns and ammo, then tried to sell it all back to them. At least I know to find a fence first, Filch.”
Great! I was in a cell with two thieves. At least they were not violent criminals, or worse.
“Trust me, I haven't committed any crimes as I’m aware of,” I tried to explain, but when they both laughed at me. I gave up. “Alright. If selling guns to a clan of gangers is a crime, that's what I was doing.”
“Ohhhh… sucks to be you, then.” Filch said in an amused tone. “Got a cousin that was executed for just being near a ganger operation. Ya, she was getting paid by them to watch the trade routes and such, but she was not a gangger herself. Didn’t stop the locals from stringing her up, though.”
Pilfer then added, “I still remember when the NCR went from sanctioning a ganger group one day to coming down on them like a pack of timber wolves the next. Almost got caught up in that mess.”
“Wait, why?” I asked.
Pilfer quietly laughed. “Why? Because they can. The NCR is the biggest gangger group on the east coast. What they say goes. If a group of gangers are sitting on some old world tech, the NCR does not need to ask for it. They can just take it.”
“And it’s not like anypony will care,” Filch said in an amused tone. “Most of those gangers act like their the queen bitch of their pile of shit, treating every pony else like shit too. So, when the NCR kicks them off their mound, it’s more just desserts than anything. So ya, you’re fucked, as all of us are. As soon as anypony hears ganger affiliation, they stop caring about who you are and what will happen to you.”
This didn’t paint a pretty picture for me. I was going to need to talk with Tire Fire the next time we have a chance. But, while I was here, maybe I could get some more information.
“About the gangers, what do you know about the Desperadoes?” I asked.
Pilfer and Filch both then went “Ohhh” which did not fill me with confidence on any good news.
Pilfer explained, “So that's who ya got involved with, the route 50 assholes up north. Ya, from what we know, the NCR is only playing nice with them because they're too busy fighting some raider tribes down south and they need access to the route 50 trade road. If ya got caught with them doing anything the law doesn't like, ya is fucked. The NCR is not going to give you any special treatment.”
A huff came from Filch. “Not like they weren't asking for it. My family got stuck up with ‘em when Redeye was still dicking around. Always demanding tribute and bossing us around. Oh we should be glad we're under their protection and shit. The Desperados were not better than any ganger’s out there. They just had more hooves and guns. If the NCR knocks them over, I say good riddance.”
“So you like the NCR?” I asked.
They both sucked in the air with their teeth.
Also not liking the sound of that, I changed the topic. “Nevermind. Can you tell me anything about Spritz Cookie?”
They both went silent.
Pilfer then quietly whispered to me, “Trust me, the less said, the better. Just do what she says and don’t make a scene. The only reason Cattle Prod is one of the top dogs is because he dosent work the chain gang, so she can't simply off him like the others.”
“Others?” I again asked.
Filch confirms by saying, “Ya. We have a few other ponies who were the bosses of their own click here in the NCRCF you see. Well they didn’t like Spritz, and she didn’t like them. Well one day in the quarry, somehow a stick of dynamite had somehow found its way on the cliff side of the quarry, right in a crack. The thing blew over the bosses when they were having a chat. Likely they were talking about Spritz when it engulfed them in a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, two had their heads caved in by limestone. The other had a pick axe through her skull. The fucking NCR said they had a fight and killed eachother. Now only Spritz and Prod are running this shit show.”
“Now don’t tell nopony I said this.” Pilfer again whispered. “But I think the guards here are scared of Spritz. Like real scared. It doesn't help with how thin the guards have gotten.”
That last part caught my attention “Thin?”
“Ya. Thin as in less guards keeping order.” Pilfer explained. “Remember we mentioned the raiders down south? Well supposedly it’s gotten worse. Not sure why, but it’s like the raiders there have been getting more guns and crazy ponies keep joining them. The NCR has been taking troops from all over to help protect the settlements down south. Been pissing off the wardin, as it’s making it harder to keep an eye on all of us.”
“Interesting. Is their-” I began to ask, but Amralt began snoring loudly, like sawing wood he was. Several groans could be heard from the other cells and Filch put out his light. I knew that the day was over and I needed to try and sleep.
More and more I didn’t like the idea of working with Spritz, but I also didn’t see any other way to get out of here. All I could do was count myself lucky that I was in a cell with two petty thieves and a big friendly Yak.
Slowtrot, Star, and Harp have caught the attention of Spritz Cookie and will hold off from making any moves on them until she decides what to do about the three ponies with pipbucks.
"Probing further, Slowtrot told me about a time where an argument had occurred between his neighbors. The next day one of them was gone. It was clear that one neighbor had called the pinks on the other to get rid of them, but he did not say anything about it.
Once a pony has the label of spy or mental illness, there was nothing to save them from the Pinks. One can only hope they could return normal.
Hearing all this, it was clear that old Equestria had fallen into some secret police state where the populace both feared authority and each other. I could only imagine what kind of individuals would have risen to power during that time, but I suspected it was the kind of pony who enjoyed filling others with fear. Having seen it a few times in my travels, where somebody with too much power and time used it to abuse those under their thumb. It was their favorite thing to do; turning the population against themselves.
I don’t know much about the leadership of Equestria, other than they being some heroes of friendship magic, but clearly the ponies who filled the management roles of the Ministry's abused what power they had to make things go so wrong." ~ Azure Dice
Morning came. If the light didn’t stir anypony, the loud buzzer did. Everypony lied up in front of our cells as the NCR guards trotted passed to check on us. There was a commotion further down in one of the cells as the guards rushed over, manually opening it up. Three ponies were marched out at gunpoint. Two looked frightened and the other looked at peace with blood on his hooves.
Many prisoners began cheering loudly as the fourth pony was dragged out. His face utterly caved in. His blood left a line behind the corps.
It just reminded me of where I was and what kind of ponies I was dealing with.
“Tough brake,” Filch said matter-of-factly.
“Still a bit much. It’s not like he was forcing himself on mares,” Pilfer commented.
I raised an eyebrow. “He was what now?”
Filch huffed. “Cobble, the dead one, was part of a small bandit group that got paid protection caps. The norm. When some settlements could not pay in caps or goods, they would pay in flesh. Cobble prefered payment in flesh you see.”
“Ya, ya, whats wrong with a little prostitution as pay?” Pilfer grumbled.
A jab came from Filch to his friend's side. “The problem was that he likes them young. Too young. Anyways, why the fuck you defending him for? The asshat was a snitch through and through. Sold out his gang just to not get the noose they all got.”
Pilfer sighed. “Ya you’re right. Cobble did give the rest of us a bad name. Fuck that pony.”
“Amralt feels no sorrow for that pony. Yaks no forgive those who harm the young,” Amralt said in a stern tone.
Pilfer and Filch together said “Here, Here.”
Watching it, it was clear that there were some lines that even these criminals saw as too far. Unfortunately that didn’t help me much, as I knew I was still fair game for whatever happens.
Soon after all the cell doors opened up and we all filed out. Greeting us was the three prisoners who were removed from the cell being savagely beat. It all went on longer than I was comfortable with. When it was finally over, the larger stallion, who had blood on his hooves, was thrown into some hole in the ground. A cage door over it got locked shut.
Warden Dynamite trotted out onto his podium. His megaphon was at the ready. “Another glorious day, isn't it? Blue skies that go on forever. Well you all should remember that it’s the NCR who gave you those blue skies. Appreciate this grand charity offered to even trash like you.”
His eyes panned down to the two beaten prisoners. “But it seems there are those who still can’t control themselves. Who can’t learn to be civilized the easy way. Maybe they should go without food today to remind them why we are so generous and kind.”
Dynamite paused to look over the rest of us. He looked at me for an extra second before looking at the rest. “As for all of you trash that have managed to stay out of trouble, keep that up or you will end up like them. Be obedient and you will get your two meals a day. Disobey and punishment will be given out instead. Now you all better remember this and be productive.”
Stepping away from his podum, Dynamite disappeared back into his office.
Funneling into the mess hall, Star, Harp and I all got back together. Sitting down, Harp quickly got to whispering more of our plan. As it seems, they spent the night with Spritz. During that time, they had quietly discussed a plan.
Harp began to explain. “Frankly I don’t know if that mare is on our side or not, but I’m banking on that she hates the NCR enough that she will help us. Fortunately she knows a few things here that need spark batteries to be used, which we can possibly get our hooves on. I told her if I could get my hooves on electronics, I could make it into something that might help us get out of here.”
Star sighed, making sure her voice was as quiet as possible within the loud mess hall. “I don’t know. Things here are very locked down. The most you could make is a shiv or something. Don’t know how that will help us.”
A slightly depressed look formed on Harp's face. “I know, I know. I’ve been really trying hard to think of what's the best way out of here. Most ideas would take too long, and the fastest way out is simply too destructive… I just need more time to think things through.”
I finally chimed in. “Well, not sure if it helps, but I learned Spritz killed most of the other prison bosses in one go. It was during the quarry work we are due to do. From what I was told, it was quite brutal. We should really be careful on how we go about dealing with Spritz.”
Star nodded. “Ya, that bitch is built like a brick and hits like one too. There's also no guarantee she won't just kill us if we’re successful at escaping. Steal rangers do that shit after all.”
Harp took a deep breath. She slowly exhaled before adding to the conversation. “She’s our only shot right now, so we just need to tread carefully. Now let's avoid talking about all this before some pony overhears us.”
Star and I nodded.
We had breakfast. Just like before, Spritz got her tribute. After that we were allowed to wander around the prison compound for an hour. Amralt told us that it was our only free time before we went to “Work.” Most of the inmates just sat around with their clicks, talking. There was little anypony could do here. There were even less places to get away from another pony. Spritz Cookie was doing some sort of sermon about the fall of Equestria and how the NCR does not deserve what remained. We chose to wander around first in order to get a better look at our prison.
I was no architect, or a thinker at all, so I let Harp do the thinking here. From what I could tell myself, besides the several layers of high chain linked fences and guard towers, we also had flat desert as far as the eye could see. I was completely at a loss on how we were to even get out of the prison, much less get away from whoever chases after us.
Once the hour was up, we were all called outside to line up in groups of five.
I stuck with Amralt along with Pilfer and Filch. They latched onto us like parasites. To my relief, the fifth pony to join us was Tire Fire who made the two thieves considerably uncomfortable, so they positioned themselves on the other side of Amralt. This was good, as it let Tire talk to me with a big wooly Yak as a wall for us.
The NCR guards came around to shackle our back left legs, then ran a chain through them. Looking over at Harp and Star, the same was being done with them. The two stuck with Spritz Cookie and two other rough looking mares. Once everypony was chained up, we were herded to the wagons and packed inside.
With a roaring engine, the large and armored bulldozer rolled over. The Warden himself drove the thing. I was in the front wagon which gave me a better view of the junky looking tank of ancient construction equipment.
It was hard to tell, but my guess was that the bulldozer was from Burro Industry. The thing had no flare sturdy donkey design to it. The armored plates were clearly welded on which covered all the vital spots, including the cabin. Even the tractors had a skirt on it. I think I saw what looked like concrete poking out from under the armor plates here and there. To complete the tank-like look, as ridiculous as it was, an NCR Guard sat on top of the bulldozer, holding onto a bar for stability. He was armed with what looked like a Service Rifle, but it was actually more than that. It had the Service Rifle form, but it's magazine was a huge box with a belt of bullets feeling into the side from it. A bipod was attached to the end of a thicker barrel.
“What's up with that rifle?” I asked.
“You mean the NCR’s all purpose rifles they use everywhere,” Pilfer spoke up. “Ya. Turns out they can turn those things into machine guns or markspony rifles. When I got my hooves on one of them, it didn’t seem all that impressive, to tell the truth. But that's because it was an unmodified one. Get the right parts and a Service Rifle will be whatever you want it to be.”
It made me wonder what I could do with my own Service Rifle if I ever get it back.
With a loud clunk of the wagons being hooked onto the bulldozer, I heard the Warden begin shouting. “Don't you go getting scratches on my Dazychain now. She's a sensitive gal so treat her right, you idiot!”
“Yes sir. Sorry sir! You mean the bulldozer sir?” the NSR guard said back.
“Her name is Dazychain, privet.” The warden shouted back.
“Yes sir! I’ll be more careful around Dazychain, sir!” the guard again said back, but with a bit more panic in his voice.
“Good. Now go take those lowlifes to get work done,” Warden Dynamite ordered before addressing the Guard on top of Dazychain. “Like before, if a prisoner even tries to get close to my Dazychain, shoot them!”
The Guard on top of Dazychain saluted the Warden. “With honor, Sir!”
Warden Dynamite finally trotted off and the roar of Dazychain’s engine powered on. The wagons lurched forward as a result.
“Alright Slowtrot. Again ... bend with your knees and let the pickaxe do most the work.” Amralt had focused on me to show the best way to smash rocks, which luckily kept the other prisoners away. I wasn’t going to push the giant friendly furball away with all the cutthroats I was around, so I just did as he instructed.
It wasn't all bad. Amralt’s technique for smashing rocks put less strain on my neck and shoulders. This was something that was engaging my whole body, I was sure I was going to feel it the next day.
The quarry itself was just some hole in the ground. Both the NCR guards down here with us and up above us had their guns at the ready, waiting for somepony to do something stupid. The process for breaking the rocks was simple as well. It started with some of us drilling holes into the side of the quarry, shoving dynamingt down into it, blowing a huge chunk out, then breaking the chunk into small enough pieces for them to be carried away into the rock crusher.
Harp and Star had the job of picking up the smaller limestone rocks to be carried to the rock crusher. If it wasn’t a nearly nonstop twelve hour shift, or with a lot of bad ponies around it, it wouldn't be that bad.
My pickacks came down onto a chunk of Limestone, breaking off a small peace.
“Good good. Keep that up, pony,” Amralt encouraged as he brought his own pickaxe down, breaking off a larger chunk. With each hit he did, he turned it into several smaller rocks. “See? Eventually you will smash like Yak!”
Tire Fire huffed as he, too, brought his pickaxe down. He just shaved a flake off the slab of limestone.
“You pony, need more work before smashing like Yak,” Amralt told Tire Fire.
“Rather smash a few faces like a Desperado then smashing rocks like a Yak,” Tire complained as he looked over at me.
I mouthed, “Give Harp some time.” It seemed to me that I got the message across since he returned to breaking rocks.
A sharp whistle, from one of the NCR ponies, made me jump as a nearby prisoner got smacked with a baton. “No slacking, trash,” the guard scolded before moving on.
Returning to the repetitive labor, I tried to not think about how fucked this whole situation was, but my already aching body didn’t give me any respreve. It would be nice to be like Amralt, somehow enjoying this forced labor, but I was a pony. Worst was that it didn’t feel all that different from how my life was like before I won that cursed pipbuck. I may have not been forced to work like this, but there was never any life to it. Just the expectation of getting the job done.
It felt pessimistic, but it seemed to me that this work was more honest. We were indeed a replaceable workforce that the higher ups wanted to work to death. Our only worth was our labor, nothing more. I had managers who wished they could force us to keep working. They got upset over the littlest thing and forced all the accountability onto others.
Maybe they were the first slaver’s in this wasteland. It would make sense.
I was missing the taste of a cold beer and a warm hayburger. Nothing was better at the end of a long day of work. Heavy beer was always better. But that’s not what was waiting for me. Not as long as I say here.
With another strike of my pickaxe, I broke off another chunk and wondered. Would this be less depressing if I was not being forced to do it, or would it be more depressing? On one hoof, I know it’s not actually my fault being here, so I can't blame myself. But on the other hoof, I can't just walk away. I’d get shot for trying.
Breaking the large rock into smaller pieces, I just sighed. I thought that anything right now was not going to help me in any way.
Getting into a pattern, my aching legs worked automatically. I just focused on working through the pain. It all started to become rithmic which helped keep up my rock braking. It was as if I was working to the beat of a drum. The pings of iron on limestone, the hum of the rock crusher, grunts from the workers along with the rattling of chains. It all harmonized into a sad hopeless tune, like we all were parts of a cruel instrument.
One of the zebras began humming in tune with the sound of the work. The others followed, all in tune with each other.
Then they began to sing.
“I’ll be so glad, when, oh when oh when, the sun goes down.”
“When the sun goes down”
“I’ll be so glad, when, oh when oh when, the sun goes down.”
“When the sun goes down.”
“I know I ain’t leaving, but I want to lie down.”
“I want to lie down.”
“I know I ain’t leaving, but I want to lie down.”
“I want to lie down.”
“I want to lie down.”
“Oh how I love the sun, oh yes I do, but won’t it stop bearing down on me.”
“Stop bearing down on me.”
“Oh how I love the sun, oh yes I do, but won’t it stop bearing down on me.”
“Stop bearing down on me.”
“I know I’ve made mistakes, It’s plain to see.”
“It’s plain to see.”
“I know I’ve made mistakes, It’s plain to see.”
“It’s plain to see.”
“But all this labor, my oh my, It’s killing me.”
“It’s killing me.”
“But all this labor, my oh my, It’s killing me.”
“It’s killing me.”
“It’s killing me.”
“It’s killing me.”
A loud long whistle came from the bulldozer. Everypony stopped working. Somehow we had made it through half the work time. It was time for us to take our break.
Lining up, we all got some water and only that.
Sitting down, I finally realized how much I hurt all over. My body ached for me to just lay down and not ever get back up. The water itself was lukewarm and tasted off, but I still greedily drak it up. It helped to moisten my dry throat.
“By Celestia, I don’t think I can do this for long,” Harp complained as she collapsed onto the ground.
Star Charter stood next to her, finishing up her water. “I can see that. You need to get some muscle on those legs of yours. You're just way too skinny.”
Harp grumbled as she let her body relax.
Tugging on her chain was Spritz Cookie who paid no mind to whom she was connected to. “This is nothing. Everypony in the Steal Rangers trained until they felt like they were dying, then we trained some more. Even the scribes.”
“Sounds like you were an amazing bunch.” Harp breathed out.
Spritz smiled with pride. “No pony’s better than a Steal Ranger. It’s why none of you savages are worthy of the technology the Ministries left behind. We are trained to be able to properly use the old acano tech and we study to become wise enough to not use it. You know how many times the Steal Rangers kept some ignorant savage for setting off a megaspell? Or prevented a ganger from turning on an army of angry robots? More times then you can count.”
“I can count exceptionally high, thank you very much,” Harp lazily said. “And stop calling me a savage. I didn’t go through an advanced education to get dismissed as some idiot peasant.”
Tugging on their chain, Spritz dragged Harp and Star closer to her a few hoofsteps. Harp just let herself get dragged, clearly too exhausted to care.
Spritz said coldly, “Listen here, little pony. I don’t care where you're from or why you looked like the product of a orgy that had the misfortune to bring a dirty stipe into the mix. Trust me when I say this: None of you are worthy of the gifts the Ministries left behind. It is my job to keep it out of your grimy greedy hooves and prevent you savages from destroying Equestria a second time.”
There was a pause before Harp shrugged and said. “Alright. You Steal Rangers are the guardians of the old world. I’m nothing but a dirty savage.”
“And never forget that!” Spritz huffed at Harp.
After a few more minutes in silence as everypony rested, the same whistle from the tractor went off. Everypony began to get up. My body didn’t want to get back to work, but I knew I had no choice in the matter. It was work or I get beaten. Nothing in between.
It was now, with how ragged my body already felt and that I was going to do more work, that I remembered what Dead Axle told me. That the groups like the NCR say they got rid of slavary, but in truth they just found ways to do it without it being called slavary.
What pony is going to care about the well being of a convict? Not like most ponies did in my time. Doubt they’d start now. I just hope Harp comes up with an escape plan and soon.
Few ponies talked on our way back. We just didn’t have the energy or willpower for it. It was as though we were all dead and being transported over the river stix to the afterlife. If it was not for the pain I felt all over, I would have believed we were all dead.
Worse, I was seeing things, mostly mirages off in the distance. An oasis here, friendly ponies there. What seemed to persist was the image of some headless pony clad in black armor, a long tattered red scarf waving off it’s neck in the wind. It was odd as it would appear and disappear as though it was following the carts.
When we finally arrived back at the NCRCF, my body felt conflicted. I know that food was waiting for me soon, but it just didn’t want to move at all. Standing in the cart was like a rest to me.
As expected, there was no choice. Even if my body said no, the chains didn’t care. They forced me to move, either by marching or by being dragged.
Nearly everypony dragged their hooves as we filed out into the courtyard, waiting for Warden Dynamight to make yet another speech. The wait was longer than anypony here liked, though no pony made a sound from their muzzles as the guards watched. Our stomachs were far braver than we, gurgling loudly in demand for food.
Trotting out as though he just woke up from a nap, Warden Dynamite looked down at us as he adjusted his megaphon. “Yet another day of hard work has been done. You all grow closer to be like real ponies. Did you know that the Ministry Mares, long before they became the Ministry Mares, worked tirelessly, day in and out? Pinky Pie grew up on a rock farm, a thankless job she did before she became a peerless event planner and intelligence agent for Celestia. Rainbow Dash trained everyday to become an elite flier for the Equestria air force, never skipping a day to make herself a sword for Equestria. Applejack was a simple farmer who would work herself sick to provide apples for all of Equestria. Fluttershy managed all the lesser creatures, a job that truly requires kindness to tolerate such mongrels. Even Rarity never took a break. She designed uniforms and promoted the biggest stars of Equestria long before the Ministry of Image was even a thought. Then there was Celestia’s own apprentice, the court mage Twilight Sparkle, who would have shut herself off from the world to study magic if Celestia didn’t order her to find the heroes of Equestria. So powerful was she that she even bound a dragon to her will.”
That all sounded wrong. Not entirely wrong, but wrong nonetheless. Even at their most exaggerated, the Ministry Mares always presented themselves as normal ponies who just put a little extra effort into their jobs, not enslaved themselves to it. Rainbow Dash was a member of the Wonderbolts who, from what I knew, did just as much shows for the public as they did military operations. Pinky Pie was just a party planner. I know because I had been to a few of them when I was much younger. Not sure about the others, though one thing I knew for sure, Spike the Dragon was not bound to Twilight Sparkle's will.
The dragon was very much independent. He even did many speeches on the Ministry Mares behalf. Even though he was rarely presented in any of the propaganda, everypony seemed to like Spike far more than the Ministry Mares themselves. It was something about how he seemed just as exhausted with the war as most ponies were, yet still forcing a smile.
Warden Dynamite had paused for a moment. His head tilted up and to the side as though disgusted from looking at us. Somehow I felt that he was personally looking at me. “So if I hear any complaining about the work you do, I will personally have you punished for being ungrateful trash, though that is what you are.”
The NCR guards began trotting up and down the lines of prisoners, unshackling us one by one. The tired and relieved signs of the prisoners could be heard as they totted down to the messhall. When they finally came to me and my shackle was removed, one of them poked me with a baton.
“With me, inmate,” The NCR Guard told me, making me a bit worried.
Led away from the others, I caught a glimpse of Harp’s worried face as I was trotted back over to the armored bulldozer. There I saw a bucket with a long metal handled brush waiting for me.
“Warden requests you clean…” the soldier then sighed, “Dazychain, before you go and eat.”
I was a bit confused and too sore all over to want to do anything, but the broom was pushed into my hooves, sending the message that I had no choice in the matter. “Just get the dust and dirt off it,” he commanded.
Weakly nodding, I dragged my way to Dazychain, dipping the brush into the water bucket before attempting to clean it.
The large piece of construnstruction equipment was very much in good condition, with no rust to be found on it except for the hard to reach places which were almost out of sight. It also looked as if it’s paint job was not over two hundred years old. The paint was still old, but more of a ten or fifteen year old paint job. It also looked as if it had seen combat since the thick armored plates had markings of being shot at here and there. Even the blade, it’s big shovel part, had a massive dent in it as though it was used to stop some large projectile that exploded on it.
As I tiredly scrubbed the dust and dirt off, the broom required several strokes just to clean one spot. Around that time the Warden trotted over. The much older stallion looked clean and proud of himself. Accompanying him was the NCR mare who had read our charges when we first arrived yesterday.
“Ain't she a beauty, Ginger?” Warden Dynamight said proudly.
“Yes sir.” The mare, Ginger, said in a flat bored tone.
“Have I ever told you about how my colts and I used Dazychain to knock down the last of the Fillydelphia slaver’s defence during the war for that shithole?” Dynamight asked jovaly.
“Yes sir.” Ginger again said flatly.
Dynamite explained anyways. “The air was thick with gunpowder and blood. The damned slaver’s had fortified their positions using artillery and AA guns to keep the NCR at bay. It was a stalemate, you see. The NCR was still building its supply chain. The slavers only just lost theirs, but sat on a stockpile of bullets. The commander of this fight wanted to wait them out. Starve them. Use proper siege tactics that she read in a book, for Luna's sake! I knew that was not going to work. I had fought slavers plenty of times before and I knew they were just as crafty as they were cruel. By Celestia, I knew that the best strategy was to be aggressive. Make sure they didn’t have time to plot or plan. So I got in Dazychain and told my colts to follow my lead. Fuck the commander’s orders and charge straight in. The slaver’s were ready for an attack, but not prepared for Dazychain. Getting right on their flimsy wall, I knocked over their sniper tower and sent the bastards scattering. They were so focused on me and Dazychain that they didn’t have time to notice my colt's charging in guns blazing. That maneuver was so brilliant it caused slaver’s to leave their post to deal with us and open holes for the rest of the NCR to break through. And you know what that bitch commander did as my reward for driving in the last nail of those slaver’s coffins?”
“Yes sir.” Ginger clearly sounded as she knew what he was about to say next.
“That bitch said I should be shot for insubordination and Dazychain be melted down for scrap! At least Gawdyna understood my brilliance. She and I knew what it takes to win a battle. What sacrifices are necessary for victory,” Dynamight grumbled.
He trotted up closer to Dazychain. He overlooked my work as I exhaustedly brushed the dust off the very dusty bulldoze. My stomach demanded food and my muscles wanted to just stop, but I knew I didn’t have the option to just leave or lay down. I wanted to eat and I knew pissing off this asshole in any way would keep me from whatever slop they were surviving today.
“Ginger, did you know my grand papy found Dazychain here? Fixed her up to help on the farm. Helped my family clear land to grow tatos and mutfruit up until I, myself, took over the farm,” the Warden said bostfuly.
Again, Ginger said. “Yes sir.”
He patted Dazychain on the side like it was a beloved pet. “When Redeye came to take my land and ponies, all I could do was leave with Dazychain. I made her stronger. Once I had my own militia, I took the fight to Redeye himself. Took out his slave camps one by one until I got to Fillydelphia where I, and my colts, joined the NCR to finish off those bastards. If only I arrived a few months sooner, they would be singing my praise, not that dimitives stable pony!”
“Careful, Sir.” Ginger cautioned in a flat, yet stern tone.
Dynamite huffed. “Right. Don’t want the Lightbriger’s fanatics beating at my door again. Bunch of zealots, the lot of them.”
I kept brushing off the dust. The water bucket got darker every time I dipped the brush in. I tried my best to quickly finish the task, which was going quite slow with how my body didn’t want to work. I eventually noticed that things had gone very quiet. The Warden was just watching me, not saying anything as I brushed.
It was a bit unnerving, something that I always hated when managers did it. They were always waiting for me to make a mistake so that they could criticize me. Worst part was that their watching of me was why I made a mistake.
I would always get nervous and start thinking how I need to make sure I don't mess up, but, since I was lost in thought about it, I would slip up, then bam. Now I become the manager's personal verbal punching bag.
My body suddenly shifted a bit to the side as I only then noticed that I stepped on the bucket and lost my balance, causing me to stumble. Unable to catch myself, I fell right into the bulldozers side. The handle of the brush slammed into it, making a scraping sound as I unintentionally scratched Dazychain.
On the ground, it took me a moment to even push myself up. My tired body wanted to just stay down. Finally up, I saw a very upset looking Warden Dynamite, of which I prepared for him to start shouting.
What came took me by surprise as a hoof hit me in the side of my face, knocking me down. “YOU USELESS PIECE OF TRASH!” he shouted as I felt a swift kick to my gut.
Both the hit to my face and the kick to my gut only added to the pain all over my body. Everything already hurt and I had no energy to defend myself, so I just laid there as the Warden continued to kick me.
“You can't do anything right! Talking about lawyers not ending your laughing when I tell you to, and now you scratched Dazychain.” He growled at me and gave a few more kicks. “This is why you're here. Ponies like you are too stupid to live like normal ponies. So stupid that if no pony was around to hold your damn hoof, you’de eat rocks till ya die.”
The kicking finally stopped. Dynamite trotted back over to Ginger. “I want this pony to be made an example of and sent straight to his cell.”
“Example of, sir?” Ginger said with a raised eyebrow.
Dynamite huffed in annoyance. “Ten lashes. No, make it fifteen. And don’t get some pussy fagot recrut to do it this time. It’s not a punishment if the pony can’t get the whip in deep. He needs to be reminded of his place for as long as the scars remain.”
The Warden trotted off, kicking up dirt as he left. A sharp whistle came from Ginger as two NCR soldiers trotted over to me. There was a pause as the two stood over me, followed by Ginger saying, “You heard the Warden. This inmate gets fifteen lashes, and have one of the vetrain soldiers do it.”
“You sure Lieutenant?” one of the soldiers asked.
She sighed. “This isn’t Mainhattan. You either do it or we share the punishment. Now go. I need to write another report about this.”
The two soldiers dragged me to the center of the courtyard where I was thrown to the ground as one trotted off. After a few minutes, a tall wooden stool and two wooden boards had been carried over, along with a third stallion.
“This shit again,” the older soldier spat on the ground, “What happened this time?”
“Scrached the fucking bulldozer,” one of the other soldier’s replied. “He gets fifteen lashes.”
The older soldier just sighed. “And I’m sure Dynamite is watching to make sure we do them all.”
The two younger soldiers put the stool down. They placed the boards in between it and dragged me to it. Taking off my shirt and with some rope, my two forehooves were tied to the top board. My back hooves were then tied to the bottom boards, forcing me to sit up straight.
Looking over to one of the soldiers, my mouth was too dry to speak. I tried to plead for help. That they didn’t need to do it.
The soldier just shook his head. “Should have thought about that before you committed the crime. Anyways, an order is an order. My job is to follow it.” He shoved my own shirt into my mouth as the soldier backed away. I heard a loud crack of a whip snap next to my ear, causing me to flinch.
“ONE,” a soldier yelled.
With another crack, I felt fire on my back as the whip dug into it like a blade. I cried out in pain. My shirt muffled much of it.
“Two.” The pain only increased as another cut entered my flesh.
“Three.” There was nowhere for me to go as the pain increased.
“Four.” With the pain coming, so did came tears as I began to weep. It was all I could do.
“Five.” Was I going to die here? After all I had gone through, was this the end.
“Six.” Quicktrot was free and I was here. I hated it so much.
“Seven.” Even Ashy was likely laughing at me, calling me the criminal when she was nothing more than a murderer.
“Eight.” But was I any better? Did I have to kill Healing Herbs? Could I have saved her?
“Nine.” Maybe I should have just stayed with the megaspell as it collapsed. Just died there.
“Ten.” Maybe I could have made sure the megaspell was destroyed, or even prevented Quicktrot from being made.
“Eleven.” Why can't I do anything right? Why can't I save anypony?
“Twelve.” All I wanted was to be left alone. Maybe find a mare of my own.
“Thirteen.” Now look at me. In this damned wasteland being whipped for a crime I didn’t commit.
“Forteen.” I hate it all. The wasteland and the ponies who made it.
“Fifteen.” Why was I still alive when everypony I knew was dead?
“That’s enough!” a soldier called out and trotted over. I could feel the blood oozing off my back and down my legs. There was nothing I could do but suffer as my vision became hazy.
‘Do you want to live?’ the wispy voice of a mare asked me.
Looking through my hazy eyes, I saw the mirage again. The headless pony standing in front of me in it’s black armor. ‘Or do you wish to die?”
“I… want…” I painfully spoke through my dry mouth. My mind was clearly seeing a delusion, but the question was clear in my mind. So very clear. “To…”
There was just too much to be fixed. Too much left undone. Worse, evil ponies still lived.
“To live,” I breathed shallowly.
The headless pony turned around. It’s red scarf and red cloth wrapped tail waving in the wind, though I felt no such breaze. “Good. Fate has plans for you, so live to meet them.” her ghostly voice echoed in my head then as she vanished as though she was never there to begin with.
She was just a delusion.
Right?
My vision became more hazy then dark as I just let go, letting merciful unconsciousness take me.
As my eyes opened, the refreshing feeling of having been asleep did not come to me. I still felt exhausted. Worse, my back stung more than it ever had before. Just trying to move hurt me. I wanted to cry in pain, but I felt too dehydrated to even let out one tear.
“Looks like he’s awake,” Pilfer said. His face was illuminated by the faint light of a spell.
“He must be tougher than he looks to wake up after a beating like that,” Filch added.
I tried to speak, but my mouth was too dry. As my mouth was open, I felt something be shoved into it. “Pony must chew slowly, or pony will choke,” Amralt told me as I tasted a clump of a food bar in my mouth.
As I chewed, a bit of water broke out from inside. It tasted off more than before, but I didn’t care. It was a little bit of food and water. That's all that matters.
“Amralt was worried when pony friend didn’t come to eat, so Yak snuck some of Yak's food and drink for pony Slowtrot. It’s not much, but Amralt hopes it helps.”
If I could hug him, I would, but all I could do was swallow and say, “Thank you,” before passing out in what I hope was sleep this time.
Slowtrot has gained the disdain from Wardin. His spiteful nature will not stay with Slowtrot alone. The NCR soldiers will now ignore any trouble from other inmates happening to Slowtrot, Star and Harp.
"In spite of all the things Star Charter had told me about the city ship Blackwater, I actually wanted to know what good things came from it. Like its food, its art, its customs, and even its clothing styles.
Music, she told me, and how they had a song for every time and everything. Then shared a few examples herself, singing several songs filled with deep emotion." ~ Azure Dice
Life for me was one long chain of getting fucked over by those who saw themselves as my betters. Every goddesses-damn time, from the moment I was born, there was always somepony getting into my business. But this was different—they fucking killed Hardballer and messed with my friends. I wasn't just going to lie down and take it this time.
I needed to see my sweet Bridget, to hold her… only then would things be okay.
"Star, you okay?" Harp asked as she placed her hoof on mine.
I gently pulled my hoof away. It had become hard to hide my agitation lately. The constant hunger only made it worse. The food had barely been sustaining me as it was. "No, I’m not," I told her as Slowtrot came near us. "But don’t worry about it. I’ll survive."
We shared a portion of our own food with him, hoping it would help. The poor stallion had not only been forced to skip dinner, but also given fifteen deep lashes for just getting on the Warden's bad side. They didn’t even treat him afterwards—just let him bleed in his cell. It was sheer luck he didn’t bleed to death overnight. That stallion was crazy durable, despite how weak he looked.
Still, because he was never given a healing potion, he was going to be left with scars. I hoped his fur would grow over them, but the lashes were quite deep. At least he was alive—for now, anyway.
I looked over at Spritz Cookie who didn’t show any care for what happened to Slowtrot. She only demanded her cut of food. The guards didn't do anything, either. Only the yak Amralt, who sneaked some food and water to him, seemed to care. He, at least, I could count among the few I would spare once I'd gotten out of this shithole.
Once breakfast was over, it was time for our one hour of doing nothing. We made sure Slowtrot had a place where he could rest a while longer and let his back heal a bit more before our twelve hours of work started.
Harp kept studying the prison. Her eyes went from one building to the next, then looking at her PipBuck.
"So, how's it going?" I asked, trying to not say anything related to a prison break.
"Still working on it," she said with a frown. "This is not an easy puzzle to crack."
A glint hit my eye. I looked over at one of the guard towers. One of the NCR guards looked down at me through his rifle scope. "Yeah, and this puzzle has eyes to boot," I said before blowing a kiss at the guard.
Harp looked over through the fence and off into the distance. "That there is our main problem."
"Could be worse," I figured as I looked out at the horizon. "We could be out at sea. The only way to get away then would be to take over the boat or die trying."
The unending desert was only broken up by the casual hill and the odd mesa. There would be no places to hide out there, so whatever plan Harp came up with also needed a way for us to move fast. Slowtrot was already in no shape for a miles-long trek. He'd only get worse if the Warden made an example of him again.
Sitting back, I watched as a crowd of inmates gathered around Spritz Cookie. The large mare stood a good head taller than most of them. Her voice was loud enough that I couldn't ignore it. I was starting to think it was some sort of ritual for them, much like the old preachers from my home.
"Look at where you are, changed, chained, forced to work!" Spritz Cookie bellowed out, her voice filled with authority and hatred. "The NCR talks about how they are bringing back the values of old Equestria and how the virtues of friendship will bring ponies together. Yet what we see is but another slave empire rising from the ashes of the last. Trust me when I say this, Red Eye was not the first, and the NCR will not be the last."
She walked through the crowd, her gait having the swagger of a pony who knows they're right, even if they're delusional. "We all know it’s true. Just look at us. Look at where we are going. The NCR hides behind the Lightbinger, a pony who has full control of our weather… but they can't bring the rains back! They boast over having the light of Celestia herself as a weapon to burn their enemies with, but have the raiders vanished? No! Just like everything they do, they fail and drag all of us down with them!"
Spritz Cookie stopped, a grin on her face. "You've all seen it: the dying fields of crops, the wells running dry, and the explosion of the chem trade. Don’t deny it! This is why you're all here. The victims of the NCR’s incompetence who is enslaved to make up for their own losses. All your work, just to feed a rusted, wobbling machine, destined to go up in flames. Everything the NCR touches turns to shit. Anything good that was in their hooves is now nothing more than rusted trash. You all stand as examples of their failures... and your reward for the work you do is to die knowing you kept them living a little longer."
Spritz Cookie stomped. Her hoof shook the ground hard enough to break bones. "And now the NCR calls themselves the successors to old Equestria and claims that the old tech of the ministries belongs to them. Led by Gwadina Grimfeathers, I should add, who was a griffon that was once a raider leader herself. It has a military full of mercenaries who once fought for Red Eye. They're supported by traitors who swore to keep the old tech out of the hooves of those who would abuse it. Who instead gave it to the NCR, to those who barely understand how to even start a fire!"
She eyed the crowd of prisoners, all now enthralled by her speech. "So I ask you this: Will you accept the NCR let them write themselves as history's heroes, let them take all they can get their hooves on and ruin everything? How long will it be until they have megaspells? And how long will it be until they use them? And how long until they finish the job that the Zebras failed to do: Destroy Eq—"
*BANG!*
A rifle shot cut Spritz Cookie off and caused the other prisoners to scatter. Spritz, on the other hoof, stood firm as she looked up at the shooter. Warden Dynamite sat on his balcony, holding a well-maintained hunting rifle, smoke drifting from the barrel.
"Break that shit up!" he shouted through his megaphone.
With a grin, Spritz muttered just loud enough so that we prisoners could hear her. "Their only power is violence." She trotted off and Dynamite put his rifle down.
A sigh came from Harp again as she commented. "Apricot Biscuit was right, Spritz really is crazy."
"Apricot Biscuit?" I asked. "You mean the saloon owner back in New Appaloosa?"
"Yeah. It turns out Apricot was a Steel Ranger 'scribe', whatever that is," Harp said, making air quotes with her hooves. "She was in the group that Spritz was in charge of. Said that Spritz was a more extreme case among the Rangers who caused her own group to turn on each other. That's all I know."
So Apricot was a tin can, I thought. That explains why we never got along. "Crazy or not, I can't see the flaws in her speech," I commented.
"Well, she's clearly not talking to the brightest of ponies. They don’t need much convincing." Harp said as she looked at me, "No offense."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Tell me how she's wrong. I mean, we're practically slaves right now."
Harp took a deep breath before responding. "It’s simple, really. The NCR does not have the strength to take the high ground. My own family history is filled with this problem—even my mother has had her highs and lows with power. Whenever a queendom is weak, it does not have the luxury to take its time to do things right or be benevolent and kind. When you're weak, you must be cunning and cruel, taking what shortcuts you can to gain what power you can find. That’s what I think is happening with the NCR."
That was more than I had asked for and hard to follow. "Can you say it simpler?"
She sighed. "Yes. Yes I can. A strong civilization has the power to be kind while a weak civilization must be cruel to survive."
"Oh, now I get it!" I said as I remembered how life was on the Blackwater and out here in the wasteland itself. "It’s like when you have all the guns, you can trust a stranger to be too scared to try and fight you. But if you have almost no guns, it’s safer to just kill a stranger in case they might kill you."
Harp looked unsure of what I said, but then gave me an awkward smile. "Yeah. You can be kind when you know that the other party can’t just kill you."
I nodded and asked. "So how does that involve the NCR again?"
She facehoofed. "All Spritz has done is point out the flaws of a young civilization by calling out all the mistakes it makes. More than likely, if the NCR did everything right, it would have fallen apart."
She took another deep breath before further explaining. "Put it this way, Star: From my own family history, we’ve had to make deals we hated just to make sure we ended up the rulers of our end of the metro. I’ve had a lot of my ancestors married off to some disgusting ponies just to ensure support or kill off a non-hostile station to get an alliance of ponies who would fight for us. Only once we were in charge, could we make deals that didn’t leave a putrid taste in our mouths, but that was only so long as we held onto that power."
Harp then gave a sad smile. "As the old saying goes, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."
I just looked over at Slowtrot. He had fallen asleep. His scares peeked out from under his shirt. "And is he one of those eggs?"
"Unfortunately, we all are," she said in a defeated tone.
Soon, we were taken to the quarry. Fortunately, Slowtrot was left behind, though not without an argument between the Warden and the NCR Lieutenant Ginger. Supposedly, nearly killing a prisoner with fifteen lashes for no good reason was fine, but forcing them to work the next day was a hoof step too far. Still, I was glad Slowtrot was being allowed to recover—he needed it.
Though NCR Mare Ginger was an uptight bitch, at least I could keep her off my shit list… for now.
The rattling of chains pulled me out of my own head as our team began preparing the powder charges for cracking the quarry walls. It was nothing complex. We just attached the right length of fuse and made sure they were all connected in a way that they would go off nearly at the same time. It was better than lifting rocks all day, a job that had already chipped Harp's hooves.
I'd asked her yesterday why she didn’t use her PipBuck for the rock work in order to levitate the rocks like a unicorn. She'd said she simply wanted to keep as few eyes on her as possible. Make sense I guess.
One of our chain gang companions then whistled, the unicorn mare looking over at Tire Fire as he tried, and failed, to break a large limestone chunk.
"He’s a fine piece of meat… Got the right amount of muscle. Maybe I should try and get some alone time with him," the thirsty mare said with a hungry grin.
A second mare, the earth pony by the name of Railway Spike, groaned at the first mare. "Shut the fuck up, Cherry. Nopony wants to hear about you wanting to fuck another stallion."
Placing a few sticks of powder charges back into a box, Cherry Knot growled at the other mare. "A mare has needs, bitch, and I gotta work it myself since that other bitch took over. Why did she have to kill the boss?" She sighed. "We had such a good thing going."
A sigh came from the third member of our gang, a zebra by the name of Bitter Tea. She lazily and effortlessly finished her line of powder charge sticks then threw it over her head and into a box. "Prostituting yourself out to the guards is not a good thing, pony slut."
From the little amount of time we spent together, we learned that they were the underlings of the late prison bosses that Slowtrot said Spritz killed. Railway Spike was a ganger who got caught shaking down NCR caravans. Cherry Knot was from a wasteland brothel that robbed their clients until it was shut down by the NCR. As for Bitter Tea, she didn’t say much about herself other than that she could gut me with a rock if I didn't mind my own business.
A huff came from Harp, "Before being thrown here, two of the guards said something about that, how Spritz changed how things worked."
I raised an eyebrow before remembering two of the Ruffled Feathers’ regulars. "Right. You talked with Rock Thrower and Stone Spear."
Cherry Knot’s ears perked up. "Oh! You know Rocky? He’s a sweetie."
Bitter Tea spat on the ground. "Asshole still owes me a pack of smo—"
The two other mares looked at the zebra with mischievous grins.
Railway then gave the Zebra a playful jab before quickly putting her chain of powder charges away. "How is the prude getting anything at all?"
Bitter avoided eye contact as she continued to work. "Spritz is a tin can, ass hat. She doesn't care where us zebras go. Figured I might as well get in on an empty market… But now the asshole's refusing to pay up."
Cherry chuckled. "Yeah. That happens if you don’t got somepony watching out for ya."
The three then sighed as they mumbled "Fuck Spritz."
It was good to know not all the prisoners here were Spitz's followers, So, as I finished my chain of powder charges, I decided to try and get in on the conversation. Not like we had anything better to do than talk as we worked.
"I get that. If anypony skipped out on paying the brothel mares back where I worked, the boss would send me to, uh… remind them of their obligations. Always fun when they resisted," I said in the cheeriest tone I could muster.
Cherry was first to respond. "Oh? What place did you work?"
"Ruffled Feathers. It's a tavern in New Appaloosa. If you three ever get out of here, I’m sure the boss there can give you some work," I told them.
"Like what? As a whore?" Railway said in a mocking tone.
"Yes. I am no whore," Bitter added. The other two looked at her with raised eyebrows. "It was one time! One! Time!"
I laughed at that. "Actually, it’s all up to you. The boss, Waterspout, sleazeball though he is, likes having happy, healthy mares working for him. You'll only sell your body if you want to. Otherwise, just make yourself useful to him in other ways."
I felt my eyes water. It's the limestone dust in the air, I told myself as I wiped my eyes.
We continued chatting away as I regained my composure. Harp even joined in, though it was awkward at first. Eventually, she became interested in what they knew.
It was hard to follow everything, but the three mares were a great wealth of information for Harp. They told us about the goings-on of the prison and about the guards. Some of the information was just more of what Harp had already figured out, but in better detail. A few things were more interesting, such as a few truly private places in the prison and how to get on the cleaning crew.
With so little time to do anything after breakfast and dinner, it was amazing how much went on in the prison from what the three mares told us. The old showers were a place for the prisoners to gamble, settle private disputes, use whatever chems a guard managed to smuggle in. They told us about everything except how to take a shower. There was a sealed off room that had once been for visitors. It was now a whorehouse where a prisoner could trade sex for favors with the guards. Then there was the storage room for sheets and shirts which provided a good hiding spot for most of the contraband in the prison that was under the control of Cattle Prod.
As we finished tying together all our powder charges for the day, Bitter Tea mentioned a place that really caught my interest: The black powder room.
All these powder charges had come from somewhere, and that somewhere was a room filled with barrels of black powder and other explosive materials. From the black powder room, several boxes filled with powder charges would be stored on Daisy Chain for transportation to the quarry. Only a few prisoners were ever allowed in for the purpose of turning the black powder into sticks of powder charges.
As Bitter further explained, her old boss was one of the ponies—zebras, actually—who made the explosives. He also managed to sneak a bit of it out to make into a chem, which he would then trade for favors among other prisoners. Now, Spritz Cookie's followers were in control of that room, forcing the other prisoners, like Bitter, to work out here in the quarry.
I could see the look in Harp's eyes. The gears in her head were moving. Unfortunately, there was no way she could tell me what was on her mind with everypony else around.
Time passed and we all kept baking under the hot sun. We had to move rocks nonstop with only a short moment of rest and little water to drink. I was sure our jailors had been keeping it in a rusty barrel, but it was water and that was good enough for me. However, resting had allowed hunger to rear its ugly head.
"How're you holding up, Star?" Harp asked.
"I'll be fine," I said and smiled back at her. She knew some things about my condition. She'd learned some parts from my old gang at her home, and I'd told her what I knew as well. She knew that I needed to eat a little more than the average pony, but not much more when things were good… But things weren't good.
Between being beat up by the deputies and the hard labor, my regeneration was starting to eat away at me. It wasn't a huge problem for now. I'd be fine as long as I was careful. But, if I got into any more fights, took another hit from Spritz, or found myself in Slowtrot's position, I'd probably wind up devouring somepony in a fit of madness. What little food we were given barely kept my body from eating itself. I needed to stay focused and not think of the hunger.
My stomach grumbled for food as I swallowed the last bit of water I was given. Unfortunately, I have to wait until later to quell my hunger. "So anything on your mind, Harp?" I asked, hoping for a distraction before we had to get back to work.
She frowned. "Too much... I miss Cloudy Sunrise."
I pulled my friend into a hug. "By the goddesses, I know how you feel. I know it too damn well."
Harp sighed. "Does it make me a bad pony that I only think about what I want? I only knew Hardballer for a short time, but you, your daughter and mother, and your friends…"
I patted her on the back, I was too tired and hungry to let myself crack. I couldn't let myself fall apart right now. "No, it just makes you a pony, just like the rest of us. Mom would tell me that bad ponies don’t ask if they're bad. I guess that means that at least good ponies ask themselves that question. Not sure why, though."
A weak smile formed on Harp's face. "It’s called self-reflection. Bad ponies, whether they know what they're doing is bad or not, tend to not self-reflect. A good pony will stop to think about what they're doing and make sure that they're actually doing good, or if they need to stop."
I thought it was something like that, but I was not convinced that that was the only thing Mom meant by it. What if the answer was yes, and I was a bad pony, but I still didn’t want to be bad?
The whistle to return to work sounded, thus jolting me away from my thoughts. At least I wish it did. Despite the pain and anger, no matter how hard I tried to push it down, I wanted to see my sweet Bridget. To know that she was okay and that she wasn't worried, scared, or lost. If Harp could get us out of this shit situation, I would follow her until the end of the world just to see Bridget again. I tried again to shove the thought down and harden myself, but I just couldn't find the strength.
As we worked, the other inmates hummed a song as a way to distract themselves. It felt familiar, yet so different. The humming helped me clear my mind, if only for a time. But I needed a song to help get me through this, an old song from home.
So I began to sing.
There is a city built at sea, it’s name given, the Blackwater.
Winds may blow and waves may crash, but the Blackwater will forever last!
Oh! Way hay!
Come to the Blackwater, for your mares and rum, enjoy your days, forget your past.
When your days of sailing are done, you can come and stay, till your end.
Oh! Way hay!
Once two rival ships did port, their crews shouted and swords were drawn.
So did the captains settle the feud by drinking till one was dead.
Oh! Way hay!
Come to the Blackwater, for your mares and rum, enjoy your days, forget your past.
When your days of sailing are done, you can come and stay, till your end.
Oh! Way hay!
A captain went to cook an egg, only for a dragon to hatch, named it Tephra and called it her son.
Tephra would grow in faith and size, both typing the city to one side.
Oh! Way hay!
Come to the Blackwater, for your mares and rum, enjoy your days, forget your past.
When your days of sailing are done, you can come and stay, till your end.
Oh! Way hay!
There was a time the dead did wander, their wailing moans called for slaughter.
So a group of buccaneers answered the call, sending the dead to the waves below!
Oh! Way hay!
Come to the Blackwater, for your mares and rum, enjoy your days, forget your past.
When your days of sailing are done, you can come and stay, till your end.
Oh! Way hay!
With a roar a best did rise, gabbing the city to drag it to the waves below.
All did unite with blades and guns, killed the beat and had a feast.
Oh! Way hay!
Come to the Blackwater, for your mares and rum, enjoy your days, forget your past.
When your days of sailing are done, you can come and stay, till your end.
Oh! Way hay!
A filly would board, oh could she sing, but her eyes were predators who did not fear.
Lost in her gaze, the city would fall to their knees.
Oh! Way hay!
Come to the Blackwater, for your mares and rum, enjoy your days, forget your past.
When your days of sailing are done, you can come and stay, till your end.
They don’t know what to think of the new ponies, especially with how they have been talking with Spritz, but they have also seen that the three have not become one of her followers. They would be interested in knowing a bit more about the three.
"As Star Charter sang all the songs she could remember, I found that a lot of them were steeped in violence and faith. Nothing all that surprising to me from what she had told me about the Blackwater. But there was also a sense of comradery in the lyrics, as though a message passed down telling others that though life was rough, they could get through it together.
If it was not for the wanton violence it seemed these pirates get up to, I would love to see this Blackwater and the ponies who lived on it..” ~ Azure Dice
Our second day of hard labor had finally passed, and I was already sick of it. If I could hide not giving Spritz Cookie her share of food, or better yet steal some myself, I would have. Unfortunately, her followers were watching us like hawks, making her tribute law.
Fucking asskissers.
As for the other prisoners we were working with, they also watched us, whispering among their ganger mates. Same for Cattle Prod and the other snitches.
Thanks to Cherry, Railway, and Bitter, we now had a better idea of what really was going on. From where we sat, we could see how the prison gang broke down here.
Cattle Prod was in charge of the Cleaners: The ponies who handle both cleaning and cooking duty. They don't have to work in the quarry. Before Spritz showed up, they weren’t as cozy with the guards as they are now… or not as blatantly so, at least. Spritz scared Cattle Prod so much that he and his crew openly took on the stigma of a snitch just for some protection from Spritz.
The other gangers hadn't gone after Cattle Prod because he had full control of the laundry room where all the contraband was hidden. Since he was cozy with the NCRCF ponies, they also didn't harass him as much as other prisoners. In short, the prick was in a sweet spot where everypony hated him, but also left him alone.
Then there was Spritz herself, who had at least half the inmates on her side. Most followed her out of fear, but she had some true believers eating up her anti-NCR speeches, too. The only place she had any real control over was the black powder room, even though she never went near it. I’m not the smartest pony, but even I knew she must have been planning something explosive if she wanted control of that room.
Last were the inmates calling themselves the Ganger Alliance. They were made up of the followers of the bosses Spritz had killed, but who didn’t join her afterwards. As such, they had no leader. They controlled the showers and the visitor room, but had stopped most of their activities involving the NCR either out of fear of Spritz or because they simply couldn't keep them up. Bitter Tea told me that prisoners had stopped prostituting themselves to the guards because of a loss of negotiation power. As for activities in the showers, Cattle Prod had tightened the flow of contraband, so most inmates couldn't afford to do much but sit around and gamble with what little they still had.
This place was a powder keg ready to blow, and the guards were clutching their guns in anticipation.
I munched on my bread which had absorbed the gruel and gone soggy. I turned my attention to Slowtrot and Harp. They weren't having the best of times here. Slowtrot had healed a little more, but he still couldn't move from the pain in his back. Harp, on the other hoof, was exhausted. The hard labor was far worse than when she put on the slave dress.
I wasn't doing much better, but at least my body was strong enough to deal with it.
“You know what this needs?” Slowtrot said as he looked down at his dinner. “Some hot sauce or mustard. Or, better yet, both.”
Harp raised an eyebrow. “Would that make it sweeter or more savory?”
He shrugged. “A bit, but they're mostly strong in flavor with some heat. It helps spice up how bland all this is.”
He wasn't wrong. Nothing we were given had much of any flavor at all.
It reminded me a bit of the Blackwater and how most of what we had to eat was the dried fish, biscuits, and bergoo that the ships would deliver occasionally. It was almost as tasteless as the food I was eating here. The only way to make it even barely edible was by getting our hooves on some Garum.
I don’t know why, but thinking about it made my mouth water. “Ya, some Garum would make this better.”
Now both Harp and Slowtrot looked at me.
“What's that?” Harp asked.
“Garum? Oh, it was a common export for the Blackwater aside from making weapons and armor and shit,” I explained. “If I remember correctly, it was fermented fish guts and salt. Victoria always managed to steal a bottle for us at the church. It made the crummy food go down so much better.”
They each gave me a look of disgust.
I went on the defensive. “What? We lived out in the middle of the ocean and it actually tasted pretty damn good. I’m sure little miss princess here used weird crap on her food.”
Harp straightened up, trying to look prim and proper despite how exhausted she looked. “Well, if you're asking, we had a lot of different sauces to use. But, personally, my favorite was the pineapple wine sauce. It just added a sweetness to any food that can’t be compared.” She then sighed. “Stratus Dancer once brought me a peasant dish called pizza. It went so well with the pineapple sauce.”
I laughed as Slowtrot’s face scrunched up in disgust.
Slowtrot and Harp decided to stay in the mess hall when we finished since they both weren't feeling like moving around much. I couldn’t blame them, but I decided it was time I looked around on my own.
I wanted to find the showers and see what, if anything, the Ganger Alliance was doing there. I knew Harp had settled on working with Spritz, but a backup plan was never a bad idea.
As I trotted along the fence line, I keptan eye out for Spritz. A sharp whistle caught my attention. I turned to find two faces I couldn't have been less happy to see.
“See? I told you she was here.” Stone Spear said to Rock Thrower. The two lug-headed NCR regulars from the Ruffled Feathers were staring at me in amusement.
“Damn, you weren't messing. Hey, Star, did you finally kill somepony?” Rock Thrower called out to me as the two trotted over.
I sighed and shot an annoyed glare at them. “No, I didn’t kill anypony… unless it’s a crime to kill a raider?”
The two looked at each other, then shrugged.
Rock Thrower then smugly smiled. “Then whatcha in here for? Only criminals are on this side of the fence.”
I raised my eyebrow at him. It took him a moment to realize what he just said. “Your side of the fence,” he corrected himself.
“Not that you believe me, but it was Ashy who killed somepony, the griffon Hardballer. Then she threw us here to shut us up.”
Stone Spear gave a bemused whistle. “Big claims for a working mare like yourself. Then again, a lot of the ponies in here say they're innocent. Like fuck we believe them.”
I rolled my eyes and trotted away. Stone Spear's annoying voice hit my ears again as he said, “If you really want us to listen, maybe tell it to somepony who cares, or you can always meet us in the visitor room.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. The idea of those two even propositioning me made me want to retch. Turning around, I trotted right up to the fence to get eye to eye with Stone Spear. “The only reason I’d ever get anywhere near your pencil dicks would be to crush them flat.”
Stone Spear then blew me a kiss. “Jokes on you. I’m into that shit. So what do ya say?”
“Fuck off!” I growled out at him.
“If you're as innocent as you say, then why not let us deliver your message, for a price,” Stone suggested.
I wasn't an idiot, and from what I learned from Bitter Tea, whoring myself out was no guarantee that I would get what I want. Also, this was Stone Spear and Rock Thrower, the two idiots who do nothing but talk about themselves. Even if they managed to remember my request, it wasn't as if anypony would even care what they had to say. All they wanted to do was fuck the bouncer who had roughed them up a few times and brag about it. No way I could trust them to do anything more than that.
Rock Throw smiled again. “Maybe you can bring that other mare with you. The pink one.”
“I said FUCK OFF!” I shouted and struck the fence with my hoof. Rock tried to jump away and fell on his butt.
“You're asking for a beating. You know that?” he snarled at me from the ground.
“No, she isn't,” Spritz Cookie's low voice came from behind me. “But you are."
The imposing mare stood over me, glaring down at the two stallions.
They both looked at each other before huffing and trotting away.
Stepping away from the fence, I glared at Spritz. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
She just smiled, her teeth too white to be natural. “Just think of it as a freebie.”
Like Tartarus was I going to believe that. “One, there is no such thing as a freebie. Two, I thought all you tin cans had metal for teeth, not ivory.”
Now she had a smug smile as she said, “Unlike the rest of you savages, I actually take care of my body. Now go fuck off, and please do remember that I helped you.” She was a tin can through and through, thinking herself my better just because she followed some code that told her she was better than everypony else.
I didn’t want trouble just yet, so I left, feeling her eyes on me as I trotted away. I didn’t know what Spritz was thinking, but I didn't think I'd like it at all.
Once I'd gotten away from the trouble I didn’t want to get into, I made my way to the trouble I did want to get into. The inside of the showers was like any other wasteland ruin. It was filled with cracks and rust. Inside were several ponies mulling around and a few others huddled up next to the far wall.
A hoof reached out to stop me. The larger stallion eyeed me up before saying, “You’re one of Spritz’s bitches.”
I pushed his hoof off me. “I ain’t nopony's bitch!”
He growled at me, teeth clenched and legs tightened. This dumbass was already looking for a fight.
“Oy, no brawling if you want your dick wet!” Cherry Knot called out from one of the shower stalls. Her face then brightened up as she saw me. She hopped out. “So you came, Star! Come in, come in.”
I strutted past the stallion and turned my attention to Cherry. The mare looked tired but lively. “Dare I ask what you were just doing?”
She rolled her eyes. “I ain't sucking dick yet, just smoking a drag. And, no, I ain't sharing.”
“I wasn't fucking asking, whore,” I spat back at her.
Cherry smiled. “Oh, I do like you.”
As I got closer, I saw that the ponies who were huddled together were playing a game of dice. The pieces were made from limestone that was almost too well-crafted. They were betting cigarettes.
“I thought you said you couldn't get any smokes here?” I asked.
Railway poked her head up from the huddle. “We didn’t say we ran out, or that we didn’t have our own stash... Cunt.”
That was two of my new gang friends. I looked around for the third one, only to hear a moan from the other side of the showers.
“Don’t tell me,” I groaned with a sigh.
Cherry chuckled. “Bitter really needed her smoke, so she bet her body for one. Bitch lost, obviously.”
I facehoofed. “Why is this prison mixed in the first place?”
She bumped my flank as though we were close friends and fluttered her eyelashes at me. “You could join her. It would help build some trust with us.”
I pushed her face away from mine. “I already told NCR’s Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber that I’m not a whore. Not going to start now for a cig.”
Cherry shrugged. “You do you. Just don’t be a bitch about it, 'kay?”
Nodding, I trotted over to an empty spot in the shower room and watched the other inmates gamble. I wasn't going to play, mostly because I didn’t want to bet my body like Bitter, but also because I knew the house always wins and ponies like this will lose even if they win.
Not surprisingly, the game was street craps with the inmates betting for or against whoever was rolling the dice. Cigarettes changed hooves almost non-stop as they threw down bets in the form of carved chips of limestone.
As I watched, Bitter Tea trotted out with a cigarette and two stallions.
At least she got what she wanted.
Bitter got Cherry to help light her cigarette before trotting over to me. She puffed on her stick with a satisfied look on her face.
“You really like sucking, don’t you?” I said to the zebra.
“Fuck—” She took a long drag from her cigarette. “—off, bitch.” Smoke left her mouth and nose like it was some sort of spell. It was also thicker than cigarette smoke should be, and it smelled very odd.
“Alright, what the fuck are you even smoking there?” I asked.
She took another long drag, holding it in for a few seconds before slowly letting out the thick smoke. “We used a bit of the black powder to make a mild chem to add to our smoke. Not the best high, but it gets the job done. Just be careful who you get yours from; if the mix is bad, it'll explode.”
Fucking zebras and their alchemy brahmin shit.
Bitter Tea held the cigarette out to me. “Smoke it. Then we can talk.”
If she was willing to get fucked to have it, I figured there could be worse things.
I sucked in the acrid smoke and held it in as I passed the cigarette back before slowly letting it out. The thick smoke escaped through my mouth and nose. It was… bad. The rush of tabacco was there as well as some other chem. It made me feel good, but fuck did it taste bad. Worse than sucking on rotting rubber bands and burnt shit.
Once it was out of my lungs, I sucked in a deep breath of the stagnant air. “I know why,” I finally got out. “But still… why?”
Bitter Tea just laughed as she puffed on the thing again.
My head started feeling light and I had to sit down for a moment. It felt like I was drunk, or high, or both and more. It was nothing real potent, but the rush still took me by surprise. Then, as soon as it started, the chem passed.
“Alright, I get it now,” I said as I got to my hooves again.
Looking around, Bitter Tea made sure the other ponies were distracted before talking softly. “Now I know that pencil dick snitch Cattle Prod did put you up to being buddy-buddy with Spritz, but you all ask too many questions and seem to have Spritz’s interests in mind if you're not up to anything. Now talk or fuck off.”
Leaving was an option to keep the whole plan secret. But, like with Spritz driving off those two idiots, Bitter had shared her cig with me, and now she expected me to pay her back. Leaving only meant she'd find some other way to make me pay up.
I did believe in Harp's plan. The mare was a good thinker. She’s crafty and she knew when to be ruthless, but I couldn't help but feel like she was too much out of her element here. Dealing with raiders was easy; there was no negotiation, no mercy—you kill them or they kill you. Here, it was a den of pissed-off gangers.
“Alright, alright, I’ll let you in on what we're up to, but if it gets out, even a little, I will gut you with my teeth.” Smiling, I made sure to show her my overgrown fang as I looked into her eyes. “Understand?”
Bitter gave me an annoyed look. The kind that told me she could not be threatened so easily, but as she locked eyes with me, I trapped her with my evil eyes. Only a little bit of fear, just enough to get the message across and to not put any strain on myself.
Releasing her, Bitter gave a quick shiver, taking her time to respond as she took a long drag of her cigarette.
“Alright, my lips stay tight. I’m no open legged bitch,” she responded.
Taking a deep breath and speaking softly, I began my explanation. “We're planning on getting out of this shithole. Unlike you all, we don’t have the luxury of working off our brahmin shit sentence. Long story short, Harp is really valuable to some nasty ponies who do nasty things. We told Spritz that the NCR plans on taking our PipBuck in the hope she would help us get out before that happens… hopefully before those nasty ponies show up.”
Bitter nodded and took a moment to think before responding. “That’s risky business,” she said. “Real risky business. But you just gave us a countdown.”
“Countdown?” I asked.
“To when Spritz makes her move,” she said in a whisper. “The bitch is clearly up to some mad shit. The pony we got faking as her cunt licker is sure she's been having her zealots sneak black powder out.”
A concerned look formed on Bitter's face before she continued. “We're sure if she is successful, she will take over and ice any pony who does not side with her. We non-ponies are not included in her gang, so we're all dead if she takes charge.”
“Could you warn the warden?” I asked a dumb question.
Bitter rolled her eyes. “I ain’t no fucking snitch, nor is anypony with us. When she makes her move, we will fight. We just need to know when it happens to keep her from catching us off guard.”
Deciding to get to why I was here, I asked, “Then would you be willing to help us, even if Spritz is in on the plan?”
Bitter scratched her chin. An unsure look formedon her face. “Well we could, but that’s like helping a radscorpion cross a river. Yeah, you both will get to the other side, but the radscorpion will still kill you. Naw, we got our own plans. We’re letting Spritz do the work and legging the fuck out when she does. No fucking way we're sticking our necks out for that bitch. You get it?”
I sighed, knowing I was not going to convince them. “Ya, I get it. I actually bet that Spritz will just kill us for our PipBucks once she is free. Personally, I’d like to get the fuck out and leave her to fucking rot in this shit hole.”
Finishing her cigarette, Bitter chucked it into a dirty sink. “I can see that too. Tin cans like her kill for a fucking busted toaster. Now you want to play a game? Another smoke is in it for you if ya win.”
Shaking my head, I watched as Bitter joined in the game of craps.
Railway Spike, on the other hoof, had left the game. He had won a few cigarettes but was now dealing with two stallions looming over her.
“Fuck off. I got my drags so I’m done playing, and I ain’t giving ya half!” she growled at the two stallions.
Trotting over, I got in between the conflict, my bouncer instinct flying up. “Hey now, we can't have sore losers making a fuss. There is always tomorrow to win.”
One of the stallions cracked his neck. “Ain't your business, cunt.”
I looked over at Railway Spike who seemed ready for a fight and looked more than capable of doing damage. Though it would be fun to see the gangers fight it out, I had not given up on getting their help and having them kill each other right now was not in any plan I had.
“It’s my business now, so if you want to shake my friend down, you’re going to have to get through me first,” I warned them.
They smiled, clearly liking the odds.
They also didn’t expect me to use my evil eye. Just for a moment. Just a flash of fear. That's all.
Their confidence then suddenly dropped as they looked more unsure, so I declined to drive home the warning. “Just so you know, before I was locked up here, I was a bouncer for a very popular joint. A good day was when I could legally break a pony's leg. Two if they touched one of the working mares wrong. Here, I don’t think anypony cares about what is legal or not, so go back to your game and try to win.”
The two glared at me, but ultimately returned to the dice game.
Railway laughed in amusement. “Not bad, ya cunt. Here I was thinking I might have to lose a tooth to keep my cigs. So what’s ya game?”
I shrugged. “Nothing yet.Just making sure you owe me.”
She clicked her tongue at me. “Don’t go expecting me to jump over dicks to pay back that favor. You're still new. Your rep is still brahmin shit. Got that bitch?”
“Ya, ya. I get how this works. No different from where I was born,” I told her. “I might as well’ve thumped them 'ard if this here's 'ow you’re goin' to say thanks.”
Railway cocked an eyebrow at me before sitting back. “Well, ya gotta do more than stop a fight; like sing us one of those songs. You know. That weird one you sang in the quarry.”
I flashed her a smile. “Ah, you mean one of the songs from my home. I know a lot of them. Mom didn’t let me sing most of them to my daughter. 'Too violent,' she said.”
“Alright, let's hear one. Something fun,” Railway encouraged as she put a cigarette in her mouth. Cherry Knot trotted over to light it.
“A fun one... Ya, I know one. The port ponies love to sing this one to piss off the sailors.” I then cleared my throat, ready to sing.
Time flew by faster than I liked. The time to return to our cells quickly came. I managed to at least have a bit of a friendly conversation with the other mares with what little time we had. Sharing a bit bout sex with Cherry, some scraps we were in with Railway, and Bitter was in a good enough mood after winning a cig to talk about how they made the powder charges.
When we all had gathered, I made sure Harp and I were together. Unfortunately, Spritz Cookie also did the same, along with one of her followers.
Unlike Spritz, this pony was scrawny and far from composed. My guess is it had to do with long term chem abuse leaving its mark. The pony had all the signs of it; discolored eyes, a twitch, and goddesses-awful yellow teeth.
“Having fun, Star? You do have a lovely voice,” Spritz complimented me.
She knew where I had been, not that I was surprised with how little space there was to hide here.
I flashed her a smile and said, “If you want, I can always sing for you as thanks for driving off those assholes.”
Harps ears perked up. “What! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. it’s just Rock Throw and Stone Spear wanted to gloat at me. That’s all,” I explained.
Harp signed with annoyance. “Right. They work here.”
Spritz took a top bunk. She layed back as she readied herself for lights out. “I might take you up on that offer, Star. But remember, do anything to cross me and I will be taking my pound of flesh.”
She eyed me. Her look was filled with that kind of irrational hatred I only ever saw in a raider. “Also, don’t conspire with some treacherous stripe. They are the enemy. Remember that.”
The fucking tin can was already giving me orders and I hated it. But it did confirm one thing, Spritz had nothing good in mind for any non-pony here.
A tug on my shirt drew my attention to Harp who looked a bit scared. Though not as apparent as the Zebras, she still clearly had stripes. She and I were thinking the same thing: If Spritz were to kill one of us, it would be Harp.
I hoped Harp knew what she was doing, because we were playing a dangerous game. Our options for escape were limited and our allies might be more dangerous than the ponies were trying to escape from.
More than ever, I needed to reserve my energy for when I needed to kill Spritz.
She has her eyes on the three and their PipBuck. Star’s talk with the Ganger Alliance has her eyeing her even more carefully
-Cleaners Convicts-
They like that Spritz has kept her eyes on the three, but are suspicious as to why the three are getting along with Spritz so well.
-Ganger Alliance Convicts-
Star has managed to impress them, and though they do not wish to help the three, they see no reason to step on their hooves.
-NCRCF-
One guard has been bitching and moaning about Star. The NCRCF does not want any more trouble makers, and the stories about Star tell them that she is a troublemaker.
"Several songs Star Charter had shared with me caught my attention, they seemed to be older, filled with this mysterious cheer, and a sense of adventure. It all reminded me of songs I had heard from sailors who were more concerned with exploring the unknown rather than with the plights of their religion.
Asking Star, she didn’t know where the songs came from, only that they were called the old songs. Something about them gave me a feeling that there was a pirate culture that predated Thorn like from a time less bloodthirsty and zelotus." ~ Azure Dice
Again, our morning meal was the same. Not that I expected anything different.
“So you're sure this is a good idea, Star?” Harp asked me. “Too many players can complicate things.”
Explaining things without anypony hearing proved to be difficult. The quiet cell block carried our voices no matter how silent we were and the loud mess hall kept everypony bunched together.
Harp's solution was to talk about the prison break in the form of Ogres & Oubliettes, some sort of game about adventure. Fortunately Slowtrot knew about the game. He even played it so he caught on quickly to how we were going about the conversation. I, on the other hoof, still had a hard time understanding some of the terms the two were using.
Status effects, alignments, and a squizard… it all sounded like wasteful egghead talk to me.
I sighed. “Ya, but we may need backup. There's no way to know if the players we have will not just… you know, stab us in the back. The squizard we're up against is too strong on its own, so what's stopping them from just using us as a decoy? That’s also assuming that they don’t take our gear, too.”
It all sounded dumb, but it finaly let us talk openly. Even if it did draw a few eyes, most of the other ponies just moved on when they thought we were talking about a game.
“Ya. That was a problem with a few games I played,” Slowtrot added. “There were always players who liked to kill everything they saw. Even killed other players if the other had something they wanted. Also, I’ve heard stories from other ponies having similar problems. Sometimes, a good-aligned player will go on a killing spree, or another player was secretly working with the squizard. So finding the right players was always a problem. Adding more players only made it worse.”
I didn’t know if Slowtrot had gotten confused again and was just talking about a game or was trying to point out that any pony we brought into this might try to kill us once we were free.
Still, he had a point. There was no way for us to know who was going to do what.
Looking at Harp as she pondered, she was clearly thinking the same thing.
I knew that Spritz Cookie was not going to just let us trot away with rare PipBucks. Anyway, without some guns to even the playing field, she would snap all of us in two with her hooves alone. We needed some ponies we could at least trust to not side with Spritz.
“I get it, but the players we got now are, you know, too far up their own asses about their character’s rules and such.” I tried to point out the problem with Spritz without actually saying it.
Harp nodded. “You're right. We do need a counterbalance. Otherwise, all we’ll end up doing is what the other player wants. Maybe I should talk with them. Not to be a bitch, Star, but all you got is your looks when it comes to charisma.”
I playfully stuck my tongue out at Harp. “Oh, trust me, I know. I didn't spend my time at the Ruffled Feathers to not learn what I’m good at and what I’m garbage at. Unfortunately the ponies here are too dry to be easily buttered up. Also I’m not interested in whoring myself out for a game they might not even play.”
A slight frown formed on Harp's face. “Ya. You did tell me about that. Why is this place mixed gendered in the first place?”
Both Harp and I looked over at Slowtrot. “Was this normal back then too?” she asked our friend from the past.
He shook his head. “As far as I knew, no. But then again, other than in the movies, nopony talked about the prisons. The movie Jailhouse Rock made it seem like a not all that bad place where ponies go to to be reformed. Maybe even learn new skills.”
Harps ears perked up. “Oh! My family has a copy of that movie in our vault. Not only was the King in the film, but also Lilac Lace and Vera Lynn.”
Her ears then drooped. “Had... it’s likely been taken away now.”
I gave Harp a pat on the shoulder, hoping to comfort her. “Maybe, one day, you can reclaim it. I know I’d help you do it.”
She gave me a frustrated glance before sighing. “Sorry. I shouldn't get depressed over old movies. Let's go and talk to those players you were suggesting.”
Letting her go, I pushed myself up. My legs pains in annoyance as though not wanting to move more than I already had. “That’s the spirit. We can leave tomorrow's problems for tomorrow.”
I then looked over at Slowtrot who slowly got up as I asked him, “You sure you're up for moving around right now?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. My back hurts every time I do anything but lie down, but it’s not like I’ll be allowed to not do anything. At least I should back you two up if something happens.”
“How? By laying down in some ponies way?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.
He shrugged. “If that’s what it takes.”
Somehow that put a little smile on my face. “Alright, then I’ll try not to start shit. The last thing you need is another beating. You barely survived the last one.
WIth that we trotted out of the mess hall where we saw Spritz again preaching to her followers. It was very much similar to how the old preachers back on the Blackwater would draw crowds. Though they were preaching salvation and the purging of the wicked, where she was yelling about how they will save Equestria if they ended the NCR.
As we trotted past, Spritz eyed me and I gave her a wink just to be an asshole.
On our way into the showers, the mare Railway was standing guard. She gave us a headnod as we past her. The inside had a few ponies gambling like before with Bitter just watching them while looking annoyed. Seeing me, she gave an annoyed sigh before trotting over.
“Ya going to be a persistent bitch, aren't you? Like ya want us to give you the pointy end of a shiv,”said Bitter before she eyed Harp up. “Unless-”
“No, she’s not for sale.” I quickly explained.
Bitter shrugged. “For now, maybe, but spend a few months on the bottom of the food chain and you will be singing a different tune.”
“Speaking from experience?” I asked with a smile.
A glare came from Bitter, but Harp stepped up and gave me a stern look. “Star, stop antagonizing every pony in here. We have enough problems already."
She then turned to Bitter and put on a nice and friendly face. "Star already told you about our predicament."
"Ya. I got the gist of it, but don't go blabbing about it. I rather have your problems stay yours. Ya get it?" Bitter said as she eyed the entrance of the showers. Her ears twitched about.
Harp checked her pipbuck. She calmly tapped at it for a moment as Bitter stood by, looking impatient. She was clearly wondering what my friend was up to which forced her to ask, "So… the fuck you still doing here, hoofing at that pipbuck thing?"
The pipbuck then beeped. After that, Harp showed her the screen. It displayed a map. "We have an extensive map of the old world on our pipbucks along with the ability of auto mapping. It’ll help us find places others might not."
Bitter cocked an eyebrow.
"Also theirs the EFS which can detect hostiles. If you were to help us, we can certainly help you," Harp further explained.
We waited a moment as Bitter chewed on what she was just told before asking, "Then see any good places on that pipbuck?"
Harp nodded. "A stable. If it's still functioning then Star can open the door with her pipbuck."
Bitter Tea’s eyes went wide. The zeba mare clearly took this conversation far better than she did with me. But some doubt still remained in her eyes.
"What about Spritz?" she asked cautiously.
Harp's confidence seemed to fade a bit. "I’m still trying to plan around her. We need her for any hope of things working out, but after that… I just need more time.”
“More time!” Bitter exclaimed. Her voice turned to a mocking tone. “Ya… if you don't got no plan on killing that tin head bitch, no way I’m helping you, much less will the others.”
This seemed to even dampen Harps confidence even more as my friend avoided eye contact. She almost shyed away.
So I stepped in. “And what makes you the boss here? What stops us from convincing the others in this plan?”
A laugh came from the other side of the showers as Cherry Knot trotted around. “Now, sugar dear, didn’t we explain to you what happened to our leaders? You can try and convince the others to help you or how all of us would love to kill Spritz ourselves or how some have tried. Nasty mess that was, if you can imagine. The issue is that we all know that she outclasses us when it comes to fighting. And now, with her followers, we can’t even out number her.”
Cherry trotted past me. She got muzzle to muzzle with Harp. “You seem to be a smart mare. Tell me; how many openings has Spritz shown you? At what point has she been in a position anypony can get a shot at her back?”
“We need her for the plan so I can’t kill her off before it,” Harp replied. A bit of blush could be seen on her cheeks.
The prison whore then narrowed her eyes at Harp, much like what the brothel mares would do when seeing a thirsty stallion with no caps to their name. “Then there is no deal. The only thing that’s keeping Spritz in line is all the NCR guns pointed at her. If, and that is a big if, you were to get out of her without the NCR following, what will stop Spritz from just killing everypony not in her cult? That is, of course, only if the NCR doesn't kill everypony involved.”
“That too. How do you intend to get away from the NCR in the first place?” Bitter wondered.
“I… I’m working on that too.” Harp answered.
Both Bitter and Cherry laughed which caused the gamblers to look our way.
Taking a step back, Cherry rolled her eyes at us. “Sweety, you have all the time in the world, but that doesn't mean it will amount to anything. You're better served by just joining us. All you need to do is let some of the stallions have some fun with that cute flank of yours.”
I was about ready to slap the bitch when Slowtrot then spoke up. “We could just steal Daisy Chain. I know how to drive a vehicle, and Harp can… well… Let's say she knows how to make a stand-in for a spark battery with the right materials.”
This got Cherry to smile a little. “Bold, but how would a pony even get to the Warden's favorite toy?”
“Explosives,” I answered. “We just need to set off several sticks of the powder charges in the right place to do enough damage that their attention is too divided to keep us away.”
Harp looked over at me in surprise.
I gave her a smile. “You know when everypony said I almost accidentally burnt down New Appaloosa by playing with fireworks? Well they didn’t know that it wasn't fireworks or that it wasn’t entirely an accident. I found a magazine called patriots cookbook a long time ago.” I shrugged lightly. “I thought it would be fun to make some explosives and use it to destroy some asshole’s house. Used a bit too much flamer fluid thinking it would make a prettier explosion. Still have that magazine hidden away, and I remember it’s tips for destroying walls with explosives.”
Harp then face hoofed as she sighed.
Taking a moment to collect herself, Harp turned back to Bitter and Cherry. “As you can see, we have ideas and ponies who can make things happen.” She then lifted her pipbuck again. “Don’t forget that we also have a map to places where everypony can hide from the NCR until things blow over. So, I'm not asking you to agree with what I ask right now, but at least consider it. We need Spritz and her followers if we are to get past the NCR, otherwise we just don’t have the pony power to keep the NCR distracted.”
“If it’s just pony power, then why need Spritz? Those idiots would likely just follow whoever kills her,” Cherry asked.
Harp shook her head. “No. As you have seen, they are like a cult. Killing her would only turn them on us, or on you. She knows it, and I know you know it. If anything, we need to divide her cult befor even thinking about killing her.”
I saw a little spark in Harp's eyes as though she had just realized something important. “How about this? If I can get some of her followers to change sides, weakening her power, would you then consider helping us?”
“Maybe,” Bitter said, getting a gasp from Cherry. The Zebra then hit the mare on the shoulder. “I said maybe, not yes, you bitch.”
Turning her attention back to us, Bitter then gave us her full answer. “You offer us a tall order, but other than her physical strength, the real danger of Spritz has been her followers. If you can cut them away from her, even have them rejoin with us, then we could possibly outnumber her enough to take her out before the NCR gets involved.
“Alright, then that’s the deal. Kill Spritz or steal her followers. Only then will we back you up.”
Cherry Knot gave an overly dramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll go inform the others. Let them know there’s a slim chance that our own plan has changed.”
Bitter also sighed. “I’m seriously going to need another smoke just for considering this. Now you three should fuck off before Spritz starts getting suspicious.”
With that we parted ways, leaving the shower. Passing by Railway, she looked a bit out of breath. She attempted to show nothing was wrong by just leaning on the wall.
“The fuck you looking at?” she angrily asked me.
I rolled my eyes at her. “Hey, if you want to give a stallion a quickie, it’s none of my business.”
“Oh fuck off!” she growled at me as we trotted away.
We had only a little time before the NCR started their roll call. Harp wasted little time explaining our plan in our roundabout way. “I’ll play the role of the bard in the game. They can easily get followers to join through auditory skills. But the non playing ponies alone will not be convinced. We need a show of power to gain favor.”
“I’m playing the fighter, right?” I asked. “I could try fighting some ponies. Is that is my role in the game? To hit ponies with a big stick?”
Harp furrowed her brow, clearly not liking the question. “I rather you not get into a fight right now. If we can get through this map without too much combat, that would be ideal.”
I was still having a hard time following, but I did get that she wanted to avoid violence. Getting into a big fight was not ideal for me as well since, without more food, my regeneration may start causing me to go crazy. Still, some violence now may help us avoid it later.
“Alright, but with how this game sounds, combat is unavoidable. Maybe consider that if we avoid it now, it will only get harder later,” I suggested.
“Hey. What are you three on about over there?” Am NCR guard called out at us from behind a chain linked fence.
“Just about a game of Ogres and Oubliettes!” Slowtrot told the guard.
The guard raised an eyebrow. “The fucking what know?”
Our friend sighed as he explained. “Ogres and Oubliettes. It’s an old game about playing as heroes. You know, roll the dice to fight villains or swoon a fair maiden. I mean there's nothing else to do here.”
“Right. Egghead games,” the guard realized with a huff. “Whatever. Just stop sounding so… suspicious.”
We waited for a moment before the guard trotted off, then Slowtrot asked “So… what was my role again?”
“You're the cleric. Remember? You're going to be focused on keeping the party alive if anypony gets hurt,” Harp answered.
“We could use a wizard for the party,” I joked with a chuckle.
Harp again sighed. “Ya. Being able to teleport out of danger would be really useful. We will just have to make do with the bitch paladin and rogues for the party.”
A siren called out. We all gathered in the cartyared for a roll call.
Like always, the Wardin looked pompous. He spoke like a pony who had better things to do than talk with ponies who he thought were less than himself.
He did hold power over us, so in a way he was right to think that way.
“Once again you all stand before me, and all I see are ungrateful deviants who hold no respect to the NCR’s generous gift at a second chance. So that is why you all work. You work until you understand the joys of a hard day's work. Maybe you will become loyal through the NCR’s kindness or start to be honest with your fellow citizens and, through laughter, become the good ponies you all never were.”
Warden Dynamite then leaned in, eyeing us all. He gave a satisfied smirk at Slowtrot who had been placed back into the chain gang.
“I know such magic exists. You all have seen. With the radiation gone, we’ll no longer suffer under that unseen threat and be able to move freely. Unfortunately for the good ponies, ponies like you still plague this land and keep our glorious republic from expanding to what it should be. But maybe you all can feel that magic. To become cleansed like this wasteland and join us as good ponies who will help build a newer and better Equestria. So work hard and work happily. Otherwise you will never leave here. I can promise you that.”
The Warden put on a big smile and I knew what was coming.
“Now everypony, Laugh with me!”
We all did as we were told. We bellowed out fake laughter to satisfy the Warden's ego while knowing he would come after us if we didn't.
“ENOUGH!” He shouted and everypony became quiet.
The sadistic smile on his face as he displayed full control irritated me. It made me wonder if he was so arrogant to not sleep with one eye open.
“Good. Following orders is the first sign of reform. Now go work for this republic. Learn it’s joy.”
With that, the Wardin trotted off, and we were all herded to the carts to go and break rocks.
Unfortunately we were next to Spritz when our gang of five were chained together. The large mare looked rather amused at us as we were delivered to the quarry.
“So this plan you're thinking up, ready to tell me?” Spritz asked quietly.
Harp and I looked around in concern. The other prisoners in the cart were all ears as the guard on watch above us was looked out into the distance.
Spritz chuckled. “All the ponies in here are with me. The NCR fucker up there can barely hear us even without all the noise going on. Too much target practice without ear protection will do that to a pony, just like a savage.”
Harp seemed to calm a little. She took a deep breath before explaining. “The plan. Yes… We're planning on stealing Daisy Chain after planting several explosives and starting a prison riot. Once we're free, we’ll head to a nearby stable that we have the ability to get into, giving us a place to hide until the heat dies down.”
“And that's why you went to see the other prisoners in the showers?” Spritz probed.
A sly smile formed on Harp's face. “If we can get them to help, it would make it easier for the plan to work. I just need to get reassurance that you will not attack them in the escape. As long as you leave with us, they're happy to help.”
I felt impressed how Harp was able to put a plan together like that in a short time and lie so easily to Spritz's face. Unless this was actually all part of the plan. I mean she was smart, so it’s possible.
The towering mare pondered on this information before responding. “But to take Daisy Chain you would need several spark batteries. The ones the NCR have are kept locked tight, otherwise the bulldozer would not be left out in the open like it is.”
Harp nodded. “Naturally a spark battery is needed, but I know a way around that problem. I just need access to any power sources and make a container. Magical energy may be finicky, but if you just need enough of it for a one way trip, that’s actually really easy.”
“So you say.” Spritz said, looking skeptical. “And how would you make this container?”
Harp froze for a moment, taking her time before answering. “I… I’d need a… a jar. Yes. A jar and… right, some crushed gemstone and a bit of water. With that I can make a single use spark battery.”
I knew Harp was hiding her true ability, but even I had a hard time believing that.
Yet Spritz smiled.
The former steel ranger nodded. “You're talking about making a Saddalarabian battery. I read about that when I was just a foal. Young scribes would sometimes make their own as a test of their knowledge. I’m guessing you need a lot of unicorns to provide power for it then?”
Harp smiled wide, clearly glad that Spritz knew what she was talking about. “Yes. Precisely that.”
“And how are we to get our hooves on gemstones?” Spitz checked.
The smile on Harp's face faded. “I’m… not sure.”
“The quarry should be home to some smoky quartz,” I offered, hoping to help. “When we got rid of that raider nest, one of the family members of the ponies we saved gave us some. They said they were found in the quarry they worked at. I’m sure if ponies keep their eyes open for it, they will see a few shiny rocks within the rubble.”
There was a pause within the cart, lasting what felt like forever before Spritz laughed. “Alright. I’ll have my ponies keep an eye out for gemstones, though I doubt any good sized rocks can be snuck past the NCR.”
Harp shook her head. “No. We just need fragments. Any flake or chip will do so long as we have enough of them.”
“That my ponies can do,” Spitz assured as she gave Harp a hoof bump. The rest of the ponies in the cart also looked quite pleased. The idea of stealing Daisy Chain from the Wardin put a smile on their faces.
It seemed that we had an agreement. How this battery even worked was beyond me, but I knew Harp could fake it. Still, I didn’t think it would be enough to help draw some of Spritz followers away. We still needed to give a show of strength.
Unfortunately being chained together was going to prevent that from happening. I needed to wait till after we were unshackled. Last thing I needed was for Harp to get hurt.
The gathering of the limestone went as it had the few times before, monotonous and laborious. Even if our task was simple, it still became a strain after a while. Even the unicorns, who could levitate the stones, would tire out after a while. The possibility of them burning out their horns from the repetitive task meant that they would just do the work like an earth pony just so that they could have the mental energy to even eat at the end of the day.
It strained our legs and made our backs hurt as we moved the heavy stones. Harp, herself, was not adapting to it very well. Her body needed more time to recover than she was given. Still, she was keeping up a brave face as her legs trembled under the strain of the unending labor.
Spritz had no such problems, being physically the opposite of Harp. She barely broke a sweat as she effortlessly lifted chunks of limestone that even I would have trouble with. The mare’s every move showed how powerful she was. It was a reminder of what we were up against if we were to come to blows.
Our first time in the quarry was no different. We saw her raw strength as we all worked, but now something was different today. When she would toss a rock, it would come close to Harp’s or my head. She would pull on the chain more and cause us to stumble. Each time she would let out a little chuckle.
Shoving a large stone into a minecart, Spritz then sighed like she was a pony simply doing a normal day's work. “I remember when I was just a squire, when things were, for the most part, right in the world. A knight would take me off to do an expedition. The idea, you see, was to get real world experience and see why we do what we do.”
With a gleeful smile, she then said, “At the age of thirteen I killed my first savage. They thought a lone steel ranger and squire were easy targets. That knight ripped through them like nothing and let me take the fine shot as survivors fled.”
I snickered. “Thirteen, you say? Not bad. Bet those assholes had what was coming to them. Took part in a big fight myself when I was eleven.Shot a few ponies. Got shot as well. It was a messy affair. I even fought a pony in power armor. Nearly got me, too.”
Spritz raised an eyebrow. “Oh? They had power armor? Who? Enclave or ranger?”
“Neither,” I replied. “It was a holy paladin in… what was it called… Oh. right. Tesla armor, I think. Something for unicorns to use. It gives them some powerboost with their telekinesis. The armor let them throw a storage container like their nothing.”
“Tesla power armor?” Spritz echoed questioningly. “Never heard of it. Power armor for unicorns would have served the steel rangers well. What else do you know about it?” Spiritz asked with actual interests.
Unfortunately I didn’t know more about the armor than what I had just said so I replied, “Sorry. That's mostly it other than those who wear the armor are devout followers of Thorn Roasland. I also know that an EMP grenade is more than enough to stop one of them in their tracks.”
Spritz clearly didn’t like that answer. She gave out a forceful huff. “Such armour goes to waste on savages like you. If the rangers knew about it, they would surely liberate it from your unworthy hooves. As things should be.”
I just shrugged. “By all means try, but they'd likely think the same about you. Haven’t been among the fleets for a very long time, but I bet nothing has really changed. I can’t see any of those older ponies turning from the great mission given to us by the prophet.”
I paused for a moment as I remembered the sermon of a preacher at the old church I was practically raised in. Pulling it from memory, I recited part of the sermon. “Be not afraid of failure or humiliation, nor be afraid of pain or death. For in this war, we fight over all the souls of this world. It is the one true duty we have been chosen for. No one battle is greater than the war to defeat evil itself. All is but one part of a grand mission. There will be days where we may lose battles, but so long as we survive and fight on, we have not lost this war. So be not afraid of failure or humiliation, nor be afraid of pain or death. For as long as we all breathe, we will keep fighting until our enemies are crushed beneath our hooves and evil is banished from this world.”
With a smile, I tossed a small limestone chunk into the cart. “That was one of the more common verses the ponies back home would resight. Gets the blood pumping.”
Spritz didn’t look as pleased by the short sermon I gave. She looked more annoyed, yet with a bit of pain in her eyes. “Your kin is clearly a bunch of mad cultists who have no right to the old tech of the ministries.”
She then lazaly tossed a large chunk of limestone into the cart. “But if the rangers had that same drive, there would never have been a schism. We would have stuck to the mission. But no. That traitor had to taint their minds, telling them that Applejack's true will was to give back to the damn savages. What a crock of shit!”
A heavy hoof from Spritz came down on a chunk, breaking it into smaller pieces. The bitch didn’t need a fucking pickaxe to break a rock.
“Our mission was true and just. We were protecting those savages from themselves. Even the smallest piece of tech was too dangerous in those savages’ hooves. That's why we take it away.” Spritz scooped up the smaller rock chunks then tossed them into the cart. “I’ve read the rangers history and seen what those savages do with the old tech with my own eyes. They, just like you, will never be ready to be given it back. Not unless pure discipline is beaten into them. Then, and only then, may they have the right to hold even a toaster.”
Spritz took a deep breath and calmed down. The older and larger mare centered herself before picking up another large chunk and put it into our almost full cart. “When I was a simple knight of the steel rangers, we had trotted into a cult that worshiped an unexploded balefire bomb. Twisted by the radiation, the mutants had crafted weapons that would spread the radiation, inflicting death and mutation on surrounding settlements. Of course we decided to wipe them out, but the cult was large, having found followers from all over the region. Even though our armor protected us from the radiation, I still watched several of my comrades honorably fall in combat.”
She gritted her teeth. The memory obviously was not a fond one. “Even the most simple of tech had been twisted into a weapon to defile a pony’s form. Whatever they touched became poisoned, and their words were a vile virus of the mind. Even when the rest of my chapter arrived to help cleanse the land of that cult's corruption, the cult persisted for years. They still found followers and still twisted what tech they found into vile tools of corruption of the pure pony form.”
Cracking her neck, Spritz had fully calmed down. She tossed another rock on top of the pile. “So trust me when I say that savages should not have anything more than what we let them keep. Their minds are too corrupted.. If they have anything more than rocks to bang together, they will use it to march to their own destruction.”
I gave Spritz a friendly smile as I added another rock to the now full cart. “I get it. Ponies like to kill each other. That’s how things always have been. I mean, as long as there are two ponies alive, they will always find a reason and a way to kill the other.”
Spritz huffed through her nose as she got behind the cart, ready to push it to the crusher. “Truer words have never been spoken, you savage.”
This talking about the past made me a bit nostalgic as well as wanting something else to distract me from my hurting legs. So, once again, I sang... I sang an ancient song nopony knew of its origin, yet sang with longing.
“Oh roaring fire consumes our old lives, not a building worthy to keep.
Once filled with warmth, a future to deam, now as cold as the fost that costumes all.
They told us to leave to never come back, so unwanted and unloved we but just burdens.
Chilled to the bones and starved for food, nothing seemed to matter, not even the past.
So we returned to take what we wanted, casting all to the flame just to be warm.
When all became ash, our old home no more, we took to the sea and never looked back.
Oh you keep that cold land and we will rule the sea!
My brothers, my sisters we all gathered, abandoned all but together are strong.
We need no leaders, only our songs, sailing the waters wild and free.
Unshackled by our past we grow stronger, following the wind to seek adventure.
Oh you keep that cold land and we will rule the sea!
They call us criminals and villains, placing bounties on our heads each.
but who authority do they have to bound us to their rules, for they do not rule the waters
Our code is our own and it is ours to follow, no other ponies will ever bind us down.
Oh you keep that cold land and we will rule the sea!
With treasure ahead we will set sail, seeking the glory only we can find.
Our future is our own and we will see it through.
Though some days we look back at the sunset, see the fires of our old lives and how things could have been.
Oh you keep that cold land and we will rule the sea!
Oh you keep that cold land and we will rule the sea!
Oh you keep that cold land and we will rule the sea!”
Suspicion Hangs in the air and Spritz keeps a close eye on the three, yet her followers whisper about a plan. A good plan. They have yet to trust the three, but they do want to see what the three will do.
-Ganger Alliance Convicts-
A shaky deal has been struck, one they do not believe will bear fruit, but a deal is a deal.
"In our travels, Harp Melody would be the one who always took charge in both negotiations and giving commands when it ended in a fight. Charismatic and confident, I have seen many others like her before. Always the leader, though not all lived long enough to attain glory.
From my many interviews with her, it was clear that she had been groomed for such a role, though she was not expected to attain any power higher than what was pre-decided for her. Out in the wasteland, this skill proved both the group's lifesaver and what would doom them to not find peace. Failure can allow someone to stop and change their path. It could even force them to simply settle down into a new life. But success, that only pushes you to keep going, to find new challenges until you fail or there’s nothing left to achieve.
It makes me wonder if the three of them would have found some peace if they just let themselves give up, or was this wasteland truly too cruel to never offer them a way out?" ~ Azure Dice
Another day almost over. I chewed on the last bit of bland and pitiful excuse for food. I’m hungry and tired to even mouth a complaint. My body wanted sustenance, not caring what it was.
“Harp, are you feeling alright?” Slowtrot asked as he waved his pipbuck over me, causing me to glare at him. He quickly retracted his pipbuck, looking a bit ashamed. “Sorry. I wasn't thinking.”
I sighed. “What does it say?”
It was an intrusion of privacy, but knowing what my current health was would help at least gage how long I’ll last.
Looking at his pipbuck 3200, he frowned a little.
“That bad?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You're doing alright compared to me. Exhaustion is your biggest problem and you could do with having more nutrition if my guess is correct. It also says that you muscles are strained and you should take a long rest… which we all know is not happening.”
I could have guessed as much, but it was good to get confirmation. So the main problem was just the grind this place puts on a pony that would clearly wears me down faster than the others. Unfortunately I likely would be dragged away before even that happened and that's if I don’t get killed first.
Looking over at Slowtrot, he clearly hasn't fully recovered yet either. How could he? The stallion only got a day's rest after nearly being whipped to death.
“It’s good to know that I’m not suffering from anything really bad. Now you should worry more about yourself, trust me. I can take care of myself,” I told Slowtrot with a weak smile.
My eyes drifted over to Star Charter who had been thinking hard on her own role in our escape plan. We had been going over hypothetical scenarios under the guise of setting up an Ogres and Oubliettes game, now outside using bits of rocks as game pieces. Fortunately most of the guards and prisoners didn’t understand what we were talking about. They thought we were just being weird with a scant few knowing of the game which further gave us cover to talk in the open.
Star then huffed as she moved a pebble that represented her to another pebble. “What if I went after the second strongest bandit? I could use that to gain credit with the rest of the bandits.”
I shook my head. “No, no. Remember that the bandit boss is already known for starting trouble and that would only make the other bandits mad.”
“Also, it might look like an initiation ritual. That was always a thing in movies about criminals. Do something violent to join the gang,” Slowtrot added.
Star leaned back, looking annoyed. “What if-”
“No!” I cut her off. “Why must you pick a fight… in the game?”
Giving us a shrug, Star looked over at a group of Spitz’s followers who were keeping an eye on us. “We got to do something to… you know… ahh, I mean-”
“Increase standing, I think is the term?” Slowtrot guessed.
She pointed at Slowtrot and smiled. “Ya. That. The bandits, the rogues, and the corrupt merchants all respect strength, right? If we keep playing it safe then nothing will really happen on our own time table.”
“That’s technically true,” I reluctantly agreed as I fought to withhold a facehoof.
Lowering my hoof, I then pointed at the pebbles that represented Spritz’s group. “Strength is just a means to an end for all of them. What the bandits care about is loyalty and their cause.” My hoof then moved to the Ganger Alliance pebbles. “The rogues care about bits and they think that strength is one of many ways to gain it.” Lastly my hoof moved to the Cattle Prods group of rocks. “As odd as it might sound to you, for the corrupt merchants, strength and money are also just means to an end. What they really want is influence.”
“All that fighting now would do is give us unwanted attention, something we cannot afford right now,” I explained.
Star gave me an annoyed look. I sighed before adding, “But you're not wrong. We need to do something, and soon.”
My eyes drifted to the tall towers that housed vigilant NCR guards. The position would give them the ability to see for several miles. It was the biggest thorn with attempting an escape. It gave nopony a place to hide so long as the NCR had eyes up there.
This prison was almost comical with how it mocked the prisoners inside. It’s a brilliant move by the ministries that built it. This was clearly a minimum security prison where the bare minimum effort was made to cage ponies in. It was almost daring a pony to try and run for it just to see how far they would go until they gave up before the guard would come and easily pick them up. That was my guess, at least.
Nothing existed around this prison for miles on the pipbuck map. Nothing from the old world or from this new one. Just dessert. Escaping from the prison was not the problem. It was not getting caught that needed to be solved. So long as the NCR wanted to come after us, they would catch us. There’s no denying it.
It ran through my head over and over tat the solution was to take out the NCR, but then if I did that, I would truly become a criminal. I wanted to avoid as much violence as possible in order to get out of here and clear our names. But if we killed even one pony here, then that would be it, cleared name or not.
Then there was the issue of dealing with Spritz. The mountain of a mare was quickly becoming just as much of a problem as the guard towers were. She had everypony wrapped around her hoof through fear and subtle charm. If they didn’t want to kill her, they wanted to follow her. The mare's strength was also no joke and she was no dullard either.
I was just glad she was not as well read as she thought she was since Saddalarabian batteries required the juice of a magic plant, not just simple water. There was no way for us to get our hooves on that. Luckily there was no way for anypony to find out as long as I could charge the bulldozer with my own magic.
As for the rest of the plan, Slowtrot and Star were a lifesaver. It was shameful to admit to myself, but I couldn't think of anything good for a plan from the day we were thrown into the NCRCF. I don’t know why, but nothing came to me that sounded right. All of my initial ideas were just wishful thinking at best… maybe I was just hoping that somepony would just come to save us.
But, with each day that passed, it sank in that help might not come in time.
Looking over at the towers again, the scraps of a plan came together. The first being to take out the eyes of towers themselves. If we could gather enough black powder to make four bombs and sneak them to the towers, we could damage them enough to knock them over. If we combine that with a prison riot to keep the NCR distracted, we could jump onto the bulldozer before the other convicts knew what we're doing and ride out of here. When far enough away, we could make our way to stable 19 and plot our next course of actions.
But that’s only if we can get away without the other convicts joining us or the NCR quickly subduing the riot then chase after us. Worse is if the NCR just starts killing ponies. Then how far can we go before we die as well?
This is also assuming that Spritz does not escape with us or her own plans are put into motion along with whatever violence she plans to bring us.
It ran through my head again and again; the plans and every way it can fail.
“Oy Harp!” Star said, waving a hoof in my face and thus snapping me out of my current train of thought. “You okay?”
I slowly nodded. “Just thinking about… Right. The game. Just thinking about the events that can happen in the game.”
Star rolled her eyes at me. “Well don’t do it too hard. We don’t need that brain frying out on us.”
She was right. I needed to get my head on straight and not let my worries run away from me. Now if only we had the time to truly plan everything out.If only.
Another restless sleep came to me followed by a nightmare. It was more memories than simple fear. I could not help but relive the moment. It haunts me still.
“Such a lovely young lady. It’s dangerous to travel on your own. You know that?” the mirage pony hunter told me. He had clearly seen better days. There was a cut on his face and he stood on three rusting prosthetic legs. But he was known for being the best guid in this part of the metro. He was both highly recommended and expensive.
The well kept pipbuck on his one good leg was his identification, so I was sure that the pony talking to me was the one I was told about. It also meant he had the ability to detect hostile beasts which was important for where I was going.
All I wanted to do was visit rainbow point. It was a place said to be one of the most beautiful places on the big island. I wanted to see it with my own eyes at least once in my life. If I did, I could go back home and wait for my fate. It shouldn't take long and the maids were paid to keep quiet about this outing, so I was sure nopony would know that I had left.
Not that they cared that I was around anyways.
As I trotted up into the station, Charon's Stop, I was revolted by the smell of the place. It was made all the worse by the sight of it. It was known as the place where station ponies come to die. The last chance at life was to dig oneself out of poverty, but few, if any, ever live long enough to restart their lives. Shanty homes staked on shanty homes. Peddlers sold rotting fruit and parasite riddled radhog meat. Mirage ponies of all types loitered around, each armed with whatever guns they could scavenge or make themselves.
What elder brother had told me about this place seemed to have been exaggerated, but no. He had put it lightly. I could feel it the magic of this place was putrid. It made me feel sick.
“First time?” the hunter asked me with a smile. “You rich mares really do live a pampered life if this makes you queasy. Usually Charon's Stop is even worse.”
“Worse?” I asked in horrified astonishment.
His smile became twisted. “Ya. Normally their carting off the dead in stacks.”
“Oh,” was all I said.
His smile faded, clearly disappointed by my lack of shock to his last statement. He misunderstood why I was displeased by this place. All the death and misery was just the natural state of things. They were, and will always be, peasants, and living short miserable lives was just their fate. The problem was all the grime and horrendous smell. It also didn’t help that, unlike most of my family, I could actually feel the stagnant magic.
Grimacing, the hunter trotted ahed and I followed. I kept my hood over my head just in case anypony did know what I looked like.
I trotted down the dirty walkway. The large station was a wonder to behold considering with how many ponies it could house and how dreadful it all was. We eventually pushed our way to the checkpoint where several mirage ponies stood in clean well pressed blue uniforms.
“One Orthrus bit per pony,” The guard requested. We paid.
They were the peace keepers of the metro. They were Stable-Tec which turned into an independent military. My family hated them as they prevented us from expanding our rightful territory and taking over all of the metro, but we also respected them for their ability to keep the peasants in line. I didn’t think of them. Not completely since I would not exist if they didn’t. They were the one who created the treatments that made Mirage ponies.
We left the station behind. We trotted into the dark tunnels using a well traveled route that I was told was patrolled enough that bandits were not a risk. Here the feeling of civilization fell away and the rotting old world was laid bare. It was being consumed by the roots of the toxic plants that prevented us from retaking the surface.
Crude graffiti covered the walls in a dark rainbow of hate and despair. Some depicted the many dangers that existed on the islands. Plants that spit their seeds, packs of mutated dogs, bugs of all shapes, ghouls infested with twittermights, large stampedes of radboars and, the worst, paradise dragons with their massive claws.
Strangely the large monster was depicted as a beautifly feathered lizard. The beauty was ruined by the drawings of dead ponies surrounding it. It’s claws were covered in blood.
“Don’t worry my lady, Rainbow point is quite safe. Nothing there for the beasts to hunt and the surrounding area is a spitter plant thicket. Even for those feathery bastards, it be suiside to even try to get close,” the hunter assured me.
My memory became blurry. Our path felt longer than it should. It was less traveled and darker, but the hunter assured me that we were on the right path. That it would only be a bit longer.
Was I just being stupid, ingnorant, or just desperate to have that last bit of freedom before my chains of obligation wrapped around me? Mother was growing weaker, though she hid it well. soon a new successor would be announced. No matter who was chosen, I knew I would be married off to some lesser noble to buy their loyalty and to keep me as far from them as possible.
So I just just followed that pathetic hunter while knowing he was leading me astray.
Where we ended up was a disgusting excuse for a home. The place was some safe house connected to the metro. Likely a rich pony’s shelter to protect them from the bombs for it to have lasted this long, yet everything here was rotte or rustedT trash was everywhere and there were signs that the toxic plant life was finding its way inside. This place was not going to last much longer.
The hunter spoke, but it was all nonsense to me now. Just mere noises that was void of any decency. I think he was talking about saving me, having me live free with him, spouting words of love and wanting to have a family with me. All utter garbage.
Elder sister, Silver Majesty, had set this up. She found a pony who would know all the hiding spots. One that could live out in this Celestia forsaken place for years. She must have also promised him me.
I knew she was behind it, but still trotted into it anyways.
Was I just trying to commit suside in a dramatic way? My family did love to die in style, so maybe that is why I did this.
But something, like a whisper, told me to run. It nagged at me, mocked me. I don’t know why, but a phrase ran through my head.
“A secret for a secret” had passed over my lips, and I ran.
It was all a blur. I just ran any way that seemed to open to me, almost as though guided. The hunter yelled as he chased me. He never quite caught me despite him being the expert out here.
The chase ended at a tunnel that led out into a decayed city. Both of us wore our gas masks so as to not breathe in the toxic pollen in the air. It was an eerie sight. A valley of tall buildings covered in vegetation and the sun shining down the broken road.
Again the hunter talked, and again I could no longer remember his words, not that they were important anyway. Just mad rambling of a pony who lived out here for too long, of which would soon end.
I do remember being afraid. Of him, of this place, of realizing what I had done and what he wanted to do with me. I could have just taken some pills and slept in my comfy bed to never wake up. Now I was cornered by a grimy peasant who wanted me to be his wife and live in filth.
Seeing a quickly descending vertibuck coming at us for a crash landing almost felt like a gift from the princesses.
The hunter didn’t stand a chance as the aircraft crushed him. It just barely missed me. In that moment, it felt like my mind became clear. Everything became vivid. My thoughts of giving up faded.
Was it from shock, or had I just concluded that, if I was to die, I would go home and do it? All I knew was that I ran again. I retreated back into the tunnel and found a place to hide. What I was hiding from I didn’t know, but I was becoming scared. So scared that I began to cry.
Yes. I remember now. Somepony was laughing; a mare. Her voice was filled with malice and disgust. I also could feel it, a stagnant and malicious magic that faintly covered everything.
Maybe that's why when they found me. I was already out of energy. my mind raced too much and was unable to process what was happening right at that moment.
I had been found by three pegasus in uniforms I had never seen before. They also spoke with an accent I didn’t recognize. I knew what they were, but didn’t know what followed them. For the first time in over two hundred years, ponies from outside our islands had finally come. It meant that we were not alone. We were not the last of ponykind.
It all went dark as I faded.
With the darkness came screaming and the sound of battle. Because of my selfishness, my wanting to die dramatically, I lead savages to my home. Their screams echoed in my head. It's all my fault. All my fault!
“WAKE UP!” Star whispered loudly in my ear while covering my mouth as I screamed into it.
She held me there, waiting for me to calm down before letting go.
“You're safe now,” Star assured but, when I looked at her, I saw that her eyes had a slight glow to them. It only filled me with fear.
I turned my head to the wall to look away. “Thh… thanks.”
She sighed. “Do you need me to hold onto your hoof as you sleep?”
It was an odd request, but right now, I didn’t want to be alone. “Please.”
Her hoof held mine as she softly hummed a tune as I slowly drifted back to sleep.
Even with some sleep, my body still ached all over. It reminded me that I was both alive and in a prison. Strangely I was starting to get used to it, if only barely.The pain was more bearable, or I was just becoming more numb?
When it came to breakfast, I didn’t feel hungry at all. I offered it to Star and Slowtrot, but they both insisted I eat.
It seemed stupid to me as they both needed the food more than me. Slowtrot was still recovering and could use some extra food. Then there was Star, who just needed to eat more from what I remember about her. I was just a small pony who could barely lift a large rock, yet they made me eat.
“The brain consumes a lot of calories… Well, at least I think it does.” Slowtrot said as he tried to remember the wisdom of the old world.
“Hungry ponies don’t think straight. Trust me. I know,” Star assured me.
They were relying on me to come up with a perfect escape plan, but no matter how much I think, nothing felt like it would work. What I had was a plan, but not a good one.It was just something I threw together that sounded like a plan.
First off was the problem of just getting to Daisy Chain and driving off without the NCR killing everypony near it. Even one guard could kill most of us from just the roof of the building.
Which led to the next problem; the towers were not the only thing they could shoot from. It just happened to be the best place to do it. It also didn’t help that the bulldozer was not all that fast, so anypony not in the driver seat was an easy target.
I also had no way of dealing with Spritz if any of this even works. How was I even to get her followers to listen to me? They were criminals. They lived in a completely different world from me.
It was all a mess and it was giving me a stomach ache.
Leaving the cafeteria, nothing much had changed. The clock was still ticking. Ponies were already gathering to hear Spritz, the remnants of the other gangers trotted off to their hiding spots, and Cattle Prod sat in his little corner with his own group.
I couldn’t trust him to help us escape, but maybe I could at least use him to help me cury favor with Spritze’s group. I could have him get me those ciggets the ponies use as money and give them out to Spitz’s followers. That way I could avoid Star getting into a fight.
Trotting over with my friends besides me, Cattle Prod looked annoyed to see us come close.
“You're bringing attention to me that I don’t want.” Cattle Prod said with disdain. His eyes clearly looked past me and over at Spritz.
With my best smile, I attempted to charm him. “Oh! My apologies. I will make sure this is quick. I just needed to ask you something.”
The stallion slouched. He took a moment before he responded, “Alright, but make sure it’s quick. If that bitch starts thinking I’m up to anything with you three then don’t be surprised your next meal tastes funny.”
I don’t know why, but just hearing that he will tamper with my food made me a bit mad. That food was barely edible as it was and I didn’t want to eat it for the rest of my life, but having it get even worse just touched a nerve.
Keeping calm and taking a deep breath, I asked my question. “Now remember that you said you will do us a favor if we keep Spritz off your back. Well, I need to collect that favor. Nothing major. I just need something to get Spritz followers to like us more.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t remember saying that. What I remember is that my ponies will keep an eye out for you. Nothing more. Now scram.”
A dismissive wave of his hoof reminded me of the mayors from the metro stations. How they just ignored the plight of the peasants whenever they could. It was not that I cared much about it back then.Dealing with the peasant’s troubles were far below my position, but for them, it was their job. We trusted them to keep the peasant calm and working. Our job, in turn, was to make sure they did their job.
Cattle Prod was no mayor. He held no real power. He was just another sleazy pony. One that had something I needed.
Clearing my throat, I continued with my request. “I know you have a stockpile of cigarettes. If you can get me a bunch, I’ll owe you a favor. It would help keep Spritz focused on me.”
He eyed me up and down, then yawned a, “No...”
I narrowed my gaze at him, “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean no fucking way I’m givig you shit. Listen, little bitch. All I want you to do is be far from me so that the big bitch follows you. Your reward from that is my making sure that your food is edible. You understand?” Cattle Prod explained while sounding tired.
He then looked over at the two big ponies that stood nearby. He motioned with his hoof for them to come over. “If you want something from me, you better have something to give me. Unfortunately the prices have gone up, and even if I was interested in your body, you would need to do a lot of work to even afford what you're asking.”
“Again with-” Star began to say, but I stopped her.
“So that’s it, then? Throw us to the wolves and wash your hooves? Not even going to hear us out even after we did what you asked?” I didn’t know what I expected. Everypony else had at least heard us out, but this asshole just blew us off. Maybe I was getting conceded or just hoofing at straws.
He smiled. “That's just how it works, my little pony. So go and break rocks. Keep that bitch’es eyes on you and, if you're lucky, I might get the NCR to transfer you to the cleaning crew once somepony kills her.”
Cattle Prod then waved his hoof at the two large ponies that had come to him. “As long as you remember your place, everything will be fine. My place is to work here until I can go home. Your place is to break rocks until you die. Something that will happen much sooner if you talk to me again.”
The stallion then looked up and to his side where an NCR guard was watching. “Last thing you want is for them to think you might be hiding something in that puckered asshole of yours, now do you?”
The threat was clear and my own lack of power even clearer. I just hated it, but there was nothing I could do but rethink a new plan. With how my legs ached, I was now really starting to understand why he and his ponies were hated so much.
The power dynamic alone was easy to understand. It was the same back home where ponies who had leverage would get themselves into safe positions. Sucking up to mother was their favorite tactic. It made sure that she was informed about those who didn’t have her best interest in mind while hoping she would reward them with her favor. But here, Warden Dynamite was the king and Cattle Prod sucked up to him to gain his favor, all to give himself power over the rest of us.
I hated it so much, this powerless feeling. I may have had no power among my own family, but the other ponies still minded their manners around me and feared what little power I did have. Here I had none. I was just another lowly pony whose fate was like a noose around their neck.
An irritated huff came from Slowtrot as he took a step forward, staring down Cattle Prod. “I wonder how long it will take the NCR to come down here as I beat your face in?”
There was a pause as Slowtrot smiled.
Cattle Prod sneered. “Enough joking, get the fu-”
“Ironbuck, S.A.T.S!” Slowtrot growled.
With the fluid motion of a skilled fighter, Slowtrot bolted forward. He threw a right hook into Cattle Prod’s face. The crooked pony had no time to defend himself and was knocked back and practically bounced off the ground from the strike.
Everypony stood in shock, silent and tense.
Spitting out a tooth, Cattle Prod slowly got up. Rage was in his eyes. “If that's how it will be, then that’s that’s how it will-!”
A swift and heavy kick fell from Star Charter’s hooves and into his gut. It caused Cattle Prod to puke up his meal.
“Ya. lets fight!” Star said with a hungry glee.
It then happened too fast as I trotted back. The ponies who had been guarding Cattle Prod now descended on my friends. Star tossed sand in one of the goons eyes then positioned herself to give him a buck to the face, thus knocking him back. Slowtrot charged in to grapple the other larger stallion. He lost ground for a moment before pushing back which caused the pony to lose balance.
More of Cattle Prod’s goons trotted over. They seemed more interested to watch rather than to join in.
“You think you can just sit this out?” the voice of a rough mare spoke from behind. Her shadow loomed over me.
I watched as she wound back her hoof to hit me… then nothing.
Time had slowed down. Everything filtered with a green light. In my vision, the cartoonish twittermight of Order floated in, looking angry. “Tactical S.A.T.S. has been activated, madam. Would you like to connect it with your companions for joint action?”
“What?” I thought at Order.
Order gave a digital smile. “Tactical S.A.T.S. can be connected with other pipbuck with the same program, thus allowing joint movement if needed.”
This had already gone fucking south, so I thought “Why not!”
My concerningly smart virtual intelligence then bobbed as text rushed across my vision and then I could feel the presence of two others, my friends. “May I make a suggested action for you, madam.”
“Yes.” I answered do to my own inexperience with actual hoof to hoof fighting.
Several options ran across my vision before stopping at one called “Orthrus Security Throw.”
Next thing I knew, time slowly began to move. The mare thrusted her hoof at me, but my body moved on it’s own. It twisted out of the way of the attack and grabbed onto the mare herself. She kept going forward as I pulled her into me, then over. It was strange as the larger mare looked at me with shock as she flew over me and at Star, who was waiting for her. Grabbing her by the back legs, Star then tossed the mare into the stallion she was fighting. The collision knocked him back and onto the stallion Slowtrot had just bodychecked.
The three then fell onto a now extremely shocked Cattle Prod, pinning him under them.
Once more everypony became silent as the three of us prepared for another pony to try to fight us, but none did. They just looked at us with confusion in their eyes. All of them were waiting to see what happened next. What we would do.
It was an opportunity. It was not one I wanted, but still an opportunity for me to vent and possibly earn some reputation.
Trotting up to the pinned Cattle Prod, he looked up at me, a hint of fear in his eye.
Good.
“Listen here, peasant. I have already too much shit on my plate as it is and don’t need you adding to it, so I will agree to leave you alone and you will do the same for me. Simple as that. But… if you try anything, send your barely decent goons to try anything, have the guards try anything, even suggest trying something to the wind itself.” I got close to his face to make the point clear. “I will have you castrated with a sharpened rock. And trust me, it can be done faster than it would take the guards to come in to stop it. I know. My mother showed me how.”
Cattle Prod gulped and nodded. “D.. deal.”
With a smile, I backed away, then addressed the rest of the ponies watching us. “Now for the rest of you. I have no grudges or feuds with any of you, and I mean to keep it that way. But if you have a problem, I’m more than willing to talk it out in a civil manner. We are, after all, trapped here as slaves together. If there is one thing a slave master wants, it’s for us all to be divided. To toil till our bodies whither to nothing then be replaced by more like ourselves.”
Looking over at the prisoners who didn’t work as part of the chain gang, I wanted to give one last jab to solidify this on the spot speech. “And don’t be fooled. Not working out there only means you're the reserve. To be held onto in case several slaves get crushed by falling rocks. Then it will be your turn as the NCR needs their concrete more than they need a clean prison. Imagine, then, which of you are his least favorit boot lickers. Which of you will be sacrificed to the query so that he doesn't have to go like the rest of us.”
With a smile, I trotted away, followed by Slowtrot and Star Charter.
“Okay. What the fuck was that?” Star Charter asked.
“I don’t know. Just roll with it.” I told her.
“What you said about your mom ... was that true?” Slowtrot asked.
“Yes, but it’s not the time for questions.” I replied.
We then stopped, the towering form of Spritz Cookie loomed over us with a big grin on her face.
“So what were you talking to that snitch about before, you know, metaphorically castrating him like that?” The grin on Spritz’s face was both dark and filled with amusement.
I sighed. “The asshole pushed us your way on our first day. Said he’d give us a favor if we kept you off his back.” I lifted up my pipbuck to show her. “I upheld my end of the bagin, but then he refused to uphold his end. So we had him pay in a different way.”
Spritz looked over me for a moment, then chuckled to herself. “Well you three are more impressive then I gave you credit for. I mean, for fighting third rate thugs. Still, that little speech of yours looks like it shook some of the savages brains there. Got them to think. I can see it in their eyes.”
She then looked over to the side where several NCR guards were now marching over to us. “Now let's see how you deal with these assholes. I do hope you don’t sing even a whisper of a tune to them. Not unless you want that tongue of yours cut out. Wouldn't be the first pony I’ve silenced that way.”
Spritz then trotted away just as the gaurd arrived.
“You three, come with us!” they ordered.
I looked at Star and Slowtrot. Wee’re not sure what trouble we had just gotten ourselves into, but it was too late to do anything about it now. So we nodded and followed the guards away.
"Observing Harp Melody, it was always interesting to see the ponies drawn to her. The way she acted, talked, even moved seemed to be like a beacon to them. Nothing so extreme like moths to a flame, but there was always this favorability they had to her, even with those who clearly had ill intent.
That all said, it also made her a target. Those with the talent for drawing crowds are quite useful to those in power who wish to gain greater power. A tale as old as time; be it performers, speakers, those who can create great art, or simply have a pretty face, they all find themselves coveted by those who want to use them. But where most walk into their chains, Harp always actively fought to keep herself free. The wisdom from being born into a powerful family is my guess." ~ Azure Dice
To say the NCR mare Ginger looked annoyed would be selling her stoic face short. It was subtle. A little wrinkle above the eyebrow, the slight upturned head, and every now and then one of her hooves would step heavier than the other. The mare was clearly containing whatever she wanted to say or do which was far more than what the other NCR guards had done.
Even now I could hear the other guard whisper insults at us, safe from any response due to the chains that kept us in the middle of the room.
Ginger then sighed as she looked at me, asking a question. “Prisoner Harp Melody, care to explain again why you got into a brawl with prisoner Cattle Prod?”
This mare was not an idiot and didn’t buy it when we tried to pin the fight on Cattle Prod alone. It didn’t help that Star, having the social flare of a rad-boar, was the one to make the accusation. Slowtrot was no help either. He tripped over his own words while under the pressure.
Taking a deep breath, I needed to twist this situation around as fast as possible. “Star is not completely wrong. It was Cattle Prod that provoked us, you see.”
Ginger raised an eyebrow. “How so? He maybe a slimy fuck, but he’s no idiot.”
Well at least she was not ignorant.
“Well, first off, he wanted us to be a distraction for Spritz Cookie. He promised us a deal. When we came to collect, he pretended like no deal had been made,” I answered truthfully.
But now it was time to twist the truth. I put some distress in my voice. I just had to be careful with how distressed I sounded. Too little and I sound sarcastic. Too much and I’d sound fake. “Then he started making demands. I’m sure you know the kind of demands a pony like him would make. Telling us he has some of the guards here in his pocket, that he could get us out of the chain gang, or have us thrown into the pit. He also made a threat that if we didn’t do as he told us, well… like he said, he has some guards in his pocket, and those guards can pretend they didn’t see anything.”
Ginger’s eyes narrowed for a moment, but she looked ultimately unmoved by my performance. “And that's why you started that fight?”
Slowtrot raised his hoof. “Well I was not going to let him threaten my friends like that.”
The NCR mare huffed at him. “Didn’t ask you!”
I sighed, bridging the attention back to me. “Well it was that or cower in fear. I may not be the stronger pony, but even I know that, once you give into the demands of another, they will come back for more. If he was going to tell us what he can do to us, then we might as well show him what we will do to him. One cannot truly negotiate if you don’t have the power to back up your words. But that's not why you're so upset. Is it, lieutenant?”
Ginger stretend herself up, making sure her tie was still straight. “Smart and charismatic. You would make a good politician. But yes, that's not the problem. Fights break out all the time unfortunately. The problem is that speech. If you're expecting to be let out anytime soon, spouting anti-NCR rhetoric is not going to help. Why?”
Rolling my eyes at her, it was now time to pull out another card in my deck and hope it works. “Didn’t I already tell you? Cattle Prod wanted us to keep Spritz’s eyes off him and on us. Then he went and made those threats, so I just decided to put my caps in with the big psycho mare. That way, even if Cattle tries anything, I’d have somepony he fears on my side.”
I watched as Lt. Ginger’s stoic face break a little and the look of irritation and frustration formed as she face-hoofed. “So, to put it simply, you did it for protection because Cattle Prod made a threat.”
Giving her a nod, she removed the hoof from her face and took a few steps back. “This place has been nothing but a shit show from day one,” she muttered to herself.
A groan then came from Star. “So can we, like, go now? Breaking rocks is a pain in the ass, but we rather not be around Cattle Prod’s ponies.”
A short moment passed as Ginger regained her composure. “No. Not yet. As it so happens, you all have a visitor. But you will be going to the quarry soon as you all are done here.”
With that, the mare trotted out and we were left to wait in the room under the watchful eyes of several NCR guards.
A visitor could mean many things, both good or bad. Hopefully it was something good, like a friendly face. Somepony who could help us. My hopes were on the Gunrunners. They should have some pull with the NCR.
But I was not a fool. I know that Ashy was likely doing something to keep the Gunrunners from coming near us, otherwise she’d have a flock of very pissed off griffins coming for her.
Likely it was one of two ponies; Victoria Rosary or Quicktrot Fragment. But I doubt it will be Victoria with how she had a public image to maintain. With the Lightbringer festival just around the corner, it would be a bad move to come near any criminals.
No. She would send a proxy for it… No. She’d just steal me from here. Likely killing any witnesses then whisk me off to some dark room where none can find me.
So that left Quicktot, the abomination of arcano science and dark magic. But does that mean time had run out and she is here to take me, or is she going to just mock me? Both are likely ,although it’s not like I can understand how that thing thinks.
Seconds ticked away as though they were minutes. We waited to see what our fate was going to be.
As the pony trotted through the door, Star was first to respond, nearly knocking Slowtrot and I down as she pulled on the chain to get to the mare.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH! GET OVER HERE SO I CAN RIP YOUR MURDERING THROAT OUT!” Star shouted with absolute rage.
With a swift strike from the butt of her revolver, Ashy Oaks knocked Star back.
“You never know when to shut the fuck up, Star.” Ashy grumbled as she looked down at my friend.
Rubbing her head, Star sat back up, clamer, but still full of rage. “I’ll never forgive you!” she growled.
Ashy didn’t say anything. She just pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a spark from her horn.
I wasn’t sure what to say. My mind was still trying to process why she was even here. She surely was not going to let us go. Not after what she had done.
“So, why are you here, Sheriff? To gloat? Because you better damn well not be asking for forgiveness,” Slowtrot said sternly before looking over at Star. “As I’m with her on this.”
Taking a long drag from her cigarette, Ashy scanned us with her eyes one by one before exhaling.
“No… No I am not, nor what I did was a crime,” she said calmly and coldly.
A growl came from Star. She was ready to lunge at Ashy again so I pulled on the chains to get her attention. Looking into Ashy's eyes, I could see her cold resolution. It was similar to that of my mother before she had grown ill. It was becoming clear to me why she was here as ponies with eyes like those could not be deterred from what they will do next. Everything else was just a formality.
At this point there was only one thing to ask.
“Explain,” I requested calmly.
There was a short pause as she took another drag of her cigarette and let out a cloud of smoke as she began to speak.
“I won’t waste your time with a long story. Neither of us have that kind of time. Anyways it’s a common story you can find out here in the wastes. The amount of slaves that had been taken by Redeye has ensured that there would be many ponies to tell it. Those that survived, that is.” She cleared her throat which then turned into a coughing fit that lasted several seconds. “Excuse me. My lungs never truly healed after leaving Fillydelphia.”
“As you know, there were many slaves in that Celestia damned city. Not just for manual labor, but for anything they could make a pony do. Clearing out monster nests, factory work, accounting when they could find a smart pony. The unlucky ones would become sex slaves, and at any point a pony would be chosen for experimentation.” Ashy took another drag of her cigarette, turning what was left of the stick to ash. “I watched too many ponies I knew and cared about die in the cruelest of ways. Some days struggling to just keep on going, wondering if I should just give up and die. It would’ve been a far better choice than living in the tartarturas that the city was.”
Star huffed. “Ya. I heard that story before, so get to the point?”
Nodding, Ashy pulled out another cigarette and lit it. “Well, among the cruelest of places to work was a place called the forge where Redeye got all his weapons, armor, and ammunition. The place the Gunrunner’s called home. In that place, slaves worked until they collapsed. They commonly lost limbs to the ancient machines. They were also frequently harassed and punished by the slavers, and all while under the watch by the uncaring gaze of the Gunrunners.”
She then pointed her lit cigarette at Star. “I know because I was there. The work never ended. They always made more weapons for the masters who would then use those weapons to drag in more slaves.” Bringing the cigarette to her mouth and giving it a puff, she then pointed to the scar on her cheek. “I got this for trying to help a fellow slave who nearly fell into a machine. I was delaying the order, they said. Best let a pony get crushed rather than slow down, they said.”
Taking an even longer drag, her cigarette was turned to complete ash in a seconds. The smoke exited from both her mouth and nose in a large cloud. “Hardballer was there overseeing the beatings, the deaths, and the rapes. He may not have taken part, but he was there. He was an accessory to the crimes committed.”
Letting the spent cigarette fall, she then aggressively stomped on it, grinding her hoof into the floor. “So no, what I did was no crime. It was justice.”
I was not going to deny her pain. It was clear she had experienced more than I could ever know, or would ever want to know. I also understood wanting justice for such crimes or wanting to do it myself if I could. But I still could not forgive her, if not for what she did, then how she went about doing it.
“Then why not take him to trial? At least then you would not have shot an unarmed griffin who was trying to make peace with you.” I pointed out even while knowing how futile it was. The answer was clear as day to me.
“Pardoned by the NCR.” she said, then spat on the ground. “Gwadina signed it herself and made sure everypony knew. With a stroke of the pen, justice was denied and we slaves of Fillydelphia got to see our abusers trot away, more free then we will ever be.”
Looking me in the eyes, Ashy trotted right up to me. “So ask me again why I could not simply drag him to court and have him answer to his mountain of crimes.”
I shook my head. “No. I thought it was that. Now that you explained the past, what's our future?”
“The brain of yours would have done the town some good if you didn’t get involved with the scum of the town.” Ashy said as she looked down at me.
I just smiled. “No. That’s where you're wrong. From the time I woke up, I already had a noose around my neck. All I did was jump out of that noose and, unfortunately, I found myself in another.”
Sighing, Ashy trotted back to a safe distance from Star who was only held back by Slowtrot.
“Your future…” Ashy breathed. “Yes, it is time I tell you that. Since you were just accessories to the crime of selling guns to raiders, and because you did help get rid of the Blood Moon raiders, I’ve asked the NCR to have you three transferred out of here. Not all to the same places, mind you. Star will go to the Arbu detention facility and wait out her sentence. Slowtrot, due to his mental instability, will be sent to the NCR physiological ward and be checked for the extent of his mental illness.”
There was another pause from Ashy as she looked at me. Somehow I knew I was not going to like this at all.
“Harp, it seems that the NCR have deemed to give you a pardon and will be recruiting you into their military. Ambassador Gavril had personality filled out both your pardon and your recruitment. You have no choice in the matter.” As the words left her lips, a cold sense of dread ran down my spine.
It didn’t take much thinking to know what they might want. I had let my guard down too many times. Even if I hadn't, the Gunrunner’s access to recharged spark batteries might have tipped them off. I was sure my ability to make talismans was still mostly unknown. I doubted that Longslide or Dead Axle would tell anypony. So that only left my ability to recharge spark batteries, but that couldn’t be all of it unless they wanted to experiment on me.
It might be better than staying here, but I’d likely be hidden away. I also knew that Orthrus was out there, maybe with my father looking for me. If they unintendedly tell the NCR who I am, would they ever let me go? Not only that, I’m to be separated from my friends, further cutting me off from ever getting free and able to go home.
No. I couldn't let this happen. We needed to escape and head west. This mercy Ashy is offering us will only doom us. I know it.
Pushing down all my fear and anger, I managed to put on a smile, though I wasn't sure it was all convincing.
“Well? Is that all?” I asked her.
“That's all.” Ashy said back to me.
We watched as she turned and left just as abruptly as she arrived. What she was going off to do now, I didn’t know or care. I was just glad she was gone.
It was clear she was trying to apologize, in her own way, but such things didn’t change what she did. She had her reasons, her excuses, but I didn’t know the Hadballer from back then, only the old griffin grandfather who cared more about his family then the past. Anyways, if my own family’s history is anything to learn from, Hardballer was only on the wrong side because they lost, as history is always written by the winner.
Mother had told me that. Told me if it was one of her siblings or cousins that sat on the throne, it would have been them who were a hero, one who never faltered. It’s once all the other bodies are cold on the floor that one can then write the truth from your own perspective.
This Lightbringer won in the end, so her story is the accepted history for the wasteland. If the one called Redeye had won then he would’ve been the hero foals read in a book.
For Star, too, I can see this as Thorn Roseland, the villainous monster that Slowtrot despises, has her own book, one that sees her as a saint. A whole religion has formed up around a pony that all should hate.
History has been, and will always shall be written by the winners. We were not those winners. No. We had lost and now Ashy was making sure we could not come back, even if she was trying to be kind about it.
“Bitch!” Star huffed, taking me out of my own head.
She rattled her chains before sitting back down. “Damnit! I want to be free, not even further away from my Bridget.”
Slowtrot too didn’t look happy. Just somber.
With a sigh, I sat back as well. “So, that's another pony coming to take me away.”
The room remained silent for a few minutes. Nopony talked or moved. From the other side of the door, we could hear a discussion going on but it was too muffled to tell what was being said and we could not get closer to hear better.
Soon the door opened and Lieutenant Ginger trotted through, looking calm and composed when she spoke. “By both the request of the Sheriff of New Appleloosa and agreement of Warden Dynamight, you three will be transferred out of here tomorrow afternoon. There’s already an NCR convoy arriving to resupply this prison. They will be the ones taking you to Manehattan where you will be sorted out. Until tomorrow, the Warden has seen to it that you are still prisoners here and will be treated as such. You will return to the quarry and work till the day's end, receive your dinner, then sleep in your cell.”
She then looked at me with a very stern gaze. “There will be no fighting, making of deals, and most of all, no making of speeches. Just quietly get through the day and await your transfer.”
Star raised her hooves in a surrendering motion. “Ya, ya. I get it. Better breaking rocks than staying in this fucking place any longer than I have to. The air here smells too rotten for my liking.”
Ginger then looked over at the guards watching us and motioned with her head. “Get them to the chain gangs. It’s almost time for them to leave.”
The rocking of the carts made the chains around our hooves rattle and everypony bumped into each other. Unlike yesterday, we were in the farthest cart from Spritz, likely making sure we didn't have time to easily talk with the large mare. Fortunately we were with the Ganger Alliance ponies with Bitter again acting as an intermediary for the rest of them. Cherry was on the other side of the cart doing her best to get what rest she could, but Railway was nowhere to be found, likely because she was in another cart.
“So, the fuck was that back there?” Bitter asked. The zeba mare kept an eye on the guard above us as she asked.
“I panicked and was pissed off. Anyways, Cattle Prod started it,” I told her.
Facehoofing, Bitter shook her head. “And how did adding to Spritz’s fucking diatribe help our situation? You got even more ponies to join her, not leave.”
“Blame Cattle, not me. The bastard should have just gone with my request.” It was a deflection, but I was not wrong. Sadly I doubt my plan would have worked with the time we now had.
“Ya ya. That snitch had it coming, I’ll give you that. Personally, I’d have done more. What you did was too light.” Bitter then looked back at the other prisoners in the cart and sighed. “Well, at least you should be in good with Spritz. The bitch loves her anti-NCR speeches. Maybe you can use that to your advantage.”
I thought about it for a moment. The idea of Spritz and her followers trusting me would open a door. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time, and the slow and steady approach, even at a quicker pace, was going to take too long.
It was time to abandon playing it safe and do something more reckless. Truthfully, I didn’t want to hurt the NCR ponies, but I also didn’t want to become their pawn in the game of empires. I just needed to get the other prisoners to join me. If enough of us pushed against the NCR, then we might be able to distract them long enough to get away.
They were already willing to listen. I just needed to say the right words.
Giving Bitter a nod, I mentaly took all I learned from my eloquence classes and shoved them into a box. The ponies here, like the Desperados, hated that way of talking, so I needed not to sound like a pony who only wants to use them… as I try to use them.
“I can, but soon it’s not going to matter. The NCR will arrive tomorrow to take us away. Turns out we're too dangerous to keep here.One Spritz is enough for them and they think with the us three here we might start a riot they cannot control,” I told Bitter, speaking just loud enough that others could hear and tell the ponies behind them.
Bitter cocked an eyebrow. “How so?”
Looking up at the guard, I waited for his attention to move elsewhere. “Other than me being a good talker, which you already know, the three of us have skills they only just realized could make things so much harder for them.”
I looked over at Star and Slowtrot who both gave me a confused expression. I smiled back at them, hoping they would catch onto my plan and play along. I needed to twist the truth and lie to make it convincing. To get the prisoners on my side long enough to turn this situation around.
“Though he doesn't look like much, Slowtrot here has seen a lot shit. The kind that gets most ponies dragged out back and shot like a dog. It’s mainly because he is hard to kill. Trust me. I’ve seen poneis try and he still comes out alive when, by Celstia, he should be dead. It’s actually to the point they just want him drugged up and out of the way then to try and kill him again, though his family connection with an up and coming merchant company probably helps with keeping him alive too,” I explained with as much certainty I could muster.
Sceptical eyes fell onto Slowtrot as she looked nervously back at them. I could only hope he woulden’t say anything dumb.
“Well there was this time I got a bomb collar thrown on me after I killed a griffon mercenary working for a really dangerous mare. She then had me march right into a megaspell chamber to clear the way for her… I made sure she didn’t get what she wanted, because you know, fuck her.” Slowtrot said with a smile that was filled with pride.
The prisoners looked sceptical, but they were not outright calling him out, which was a good sign. Next was to play up Star.
“Then Star Charter, well I guess some of you might already know her if you’ve been to New Appleloosa, though I bet you don’t know that she was raised for war itself. She belongs to this fanatical group of sea raiders that my own people have had the displeasure of having to fight. I know, I know. Another raider group doesn't sound like much. That is until you learn they have a massive fleet of ships and the army to run them. Their own ships, vertibuck, and more guns than you can imagine might be the most impressive thing about them, but I’ve seen those ponies fight, and it’s the thing of nightmares.”
Now the prisoners were whispering among each other as they repeated what I said to the others, so now it was Star's turn to say something impressive.
She shrugged. “Well, it’s been a long time and I wouldn't say I was bred for war. My real mother was just another whore after all, though I did take part in this big fight when I was just eleven. I was used to throwing explosives from tight corners. Some asshole did catch me though then beat the shit out of me, but I killed him in the end by biting through his throat.”
Even I looked at her with a bit of shock.
Star cocked an eyebrow at me. “What? Should I have talked about the time I helped fight off three alicorns that were leading a raider army?”
Bitter stepped in. “No, no. You made your point. Even I know you have some sort of terrifying presence about you. Even that fight you had with Cattle Prod showed some of your strength.”
Then Bitter’s eyes fell back to me. “So let me guess; you're actually some hidden badass who’s going to pull some sort of sword out of your ass?”
I shook my head. “No. Not at all. Actually, I’m terrible at fighting, that’s not where my strengths are at.”
“And that is?” Bitter asked.
“Well I already said I’m a talker, but I’m also a thinker. It’s what I was raised to be. Where I’m from, my family sat on the very top and were raised to take on greater responsibilities then what the average pony could be expected to do. Finances, organizations, law, single executions, or when a whole community needs to be exterminated for the good of the whole.” I looked Bitter in the eyes as I explained, to get my point across. “If outside forces had not interfered, It is more than likely I would have had to fight my siblings for the right to rule. It’s something that rarely leaves many survivors.”
A smile formed on Bitter’s face, doubt clearly seeping in. “Ya, little you/ I’m so scared.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like I said, not a fighter. I’m at my best commanding others and keeping them organized. That’s why the NCR is giving me a pardon and forcing my recruitment to their military. I heard their having problems with some group in the south east”
“Oh!” Star spoke up. “That's probably the wild fleet. Vic… the Commodore told me she was helping them with the NCR. Said they were a bit on the useless side so she's been building her own army here in Equestria. She wanted me to return to our group. She needed a pony she knew she could rely on.”
Both Bitter and I turned to look at Star as she gave us a coy smile.
A long sigh then came from Bitter. “That’s… a lot more information then I wanted to know. I’m almost afraid to ask Slowtrot if he is involved in any nasty shit that's coming.”
“Like with a new exotic chem trade being set up in this region?” Slowtrot blurted out.
Bitter’s jaw went slack as she said, “What?”
Slowtrot then answered. “Well, I loathe to say this, but my… sister runs a merchant company that is cutting exotic chems into the chems they already sell. Stuff that can’t easily be made and has no anti addiction remedies yet. I only found out because my pipbuck lets me do medical scans on other ponies.”
Now I sighed. “One of which is a chem called Chill. It can only be made from the sap of a nasty plant that produces a very toxic pollen. This means that, as long as that bitch keeps those plants hidden, she will have a monopoly on that chem trade. Worse is that Chill is highly addictive and can turn a pony skitzofrenic if used too much.”
Facehoofing harder, Bitter took a deep breath. “Right. I should never have even suggested asking. Now I think it might be safer if we stay in this prison for the rest of our lives.”
The whispering from the prisoners was now audible enough that the guard above hit our cage with his rifle. “Shut up down there!” he shouted.
We waited for over a minute until the guard’s attention drifted elsewhere. Still, the prisoners in the cart were whispering among each other, keeping their voices low enough that it could not be heard over the normal noise of our transport.
Leaning in, Bitter gave me an annoyed and serious look. “Alright. You three might be some dangerous badasses or something, but that still doesn’t solve the big bitch of a problem.”
Right. Even if we look more favorable in their eyes, they were still scared of Spritz. I need to choose my words carefully if I am going to get them on our side.
So I began to explain. “About that… I have a plan ready for Spritz. It mainly uses this train we're on to get us out of here. I want her to be in the front of the action, maybe get herself killed as we make our way out of the prison. Even if she survives, she should be too weak to properly fight back, and if we can get out hooves on a gun, then she is as good as dead. Simple, but effective. Why fight your enemies when you can get them to fight each other?”
I looked up briefly, still making sure the guard could not hear us. “To put it simply, just trust us. If I can get Spritz to start a riot tonight, you will have the opportunity to kill her. That is if the Warden doesn't do it first. But I need help getting the bulldozer moving since the Warden keeps the Spark batteries locked away. If you can do that during the riot, along with adding to the chaos, then all you need to do after that is wait in the carts for Spritz and ambush her. After that we can just ride Daisy Chain out of this prison.”
Bitter looked at me sceptically but it was clear that her resistance was starting to crack. “So your whole plan is to just start a riot, steal the bulldozer, and hope that Spritz is inguired enough that we can jump the bitch before fucking off?”
I nodded, hoping it was enough.
Several seconds went by before she responded. “If you can get that bitch to stir up the trouble, then fuck it. Why not? Getting those batteries during a riot should be simple and having an ambush ready for her after she’s likely been in a few fights should even the score. I’d rather you gotten some of her followers to defect, but time is not on any pony’s side.”
Internally I was breathing a sigh of relief all while keeping a stoic face. At this point, any sign of a lack of confidence would cause these prisoners to back out and I haven’t had the time to build up confidence with them. Anyways, if things go right, while everypony is running around adding to the chaos, us three and Tire Fire will jump onto Daisy Chain and leave them all behind.
Still, I wish we didn’t have to turn to such violence, but if I don’t want to become a tool for others, then I needed to act fast and be harsh.
Their opinion of the three no longer matters. They’re some ponies elses problem now. Although it is clear that they see the three as just more trouble makers and would love to just lock them up in a hole, to not see the sun for a long time.
-Ganger Alliance Convicts-
Though to them seeing is believing, something in them has stirred. They were leaderless and intimidated before. Now they have a sense of excitement. It may be the opportunity to strike at the pony they hate, or just having a goal, but they will now make their move. All they need is an opportunity.
"I’ve always been one to avoid getting into verbal altercations with others. I’ve never been the debater. I didn’t have that spark of communication one needs to get my point across. That's why I never even try to argue with Harp Melody. Even if I know I’m right, it’s just a waste of time and will give me a headache.
Now watching her verbally attack others, it is both terrifying and quite humorous. All she needs is just the scant amount of information about another and she can turn it into a dagger to strike their heart. If she was more of a fighter, she’d be quite the dangerous duelist since she’d be able to use her wit to emotionally compromise an opponent, bait them into making a mistake and make them even doubt their own selves. Unfortunately for her, if her friends were not around to back her up, that sharp tongue of hers would simply have gotten her killed." ~ Azure Dice
Again we were put to work in the quarry, lifting the heavy stones that the stallion broke off and throwing them into a minecart for us to later drag to the rock crusher. Though my body aches from the last few days of it, strangely enough I felt like I was starting to get used to it now. It was only a slight difference, but moving the stones felt a little easier now.
Still, with the twelve hour work shift ahead of us, I was sure that this feeling of easy would be only temporary.
Things didn’t get any better as it quickly became apparent that Spritz was being kept away from us to prevent me from shaking things up any further. Thankfully the NCR didn’t keep as much of an eye on the Ganger Alliance, so Cherry was able to get her group to weave through the other chain gangs as they worked. Even though Cherry was not on good terms with Spritz’s followers, they were still more willing to hear her out then they were with Bitter.
Strangely, Railway was still nowhere to be seen, so we could only guess she got pulled into cleaning duty due to Cattle Prod probably getting pulled out.
The movement of information was slow, but we all had the time to move it carefully as the guards cared little about what they thought was just idle chatter. With the hours passing, we were slowly informed on how Spritz felt about my change of plans and how little time we had to start it.
“They say it’s going to take a big distraction to even convince Spritz to move,” Cherry informed us softly. “That bitch may be crazy, but she’s not stupid. Might have been a mistake to put out that information about the NCR wanting you personally. She's likely thinking of a way to kill you if you can't pull it off.”
I huffed as I shoved a large rock into the mine cart. “Thought as much. It’s better in the grave than with the enemy kind of situation for Spritz. That mare may be easy to read, but it’s not going to matter if I don’t have the strength to stay out of her hooves. Just tell them I have something they will not see coming in mind. They just need to be ready to take advantage of it when it happens.”
As Star shoved another lage rock into the mine cart, Cherry then began to push it away while giving me a wink.
“Tall order Harp. You sure you can do something big enough?” Star asked.
I smiled at her and said. “No way I can, but you can.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Okay… don’t leave me hanging now. How?”
Responding to her question, I pointed at my own eye and spoke quietly. “Your a Corps Brigadier, right? When the Wardin does his stupid ranting, get him cought in that magic of yours. That sould give us an opening we need.”
“Then what? The evil eye is powerful, but it’s a one pony at a time thing,” she replied.
I then sighed. “I know. I know. But if we can get him freaked out, then it might be easier to get the rest of the NCR panicked. I’ll get myself to shimmer as he freaks out. I’ll do some over acting, like I have some weird magic sickness. Maybe the two together should be a big distraction.”
Star didn’t look convinced. She seemed more worried than anything. “I may not be the sharpest boarding cleaver in the armory, but even I know thats a high fucking risk for a maybe. At best nothing actually happens, and at worst they might just shoot us for being mutants. I’ve seen it happen, so trust me.”
“You’re… you're right, but that's all I can think to do with what we have.” As another mine cart rolled over to us, I picked up a small slab of limestone. “If we had just a few more days, then we could be safer with this. I could have a real plan. But it’s now or never and all we have is a maybe.”
There was a pause. Star chucked a rock into the cart as she looked off into the distance. “Bridgent doesn't know about my evil eyes. Everyday I fear that she will find out and come to hate me. But I hate not being able to see her even more. So much so that it’s becoming harder and harder to not start screaming.”
Star then looked at me with a sorrow filled determination in her eyes. “If it’s what it takes, then I’ll send him to the depths of Tartarus, but you better damn well do your hardest as well!”
I gave her my best smile. The happy part in it was fake, but it was still an honest smile that showed my own determination. “Don’t worry. I’ve had a lot of practice in faking being terribly sick.”
A loud ping of a pickaxe hitting limestone nearly surprised us as a nearly perfect blocks of limestone fell near us. The Yak, Amralt, was happily breaking rocks with Slowtrot and Tire Fire was almost dragged behind him. The weirdly smooth blocks were not too big or too small, making it less of a pain to pick up and throw into the minecart.
Slowtrot rolled a boulder over to us before breaking it into pieces with a pickaxe. The pieces were not as great as Amralt had made, but he had clearly improved. Tire, on the other hoof, still didn’t care as he weekley swung his pickaxe into the limestone.
“So how is the whole plan going? Been here whispers, but they seem conflicted.” Slowtrot whispered.
I did a quick guard check and saw none were too close.
“Could be better. Could be worse. We need a big distraction before Spritz makes a move. Star will use her evil eye on the Wardin and I’ll make myself shimmer and pretend to be very ill.” I explained.
He raised an eyebrow. “That's it?”
“That's it,” I responded.
He frowned for a moment before smiling. “I see. Then I might be able to help.” He then looked over to Amralt and tapped him on the side to get his attention. “Amralt, my friend here has an odd magical illness that makes her weirdly shimmer when it gets bad. Dangerous for her and others to get too close when it starts, so if that happens, can you make sure everypony knows? I can help thanks to my pipbuck, but it’s difficult if other ponies get in the way.”
The big Yak looked at me, then at Slowtrot before smiling. “Yak understands. If Yak sees weird pony shimmer, Yak will make all ponies know.”
I gave Slowtrot a sly smile, knowing what he just did. More actors makes things more convincing. A big loud Yak will likely be even more helpful.
A huff then came from Tire Fire who did his best to not just chip the rock he was hitting. “So what do I do?”
“You? We need you to take us to your clan, so just stay close and make sure nopony slows us down.” I told the Desperado.
“Fine by me,” he said with another huff.
Everypony got back to work since the longer we talked, the more the guards would take notice of us. Anyways there was little more we could do but wait for the word to get around and the work to be done. I could only hope that our plan would work along with the amount of death being minimal. I also hoped Spritz would get what’s coming to her in the chaos along with the Warden.
As everypony focused on the work, the usual beat of our suffering became a rhythm as though calling to the prisoners. A song began to be passed through their lips.
...
Where did it all go wrong, oh where did it all go so wrong.
Chains and working till death, with only our regrets to comfort our souls.
This cruel fate is ours to share, for none wishes to suffer alone.
...
My momma once said, we only need to smile till papa returns from the war.
With the princesses to lead and heroes to guid, victory is assured.
These happy dreams did change, to a nightmare of fire and rage.
No food to sait our hunger, no water to quench our thirst.
Momma still smiled, still waiting for papa to return.
But I had to go, we had to survive, taking the old revolver expecting trouble.
Found my neighbor and shot him dead, only to find he had nothing to spare.
Momma didn’t ask, but I knew she knew, but that steu got us through the winter.
...
Where did it all go wrong, oh where did it all go so wrong.
Chains and working till death, with only our regrets to comfort our souls.
This cruel fate is ours to share, for none wishes to suffer alone.
…
Through bad harvests and tainted water, we all stuck together, we had each other.
In this harsh land our songs filled our hearts, nothing could ever tear us apart.
But smiles can’t fill our bellies as we grow weak, so we move to where we can eat.
Another herd of ponies, happy as us, but none they can share, nothing for us.
Not wanting our own to fall, together we chose, together we fought.
The blood of a young mare on my hooves, but together we will live, together we live.
But the dreams will not end, in them the faces of the dead.
The only escapes are booze and chems, makes it easy for when it’s time to kill again.
...
Where did it all go wrong, oh where did it all go so wrong.
Chains and working till death, with only our regrets to comfort our souls.
This cruel fate is ours to share, for none wishes to suffer alone.
…
Half dead and with no caps, the wasteland gave no crap.
With my iron I just need to keep moving, leaving dusty trails before death comes for me.
In the distance I see a glint, a sign of hope, a sign of dread.
There before me sat a fridge, filled with water, clean and oddly cold.
Another stranger had trotted on by, both our mouths dry, with a long road still ahead.
No words said, none was needed, for we knew that one of us would soon be dead.
For that water did blood flow, my iron fast and true, giving the stranger the gift of death.
With my thirst quenched I leave a dusty trail, making tracks before death comes for me.
...
Where did it all go wrong, oh where did it all go so wrong.
Chains and working till death, with only our regrets to comfort our souls.
This cruel fate is ours to share, for none wishes to suffer alone.
…
I had thought I had started to get used to this hard labor. I was dead wrong. As we were transported back to the NCRCF, my body cried for me to just lay down and do nothing for a few days. Why did moving rocks around hurt so much? Why did it have to be all day?
The one silver lining in any of this right now was that even if this flimsy plan fails, I’ll at least get to leave this place and maybe have a decent bed to sleep in. But I would rather not become a pawn, so I really hope everything works.
As Daisy Chain came to a stop and the NCR got ready to lead us out and into the courtyard, I could feel something odd in the air. Not magic, just a feeling, as though the tension of a string instrument was wound too tight and was ready to snap.
Nothing seemed to be out of place as far as I could tell. The NCR guards were at their usual postes, guns at the ready. The prisoners who did the cleaning were hauling the last of the laundry away, and the smell of tasteless food was in the air.
Yet, as I stepped down onto the dry and cracked ground, the feeling that something was off quivered through me.
Maybe it was just me being worried. Nothing ever good came from a rushed plan. So many variables needed to go just right for any of this to work. Star keeping the Warden stunned will hopefully keep the NCR from responding properly, My fake sickness with the shimmering along with Amralt and Slowtrot putting on a show must put the NCR into a state of confusion. Then Spritz finally starting a riot once the NCR drops their guard. The other gangers further sowing chaos long enough for the four of us to get the fuck out of here.
It all had to go on without a hitch and running through the plan over and over in my head was making me see only the flaws.
But it was now or never.
We entered the courtyard, lining up in rows to wait for the Warden to appear. one by one, we were freed from our shackles. As we stood there, a warm wind blew over us. Everypony was silent, waiting, but the Warden did not show.
What happened instead was several NCR guards marched down the line and picked Slowtrot, Star, and I out. They removed us from the rest of the prisoners. As we were led away, everypony else was dismissed to go and eat.
At gunpoint, we were taken to the restricted part of the prison. The area where the guards got to relax with a jukebox in a corner and a bar next to it. We passed by a few rooms where the guards slept and even passed their armory that was locked behind bars. The walls in this part of the prison were decorated with NCR propaganda posters. Some reminding soldiers to not eat wasteland food due to contamination and another reminding them to be on their best behavior as they represent the NCR.
Lead upstairs, we entered a better kept part of the prison, yet still just as much of a ruin as the rest of this place. At a desk and going over paperwork was Lieutenant Ginger. The mare gave us a disappointed glance before returning to her work. Past her, we were taken into what was clearly the Warden’s office. The place had decent furniture and even a portrait of Warden Dynamite behind it. The painting looked far better than the reality. A very pissed off Dynamite looked down at us and I could probably guess why.
“Who snitched?” I asked.
The old stallion puffed on his cigar, sending a small cloud of smoke at my face. “All ya needed to do is not fuck around, and here ya go and try to start a riot. If the fucking upper brass didn’t want ya alive and unharmed, I’d have that pipbuck sawed off your leg right now.”
He then sat back with a smug grin on his face. “The damned ganger mare, Railway, the bitch said her name was. She had at least some brains to know who her betters are.”
“Bitch!” Star huffed with a growl.
With this, everything was likely not going to work. We needed all the NCR to see us and panic, not just the few in this room. So, with a sigh, I acknowledged, “You win. Now what?”
Taking another puff of his cigar, Dynamite let out a long exhale from his nose, giving him a menacing appearance as the cloud wafted around him. “I try to be a fair pony. A generous one to be exact. I give you all the opportunity to redeem yourselves through hard labor and good honest work. But then scum like you bite the hoof that feeds. Now I have to accept you're all getting leniency, a waste of the citizens tax money I say. A damn waste. Though, as things are, it doesn't mean I can't have you all punished for your conspiracy.”
I saw Slowtrot physically tremble, but he kept a straight face.
Star, on the other hoof, snarled at him. “You better not touch us or I’ll-”
“What?! Try anything and you will be shot and beaten bloody!” The Warden snarled back at her.
With another puff, he flicked the ashes of his cigar at Star. “Unfortunately, I’m to quote that pencil dick of an ambassador, not to conducted an unnecessary corporal punishment and just let you three sit around untill pickup arrives.” A snarl formed on his face. “And here I thought there were no soft talons. Served me right for thinking he’d be anything like Gwad.”
It was good to know that we were safe from any lashings as long as we stayed calm. I doubt Slowtrot could survive if they did that again. But this also meant that our window of opportunity was going to close real fast if they were going to just throw us into a cell and sit on us.
We haven't even had anything to eat yet damnit!
“So that’s it then? To bed without supper?” I asked, probing him while hoping I could get the opportunity to press a few buttons. Possibly give us an opening.
Dynamite leaned back, glaring at me with annoyance. “If my daughter had a mouth like yours, I’d have shoved soap down her muzzle to teach her some respect. But yes, that is the plan. The three of you get thrown in the hole until it’s time to get rid of you.”
Shit. A hole in the ground with a cage over it was going to make a cold night and guarantee we can do nothing at all.
“How… horrifying,” I said calmly, doing my best to not show any discomfort. The last thing I needed was to show him any weakness or reveal to him what I didn’t want to happen. It was a tightrope I was trotting on. One wrong word, gester, or inflection in my voice and I would lose. But then that was nothing new for me. “Here I was thinking you were going to make a public example to remind everypony why you're in charge.”
He huffed at me. “Oh trust me, that will come. Spritz and all those scum will be made an example of.”
A small coy smile then crept across my face. “After we get hoofed over to your superiors, that is.”
Slamming his hoof down on his desk, a puff of smoke rushed out of Dynamite's mouth as he growled. “Watch your tongue, mare, or-”
“Or what?” I asked as I stared right at him, finding it too easy to touch a nerve with him. “Give us some more lashes like you did to my friend? Almost killing him, might I add. I wonder what the NCR will think if we were to be delivered half dead and only a half baked. Do you have any excuse to tell them why?”
A snort came from Star. She clearly had caught onto what I was doing. “Ain't that grand. The big stallion has a rein over his muzzle.”
We then glanced over at Slowtrot who was trying to avert his eyes. “Hey, leave me out. I’m not some pathetic pony who picks on other ponies who can’t fight back. Isn’t that what raiders do?”
Papers went flying as the wardin bit down on his cigar, breaking it, then shouted. “Get out, you miserable scum!”
The guards watching us then stepped up, guns at the ready on their battle saddles. I just gave a little laugh as I pushed one of the barrels away from my face. “Alright. To the hole it is. This place stuck anyway.”
The little bit of mockery was not going to be enough. I needed one last blow to his ego. Something to make him do something real stupid. Thankfully, Warden Dynamite talked a lot, and Slowtrot was able to tell me about some of what he overheard after he had gotten his lashings.
I then looked back at the Warden one last time for one last attempt of vicus moccary. “It’s a bit funny that I never heard your name among the heroes who fought to take Fillydelphia. Ponies talked about them almost just as much as they do about the Lightbringer, though I do remember them mentioning a mad fool with a bulldozer who helped the slaver’s far more than he hurt them. Killed a lot of his own troops to just make a dent. What a maroon.”
As we were led out, I could hear the sound of something smashing against a wall and the stomping of hooves. A few seconds later, Warden Dynamite came out after us, clearly not taking his injured pride all too well.
“The pit is too good for you!” he growled.
Lieutenant Ginger quickly got out of her set, cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. “Sir! May I remind you that we already stretched our orders by sending them to the rock quarry. Any more and there will be consequences!”
The Warden spat on the ground. “And let these piss ant scum mock us? No! They need one last lesson before they leave.” He then regained his composure and adjusted his tie. “I mean, if they got into a fight with the other prisoners, then that's not our fault.”
“Sir!” Ginger said sternly. “Just lock them up and drop this madness.”
Dynamight ignored her as he trotted over to us with a smile. “You wanted trouble? Then I’ll let you have trouble.” With a sharp whistle, he called over a few other guards. “Solders, go tell the other troops we’re gathering the prisoners to show a public disciplinary action.”
The NCR guards in the room looked divided in this order. Some were nervous and others grew a wide grin on their faces. The Warden then pointed to two of the troops. “You two, make sure the Lieutenant here stays inside to finish her paperwork. If not, then your next for corporal punishment. You got that?”
Fear quickly formed on the two soldered faces as they shouted “Sir, yes Sir!”
Escorted to the courtyard, the NCR were rushing about, passing orders from one to the next. They all checked their guns as soon as the order was given. Soon, what seemed to be every NCR guard was now observing the prison from the safety of the prison roof, tower, or behind the fence.
The prisoners were also now coming out. Some were still eating as they gathered around the outside of the mess hall and along the fence. Many of them looked either annoyed or amused, but none of them seemed lost, so this was likely nothing new to them.
As to show off, the Warden drove Daisy Chain over to give him a closer look at what was to come. Two heavily armed guards sat on top of the tractor. They stopped right outside what was becoming a circle before he got out and climbed to the top of the tractor. He placed a pair of mirrored sunglasses on that reflected the low setting sun.
“Listen here, good ponies and dirty scum!” Warden Dynamite spoke loudly through a megaphone. “We have a special event. A show for us and an opportunity for you. These three fools wish to fuck with the natrual order of this place and not expect consequences. Now, if there is any of you scum wishes to teach them this lesson themselves, you will, for a week, receive both double the food and full exemption from any work. All you have to do is beat them until they beg for mercy. Simple as that, but they are allowed to fight back. To make it’s fair, only three at a time. Any more than that, then you risk getting shot. All those who wish to partake, go line up next to Daisy Chain. Remember to not touch her and keep your distance.”
I ground in fustration, not expecting such a babaricly stupid response, but at least it was close to what I wanted.
A nervous chuckle then came from Star. “Well ... this might be a problem.”
“What?” Slowtrot asked. “Are you okay?”
She frowned. “I’ll be fine. Maybe. But that's not the problem. The problem is that he’s got those fucking sunglasses. They’re blocking my evil eye.”
“Fuck!” I huffed, “Alright. We need to get him to remove his glasses. Any suggestions?”
Star smiled back at me. “One way is to get some blood on them.”
“So we're doing this? You know that last fight was just a fluke, right?” Slowtrot questioned.
I didn’t like it either, but there was no way around it, “Just follow Star's lead. Once we have the Warden in our trap, everything else will fall into place.”
Or at least I hope it will.
It didn’t take long for prisoners to start lining up. Some were from the cleaners and some were from the quarry workers. I even think there were a few from Spritzes followers in the line as well, likely with her approval. With how I felt from all that work and lack of food, it only made sense that many ponies clamored to be free from it for even a day.
The first three ponies to come charging in were clearly from the cleaning inmates with how much energy they had and lack of muscle from hard labor. Slowtrot and I got behind Star, letting her take them head on as we backed her up, though we were going to need to be careful about this if we were going to win in the end.
“Order, activate SATS for all three of us!” I commanded, and the world froze.
The cartoonish twittermight avatar of Order floated over to the closest of the three charging ponies. “Please choose combined action.”
Options began popping up over the first pony with names over them. A kick to the face popped up with Stars name next to it and a move request was added by Slowtrot. Selecting it myself, I saw that I could not only select my own action but suggest one for the others. Unfortunately, the two seemed to be bickering over what to do, so I quickly selected what we will be doing myself.
I was no combat expert, nor some military strategist, but fortunately this required neither and gave us time to think. What was important was not wasting our energy with long drawn out fights and get close enough to get blood on the Warden’s glasses, so the best course of action now was a quick take down.
I selected Star to trip the ponies and then for Slowtot and I to hit them when they're down. My hope was to disorientate them long enough for Star to run in and knock them out. It took a long moment for the other two to comply, but when they did, the world began to speed up and Star shot out like a bolt.
With a low drop kick, Star sent the first pony flying over her and caused the other two prisoners to trip over their team mate. My body then moved on its own, leaping in and colliding hoof first onto the pony’s stomach.
I felt a hoof connect with my leg, causing me to stumble over. The pony I had attacked was barely hurt at all by me and was already getting up. “Bitch, you should bulk up a bit before trying that again,” the pony said as they swung their hoof. It connected with my chin.
Everything spun for a moment as my head hit the ground and I bit my tongue. The taste of blood was all too real in my mouth. Looking up, the pony was already getting ready for another hoof strike. All I could do was raise a leg to attempt to shield my face.
With a crash, Star tackled the pony then quickly drummed her hooves onto the pony's head, banging it on the ground. This gave me the time to get up and regain my composure. I noticed that both Star and Slowtrot had been successful where I had failed. I had already known I was not cut out for such fighting, but now it was more clear than ever that I was a liability to them if I fought like them.
I shook my head, trying to rid myself of doubt. We had not lost yet, so I was not going to admit defeat until they dragged us away. I just needed to fight smarter, not harder.
The next group of three charged in. Star charged to meet them. This time I stood back to assess this fight in order to come up with a better plan. The prisoners this time were quarry workers, so they were better built but lacked any real energy to fight properly, but that was the same for us. Fortunately they were focusing on Star, likely trying to take out the real fighter first before moving onto us, thus giving Slowtrot and I time to breathe.
Order then pinged a message into my vision. “Tactical S.A.T.S. is ready.”
The fight took a sudden turn as one prisoner got Star in a hold from the back and another got a heavy hit to her face. Turning on S.A.T.S. this time, Star and Slowtrot waited for me to give directions, so I did. This time I put myself as the tripping hazard, having Star perform a kick while in the hold and Slowtrot simply tackling the third pony. Like before, we needed to just disorant them long enough for Star to finish them off.
Our bodies again moved on their own, under the control of the spell. As though choreographed for a stage play, I charged in just as Star’s back hooves collided with a ponies face, causing the one holding her to become unbalanced which, in turn, allowed even the small body of mine to knock their legs from under them. Star’s weight added to the fall, thus crushing the pony under her.
Quickly getting up, Star did a hoof jab at the pony who had been holding her before charging at the one who hit her. Slowtrot, on the other hoof, was not having as easy of a time. The two locked hooves only for the prisoner to then head butt him.
Rushing in to help him, I grabbed onto the pony's legs, thus giving Slowtrot the opportunity to knock him over onto his side and attempt to pummel him.
Getting up, I felt the world spin again as the body of a pony collided with me. It took a moment for me to realize what had happened. The Warden sent in another three right as it was clear the second group had failed and not give us the time to defend ourselves. The pony that bodychecked me had turned to take on Slowtrot who was almost as unprepared for the hit as I was. The other two prisoners were already taking on Star.
Blood was coming out from both my mouth and a leg from the hits I had taken. Slowtrot and Star were in an even worse condition than I was. It was clear that, again, a change in strategy was needed. Maybe somthing stupid, as the smart plan was not going to be given the space to happen.
Feeling the magic around me, I began to draw it into my body, filling me. It wasn’t going to help me in a fight, but it might distract everypony enough to give Star the upper hoof. As the magic flowed into me, I began to feel it reach its capacity, causing the air around me to shimmer.
Gasps and murmuring erupted around me. Everypony saw something they had never seen before. I hoped it would be enough to start what I hoped would be the panic to start a riot. Looking around as I shimmered, the looks of shear confusion was enough to know that this was partially successful.
*Bang!* a bullet whizzed by me. The shot was a warning and caused me to freeze in place.
Yelling could be heard from the NCR guards above us and the fighting had stopped. All eyes were on me, thus giving both Star and Slowtrot the opportunity to push the ponies off of them.
Star gave me the look of “Doing this now?” and I motioned with my head for her to keep an eye on the warden.
From the crowd of prisoners, I heard Amralt yell out! “It’s that sickness Slwotrot pony warned me about! Smashing must stop or it can get worse! It’s dangerous to other ponies if not careful!”
This got the prisoners to start slowly retreating to the mess hall, causing them to push and shove as their voices became louder. All the while the NCR looked confused as they turned to the Warden for what they should do next.
“Calm the fuck down. Not like weird magic shit is new!” Warden Dynamite called out which calmed the guards enough to back in line, thus foiling the plan outright.
Limping over with his face battered and bruised, Slowtrot was clearly trying to stick to the plan as he tried to loudly say. “I… I need to get her to… medical… I can help her.” He knew and I knew this was not going to work, but he was still trying. Still holding onto hope. “She can be contagious if we're not careful.”
Slowtrot awkwardly smiled with his own blood on his teeth as he reached out a hoof. I sighed, knowing even if the hope was small, I could not abandon it, and took his hoof.
He then vanished!
Where Slowtrot was just standing was now empty space, just like… after the last time he vanished, right after touching me when I was shimmering!?
Everything went dead quiet for a moment. So quiet that I could probably hear a pin drop... Then, like a loud crack right before a damn breaks, a pony yelled from the prisoners “It’s contagious!”
This sent everypony into a panic. Both prisoners and guards.
Looking over to the Warden, he was attempting to yell orders to the guard as he looked over at me. He removed his mirrored sunglasses to show the rage in his eyes.
Then, like a crazed hero, a bloodied Star Charter jumped in between me and the Warden.
The Warden froze in place. He dropped his megaphone since he was unable to respond to the other NCR guards looking for orders. We had finally got the distraction we needed. All that was left was to take the bulldozer. Hopefully Slowtrot was going to reappear soon/ I didn’t want to leave without him.
*Bang!* another shot rang out over the panic, followed by Star crying out in pain. She had been shot. She struggled to keep her eyes on Dynamite.
“GO!” she yelled at me, not moving from where she was.
Taking a deep breath, I ran, not letting the opportunity she gave me to go to waste. As I looked over at the panicked prisoners, I saw that Spritz was cool as a cucumber, commanding her followers.
*Bang!* another shot came down at me from one of the towers, just nearly hitting me.
*Bang!* The fourth shot whized right past my face. The noise from the lead bullet caused my ears to ring.
I skidded to a stop as I saw one of the guards from on top of the Daisy Chain point his belt fed service rifle down at me. Dread filled me as I activated S.A.T.S. and selected to dodge what would be soon a hail of bullets right at me.
My body moved to dash to the side, yet everything remained slow. Stranger yet, everything was dead quiet except the sounds of echoing metallic hooves trotting on dirt. To my shock, clear in my vision and moving at a normal speed, even though everything was still slow, was a headless pony clad in black armor. Two revolvers covered in blue flames floated by her side.
The bullets from the guard slowly whizzed through the air and impacted onto the headless mare. It bounced off harmlessly as she pointed her own guns. *Bang, Bang!* her revolverswent, echoing as though they were being shot from within a tunnel. The NCR guard then exploded in blue burning gore. Flesh and gore turned to ash in mid air as time slowly returned to normal.
I quickly regained control over my body and not trying to even think about what had just happened. Instead, I thrusted myself at the bulldozer. Reaching it, I quickly clamored for the door. *Bang, Ping!* a bullet ricocheted off the vehicle's armored plate, sending a spark across my face. Fortunately the door was unlocked and as I pulled myself in. The other guard on top poked out with his rifle and I only managed to close the door right as he fired down at me.
Turning a hatch, the door was locked and everything quieted down to a muffle. Quickly, I began pulling levers, cursing that Slowtrot was not here as he likely would know what the fuck any of this did.
Then the engine of Daisy Chain died. The guards likely had pulled out the spark battery.
“Come out. We don’t want to clean your blood out of the inside!” The guard yelled at me from outside.
Taking a deep breath to try and calm down, my heart felt like it was trying to explode with how hard it pounded. My head was also feeling light and the scrapes on my leg were starting to feel like they were burning. Nothing at all was going how it should have been. Everything was going insane, or was I the one going mad?
I tried to shake it off, but deep down, I knew, I knew those revolvers; Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse. They were the guns Vibraphone used. My friend’s guns. There was no denying it.
My stomach then convulsed and I wretched, dry heaving as tears flipped my eyes.
“FUCK!” I screamed, beating on the inside of Daisy Chain with what little strength I had. It had to have been a delusion. It had to be. I had to get home, find out with my own eyes. No way Vibraphone was dead. She had to still be alive! It was all a lie! Twisted magic making me see things again!
The sound of scraping metal caught my attention. I saw the NCR pushing the barrel of his rifle through a slit in the bulldozer's armor. “You got nowhere to go. Now come out!” he shouted.
“I don’t?” I asked, a smile forming on my face. “But I have to go home and you’re in my way!” A little chuckle escaped my mouth as I began letting my magic out. “GET OUT OF MY WAY!” I screamed as Daisy Chain roared to life and I began pulling levers and pressing petals at random.
The Bulldoze began to move. The Guard fired wildly, sending a deafening storm of bullets over my head and ricocheting around me. I was sure I had been hit as I felt hot pieces of metal pierce me, but I didn’t want to stop. I couldn't. With a few more random pulls of the lever, I finally got the bulldozer to go forward. It was impossible to see where I was going. The eye slit was too high for me and I didn’t want to stretch my neck up that far. I just needed to go, so I pushed forward.
The gunfire from outside, along with the yelling and screaming, all became whitenoise as the bulldozer rumbled forward. It came to an abrupt stop as I felt it hit something. All around me was the sound of breaking wood and ripping metal that scraped onto Daisy Chain’s armor. Unable to go forward, I managed to back it up and go a new direction only to once again hit something after going forward momentarily. Backing up again, I just needed to keep going until I was free. All the while the sounds of bullets hitting the armored plates reminded me of rain. Really annoying rain.
I lost track of how many times I had to stop and turn around. Was I going in circles? Did I finally get out? Was I forgetting something… or sompony! Star. I hope she was fine. Slowtrot too. They must have gotten out. They were survivors, I know it.
For me, everything was getting cold and dark. My hooves were slick with my own blood making it hard to pull the levers.
I was so stupid. I fucked everything up. I always fucked everything up.
It’s all I ever do.
“Do you want to live?” a cold voice called to me.
I wanted to look around, but my body was too weak. Too cold.
“Or do you want to die?” the voice then asked.
Smiling, I found the question dumb and pointless. “Does it even matter what I want? I’ve never had the choice in the first place.”
The presence felt as it loomed over me. It’s coldness chilled me to the bone, yet a small feeling of warmth irritated from it. “Choose.”
“It’s the wrong choice. I know it.” I told her.
Whatever it was then vanished as everything began to fade, all becoming cold and dark.
Learned Skill: Smash like Yak - By simply striking at the right point an object can be easily broken into bits without having to apply much force. Slowtrot now does an additional 5% to critical chance and a 10% chance to cripple limbs when using melee weapons.
-Harp Melody-
Lv, 7
Speech is now at: 71
-Learned Skill: Take Charge - Sometimes just giving orders is all a pony needs to do to get things done. When Harp Melody gives out commands in combat to her friends/companions they gain a 5% boost to damage, accuracy, and critical chance.
-Star Charter-
Lv, 7
Explosives is now at: 54
-Learned Skill: Stone Throw - when tossing heavy rocks for hours on end a pony quickly learns how to throw them a bit better. Star Charter can throw weapons 10% farther with 10% more accuracy.
It had been a few days of waiting as the followers were sending ponies back and forth to get approval for a visit to the NCRCF. There was the usual bureaucracy problems, though there was big teleporting ponies speeding things up, so I was not complaining. It was just too weird to complain about big teleporting ponies sending letters.
Fortunately, thanks to those big ponies, I didn’t have to trot all the way over to the prison, but I did have to wait for the pony to fly over there first. Something to do with then needing to have been to a place before being able to teleport there. I also figured that the prison guards would react poorly if all so suddenly a stranger popped in, much less a creature they had never seen before.
Trotting over, Jali hoofed over my saddle bag. “Mister Azure, I’ve added a few more things in the care package that Velvet had put together. Mainly rad-away. Harp is more susceptible to radiation than other ponies, so I thought it might help just in case.”
Taking the bag, I carefully placed it onto my back while making sure not to crush the fins and spins along it. “Thanks,” I told her. “It’s amazing that you ponies have such an effective cure for radiation poisoning, I really should take some home with me and see if anyone can recreate it.”
I then chuckled. “Still now, you really should not say things that sound like foreshadowing. It’s just bad luck, you know.”
The ghoul eyes shifted for a moment before she passed me an old lever action rifle that she had on her side along with a box of ammo and a holster for it all. “Also in case things go bad in the usual way.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. If I had eyebrows, I would have furrowed them as well. “I’m not heading to some dungeon filled with monsters. Anyways, wouldn't having a gun put the NCR on edge? Generally prisons don’t like strangers walking in with a firearm on them.”
“It’s the wasteland. Shit happens all the time. Just don’t pull it out unless you have to defend yourself, otherwise, most ponies aren't going to give a shit if your armd,” she replied.
With a slightly gargled sigh, I gave the rifle a look over. Though old, it was still well maintained. Most of the damage was superficial and only a light amount of rust in places that wouldn’t affect its performance. The bullets looked to be the 10mm that was everywhere, so at least I would not be too hard up on ammunition if I ever needed more.
Thinking about it, it was just odd how munition was all over the place after over 200 years. A magical land indeed.
With some help from Jali, I got the holster on and the rifle secure. Strange how dexterous the equines were despite not having hands, though others have said the same thing about my claws… which I no longer have.
Annoyingly magical land.
“Well any more words of wisdom such as watch out for big lizards with big claws or some ancient evil looking to raise an army of the undead?” I asked, being a little cheeky.
She pondered for a moment before giving an answer. “Well, I don’t know much about those, Mister Azure, but best to keep an ear… Well, rather an antenna out for hellhounds. They’re not some mindless monster that attacks on sight. They tend to be excessively territorial, xenophobic, and short sighted. Often they will attack and kill ponies who wander into their territory unannounced, not stopping to ask them why first. Not that I blame them with the wasteland the way it is.”
“Right. Hellhounds. I’m a bit afraid to ask about what they look like?” I nervously asked.
She then answered. “Think of a really big hunched over dog with really big razor sharp claws. It’s also not uncommon for them to have cybernetics, though don’t ask me how. They just do. If you ever see a smaller, less monster looking one, that's likely a diamond dog. They’re just as biligarant, but not as dangerous.”
The more I learned about this world, the more I found it stupidly dangerous. All despite it being populated by small pastel colored magical horses. Not to say my home was any less absurd. It’s just that the cognitive dissonance of this world was starting to give me a headache. It was like someone took two polar opposite worlds and shoved them together.
I took a moment to open a bottle of water and breathe it in to moisten my lungs and to settle down my mind, then I gave Jali a smile. “Thanks for the warning.”
She visibly shivered for a moment, then chuckled. “So that's what it’s like being on the other end of my own smile.”
We both shared a laugh. I t was interrupted by the large purple pony. “I’m back, and… well…”
“Let me guess, there's a problem,” Jali answered for the tall mare, who then nodded. “Medical problem?” She nodded again. “Is there an active fight going on?” The mare shook her head.
A long sigh came from Jali. “Alright. Just send Azure over. I’ll go gather some of the followers and our medical supplies. Just come back in several minutes.” She then looked over at me and winked. “See? It’s the wasteland. Things always go wrong here.”
With that she trotted off, leaving me alone with the large mare. “Alright. Let's get this over with.” I resolved.
The large mare opened her wings and her horn began to glow.
Being suddenly in a new place was disorienting to say the least. Worse when I was just inside a shaded tent and away from the sun. Now I was outside with that sun angrily beaming down on me. In short, it took several seconds for my eyes to stop hurting as they adjusted.
What stood before me was clearly a prison with solid gray walls and heavy looking doors. It also looked like a ruin like everything else was in this wasteland. Frankly, I didn’t see how this place could even be called a prison. Not with how a pony could easily trot out the big holes in the fences and all the watchtowers having fallen over at some point.
With how the prisoners here were moving pieces of the prison around under the supervision of some roughed up guards, and that I could see what looked like lines of dead bodies. My guess was that all this damage was very recent.
Entering inside the main building, things didn’t look any better. The place was covered in bullet holes and several badly hurt looking prisoners and guards sat around as several clean looking NCR troops stood by.
“Name your visit, and be quick. I shouldn't need to tell you what happened here,” a very butch looking mare said in an athoritve tone.
“Here to see an inmate. We’re delivering a package from a Velvet Remedy of the Followers of the Apocalypse,” I informed the soldier.
She sighed. “Fucking worst timeing for that shit. Just go left and up the stairwell. The acting warden is there with my superiors.”
“Thank you kindly… and is it fine that I’m armed?” I checked just to be careful.
She chuckled. “We're all armed. Well, except for the prisoners. Just don’t pull it out like an idiot.” The mare’s face then shifted to confusion. “Wait. What are you?”
Just like with Jali’s tests, it took her a while to realize that she was talking to a pony sized glowing quadripdic crustation. It was going to take some time for me to get used to being magical. Then again, it was hard enough getting used to unicorns being a thing and them moving objects with their minds… well magic.
“You can call me a Lurker, and as you can guess, I’m not native here. It’s a story I bet you're not interested in hearing.” I told the mare.
She scrunched up her nose. “Ya… fuck that. I don’t get paid enough for that shit.”
Giving her a polite bow, I then trotted to the left and up the stairs. There I saw several ponies gathering around a desk where a mare was filling out paperwork.
“Lieutenant Ginger, are you sure this is a good idea? It’s not like the prison is completely in rubbles and all the prisoners are gone. Also letting the psychopath get further away will only bite us in the flank later,” a stallion in a very clean uniform asked the mare Ginger as she continued to sign some paperwork.
Ginger slowly looked up at the stallion. When she did, I could see bags under her eyes. “Yes, Lieutenant Sandy Shores. I am sure. Without the walls, or even the ability to lock the prisoners up properly, it will become a twenty four hour job just to keep an eye on the few prisoners we have left. Add to that, they took almost all the food and our main way to transport them. Even trying to send the prisoners to the quarry is a recipe for disaster.” The mare then rubbed her temples. “Then there's Spritz. it took a team of rangers to catch her in the first place and you want to go chase her down now? Alright. You go first.”
Sandy then sighed, his body relaxing. “Alright. Things have gone tits up and it’s better to just cut our losses. The higher ups are not going to like this.”
“Fuck them. It’s their fault this ever happened in the first place,” Ginger said as she threw some of the paper off the desk. “Giving Dynamite this position and not putting him on a Celestia damned short leash. Also flooding us with prisoners while not giving us the troops to keep them properly contained. And why make it a damn mixed gendered prison? Why?! Then sending a terrorist here instead of just taking Spritz out back and shooting her, all just so a politician can have his PR moment. We should have just stuck with president Gwadina making all the decisions.”
Trotting over, I cleared my voice to gain their attention. “Hello. I’m Azure Dice. I was given permission by the follower to speak to an inmate here? Also the followers should be here shortly with some supplies and medical staff.”
Lieutenant Ginger sighed with relief, “Finally some good news. The escapees took most of our medical supplies as well, so a lot of us are still out of commission. Now which inmate is it? I’ll be able to tell you if they're still here, gone, or dead.”
“Harp Melody,” I answered. “She and a Slowtrot have a package from Velvet Remedy who’ve asked me to deliver it. Unfortunately they had been taken away by the time I got to New Appleloosa. I was told I couldn’t just come over here without an appointment,” I explained.
I watched as Ginger seemed to deflate a little as her head slowly fell onto her desk. “Luna dammit… of course it's them, and let me guess; they’re what? Velvet's friend?”
I shook my head. “No. She didn’t say anything about knowing them, just that they had done a few things to help make the wasteland a better place. Something about a better healing potion and recovering an artifact. Also, the Followers at the camp said they were the ones who cleared out a raiders nest and they even saved some ponies trapped there.”
The stallion then chuckled. “Doesn't that sound a bit like how the Hell Mare got her start. Too bad I don’t have another dad for them to kill too.”
Ginger groaned in frustration. “Fuck off, Lieutenant. This is a huge shitshow as it is. We don’t need you to bring your own damned history into this.”
He then whistled an amused tone. “Alright Lieutenant. I’ll start having my ponies gather as much of the supplies that we can carry and prepare the caravan to head back to Junction city.”
We then watched as Lieutenant Sandy Shores totted away slowly as though to further annoy Lieutenant Ginger. As we stared at each other for a long moment, a look of realization formed on her face. “Alright. Azure, was it? What the fuck are you even?”
"The pony, Slowtrot, was what I best could explain as a normal pony under unusual circumstances. All three of them were like that in some way to tell the truth. But for the stallion, he, at times, broke what most people could think as conventional reality.
It must have stemmed from his time within a time/space rift. Where Harp and I had only spent a brief moment passing through, he told us that he had wandered inside it. How long, he can’t recall, but he did say that, while there, he got severely drunk. An understandable reaction.
What I can speculate is that Slowtrot is ever so slightly desinked with the reality of his world. A distortion, one could say. Because of this, every now and then the unexpected happens, whether he wants it to or not." ~ Azure Dice
I hit the cold hard floor. I found out that it was made of metal, not the hard dirt I was just on before. A sense of familiar dread washed over me as I got up. My eyes slowly adjusted to this dark place I found myself. Had it happened again. There was no doubt. It had to have.
“Alright, Slowtrot, where did I end up this time?” I spoke to myself, unsure when and where I had popped into.
The first time I was back at the Sleepy Hooves Diner right before the bombs dropped.
The second I found myself in the trenches of the war.
Now… it was too dark to tell, so I turned on my pipbuck lamp.
What I could see looked a bit like a stable, though far more metal than concrete. Finding a wall, I trotted alongside it until I found what I guessed to be a light switch and flipped it. Buzzing with power, the lights slowly turned on and illuminated everything in the room I was in.
Pony sculptures of chrome and brass were built into the walls and pillars. They were made with hard geometric lines that looked as strong as it was elegant. Many objects such as chairs, lamps, and tables were in here and looked more like works of art with their hard angles and wide curving swooshes. Everything here was made with form and function in mind. It reminded me of the noir films the Ministry of Image loved to push out except this was all in full color and all too real.
I must have appeared inside a very wealthy ponies storage room.
The sound of a click alerted me to a door opening, so I quickly limped over to hide.
“Oy, who left the lights on? The boss fucking hates it when one of you lugs do that,” a gruff sounding pony spoke up.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I’ve been working at the display all day.” a mare grumbled.
The stallion then huffed. “Fuck it. Just throw those masks and uniforms wherever and grab two chairs. Fucking can’t belive a guest just started throwing fire just to show
off. Assholes.”
From my hiding spot, I watched as the two ponies dropped several odd looking masks on a nearby table along with some cloth. They then went and grabbed several nearby chairs. Both oddly had two horns on their head. The horns were both bone white in color and slightly curved.
Seeing them sent a shiver of dread down my spine.
As they left, they, turned off the lights on their way out. I trotted over to the table with the masks. It was a hunch, but I had the feeling that I might need to be in disguise while I was here. It was a stupid idea, but I needed to take a look around, if only briefly.
What was on the table looked like a bunch of ruined junk. All of them were broken and burnt in some way as though they were used in a battlefield. Still, anything was better than nothing.
Discarding my NCRCF shirt, I put on a fancy long white coat that was poked with burnt marks. I also put on an ornate white rabbit mask with gold trim that had part of its side broken off. It just felt weird putting this on, but it was better than nothing.
Lastly, I grabbed some long decorative cloth to wrap around my pipbuck and hopped nopony asked about it… or well… asked about anything about me.
Trotting to the door, I took a long deep breath to steel myself for what I might soon see. Opening the door and stepping through, I found myself in a hallway with a long glass window that had a view of the ocean’s floor. Strange fish swam past the glass, and off in the near distance were skyscrapers that resembled the Manehattan skyline, but underwater. I could also see advertisements glowing in the water as though they were simple neon lights for a city that never sleeps.
I was sure of it now, though I could be mistaken. I mean how many underwater cities could actually exist? Right now it was safe to assume I was in Despoines, where Thorn was.
I didn’t know how long I was going to be here before I returned, so it couldn't hurt looking around and learning more. Also it might be a good idea to look for something to take back with me. Something useful I hope.
There were a few doors along this hallway. It didn’t hurt to take a look. One was filled with more random stuff, mainly decorations, so nothing useful. Another had just sheets, towels, and other cloth items that I had no use for. Checking yet another door, it didn’t result in anything I could use. It was just cleaning supplies… on the other hoof, there was a saddlebag and some soap.
At the very least, if everything was going alright for Harp and Star, they would love to be able to clean themselves. So I took the bag and a few bars of soap.
Leaving the hallway, it clearly did not have anything useful. The sound of music became more and more audible in the distance along with the voices of a lot of ponies. It sounded like a party was going on. It was probably something I wanted to avoid. There was also the familiar clatter of ponies at work and the smell of cooking food. All of this told me that there was a kitchen close by.
My stomach growled with hunger.
It couldn’t hurt, could it… no, no it could not.
Trotting to the kitchen, I saw ponies at work with roaring fires and flying ingredients. It was the sight of a five star Canterlot gormy staff with how they worked. It was almost intimidating with how fast the knives moved. The staff themselves were mostly normal looking ponies except a few had two horns on their heads, though one had a mane that looked oddly like kelp rather than a normal mane should.
My eyes then fell onto the prize, a plate filled with mini sandwiches. What was in them I didn’t care. I just needed to grab it and vanish for a minute. Carefully I totted over, doing my best to look like I belonged there.
A knife flew out, almost hitting my face. “Oy, what are you doing back here? Get to work!” a chef in a tall white hat called out to me.
Panicked, I squealed out “Hungry...”
The chef narrowed his eyes on me. “You… Oh. You must be that idiot who took that electobolt to the face. Take the plate. The fucking shit is not worth being sent out. Stupid sue chef put the ingredients in the wrong order. Take those fucking wine bottles, too. Some moron sent us the wrong brand. We needed tart, not sweet!”
Nodding, I took the food and box of drinks then trotted backwards slowly.
Retreating to one of the storage rooms, I shoved several of the mini sandwiches down my throat and washed it down with the wine. It was all so delicious that I began to tear up. Before I knew it, the food was gone and I polished off the wine bottle. There were still five wine bottles left, so I shoved them into my bag. I felt that I might as well bring them back with me.
I started to feel like myself again. The hunger subsided and a warmness drifted up to my face. It was good, and I wanted to share it with my friends, meaning that I should go out there again.
Trotting out, I had forgotten which direction the kitchen was, so I followed my nose. I stumbled right into the place I really should not have, the party.
The chrome and bronze art decor was all over the place and spectacular. The place truly felt like it came out of a movie, even the ponies themselves. They were all masked, donning on fancy outfits of every color, and all having fun.
Though this was a party, it seems that whoever was running it was also showing off some contraptions to the partygoers. Booths and stages were lining up along the walls with ponies providing entertainment from them. Every now and then an explosion or a bolt of electricity would bust out and the crowds would cheer in excitement.
It had been a long time since I was in a place like this where ponies had let themselves forget the horrors of the world outside.
“Raffle!” a mare shouted next to me, causing me to jump a little. Through her cat mask, she eyed me. “You? Why don’t you give the raffle a free shot? You could win a big prize!”
“Ahh… why not.” I said. This all felt a bit too familiar.
“Alright. Just take a card,” she told me as she hoofed over a box filled with cards.
Taking a card, it was “A-8” The card featured a poker table with a smoking gun on it.
“Now if your card is called, just trot right on over to the main stage and collect your prize. Also, you can keep that card, it's exclusive to this showcase!” the cat masked mare told me before trotting off.
Shrugging, I put it in one of the coat pockets and trotted off to look at one of the booths.
A large earth pony stallion was proudly holding up a glass of apple filled with red fluid. Ambrosia, I think it was called, from Victoria’s memory. This container had a flaming heart printed on it and behind the stallion was a poster depicting a pony holding a flame in their hooves. “Now gaze upon the wonders of the new and improved Incinerate! Don’t feel like sticking your hoof in the stove. You have to touch that candle to light it. Rather stay where you are and light things up from across the room. Then this is for you! With a flick of your fenlock. you have the magic of fire at your hooves!”
A line of fire then began running up one of the stallion's legs as though his veins were on fire itself. Then, just like he said, he flicked his fenlock over at a small mock up fireplace. A small ball of fire shot out of his hoof and into the fireplace, thus lighting it. If there was a trick, I was not seeing it. That earth pony just performed magic through his own body. No horn involved.
The other ponies watching cheered. Some pulled out green paper slips and demanded to buy them. Studying the booth some more, the company that had made this product was called Redrum Alchemic Magic. It’s symbol looked like a Ram with its two large horns. The name sent another cold shiver down my spine.
Moving onto another booth, it was more of the same. Ponies showing off Ambrosia that promised to give ponies magical powers. Lighting, frost, the wind, even one at made arcano tech see the pony as friendly. It was all just as amazing as it was frightening to tell the truth. But among all that I saw, one booth got my attention.
Trotting over to a food stall, above it was the name of Redrum Eatery. The stall was not seeing as much attention as the others. It just showed off some new food they were selling. No magic as far as I could see. They were food packets in several flavors, though most of them were just different takes on seaweed and fish.
“A bit out of place here, don’t you think?” I asked the pony at the food booth.
“No sir. We are not.” The mare spoke with a cheery tune. She had a mask that resembled an octopus and had an oddly kelp like mane. “Where do you think Miss Redrum got her start? She worked with us at the fishery where she was able to build up her fortun and start the eatery. Through her business deals with the most successful restaurant in Desponies, she made friends at the top such as the biggest fish in this ochen top. So, when we discovered the slug, it was easy for her to start Redrum Alchemic Magic. Now we are here, still selling to both the top and the bottom of the food chain here in Despoines.”
The mare then leaned in and whispered to me. “If things keep going the way they are, I have no doubt Miss Redrum will be running this city soon. I know all the other Kelpies have her back, and the bicorns have long thrown their hats in for her. She just needs to get those self righteous Equestrians to see her vision.”
I had no clue what she was talking about, but the longer I looked at the mare, the less she looked like a normal pony. In truth, her mane looked like real kelp, and her pupils were slits like some predator.
Giving her a nod, I felt it was best to agree and not rock the boat. “Ya. Right to the top.”
She sat back, seemingly pleased with herself, though the mask made it hard to tell. “Well, while you're here, why don’t you take a few free samples? It’s not high class food like the kitchen is cooking, but trust me when I say that it’s really good.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Survival food mostly. We’ve been testing out new ways to preserve food for longer without the heavy abuse of preservatives that those Equestrians love to use. Here we have what we call the time stopped survival packets, or timeless meals as the boss wants to call them. They don’t age or rot as long as the seal is closed, so you can store it somewhere safe until there's a disaster,” she explained.
Food was food, and the others were going to need it. “Can I take one of each? And how is it actually preserved?”
She nodded as she shoved several packs to me. “Take as many as you want. Just remember to share them around. As for how, it’s simple… Well not that simple. We're using a time spell in our packaging. It keeps the food in a time loop until it is open. Think of it like freshly cooked fish whenever you want. All you have to do is open and eat. Here you go. Go ahead and open this one.”
Passing one packet to me, I nervously opened it. The smell of an actual burger hit my nose. It was no hay burger, but it still made my mouth water. Biting into it, the burger was hot and fresh as though it had just been cooked.
“Our signature fish and seaweed burgers, now fresh whenever you want it. Forget all that having magic at your hoof tips crap. This is what's going to be the big thing to shake Desponies,” the mare boasted.
I could not argue as I finished the burger and shoved more packets into my bag. To think time magic could be used for such a simple thing. It made me wonder why the ministries never did this, I know that the Ministry of Arcane Science would have known how to do it.
Giving the mare a wave as I trotted off, the music that blared over the speakers dimmed down a little and the voice of a very cheerful mare spoke up. “Ladies and gentlecolts, it’s time for the raffle! A lucky few will be winning some absolutely wonderful prizes.”
Trotting over to where I could see the main stage, it almost looked like they were preparing to put on a magic show.
“Now let's demonstrate the prizes that we will be giving out today, and the pony who will be the demonstrator is none other than the mare of the hour, Miss Thorn Redrum!” The speaker announced.
My blood ran cold as she trotted out. A somewhat older but a very much healthy Thorn Roasland. A long blond mane, blue coat, cold eyes. What I didn’t expect was her sporting a mechanical left foreleg which ended in a golden cloven hoof.
“Good to see everypony is having a fun time,” Thorn spoke. Her voice was calm but it still had this sense of power to it as though she knew she was untouchable. This would be my third time seeing her in the flesh, and she still stood far above me. Far out of my reach. “As I’m sure all of you have seen with your eyes, yes ... we have made great leaps in our development of ambrosia. Where before it would simply heal injuries, change fur color, and give ponies small but useful magical abilities, now it does so much more.”
She then smiled, eyeing the masked crowd. “Now you're all savvy business ponies. You all must be thinking, ‘How will we turn a profit with this. Even if it does give ponies magical abilities, it is not like all the arcano tech we already have can’t do it, and better. It’s only a curiosity. A passing trend. A momenter boost in the market that will die down at noon be forgotten.’ But that’s where you will all be found wrong, my friends.”
The curtain behind Thorn pulled back, and the same vending machine I saw in Victoria's memories was revealed. This one was far cleaner and more decorated and also lacked the two animatronic fillies that sang and danced. What it did have was artwork of a filly in a blue dress sitting on a mushroom as a white rabbit in a suit ran off holding a pocket watch.
Along the side of the vending machine were several large posters of ponies at work. One poster had a pony setting a pipe covered in ice on fire. Another had a pony freezing a bunch of fish and a flaming generator.
“What I want you all to think about is the utility use of this product. How can it make any job more efficient? In what case would a pony use it in their everyday life? What would ponies abandon in favor of this and why?” Thorn asked the crowd which caused many ponies to start talking among themselves.
As Thorn let the crowd chatter, two familiar looking twin ponies trotted out onto the stage. These were the ones from Victoria’s memorie. They were pushing a cart with five glass apples filled with the ambrosia and even more glass vials filled with a blue glowing fluid.
“Another thing, and I know you must have been asking, how are my employees able to use such magic when before they could only show such minimal results?” Again she asked the crowd as one of the twins lifted up the blue vial. “With this, Peitho! It interacts with our newly improved Ambrosia serum and fills the pony with the power needed to perform magic like they are an arcano scholar. The effects are not infinite, so a pony may need to keep a few vials on hoof if they are ever in need of this power.”
She then stepped to her side, thus giving ponies a better view of the Ambrosia Orchards vending machine behind her. “And here is where ponies will get their supplies of Peitho along with any Ambrosia serum they need for work or leisure. Convenience in a charming package.”
If there was any sceptiptsim in the crowd, it seemed to vanish. Words like “brilliant” and “magnificent” were spoken around me. They all were dancing in Thorn’s hoof.
Then, out of the blue, the other twin teleported to a small table in front of them. On it was a box.
“Now it’s time to show off our newest products and for a lucky few to win the honor of being the first to use them,” Thorn announced as one of the twins drew a card from the box. Passing it to Thorn, she read aloud, “First is E-7!”
An excited mare raised a card and trotted over to the stage. She was stopped by the two twins who held out a bottle of ambrosia.
Above the vending machine, another poster rolled out. It showed a pony turning into a cloud of smoke.
“Here we have our misty step ambrosia,” Thorn declared as the red bottle was hoofed over to the winner. “Ever want to disappear? To just go ‘poof’, and then be somewhere else? Want no more when you can do it now? With this, you will be able to become mist and move about unhindered. Feel endangered? Have an obstacle blocking your way or you just don’t want to talk to some pony? Then become mist. A novelty to be sure, until you're somewhere you don't want to be. Just think about it.”
“Go ahead Miss. Try it out,” she told the raffle winner.
The mare seemed hesitant at first, but then the crowd began cheering her on.
Pulling off the top of the bottle revealed a long needle that extended out from the bottle. She then jabbed into her leg. The red liquid quickly flowed into her. When it was all gone, one of the twins then jabbed the vial of blue liquid into her other leg. This caused her to wrench for a moment.
Cracks formed along her body and clothes, then she literally exploded into a cloud of red mist. Everypony gasped as they waited to see if she would reappear. After a few seconds the mist began to gather in a different spot and the mare reformed with nothing missing.
The mare then squealed in excitement as she did a little dance.
“Wonderful, wasn't it?” Thorn asked the mare who got a very excited head nod from her. “Then take two more. Share it with friends or family. Then tell everypony.”
This display got the crowd even more interested. Many of them held closely onto their own cards.
From the stage, a second card was drawn, and a stallion trotted up. This time it was something that made the pony physically stronger. His muscles expanded which caused his suit to rip in a few places. Thorn proposed it as a shortcut to a healthy body for the pony too busy to work out every day. It was clearly popular among a lot of the thinner or out of shape looking stallions.
Then the third card was pulled and another stallion trotted onto the stage. What everypony then saw as the stallion becoming a mare, but with paws instead of hooves. After a bit of a panic and the administering of another dose of Peitho, the pony was able to become a stallion again, though with one fantastic mane and tail. It made everypony laugh, but some seemed rather excited about getting their hooves on it.
“A -8!” Thorn called out, and for the third time my blood ran cold. The twins looked in my direction. Their eyes bore down on me. I wanted to just back away, to pretend like I was never here, but as their horns glowed, I felt myself being dragged forward.
With a sigh, I then trotted to the stage under my own power. Thorn eyed me curiously for a brief moment before continuing her sales pitch.
“Now we have another special treat for those who have ever suffered a terrible injury, loss of a limb, or a chronic disease.” As she spoke, another poster rolled down, showing a pony in a terrible state next to the same pony but completely healthy. “We have finally perfected the heath recovery serum! Yes, Lazarus is coming to you as promised, so no longer fear the cuts and bruises of daily life, for with this, you will not even fear death. Not even the ravages of time will ever claim you with this.”
Her cold sharp eyes cut into me as she said. “Go on. Use it. You will be the healthiest you’ve ever been when you do.”
Looking out into the crowd, all I saw was a sea of white masks of different shapes and sizes, all with gleeful eyes hungry to see what would happen.
I could try and run, but where? How? I knew who Thorn was and I knew she could break me with little effort, so I gave in. Pulling the cap off, the long needle popped out. So, like the three ponies before me, I jammed the needle into my leg. There was a sharp pain and the feeling of fire in my veins that traveled through my body. Soon after another jab was felt in my other leg, and this time a cold sensation rushed through me.
As the Peitho flowed through me and met the Ambrosia, a sense of euphoria washed over me. A numbness followed along with a feeling of joy, though only temporary. It all happened within a few short seconds, leaving me feeling a bit depressed, but also no longer in pain. No pain at all. Not in my legs or joints… even the pain from my lashings was gone.
“I feel great!” I excitedly said as I looked over at Thorn, only to see her holding a gun to my face.
*Bang!*
Everything went red, then white, then back. I had been shot in the head, I know it, yet it all hurt. It shouldn't hurt to be dead. But I should have known this was going to happen. Thorn was a monster, and she must have known it was me.
“Now watch as even death itself is conquered!” Thorns voice was then followed by gaspes.
The pain in my head subsided, and what was black became wight, then red, then my eyes opened. On the ground in front of me was a warped led bullet in a pool of blood. Getting back up, I felt the spot where she had shot me. I felt the blood around my eye socket, but nothing was missing.
“I’m… alive?” I gasped, looking up at Thon who had a smug look on her face.
“As you see, not only is this stallion alive, he is better than he was before. Imagine now, perfect health for a fair price. What more could you ever want? What could not be any more perfect than that!”
The twins then flanked me and led me to the back stage.
As we entered the next room, Thorn continued on. “What if getting hurt never happened in the first place? What if you can turn back time before misfortune had then fallen onto you?”
Several ponies passed us, hulling a large chamber that had an electrical charge flowing through it.
The twins then chuckled. “Oh the Vita-Chamber. Such a magnificent piece of technology.” the brother said.
“And a magnificently bad idea, physiologically speaking.” the sister added
The brother then looked at me, “Same for the Lazarus serum, don’t you think?”
“Yes, he does. He did just get shot in the head, or do you have another opinion on it, Slowtrot?” the sister asked.
“Does she know?” I asked back.
The twins chuckled again.
“No, she doesn't,” the sister answered.
“You were never even worth remembering in the first place,” the brother added.
They were right. I was just some nobody caught up in events bigger than myself. Only a blip on Thorn’s raidar. At least that meant she would not do anything about me. I’m no threat to her.
“So about this… Lazarus. Isn’t it just some new healing potion?” I asked, stopping to look at myself in the reflection of a window. Blood had splattered across the broken part of the mask from where my eye was shot. I was perfectly fine, but the signs of me getting shot were there. It was still imprinted on the mask.
“To some extent it is, as it does heal.” the sister said coyly
“To true, just like how hydra heals, and can regrow limbs.” the brother again added.
“But then why?” The sister asked.
“Yes, then why?” the brother also asked.
It then clicked, and I asked. “Why does she have a mechanical hoof if she can just regrow a limb?”
The Brother then said, “Oh, why indeed. But explaining too much will ruin the fun of finding it out yourself. Now that will be a long time from now, for you not as long, but still a long time.”
“An age and a half, you can say. Not too long I can say,” the sister added.
“Yes, you can,” the brother said to his sister.
“Can what?” she asked.
“Say what you said,” he answered.
She then smiled. “Too true.”
I then ground as I trotted ahead of them and blockedtheir path. “Alright, this is giving me a headache. A figurative headache, I mean. Seriously, I feel better than I’ve haved for a long time.”
“How can he be both in pain and not in pain at the same time? Oh! I love thought experiments,” the sister gleefully spoke.
“I would rather just use a real cat myself,” the brother added.
“ENOUGH! Just who in tartarus are you two?” I growled at them.
The faces of both twins dropped any sense of joy and became entirely neutral, as though a mask had fallen off and they were just robots pretending to be ponies.
The brother then spoke. “I am Robert Lutece.”
“And I am Rosalind Lutece,” the sister told me.
Then they spoke in unison. “I am the foremost researcher in quantum physics.”
“Though maybe it should be called quantum magic here,” Robert suggested.
“This is well beyond magic or physics at this point. Maybe it should be called… a Lutece,” Rosalind pondered.
She then shook her head. “No. It doesn't roll off the tongue very well.”
Robert also shook his head. “We can’t go naming everything after ourselves afterall.”
I was about done with this. They, and everything here, was not making any sense. “Damnit! I wish I could talk with somepony who could actually explain any of this and not the nonsense you two are making.”
The Lutece twins then sighed before Robert spoke. “It is beyond his understanding, and below our ability to explain.”
“Maybe the outsider can explain?” Rosalind then asked her brother.
Both smiled at each other, and then looked at me as they passed both the Ambrosia and Peitho to me.
“Well our time has grown short, so take these and do try to not feel hard about having to choose who gets it,” Robert told me.
“He’s going anyway, so why tell him not to?” Rosalind flatly told her brother.
“Oh, there’s no harm in saying that it’s going to happen if it’s not going to change that it will happen,” Robert countered.
Rosalind then sighed. “True. It matters not.”
Shoving the items into what room was left in my bag, I knew that they were talking about me soon returning back to the NCRCF. So I had one last question. “Why me? Why is this happening to me? Am I special or something?”
They smiled at me and again spoke in unison. “Not you’re nothing special, but what's stuck to you is. This world hates having time distorted and will always seek to close such distortions. If you want the distortion to end, return here and close what you opened so long ago. You have already done it before, and will do it again.”
2x Ambrosia Orchards Lazarus Serum - A healing item that has the ability to bring even the recently deceased back to life. Side effects may include; Bleeding from eyes, nose, and mouth, Blindness, Crystal formations on the skin, Cutis laxa, Death, Mane loss, fur patches, Hallucinations, Heterochromia iridum, Hormone imbalance, Insanity, Insomnia, Jaundice, Lesions, Memory loss, Paranoia, Rashes, Shingles, Spider veins, Swollen gums, Syndactyly, Tooth loss, Tumors, Varicose veins, Vitiligo.
“I don’t care if it’s unfinished and riddled with side effects. I’ve already dumped my entire fortune into this project. Anyways the public does not need to know. They are too stupid to care. Think of it as a mass experiment. Find the ponies who take to the ambrosia with little to no side effects, then cut them open to find out why. As for the rest of the ponies, well I didn’t save you from the baelfire scorched world for you to start having a conscience now.” ~ Thorn Roseland
"Studying the phenomenon that is Slowtrot’s current existence, it helped explain some of the magic of this world. It still confounds me how any of it actually works. This included Slowtrot telling me that there were once ponies who could control the sun and moon. That is to say that my own explanation of how my home also works made no sense to them either. We just come from two very different worlds.
Still, I have been able to figure out that the magic of this world has some solid rules to it, much like the laws of reality involving gravity and such. One of them is that time can never truly be altered, only a time loop or a parallel pocket timeline, as no pony has ever changed the past, only visited it.
Another rule of magic is that everything is magic, to some extent. From the flesh and blood, to the rock and metal, it’s all magic. Because of this, life seems to be far more malleable. Able to change forms and imprint their magic onto other things. A pony can be turned into a rock, and a rock can become a living pony. This would mean, and I’m speculating on this, that even the dead have magic to them, something that greatly puts me at a state of unease." ~ Azure Dice
As a foal, I dreamt of having the ability to time travel. I also dreamt of being able to fly by farting, and now that one of them had come true. I wished it was the other.
Now that I’m fully aware of what was happening, I realized that returning to the NCRCF was not like I had just popped in from somewhere else. Nothing so sudden as that. It was as though the place I was in faded from reality and the place I now was in shimmered to life. The amazement of it all was severely dampened by the sight of the mare, Railway, hanging by a noose of bedsheets in front of me.
I struggled to keep the food in my stomach down as I looked away only to see the prison in utter shambles. The prisoners werein a standoff with the guards. Both sides were armed with rifles with quite a few had already been killed on both sides.
The guards were held up in the main building of the prison, guns poking out of windows and doors, taking pot shots at the prisoners. I could only guess that it meant they were pinned down. This meant I should be mostly free to move about so long as they could not get me in their sights.
I trotted off to one of the prisoners hiding behind some rubble. I needed to know where my friends were, if I had been left behind or not.
“Hey, do you know-” The pony then screamed and fainted before I could finish my question.
“Well this might be more difficult than I thought.” I openly pointed out to myself.
“The fuck did you come from, Sugger?” the sultry voice of Cherry Knot asked me from behind me.
I sighed in relief as I saw her. “Trust me, you wouldn't believe any of what I just went through. Can you tell me if Harp and Star are still here?”
“Slowtrot!” The look of shock formed on her face as she took a step back, taking a few seconds before she calmed down and took a breath before answering. “Right. I’ll not ask.
“As for your friends, they're in the mess hall. You should hurry. There's not much time left.”
I nodded and galloped to the mess hall where I saw a crowd of ponies. Among them was Star Charter. Her NCRCF uniform was drenched in blood and torn up. Next to her was Harp Melody laying on a table. She was covered in blood and breathing with a wheeze.
“Stay awake, Harp!” Star shouted. “You're going to get through this. You have to.”
The pain in her voice was all I needed to know this was not good. As I trotted over, the other ponies saw me and parted ways, letting me get close.
Seeing it up close, it was bad. Harp was bandaged up all over. Her blood had seeped through and stained it all red. Her face was also torn up and an eye was covered. As she breathed, blood would bubble out.
“What happened?” I asked softly, unsure what to do.
“What do you fucking think! She got shot. Shot a whole damn lot. If Amralt hadn’t gotten her out of that damn bulldozer and bandaged her up, she’d be dead already. But even with all the healing bandages, she has already lost too much blood…” Star squeezed onto Harp’s hoof, tears flowing from her eyes. “Why did I get you involved in this mess in the first place? Why am I so stupid?”
A smile formed on my face, knowing that now my weird luck was my friend's good fortune. “Star, I just recently met your prophet again when I fell through time… again.”
She glared at me, “Not the fucking time, Slowtrot.”
Pulling out theLazarus serum, I looked at the strange red liquid inside. “She shot me in the face and for a moment, I was dead.”
I then presented the apple shaped glass bottle to Star. “This can save her. Even if she dies, it will save her.”
She looked at the bottle, then up at me, her eyes going wide. “Slowtrot, your eyes…”
Taking the cap off to reveal the needle, I injected the serum into Harp, causing her to cough up blood. Then I took one of the blue vials of Peitho and I injected that into Harp as well.
A few seconds passed, then she gasped. Her legs burst into a running motion which caused Harp to scramble off the table and to the ground.
Both Star and I quickly jumped onto the table to see if she was okay.
“I’m… still alive?” Harp asked herself as she rubbed her head. “And I don’t feel any pain. It’s all gone.”
Star lept and gave Harp a tight hug. “Oh thank the prophet you're alive!”
Harp struggled to push Star away but found the mare too strong. “You could at least not invoke that pony.”
I then chuckled nervously. “Actually, this time it’s entirely accurate.”
Harp’s head snapped to me. “Slow…” a look of shock then formed on her face. “Your eyes! They’re bleeding!”
I quickly rubbed my eyes which smeared even more blood on the white coat I had on. “So they are.”
As though grabbed by some big wooly monster, I found myself brought into a tight hug from behind as Amralt lifted me up off the ground. “Pony friend is back! Yak thought you were lost!”
“Put him down, you big oaf!” Bitter yelled as she ran in followed by Cherry and several other prisoners holding guns.
A quick moment passed as Amralt slowly put me back down. The Zebra eyed me with suspicion before sighing. “You three are just insane! You know that?”
I looked at my friends, hoping they would explain to me what exactly happened.
Star was the one to do it. “Well Harp went on a rampage in the fucking killdozer and I wrestled several guns away from the guards while getting shot at several times.”
“The bitch might as well be an immortal berserker, maybe as fearsome as the doom bunny,” Bitter said as she threw a piece of bread to Star.
My friend looked at the hard loaf with disappointment.
“Star, have one of these!” I offered her as I pulled out a survival food package.
She looked at it with suspicion before opening it. What popped out was a fully cooked large meal of burger and hay fries. Drool quickly seeped from Star's mouth before she dug in.
“Just insane!” Bitter repeated again, then she took a deep breath. “Bad news. The plan has failed. Spritz predicted our ambush. She had several sticks of powder charges prepared and had stolen several healing potions. She also has taken the spark batteries, so we are not going anywhere.”
With her muzzle covered in sauce, Star smiled as she looked over at Harp. “Lucky we don’t need the spark batteries anymore.”
Harp took a deep breath as she removed her bandages. “What is Spritz doing right now, and where is the bulldozer?”
“You’re… healed? This madness does not stop.” Bitter ranted before she took another deep breath before giving us an answer. “The bitch is trying to push her way to the armory, but other bitch, Ginger, has managed to rally the rest of the guards to stop her. The damned bulldozer is where you left it near the exit. Tire Fire is currently protecting it.”
“Have you finished loading the train carts?” Star checked.
Bitter nodded. “Everything is ready. What food, sheets and explosives we could get our hooves on has been loaded. All we need is the bulldozer to get moving.”
“So we're still doing this?” I asked my friends.
“Well, Star was. I had already accepted that I was going to die,” Harp told me. Her voice had a grim inflection.
Star slapped her on the back. “Well fuck that! We’re all getting the fuck out of here. Now let's go before our good fortune runs out.”
“Yes. This place has been smashed. We go find a new place and smash it.” Amralt announced jovially.
We all rushed out. As a group, we made our way to the train carts. Star, Harp, and I then split off and galloped to the bulldozer Daisy Chain. As I ran by, I saw the severed head of Warden Dynamite. His head was on a spike with a stick of a powder charge in his mouth like it was a cigar.
Reaching the bulldozer, Tire Fire didn’t look shocked to see us. In his hooves was the LMG service rifle. “Spitting in the eye of death. I like that in a mare.”
“Not the fucking time, Tire,” Harp complained to him as she jumped onto the back of the vehicle and began to shimmer. “Slowtrot, can you drive this?”
I just jumped into the driver's seat. Once I am inside, I notice that it was covered in blood splatter and its door hung off a single hinge now. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked down at all the levers. Truthfully I had never driven anything like this before, but it couldn't be all that hard to do.
As Daisy Chain roared to life, I took a moment to just pull a few levers. After a short bit of trial and error, I finally got the bulldozer to back up. We were good to go!
*Bang!*
“Where do you think you're going?” Spritz spoke up, surrounded by several of her followers.
I immediately stopped the tractor and waved at Spritz. “Oh, you know. Places.”
“Slowtrot, let me handle this.” Harp told me as she climbed down from the tractor.
Spritz trotted over to Harp, dwarfing my friend considerably in both height and in intimidation.
“You're looking well for a dead mare,” Spritz said coldly. “And he’s back from wherever he vanished to as well, I see..”
“Well, we're all full of surprises. And I heard you blew up one of the towers,” Harp commented evenly.
A big smile formed on Spritzes face, showing a missing tooth. “No help from your other friends, though they did give me a fun time.” Her face then tightened up to a serious scowl. “Give me one good reason I should not order my ponies to gun you down and take everything for ourselves.”
Harp lifted up her pipbuck. “Because this will not work for you if we are dead. Also, I told Bitter to blow the supplies of food if you try to take us hostage. Your not a dumb mare. Far from it, so I doubt you will risk wandering out into the wasteland without food, water, or a shelter. All that will happen is your eventual re-capture and execution. With more NCR on their way, and the guards fortified in the main building, which has the armory I may add, you don’t have many choices.”
“And what? I just let you leave?” Spitz said with gritted teeth.
Shaking her head, Harp then sighed. “No. You would just force our hoof. Best to deny the NCR just as much as us. Either a win win, or a lose lose. That’s our option. Anyways, you could easily just cut everypony off and go it alone. The easiest way for you to survive, but then you would have to build that following of yours from scratch. Then again, who knows how long that will take and, in that time, the NCR would be sending their best guns after you. I would think so.”
There was a glint of rage in Spritz eyes. It didn’t go away even as she motioned her followers to lower their guns. “I now see why the NCR would want you for their own. That tongue of yours, along with your wit, would make you an excellent scribe in the Ranger. If only you were born as one of us and not some hybrid freak.”
“Words I’m quite familiar with, so save your tongue. The sooner we leave, the less chance the NCR will make chase,” Harp replied coldly.
A huff came from Spritz. Her breath caused Harp’s mane to bob. “Fine. Send a pony to tell that stripe to not blow all the food and we’ll take the cart at the front of the train. But be sure that, if you try anything, remember that you're not the only pony with explosives.”
We watched as Spritz and her followers trotted away. Some of them split off to the ponies keeping the NCR guards pinned down.
“You sure about this, Harp?” Star asked with nervous uncertainty.
Harp looked back at us. One of her eyes was now bloodshot and starting to bleed. “Ya… we just need to get out of here. The problem between us and Spritz can be ironed out once we're free of this mess.”
Star hopped off the tractor and gave Harp a hug. “By iron, I hope you mean beat her with an iron?”
A chuckle came from Harp. “Let's just hope it does not come to that.”
Letting go of Harp, Star then wiped the blood from her eye. “Now just don’t go overworking yourself, and please… don’t let yourself get hurt like that ever again.”
“No promises.” Harp replied with a smile.
Star laughed. “Ya. Well, at least try.” With that, she totted off to where the traincarts were and Harp returned to the tractor.
“So… you want my new mask?” I offered Harp, unsure what to actually say.
She looked at me with an eyebrow raised. “Uhh… you keep it. The thing looks like somepony died with it on.”
The engine roared back to life and I carefully drove the makeshift tank to the traincarts. A few pot shots from the NCR bounced harmlessly off it’s armor as Harp and Tire Fire stayed out of their line of sight.
Things then went quickly as the traincarts were attached to Daisy Chain, and any prisoner who wanted to escape rushed over to get in. As Spritz’s followers abandoned their post to join us, the NCR became more bold in trying to stop us. The exchange of gunfire resulted in a few ponies falling, but we were able to get the NCR to duck their heads back into safety long enough to make it out the exit. We even ended up knocking over the fence in the process.
With only the moonlight to illuminate our path, to say I was nervous about going over some random cliff was very much true. All I could do was follow the road map on my pipbuck and hope there were no sinkholes between us and stable 27.
“Got to say, you three should just become Desperado’s.” Tire Fire said to me out of the blue.
I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh, are you getting soft now?”
He jabbed me on the shoulder. “Fucking no way. Just saying that, after all this shit, you three have more than proven that you're tough enough to ride with us. I mean, just by bringing this fucking bulldozer with you is going to make elder papa real happy. It’s no tank, but nothings stopping us from attaching a cannon to it.”
I chuckled at the thought. “Now that will be a sight to see.” I imagine them putting on some party cannon on top of Daisy Chain and calling it a day.
“Say, don’t you have your own tanks? I’m just curious,” I asked, wondering how prepared they are for war.
“Some, and a few armored trucks we converted too, but they’re all kept in storage for the time we need them,” He answered before grimacing. “Elder Papa said we used to have a lot more, but the tank ghouls in the north west took them. Supposedly it was a real nasty battle between the old war vets, and in the end, the tank ghouls won. We got to keep most of the light tanks. They took all the heavy bruisers.”
“Those tank ghouls sound really dangerous to have beaten the Desperados,” I commented.
He nodded. “Ya, but we respect them for that. They’re the main reason why we don’t move further north in the west. That, and the construction gangers.”
I again cocked an eyebrow. “Construction gangers?”
“Ya. Assholes, the lot of them. But they do repair the roads in the northwest and aren't shy about getting into a fight. Elder Papa also said we got into a fight with the biggest gang of them long ago too. The Road Crew, they're called. We wanted to take them to route 50 to work for us. Not as nasty of a fight as with the tank ghouls, but they knew how to dig in and fortify. So we ended up giving up and agreeing to not fuck with them. They still haven't forgotten and always charge us more to use their road’s. The fuckers.”
It was odd to have Tire Fire tell me about their losses, so I had to ask. “I’m guessing you all got some plan to get back at them then?”
He groaned. “Fuck no. Not when they got a fucking dragon as their queen. And. from what I heard, the bitch is smart. too. A dangerous combination, as Elder Papa would say.”
Now I was even more curious. “Then why are you telling me? I thought your kind hated talking about failures?”
I got another jab on the shoulder, this time hader. “Fuck you! We respect those who fight us properly and win. But… before all this mess happened, when I caught Dead Axle, she did mention that you told her she should try and convince Elder Papa to change how we do things.”
Tire Fire then huffed. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my little sisters, so I’m only saying this so that you don't end up hurting her. But the only times we change how we do things is when we have to. No way Elder Papa will change his mind when we're doing just fine with the way things are.”
I get it now. He’s hoping I’ll tell her to not try and change their leader’s minds if we meet again. Save her from embarrassment if the idea is shot down.
“It’s up to her, not me.” I said as I kept my eyes on the road. “But maybe you should talk to Harp. She's the smart one, not me.”
“Ya… you’re right,” he agreed as he shifted his body to leave me and return to the top of the bulldozer. “One more thing: If I catch you trying to fuck my sister again, I will beat the living shit out of you.”
I kept a straight face and nodded, knowing that it was likely not some idle threat but a promise.
It had been hours since we left. I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, but we had finally made it. My pipbuck indicated that the Stable was nearby, but all I could see was an empty lot under the moonlight.
Ponies began shuffling out soon after I had stopped. The two groups kept as far away from each other as possible without wandering off. Star Charter then trotted over, looking a bit more fresh then I probably did.
“So we're here. Where's the stable?” Star asked.
Harp slowly got off Daisy Chain. She yawned as she rubbed her eyes. “They're normally underground or under a mountain like with the last one. Look for any way to go down. Like a cave or a swear system.”
Star nodded and ran off to the others, relaying the advice.
It didn’t take long before somepony found something. Star, Bitter, and Cherry returned to us.
Star then relaid what she found to us. “There's a pony hole cover nearby. Spritz already flipped it open and went down with her followers. She thinks that, even if the stable is fake, it would still make a safe place to rest for the night. I imagine she wants to make sure she has the upper hoof in whatever space might be down there.” She then looked back to where the pony hole was. “Several of her followers stayed behind to keep an eye on us.”
Harp nodded. “Understandable. We’ll go down soon enough. Just make sure your guns are ready if she tries anything.”
Star then looked at the two other mares and they nodded before trotting over to the pony hole.
Looking at Harp, I then had to ask, “Did you become the leader of a bunch of escaped cons?”
She shrugged. “Probably. They were leaderless before we showed up, so maybe we are just filling in that space for now. Anyways, we're going to need their help if we're going to take out Spritz before she comes for use.”
I sighed. “If only we could talk things out and go our separate ways.”
Harp then lifted up her pipbuck. “Ya… if only.”
After a short break, we trotted to the others and followed them down into the sewers. There, one of Spritz's followers was waiting for us, panting after having run over to the ladder.
“Ya, you're right. There’s a stable,” he said before motioning for us to follow him.
Just as we had told everypony, there was the big metal gear door with the number 27 printed on it in faded yellow paint. In front of it were several skeletons, some having been pushed aside long ago. Others just sat in front of the door with their ragged clothing still on.
“Looks like some wastlanders found this place long ago and starved to death,” Bitter said, looking at the old boans. “Not an uncommon occurrence. This place is far away from any settlement, or source of food and water. My guess, they were scavengers who ventured out too far and ran out of rations.”
I carefully looked at the bones that had been pushed to the side. Different kinds of familiar looking decade clothing were mixed in the pile, including what looked like the remains of a dark blue police cap “They probably came here from the prison when the bombs fell. Maybe residents that didn’t get here in time.”
“The folly of ponies messing with tech they had no right to touch.” Spritz said as she trotted over to the skeletons in front of the door and kicked them out of the way. The bones scattered across the floor. “Now get this fucking door open like you said you could.”
Both Harp and I gave Star a nod. She trotted to the door control panel. Pulling a cable that was attached to the panel and attaching it to her pipbuck, lights almost immediately began to flash as a siren wenton and off. The door then hisses before it was pulled out and rolled out of the way.
A stale gust of wind greeted us along with a cold and dark silence.
Spritz then looked at us. “Ladies first,” she invited.
The three of us sighed.
Star was the first to trot in with a service rifle slung over her shoulder. Harp followed after Star and I took up the tail end. Bitter and Cherry stayed back with the others, guns ready. As soon as we stepped inside, the lights flickered to life, illuminating the stable.
Unlike Stable 24, there was no mud or profanity laden graffiti everywhere. Just the rust of neglect inside the large room. It looked like the entrance doubled as a reception room as right at the far end was a long desk with old faded Stable-Tec advertisements posters behind it.
There were also the bones of long dead stable dwellers on either side of the room.
“Looks like they killed each other.” Harp said as she pointed out several skeletons. Some behind sandbags and with long rusted over helmets on. There were also the remains of guns near them. Time had made sure they would never shoot again. “You can see, they have arm bands. Red on one side, blue on the other. The colors are also painted on the doors too.”
She was right. There was even a line in the middle of the entry room going right to the stable door. Markings from bullet impacts could also be seen on either side of the walls, further proving her assumption correct.
I also noted that there were only two doors. “So which side should we go? Red or Blue?” I asked.
Harp frowned as she checked her pipbuck. “It’s all mirrored. Practically two stables built side by side, so I don’t think it matters which way we go. I’m also detecting life signs on both sides, but Order doesn't think they’re ponies.”
A chuckle came from Spritz as she trotted in. “Then I’ll take the red side, you can take the blue. If what you say is true, then we can just guard the doors and not fuck with each other.”
There was a momentary pause before Harp nodded. “Ya. Let's do that and get some rest. Other than these doors, there’s three other connecting doors. The one next to the overmare’s rooms just passed these doors. Another door down in the antrum, and a door further down in maintenance.”
Spritz carefully looked at the map on Harps pipbuck before pushing it away. “Alright, we stay on our sides and, after we all get some proper rest, we can talk about what happens next.”
With the split agreed on, the escaped prisoners began filing down into the entryway. Prisoners who had a gun went in first with Spritz leading her followers and Star leading ours. As it turned out, the stable was infested with radroaches so everypony was excited to have some fresh meat.
Once the way was clear, everypony else entered the stable. The layout itself was quite straight forward with both the overmare’s office, security, medical, and storage up front. But, unfortunately, all except for the overmars office happened to be locked. It was something for us to deal with later, so we moved on.
Down a stairway, we then entered the atrium. Two of it’s floors were high and had enough room for ponies to comfortably move around. It reminded me a bit of the R&D Stable’s atrium, but cut in half, making it feel big and small at the same time. The first floor had the cafeteria, lounge, and restrooms. There was also the door to the other side which had furniture stacked up and thus blocking it. The second floor housed rooms for entertainment and what looked like a classroom. Both floors had entrances to the residential area where only the first floor had the door to maintenance and the orchard.
We didn’t explore any further since we were all too tired to do anymore fighting with oversized cockroaches.
Oddly the atrium had a big window that gave us a view of the other atuam along with Spritz’s followers who were also settling down.
I didn’t count how many ponies that had come with us before, but now that everypony had gathered, there were a good hundred of us on both sides give or take five or six ponies. Just seeing them all standing next to each other really set it home to how big this prison break was. If it was just the three of us then maybe the NCR could just let it pass, but not around two hundred ponies.
And we were currently leading the smaller half of them.
With a few ponies given the guns and taking guard duty, everypony else settled in for the night. Star, Harp and I took the overmaer’s office, it being away from the others. Not much of worth could be found here. Even the big terminal was not working which left us with the overmare’s personal terminal to be looked at later.
My eyes shot open within the dark overmare’s office. The sound of... something, woke me up.
It could have been anything, including something being horribly dangerous. So, getting up and picking up one of the NCR pistols, I trotted to the door. I hoped it was not Spritz making her move on us.
With a press of a button, the door hissed and opened, thus bathing the room in bright artificial light.
Stepping out, I saw brightly colored ponies in clean stable barding standing in the hallway. On their fetlock, they had a pipbuck 2000. It was an older and more blocky version than my pipbuck 3200.
Even stranger was the stable itself was clean. Not a speck of rust to be seen.
“Hey… excuse me,” I called out, but they didn’t pay me any mind.
Leaving the ponies be, I trotted down the hallway. I passed by the other rooms. In security there were ponies doing some training while wearing bulky looking stable barding. The medical room had a filly getting her teeth looked at and several ponies were moving a few things out of storage.
Further down I saw an active atrium. Ponies were hanging out. Some were playing games. Others were just eating. It was an active and healthy stable, much like how Stable-Tec had advertised them to be.
As I trotted among them, I saw the widow on the other side where a colt was making funny faces at a colt on the opposite side of the mirror. They were having fun being foals until an older mare, likely his mother, trotted over and pulled the colt away. She looked upset. A little angry, too. She clearly scolded the poor colt.
“Hey now, they're just having fun.” I told the mare, but she ignored me.
It was not my place to interfere, but it didn’t stop me from getting annoyed.
Taking a deep breath, I readied myself to say it again, but then another pony trotted right through me! The air in my lungs slowly leaked out as I started to become aware that there was no way that this stable was still alive. No… we had entered a dead stable full of skeletons.
The ponies here were all already dead.
Their heads then turned to me. Rheir eyes were white like the zombie-ponies from the old horror movies. None of them moved. They just stared at me liflessley.
*Thud*
My head turned back to the window and I saw faces pressed upon it. There were more empty eyes looking at me.
“Uhhh… sorry for disturbing you,” I said. As I backed up, my hoof crunced onto something.
Looking down, I saw that my hoof had stepped inside a skeltons rib cage. The dead pony’s jaw was wide open as though screaming in pain. Around its neck was a cable tied in the form of a noose.
The low ringing sound of static filled my ears as I began to hear voices. All were muffled and filled with fear and hate.
. . .
“It’s their fault.”
“I saw them mocking us, I know it.”
“Again one of them fucked up down in maintenance.”
“They're planning something, I know it!”
“I heard that the ponies on that side were stripe sympathizers.”
“Doesn't our stock of food look smaller than it should? You think they're stealing ours?”
“You heard what they said to me, accusing me of trying to sabatosh them, all paranoid, the lot of them.”
“I saw them being real shifty, as though they're plotting something they don’t want us to know.”
“Have you ever seen their school room? I was told it was a mess, and they don’t teach their foals anything. No wonder they're so illiterate and uncivilized.”
“If I catch one of them even looking at my daughter again, I will go over there and beat the fucking shit out of them!”
“Their so dumb. You see how they can't even wave at us properly?”
“You see that stallion on the other side with that dumb over gelled mane and black stable barding? He is clearly up to no good.”
“You heard? One of them tried to come over to our side, tried to talk to my son. I know he’s in his rebellious stage. I can handle that, but if he starts talking to that whore, I could never live down the shame.”
“They're sneaking in. Trust me. I heard the door to the other side opened last night. I think they're planning to attack us.”
“Overmare, you must do something. I know that one of their colts was eyeing my daughter. The one that looks like a gangster. He must be planning on assaulting my little princess!”
“Damn rat bastards! Think they can come and go as they please. Maybe some blast caps at their hooves will teach ‘em to stay on their side.”
“I know that you're all worried about the other stable becoming more aggressive. As your Overmare, I promise you I will make sure they stay contained on the other side. Security is already putting in new measures to ensure no trespassing will happen in the future.”
“Ha! Chat, that damn gangster, snuck in and gave him a good one/two of my hooves. Teach him to come after our mares.”
“Overmare, they attacked my boy. Hurt him real bad. You must do something. I want justice! I will not stand as those savages just do as they want!”
. . .
The voices would not stop. More fears, more accusations, and more calling to attack the other. I didn't know who was talking about who. Was it all from this side, or was it both sides shouting at me? All I knew was that I had to get away.
Turning to run, I tripped and fell. I landed in another pile of bones. Pushing myself up, I saw the vents spewing some sort of smoke which made it hard to breathe. I wheezed as I struggled for air, crawling to get away, wherever that might be.
Again my eyes shot open as I sat up in a cold sweat. My breathing was shallow and quick. I was back in the dimly lit and decrepit overmare’s office. The acrid stale air was assaulting my nose.
“You alright, Slowtrot?” Star asked. The food packets from Despoines were lined up on the Overmare’s desk. She looked at the packets, then back at me before smiling. “Hungry?”
Sides have been picked, and some trust has been lost, but that doesn't mean they don’t think you can’t be brought into their way of thinking. It’s all about establishing who is in charge, which would be Spritz.
-Ganger Alliance Convicts-
In need of leadership, the three have stepped up and have given results, thus making them the new bosses. Now there is one big problem to deal with, and it’s up to the bosses to deal with Spritz.
-Mutation-
Harp and Slowtrot have received the Lazarus Mutation, and now have a minor health regeneration. The effects of using Peitho causes it to accelerate.
"When we all felt safe enough for it, we conducted a few experiments with the strange magic around Slowtrot. We achieved mixed results, but a consistent pattern. In the experiments, two things became apparent. One was that other magic stuck with him. it, fortunately, was more humorous than concerning most times. Two, often when a time loop is going to be formed, he would appear a few seconds before it happened, making the event inevitable and always surprising.
There was one other thing that would come up now and then, and it was him seeing the world slightly differently then it was. It would only happen in old places ponies rarely tread, as though the old stagnant magic had memories in which he could see.
Unfortunately magical studies are far beyond me and what I can theorize is only scraping the bottom of the barrels for an explanation. Still, if this world is all magic, then what does that make those who can tap into that magic/ Gods, monsters, or would they just become part of this world as though they were a force of nature itself?" ~ Azure Dice
Star, Harp and I decided to eat all the food packets I still had. There was no way to know when the next time we would get to eat good fresh food like this ever again. We also were going to need the energy from it if we were going to deal with Spritz.
“Slowtrot, you say that this stuff is kept fresh… through time magic?” Harp asked before biting down on the burger. A look of satisfaction was on her face as she chewed. One of her eyes was still bloodshot, and would bleed a little, but had been getting better.
My own eyes were not much better, having woken up with some dried blood under them. Having checked my own health and Harps, the Lazarus Ambrosia was labeled as a minor mutation that was mostly beneficial, but didn’t stop us from worrying about it. As for the Peitho, it was labeled as a type of chem, of which we were still coming down from.
“Ya, the kelpie told me it was some sort of contained time loop. All real crazy stuff that’s beyond me,” I further explained. They both were interested in my trip and what Thorn was up to. For Star, she wanted to know more because Victoria was planning to go to Despoines and wanted to take Star with her. Harp, on the other hoof, seemed more concerned with the magic that was going on there.
“From what I remember about the history of magic, and my own ancestored experimenting with it themselves, time magic was always treated as the most dangerous of all,” Harp commented, then tried a ketchup dipped hay fry. Her eyes lit up as she bit onto it.
A slurp came from Star as she finished a soda that came within the packet. It was called Medical Fizz. it tasted like a strong and sweet ginger ale. “I thought ya said that time magic didn’t do anything. Like it fixes itself.”
“Mostly that’s true,” Harp answered. “It mainly makes time loops or unstable branches. But that doesn't mean it can't be harmful, such as using it to learn secrets best forgotten. Or getting stuck in a time distortion where everything moves at a far slower rate around you with no way to stop it. It’s why Celestia had any books on time magic heavily restricted to all but the top magic users in Equestria. My ancestor, Majesty, had written an arcane science article on the subject of time magic and why it is unfit for public use.”
I swallowed my piece of fish burger. “Oh, I remember, she was compared to Ministry Mare Twilight in being super magical. Possibly even more magical than her. Rumor was that she had secretly become Celestia's new apprentice, as Twilight was almost never seen with Celestia when she started her ministry, but Silver was.”
Harp looked concerned for a moment, staring at her bottle of soda with great interest. “Nothing in Silver's jornal said anything about being Celestia's apprentice. She mostly only ever wrote about having tea with the princess or how the war made her depressed.”
She then took a long sip of the soda, giving a slight squeal of enjoyment. “As for the article on time magic. Silver Magesy had thoroughly researched how prone to error that kind of magic was and how even if several ponies used the magic at the same time, in the same way, they always saw something slightly different. It was just an unreliable form of magic. Even the best magic users from ancient times, Starswirl the Bearded, gave up on it. Supposedly, the Ministries had tried to use that magic, and as we know, Stable-Tec did as well.”
“Ya. I’m still suffering from it’s after effects,” I commented.
Putting the bottle down, Harp then sighed. “Ya. The R&D Stable was a mess. It was infested with Twitcher Ghouls, as they were called. By just touching a pony, they could rapidly age or de-age a pony till they were dead. Then there’s the nightmare that was Labs D. It’s still all a blur, but time was so distorted there that it was worse than pure chaos.”
She then picked up the empty paket and looked at the magical symbols inside. Her nose scrunched up. “I don’t like this. Not at all. This magic feels off. Alive, but also not here.
“Anyways, if time magic could have been made so convenient, then the Ministry of Arcane Science would have used it a long time ago. Whatever is going on in Despoines, I can’t imagine it’s anything good.”
“And why the fuck is she calling herself Redrum? It sounds bad ass, but why?” Star asked while some food was still in her mouth.
“Maybe Quicktrot knows. She does have a part of Thorn’s soul as well as some of her memories.” I answered.
“Or we could just avoid that blight on the world,” Harp grumbled.
We spent a moment in silence before we all nodded in agreement. There was already enough trouble we were dealing with. Chasing after an abomination didn’t need to be one. We were no heroes.
Finishing our food and drink, we all felt far better than we should reasonably be. Now it was time to deal with the problem at hoof, starting with meeting the other prisoners on our side of the stable.
Trotting down to the atrium, the escaped prisoners had the same idea as we had and were currently eating a hearty portion of our side's food, of which we were not going to stop them. They needed the energy, even if the food they had was close to garbage.
Cherry and Bitter trotted over to us, already looking a little better than yesterday.
“So, enjoying your fest?” Star asked.
A slightly awkward smile formed on Cherry's face. “It’s shitty food, but being able to fill our bellies for once has put everypony in a better mood. Even those roasted rad-roches and what little we found in the cafetera were a big help. That said, it ain't going to last. The prison was already getting low on food when we all made our move, so we got like three days at best.”
Bitter nodded. “Same for our ammunition and explosives. Spritz’s followers had already grabbed most of the guns off the NCR during the chaos. What weapons we have found here are in no way usable. Same for medical supplies.”
“Maybe the locked rooms have some things still in good condition?” I asked out loud.
“Maybe.” Harp said as she scanned the atrium. “It looks like nopony has been down here since the door first closed. Stables were made to last, so anything that was properly stored would theoretically be in usable condition. Stable 50’s storage room could keep any preserved foods safe indefinitely, so it should be the same herel.”
“Also, it’s Stable-Tec. Those ponies didn't mess around when it came to making things last.” I added.
We looked back at Cherry and Bitter. Harp then gave them an order. “Alright, we need everypony to split into three groups. One to keep an eye on Spritz and her followers. Another to work on getting the rooms near the front open. Then a third to go scavenging the rest of the stable, along with clearing out the bugs.”
The two looked at each other then smiled before trotting back to the other escaped cons.
“So we really have become their leader,.” I commented.
“It’s that or Spritz,” Star said flatly.
“Fair enough,” I said with a sigh.
It didn’t take long for the groups to form up with the largest being the watch team led by Star and Tire Fire. It was up to them to keep an eye on Spritz and her followers. Incidentally, they also got all the rifles so that we could maintain some projection of power.
The next and smaller group was going to try and open the locked doors as well as take care of any odd jobs needed. With Harp in charge, I was sure they were going to deal with any negotiations if they would come up. Pilfer and Filch were obviously part of this group. Their skills as thieves would hopefully make short work on the old rusted doors. Cherry was also working under Harp, doing something about keeping the morale up until Spritz was dealt with. She had taken over one of the rooms on the second floor of the atrium along with a few other mares who were part of her gang.
That left me in charge of the rest. We were given a few pistols and improvised weapons. Our job to clear out the rest of the stable and find anything useful. Amralt and Bitter had joined me, of which having the big yak at my back made me feel a little safer. I had suggested maybe Star could do this, as fighting was her thing, but she then reminded me of her evil eye, of which she could use to defuse any fight that anypony tries to start. So I took a pistol and accepted my role.
First on our list, we all had entered residential from the second floor. I had decided it would be better if we all stuck together and worked our way down, no need to risk an accident right now. A few of the scavenging team puffed up their chest, confident that they didn’t need to be so cautious. But they quickly decided to fall back in line when I put the freeky bunny mask on. The thing making me seem more dangerous then I really was. It was dumb, but it helped give me some athority with them.
The decayed hall of the dead stable wias silent for all except the clicking of bugs, in which a few ran to greet us as soon as we saw them.
We all made quick work of them, as everypony knew how to fight better than me, and a bug was no real threat to them. One of the ponies banged the dead rad-roches, of which I chose to pretend to not see. I really hope that the storage room was filled with food, because if not, we will all be eating roaches soon.
When we finally got to the main bend into residential, it looked like it split into two sections. Here I felt more confident in splitting up since we were at least able to hear each other in case something happens. This was also where we began to see posters plastered all over the walls. They were similar to the propaganda posters from the Ministry of Image, but instead of being anti-zebra, they were anti-other stable dwellers.
One poster warned ponies about the reds trying to sneak in and sabotage their side. Another was about them trying to poison the food on this side. There were also a few posters that were not talking about the other “red” ponies, but it was about how they were better in every way.
As we trotted further, the posters only seemed to get worse, depicting the ponies in red as some sort of sub-species of a pony. More a monster or beast than a real pony. It was like whoever had made all these had nothing better to do then pump out more and more hate.
“This is why you ponies messed everything up,” Bitter grumbled. “Always with them this, and they that. We Zebra would never fall into such a state.”
I wanted to counter Bitters accusation, but having lived it, she was not wrong.
A chuckle came from Amralt. “Zebra is true about pony, Zebra is not true about zebra.”
“Oh? What’s that supposed to mean, you big furry fuck?” she snapped back at him.
“Only that zebra is just as bad at smashing old things as ponies are,” he answered as he then ripped one of the old posters off the wall then tore it in half. “Zebras talk about honor and ancestors, much like yak. But unlike yak, honor and ancestors are the rules. It leads them. Yak’s, on the other hoof, see honor as a way to show respect, and ancestors as those to remember and learn from. Ponies hold onto old things and let them rule them, just like zebras.”
Amralt then looked down at Bitter, his smile now small. “Has Bitter ever been to zebra land? Seen how zebras there live? Or is zebra holding onto old memories left by ancestors, following them as though ancestors still live and still rule over Bitter?”
She snached the torn poster and ripped it into smaller pieces. “Fuck you! I know who I am and who they are. Let's just do what we came here to do.”
We entered what was the stable dwellers living quarters. It was a long walkway with ten doors on one side, a balcony in the middle that gave us a view of the floor below, and ten more doors on the other side. Stranger was that it didn’t seem as decayed as the rest of the stable. A bit worn, but not dead. There were Hearts Warming Eve decorations being hung between the balcony. Toys were left haphazardly along the food.
Picking up a buck ball, a small hoof reached out to grab it.
“Mister, please don’t tell my dad I was playing around instead of studying. He will be really mad if you do,” a small colt requested of me. He was likely no older than seven years old.
“Slowtrot!” Bitter said as she shook my shoulder. “You still there?”
The ball in my hoof was now deflated. The hallway just as decayed as the rest of the stable.
“Ya,” I answered slowly. “Just…” I trail off as I look over into the first room. I could see the skeleton of a foal under a desk. “Just hard to take it in,” I finally finished.
I trotted over to the long dead foal, passing him his buck ball. “Here you go. I’ll make sure to not tell your dad.”
Taking a deep breath, I then turned around to look at the others. “Let's do our best to not disturb the dead too much.”
Bitter and Amralt looked at me with some concern, but then nodded in agreement.
Our scavenging yielded little of anything useful as we began to check the rooms one by one. Some old stable barding, bedding that was not completely rotten through, and a few pipbuck 2000’s that could possibly be fixed up.
No weapons or food could be found, but there were plenty of rad-roaches around. Bitter was sure she could turn a lot of the old furnishings into weapons if we were so desperate for them.
As I trotted into another room, things again looked clean and well lit. An unfamiliar mare's voice then spoke up,. I was slightly distorted and muffled. “Did you hear? Pink Puff has been sharing letters with a stallion from the other side. So scandalous!”
The lights then dimmed, and the room looked decayed again. Like the other rooms, there was nothing of use to us here. Just a skeleton huddled up on a rotten bed and some more stable barding. I did find some old nightwear that had been chewed up a bit and some other mare’s clothing. It was not much, but I was sure some of the mares may like some new clothing, though I’ll be hoofing them over to Star first, just to be safe.
There was also a working terminal in the room. Most I’ve seen had burnt out long ago. Likely it may have been on for far longer than they should have been. Tuning it on, I found a long line of digital mail that was being sent back and forth from here. It went back years, and most looked corrupted. So, to sate my curiosity, I looked at the last few messages sent.
Tart Jam to Candy Corn - “Can you believe Pink Puff? I keep telling her to stop sending letters to that stallion. It was fun at first, but everypony is starting to get really riled up because of it. I think it’s because she's using those posters to make the letters, and the reds do not like what they see.
Candy Corn to Tart Jam - “Ya. She has a lot of nerve. Turns out the stallion's name is Root Beer, some gangster wannabe. My stallion got into a fight with him down in maintenance when he tried to sneak a letter back. I even saw what that letter was written on. It was a poster depicting us as some ignorant cultists. Pink Puff has got to realize there's no good in him. Where did we go wrong? I want our friend back.”
Candy Corn to Tart Jam - “Fuck! Nopony saying anything. Even security won't let us say anything or leave the atrium right now. But I’m sure I heard gunfire up near the stable door. I think the reds have finally gone insane. Everyponies is worried and the reds on the other side of the window keep looking at us. Is Pink Puff with you in residential? I know it’s her fault. You need to send her to the overmare. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe if she wants to be with one of them. Then she can just go stay on their side.”
Tart Jam to Candy Corn - “No. She’s not here. Ponies even tore up her room and found more of those damned letters, too. Scared her mother to death. They're mad. Real mad. I know we haven't been on good terms with Puff lately, but I don’t want to see her get hurt. I’m scared. If I say anything, then they might get mad at me next.”
I shut the terminal off, finally starting to figure out what had happened here. As I left the room, I could hear the faint sound of a mare crying. The feeling of fear passed through me.
“Sorry for scaring you, miss.” I said, hoping to quell that feeling.
Picking up my pace in hopes to get out of here sooner than later, my own feeling of wrongness must have been easy to read as Amralt stopped me.
“Pony Slowtrot is not looking well. Should pony take a break?” he asked, concen in his voice.
“No. I probably don’t, and no. We should keep going, Amralt. Let’s just say this place is… not right, but we need to finish looking around and clear out the bugs,” I told him.
Amralt looked around. A happy smile on his face turned stern along with a sense of sorrow. “Old yak tradition to smash home of a yak who had died. It’s to help yak move on after death. Some yaks will stay after death if yak have a place to return to. Some lost, others attached. By smashing Yaks home, Yak is free to move on. Here, ponies died, but home remains. This is not a good place, yak thinks.”
I nodded. “I think you might be right about that my friend.”
The second floor was soon cleared. We began on the first floor with much of the same results. Stable barding, bedding, some random bits of clothing and then the odd pipbuck 2000. I caught one of the mares with us wearing a random bunch of clothing. Nightwear with socks under a tattered stable barding.
They had a laugh as she teased me by trying to seduce me. It failed, but I would have lied if I said that the mare didn’t look good in it. I was just not interested in sleeping with an escaped criminal or catching what STD’s she might have.
We quickly went through the rooms. At that point we werew mostly looking for just bugs or pipbucks rather than anything else. I then found what was most likely Pink Puff’s room. Unlike the other rooms, this one was a mess. The bed was thrown over. All the drawers were open and trash was all over the place.
Seeing a folded poster on the ground, I picked it up and saw writing on the back.
“Your eyes are like the golden artificial sun that feeds us our apples.
Your coat is like the orange glow of heated metal.
Your mane, a pink cloud that brings happiness.
Let me tell you the ways I love you.”
...
I stopped reading poor attempts at poetry in the love letter. The poor stallion was even worse than me at trying to woo a mare. Turning the letter over, I look at the propaganda poster it was written on.
It shows a blue pony holding an apple with a skull and crossbones on it and passing it to a smaller red pony. Text under the poster, it reads “Don't trust them. Everything they touch is poison.”
Dropping the letter, I turned to leave the room. Clearly it had nothing we could use.
“It’s her fault. Where are you hiding that treacherous whore?!” a warped and muffled voice yelled out in anger from the room.
Looking back, I saw a swirl of mist and the outline of ponies in the motion of throwing things around. Among the outlines. I saw one crawling to a side room of that ruined room. I knew it was a bad idea, but I trotted to that room.
Opening the door, the second bedroom was not in the same disorder as the main room. On the bed was a skeleton holding a picture frame. The room itself was painted with bright colors and had several long faded paintings sitting on shelves. All the artworks were of landscapes, but the coloring was off, as though the pony who painted it had never seen the outside before… likely they never had.
“Sorry for disturbing you,” I said before finally leaving.
With both floors done and what rad-roches we could find now dead, we returned to the atrium with what little we could find. At the very least the residential area was clear, and if the other ponies wanted to, they could pick a room for themselves.
Star Charter grinned as she looked at the mare who had dressed herself up. “Well it’s no guns or food, but at least we can have some style.” she commented.
An excited looking Cherry rushed down the stairs. She grabbed the dressed up mare then looked at me. “Oh please tell me you found more,” she begged hopefully.
I nodded and tossed over one of the bags filled with barding and other clothing, as did the rest of my team.
Cherry dug into the bag. She pulled out random bits of cloth, looking quite happy now. “Oh my! It’s all still in relatively good condition. Just needs a little bit of magic to patch them up. Oh yes.” Whistling sharply, several mares quickly trotted over. “Ladies, we got some work to do.”
Star and I watched as most of them then followed Cherry upstarts and into the room that she claimed. This included a few of the ponies from my team and hers.
“So, what else did ya find?” Star asked.
I pulled out one of the pipbuck 2000’s. “We found a bunch of these, some bedding materials, and enough rad-roches to have a feast.”
She nodded. “You should take those pipbuck’s to Harp. She might know what we can do with them. Her team has already gotten into security, so now might be the best time.”
Gathering the pipbucks, I told the rest of my team to take a break and trotted my way to Harp.
Entering through the open door of security, it was just as rusted as the rest of the stable was with the same stagnant air. The place was fairly spacious all considering with the front part having two desks with ancient paperwork still piled on it. Further back was what looked like a locker room and an armory. Off to the side was a small prison where a lone skeleton sat.
“Let me out! We didn’t do anything, It’s their fault! My daughter is just being tricked by that red bastard!” An angry voice yelled out. It was muffled and distorted as I saw a mist like finger bang at the prison bars.
“You alright, Slowtrot?” Harp's voice took my attention away, returning to a still quiet room. “You look a bit pale.”
I sighed. “Well, I don’t know. I think I’m seeing ghosts, or I am going crazy.”
Harp’s eyes shifted to the prison for a moment. The one bloodshot eye she had was a bit better now, but twitched a little as she strend them. “Who knows. The magic here is very off. It also moves around, as though it has life, but it’s very much stagnant.” She then patted me on the shoulder. “Let's just say you're not going crazy just yet.”
“And how can you be sure of that?” I asked.
She looked at me. Her eyes reflected a sense of worry and dread. “It’s not my first time in a place like this. Similar feeling with the ancient dead all around me. My friend… she was seeing things, though she didn’t want to tell me.” Harp paused for a moment. The dread in her eyes grew a little. “That was also when her magic started to change.”
Shaking her head, the more calm expression returned to her face. “Just trust me, places like this tend to play tricks on the mind... So did you find anything?”
Unsure how to respond to most of what she said, I just gave her the bag of pipbucks. “Not too much. We figured you might be able to use this stuff. So, how is scavenging going here?”
Her eyes lit up as she pulled out a pipbuck. “Oh, nice! If we can get some pipbuck tools, I might be able to fix these babies up.”
Putting the pipbuck back, Harp then pointed to the locker room and armory. “Pilfer and Filch are currently trying to crack open a few locks. As soon as we get our hooves on some guns and armor, the sooner we can relax a bit.”
“Solid plan. Then should I take the team to maintenance now?” I asked.
Harp took a moment to think, then shook her head. “No. There's a door to the other side of the stable there, so you might run into Spritz’s group down there. I’m thinking, once we're more secure here, we can send Star down with a few fighters, just in case. You should go to the orchard next. The Overmare’s terminal had a note about keeping some important stuff in a room back there. Something for special occasions.”
Sounded good enough, but now I had another question. “Say, did the overmare’s terminal have anything about what happened here? Like what killed everypony?”
She looked down, a sense of sadness on her face. “Nothing outright saying what they did, but I was able to put the pieces together. I don’t know why, but it seemed that the overmare had the ability to gas the other side, and possibly the other side did too. The last entry was about her going to the trigger room to threaten the other side to stand down… they clearly didn’t and they both killed each other.”
It put a horrible taste in my mouth. “Why would Stable-Tec even set that…”
My words tailed off as I remembered watching the video of Apple Bloom apologizing to Healing Herbs for leaving her with the burden of fixing the stables. She had let a bad idea take over, and now the stables would harm far more than they would save. It was a message ment in case Applebloom never made it to the R&D Stable, it left Healing Herbs to take up the responsibility. Phobetor had ensured that would never happen, both by possessing Healing Herbs, and by using me to delete the video left for her.
“Right. The stables, in the end, were not made to save anypony, just to conduct stupid experments.” I said with a huff.
Harp now looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Taking a deep breath, I then explained. “It was something I found in the R&D Stable, a message from Apple Bloom. It seems that they wanted to not just save ponies, but change them. Make them better. I think she didn’t realize how big of a mistake that was until it was too late. She said something about having two large airships ready to be used to fix the stables in case the war ended the way it actually did.”
Harp went slack jaw for a moment before face hoofing. “I know those ships. They never left the Marewaii Islands… wait, no. One of the ships has actually been spotted on the west coast. The one the DJ mentioned.”
“So over two hundred years late to help anypony,” I noted flatly.
Her ears drooped as she sighed. “I know, but evepony thought nopony else survived. The Islands were hit so hard it was a miracle that the metro even held out the way it did.”
This time I patted her on the shoulder. “Better late than never.
“Say, once we get to the west, maybe you can give me a tour of the Marewaii Islands. I never actually got to enjoy my time there the last time I was there.”
She then gave me an awkward smile. “Funny, that. We can even visit your grave.”
I don’t know why, but that made me chuckle. “Now that would be interesting to see.”
Having gathered what ponies were available, we entered the long dead orchard of the Stable. It was all dimly lit. The sun sphere which was meant to give nature-like light had long since gone dark, thus turning what should be a life sustaining place into a creepy dead forest.
The rad-roaches had infested this area too, but they seemed more scared of us here. Many were running away into some vents. The few that sayed to fight were quickly killed and bagged.
A loud crack spooked everypony as one of the dead apple trees cracked under Amralt strength.
“What! I wanted to see if they could be smashed good. They smash okay.” Amralt told us.
It gave me an idea. “Say Amralt, can you keep smashing them? We can at least use them as firewood. Everypony else, help gather the pieces.”
Bitter trotted up to me with a flat look on her face. “You sure? Better to clear this area out first. I mean, this place just gives me a bad feeling.”
Looking around, I could see dark shadows dash between the trees. Some with white eyes.
Nodding, I told her, “Ya, I know. But they can't hurt us… I hope.”
She cocked a worried eyebrow at me, then followed as I continued to the back.
There was one door at the back of the orchard. It was for apple storage. Expecting the smell of piles of two hundred year old rotting apples, I covered my muzzle and opened the door. What greeted Bitter and I was more stagnant air, just like the rest of the stable.
The Zebra trotted in first, looking around. “I guess even time destroyed the rancid stench of rot.” She knocked over a crate, spilling dust and what looked like sticks. “Here's what's left of the apples. I don’t think we can eat them.”
Totting to myself, the two of us looked around. We found mostly empty boxes. Our luck then turned around when we found a bunch of containers listed as emergency preservatives. It was filled with jars of apple slices soaked in some sort of preservative fluid. But that still didn’t mean they were edible, so we Ro, Sam, Bowed, for who takes a bite.
I lost.
What entered my mouth was the most bland tasting, textureless apple I had ever had the displeasure to eat. But it was edible.
“Damn. This is about as bad as the prison food,” Bitter complained as she finished eating one of the slices. “But it should buy several more days at least.”
“That’s good news. Go tell the others. Maybe we can serve this with the rad-roches,” I told Bitter before looking around a bit more to see if there was anything else to find.
Something eventually caught my eye. It was two out of the place barrels with several tubes and wires connecting them. The thing was hidden behind a few of the large preservative containers, just out of sight of anypony not looking for something. Next to it were a few crates filled with sparkle-cola bottles, but the liquid in them was mostly clear. The caps were slightly damaged.
Opening one of the bottles, the smell of booze hit my nose along with a faint hint of apple. Taking a sip, the stuff was strong. Real strong, and not that bad.
“It will be okay, my sugar bun,” a wispy voice of a stallion caught my ears.
“You sure? They seemed so angry with me. I’m scared.” This time it was a wispy mare’s voice.
“Ya, sugar. I got a plan, you see. We’re ditching this joint, you and me. We just need to wait for them to calm down and run for it,” The stallion said as I looked around for the voices.
“But you don’t know what's out there,” the mare said.
Getting closer, I found two skeletons embracing each other. A smaller skeleton had a blue armband on and was wearing a pink tattered dress under her stable barding. The other larger skeleton had a red armband over a black jacket that was over his stable barding. I was sure that they were Pink Puff and Root Beer, the two having spent their last moments in each other's hooves.
“I don’t care what's out there. Not as long as I have you,” the voice of Root Beer trailed off.
“Yes. So long as I have you, I can do it,” Pink Puff’s voice faded, agreeing as though chasing the voice of Root Beer.
Sighing, I took a step back and went to grab some of the apple booze. I was going to need some after today, and I know everypony was going to be ecstatic to have some as well.
“The idea is that we create that same atmosphere as the war, but between just ponies. Both overmare’s will be given a key in which will release a gas on one side of the stable, in which they are to be told that it is to protect them from aggression from the other side. To keep the other side in check, so to say. The ability to print propaganda posters will be given freely to each side and contact between them will be limited. My hope is that they will learn to break through the propaganda and become one stable. If they do that then there's hope that the war will not happen again. But if they were to fail and make the same mistakes as we have, well then good riddance. The gas key can only work if both are used, so one side can't just kill the other off. Meaning if they use it, they are signing their own deaths as well.
Oh Scootaloo, are we really doing the right thing here? Why use actual gas? Why not just send part poppes down? It feels like we're just dooming Equestria even more than it already is.” ~ Apple Bloom.
"Traveling the wasteland of Equestria ment I saw many different animals that survive here. Some were big and some were small; all of which Star Charter was not afraid to eat. Even though she told me her own eating habits were not the norm for most ponies, I still saw and tried the many odd cuisine here. Most were made from the many odd animals that lived in the wasteland.
One of the odd things I came to notice here was the commonality of hybrid animals, creatures that had no business really existing outside of fiction.
Then again, big talking griffins were fairly common, so not that odd for this world.
Among the first I got to know were Nightstalkers who were a cross between a pit viper and a coyote. They were aggressive and dangerous with the ability to turn invisible. This was the bane of any pony trying to cross the mountain range at night. This is also why so many merchants would rather risk fighting raiders out in the open.
Oddly, they really love to play fetch." ~ Azure Dice
“Now that looks just wonderful on you Star.” Cherry told me as I tried one of the outfits she was able to make from the old clothes and cloth scraps that Slowtrot’s team had found.
It was surprisingly well made and stylish. It used the stable barding along with the thigh high socks and a cute skirt. Nothing like my outfit at the ruffle feathers, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“I’m not sure about the barding, and why did you crop it so short?” I asked Cherry.
Cherry smiled as she examined another outfit she was putting together. “It’s to enhance your feminine looks. The short barding and skirt will give ya the tough mare feel. As for the socks, they act like guiding lines to your crotch.”
I cocked an eyebrow at the prison whore. “Ya. I get that. I worked as a fucking exotic dancer for several years. I want to know why?”
She rolled her eyes as she sat down in a sexy pose. “Star, you're going to need to charm the stallions if you're going to be in charge. Slowtrot, well he’s a doof, and you said Harp was not going to whore her out. Right?”
“I’m not going to fuck them either, Cherry,” I told her.
A chuckle escaped her muzzle. “Maybe, maybe not. The important part is to keep the hope there. As you said, you did work as an exotic dancer.”
I face hoofed. “I get it, so nothing new from what I did before.”
“Except you don’t have any laws holding you back,” she pointed out.
That was true right now. Thanks to Ashy Oaks, I’ll likely be killed on sight if any law pony or bounty hunter found me. But I still, I didn’t want to go full whore. Or worse, become a raider.
“Alright/ I get it. I just need to look good to kick ass along with kick some ass. Just so to keep everypony in line,” I concluded.
Cherry gave me a wink and blew me a kiss. “But once we're out of the area, it wouldn't hurt to join me in starting up a new business.”
“Not a whore,” I reminded her.
She pouted, trying to look cute. “Just giving you an open offer. I mean, just look at yourself! Harp may be cute, but you’re a full on mare. Top shelf fuckible. A lot like my late boss.”
A few of the other mares trotted out from the curtained off part of the room followed by a no longer nude Harp. It wasn't much. Just barding over an old faded red dress and her black socks there were much like my own. She even had a red buckball cap on, making her look a lot more like her old self.
“First off, I really don’t know how you all do it. I trot everywhere without any underwear. Second, we may be letting you set up a brothel here, but please stop trying to recruit everypony into it. Some of the stallions have already propositioned me. I’m starting to think castration is a valid option for rejection,” Harp complained while sounding drained.
As she passed by, I couldn't help myself. I flipped her dress. Under it were clean white panties made from bedsheets which were tied together on the sides.
“Will you NOT!” she huffed at me.
“Oh, I miss that,” I said with a satisfied smile.
Cherry then jumped at her, pulling Harp into a hug. “Oh you're so cute and innocent. It reminds me of when I first started working.”
Harp pushed the mare away, telling her, “That doesn't make me feel better.”
Everypony then shared a laugh, taking a minute to calm down. It was starting to feel a little more comfortable now that we had food, drink, and a change of clothes.
We left what was likely going to be the most popular place in the stable, thanks to Cherry being herself. We then trotted downstairs to where the stallions were preparing the food. There, we joined Slowtrot. Boiled rad-roaches with preserved apples. Some of the other food we brought with us was thrown into the pots, but we were trying to use them sparingly.
With a healthy serving of the stuff, I bit into the sorry excuse for food. It was still marginally better than the prison food. There was at least enough for everypony to get their fill now. Along with the booze Slowtrot fond, everypony was in as high spirits as they could reasonably be.
It wasn’t bad. Everypony was enjoying this little moment. Some of the mares flirted just because they can now. The stallions enjoyed the attention and nopony stood over us with a gun ready to kill us all.
“Alright, so the next stage of this… takeover of the stable… I guess,” Harp announced, her face a bit red from the booze. “So you all already know that we got security cracks and just recently got the medical room open. Meaning we're ready to send a pony below.”
“Are you sure there's going to be trouble?” Slowtrot checked.
Harp shrugged. “Maybe. Other than here and upstairs, the only other door connecting to Spritz’s side is down in maintenance. We all know how she feels about ponies who are not like her trying to claim tech. So, if there is any place a fight will break out, it’s down there. Also, there's a door to the outside down there too, so it could give us an alternative exit if it goes bad.”
She then looked at me. “We recovered three security bardings, a 10mm SMG and two 10mm pistols. I want you and two others to go down there and look around, but try to avoid a fight if you can. We're also going to give the three of you some of the medical supplies we found. Last thing we need is to lose anypony right now.”
This sounded good enough. I get weapons and armor, possibly get to shoot something, and hopefully catch Spritz by surprise.
“So anything I should look for down there?” I asked.
“Pipbuck tools. Tools in general, really. Just anything that might be useful. What's most important is clearing the place of anything dangerous and blocking Spritz from coming into our side unnoticed,” Harp answered.
She then looked over at Slowtrot. “I want you to take over the medical area. Fortantly a lot of the medical supplies that are untouched. Use the medical scanner on your pipbuck and see if you can help anypony who needs it. The helther everypony is, the better we all will be.”
He nodded. “Can do.”
One of the mares then scooted up to him, saying, “Oh, I always wanted to get to know a doctor.”
Laughter was heard all around as Slowtrot tried to politely turn the mare down.
“Also.” Harp continued. “Bitter, can you take a few ponies and move that alcohol still over here? We might want to take it with us if it’s still in good condition. Even if we can't make alcohol with it, it can still be used to purify water.”
“What about me?” Cherry asked, fluttering her eyes.
This got Harp to rub her chin. “Actually, I do have a job for you and your mares.” She then looked over at the window to the other atrium. “Could you try and lure a few of Spritz’s ponies to our side once we unblock the door? As long as we have a few ponies on guard duty and some explosives ready, it should be safe to open the door here.”
Harp then addressed the rest of the ponies. “As for the rest of you, I’m going to set up a team to craft basic weapons and armor. Whoever is not crafting, I’ll need you to gather the materials for it. Neither Spritz’s or us have many guns or ammo, so if fighting does break out, it’s going to mostly be a brawl.”
A mischievous grin formed on Cherry's face. “Oh, I can help with that as well. Make sure we don’t look like raiders.”
Once the food was gone, and bottles empty, we all split up to do our own thing.
On the other side of the door to maintenance, Harp and another pony dropped off the gear we were going to be using. It was all wrapped up in bedsheets.
“I’m sure Spritz knows what we're planning, but to be safe, I want her to not be certain of how armed and armored you three are,” she explained.
Pulling out the armored barding, the things were surprisingly in good condition considering how old it was. “I get that. Always a good idea to never show all your cards. Speaking of which, what do you plan on doing with those pipbucks if you can fix them up?”
Harp looked down at her own pipbuck as a sly smile spread on her face. “A few things. Mostly, I want to see if I can turn them into two way radios. Since there are so many of us here, it would be a good idea if we can communicate from long distances.”
“I doubt Spritz would see that coming. From what I know about the tin cans, they do jack shit with whatever tech they find,” I said with a laugh.
She then passed me the SMG. It was painted blue and yellow which likely helped to keep it from rusting over the years. “Ya. That's the idea. We can't out fight her, but we could out think her. Just be safe down there.”
“Hey, trust me. I’ve dealt with worse.” I assured while, giving her a smile and a bump.
Once she had left, I finished putting on the armor and helmet. With it was a baton, four magazines for the SMG, and three sticks of powder charge explosives with a lighter. It would be overkill for dealing with a few bugs, but just what I needed if I got the opportunity to fight Spritz.
With me was a mare and a stallion, both former gangeres who were vetrain fighters from what the others told us.
The mare, Henbane, was a scrappy looking earth pony who had her share of scars. A dull green mare, her main was oddly purple at the roots that turned yellow further out to the tips. Her yellow eyes gave off an overall natural danger look to the mare.
The stallion, Chainlock, was your standard looking tough wasteland pony. He also had his share of scars. Not much in looks as he was a dark gray pony with a dusty rust red mane. Unlike the mare, his eyes were a lot friendlier. Nothing like the hard ponies normally seen in the wasteland.
I had agreed to take them with me as both happened to be on Spritz’s shit list. They had survived Bitter's attempt to kill the bitch in the failed ambush, so I at least knew they would not just surrender to the tin can mare. They also likely had too much pride to just abandon me if things got dicy. With how they talked about how they lynched Railway Spike, the last thing they wanted to be was a snitch, trator, or a coward.
Descending down into the maintenance section of the stable, it was the usual old world shine that the rest of the stable had, though things were in a bit worse condition. Rust was more prevalent and some of the lights were out, or on their last legs as they flickered. Most oddly was the lack of the old world smell to this place. It was more damp and had a hint of rotten eggs to it.
Checking my pipbuck map didn’t help all that much as I looked at the maze-like setup of this floor. I could see the rooms, but not what the rooms were for. At least I would be able to find my way back here with no problems.
“Alright, you two. Just stick with me.” I ordered my companions as I waved my pipbuck at them, “as I have the map.”
They both looked at each other nervously, before giving me a nod.
First on my list was the three rooms on our left. It was a dead end, so it would be easy to quickly check before heading to the connecting door and the outside door. Trotting over we found what was listed above the doors as the incinerator, the waste management, and the printer room.
Starting with waste management, the door opened at a sluggish pace. It revealed a room filled with pipes and large containers connected to those pipes. At some point, long ago, one of the containers had burst open. The contents of it had long since spilled out and turned into some chalky white substance. A slow click of my pipbuck told me it would be a bad idea to spend too much time here.
A quick search netted us a toolbox filled with some well preserved tools inside. The blue and yellow paint on them had prevented rust from forming on the important parts. That said, everything else, even the toolbox, was a lost cause here. There was also the sound of tapping coming from the pipes. Likely it was rodents, meaning a rat nest was down here too.
That also meant that we might have another source of food if we could locate it.
Next we checked the Incinerator. The room turned out to be a large furnace and boiler. It was all fairly intact. Some rust was here and there, but I had seen worse. But the skeleton lying on a metal slab, ready to be pushed into the furnace, told me this place did more than heat the stable and it’s water.
Looking around, nothing of any use could be found. The room barely had anything in it to begin with. It did have a lot of danger signs hanging on the walls which read: Do not hang clothes near the furnace, no sorting of combustibles or other chemicals. Be careful. The furnace is always hot. No practicing magic near the furnace.
Reading the always hot sign, it got me a bit curious. I lightly touched the furnace and found it warm. “How is this thing still working?” I asked myself as I studied the thing, looking for any clues.
On the side was another sign. This one had a cartoon stable pony next to a cartoonish furnace. Under it was written, “Stable-Tec heat-o-matic 5000. Keeps the stable warm and the water hot with a system of robust heating talismans. All powered by the stables generator. It can also be used for burning non compsible trash, and in case of the worst, disposing of the dead in a dignified manner. And remember, safety first!”
“Well this is good news,” Chainlock commented, “If we can get this properly working, it means we can take a hot bath.”
Henbane then tapped on the water tank. It resonated with the sound of fluid inside. “Fuck me. I wonder if it’s clean. You know, if it has a working water talaman.”
I smiled a little. “We can check that later, but I’m more interested in taking out the talismans from this. Harp’s going to be ecstatic to get her hooves on them.”
“How so?” Henbane asked, before adding, “Most serious talismans are only useful to places that have the power to run them. Take them out and they're just gemstones.”
“Trust me, Harp can make them very useful to us,” I told her as we left the room. Chainlock followed after having taken the danger signs off the wall for some damn reason.
Last was the Printer room. Inside was what I guessed was the printer and a whole lot of paper. The place was filled with those posters that Slowtrot’s group brought back as well as even more blank sheets inside boxes. The room was also a mess and smelled real bad. Like some pony had been ripping the papers to sheds then used them as a bathroom.
With how dead the rest of the stable was, this room felt like it had life in it.
Seeing one rather foul pile of discolored scrap paper, I slowly trotted over. I placed the bit of my SMG into my mouth. Close to it, I then used my gun to nudge the pile, lightly at first, then with a hard jab.
“What are ya doing?” Chainlock asked loudly.
I then heard a loud squeaking screech from the pile. A swarm of rats burst out which surprised me enough that I accidentally fired my gun at them. Several bullets blasted out. Mos of the bullets hit the floor, but a few killed some of the rats.
Regaining my composure, I watched as the rats scattered and vanished, Some of them scampered off into holes in the walls and others through a ground level vent.
Slinging the SMG back around my shoulder, I let out a sigh. “Trying to not get startled by a bunch of damn rats, fuck you very much.”
He backed out of the room, clearly understanding that maybe next time he needs to not be so loud.
We heard another squeaking screech down the hall. This time it sounded a bit more unnerving. Leaving the printer room, we trotted down to investigate. There were a few more rooms along the way to the door that connected to the other stable. The hallway twisted and turned. It was annoyingly awesome, as though it was designed to be confusing. A laboratory, a cold storage, another bathroom, a manufacturing room. The back was the brake room, generator room, and the air filtration room.
It all got darker and damp the further down we went. Along with that was a strange musky smell which became more pungent.
*Crack*
I looked down to see that I had stepped on some bones, but not ones of stable dwellers. Rather than that, it was one of the animal bones.
It was mole rat bones, but they were twisted as though having been compressed?
“Damn. Smells like a damn snake nest down here!” Henbane said as she covered her hoof over her nose.
“How so?” I asked.
“My family had the misfortune of having to drink from a well that wasteland snakes were fucking in. Once a year the water would smell a bit like this,” she told me.
I cocked an eyebrow, “Are they good eating?”
Henbane smiled. “If ya know how to cook them, they are.”
Chainlock trotted into the breakroom. “I think I see one.”
I trotted after him but stopped him before he got any further in. “Then don’t scare the fuckers away!”
He looked at me, then at whatever he was looking at with a smile on his face. “Doesn't look like it’s scared of us. The dumn lizard isn't moving.”
Looking over at where his head was pointed at, I could see the vague outline of a snake in the shadows. It had small green glowing spots along its side. Letting Chainlock go, as he got closer, it began to make a strange rattling sound. With it, the end of it’s tai, itl began to glow a brighter green as it shook vigorously back and forth.
“Do snakes normally do that?” I asked Henbane.
“Well the rattling is normal for rattlesnakes, but not the glowing tail,” she answered cautiously as she lifted her pistol up and carefully fired at it. The snake thrashed about for a moment before expiring. We all froze as she holstered her gun. “Also rattlesnakes are extremely venomous. Haven't seen one pony live after getting bit by one without getting a shit ton of healing potions.”
“Thanks,” Chainlock said as he trotted over and picked up the dead snake. He put it on a nearby table. “It’s going to be nice if we can find more. Been forever since I had real meat. If we get enough, I might be able to make some gumbo.”
Looking at the snake, it’s scales were a mix of browns with some rust red and dotted by glowing jade green scales along the side of its diamond pattern. It’s tail still faintly glowed. We could see it’s needle like fangs poking out of its mouth. Investigating further, I reached to check the mouth.
Henbane put her hoof on my shoulder. “Careful there. They can bite even when-”
The snake spasmed and lunged at me, biting onto my pipbuck. A line of the glowing liquid trickled from its broken fangs and down the mettel pipbuck. My pipbuck then clicked ferociously as though I just stuck my hoof into a radioactive pool.
I tossed the snake off my pipbuck in shock. “Fuck was that?!”
Henbane took a step back. “What does that clicking mean?”
“Radiation. Tt means radiation.” I told her.
Her face contorted with concern. “Well fuck us. It’s venom is Celestia damned radioactive.”
Chainlock picked up the snake by its tail. He was being extra careful. “So does that mean we can’t eat them?”
“Just throw it in the bag and we can check later,” I told him.
Henbane took a closer look at the snake, grinning. “Say, let's call these rattlesnakes, Raddlers. They are literally radioactive rattlesnakes after all.”
I shrugged, “Fine by me.”
With the Raddler hunt over, I got to investigate the break room. On my pipbuck’s map, it was connected to the other side, the door of which was already open. As for the room itself, the place had been a warzone with dead ponies all over. Their bones were decayed and broken. Many of the thick metal tables had been used as a barricade. They were also dented by bullets. The guns that caused the damage long since rusted over to uselessness.
I could see a few unopened bottles of booze in here along with some packed snacks high on the shelves. though no telling if they were still consumable till we take a closer look at them. Instructing the others to grab what they could, I trotted to the other stable to take a peek.
It was more of the same. Skeletons and lots of bullet dents all over. One difference was the red cloths around the skeletons legs and sometimes on their heads.
There were also fresh hoofsteps in the dust here. Clearly one of Spritz’s followers had taken a quick look inside.
Following the trial out of the red’s break room, I saw that the hoofprints went from down the hall and into the air filtration room. It looked like there was a lot of activity here, like they found something important.
“Is it smart to come here?” Chainlock asked quietly.
I shook my head and told them, “No, but I want to know what they are up to. Just stay here and on guard. I’ll be quick.”
Trotting to the ventilation, it had a window looking into the ventilation room of the other stable, and both rooms had a door to the outside. In this room the door to the outside was open, but closed on the blue side. It had a skeleton slumped up on the closed door. “Looks like the red overmare managed to get out in time,” I muttered to myself.
When I trotted out, I found myself in a large open cave that was filled with glowing fungus and moss. Not far from here was a pool of water infested with wasteland toads. One of the pests was stalking some large bug crawling on the ground. I frowned in disappointment since those toads were a bane of any water source here in the wasteland. They fouled it up by multiplying in them. They also produced a toxic slime on their back and they tasted goddess awful to eat. A pure blight on the wasteland.
Ignoring the toads, I trotted further in and found a single tunnel on the other side. There were a few fresh hoofprints here which went deeper in.
As I traveled deeper into the cave system, I came across a dead gecko. It was reddish in color and quite large. The thing had been shot and the ground around it had scorch marks. The fucker was a fire gecko which was not a good sign. They were likely what was making the rotten egg smell down here. Fortunately, unlike the snakes, I knew that the gecko was good eating, so we may need to come back down here after dealing with Spritz.
As I went deeper still. Everything became more quiet and the smell of rotting eggs became even stronger. The hoofprints I had followed were now gone as the ground was dry and dustless. So, looking at my map for some direction, I had already passed a few forks in the tunnel. This place was as confusing as the stable. It was good that I had a map on me or I could have easily gotten lost while trying to get back.
Making another turn, I trotted into a moss covered skeleton of a stable dweller with a rust covered pipbuck on and holding a rusted box. By the red armband, I could only guess it was the overmare from the red side. Taking the pipbuck and opening the box, I found a few odd things inside. There was some sort of stick that looked like it could attach to my pipbuck, a painted 10mm pistol with ammo, some odd looking tools, and what looked to be preserved food and water.
Something about this told me that this bitch was planning to get out from the start. But why?
That question had to wait till later since the sound of as raddler tail caught my attention. I pulled out my baton and I activated my S.A.T.S. I used it to quickly jump to the side and swing hard at where the sound came from. I hit something far bigger than a snake, yet I could not see it? The thing hissed loudly as pebbles scattered from whatever it had impacting on the ground.
The air shimmered for a moment in my pipbucks light, all before the creature seemed to materialize from thin air. It was just like when Prism would come out from her invisibility. It was covered in mostly white fur with gray tips, but also a white scale along it’s side that had a gray diamond patter which ended in a long rattlesnake tail… by the goddesses, fucking why?! It was some sort of albion nightstalker!
I rushed in on it as it scrambled up. I smashed it’s head a few times with the baton until it stopped moving.
“Fuck! First radioactive snakes, then fire gekos, now goddess damn invisible nightstalkers!” I grumbled to myself. Nightstalkers alone were bad news, but having mutant ones with invisibility powers was a whole new level of dangerously fucked up.
Again, a rattling from behind me put my hairs on edge as I got ready for another fight.
Just barely seeing the light from my pipbuck pass through it simmering, I focused on where I guessed its head was. I was sure that the beast would be watching my eyes. Using the magic of my evil eyes, I forced the feeling of domination and fear along with a sense of pain, re-imagining when I got shot just the other night.
After a moment, the nightstalker dropped its invisibility. The fear it’s bodylaguage was clear. When it whimpered, I let it go from my stare, the best thing it could do was scramble away with snake tail between its eyes. When no other nightstlaker appeared, which was odd for them, I relaxed. As I had been told about them, they normally travel in large packs which was why they were so dangerous. Maybe I got lucky and there were just two of them down here.
Now with that threat over, I returned to my previous goal. I found another tunnel further up above me. Trotting through it, I could hear the faint sound of voices. Making sure I was careful to not make too much noise, I got closer. The smell of rotting eggs was even more putred here.
“Come on, boss. W’ere rich. Why can’t we sell this shit?” a stallion asked.
“Because that’s not what you think it is.” the voice of Spritz sounded a bit annoyed.
“Then what is it, boss?” asked a mare.
Peeking around the corner, I saw Spritz and five of her followers looking at a pillar in the cave. The pillar was yellow and had several large yellow crystals poked out from it. There were also several steam vents down there causing a fog to blanket the ground.
Spritz trotted over to the crystal lined piller and pulled off a piece. “Because these crystals are not the kind used for making decorations. They’re crystallized sulfur and we can use it to make gunpowder.”
The other five went “awww” in amazement.
“All we need is charcoal and some nitric acid. Both of these we’ve already found in this stable.” Spritz said with certainty.
This was bad news, but I wasn’t sure how bad it was. Both sides already had explosives, and I was sure normal gunpowder didn’t work in any of the guns we had. Still, It would be a good idea to tell the others about this. Maybe Harp would know what Spritz was planning.
The sound of a rattle caused one of Spitz's followers to then jump back, pull out her gun, out fired.
Another follower then laughed as he kicked a rock over where the mare had shot. “Fuckig snakes are everywere. Don’t think I’ve seen so many nasty critters in one place before.”
Spritz then slapped the mare on the side of the head. “What did I fucking say about shooting your gun down here?!”
The mare rubbed her head, “Ss...sorry. I just got startled.”
As she spoke, there was a loud hiss in the distance. All of Spritz’s followers took a step back.
“Great. I thought as much. Let's trot back before whatever that is decides to come and investigate.” she told them. They all nodded.
If there was a time as good as any to get the fuck out of here, it was now. Turning around, I heard vigorous rattling and saw a green glowing light. Before I could react, the damn raddler lunged at me, biting onto my leg.
Pain erupted through my leg.
Shouting “FUCK YOU”, I kicked the snake off me and pulled out my SMG and unloading it onto the bastard.
Then I stopped, realizing I had just given myself away.
Spritz looked in my direction. Her eyes narrowed in anger, but no words were spoken. At the same time a deep rumble and deafening hiss filled the tunnel.
I galloped away. I only briefly checked my pipbuck to make sure I went in the right direction. Each step set my leg more on fire. Fortunately it didn’t take long to return to the stable. The sound of Spritz’s heavy hooves not far behind me.
Henbane and Chainlock were waiting for me, guns at the ready.
Jumping into and falling onto the floor of the stable, Henbane slammed her hoof on the door control switch, but it just sputtered and hissed, barely moving.
A gunshot then just barely missed Chainlock. Spritz had come out of the tunnel, a gun in her muzzle.
“Forget fighting. Let's just go!” I told the two as I pushed myself back up, but my leg slipped out from under me, causing me to fall back down. The pain had gotten worse, and now felt like I was on fire. “Shit! Help me up!”
Chainlock turned around and pulled me up, only for the two of us to get shoulder checked by Spritz.
“You fucking bitch. I am not going to just let you crawl away!” Spritz growled at me.
Her eyes then fell on Chainlock and narrowed. “I remember you.”
He got up, gun still in his muzzle. As he pointed it at her but she smashed him with her hoof, sending him flying through the doorway into the break room.
The other members of Spritze’s group then stumbled through, panting in exhaustion. They all saw me in shock.
Placing a hoof down on me, pinning me to the floor, Spritz smiled. “I wonder what your friends will give to get you back, especially in one piece.”
Her gloating didn’t last as they all were knocked over. A pony sized head of a raddler burst through. It’s fangs penetrated one of Spritze’s followers. The mare screamed in pain before she was dragged back.
Gunfire erupted as the other ponies fired on the massive snake.
Using the chaos, Henbane grabbed me and dragged me to the break room.
Spritz spent no time coming after me, but she stopped when Chainlock rolled a lit powder charge stick over to the bitch. Grabbing it, Spritz tossed it out of the stable and at the snake, thus giving Henbane enough time to again slam on the door control switch. Fortunately, this time, this door actually closed.
“Fuck! You okay, Star?” Henbane asked, seeing me in pain.
“No fucking way I am. One of those damn raddlers got me.” I told her.
I was then lifted up by Chainlock and put onto his back. “Then lets get the fuck out of here befor she opens the door!”
The burning pain in my body only got worse, causing my vision to blur. It all felt… horrendous.
Stable-Tec IF-21A1 machine pistol - A simple but effective gun made by Ironshod Firearms and given to Stable-Tec. It was designed with higher quality and rust resistant materials to ensure it would stand the test of time. Unlike the more common military 10mm pistols, this one is a bit heavier and fires full auto.
“Dear ma little cousin Apple Bloom, I’ve sent you this shipment of pistols as both a gift and because I just don’t know what to do with them. Again, it seems our cousins keep making guns nopony asked for or needed. Always using your sister's name without her permission. I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but I’m just too busy to go deal with it myself lately. As for the guns, they're actually really good. Too bad that they are also just too expensive to mass produce for what little demand there is for them. So they're going to fall off the back of my truck, so to say. Do with them what you will. If you get the chance to talk with Applejack, please tell her I’m sorry for the trouble the rest of the family has been causing her.” ~ Braeburn
"Out on a hunt with Star Charter, we commonly found aggressive animals such as geckos all over the place. They are mostly just an annoyance, but some were far more dangerous than they had any right to be. They mainly had the ability to breathe fire, something several animals had the ability to do.
It was like several animals were evolving or mutating into something like dragons. On that note, I was shocked to learn that dragons actually existed here, yet not that shocked by it. Supposably the helpful person called Watcher is also a dragon, so it was good to know that they were not just some savage monster.
Still, it is fascinating to see the different animals who have developed such an effective and terrifying defence mechanism. Fire breathing is just not something that normally happens naturally." ~ Azure Dice
At some point I must have passed out, sinceI later awoke in what must have been the stables medical ward with some sort of small tube stuck in my leg.
“Fuck,” I said. I noticed that my mouth was dry and my throat sore.
“Oh thank Celestia, you're awake,” I heard Slowtrot say as he trotted into view. “Please tell me your feelings, Star.”
I tried to reach out and remove the tube in my leg. I found that it hurt to even move.
Slowtrot reached out to stop me, “Hay, Star, take it slow now. Just leave that in for now.”
Groaning, I then tried to get up. I found the whole process painful. “Fuck! Why does everything hurt? All that happened was I got bit by a snake. Fuck!”
He sighed. “Well whatever was in the snake venom almost killed you. We have been feeding you a mix of healing potion and rad-away all night.”
I looked at the tube. I now noticed it was filled with a weird glowing light purple liquid. It was connected to a hanging bag with the same fluid in it. The rest of the room itself was more of the same stable braminshit covered with posters denouncing the red side of the stable or reminding ponies to stay healthy. This place also looked in far better condition than everywhere else. Some rust here and there, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say this place was still being maintained.
“You got any pain killers?” I asked Slowtrot.
He nodded and pulled out a syringe of Med-X. “I suggest using half a dose for now and the rest before going to bed. This stuff is seriously addictive if you're not careful, but I’m sure you already know that.”
“Oh, I know, but it is fun.” I said with a cheeky smile.
He cocked an eyebrow at me.
I dropped the smile “I was young and dumb. Remember?”
Slowtrot then smiled. “Alright, but let me know if you're getting any cravings. I’ve seen too many ponies back in my time get addicted to this stuff.”
He then carefully jabbed me in my other leg, injecting half the stuff into me. The effects were almost immediate as I felt a wave of numbness wash over me. It made my sore body feel so much better.
“Ahh... that's the stuff,” I said with a grin which got a frown from Slowtrot. “I’m kidding… mostly. So how much longer should I stay in here?”
He smiled back at me as he put the half used Med-X into some sort of lock box. “Now that you're up, just a bit longer. My pipbuck says that you're mostly cured and just dealing with a lot of internal bruising and some malnutrition. Your body's ability to heal is crazy. If it was anypony else, they would have been dead.”
It was not the first time I had a close run in with death, probably far from the last. If it was not for the evil eye Victoria gave me, I’d probably met my end back on the Blackwater so long ago. “Ya,” I agreed. “Though it does make me really hungry whenever my body heals like that.”
“Then I have good news. We got the storage room open, and there's even more food in there. Though a lot of it is ruined, there's still more than enough to go around,” Slowtrot announce happily.
The sound of that made my stomach growl. “Nice. What kind of food, and how much?”
“Mainly the basic kind of food when talking about very long term storage.” he said as he began scratching his goatee. “Well anything canned or barreled is still good, so we got plenty of preservative canned rice, beans and chili. It tastes a bit bland, but we got plenty of salt and sugar to spice it up.
“Other than that, there's several powdered foods, vinegar, corn starch, and syrup that's still usable. Unfortunately anything that was stored in soft packaging was all rotten or eaten by rad-roaches long ago.”
Slowtrot then smiled. “Here. Just sit tight. I'll tell the others you're awake. I’ll also bring you something to eat.”
“That would be really nice,” I told him pleasantly.
With a smile, he trotted out of the room which left me alone with my thoughts.
This place was not ideal. Far from it. But it was possible we could fix this place up enough that we could stay here for a long time. Once the heat dies down, maybe I can go see my Bridget. I know that Ashy and her deputies rarely go to see the Flowers of the Apocalypse camp, so it would be safe to swing by and give them a letter. If Prism comes with us, it would be safe to take Bridget with me out west.
But… would that be good for my little filly? Running away from the law like a criminal? It’s safe in New Appaloosa and it’s where her friends and family are. I want to go and explore with her some day, but not like this.
Would she see me for what I actually am if I did that? Would she come to hate me for it?
“STAR!” Harp shouted, thus tearing me from my own thoughts as she hugged me. “You had us so worried. Don’t do that again. You hear me?!”
I gently pushed the smaller mare away from me. “Said the mare who practically died not so long ago.”
She pouted for a moment before saying. “Seems we've all been doing that lately.”
I smiled at Harp. I patted her on the head. “All that’s important is that we're alive and well. Speaking of which, your eyes haven't started bleeding again?”
“Ya, but only once, and it wasn’t for very long. It’s the same for him, but I think it’s starting to pass,” she explained.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever Slowtrot used on her, and had been used on him, had me worried because it was related to the evil eye I had. With where Victoria was from, it was too close to be a coincidence.
“That aside, unfortunately, you lost the SMG. But, oddly enough, you did find a replacement,” she told me as she pulled out the painted 10mm pistol I had found. She passed it to me. The thing looked like it had been cleaned up, with some of the paint brushed off.
I looked at her a bit confused. “A pistol is far from a replacement for an SMG.”
“It's fully automatic, Star. Chainlock used it when getting you back to us. It surprised the shit out of him.” She then passed me both two normal 10mm pistol magazines and the two SMG magazines I originally had on me. “Fortunately, one of our ponies knows how to fix up these guns. We also used the workbench in security to get any rust off of it.”
Now that I was actually holding it, it did look a bit different. It was a bit heavier than other 10mm pistols I had held before. The thing was still muzzle fired, something that most large caliber or fully auto guns didn’t do, otherwise a pony risks losing their teeth. “Did Chainlock hurt himself firing it?”
Harp shook her head. “Other than the shock of unloading the ammo in a second, he’s fine. Seems that the recoil reduction mechanism in the gun is a bit more robust.”
That put a grin on my face as I looked at this sweet baby. “I think this needs a new name and paint job.”
Harp then took a step back and sat down, relaxing a little bit. “Glad you like it. Now for other good news, with that gun, you also found a set of pipbuck tools. It seems that the overmare was planning on coming back later for some reason, but that’s not important right now. What this does mean is that I can get into those pipbucks and see if I can fix them up. Also I sent a few ponis down to recover the heating talismans before Spritz tries and blocks us off. They should at least be useful for cooking food once we run out of wood to burn.”
“Sweet. So we're on the road to getting ourselves nicely set up down here. So how long do you think we can stay?” I asked.
“We have extra food and the water talisman up and running.” She tapped on her pipbuck for a moment, clearly looking through her notes before explaining. “If it’s just us on this side then maybe we’ll last four months if we ration. More if we hunt the animals in the cave. Without the apple trees and dried foods in storage, this place can't sustain so many ponies for long. Back in Stable 50, the apples were meant to be the main staple food with everything else only eaten sparingly. But I don’t think this stable was meant to last as long like mine was. Maybe fifty to sixty years at most. From the logs, everypony died thirty one years after the bombs fell, so they were likely already half way through their stockpile of food.”
Well a few months is more than enough for me. We just needed to plan out what we were going to do after that. If the others come with us, maybe we could form a mercenary band and get paid to kick other ponies asses. The bulldozer would make that a lot easier.
Slowtrot and Cherry then trotted in. A large steaming can of food was held in Cherry’s magic.
“And for the mare who needs to eat, here is a whole can of rice and beans with chilly. I’ve also added some apple slices and raddler meat.” Cherry announced as she put the large can next to me.
The thing was about as big as my head and smelled so good. I was then given a spoon. The thing hadg a strap on it to make it easier for me to eat. Taking my first bite, it was… surprisingly good. I could taste the preservatives. It was a bit salty, but the snake meat was so savory that I could not stop eating.
Before I knew it, the food was gone. I ended up scraping the bottom of the can.
“Now that was fucking good,” I cheered with my stomach full, making my belly look almost as bloated as when I was pregnant with Briget.
“Crystalized sulfur… Well that explains the smell. Must be why Spritz went down there too,” Harp commented as we trotted into the atrium. I had told her about what I saw and heard down in the cave system since it seemed important.
The atrium had changed a bit more now. There were sheets recovered from the residential which were being used like curtains to cover some of the worst off parts of the dead stable. Cherry Knot’s little cut of territory was specially decorated. It had a sign offering tailoring and mares… that mare really works quickly with setting up a business.
Even Bitter and the other Zebras had their own setup. They claimed a room and used some of the old large pots to start an alchemy station. The smell it made was a bit concerning, but with how bad things already smelled, nopony really cared. I think we were all just glad we could at least properly wash ourselves now.
“So I’m guessing Spritz is right when she said she can make more explosives with it then?” I asked Harp.
She nodded. “Among other things, yes. She would easily be able to make powder charge bombs with it as long as she has the right materials, though I don’t think she will use it on us. It's too risky.”
Well that theory was now in question, so I asked, “Then why would she want it for, other than blowing things up?”
“My guess is she’s thinking ahead. Those explosives would be devastating to the NCR caravans. Rock slides, road sided bombs, or simply making more sticks of the powder charges as there is a lot of preserved paper here for it. If she’s willing to make crude guns, then she will have plenty of gunpowder to use them. I’m going to need to find a book on chemistry to see if there's other uses we might be able to use from the stuff,” she announced.
Made sense to me. That bitch did hate the NCR. “Sounds like she’s planning on using this place as a base. Stay here for a long time before harassing the NCR. Though, I thought you said this place has a few months at best?”
Harp sighed. “Only if we stayed here and didn't bother anypony. Likely, if we went out and hunted caravan merchants, this place could last for years. But then we would be no better than raiders.”
“That’s why we’re doing something different,” Tire Fire decided as he trotted up to us. Him and several other ponies were dragging scrap metal behind them.
“Right. Where the fuck have you been?” I asked the Desperado.
“Preparing for the move,” he answered with a cocky smile. “Harp and I have been talking, and were thinking of taking this sad lot to my clan. Elder Papa would be happy to gain some raw resources for the war before we leave. A few extra soldiers wouldn't hurt either, so Slowtrot and I have been testing some of them. They are mostly garbage, but not soft garbage.”
I looked at Harp. “And I was not told of this, why?”
“Because you were still recovering.” Harp replied as she rolled her eyes at me. “Everything is Celestia damn hectic right now. Just giving everypony a job and making sure they do it has taken up most of my time. After you almost died, that's when I knew we cannot stay here, so I asked Tire Fire for some advice.”
“Told her to just go with the Desperados. You three have already more than earned your patches,” Tire Fire said as he jabbed me on the shoulder.
I jabbed him back, but harder. “Starting to get a soft spot for us?”
He blew a raspberry at me. “Soft nothing. Frankly, you’re making my hide thicker just by watching you three be fucking crazy.”
Leaving them to do their prep work for when we got to the Desperados, Harp and I stopped at the now unblocked door to the red side of the stable. I looked at her curiously. “So what are we doing at the door?”
She looked at the door suspiciously for a moment before returning her gaze back at me. “We’re going to open it and invite Spritz over.”
“And kill her?” I asked.
Harp shook her head. “No. Just to talk. Mostly. What I really want is to get her separated from her followers then invite them to our side. With the other help, I’m sure we can lessen her power over the other ponies.”
I wasn’t so sure, but then again I was not the thinker of the group. Harp was. “How can you be so sure?”
“Well, first off, most of the ponies here are not violent gangers or raiders,” she said, then pointed over at a random pony hauling some garbage. “That stallion was only in the NCRCF for petty crimes. And another pony here simply got into a bar brawl at the wrong place and time. Even Henbane, the mare who was with you, was only in the NCRCF because of a land dispute gone wrong. Something about catapulting a brahmin maneuver at a rival.”
Harp then returned her attention to me. “The point is that the NCRCF was for reforming ponies, letting them work off their crimes. Spritz Cookie being there must have been some sort of mistake or some idiot trying to get them some political clout. They must have thought that she could be reformed. I think most of the ponies here don’t want to fight the NCR, or to become raiders. If we can just get Spritz away from them, I know I can convince them to turn on her.”
I took a quick glance around. In doing so, I noticed that Harp was right. Though the ponies here were dangerous in one way or another, they didn’t have that spark of a raider to them. Everypony mostly respected the space of everypony else and had thrown themselves into doing some sort of work. There were a lot more smiles around too. Nervous smiles, but at least everypony was trying to get along.
“So, what is the plan then?” I asked Harp.
She smiled. “Still thinking that up actually, but I might have one in mind. What do you think about going monster hunting?”
I cocked an eyebrow. “The big snake? Why?”
Harp then explained, “For the sulfur. If Spritz wants it, why not help her get it? We just need to make sure that she stays down in maintenance long enough for our side to properly mingle with the other side. Spritz is only one pony, and even her most loyal followers aren't Steel Rangers like her.”
It made enough sense to me. “Alright, then let's do this.”
As Harp reached out and pulled on the door control lever, several of the ponies around us readied themselves for trouble. The few with rifles were on watch above, and some down on our level kept their sticks of powder charges and melee weapons close.
The door hissed and struggled to open, giving anypony on the other side enough time to be ready for us if we meant harm.
Once the doors opened, we trotted through. On this side there was a completely different atmosphere. It was relaxed much like our side, but it didn’t have that friendly feeling. On our side everypony was trying to get along, all despite our less than friendly circumstances. But no, this was more aggressive and with purpose.
There were no decorations or new clothing being worn, nor individual projects being set up away from the others. What was going on looked like a military camp with ponies training for combat. If they weren't doing some sort of training exercise in a makeshift obstacle course, they were dry firing their guns at targets. The diner room looked more like a soup kitchen. It produced a bland smell of random stuff thrown into a pot. So, in other words, not that much different from our side.
Interestingly, it looked like they set up an arena in the center of the atrium. Small splatters of blood already stained it.
“So what brings the crossbred mutt and Miss cursed eyes?” Spritz spoke from the floor above us. There were two ponies on either side of her. One held the LMG service rifle down at us. “Here to apologize for getting one of my ponies killed?”
“Hey, how was I suppose to know about the big fuck off snake!” I shouted back at her.
Harp put her hoof in front of me, taking a step forward.
She spoke clearly and loudly. “It was deeply regrettable that you lost one of yours so needlessly, so as you suggested, we do apologize for causing such an accident. But as you know, the current situation has left us with little way of trust, so it was bound to happen.”
“Words do little to bring back the dead,” Spritz said coldly.
“No, they do not.” Harp replied, then stepped to the side. “That's why I want to open our side of the stable to you and your followers. We're no longer under the NCR oppression, so maybe we should start to actually work with each other. The current division we have will only weaken us in the long run.”
Many of Spritz’s followers had slowed down their training, ears pointed in our direction.
Spritz herself scowled. “And what? Offer them whores, booze, and chems?”
I chuckled. “I think we still have some booze left. Also the still we found had some in it too.”
Harp cleared her throat as a polite way to tell me to shut up. “Let;s just say that is among a few things the ponies on our side can provide. We all can’t be professionals like all of you here. As you have pointed out and shown us personally, we’re no steel rangers. But if you're looking for more useful aid, we can produce uniforms, new weapons, and given time, medicine.”
“And how can we trust you?” Spritz asked.
“Right now, you can’t. So we're offering a deal,” Harp answered. She put on a friendly smile as she continued. “We’ll help you get rid of that large snake and get access to the sulfur, then we’ll help you produce the explosives you want. It may not simple black powder, but it could possibly be high explosives or smokeless gunpowder.”
The scowl faded from Spritz’s muzzle, turning to a more curious frown. “How would you accomplish this? And what do you get out of this deal?”
“For the second question, the answer is simple; we get your protection. You do your thing out there and show the NCR the folly of their mistakes. We stay safe here, paying tax through our work.” Harp's words were smooth and without hesitation.
“And my first question? How have you accomplished all this? Smokeless gunpowder alone is a mostly lost art.” Spritz pressed.
Harp took a deep breath, showing no sign of hesitation. “For the explosives, I’m sure you know that this stable already has everything we need. Also, I’ve been working with the Gunrunners, and they remember everything about how to make bullets. Any knowledge I’m missing can easily be filled in with a chemistry book that might be down here.
“As for the snake. we can lure it into a trap and get somepony to throw our explosives into its mouth. Easier said than done, I know, but together I know we can do it,” Harp finished.
Spritz huffed, then trotted over to the stared, taking them down to us. There was a skeptical look on her face. Everypony was silent as she moved, watching, waiting to see what she would do. The overly bulky mare looked down at us, chewing on the words she was about to say.
“You’re all talk… but that talking has gotten everypony free, so I’ll not mock you for it. But… I need more than words. I need to see action,” Spritz said methodically.
I saw that Harp was now struggling to find what to say next, losing some of her confidence under the oppressive mare. Spritz was no lughead or a politician. Words only could push her so far before they had no meaning. That kind of pony that was common back on the Blackwater.
My eyes drifted to the arena and a bit of inspiration came to me. “How about we have a sparring match? You and me,” I proposed.
Harp stomped her hoof down. “No way! You're still suffering from that snake bite. Don’t let that little bit of Med-X go to your head!”
The large hoof of Spritz then gently pushed Harp to the side as though she was just some paperwate. “Actually, that might do. If you pay with some blood for what you did, and I’ll consider that deal.”
“Star!” Harp spoke up, but I shot her a glare to tell her I was not going to back down.
“Yes. Stay out of this mutant.” Spritz grumbled.
With a sigh, Harp spoke up calmly. “Fine, but there will be rules to this fight, and you will agree to the deal afterwards.”
Spritz then huffed at her. “I agree to nothing.”
“And look like a tyrant to your followers. I guess nothing is new under the sun,” Harp said smugly.
The large mare looked around at the many eyes of her followers on her.
Harp then trotted over to Spritz’s side, only making her look even smaller. “I once met a bunch of… let's call them mutants. They had their own queen, and their own rules. The queen told us that she had to follow her own rules. Ones she had made herself. Otherwise why would her subject even follow them? Because of that, she reluctantly ordered the removal of several body parts of a friend of mine for the crime of trespassing, then ate them. It was barbaric, monstrous, and ultimately a terrible rule. But, if a leader follows no rules, makes no deals, or keeps none of their promises, then they are ultimately untrustworthy, and invite rebellion.”
Spritz looked down at her for a long moment, clearly hiding her fuming anger, but in the end she said, “Fine. If we have this fight, I’ll show my domination and you get your pathetic deal.”
A smile formed on Harp's face. “Then let's make a show of it.”
Before I was raring for a fight, but now… this felt deeply embarrassing.
“Why do I have to put on an outfit?” I asked Harp as Cherry secured a tight fitting suit onto me. It had no sleeve for my legs, not even covering my cutie-mark as it clung onto me.
“Well I figured if we make the fight flashy, it would have a bigger effect, so I asked Slowtrot if they did anything like this in his time.” she answered sheepishly.
I glared at Slowtrot.
He looked away, avoiding my eye contact as he said. “In my defence, I did tell her most of those fights were all shown. More acting than any actual fighting.”
“That's good to know. While I look fabulous, Spritz will be caving my face in.” I huffed as the finishing touches to this show outfit was put on me.
It felt as though Cherry took a foal size stable barding and then forced me into it. A yellow trim went from around my neck to all the way under my belly. It ended at the base of my tail. Finishing the look was a simple yellow mask and mane tie.
Surprisingly, it was easy to move in it despite how tight it felt. It was similar to my dancer outfit but oddly with more and less clothing. It was also feeling more comfortable the longer I wore it, like a constricting glove.
“Seriously, what the hell is this stuff made out of?” I openly asked.
We all then looked at Slowtrot who scratched his goatee before answering. “Lets see, there's a few different versions of barding, if I remember correctly. The ones Harp and I had were actually stable jackets. Those were made out of some rubber or polymer infused canvas. It’s regular barding that was sold on the open market. That was a kind of denim and rubber stuff. I’m not sure, but it was advertised to be a strong but flexible suit that could be basically printed out in the stable. A lot of the early advertisements had mares in full body stable suits similar to the old wonderbolt recruit uniforms… actually, I think the Shadowbots used the same material for their uniforms.”
Harp then piped up. “Right. There was an extruder in stable 50, but only the maintenance staff used it. It could be used to make a simple barding jaket or a full jumpsuit. Maybe if we can find this stables extruder, we can make new cloths for everypony.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. I was growing more concerned with how comfortable this hide tight outfit was starting to get. It was making me a bit worried that I might actually be a bit into bondage if I was starting to enjoy this.
With a sigh, I then cracked my neck and trotted to the door. “Let's get this over with. If I’m going to get my ass kicked, I’d rather not delay it.”
There was a sense of excitement in the air as we trotted back down to Spritz’s side of the stable along with the smell of something sweet. I watched as a pony bit down on a strange white fluffy thing which looked familiar. “Wait, is that… popcorn?” I asked, having only seen the stuff on old billboards advertising long dead theaters.
“Yep.” Slowtrot said with a smile. “Found a barrel of the stuff soaking in preservatives. Asked Chainlock to cook some up with glazed sugar for me while you were out. Then when I heard about you putting on a wrestling match, I told her to make a tone of it and pass it around.”
“Great. I’m glad you all have snacks for my beatdown.” I grumbled.
“Don’t worry, I had some put to the side for you later,” He informed me.
I flashed him a smile that showed my somewhat pointed teeth. “You better damn well. I’m going to be very hungry after this.”
The door to the other side was still open, but now had a cloth draped over it. From the other side I could hear a lot of ponies talking over each other.
“Just a moment. Let me introduce you first.” Harp told me as she trotted ahead of us.
After a moment, the ponies on the other side quieted down, and oddly, I could hear Harp’s voice far louder and from different directions. Looking to my side, I saw one of our ponies wearing a Pipbuck 2000. Through it, I could hear Harp's voice.
“Good evening ladies and gentlecolts! I know that the last few days have been stressful for us all, and we have only just started to adjust. With food in our stomachs and time to properly rest, you must all be now bursting with energy like never before.” She waited for a moment, letting the crowd cheer. “Well hold onto that energy, because you are going to need it. There are big things planned for everypony here, of which we will do together. But let's leave that for later tomorrow, because today we have a show for you.”
Again the crowd cheered, making as much noise as possible.
“Now in the red corner, we have the pony we all know and fear, the terror of the NCR, boss of the quarry, and overall a mountain of might in which no sane pony dares to challenge: Star Paladin Spritz Cookie of the Steel Rangers!” Harp's introduction felt like she was pointing out how Spritz was not like any pony here, but also felt like she was calling me crazy.
The ponies cheered ferociously as though they were trying too hard.
“In the Blue corner, a newcomer like myself. A mare who laughs in the face of danger, shrugs off bullet wounds, and will charge head on into a flaming raider. Star Charter of the Corps Brigaders!”
That was my cue. I trotted through the doorway. I found the stable packed. Nearly all two hundred ponies in one place, all wanting to see me fight. Drinks and snacks were being passed around by Cherry's mares who were putting on the charm. There were even a few ponies smoking something and passing it along for others to use. It created a slight haze in the air.
Spritz was the same as always, not needing any decoration to show how powerful she was.
She snarled, “Once this is over, I’ll make sure to beat some order into the rest of you. This… party, it’s not going to happen again.”
I blew her a kiss. “Then I’ll make sure I have as much fun as possible before you do that.”
Harp trotted in between us and held her pipbuck to her mouth as she spoke. “Now there are only a few but simple rules you must follow. One, you win when the other pony can no longer fight. Two, whenever a pony goes down or is held down, there will be a countdown starting from ten, and at zero, they lose. And three, no involvement from ponies outside the fight, nor dragging outside ponies in. By following these rules, you will be seen as the undisputed winner. You both understand?”
I nodded, but Spritz asked, “So am I allowed to kill her then?”
Harp glared at her. “You can try, but I advise you not. We are not raiders afterall.”
Spritz spat on the ground and nodded.
With that, Harp scrambled out of the way. A pony then began hitting what sounded like a really shitty bell.
Wasting no time, Spritz charged in with a wide hoof swing. Her meaty tree trunk leg cut through the air at me. All I could do was dunk out of the way. Then a second jab came for me. It found the side of my face and sent me to the ground.
The crowd cheered at the first strike. As I was getting back up, she kicked me back down. “In the rangers, we were trained as foals to put savages like you down without mercy, with or without guns. We just used guns because we had far better things to do than dirty our hooves on savages like you.”
She then came for another attack. I rolled out of the way this time. I pushed myself back up and wiped a bit of blood from my mouth.
“ow cute. aft on the Blackwater, they didn’t give two shits about trainin' us foals. The weak been just expected to die,” I said in the Blackwater accent.
Spritz came in with another wide hoof swing, arrogantly thinking the same attack will work again so easily. I dived into her attack, getting under her just as the second attack came and failed to connect. I countered with an uppercut, The bitch didn’t flinch as my hoof connected with her jaw. She just looked down at me in disappointment.
Attempting to grab me, I scrambled under her legs only to feel a hoof connect to my flank as she quickly bucked me away.
Staying on my hooves as I slid to the other side of the arena, I saw Spritz charging at me for a full body check. Not wanting the full weight of that amount of a mare crashing onto me, I again dodged out of the way. Her body slammed onto the floor with a loud “Wham”.
I charged in myself before she could recover. I jumped into her with a hoof slam only to have her roll onto her back and kick up at me. Our hooves connected and my weight was no match for hers so I was sent flying back.
Landing onto the hard concrete floor, my back screamed in pain. The med-x in me barely helpws at this point to keep that pain dull.
Getting back up, Spritz and I stared each other down again. She was barely hurt where I had already taken a few hard hits. There was no denying it, in a straight brawn, she was too strong and too damn big. All she needed to do was throw her weight around and anpony here would turn into a ragdoll.
Even if I couldn’t beat her, I could at least bloody her. So, with a blood stained smile, I said to her, “Did the steel assholes also teach ye 'ow to be a cunt? Because ye be quite the professional at that there.”
Spritz huffed and went into another charge. It was predictable, but effective. All she needed to do was catch me. I was not going to let that happen.
Leaning into the attack, I quickly dashed to her side and jumped onto her back as she skidded to a stop. Her sheer size made it hard for me to get a grip on her, but I managed to stay on enough that I could place a hoof strike to the back of her head.
The huge mare then began to buck to shake me off. The crowd cheered as I struggled to stay on. I managed to land a few more, if uncoordinated attacks, before she changed her tactics and rolled to get me off. Predicting this, I moved to stay on top of her only to see one of her hooves right under me ready to kick.
I was launched off of her like some cheap foal’s toy.
Rolling into the fall, I quickly got back to my hooves, ready for another attack. Sprtz looked at me and snarled. A bit of blood dripped from her ear. “You know you can’t win, Star, so give up already. Accept my beating.”
I cracked my neck and winked at her. “Kinky, but ye will 'ave to work fer it. I ain’t yer cheap fetsh whore.”
She snarled at me as she again and charged in for an attack. Predicting her movements, I ducked down and jumped forward under her attack. I went for another uppercut. My counterattack to her hit thin air. Spritz had fainted her attack altogether. She just looked down at me, disappointment in her eyes.
“I wasn't asking,” she said and then hit me with a swift slap of her hoof followed by a heavy hoof strike. Everything went white for a moment as I found myself on the ground.
Calmly, Spritz trotted over to me. A look of self satisfaction was on her face. My own vision was having a hard time focusing as everything wobbled back and forth. “I hit a pressure point on the side of your skull, it should be really hard for you to even walk now, even after they give you a healing potion.”
Her voice was a bit muffled, yet even over the cheering and jeering crowd of ponies, I could hear Harp counting down from ten.
Spritz stretched her hoof back. It clearly for a heavy blow with murder in her eyes.
My sense of balance quickly returned. I managed to roll out of the way. Her hoof connected to the ground, cracking it amazingly enough. A look of pain grew on the large mare's face. Her own attack managed what I had failed to do.
It gave me a bit of joy to see it.
This time I charged in myself, not giving her time to recover. Jumping in for my own heavy hoof strike to her head and connecting.
Spritz stumbled for a moment, shaking her head before looking at me with a scowl. Whatever the fuck this mare was made of, it can’t be normal.
I again charged in. I hoped to at least widdel her down. She just knocked me back with a heavy swing of her leg, causing me to fly back. Spritz then followed with a dash, quickly getting right up to me as I recovered.
Two hooves clamped onto the side of my head.I felt myself fly into the air. Seeing the ground coming, I braced myself for the hard fall. I just managed to protect my head.
Everything hurt as I rolled on the ground. Ponies mocked me, some demanded I get back up. All along with another countdown from Harp.
“Now stay down!” Spritz huffed, sounding out of breath.
I regained my focus just in time to see that the bitch was about to finish me off by trying to crush my head with a hammer hoof strike. Quickly I moved my head, just barely dodging the attack. Her hoof again cracked onto the ground, causing her to groan in pain.
With her underbelly exposed, I quickly jabbed it as hard as I could… only to find it as hard as a rock.
Rolling out from under her before she could trample me, I got ready for another attack. Spritz now slowly turned to me. The hoof she tried to kill me with twice now was bleeding and cracked. I was not feeling all that good myself, but I could deal with it. But my stomach started to gurgle for food. If this fight kept going on like this, I knew I was going to do something I didn’t want anypony to see.
I just needed to get another good hit in.
“We ponies o' the blackwater don’t go down easily. Trust me. We’ve tried to kill each other fer generations, yet we're still around.” I mocked her and charged myself.
“Just like a savage,” Spritz growled at me as she attacked with her undamaged hoof.
The attack lacked the same follow-through as her others. It meant her other leg was too damaged to be used now. Luck was on my side, meaning I possibly could win this here and now!
With an opening, I charged in to send another jab to her face as hard as I could. When she attempted to fend me off, I ducked and jabbed with my other hoof. Without her other hoof, she was too slow to keep up with.
Her head collided with my own. The headbut from Spritz caught me completely offguard. I stumbled back, having a hard time shaking off the attack.
As I started to recover, I felt the large legs of Spritz wrap around my waist from behind me. She spat out a bloody tooth before saying. “Ignorant savage. This is where you will go down and stay down.”
Her tight grip made it hard to breathe as I struggled to make her let me go. I didn’t know what her aim was, but she left her injured hoof open to me, so I began pounding on it as hard as I could. She then stood up on her back legs, lifting me high into the air. Only then I now understood what was about to happen. I frantically struck at her injured hoof, trying to get her to let me go.
I was then enveloped by the sense of falling backwards. My world became pain as the back of my head collided with the hard concrete ground and everything began to go dark.
Though the boss was in a foul mood, everypony else enjoyed themselves. No pony will openly say it, but they are likeling how the three are running their side of things or how everypony there seems more… free.
-Ganger Alliance Convicts-
Yes, Star lost in the end, but everypony enjoyed seeing Spritz in pain. They also enjoyed finally talking with some of their friends who had sided with her. If this is all part of the plan, there could be worse plans out there.
"Another odd thing I noticed when out hunting with Star Charter was the common tendency for some animals to grow larger than they should normally be. Mostly it was just a small change in size. A normally medium dog sized gecko becomes far more terrifying when one becomes as big as a large sized dog.
Stranger yet, the larger mutated animals were often smarter and more aggressive than their normal sized kin. Some even developed unique physical mutations or magical abilities that made them even more dangerous. But what was often the most terrifying things to come across were the giant mutant animals that no pony could fight alone and hope to win.
With all those monsters lurking about in the wasteland, it was understandable why the ponies had barely yet to rebuild. It was as though this wasteland itself birthed disasters to throw at the ponies only ever giving them a temporary piece before the next challenge charges in." ~ Azure Dice
Again I woke up in the medical center, this time with a splitting headache and a bunch of bandages covering my face. The fight was a bit of a blur to me now, but I was sure I was smashed into the concrete floor. Quickly checking my head, I found that everything was fortunately still there and not dented.
“So how long was I out?” I asked any pony that might be here.
A slight rustle was soon followed by an answer from Slowtrot. “Little over four hours now.”
Turning my head to him, I saw Slowtrot breathe a sigh of relief. “It was a good thing we had some healing potions ready for you. She literally cracked your skull with that last move.”
Slowly getting up, my whole body was still in pain. It was only made worse by the headache. “Seriously, aren't healing potions supposed to get rid of the pain?” I grumbled.
“They’re only meant to keep you from dying, or aid in recovery. They're not some cure all,” he said sternly as he pulled out the med-x he used on me before. “The Ministry of Peace taught everypony how to properly use healing potions as part of a worker safety instruction. Had to take it every time I started a new job.”
Jabbing me with the med-x, the pain quickly began to dull as he continued. “Always make sure the wound is clean and any broken bone is set straight before administering the potion. Never assume the pony is fine after healing and help them to a clinic or hospital to be checked by a professional. Healing potions only fix immediate and surface injuries, but leave the injured part of the body weak until healed naturally.”
“So what if I get hit in the head again? Would my skull split open?” I sarcastically asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe. There were a few ponies back then who said they developed chronic pain from healing potion abuse or thinner skin that got damaged easily. Something about their own body’s ability to heal, slowing down, I think.”
Slowtrot picked up a lid covered pot from the ground then opened it to reveal sweet smelling popcorn. “What I’m saying is that once this is all over, you're going to need to rest and let your body properly recover. Now after you're done eating, go thank Harp. She got a hot plate working to keep that popcorn warm.”
I gladly muched down onto the tasty treat. There is sugar and starch crunching in between my teeth. Bridget would have loved to eat some herself.
“So, how’s Harp’s plan coming along?” I asked.
Sitting back in a chair, Slowtrot looked at his pipbuck for a moment. “She should have a prototype snake trap ready by now and show it to Spritz.”
I raised an eyebrow “That fast?”
He nodded. “She was hoping for a day, but Spritz knows we're up to something. She is keeping us on our hoof tips by rushing everything. No brakes, you can say.”
“Fucking bitch” I huffed.
Again he nodded. “Ya, but she ain’t no fool. She keeps a tight grip on everypony around her. Harp has already planned for that and is keeping her busy in maintenance with the snake hunt. So, for the time being, her eyes are not on the atrums.”
Finishing off my popcorn, I got out of the medical bed and stretched. “Then I should go take a look. See how everypony is doing.”
“You should talk with Bitter too. She's been cooking up something really weird since you got bit by that snake. She wants to talk to you about it,” Slowtrot advised me.
Still sore, but manageable, I trotted out and down into the airtum where things were a lot more lively. It was no party, but clearly the ponies from Spritz’s side were unwinding. Some were drinking what little booze we still had and others were smoking the chem from before,. They let themselves figuratively melt. I even saw a few stallions with kiss marks on the side of their face. They clearly had spent some time with Cherrie’s mares.
While Spritz is away, these ponies will play.
One stallion saw me and stumbled. “Oh fuck! You are already up!”
I grinned. I only now noticed that my face was still wrapped up. “Ehhh, I’ve been through worse.”
Removing the bandages from my face, the pony looked shocked at first, then relaxed. “You're looking quite good for a pony who just had her head smashed in. Say, you want to go up to the private room?”
“Don’t test your luck.” I said deadpanly as I glared at the pony.
“Say no more, boss,” the stallion nervously spoke then quickly scrambled away.
A whistle caught my attention. I saw Cherry waving down at me. She was hanging off a stallion. I would have been fine with it, let the whore do her work, but the bitch was wearing the same outfit as I was. “Star dear, so glad you're back up and so soon. You really are a pony not to take lightly.”
“The fuck is with the outfit?” I spat up at her.
She grinned wildly. “Oh, this? I made a few along with yours. As it turns out, a few of the colts took a shine to it. Personally I find that it adds a little extra excitement if you know what I mean. Maybe you can join me? Do some private wrestling with the stallions?”
Fuck, I would be lying if I said to myself that didn’t sound interesting. I was surprised that the outfit I still had on even survived Spritz, so it would definitely survive playing around with it on. But I had things to do. “Not the fucking time!” I said, shaking my head.
“Then come back when you do have the time.” she requested with a wink.
Needing something that didn’t subtly shout sex to focus on, I trotted over to where Bitter was hiding. The crude “Zebra Only” sign next to the door guided me, as no sign could ever keep me out.
The dimly lit room smelled like a drug den as chemicals and other magical shit waffed in the air. Bitter herself, along with two other zebras, stood around a large choking pot. It was bubbling with whatever was inside. Two armed zebra stallions sat far away from their kin. They were rolling up some strange stuff in the blank paper.
“One. No, two. Two things. What the fuck is that, and what the fuck is this?” I called out to Bitter.
She turned to me. A dumb grin was on her face and her eyes were bloodshot. “Oh, you… the weird eye pony. Ya. We are making some magic. Magic that makes... some good shit as a byproduct.”
I looked over at the two sober looking zebra stallions rolling up the chem. One sighed as he got up and trotted over to me. “Were making a poison enchantment potion using the raddler venom as a base. The foam the potion produces can be used to make a simulant. By soaking it in scraped paper and rolling them up, you can then smoke the shit to get high.”
I hadn't actually had the time to get to know the other zebras. This one was quite striking; tall, strong, and with scars in just the right places. The other sober Zebra was not bad looking himself. “Maybe once this mess with Spritz is over, we can go get high together.”
He huffed. “Rather not stay near your ponies. Nothing but trouble for my kind.”
I rolled my eyes at that and gave him a light jab. “Oh, you're right about that. But sometimes trouble can be fun.”
The other stallion snickered. “You pony can’t handle the fun we want. Wouldn't want to break you.”
“Never hurts to try.” I said, giving that stallion a wink. “And who knows? It might be fun to get a little broken.”
The first Stallion sighed. “Whatever pony. If you kill that Steal Ranger bitch, then ask me again. If not, go fuck yourself.” They turned around, returning to the pile of chems to roll up.
“Thanks,” I told the zebra then trotted over to the very high Bitter. “So why are you making this?”
“Old tribal recipe… I think.” She burst out into a fit of giggles then took a moment to calm down. “Made normal weapons magical. Like, making a gun shoot radioactive bullets.” She giggled again. “That realy pissed the fucking tin cans off when we could kill em… kill em withough having to get throught their power armor.”
“Soo… you want to add the raddler venom to some of our weapons?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.
Bitter scooped up a bit of foam then poured it into another pot filled with paper scraps. “Ya. Harp needed an edge against the big bitch. She wanted to make a fucking heat ray gun with those talasmens. Told her I could do something... less stupid. I just needed materials for it.”
Another giggle fit came as she struggled to grab a cup filled with blood and poured it into the pot. “This stable has everything we need for the basic shit, but to make it real effective I need a few things.”
“That is?” I asked.
Bitter then got muzzle to muzzle with me, almost kissing me. Her breath smelled of chemicals. “Yes. If you can get it, you must. Bit by the snake, you now have a symbolic connection to the main ingredients. First, just to give it that magical kick, the glands of a fire gecko. It’s not dragon fire, but it is magic originally born from the baelfire. Then venom from a less radioactive beast. We need something for the spell to latch onto that’s not just the radiation. That shit backfires even when made correctly. Then last, you must get the venom gland from the raddlers, and lots of it… or just one big one.”
Pushing her back before I started to get high from her breath, I needed some clarification. “So I get the first and the third things, but where would I get… normal venom… Wait. I did come across a nightstalker.”
She rummaged through a bag and pulled out a very sharp kitchen knife. “Yes. Harp told me you did and that is perfect for this potion. The Nightstalker. Just catch one and drag it here. Alive is best or the potency will be greatly diminished.”
“Okay, but why a nightstalker?” I asked.
“They are a strange fusion, so using their venom will make the magic fuse too... I think.” Bitter guessed.
Taking a step back, I was unsure if this was or was not the mad ramblings of a very high zebra. So, turning to the good looking zebra in the room, I gave him one raised eyebrow.
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Our tribe got entangled with some cultists over a good fifteen years back. We were paid to make some magically infused guns through alchemy. A lot of experimentation and shit ended up with that radioactive curse of a potion. They are not like the enchanted zebra rifles the Lighbringer used, but it worked well enough on Steal Rangers before that cult got stomped out. Our tribe saw the writing on the wall and vanished before the tin cans found us. We took the recipe with us too.”
The other stallion then continued. “Better the ingredients, the stronger the enchantment will be. Symbolism is also important too, magic being the way it is. The hunter that gathers the materials, the prey hunted, the alchemist who brews it, and how the enchantment is applied. You were bit, so you must bite back. You first saw the nightstalker, so you must bring it in. It all comes together to make a strong enchantment like our ancestors used to do during the great war.”
Okay. Now it was all makes sense, if in an esoteric way. “Right, so fire gecko fire glands, a live nightstalker, and the venom gland of weather a lot of raddlers or just the big one… Wait! What if I get bit again?”
The first zebra stallion just said. “Don’t.”
Messing with him, I blew the stallion a kiss. “So you do care.”
He frowned. “I will not be gentle if you get what you want.”
“Looking forward to it,” I told him before turning around to leave.
Trotting down into the maintenance part of the stable, ponies were busily moving things around or cleaning things up. I was directed to the labs by one of our ponies who was hauling several rolls of fabric that looked similar to what my current clothes were made from.
In the Labs, Harp was fiddling with several cables along with looking at some glass beakers. She had found a clean looking Stable-Tec lab coat that gave her a real egghead look. In the corner holding a rifle was a pony I didn’t recognize. I kept an eye on her.
I suspected it was one of Spritz’s more loyal followers. A pony she trusted enough to not be swayed by Harp’s oratory skill.
“So stealing from the dead? How far has the princess fallen?” I teased her.
She looked over at me and sighed with relief. “Thank Celestia you’re okay, I know it was my idea, so I’m sorry for putting you through that.
“As for this lab coat, I got the extruder working. Had it printed me out a lab coat.”
This mare was really a wizard with technology. Just put something in front of her and she will make it work.
Looking over at what she was working on, I could not make heads or tails of it, so I asked, “So… is that the snake trap or something?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It’s all I could come up with in such a short time. I made a simple, smaller one to show Spritz. She gave it the okay,” Harp said as she pointed at a nearby box.
I trotted over the box to see a raddler all coiled up with a string like lasso tightly holding onto its neck. There was a rat in a cage not far from it and a pair of scissors with surgical tubing tying it to a stick.
This didn’t seem like the kind of thing a princess would know how to make. “I think I’ve seen something like this before. Did you think it up?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Henbane did. I’m just making it bigger which requires some extra ingenuity.”
“What? Not just use explosives?” I asked.
She raised her eyebrow at me. “Because we can't risk a cave in. That and Bitter said it would be better if more of it was intact so we can cook more of it.”
Right. Bitters request. With the guard here it would be dumb to just blurt out the potion she was making. “Right. That weird zebra stew she wanted to make. She asked me to go get some ingredients for it.”
Harp nodded. “We're good on the gecko parts. The little monsters just run right at anypony they see. It made hunting them easy enough as long as we killed them before they started spitting fire.”
That left the nightstalker. “Any help on the last ingredient?”
She pointed over to a bag that was clearly reinforced along with some rope. “We're going to need it as live bait before giving it to Bitter. So just be careful and don’t go shooting your gun again. Also take this.” Harp picked up a sparkle-cola bottle of clear liquid and passed it to me.
Trotting over to her and taking it, I smelled something a bit odd but I couldn't put my hoof on it. “And this is?” I asked.
“Viniguer. If a nightstalker is part dog, it should hate that smell. I’m hoping it will help you in some way,” she explained.
“Thanks,” I said as I gave her a smile.
Taking the bag, I trotted down the hall and to the door outside. Here ponies were busy setting up the trap. Unfortunately they had to do it quietly as Spritz inspected their work. Using the natural rock formations to tie rope down for sheets to hang off of, it was an odd sight and clearly being done slowly.
“Such a disgrace. If it were the rangers, it would have been done by now,” Spritz grumbled as she watched them work.
Trotting over, I hummed a little song until she noticed me.
“Well they're far from rangers, so cut them some slack.” I told her.
She looked at me for a long moment. There’s a bit of confusion in her eyes. “You recover too quickly.”
I smiled at her, “A gift from the Goddesses some might say.”
Spritz did not look impressed. “Whatever. freek. What are you planning?”
“Oh, I’m getting the live bait. That’s all.” I held onto the lie with confidence.
She huffed as she looked over at the ponies at work. “It would be easier if we used one of them as bait, but Harp went on and on about how dangerous it was. Going out to get some mongrel to be bait is even more foolhardy. But as long as it’s one of you doing it, then whatever. Not my loss.”
It was good that Harp had already cleared the excuse. In the pronces, she was likely endearing herself to the others. Spritz, on the other hoof, didn’t think much of anypony here and it was showing. The ponies down here didn’t look like they were having fun, unlike the ones above.
“Well, if I come back screaming, you know what's behind me.” I told her before trotting off.
As I passed Henbane, she gave me a wink and said quietly. “Your really one fucking hard to kill mare.”
“I wouldn’t be alive if I wasn’,.” I responded.
“Good, because this is insane and we're all crazy for trying this,” she hissed at me before continuing in a more calm manner. “Anyways, we got Spritz believing that we need bait. I mean we do. A pony in a cage would be easier, but we just need to buy more time for the others to do their work. I don’t know why it has to be nightstalkers, but the mongrels love cool dry places for their dens. They're not as cold blooded like snakes, so they're not going to be as hard on staying warm like the other critters down here.”
“Right. Find the cooler part of the cave, and I’ll find the nightstalkers,” I said with a nod.Henbane nodded back in conformation.
Trotting further in, I made sure I was out of view of the others. After that, I checked my pip-map to retrace my steps. Carefully, I made my way back to the dead overmare where the corps of the nightstalker I killed was already a bloody mess. It had been eaten by the other critters here. The corps was now swarming with flies.
Looking around, I found several paw prints that lead down a different path. The tunnels here were smaller, but not too claustrophobic and a bit more sparse with the moss. Several rats also scurried past me, retreating to their little holes.
As I went on further, my ears twitched back and forth, scanning for any noise. I knew my eyes would be nearly useless in this situation. I was soon rewarded with the sound of yips and hisses from further in.
Carefully, I got closer. I rounded a corner with the knife Bitter gave me at the ready. I was in some long tunnel that was clearly pony made by the looks of the old rotting wooden support beam lining the walls. In the distance was my prey, several nightstalkers yipping at each other in some sort of play fight.
My hoof then made a clang sound as I hit something big and metallic. Looking down, I saw a rusty railway line. Looking up, the nightstalkers were staring right at me. They all began to rattle their tails as they turned invisible. The sounds of paws scrambled away filled me with annoyance.
“Oh fucking get back her.” I mumbled with the knife in my mouth.
Quickly galloping over to where they were, I found myself at a cross section of this tunnel. Clearly no nightstalker to be seen.
Standing for a moment, I waited for a sound to be made. I then noticed a breeze. Warm air was ever so slightly moving down one end of the tunnel. Remembering what Henbane told me, it was likely cooler in the direction the air was moving to. Keeping as alert as possible, I trotted with the breeze.
The sound of a hiss ahead of me was my sign that this was the right direction. The sound of rattlaling was close. My head turned to the invisible fuck. In my pipbuck, the light of the blurry creature moved closer.
Anticipating the attack, I dodged to the side, foiling it’s attempt to jump me.
Stumbling onto the ground and hitting the wall, the night stalker lost it’s invisibility. It hissed at me in anger.
I just needed to bag it alive and get the fuck out of here, so knocking it around a bit wouldn’t be a problem. Taking a step forward, it took a step to the side while rattling its tail. The hairs along its spine raised in fear. The fucker then lept in for another attack.
Ready for it, I jumped back then did a hoof strike to the top of its nose, thus forcing it onto the ground. The thing practically screamed as I jumped onto it’s back and pulled out the rope.
A monstrously loud hiss set my own hairs along my spine on edge. A rumbling started, slowly getting louder and closer like some small train was coming our way.
Down the tunnel, I saw two low green lights slowly getting bigger. The rumbling got louder. When I could make out slitted pupils, I realised that it was the big fucking snake.
Abandoning the nightstalker, I galloped away, looking for any turn. Alongside me was the little fucker I had almost captured with it’s snake tail between its legs as it passed me and scurried into a hole too small for me to follow.
Asshole.
I could feel the snake get closer. Too close.
I galloped as fast as I could. When a cross section in the tunnel presented itself to me, I dove into it. I slammed into a wall because there was no way to slow down first. The snake grinded into the wall of the tunnel, unable to stop like I had just done, to chase after me.
Not giving it time to go back and come for me, I ran again. Fortune smiled on me as I found some miner outcrop in the tunnel. The small room even had a Goddesses blessed door, of which I slammed shut as soon as I got inside.
With a loud hiss, the door shook violently as the snake passed. It has not stopped.
It was now in the clear and just had to wait a bit.
Then I felt something bite my back leg.
Looking back and down, I saw a very thin looking feral ghoul attempting to eat me, but it was all rotting gums. Knocking it off me, I rushed in and thrusted the knife into the bastard's skull. The knife snapping from the blow.
I spit out the handle and kicked it away. I sighed with frustration and grumbled. “I want my fucking sword!”
There wasn't much in here other than some now useless mining tools and several boxes that were filled with equally useless junk. Strangely there was a table in the corner and on it was an ashtray filled with a whole mouth's worth of teeth. The poor soul must have had all his teeth fall out before even going feral. At least I put him out of his misery.
Feeling like I had hid long enough, I left the shelter. I trotted back to the second cross section and again checked the air. It was fainter, but I could still feel which direction the air shifted. As I trotted down the tunnel, the smell of sulfur became more bearable and the tunnel was cooler.
It took me a while, but I soon came to the end of the tunnel. It was blocked off by an old rusty fence. There was a hole in the fence that was just large enough for me to fit through. On the other side was a large room that echoed every step I made. Unfortunately I could not see a damn thing with how dark it was in her. Only a few dim red lights informing me that there once was civilization down here.
Carefully following the red lights, I found an emergency braker.
Hoping things didn’t just blow up, I flipped the switch.
Lights then turned on one by one. A few blew out and sent sparks falling down. As everything was illuminated, an annoyingly familiar sight came into focus. Ths place looked like a fucking touist trap! It had all the signs of one; wooden cutouts for ponies to put their heads through. Advertisements were everywhere and there was a place to eat. Though this was a far more old world trap then the shitty wasteland stops Prism and I wasted our caps on.
This place also had the hallmark of Stable-Tec all over, but everything was strangely labeled as “SMU”.
“Welcome everypony!” a loud robotic voice spoke as a few working spotlights illuminated some weird looking robot in the shape of a big rat… I think. It had a hard hat and held a pick axe along with a big goofy smile. “I’m Miles the mole pony miner, and I’m here to teach you about Equestria’s glorious history of mining. Be it coal, iron, gems and even the smelly yellow rock here called sulphur. It all has helped Equestria become the nation it is today.”
Looking around, I saw bones everywhere; pony bones, animal bones, and bones of some large monster I really did not want to see with skin on. But I saw no sign of the nightstalkers.
The damned robot continued its loud speech which echoed through the empty cave. “It all started over a hundred years ago with the company Surmount Mining Unlimited. They braved the depths of Equestria and the lands beyond to bring back this world's bounty. They helped provide the coal needed to power our steam engines the iron to make the railways and trains. Even this sulfur mined here was used to make the explosives needed to change the land itself. The city of Manehattan would never be what it is if the company had not provided the resources to build it.”
“Ya, ya., Shut up already.” I grumbled as I kept my eyes open.
The damned robot made it hard to hear anything. It just kept on yapping. “Even now, Surmount Mining Unlimited provides Equestria the raw resources it needs to fight the striped menace. Even when mines similar to this one no longer provide its rich bounty, the company still found a use for it. Partnering with three young entrepreneurs, the company helped Stable-Tec get its start by selling them the old mines to build their underground shelters known as Stables. Even aided in the excavation of old tunnels to fit the new stables.
“Yes, that's right. If you ever get to go inside a Stable, it’s more than likely it was built inside a Surmount Mining Unlimited mine!”
An off tune jingle played as the robot finally stopped talking, allowing me to finally listen to my surroundings.
There was a lot of damned tail rattling surrounding me...
Jumping onto one of the old tables, I pulled out the bottle Harp gave me and smashed it down, hoping it would keep them away. After that, I drew my 10mm full auto pistol, ready to kill a few of the sneaky hounds. But the invisible fucks did not move. They just hissed and yapped at me. Their voices sounded a bit too high pitched.
One then became visible, and it was really small…
Too small.
It was a fucking pupie!
Wait, then where are its parents?
As though on que, a low growl came from in front of me. My eyes fell onto a large blurry shape, it’s form becoming visible. In front of me was one big bitch.
“You must be the mama.” I said to the alpha nightstalker.
It snarled back at me.
I needed to be careful. Even one of the little bastards could kill me with one bite. Probably. But luckly they were still dumb beasts and the biggest one wanted to look me in the eyes before attacking me. I might as well oblige it.
Using my evil eyes, it was trapped in my stare as I shared with it the pain I have had to endure for the last few days. Getting shot, beaten down, bit by a fucking snake.
But something was off. The alpha nightstalker only growled more. Its tail raised and hair stood on end. Then she took a step forward.
This… this was new, and not good. If this didn’t work, I was fucked. So very fucked.
Then a thought crawled into the back of my head… What if I did the opposite? She was a mom. I was a mom. What if I could pacify the bitch by sharing something friendly? Was it even possible?
Digging up the feelings of my time with Prism and my darling Bridget, I felt a sharp pain in my head and in my eyes. It was as though this was exactly the wrong thing to do. As though my evil eyes hated it. But despite the pain, I could feel the emotions being sent.
The alpha’s tail lowered. It’s hairs smoothed out. She then stopped growling.
My vision blurred and my eyes felt like they were about to explode, forcing me to stop. I closed my eyes. More blood than normal was leaking from my eyes. More than it had ever done before. My head also felt light. Stumbling from where I stood, I fell onto a scaly, furry beast.
The alpha nightstalker then licked me with its long forked tongue.
She howled a friendly tune, causing three other adult nightstalkers to turn off their invisibility along with six other pups. They all now looked more relaxed than scared or angry. It's likely because the alpha said that I’m good. Amazingly enough.
Now was the next problem. How do I bag one of them and take it back with me?
After a momentary rest, I was feeling better, though my eyes still hurt like fuck. At least they didn’t feel like exploding on me. Putting my gun away and getting off the table, I froze as the seven nightstalker pups mobbed me, playfully nipping at my legs or trying to jump onto me.
One of the pups ran off and returned with some chew toy in its mouth. It looked like some old world tech. It also looked like it could attach to a pipbuck. When the pup dropped the thing in front of me, I figured that I might as well see what it did.
Attaching it to a slot on my pipbuck, my pipbuck screen flickered for a moment. The words “Stealthbuck attached.” appeared on the screen, followed by “Activating spell.”
For a brief moment I turned invisible. My own hoof turned translucent. With a pop, the stealth buck then burnt out, turning off the spell.
The same pup yipped, ran off, and returned with another chewed up steathbuck.
Taking it, I trotted over to where the pup had run to. I entered what looked to be a locker room. This place was clearly the nest. It was filled with torn clothes, sticks, mud, broken shells, and a shit ton of stealth-bucks.
There were boxes of them, all having spilled all over the floor. They practically decorated the nest. When I reached out to touch the nest, my own hoof turned invisible and stayed that way for a few seconds.
If I could get a few of them, maybe Harp could make an invisibility talisman. Then I could be like Mom!
A loud crash caught me by surprise followed by aggressive barking and panicked yipping. The other pups rushed into the room, diving into their nest as they turned invisible.
Taking a look at what was going on, I saw the mother fucking gigantc raddler in the room. A fifth Nightstalker helpless screamed in the snake's mouth before being swallowed whole.
The four other adult nightstalkers were distracting it. They ran back and forth as they barked aggressively. The alpha got in the closet. Her aggressive barks are far deeper and louder than the other three.
Looking down, I saw one pup with the stealthbuck in its mouth hiding behind my legs. This might be my opportunity. I could just grab it and run while the animals are distracted. I could… but looking at the little monster, I really didn’t want to do that.
But there was no way for me to fight the big fucking snake. Not with just my pistol.
But I did have a few powder charge sticks on me just in case something needed to be exploded.
I didn’t know if it was going to be enough to kill it, but I know that a powder charge explosion would be enough to stun the fuck out of anything near it. Now what to do with the Nightstalkers? I couldn’t leave them here to be eaten by that snake.
Breaking open one of the locked lockers, I found a weirdly thick saddlebag. The thing was likely used for hauling that damn sulfur. I picked up the one pup that stuck with me and put it into the bag. After that, I whistled at the others hiding in the nest. It took a moment, but once the pup already in the bag playfully yipped, the others rushed in to join in. Once the seventh pup was loaded, I pulled out my sticks of powder charges and a lighter.
But there needed to be one more distraction, and I knew what it should be.
I quickly ran to the power switch. I flipped it off and returned everything back to darkness. After a few seconds I flipped it back on. The lights crackled and popped back to life.
As the damn robot started yappin, I galloped to the mine tunnel I came out from. I whistled loudly to catch the other nightstalker’s attention. The alpha looked at me and saw one of her pups poked their head out and playfully yipped.
Making eye contact with the alph, I did my best to send a message of “Follow me” to her. The attempt caused my head to feel like it was splitting open.
The robot, Miles, began his speech. “Welcome everypony!”
The four nightslakers turned invisible and the big snake attention turned to the sparnking robot. Attacking it with a big bite, the snake coiled around the robot and pulled off it’s head.
I felt one of the nightstalkers pass by me. Hoping that they understood my plan, I lit my three sticks of powder charges and tossed them at the snake.
I did not wanting to stick around and see if this even worked. I galloped down the tunnel as fast as I could. Three very loud explosions were followed by a very pissed off screaming hiss and a lot of thrashing.
Briefly using my pipbuck’s map function, I galloped as fast as I could, backtracking my way out of the mine tunnel.
Finding myself back in the moss covered cave, I took a quick break. My lungs felt like they were on fire now. I had never run so hard in my life before. The moment quickly ended as I heard a very angry hiss and aggressive rumbling getting closer.
At full speed, I made it back to the stable. The loud angry hissing from behind me had long tipped everypony off that the big snake was coming. They had constructed some sort of pathway with a big loop in the middle. Seeing Harp on the other side, I jumped through the hoop and skidded to a stop in front of her.
Panting, I said, “You are not going to believe what I just did.”
“I know you pissed off the snake!” she yelled at me. “Did you at least get the bait?”
I rolled my eyes at Harp as I passed the saddlebag over to her. “No problem. The snake is pissed at me, so I’ll be the bait.”
“You're insane!” she told me.
“I’m having fun being insane though,” I said back at her.
The big fucking snake bust through. Burn marks were on its face and body. Its green glowing eyes looked at me. With the most angry body language I didn’t know a snake could make, it charged at me.
“NOW!” Harp shouted, and like an executioner's noose, a looped cable wrapped around the snake's body as it passed through it. It’s head lunged at me. Wenom dripped from its fangs. But it stopped just a hair's breadth from reaching me.
Letting out a loud pained hiss, the snake then coiled and thrashed. The curtains fell, revealing that a lot of us were pulling on the cables, thus holding the snake in place.
Then came Spritz with a long crude spear. Safely, she stabbed the snake over and over again.
I watched as the snake finally gave one last pained gasp. Its blood pooled onto the dirt floor of the cave.
Cheers were all around as everypony let go of the cable. They celebrated our victory over this monster.
Trotting closer, I laughed loudly. “Fuck you! And fuck all your nomal sized kin!”
The snake's body twitched. With one last spasm, it lunged right at me. It was as though it wanted one last act of revenge. Slamming into the snake's head, thus causing the snake to miss, was the alpha nightstalker. The snake twiched a few more times as everypony watched it in silence, waiting for it to attack again.
It eventually stopped moving and everypony breathed a sigh of relief.
A worried looking Henbane trotted over to me. “Star… why do you have a nightstalker nuzzling you?”
I nervously chuckled. “Not just one.”
One of the pups poked its head out of the saddlbag Harp was holding followed by the rest. The three other adult nightstalkers soon appeared next to me.
“So… they like me now,” I announced with a chuckle.
Ghost Nightstalker - this strange breed of nightstalker can naturally turn invisible, much like how a stealthbuck can turn a pony invisible. It’s unknown how many of these extra dangerous nightstalkers are out in the wasteland, but it’s clear nopony has seen them for obvious reasons. They are slightly larger and less aggressive than the common nightstalker. They also have gray on white fur that is reminiscent of a mountain farm dog, but with a diamond along it’s back much like the common rattlesnake.
“I don’t know where Fluttershy found these rattlesnake coyote hybrids, but they're awesome! I was able to get a bunch of them for my own ministry to work with. Most are going to be bred for high aggression and smuggled behind enemy lines to mess with the Zebras. But, I want some for my own, like crazy guard dogs, but also snakes. I asked Applejack about where I can get some good guard dogs along with passing her an idea about using stealth-bucks on dog collars. If this works, I’m going to have the most awesome guard dog to ever exist. Those Zebra spies can’t kill what they can’t see, or understand.” ~ Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash of the Ministry of Awesome.
"Harp Melody told me that being a leader was more than just making the right decisions at the right time, but also making the wrong decisions at the wrong time. So long as you were the one making the decisions, you were the leader. Nopony follows a leader that is filled with indecision.
Unfortunately for Harp, this meant to hold life and death over other ponies. Being the judge, jury, and executioner. Having asked her if she regrets some of the choices she has made, she simply told me that she would have regretted whatever choice she had to make. Because rarely ever were her opinions fair.
I have seen a lot of leaders in my time and the truly great ones were rarely good people. They simply pushed against the odds and survived." ~ Azure Dice
“Well… we were able to follow the map Star Charter made and found the old tunnel, but all those stealth-bucks we recovered are all damaged like Star said. You think they're still useful, Miss Harp?” Pilfer asked me. His eyes, every now and then, looked at the invisible shimmer on top of the overmare’s desk I was sitting behind.
I had decided to just leave the animal be since it was not being aggressive. Also having it in the room with me made nearly everypony far more respectful towards me. It may be the fear of the nightstalker and not of me, but it helped to establish authority between me and the other escaped convicts.
I gave the thief a smile. “That’s what I want to find out. Is there anything else you found down there? Don’t worry. You can keep most of the things you pocketed. I just want information or anything that might be useful.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “You're quite a cool dame. You know that?”
“Save the flattery until after this stable is unified,” I told him sternly.
“Oh. Right. My apology, Miss Harp.” He pulled out a small bag from his jacket that Cherry had made for him. The thing had a stupid amount of pokets on the inside. Emptying them out, a card and a data stick fell onto the table. “Ya. Further back, we found a hidden room that had been left open. It had several skeletons with this stuff on them. It gave me that wrong feeling, like when you break into the home of a psychopath kind of wrong. It had all that lab stuff and lots of cages.”
Turning over the card, it had the symbol of the Ministry of Awesome on it and a code. I didn’t know a lot about this ministry. Just that their public face and private face were as different as night and day. Back home, the organization Orthrus had found one of their secret hubs, but they never told anypony of what they found inside. My own family records said that my ancestor Majesty had worked with the M.Aw several times, researching new tech. But even she never told anypony what she saw or did with them. She did not even mention it in her journals after the war ended.
“Do any of Spritz followers know about this?” I asked.
Pilfer gave out a quick confident laugh. “Oh please. Those knuckle heads were too busy watching out for more besties to keep an eye on me all the time. Anyways, I made sure I was in and out for only a few seconds. It’s a rule among professionals like me to never overstay our welcome.”
“Especially when in places you don’t belong,” I added and he smiled in confirmation. “Well make sure any of this does not reach Spritz ears. I may not know steel rangers as well as you, but I get the feeling that this is the kind of thing they go to war over.”
“Thought the exact same thing. Trust me, when we wastelanders find any new tech, the last thing we do is tell anypony about it. There’s several old foal tales about it where it never ends well for the pony with loose lips.”
Looking at the card, I couldn’t help but wonder what else was in there. Guns, tech, some lost horror that should never be released. I would need to go down there after Spritz is taken care of.
“Thanks for your help with this mess. You should go and take a break, but please do keep your ears open and mouth shut. For both our sakes,” I told Pilfer.
“Oh you don’t have to tell me twice. I know what’s coming our way if that bitch takes full control,” he said before leaving the overmars office.
Henbane trotted in after Pilfer had left the room. The mare pulled out a large piece of meat. The nightstalker then dropped it’s invisibility. Its mouth opened wide as Henbane tossed the meat to it.
As the creature chowed down onto the slab of snake meat, I couldn't help being a bit mesmerized by how beautiful this nightstalker was. After Star somehow got them to accept being washed, their dirty gray coats turned an almost pure white with a gray diamond pattern along its back. The snake head was still somewhat dog shaped and its scaled tail reflected the light around it. Despite all the beauty, the animal was still clearly dangerous with its venomous fangs and almost unpredictable personality. Fortunately, as long as we kept them fed, they were as docile as a regular dog, though far more mischievously smart.
“So… may I ask how that thing got in here? It’s been looking for it for almost an hour,” Henbane asked as she looked at the nightstalker.
I sighed. “It literally opened the door on it’s own and took over my desk.”
Henbane physically quivered. “Celestia fuck me with her horn. If the nightstalkers were like that back home, my family would all be dead. The normal ones were enough to force any merchant caravan to risk rader territory then to deal with them. Star has got to have the eyes of Fluttershy if she managed to tame these monsters of monsters.”
I raised an eyebrow. “The eyes of Fluttershy?”
“Ya. The mare of the Ministry of Peace. Old legend says she could tame any beast by just looking them in the eyes. Even the Zebras have their own legends about her. They tell their foals if they're not good then her doom bunny will come for them,” she explained.
Right. My history books said something about Fluttershy having some strange magical ability involving her eyes.
“Well history and legends aside, I don’t feel confident in moving this animal until Star comes to help. Now do you have anything to report?” I asked Henbane.
The mare trotted closer, keeping an eye on the nightstalker. “About the plan, ya. Things are moving along smoothly. Your insistence on recovering tech has got Spritz laying her influence thin to just maintain control. You may be able to take the pony out of the steel rangers, but you can’t take the steel ranger out of that mare. She is held up in the maintenance to make sure nopony fucks with all the tech down there. Cherry has been sowing discontent among Spritz’s followers. Amazing what some food and a fuck can get you.”
“Good. And her most loyal flowers?” I followed up.
Henbane rolled her eyes, clearly not a fan of the subject. “Loyal is a bit too strong of a word for them. More shared interests than anything. Most are from ganagers that got taken out by the NCR, so they're down with Spritz’s point of view. Fortunately they’re no steel ranger, so that weird chem the zebras have been cooking up has been keeping those assholes distracted. But if things turned into a fight, they would still side with Spritz. No way to change their mind.”
“Alright. Just have a few ponies keep an eye on them. Make sure they don’t see anything we don’t want them to,” I told her.
“Right boss. But what do you plan to do with them once Spritz is out of the picture?” Henbane asked me.
The mare was less loyal and more against Spritz, so I could trust her enough to not stab me in the back. For her, there was only death waiting for her with Spritz. “I’ll have a grave dug for them. They are the first that need to go.”
A look of shock formed on her face.
“Miss Henbane, trust me when I say this. The last thing we need is several smaller Spritz running around among us. So long as they're around, Spritz has the power to keep her control. Without them, she is only one mare.” I explained.
“A fucking mountan of rage and self righteousness. Not to be paranoid, but she looks like the kind of mare that needs no backup to kill us all.” Henbane stated her worry.
I nodded. “I’m in full agreement. That's why I’m working on a way to negate that strength of hers. But I first have to make sure nopony has her back, otherwise it could all fall apart.”
A long sigh came from Henbane. “I get it, and I’ll stick to the job I was given. Now I’ll go tell Star that her missing pet is here, then you can come down and join us for some grilled snake stakes.”
Henbane then left, and fortunately, no pony came in after her. I had been spending most of the day going over logistics and giving out orders. It all was taking longer to do because of ponies constantly coming to ask questions or report random shit. It seems that not only Slowtrot was seeing ghosts down here, so some ponies are a bit more on edge then the rest.
Tapping at the overmars terminal, I looked over our supply list both on the Blue and Red side of the stable. The food situation had not changed, though the red side was burning through theirs a bit faster than we were. As for bullets and guns, there was barely enough ammo left for the NCR guns. I was glad we were able to kill the giant snake without wasting ammo. As for the supply of 10mm, we have more than enough for the guns we have, which is not many.
At least water will not be a problem. Fortunately the water purification talisman on both sides were undamaged and just needed some dusting off to get back in working order, though the rusting pipes left everything with a metallic taste to it. At least we're not drinking dirty water.
Looking over at the nightstalker, I gave it a little scratch under its chin and the thing gave me a happy hiss. “You are a strange dog.” I told her.
Turning my attention to the datastick Pilfer had given me, I decided to give it a quick look.
“Incriped data, Madam Harp.” Order told me. The cartoonish twittermight looked a bit annoyed.
“Order, can you decrypt?” I asked my smarter than it should be Virtual Intelligent assistant.
“Old equestrian encryption from the Ministry of Awesome… finished!” Order told me as text then filled my pipbuck screen.
Old Equestria tech was still top of the line even after over two hundred years. No doubt about it. But Orthrus tech has had the time to match and surpass it. If only I had more than just the Orthrus pipbuck on me.
Quickly looking over all the logs, most about their own logistics and a few projects not spoken in any detail. But several logs caught my eye. They were called “Project (Ghost) Snake-otes.”
Log 1
The shipment of the bioweapons have arrived along with a huge shipment of stealth-bucks. Our job is to train and expand their numbers for the use as specialized guard dogs. The Snake-ote puppies in our care are quite friendly and smart, despite them having a monstrous form. I wonder why using those monsters when a normal dog would be just fine, but due to an isolation order being in effect, any questions to the main hub will have to wait.
Log 2
The training has gone well so far and the integration of stealth-bucks has started. They take to being invisible more than ponies do. Most likely because they can see heat just like a snake. We even tried using the stealth-bucks around them and they saw right through the spell. With how sneaky the zebras are, I now see the appeal to using these as guard dogs.
Log 3
Testing the Snake-otes around civilians has begun. Using the stealth-bucks, we come from the tunnels and stand near where the civilians pass. All safely behind the fence. Two behavior patterns have been noticed. Snake-otes that have extensive training are calm and quiet. They observe their surroundings and generally being a good dog. As for the control group that are mostly untrained, they shy away from the civilians and will rattle their tail. One temporarily got away, spooking several ponies, but was never seen before we recaptured it. This happened a few more times. We later did it on purpose to observe it in more detail. It seems the natural instinct of the Snake-otes is to stay out of sight and hunt easy prey.
Log 4
The vat growing process to increase the Snake-otes biodiversity has been a success with the new batch of puppies alive and healthy. A few of our control group have also laid eggs. This is odd because both rattlesnakes and coyotes don’t lay eggs. We have decided to keep this oddity as it allows the female to continue to move about after mating.
Log 5
A strange mutation has happened to some of the naturally hatch Snake-otes. They are able to naturally turn invisible. This too is a feature we will keep if it can reproduce it. We suspect it has something to do with the stealth-bucks.
Log 6
Turns out that the stealth-bucks magic lingers in the Snake-otes and can be passed down to the young. Because of this, we are now putting stealth-bucks inside the gestation vats to see if we can copy the result artificially.
Log 7
We are naming this new breed the Ghost Snake-ote, after the project itself. This new Snake-ote is capable of near perpetual invisibility along with a high intelligence and a natural avoidance of crowds. This Snake-ote is the ultimate stealth predator and guard dog. The isolation order will be over soon and I know Rainbow Dash is going to be so stoked to see these puppies.
Log 8
There was not enough time. The damn zebras have attacked and all communication is down. The Civilians have taken shelter inside the cave thinking it will protect them, but our sensors have detected baelfire radiation moving in and getting stronger.
One of our team members has a major in geology and studied how the weather works. No fucking clue why he is in bio research then, but he is panicked as all fuck. Turns out the natural topography here makes this place a deadzone for wind, so everything blows in but nothing blows out. This includes the damn balefire fallout.
Soon the land above will become a major hot zone as the irradiated particles gather here to stay. We could try and sneak into the local stable, but something about it’s construction tells me that it’s a bad idea. We at least have enough food and water to last us far longer than the civilians. We just need to find a solution before we starve to death.
Log 9
The one good thing about living in a bio lab and having live test subjects just next door. We can blast through this research faster than the ministries would ever ethically let anypony. The civilians were doomed from the start, but it didn’t make it any less horrible to them.
But we have made a breakthrough. We have a serum that allows a pony to fully resist radiation, all thanks to the ghost snake-oties. There are some mutations from it, but we don’t have the time to work out the kinks.
Last Log.
If we only had enough time to test out the serum, to see the long term effects. We waited for the last of the civilians to die. The unfortunate ponies chose to take themselves out in the end. I think some ran into the tunnels hoping to find something. Anything to keep them alive.
With our ghost snake-oties, we ventured outside. The dessert itself was glowing from the fallout. A horrifyingly beautiful emerald green. The geiger counter was off the chart through the whole expedition. After a few days, we noticed that the effects of the serum were causing some of us to mutate further. Not some growth that can be cut off, or becoming sick. No. We were changing physically. Some of our fur fell off and scales formed underneath. One of us went mad, barking and hissing at the rest of us, thus forcing us to put him down when he attacked.
I and the other mutating scientist went back to the lab in the hopes to find a way to reverse the mutation. It was the best option really. This gave the others who weren't mutating a better chance to survive. At least we have our snake-oties to keep us company. They’ good and weird snake dogs.
Removing the data stick, I sighed. It was one tragedy after another here, but it at least explained the nightstaklers behavior. It also meant that there were more out there, staying out of sight.
My door opened and a nightstalker puppy rushed through with Star Charter behind it. “Sorry about losing her like that. They're really hard to keep track of,” she apologised.
Letting the puppy jump onto my lap, I gave it a pat on the head as it happily hissed at me.
“As it turns out, that's what they were made to do,” I said as I held up the data chip. “Among other things, these nightstalkers happen to be a secret ministry project to make better guard dogs. They are called ghost snake-oties and should be trainable. That’s if over the last 200 years has not bred that tamness out of them.”
“Snake-oties?” Star said with a raised eyebrow.
I tossed her the data chip. “Look up snake-oties. It has a bunch of logs about them.”
She smiled. “Snake-oties sound lame. Ghost Nightstalkers ... now that is a cool name. How about it, Snaps?”
The nightstalker on my desk yipped happily.
“Snaps? It already has a name?” I asked.
Star trotted over and began to pet Snaps. “Might as well give them names. You can give one of them a name if you want. Anywho, you must be hungry. I know I am.”
Putting the puppy on the desk, I got out of my seat. “Lets,” I agreed.
A lot of work had gone into preparing the big snak’s corpse for not just this meal, but making sure it didn’t rot on us. Fortunately the cold storage in the stable was in mostly working order, though I had to help give it a power boost first. So now we have a lot of salted snake meat which will extend how long we can live here if we needed to stay longer than planned.
Not just the meat was carefully harvested and stored, but almost every part of its body. Blood, bones, and some of the intestine were being preserved. The wasteland ponies didn’t let anything go to waste despite how dirty and ill educated most of them seemed to be.
As for our meal, it didn’t look like much. A pale imitation of the food I had eaten in stable 50. It is a cooked slab of snake meat served with a side of glowing fungus that has been soaked in snake blood with chilly as a gravy. Putting it in my mouth, the flavor clashed and it was clearly not cooked as well as it could have. Yet my mouth watered and my taste buds tingled. It must have been the snake meat, or the sauce, but it tasted so good that I couldn't help but enjoy it.
Everypony else enjoyed the meal as well. There was a feast before we all had to go back to rationing it out. It’s also a celebration of our victory over the monsters of the wasteland. It was furthermore another way to further cut Spritz off from her followers. Though she did strike the killing blow, it was Star and I that brought it into the trap. Star put her own life on the line for it. Everypony here knew it, but Spritz seemed ignorant of the shifting in power.
She lords over everypony, establishing a chain of command through power and fear. I’ve been establishing my own power structure through the necessity of skills. Just like back home in the Marewaii Metro, being able to turn back one long dead tech is extensively valuable. That and my willingness to take on the work that requires more thinking. This is in addition to a few well placed talks with ponies who have influence. I have become a pony they need if they are to survive, where Spritz is the pony they need to placate or risk death.
“Everypony listen up!” Amralt bellowed. “Old Yack tradition to give speech when yak has feast! So yak wants to thank pony friend for the opportunity to smash as free yak. In Yakyakistan, there is little food. Lots of snow. So yaks must be strong, and yaks are strong. But yak has hard time understanding pony ways. Caused yak problems with NCR ponies. Yak wishes to go explore more, then go home, but yak was in prison for being yak. Thanks to pony friend, Yak is free, and so are all you ponies. We all are now free to go wherever we wish, to leave the NCR to smash their own problems without us.”
Many of the ponies cheered at the little speech. Others simply raised their glass in agreement. Only three ponies didn’t seem to like that speech. They were Spritz's true followers. Three of them were here to keep an eye on everypony. Four more were down below with Spritz, making sure any and all tech was accounted for.
As everypony celebrated, ate, and some went in for a second survivings of snake meat, I finished my meal and snuck away to the Zebra’s private room.
Inside several dirty stabletech plates were stacked up in the corner. The zebras were given first dibs on the meal so that they didn’t have to stay around the ponies for all that long. They kept their distance from ponies when they could. Which was good for us, because they had a job to finish.
Trotting up the alchemy station they had constructed, Star and Slowtrot were already here waiting for me. Star was still chewing on a slab of snake meat along with the ghost nightstalker pack.
Slowtrot, on the other hoof, was giving the zebras a medical scan. When they had learned that he received some training from a wartime zebra ghoul medic, they were a bit more relaxed around him.
“How do they look, Slowtrot?” I asked him.
“The Zebras? Other than Bitter, they’re in good health. I guess sticking to their own has helped them avoid disease, unlike the other ponies here,” he answered.
Star chuckled as she eyed one of the zebra stallions. “That's good to know.”
Ignoring Star, I trotted over to sickly looking Bitter. “Anything we can do for her?”
Slowtrot nervously scratched the side of his head. “Well the chem hangover will eventually pass, but whatever she caught from the NCR guard is going to be a lot more difficult.”
Right. There was a bit of an STD problem among the ponies here. If I remember correctly, there was a way to treat such things back home. But we were in the wasteland, so she unfortunately might just have to live with it. “Is it deadly?”
Shaking his head, Slowtrot sighed. “It’s a more common ailment that’s going around. Nothing too serious, but not fun to have from what I’ve been told. The followers have a treatment for it which reduces the symptoms.”
That was good to know.
Bitter held her head in pain, looking like she regretted everything in her life right now. Most of all sleeping with the NCR guard. Next to her were several of the guns we still owned along with a kitchen's worth of knives. But most importantly, there were several vials ready to be filled.
It was a bit elaborate, but Spritz was expecting a direct attack, or an attempt to use explosives. But using poison gas, that was something she probably did not expect us to use.
That aside, something was bothering me. “Why the weapons?”
Bitter attempted to smile, but only managed a grimace. “Fuck, why can’t I get some med-x, pony?”
Slowtrot sighed and explained. “You're suffering from a chem induced hangover and my pipbuck warned of a possibly deadly side effect if you take med-x while that crap is still in your system.”
Groaning, Bitter turned to me. “What you're asking for is just a byproduct of the real potion. The potion we have created is an old enchantment potion that we paint onto an item. You probably heard about that zebra rifle the Lightbringer used, the one that sets whoever is hit by it on fire. Well that’s because of zebra enchanting paint.”
I gave her a concerned look. “So why do you know such a technique?”
Bitter gave a pained chuckle. “Unlike the fake zebras calling themselves the Angels, our tribe are true descendants of the Zebraca empire. Something... something about covertly supplying anti-Equestria ponies with weapons. A lot of the details have been lost to time. It’s what my mother told me, and her mother told her. I think we never went home out of some duty to make sure Equestria never came back for revenge.”
I face hoofed at this information. “Are you sure it’s smart to tell me this?”
She shrugged. “It was all over two hundred years ago. Most ponies, other then some ghouls and the tin cans, don’t give a fuck about the old war. What they do care about is the skills we provide.
“Unfortunately for us, the fucking NCR didn’t like that we were providing for ponies they were not on good turms with… and we attack the Angles.”
“Right, right. Let's move on. What enchantment are you planning to make for the weapons?” I asked, not wanting to get into any more ancient history.
This time Bitter managed to grin wildly as she lifted a knife with a smeared zebra striped paint on it. “I didn’t know exactly what it would do at first, so I tested it. Unfortunately the paint needs more time to seep into the weapon, but the results were… quite nasty.”
“Nasty?” I repeated questionly.
She put the knife away. “Ya. Real nasty. I have managed to transfer the giant snake venom to the paint and it magically passes it on to whoever is hit by it. For ponies who don’t heal like Star, it means when they are hit by the enchantment, it would be as though they just got envenomized. It mainly does two things, of which I’ve observed in the rats I poked. Firstly it causes the target to bleed more than they should, and second the rats become disoriented. A nasty way to die.”
I looked at the potion, now knowing how deadly it was. Understanding that if things turn bad for us, we will need that power. “Alright. That’s nasty. And the gas bombs?”
“Easy to make. Not very effective outdoors though. Should have the same effect as the enchantment,.” she explained.
“Alright. I’ll let you do your work. I just need one to test soon,” I told Bitter.
I then watched as she made me one gas bomb with help from Star. She mixed the potion with another liquid before sealing the vial with a very small explosive. It bubbled and shook for a moment before settling down. Then they attached a switch to it and passed it to me.
Star pointed at the switch and explained, “Took some foals toy with a micro spark battery and attached it to a fuse. Flip the switch and you got a few seconds to throw it.”
Placing it safely in a small box and then into my saddle bag, I nodded back at them.
Feeling curious, I stuck around to watch the weapons get painted. Mixing the potion with some paint, it was clear which ones the zebras planned to keep. They painted stripes onto a few NCR combat knives and one of the rifles. The others were given a less flashy paint job by simply sploshing them with green and yellow paint, including the two 10mm’s we had.
Then Star pulled out parts from her own pistol. They had been scratched up carefully in a way to look like snake scales. Unlike the other 10mm’s, her auto pistol was given more care in painting, thus making them look almost like real scales. As the painting was nearly finished, it became clear that she had the zebras copy the colors and pattern of the ghost nightstalkers. It was now a silverish white gun with a gray diamond pattern along the side.
When it was all done, the weapons were all put inside a container. Next they put a cup of burning potion infused paper in the container before closing it.
Bitter then sighed. “If this all goes well, we should have a bunch of venomous weapons to use. I’m calling them the snake bight weapons.”
Star chuckled. “Neat name, but I want to call my gun the Nightstalker’s Regard!”
“Symbolism is important to this magic.” Bitter said as she pulled out her test knife again. “We use stripes because they are meant to be zebra weapons and used by zebras. Making the magic of the enchantment stick better, often empowers it from what I was told.”
Feeling out with my own magic, I could feel the somewhat twisted magic of the painted weapons moving about as they attached their enchantment to the steel. Among them, I could feel one stronger than the others and the magic solidifying far faster than the rest. “Ya,” I agree. “Magic does tend to stick when it has a purpose.”
Star trotted over to me with a mischievous grin on her face. “So, we can wait for the weapons to dry, or maybe do something else and come back later.”
I felt the box containing the gas bomb in my bag. “Actually, we have plans to put in motion and they need to happen fast.”
Leaving the others behind and entering the residential section, Star and I were quickly followed by two of Spritz’s followers. We expected one, but two was even better. We just needed them to follow us with nopony trailing or watching.
Trotting to the end of the hallway and into the restrooms, we both then waited. The door soon opened and a mare and stallion trotted in, both armed with 10.mm SMG’s. I recognized them as ponies that held some influence under Spritz in the prison. Now they had even more power. The mare was an interrogator. Rumorss of her cornering and making a pony sob in fear was abundant.
As for the stallion, he seemed to be a simple enforcer, but Cherry told me he was one of the ponies who replaced the zebras in the black powder room, so he knew explosives.
“Must you really follow us everywhere?” I sarcastically asked the two stalkers.
The mare snarled. “When you’re plan on running a good thing, then yes. Yes we do.”
Star rolled her eyes at them. “Any chance you could stop kissing Spritz’s asshole? You got some brown on your lip.”
The stallion just glared as the mare continued to talk. “Fuck you, you whore house slut. You don’t understand what we went through. What the fucking NCR took from us. Here we got a small army, a base and some guns. I heard what the others were whispering. About just staying put and fixing up the stable to live in. A pipe dream. We need to fight back, and you're in the way of that.”
I smiled as one of the pieces of the plan flawlessly came together. Misinformation. My real plan was to leave this place and go to the Desperados. I made sure that any pony didn’t need to know, they were told something different. Staying here and hiding out was a simple and easy to swallow lie. It helped that I was helping with getting some of the stable back online.
If the information that Spritz’s followers were sending her was incorrect, then she would not be able to properly respond to me. Case in point, her being down in maintenance then up here keeping an eye on me.
“We ain't just going to hunker down and become stable ponies. We’re going to make the NCR bleed.” the stallion clarified.
“Ya, so we're going to need you out of the way. Ya dig?” the mare threatened.
“Is this an order from Spritz?” I asked calmly.
The mare then scowled. “Fucking damn right it is, you fucking freeks.”
I looked at Star and then back at the two ponies threatening us. “So that's it, then. Kiss kiss, bang bang?”
The mare growled in frustration. “Oh stop acting like such an eggheaded cunt. No way you're sweet talking to us like the others.”
They both then pulled their guns out as at the same time, grins on their faces.
Star whistled loudly. Appearing around the two ponies were the four adult nightstalkers, teeth bearing, ready to attack. I don’t know how Star was able to command them so easily, but right now I really didn’t care.
Our attackers froze, unsure what to do next.
With the tables turned, I gave them a big smile. “How about we forget this ever happened and I talk about this with Spritz. All’s fair that she got back at me for what happened at the prison. Don’t you think?”
Both ponies quickly lost their nerve, putting their guns away. “Ff-fine, you live today, but watch your back.”
She turned to leave, but the alpha nightstalker blocked their path, growling a hiss.
“How about you two stay here for a bit and we trot on out first.” I told them.
The mare scowled, but nodded.
Trotting passed them, I made sure all four nightstalkers left before stopping at the door. Taking out the box containing the gas bomb, I placed it on the floor. “Oh, I got some tech working recently and wanted Spritz’s opinion on it. That is unless you want a crack at it first. She seems quite content to get first dibs on everything.
Feeling out with my magic, I sent enough power to the switch for it to activate without being manually switched. Then I slid it over to them.
The mare seemed disinterested, but the stallion picked it up.
“Don’t fucking throw tha…” There mare tried to warn him, but he already opened it. With a pop, the stallion got a face full of the gas. He hit the closed door button. I felt out the magical wiring in the door which powered the mechanism to make sure it stayed closed.
The sounds of a pony beating at the door soon followed. Angry at first, but soon frantic, then weak. The sound of hooves soon ended. We waited for a few minutes just in case. I had asked for the gas to only linger in the air for a short time, but didn’t want to risk going back in too soon.
“I think they're dead,” Star pointed out calmly.
Nodding, I turned around. “They better be. Life with that kind of pain would be the worst thing ever.”
We waited another minute. Impatient, Star took a deep breath and opened the door. She trotted back over to me in case some of the gas was still in the air. What we saw was two ponies bleeding from every hole in their body. Red foam seeped from their mouths and they had scratched at their own throats before expiring.
Seeing it myself, I now knew why the zebra alchemy weapons from the great war were so feared. They were terrible and cruel weapons, yet efficient and easily used.
Star Charter whistled in amusement. “Fuck. That looks like a horrible way to go. Is it safe to get the guns?”
With a sigh, I said, “Not sure, so keep your muzzle covered and quickly grab them. We got a few more poneis to kill before we're ready to take on the big fish.”
-The Stable-Tec IF-21A1 machine pistol has become the Nightstalker’s Regard-
The fully automatic 10.mm pistol now has the venom effect. It does damage over time along with weakening the target’s offensive and defensive ability. It has a snake pattern engraving and paint that acts like a subtle warning to those who see it.
"I asked Harp Melody about a mare called Spritz Cookie. Her name had passed through a few ponies lips when we finally reunited.
From her description, she was an obsessive tyrant who could only see her goal, never the winding path to get there. If she was living in a world of order and strict rules. She’d have been a fine if cruel leader, but she lived in the wasteland where no matter how much steel a pony could be made of, the wasteland will rust it.
To me, it sounded like the mare was a fool. One who is excellent at leading large groups with a leader over them to supervise. But they are a disaster once they are truly in charge. Not everyone is meant to be a ruler. Some are just meant to be a simple team leader." ~ Azure Dice
We return to Bitter’s room where she had just finished putting Star's gun back together. The scaled pattern on it’s side glisend in the light and the muzzle guard was wrapped in snakeskin that only added to the look of it.
Bitter, with deep bags under her eyes, presents me with three gas bombs. “Alright Harp, this is all we can reasonably make with the strength you need it at.”
I trotted over and opening the box that I kept the one from before.
She raised an eyebrow at the empty box. “I guess you were right, so how did it go?”
Placing them in the box, I carefully closed it. “Not a way I want to die.”
“Naturally,” Bitter said, nodding before asking, “So why gas bombs? Wouldn't just shooting them be easier?”
“You know why, Bitter. Killing is easy… once you get past the first few,” I said. I took a deep breath before continuing. “The ponies who follow Spritz are not going to fear a simple fight. That happens all the time. As tragic as it sounds, life is cheap. But that doesn't mean they don’t fear death. It’s just that the death they see must be something to truly dread.”
“And you know that kind of fear?” Bitter pressed.
I nodded back at her. “I can’t say I respected my own life all that much. Despite how good it was compared to others, there were parts that I could never overcome. Death was a way out but when it was out of my own hooves, and in the claws of a monster, I found myself wanting to live. That will to live truly made me fear death.”
Then I sighed. “I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but I pissed myself in that moment. The Islands I come from have a monster known as a paradise dragon. They're as terrifying as they are beautiful. Can easily kill a pony with their large claws. They're just one of many terrifying monsters living on the islands.”
“That makes sense. My mother would tell stories of the monsters of our homeland where ponies would live a life of safety and privilege. Our ancestors always fought to survive,” Bitter said as she nodded her head as though she even knew how it felt like being hunted by such monsters.
She then passed me the gas bombs. “Well for these, symbolism makes stronger magic, so I have been told. Using a weapon that is strong only inside closed spaces, such as a Stable, that had meaning to it.”
I gave Bitter a flat and serious look. “Yes. When you live underground your whole life, things like gas weapons are products of nightmares. It should put a supreme fear in any pony who wishes to stay in this stable.”
“But why not stay once that bitch is dead? You ponies love to cower behind walls,” she then asked.
Shaking my head, I then told her simply, “This place has already long passed its ability to support life. The sooner we leave, the better off we will be. Food, water, and guns. We should be able to travel far and do business before we're in any real trouble. Also, by turning to the Desperado’s, we should be able to get a safe passage to route 50. Let those who want to start new lives have a head start.”
Bitter rolled her eyes at my explanation. “It’s never going to be that easy. You know that. Rght?”
Smiling, I replied. “Never is.”
We then gave her the two SMG’s we took from Spritz’s followers. Forutantly she had enough potion left to paint them. I was given one of the snakebite pistols before we left. I hoped we were not going to need it, but the wasteland has proven that to be just wishful thinking.
Outside the Zebras room, things had mellowed out in the stable. With the feast over, everypony got back to work while giving off a feeling of peace to the stable.
Slowtrot passed us, hulling a few bags and looking a bit dower.
Trotting over, I asked him, “What's with the bags? Weren't you going to do more medical scans?” I asked.
Slowtrot sighed as he smiled. “I’ve already checked most of the ponies before the feast. Most of the rest are with Spritz.” He looked at the bag. “So with the free time, I fingered we put the dead to rest. Amralt is helping me dig the holes in the orchard.”
I felt a little ping in my chest. With all the plotting, planning, and now killing, I had forgotten the dead who were already here. “When this is all over, let's give the dead a proper sendoff.”
“I’ll join you in a bit, so just keep the death to a minimum. This is not stable 24 after all,” he told me before trotting over to the orchard.
The image of the two doomed ponies entered my head. They both wanted to be saved, but were too damaged for us to take them with us. It was an unfortunate thing I had to do, and one I pray to never have to do again. But here we were not among the innocent or pressured by a horde of raiders. The killing here is to save ponies, not to put the doomed out of their misery.
I then felt Star give me a hug. “There, there. He means well. Let's just get this over with. The longer we hesitate, the harder it will get.”
She was right. With things as they are, we only had a limited amount of time before Spritz catches on. Turning my attention to the last of Spritz’s followers up here, we trotted over Cherry’s spot in the stable.
The large room had only gotten more decorated as time went on, along with the mares. It almost felt like I was back in the Ruffled Feathers, though lacking any class or order. Not that the place needed any of that. It was just a bit uncomfortable to trot in and see two ponies barely hiding that their having sex.
Looking for our target was fortunately easy. Though loyal to Spritz, this stallion had too much of an appetite for whores. He was already disarmed as a mare was showing him a good time. I averted my eyes as we waited for the mare to finish up. The sight of a stallion privates were not something I wanted to see right now.
When they finally noticed us, the mare very quickly made her leave the place. This got us an annoyed look from the stallion.
“Oy, cunts. I got another round to go. So why did you interrupt me?” he said, still fully erect.
Star then sighed. “I thought Spritz had told you specifically to not come up here.”
He laughed. “I do what I want. So long as I make sure you cunts don’t get all uppity, she's not going to give a flying fuck what I do with the whores.”
“What is even your job with Spritz for her to give you any authority?” I said, still looking away.
“Simple, I’m a fucking crack sniper. In ma gang, nopony fucked with me. Nopony. The fucking NCR even wanted me for their stupid ass 1st recon team. Told ‘em to shove it. I ain’t working for no buzzard cunt with all their rules. With Spritz, I can do whatever I want provided that I know that the one rule is that she’s in charge,” the stallion explained.
Star trotted up to him with a strut. “So that’s why you're with Spritz? What about all that anti-NCR shit she spouts?”
He then relaxed a bit as Star got close to him. “Well first, the funking NCR took over our territory and told us we can’t do bridge tolls anymore, so we blew the fucking bridge up and told them to sit and spin. If Spritz wants to kill NCR cunts, I’m all for it. They're just getting what they deserve.”
Seeing Star get close, I knew what she was up too, so I followed suit. I gotnext to him as well. “They did force us into hard labor. So much for banning slavary,” I said sweetly.
A smile formed on his face. “Hay, hey. You cunts are getting a bit friendly there. I thought you were all uptight and shit?”
It was almost disappointing how easily he was to draw in. “There’s just been so much work to do lately and so little time to ourselves. If you're just going to skip out on your orders, then maybe you can show us the best way to do it.”
He looked a bit confused. “Like right here? Because, as you can see, I’m ready to go.”
I frowned. “No, no. Not here. Let's go where we can make a show of it.”
A wide grin formed on his face as he grabbed his Service rifle. It was one for the tower guards rifles that was scoped with a longer barrel. “I knew it! You're a kinky one. All the uptight mares are.”
Giving Star a nodd, we both got up. We coaxed the dumbass to follow us. We passed a less than happy Cherry who didn’t say a thing. She didn’t like the idea of us killing her clients, but she knew to stay out of the way.
Trotting a short distance, we came to the school part of the stable. It was one of the few places with a big window that ponies could easily view in from the outside. Currently It was being used to store things we didn’t need, including bags of garbage, so it was the perfect place to dispose of this asshole.
Trotting in, the Stallion followed with excitement and hunger in his eyes. “So who’s first? No. Better yet, why don’t you both clean up my shaft? Get it back up and ready to pound.”
I almost gagged when he found a seat and sat back, letting his soffend member be exposed for everypony that could see in from the outside.
I looked at Star who shared my disgust. Giving her a nod to finish this, she nodded back in conformation.
Star then breathed in through her teeth. “Ya. We’re actually putting on a different show, you see, with you as the main entertainment.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Like what?… Oh. So you want to beg me or something? Well why not? But I get to fuck Harp while you fuck me!”
I had to hold desperately to not puke at that image in my head. Pulling out the gas bomb, I flipped the switch and rolled it to him. The stallion quickly bolted, but Star kicked him in the face, knocking him back. “The door is going to be locked, so just fuck yourself with the time you have left,” I told him as we trotted out of the room.
The sound of a pop was soon followed by a chair being thrown against the window. This was soon followed by the stallion trying to break the window by smashing it with another chair, thus breaking the thing on the glass. All the while he began to choke and bleed, slowly succumbing to the venom gas.
“You sure he can't break through that?” Star asked.
There were then several loud and muffled bangs as he attempted to shoot open the glass with his rifle. They only scratched the stable-tec reinforced bulletproof glass.
“Never mind,” Star commented as we watched him give up and fall to the ground, clutching at his own throat. A red foam began to seep from his mouth as blood dripped from his ears, nose and eyes. With one last final attempt to save himself, he charged head first into the glass, smearing blood on it before collapsing.
Many of the ponies in the atrium had already gathered when we lured the stallion into the room, likely hoping for a show. They got one, but not one they expected.
Taking a deep breath and turning around, I addressed them. “Just so you know, this enter stable was set up to gas itself before we ever arrived. The same stable that has a mad steel ranger wanting to be in charge. The same steel ranger who sees all of us as unworthy of any tech that’s in here. How long will it be until she gets rid of us all? How easy would it be for her to do it?”
I let them talk among themselves for several seconds. I let the thought of her gassing everypony set in before I finished my little speech. “I say we take everything we can and leave this place. If we stay and fight the NCR, even if you survive Spritz, they will come for you. But if we leave, get out of the NCR’s reach, then you all will have the opportunity to start a new life. Everypony will be given what they need. This stable has the provisions as we know well. From there, it’s all up to you. Die for Spritz, or help me and choose freedom!”
They were all quiet with more ponies coming over to see what was going on and getting informed by those who had heard me. It started with one pony stomping their hoof on the ground. Then a few more. Soon almost all the ponies were making the noise. Both ponies from the red and blue side were here, cheering me on.
Mother had always told my siblings that a public execution was the best way to get your point across. Now having done it myself, I could see that the message had come across loud and clear. Holding fear and respect on one's hooves was a powerful thing. Only time will tell if I truly have any real sway over them, but this was enough for right now.
This speech itself would soon reach Spritz, so it was time to finally confront her before she could prepare.
Trotting down, we were then joined by Slowtrot. “I got a bunch of the healing potions ready, just in case,” he said as he adjusted his saddlebag with a worried look on his face. “Are you sure this is the best way to do this?”
I shook my head. “Probably not, but I doubt Spritz would let us have better options. That aside, three of her lackeys are now dead, so there's no going back.”
He nodded. “I thought as much. The little show you put on did send a strong message. And I agree, we should start leaving sooner than later. It’s a little disturbing to me that we're using literal zebra gas bombs. Every day I stray further from my old life.”
One of the ponies working with us trotted over. His face was covered in a damp cloth. He held the rifle of the pony we just killed. Star laughed as she took the rifle and passed it over to Slowtrot. “That old life ended in baelfire. In this new one, it’s up to you.”
I cleared my throat to get their attention. “Alright. We got four more ponies to deal with, then Spritz. We didn’t see any pony run to maintenance on this side, so we may still have the element of surprise. Just follow my lead. I hope to make this as clean as possible.”
They both nodded and we trotted down to maintenance.
Things down here were more orderly with ponies carefully moving tech and parts out of their rooms. Spritz wanted everything cataloged and put into a safe place away from those she didn’t approve of. Fortunately this meant that not very many ponies were allowed down here right now and they were watched by Spritz’s true followers.
“Ahh, back here again, little stripy,” a mare in security armor greeted us. She was one of the four we needed to get rid of. Her job was to watch the entrance from the blue side along with the other nearby rooms down here.
“Here to see how the cleanup is coming. The sooner I can have access to the talismans, the sooner I can get more of the tech back up and running,” I told her, not entirely lying.
The mare rolled her eyes. “Ohh, an impatient bitch! Spritz said you’d get access when she says you will.”
I expected as much. Spritz wanted me as far from any more of the tech as possible. She probably had plans to kill me before everything was done, too.
As for this bitch, we just needed her to take us to at least one of the other loyal followers and away from the other ponies.
“Then we need to talk with Spritz. She is still down here, right?” I asked. It was a gambit, but Spritz was still busy going over the tech. She’d likely have me wait while under guard.
With a groan, the mare responded, “Fine, but the boss is busy right now. You can go wait in the fucking break room.”
Following the mare, she made a stop at the lab which had a few ponies boxing up the different tools inside. “Oy, the stripy mare wants to see the boss. She’s got Star with her.”
A stallion, also in security armor, trotted over. He gave us a stern look and nodded at the mare. It was another of the loyal followers. “We’re almost done here, so whatever.” His eyes lingered on Star longer than the rest of us, likely seeing her as the bigger danger. Possibly expecting a fight.
“Good. I’m going on ahead to get the others. You watch them in the break room,” the mare instructed before trotting off.
Now following the stallion, I could see the extent of Spritz’s operation. Each room was slowly and methodically being cleared out. Whatever was not nailed down was being piled up and sent to the lab to be boxed up. Whatever Spritz was planning, it at least would make things easier for everypony once she was out of the way.
Fortunately the break room was not being used for its intended purpose. Both rooms have long since been cleared of snacks and booze. Everything else was just left where we found it, including the turned over dented tables.
“You three stay here,” the stallion ordered us as he sat down holding his gun. Two ponies attempted to pass through, but the stallion glared at them, causing them to retreat.
“Soo… what's Spritz doing with all this stuff?” Star asked.
He shrugged. “Fuck if I know. Something about keeping it all safe and determining what can be used.”
“I see, so she’s trying to monopolize all the tech.” Slowtrot said quietly.
It made some sense. Spritz was trying to build her power base through the tech. From what I saw, it was all minor things meant to make life a bit easier. There were also some good researching tools and a lot of spare parts.
But for the wasteland, this is a goldmine. There were things that can ensure a pony survives the wasteland.
Yet why hoard them? It’s not like the wastelanders here can make do without the tech. She was also just one mare, not counting the four ponies we still needed to kill. Also a lot of this tech was useless without a power source. It was something I could provide, but not her.
Spritz was not a dumb mare. She would know there would be better ways to hold power. What she was doing here would only keep ponies loyal to her so long as she was stronger than them. It was too short term thinking for a mare who boasts about being greater than everyone here.
I didn’t like it at all.
The mare follower finally returned along with two other mares. All of them were in security armor and armed with service rifles. As they trotted in, one closed the door behind her. At the same time, the stallion watching us closed the door we had entered from.
“Where did you get that rifle?” one of the mares then asked.
We eyed Slowtrot for a moment before turning back to the loyalists. “Same place you did. Now how long will Spritz be?” I asked back.
Feeling trouble, I had the gas bomb ready to be used from within my bag.
She snarled. “Don’t play dumb with us. So did you kill that hornball fucktwit?”
I flashed her a smile while I used my pipbuck’s levitation spell to toss the triggered gas bomb as I answered, “Ya, like this.”
They all dove to take shelter as we changed to the door we came in from. Both Star and Slowtrot tackled the stallion while I reached out and pulled on the doors switch.
Scrambling out, bullets began to fly, nearly hitting me as I, too, dove for cover. Slowtrot and Star quickly followed,
Blood splattered on the wall as Star stumbled passed the door. She now had a large gash through her leg, exposing the bone underneath.
“Fucking leg shot again!” she hissed as she was hoofed a healing potion from Slowtrot. She poured some of it on her wound and drank the rest. She winced in pain as her leg pulled itself back together. “Thanks. Fucking rifle rounds aren’t a damn joke.”
Reaching up to close the door, the stallion burst through and quickly dashed at me. The tackle sent me to the ground, causing my vision to blur for a moment as my head bounced on the hard cement.
“Oy fucker!” was all Star said as she pulled out her Nightstalkers Regard. Within a second, 12 bullets went flying, mos of which slammed into the stallion. The rest ricocheted down the hall.
He glared at her as he pulled up his own rifle. Most of the shots had harmlessly hit his armor.
With her leg still healing, all Star could do was stumble in a futile attempt to evade the attack.
But when he fired, the shot went wide. It deafened us with the bang, but fortunately hit no pony. He then wobbled as he struggled to aim the rifle. Blood dripped from under his armor.
The venom enchantment had taken effect.
A second shot rang out, causing the stallion to fall over. Slowtrot himself had taken him out. The blank look in his eyes were a clear sign that he uses S.A.T.S.
With one confirmed dead, we looked in to see the rest of them. One mare was on the floor, red foam coming out of her mouth as she spasamec. The other two had jumped behind the bar and taken aim at us. Ducking back, the bullets followed us ricocheting off the walls harmlessly.
“Ya bitch! The fuck yo throw at us!” one mare shouted as she coughed, practically hacking up a lung.
The room must have been too large, thus causing the gas to become too thin. But at least it had reached them.
“Should I throw the last gas bomb at them?” I asked as I pulled out the last gas bomb.
Star shook her head and pulled out a bundle of powder charge sticks. “Naw. Let's just use the normal stuff. I just need you to cover me so the throw is just right.”
She then lit the fuse at the mid section. Quickly pulling out my snakebite pistol, and along with Slowtrot, we fired at the bar. Both mares ducked under cover for protection.
“Ya. Waste those bullets. Spritz will be here soon and you're all gonna be dead!” one of the mares shouted.
Throwing the bundle of explosive sticks, Star's aim was true. It perfectly flew through the air and fell behind the bar.
All we heard was a “FUCK!” right before the explosions went off, sending a wave of heat at us.
We waited for the smoke to clear along with whatever gas was still in the air. We at least knew they were dead. No pony was that hard to kill. But one could never be too careful. As soon as we saw the mutilated corpses of the mares, we relaxed. Parts of their scorched bodies were scattered all around the room.
Star was the first to trot in, giving us a big smile. “So, you think we should just toss the gas bomb in the Spritz room and run? Rather not get into another hoof to hoof fight with her. I’m still hurting a bit from the last time.”
Any debate on what strategy we should use ended as soon as the door to the other break room opened up. Framed by the door was a very pissed off Spritz. She had one of LMG service rifles attached to a stable-tec battle saddle, fully armed and ready to fire.
“I guess I should have expected savages to even fuck up at killing other savages.” Spritz snarled. “Now just die already!”
Star dived behind a nearby steel table as Slowtrot and I quickly backed out of the room. The rapid fire burst of the two LMG’s followed, clattering through the doorway as the bullets wiped towards Star.
“Maybe if you weren't such a crazy bitch, you wouldn't have to rely on savages to do your damn dirty work!” Star shouted, followed by a click from her pistol being racked.
“I would not expect you to understand,” Spritz responded, the sound of her heavy hoofsteps coming a little closer.
Slowtrot and I peeked out a little, but quickly pulled back as several shots from Spritz came at us. The sound of the bullets flying came so close that it made my ears ring.
“I am a Star Paladin Spritz Cookie of the Steel Rangers. Second only to an elder. I made sure we stuck together no matter how far we were apart. Setting up supply lines, destroying threats, and training up new hopeful crusaders. Under my watch, the Rangers were strong and focused. When I am promoted to Elder, I will see them wipe out those traitors. Along with those NCR savages that aid them.” Spritz fired another burst at Star Charter as she ranted.
I laughed. It was hard not to. “That’s not what I heard.”
A single shot flew through the doorway. “And what would you know?”
“Oh, not too much, but enough.” I said mockingly. “Met one of your subordinates, an Apricot Biscuit. She told me they tried to follow you, but you were too much of a murdering psychopath to bear. Said you killed a lot of your own troops on your way out.”
She gave a quick sharp laugh. “So that weakling is still alive? She didn’t have the guts to be a true ranger, just like those who turned their back on our mission. I showed them what it takes to be a Steel Ranger. We must be unbending and never falter. They all failed my test.”
“Failed at what? being raiders?” I shouted at her. “Was one pipbuck worth all that blood? Did you need to kill a stable dweller for it? Or are you so mad you can’t see what you truly are, just another raider boss?!”
A loud growl came from Spritz. “You know nothing! What I suffered, what I struggled through. How many true comrades I had to bury. Not for some mutant crossbred freek to talk down at me! When I’m done with you, I’ll work the rest of the savages to the bone and return to the Ranger with a bounty of tech and material. You would not be the first group of savages I’ve so brilliantly used like this, nor shall you be the last!”
I then sighed. “Order, you have that all recorded?”
“Yes. Madam Harp.” my pipbuck answered.
There was a pause. Only the sound of Spritz hoofsteps scratching the floor could be heard then and there. I was sure she heard that. I wanted her to hear it.
“So what? You will die before you tell anypony that cares,” she said confidently.
Then the intercoms turned on and her own voice began playing through it. Starting with “I am a Star Paladin Spritz Cookie of the Steel Rangers...”
The whole rant played loud and clear. Every inch of the stable would be able to hear it. I had planned to catch Spritz denouncing everyone as savages that were beneath her to fuel their mistrust of her. But this was a whole new level of self incrimination. No way anypony would follow her now. No. They would kill her for this.
It put a smile on my face.
“Unlike you, who comes from a culture that hoards old technologies, I come from one that used and improved them.” I told her as I pulled out my last gas bomb. “Food and water for everypony, a working subway system, and two airships you probably would have committed genocide to obtain. It’s not perfect. Far from it, but far better than what you have done for the last two hundred years.”
I stepped out, holding the gas bomb in my pipbucks levitation. I also looked Spritz in the eye. “I am Princess Harp Melody, direct descendant of both Princess Platinum, and the descendant of a founder of Orhtrus. It is you who knows Celestia damn nothing!”
Tactical S.A.T.S. activated, thus slowing down time. The orders were simple. Star would dive for the door as she fired Nightstalkers Regard. While she did that, I activated and threw the bomb. Meanwhile Slowtrot waited to close the door.
There was no disagreement. As time started to move, our bodies acted. Slowly I saw Star dive and shoot. Bullets still rapidly flew out of her gun. But I also saw Spritz firing her own gun, murderous rage on her face.
In a blink in the eye, time returned. Star collided with me just as the door closed. A tremendous amount of pain flashed through me. Ignoring the pain, I reached out with my magic and disrupted the doors control with my own power, thus keeping it shut.
A hoofprint shaped dent formed on the door. “Fuck! Who’s the real monster?” I said it was almost too painful to talk.
A bottle of healing potion was poured onto me. It mixed with all the red. Looking down, there was a long gash along my stomach and I think I could see my lower intestines hanging out.
“FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.” Slowtrot shouted as he pushed my intestines back in and poured more healing potion on it. It all hurts like fire, but yet not hurting.
Star soon joined, helping Slowtrot pull out some bandages for him to wrap me with. Then she passed him my leg. It was mangled to a pulp. I was starting to feel lightheaded now and a bit cold. I knew they could handle the rest. I was feeling too tired to do much of anything.
A heavy slap across my face woke me back up, and a bottle was shoved into my mouth, forcing me to drink. “Fuck! You're not going unconcious now!” Star’s muffled voice shouted at me. “Slowtrot said you could go into a coma if you sleep now!”
“Out of the way!” Slowtrot said as he pushed Star off me. I watched as he shoved a big fucking syringe into my chest.
A moment later I shot up. “By Luna's glorious flank, I’m alive!” I then felt myself twitch uncontrollably. my body filled with energy and no pain at all. “What was that?”
“Pure adrenalin,” Slowtrot sighed. “Healing potions aren't meant to be used on that level of trauma, so you could still die if we're not careful.”
“Oh come on. I can go another round. Two more, even!” I said, feeling so full of energy.
Star then gave me a hug, “No. Let's just get you to medical. We can have some pony drag Spritz corpse up to us.” She then pulled me onto her back. I let her carry me away.
As I was being carefully hauled up the stairs to the atrium, all the energy quickly drained from me, and then came the pain… fuck the pain was so unbarable I started to cry from it.
“Did she shoot my leg off!” I gasped.
“We got it back on, so try not to use it for a while.” Slowtrot told me as he followed. “Healing potions can only do so much, and your condition is still critical. So, once we get you to medical, we're going to try and do a blood transfusion.”
“Thank fuck the ones down here are still full strength.” Star said then turned to Slowtrot. “Can’t you use that weird stuff you used before?”
“I rather not. She only just stopped bleeding from the eye yesterday. But if the worst comes... I use itl.” Slowtrot replied as we entered the atrium.
The ponies here had already gathered. They almost crowded us as we entered.
“Move out the fucking way. She needs to get to medical right now!” Star shouted. In response, the ponies parted a path for us.
Cherry ran up to us, a panicked look on her face as she said. “No! Not that way!”
*Bang!*
Everypony got down onto the ground. A moment later we saw Filch fall down the stairs from the way to medical. A trial of blood followed him and the blank look of death on his face.
“No!” Cheery gasped.
Slow and heavy, Spritz trotted down the stairs. Her eyes were bloodshot, red foam dripped from her mouth, and several bullet holes along a leg.
“Yo… you think you have… won?!” she slurred as she tried to aim her body at us.
Everypony scattered, cramming into the side rooms or up the stairs. The door to the other stable was closed and blocked off, meaning they had seen her coming.
“Y… your nothing, just… a… bunch… of… sava… ages” Each word from her was pained and filled with sheer malice. “I… will… survive… you… and-”
“Order... kill this bitch!” my own voice was filled with pain as I gave the command.
“Yes Madam!” my pipbuck said as it used levitation to raise Star’s gun.
Both it and Spritz fired. The steel ranger aim was low due to her still being on the stairs. Her shots hit the hard concrete and ricocheted wildly. Order, on the other hoof, managed to get a clean shot at her. It sent a line of bullets up Spritz’s chest and face.
Both guns clicked.
After a moment, Spritz collapsed, falling the rest of the way down the stairs. There was no movement. No sound. Just her body on top of poor Filch.
Passing Star another healing potion, Slowtrot slowly trotted over to Spritz. His legs were bleeding from several shallow bullet holes in them. He then took out his rifle and fired two more shots into Spritz.
Spitting out the healing potion, Star then trotted forward. I looked down to see that her legs had also been mangled. She smiled as she said, “Rifle rounds are a real fucking bitch.”
As we passed Spritz’s corpse, I couldn't help but worry that she was going to get back up. Maybe she’ll use her last bit of life to kill me. But she did not move. She only oozed blood.
It was over… at least this fight was. Now I just needed some damn med-x to dull this pain.
"What is one of the most important characteristics of a leader? This is a question I asked Harp Melody.
Not wanting the power was her simple answer.
From the things I have seen and heard over my life, in both fiction and nonfiction stories, this has been an unshakable truth. Not because one must not want the power, but because one must understand what comes with it. For those who truly crave power rarely understand what a burden it is to properly wield it. How they will be burdened by it. Only a lucky few can ever irresponsibly jump through the flames and come out unscathed." ~ Azure Dice
A loud yawn from the invisible Snaps drew my attention from reading a big book of science. The book was unfortunately my escape from sorting through the terribly made documents the others had made for me. It was almost as bad as the ones in New Appaloosa. Fortunately there was no speculation on the worth between a bottle of whisky and a shot of whiskey in caps. Just what they were able to recover and put into those boxes.
I had gotten used to the nightstalker, strange as it sounded. But it was taking up a large space on the overmare desk and I really wanted it to get off. No matter how much I wanted to free up the space, there was no way I was going to try and move the large pit viper of a hound.
The door to the overmare’s office opened., Slowtrot stepped inside along with Cherry Knot.
“Hey Harp. feeling better?” Cherry asked, sounding a bit too cheerfully.
I raised my eyebrow. “Where Star?”
They both looked at each other and sighed.
Cherry then answered. “Fucking some zebras.”
I sighed and let my head hit the table. “Why is she fucking some zebras?”
Slowtrot nervously scratched the back of his head. “Well… With Spritz and her followers gone, she came to me to get her own health checked with them there. When I gave her a clean bill of health, she took some contraceptives I found in medical and left for Cherry's place.”
“The bitch tried to kick me out of my own fucking place,” Cherry huffed in annoyance. “Wasn't going to stop her, but damn will I give up what's my own space for free. Got them to agree to make a show of it. Even let us use one of those cameras you fixed up for me. Though, they might have been a bit high when we were negotiating.”
I facehooed as I asked. “Why?”
The mare then trotted up to me. She sits herself on the other side of the deals, away from Snaps. “Oh come on. You three have been so stressed the day you arrived at the NCRCF. Even when things calmed down here, you still had Spritz to worry about. But now you can truly unwind, along with everypony else, so I thought that everypony could use some entertainment, even if it’s just a recording.”
Cherry then grinned at me. “Maybe you need to unwind as well. Let some of that stress go. I know a stallion, or five, who will be nice and gentle with you. All clean.”
Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled before responding. “Technically, I’m still a virgin, so I would rather not have the first stallion I sleep with to be an escaped convict. So no.”
Cherry kept on smiling. “How about a mare?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to get the message across. “I currently have a marefriend, so again, no.”
She then sighed as she got off the desk. “Fine by me.
“Other than that the chem Bitter has been making, we don’t have anything else for relaxing right now. I’m only trying to… oh, excuse me.” Cherry held her hoof to her mouth, looking like she was ready to puke, then quickly trotted off in a hurry.
“Is she sick?” I asked Slowtrot in concern.
He shook his head. “No, just pregnant.”
I face hooded. “Why was the prison mixed gendered? No, wait… they were fucking the guards too.”
Slowtrot then came up to the desk, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Why don’t we stop talking about sex right now and move onto another topic.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, “Please don’t tell me your also-”
“What! No... no way!” He quickly responded. “There's been a few mares trying to flirt with me, but I’m a bit of the same mind as you on the matter.
“Anyways, it’s a bit of a different problem for me then you mares. I can’t take a contraceptive and say I’m safe, as things go.”
With a nod of understanding, I passed him one of the documents. “Alright, I think I have a good balance on what’s coming with us and what will stay in the stable for now.”
He read the documents over twice, looking a bit confused. “I get some of this stuff. Guns, food, water, even the sulfur. But why the alcohol still?”
“I asked Tire Fire about things the Desperados would want and he said moore booze never hurts,” I explained as I pulled out a glass bottle of distilled water. “Also, with that drought coming, it can be used to make clean drinking water. It should at least make a good gift for their hospitality.”
Slowtrot nodded as he put the document down. “I get it. We are imposing ourselves onto them.” He then raised an eyebrow while looking at the big book of science. “Planning to do some arcano science?”
Looking at the chemistry page of the book, it was about how to make certain chemical compounds through simple and complex means. I was no scientist myself, or a chemist, but I needed to know what salvage could be useful beyond their core components.
“More chemistry. Though Spritz was on the right track, she was not as smart as she thought she was,” I explained. “The gunpowder she was thinking of making can’t be used in the automatic weapons we have. It’s too dirty. What we need is smokeless gunpowder. To make it, we need to make Nitroglycerin. Or so it looks like. I’m reading this over to know what is used to make what.”
“And any success?” Slowtrot asked.
Taking a deep breath, I put the book down as I exhaled slowly to relieve myself of stress. “There’s a reason why specialists were trained for years. It’s almost like a foreign language trying to understand most of what's in this book. Add to that, we're talking about something highly explosive so I don’t want to just…. wing it.”
Pushing myself out of my seat, I winced in pain as I put pressure on my leg. It was nothing extreme, just really uncomfortable. “Anyways, once I figure out how to make the smokeless gunpowder, the Desperado’s should be more than happy to escort us to the west.”
“You should put on your brace. I know it’s not comfortable, but your leg is still in a weakened state,” Slowtort told me.
With a sigh, I grabbed the nearby brace and slid it onto my hurt leg. The pressure was annoying, but once on, it made sure I didn’t put too much weight on my leg. “Can’t I just have some more med-x?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “This is the fourth time you asked me. That’s not a good sign.”
“RIght, right. It just felt, you know, good,” I said, feeling a bit ashamed by admitting to it.
Slowtrot came over to help me trot. “Anyways, the pain helps you remember to not put pressure on that leg. The last thing you need is to get high on painkillers and go break that leg by running around. It was a miracle alone that most of your leg even healed without deformation. I even had to push your own stomach back in you for crying out loud.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d be calling you a high class doctor,” I teased.
“Please don’t. The most I am is a field medic. That's what Jali told me anyway,” he explained, looking a bit embarrassed.
“Well I’m still alive thanks to you, so don’t cut yourself too short,” I told him with a big smile on my face.
“Thanks. So where are you going?” Slowtrot asked.
“To the Atrium. It’s about time we tell everypony what we are planning on doing,” I explained.
A yawn and a thud came from behind us as Snaps finally got off the damn desk.
Things had really calmed down after Spritz had died, both in tension and in a need for distraction. The ponies not doing anything were now simply relaxing or calmly gambling off in one of the rooms. Cherry’s fillies were also less busy. They simply lounged around as they chatted up a few of the stallions or other mares.
Some ponies were still a bit on edge or having a hard time coping. But, without the specter of death over them, they were better able to confine with the others.
A few ponies gave me a friendly wave. Some fearfully averted their gaze instead. I was not some savage brute like Spritz was, but I had earned their fear. It is something I did not feel like correcting. It was a balance. So long as no pony felt like taking over, then everything would go smoothly.
“Before I address everypony, let’s visit the orchard.” I told Slowtrot.
The long dead dirt of the stable’s orchard was now mostly void of trees. The ponies turned them into planks or charcoal by now. In their place were simple graves for the stable dwellers as well as the ponies who died here just recently. Besides the ponies we had killed, Spritz had murdered seven ponies on her way to cut us off. It was the best we could do for them to at least make sure they were properly put to rest. The only pony who didn’t get a grave was Spritz. Her body was thrown in cold storage. We still had a use for her.
There were a few ponies standing in the graveyard, one being Pilfer at Filch’s grave. There was no honor among thieves, but that didn’t mean they were not friends. It only made me wish I could have made Spitz's death longer and more painful.
“So are you still seeing the ghosts?” I asked Slowtrot.
He nodded. “Sometimes, but I think now that they've been put to rest, they might be moving on.”
It was not much confort, but I liked to think the spirits of this stable were finally finding some rest after so long. “I hope so.”
Turning away from the orchard, we made our way up the stairs where several ponies were crowding around the window to the school room. Wondering what the commotion was, I decided to take a look. Inside was Amralt playing with the puppy nightstalkers as their mother, Alpha, watched.
“Seriously, those things should not be so cute looking.” one of the ponies said.
“I know. I would go in there too, but one bite from them and you’re dead… right?” another pony questioned.
“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather tussle with the Yak,” a third pony said, getting a concerned look from the other ponies. “What?”
Leaving them all to do their thing, I turned to trot over to the far balcony. The feeling of something jumping onto my back caught me by surprise. A friendly hiss revealed it to be one of the puppies.
“Oh, hello Cavall!” I greeted the pup.
Slowtrot reached out and gave it a scratch on the chin as it hissed happily. “Strange that Star let you name this one after she named all the others. What is he named after again?”
I explained, “Cavall was one of Princess Platinum’s favorit dogs. Well, he was her father’s dog, but he protected her with loyalty. Because of that it’s customary in my family to have a dog named Cavall. Princess Majesty's cybernetic guard dog’s name was that too. So I thought, why not this little guy?”
The Nightstalker itself was just like the others, a mostly white animal with gray diamond pattern along the side and pale piercing blue eyes. Each one was made a dog collar to help tell them apart… when they were not invisible. Cavall’s collar was made from raddler skin. The special treatment being because of how friendly he was with us.
Letting Cavall be, both because I didn’t want to just shove the pup off me, and that it was still a venomous nightstalker. I just trotted to where I wanted to have my speech.
We passed the entrance to Cherry's place. It, too, had a crowd inside who were making a lot of noise. The last thing I wanted to do was see Star getting it on with two or more zebras or whatever else was going on in there. Despite that, I couldn't help but be a little curious. I just had other things to do first.
I found the right place where everypony could see me and took a moment to ready myself mentaly. I took a few deep breaths before raising my pipbuck closer to my face. “Order, begin transmitting.”
It beeped. I could hear static coming out four the intercoms for a moment. “Hello everypony. This is Harp Melody, your current boss. I’m sorry if I’m disturbing any of you right now, but it’s time I finally tell you what our plans will be. I know that, even after leaving the NCRCF, that we’ve all had little time to truly relax. Unfortunately, time is not something we can simply waste.”
Taking a few seconds before continuing, several of the ponies had started to gather from both below and along the balcony.
“First off,” I continued, “as I hope you all understand, staying in this stable is both not possible and ill advised. Other than the poor condition it is in, and low supplies, the stable is also capable of killing everypony in it. Not to say that will happen, but the possibility is there, so it’s better to leave here as soon as possible.
“As for where we're going, fortunately I already have some friends who can help us. I know some of you might not like the idea, but it’s the best option we have. As for where we are going, we will be seeking shelter with the Desperado’s through the connections I currently have and the gifts we will be bringing them. So they are unlikely to turn us away. With them, we should have at least three options on what you can do next.”
“Option one, you go your own way. With the supply of food and water here, there is enough to give everypony what they need to live for a few months, but some of that’s going to the Desperados so if you choose to not stay with us, I promise at least a week's supply. Two at most. You will be dropped off someplace outside the NCR conrole, and from there, it is up to you.
“As for those who want to stay with us, we will be leaving with the Desperado’s when they leave this area. They have a big fight out west. A war, to tell the truth. But trust me, I don’t plan on dragging you all into it. What will likely happen is that we will be taken to a settlement that needs ponies for work. There, if you so choose, you all will become normal ponies again.
“The third option, and I’m sure only a few will even consider this, you turn yourself in. Trot back to the NCR. Now I know that sounds like suiside, but I’ve thought it through. For anypony who still has family and friends within the NCR who don’t want a possible bounty on their heads, this is an option. This is also why I didn’t want anypony mutaliating Spritz corpse. As part of turning yourself in, you also get to take Spritz with you. She is quite hated by the NCR and whoever thought of putting her in the NCRCF instead of just shooting her should get shot themselves. That's why if you turn yourself in, and hoof over her corpse, I know the NCR will show you mercy.”
I took a deep breath, my speech mostly done. “Now with that over, I’d like you to discuss this among yourselves. When it’s time for us to head out, I want half of you to stay here, where it’s safe. If things go well, we will return with the Desperado’s to finish clearing this place out. So, until then, try to not destroy anything. And if you have any questions, I’ll be returning to the overmare’s office later today.”
The ponies below began talking amongst each other. They likely had a lot of thinking to do. As for myself, I needed something to eat.
“What’s the chef cooking today?” I asked Slowtrot.
He scratches his goatee for a moment before hypothesizing. “I think Chainlock said he was cooking a wasteland style gumbo. A family recipe or something like that.”
We had to wait a while for Chainlock to finish cooking us a pot of his gumbo. It was a strange dish, mainly consisting of meats, a thick stock and what seasonings he could find. I only regretted asking him how he thickened the stock. He used the snake's blood as a thickener.
Both Slowtrot and I struggled to take the first bite, but when hunger won us over, we ultimately found it to taste really good. Actually, it was the best tasting food I’ve had since I left home.
“All it’s missing is the wasteland peppers. Had to make due with preserved chilli powder, but it just does not have the heat.” Chainlock lamented.
The food was already spicy as it was. I’d hate to find out how hot wastland peppers would make it.
“Well I can say from this, you're a wonderful cook. It’s just tragic you don’t have the ingredients needed to make it even better.” I complemented the stallion.
Chainlock gave me a slight bow. “Why thank you. Mama always said I should be a cook.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “How did you end up in prison?”
He gave a sigh. “It’s a common story. Where I’m from, things weren't going well. The drought hit us first and hard. Maybe that land was alway a dry place, and parting the clouds just returned it to what it was.
“Well... because of that, we couldn't grow any crops, and a lot of the critters left, so hunting became harder. I decided to join up with some ganggers and earn caps that way. Long story short, we got on the bad side of the NCR and they rounded us up.
“Probably a good thing it happened. The boss was getting more crazy as time went on. Like raider crazy.”
“Well maybe it’s time you head on home. I’m sure your mom would love to see you again,” I advised Chainlock.
“Maybe I should,” he mused while giving me a slight nod.
We then let him go off and finish cooking his gumbo for the rest of the stable. Soon after, a clean but frizzled looking Star Charter trotted into the diner.
“Had fun?” I asked coldly.
Star just plopped herself down in the booth with us. She grabbed a bowl and poured some gumbo into it. “Hey, they were interested, I was interested, and I wanted to experiment a bit.”
She then took a bite of the gumbo and squealed a little. “Fuck, this is good! It even washes that taste out of my mouth.”
“What t… no, no. I don’t want to know.” I said while cringing.
Smiling at me, Star rubbed up on me in a more friendly manner than I would have liked her to do right now. “Oh don’t be that way. I heard what you and Cloudy did with that rich mare, so don’t act all innocent.”
I pushed her away, getting a bit annoyed. “That’s different. Anyways, why a Zebra? Aren't they still standoffish with every pony else?”
She then gave a happy sight that only made me more annoyed. “Oh ya, they're still got a big chip on their shoulder about the discrimiantion they got in prison. That includes that whole history shit going back to the war. That's why I asked them if they wanted somepony a bit more aggressive to play with. Got two zebras for the price of one.”
Flipping her mane, Star looked out the window with a smile on her face. I saw two Zebra stallions sitting down, looking a bit exhausted. “I got to have some fun and they got their aggression out. It was a lot of aggression at that. Having an audience was not part of the plan or having it be recorded. At least Cherry promised me a copy, so whatever.”
“Mind if I cut in? I’m trying to eat.” Slowtrot interrupted.
Star laughed. “Sorry, sorry. Still got it on my mind,” she said as she leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “If you want, I can show you it later and give you commentary.”
“Fine. Just come with me to the overmare's office after we finished eating,” I said quietly.
It’s not like I was that interested. Just curious.
Giving me back my space, Star returned her attention to the gumbo. “So, when we go west, what are you planning to do? I mean, I know a few people, so I’m going to leave a letter with mom and meet up at Burro’s farm.”
“Farm?” I asked.
She nodded. “I mentioned them before mom took me east. We had made friends with a strange bunch. I helped them find a buried treasure. Mom didn’t want to stay with them. Too close to the sea. She said it was calling me back. We’ve visited them once before since then, so it shouldn’t be hard for her to go over there with Bridget.”
“I do want to see what happened to Applewood,” Slowtrot spoke up, but then looked down at his pipbuck. “Also it seems that Thorn is out west under the ocean. I can’t help but feel something’s bad going on in Desponies.”
“Ya. That too,” Star agreed. “I should go with ya. I mean you first have to go over the waters. Anyways, if what Victoria says is true, then the Pope of the Chosen knows about Thorn still being alive. A bit beyond me, but sounds exciting.”
“Count me out,” I said with a sigh. “Sorry, but there seems to be a lot of shit going on in the west right now. Quicktrot was being a bitch about it, but she revealed an old enemy of my family has made it to Equestria. I need to contact Orthrus and warn them. Remember that weird radio broadcast we listened to? The one that surprised me when we were heading to that raider's nest?”
“The one about the heavily armed airship.” Star answered.
“Yes. The DJ confirmed that the group using it called themselves Orthrus. Well… my father is one of their leaders, so if I can get to them I should finally be safe. I’m hoping they might be able to help you as well. Their good ponies after all.” I explained.
“And have a massive airship, if the DJ is right.” Star added.
I nodded. “That too, among other things.”
Slowtrot raised his hoof to get our attention. “So are we just going west? From what the Desperados told me, they live more to the north than where Applewood is.”
“Right. About that,” I tapped on my pipbuck to share the map information I had planned out. “So the plan for that is simple. With the Desperados, we’re heading north. We’ll stop at a place called Platinum Hill before making our way to route 50. From there, it’s a straight path to the west coast, then we just need to join a caravan south bound.”
“There are caravans that go straight to the west coast. Why not take them?” Star asked.
I shook my head. “There mostly by hoof and they make many stops along the way. At best, it’s a month's journey from New Appaloosa to Applewood so long that nothing stops us along the way. Also there's a risk we might have bounties on our heads after what happened at the prison. That makes everypony who would want to collect it an enemy to us.”
“On the other hoof, the Desperados have motor wagons we can ride in. They also aren't going to honor any bounty on us. Rout 50 is also under their control, making it unlikely for raiders to get in our way. So with them, if nothing stops us, the journey should only take a week at most.”
Slowtrot then sighed. “Too bad the trains can’t be used. It only took a few days to get from Applewood to Manehattan. It was a safe and relaxing way to travel.”
A slurp came from Star as she finished her bowl of gumbo by pouring it’s contents down her throat. Smacking her lips, she then took our pot and filled her bowl with some more. “Fuck, that’s good stuff.
“Anyways, I’d rather not stop at Platinum Hill. It’s full of uptight asshats and sleazy merchants. But, if we don’t have to stay long, then I can deal.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been there before? What’s it like?” I inquired.
She sighed. “Boring for the most part. The place is the only structure that was not an irritated ruin for miles and miles. Has a protective magic shield over the structure, but you can still go inside. Because of that, everypony has to pass through Platinum Hill in that region if they ever need to resupply or trade. The locals are basically Steel Rangers, though they say they aren't. They got power armor and are hard on for rules. Unlike the tin cans, however, they don’t give to shits about tech. They only care about maintaining the structure at the center of Platinum Hill. Also their armor was extra fancy and shiny. It reminded me of the paladins from the Blackwater.”
That sounded interesting, along with the name of the place. I hoped the Desperados would let me look around for a bit before we moved on.
“Oh! What about the war the Desperados are having?” Slowtrot then asked. “Should we help them, if even a little?”
Star rolled her eyes. “Isn't that why we're still mining the sulphur crystals?”
“I know that, but I mean in some other ways. Not that I want to get into their fight, but… well I don’t know,” he responded.
“If we can help it, I think it’s fair if we do, but I rather not get more involved,” I told them. “If things go well, what we make for them should be more than enough to help them. Any more questions?”
“Actually,” Slotrot again spoke up, “how are we going to sort out the ponies staying or leaving after when we go to the Desperados?”
“Easy enough,” I said while taking a bite of the gumbo before explaining. “We’re going to have them put their names on one of three lists. For those who want to join us with the Desperados, they can be the ones who leave with us first if there aren't too many of them. The other two groups, along with the undecided, can stay here and wait to be picked up. In that time the ones who will go their own way can continue to gather the sulphur crystals, and depending on how much they mine, they will receive extra supplies.”
“Anything else?” I asked, and they shook their heads.
Time seemed to move quickly after I opened the overmare’s doors to the others. Many had questions and a few requests. It made me glad that Star shared with me her romp with the Zebras. Never did I think that knowing the measurements of a zebra’s privets and their skills with it would help desensitize me to what came next.
A few stallions tried to flirt with me and wanted me to run off with them. Several mares wanted to know if the Desperados would be down for a good time. The graphic details some shared with me were far more than I ever wanted to know from a stranger. And then the few mares, including Cherry, who were pregnant and wanted to know how safe it would be to join us with the Desperados.
It was annoying, and Star was no help at all. She just laughed at what the others said to me or played with Cavall. At least Tire Fire had joined us to give some answers. But then, unfortunately, he then had to leave, which was soon after two mares had flirted with him. The bastard.
Luckily he returned just in time for the more serious ponies to finally come around. These questions were more about what was to be expected if they joined us and if they could even join the Desperados themselves. One of the ponies wanted to know what route they could take to get them back home, of which I shared what my pipbuck map had. That, in turn, told them that it’s not the most reliable source. Another pony wanted to know how they would turn themselves in and if they needed to bloody themselves up first or come well dressed.
All of it was draining, and I was glad when it was over. By the end of the day, all the boxes of materials we planned to bring were all ready to be moved to Daisy Chain. We also had a good list of who to bring with us. I let them know to get themselves ready in the morning. As soon as day breaks, we’re heading out.
As I got my bed ready, I saw Star dressing up in a yellow dress, stockings and a choker. She looked like a mare from the photos taken during the great war. “What are you doing?” I asked her,
She looked back at me. Her makeup was applied professionally on her. “Going on a late night stroll.”
“In that?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes. Those two zebras promised to take me on a date. They were quite rough before and wanted to treat me right before we go our separate ways,” she said happily.
I frowned at her. “You’re going to fuck them again, aren’t you?”
Star smiled widely. “Well ya. Who knows when I’ll ever get to do something like that again. If you want, you can join me,” Star offered.
Throwing a pillow at her, I flopped down onto the bed. “Just tell me about it later. Right now I need to sleep.”
“Good night, Harp,” Star said softly.
“Have fun,” I told her.
The door then hissed as it opened and hissed as it shut. Laying there, I then felt several beasts walk around me before laying down almost on top of me. I don’t know why, but my bed somehow became a nightstalker nest. I dared not move.
My attempt to follow the tracks of a bulldozer called Daisy Chain left me more than a little lost, and even more than confused. It didn’t help that I didn't know what a bulldozer was other than it being a big metal vehicle on treads or why it’s name was Daisy Chain. It also didn’t help that I now had more stuff to carry, though they were just clothing.
Thankfully I met a friendly big dog thing called Bonzo who was more than happy to help lighten my load so long as I didn’t whistle around him. I think he was what Jali called a hellhound, but Bonzo turned out to be nothing what she described other than being big and strong.
“So mister Bonzo, where do you plan to go after I find the ponies I’m looking for?” I asked the big friendly dog.
“Bonzo not sure. Ponies stopped throwing explosives near old home. Might return. Call pack back. What do you plan to do, crab Azure?” he then asked me.
“Simple. I plan to find a way back to the in between place then wait for my friend to pick me up and take me home.” I explained.
Bonzo grunted. “Home is good. Why did you leave home?”
I gave a gargled sigh, then explained, “Work, mostly. I get paid to go to strange places and find odd things. Where I’m from, there's a lot of strange places and odd things. Sadly, it means sometimes people want me to go to some dangerous places and now I’m here.”
He nodded. “Bonzo understands. Sometimes the pack needs food and Bonzo must hunt. Go far away to hunt. To paces dangerous for Bonzo.”
“What’s best for hunting?” I asked.
“Big things like yao guai, or radigators. But sometimes ponies. They taste good but are dangerous to hunt. Other ponies will hunt dogs if dogs hunt ponies.” Bonzo explained.
He then looked down at me, raising a brow. “What does crab pony Azure eat?”
With my face claws, I gave him a smile. “Oh lots of things. Fresh bone dipped in honey is always a good treat. I knew a few who had a limestone they used as seasoning. Generally fish and coral are a stable for my kind. But personally, pizza is my favorite, the kind with extra meat and ranch dressing.”
Remembering the food from back home made me salivate a bit, and my stomach grumbles…
Wait... that grumbling was not coming from me.
“Big metal motor wagon Azure!” my friend pointed out.
He was right. The thing was coming over a nearby hill with several train carts behind it. I figured that it would not be a bad idea to ask them if they saw a bulldozer called Daisy Chain.
So Bonzo and I walked over to intercept the motor wagon. The hellhound waved his paws in the air in a friendly manner.
The big thing slowed to a stop. On top of it were several ponies with guns pointed at us. It didn’t make me feel safe, but all the ponies had guns, so I was getting used to it. Popping a head out from what I guessed was the driver's cabin was a purple stallion in a mangled white suit. He looked at Bonzo with a confused look on his face.
“Why did we stop?” A familiar-looking mare asked as she popped her head up from the first train cart. She was blue with a long wavy green mane. She wore what looked like the pony version of a one-piece swimsuit. “Oh fuck! A hellhound! What does it want?” she shouted.
“I’m about to ask that!” the stallion shouted back.
The purple stallion then looked over at Bonzo, smiling nervously. “Can we help you, mister?”
“I am Bonzo, and this is Azure,” he said, presenting me to the stallion.
I gave him a slight bow. “Azure Dice, and yes, we're looking for a bulldozer by the name of Daisy Chain. I have a package for Harp Melody and her friends.”
He looked one part confused, and one part concerned. “Did the NCR put up a bounty for them?”
“A bounty? I don’t know. Well, they did leave a mess when they left the NCRCF. The mare Lieutenant Ginger was considerably upset by it, but I think any bounty is left up to those higher in rank than her. So no. But I do have their things and a care package from the Follower of the Apocalypse,” I explained.
His concern faded, but not his confusion. “Sorry for asking, but what are you? I mean, you look like you came out of the movie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon... No offense,”
I waved off the comment. “None taken. I’m just not from this world. That's all.”
He then gasped. “I knew it! Aliens are real! Did you come here on a flying saucer or were you beamed down here?!”
“What?” I asked, now feeling confused.
“SHUT UP, SLOWTROT!” a voice came from his pipbuck.
There was then a commotion further down the train carts as a pink with a blue mane pony poked her head out. Ewing her gray muzzle, it was unmistakably the pony I was looking for.
She jumbled out and ran up to me. She knocked over pebbles as she slid to a stop. “Wh… what are you doing here? How are you here?”
“Well when you teleported out, you poked a hole in the time-space bubble. This caused me to fall into your world. I think. I’m no trans-dimensional wizard, so I could be wrong.” I explained.
“Whatever. You said you have my stuff, right?” she asked with desperation in her voice.
Nodding, I looked at Bonzo. “Looks like you don't have to carry the bag anymore. Thank you for the help.”
As soon as the hellhound put the bag on the ground, Harp dove into it. She pulled out a red cap with a metal plate and gold medallion on it. “Thank Celestia! Thank Luna, Her hat is still here! Oh then ancestor Platinum, my dress and jacket are here too… and my underwear.” The last part she said with a sigh.
The stallion named Slowtrot had come down from the bulldozer. He trotted over and took a few things from the bag I got from the prison.
“So you know him?” the stallion Slowtrot checked with Harp cautiously.
She first put the red dress on before answering, “Before I fell into New Appaloosa, he was in the in-between place with me. That dark place filled with that ash-like stuff.”
Slowtrot physically quivered. “That damn place. But how? You would have had to have fallen through the megaspell to get there?”
I suddenly realized that he had been there too. Fascinating.
I felt it was time to explain a little about my predicament. “I simply happen to wander in there from a different method. I might have gotten distracted by this armor piece when I was on my way home you see. Ended up stuck where Miss Harp had fallen into.” I then pulled out the artifact I had found there and showed it to the stallion.
Slowtrot froze for a moment then hit his face with his hoof. “So you found Quicktrot’s original body. I should have known it would come back to me again.”
“What!” Harp yelped as she looked at the thing. “That thing? You mean that? It’s used to be that bitch Quicktrot?”
He nodded. “Ya. The pipbuck 2600. The thing almost killed me when I had it on. I should consider myself lucky to only have had a piece of my soul stolen by it.”
Harp then hit her own face with her hoof. “Now that explains why Order is smarter than he should be. When I first met Azure here, I downloaded its program over to my pipbuck to see if it could help me get out.”
Slowtrots eyes then drifted down at Harps pipbuck. “Oh please don’t be evil.”
Her pipbuck then beeped. “I am a VI assistant. I only do what Madam Harp tells me to.”
“And you're only supposed to talk when commanded to, Order,” Harp reminded her pipbuck.
Again her pipbuck beeped. “There seems to be a logic error in my programming. Shall I debug?”
Harp sighed. “No, Order. Ee will deal with this later. I’ll have Orthrus look at you once we get back to them.”
She then looked up at me and smiled. “Well, it’s good to see a friendly face. But why are you even here? I mean, aside from you told us before.”
“Oh, that's simple. I need you to take me to this megaspell. If I can get myself back between reality, then my friend should be able to find me.” I told her.
Harp again sighed. “So you need to go west too. Well then, welcome aboard.”
The blue mare from before then jumped out from the train cart. A big smile was on her face. “So who’s the… Holy fuck! What in the goddesses are you!” she shouted in shock.
“Star Charter, this is Azure Dice. He is from another dimension,” Harp told her.
Now I remember. She's the mare that stole the gun when I originally passed through this world. “Oh! It’s nice to see you again. Do you still have the gun you took from that mare? The one I and my friend were with?”
“What?” the mare and Harp asked.
“Or maybe that hasn't happened yet. You were fighting a mare that looked a lot like this stallion at the time,” I explained as I pointed at Slowtrot.
Now all three said “WHAT?!”
“Oh, sorry. The mare that you took the gun from, she looked a lot like Harp, but she was peach-colored with a blond mane. Also, four of her legs were made of metal and she has this long red scarf.” I further explained.
“VIBRAPHONE!” Harp shouted as she grabbed me. “You met Vibraphone! Please tell me she’s alive!”
I gently pulled her off me. “Sorry. She didn’t give me her name. It was only a brief moment and we were in a place where reality was unstable. The mare was also desperately looking for someone, but the place was preventing her from getting closer. My friend gave her something to stop the time-space warping temporarily so that she could get to where that person was.”
Harp then slumped. “That must have been in Labs D when Blackspot had captured me.”
She then looked at Star for a moment before looking back at me. A glimmer of hope in her eyes. “Alright. I guess you're coming with us, Azure.”
“Of course I am, but before I do, can you give my friend Bonzo something for his troubles? He has been so helpful to me,” I requested.
Harp nodded and then shouted to some of the ponies in the train car. “Hey, give the hellhound a slab of the smoked snake meat we have!”
They quickly pulled out a long paper-wrapped piece of meat and giving it to Bonzo.
The hellhound smiled as he smelled the meat. “Bonzo knows he will like this. Thank you friend, and thank you ponies.”
With a wave, I got onto the bulldozer named Daisy Chain and let my new friend be on his way. Wishing him luck. “So where are you hedging right now/”
Harp smiled as she got into the train cart. “To some friends that will take us west.”
"Arriving with Harp Melody at the Desperado camp, I had seen my fair share of nomadic people in my time, and they were not all that different, to some extent. Now the motorized vehicles were a bit different. It’s a rarity from where I was from, and seemed to be uncommon in this world too.
Most times the nomadic people are quite friendly, if a bit wary of strangers. Being nomadic means that if their neighbors start becoming a problem, then they can just up and move somewhere safer. Most conflicts just involve trying to intimidate the other tribes, tests of courage and such. Though there have been some that were exceptionally violent, attacking others before they knew the tribe was there and taking whatever they wanted.
The Desperados had a mix of the two. Avoiding major conflict, but violent enough that no creature in their right mind would outright attack them. Having been in this wasteland for some time now, I had a feeling that their nomadic lifestyle might be what was making them so aggressive. No walls meant little safety from what lived out there." ~ Azure Dice
“And that's when you showed up Miss Harp Melody.” Azure finished explaining to me his own journey.
It was surprising that he had met Velvet Remedy along the way, the mare who founded and led the Followers of the Apocalypse. It was also good to know that she was also working on a solution to the drought problem, so I wished her well in her endeavor.
“So, if you don’t mind me prying, how did you survive the fall into a junkyard?” I asked the Lurker.
He tapped on his own body, the claws covering his mandibles vaguely making a smile-like shape. “Oh, that’s not the first time I’ve fallen from such a height. You’ve got to know how to fall. Practice it a lot so that it becomes natural.” Azure averted his eyes and a grimace on his face as he then said, “They said it would be fun, but it was far from it.” He then looked at me again, all smiles. “It also helps that my chitin is quite strong and flexible.”
“If only we were all that lucky,” I lament with a sigh.
The light blue Lurker stood proud. His chitin looked like polished stone. Contrasting his chitin was his fins which glowed with a green light, much like a pipbuck, if a bit more intense in color. It gave him a ghostly appearance that visually unnerved me and everypony in the train car. I remembered that Mayall and the other Lurkers were not much different. They were just with a dark purple chitin and a deep red glow.
“Oh trust me, no luck to it,” Azure corrected as he pulled out a notebook. Inside it showed drawings of bones and plants. “I make sure to eat the kind of food that helps keep my chitin strong. With my line of work, dietary control is sadly necessary.”
I nodded as I looked at the strange plants and animals in his journal. Some looked familiar, but a bit oddly shaped. Others were just unknown to me. He did say he was from another world, so that would be natural I guess.
Putting that notebook away, Azure pulled out a smaller one, along with a pen. “So tell me, what are you planning to do before going west? I heard you worked as an entertainer before that whole mess happened. Would you be doing more of that?”
“Right, entertainer…” I cringed a little at the idea of explaining my time at the Ruffled Feathers. “Well no, not if I can help it. Actually, I have something better I can do while on our trip west.”
I tapped at a box I was keeping near me. It was filled with talismans and some other tech I was taking a closer look at. The stable had a lot of tech that, if given enough time, I could recreate in some crud fashion.
I pulled out one of the damaged stealth bucks to show him. Its magic leaked out a little, but the spell itself was still intact. “I’m going to research how to copy the magic in this thing. It has an invisibility spell which is really complicated to cast and drains a lot of magic. Back home they figured it out, though I only ever saw one pony use it. They were also part of an elite unit, so I’m sure it’s not going to be as simple as just copping it.”
Azure looked closer at the peace of arcano tech. His eyes widened. “Fascinating. Even back where I’m from invisibility is something only a rare few can do. Even then, its usefulness is limited. If I remember correctly, those big ponies said that some of them could turn invisible. One actually teleported me to the prison. If I had not seen it myself, I would not have believed it.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “But you said your own world has magic, even invisibility. Why not believe it?”
He chuckled. “Yes that's true, but it’s not to the extent of this world. Unless it’s for military purposes, the magic from where I come from is generally kept private. Closed behind the doors of religious organizations, hidden within secret organizations, or behind the gilded gates of the rich or nobility. There are the odd few who are more independent like my friend, but they keep quiet about it or risk being targeted by those who would do them ill.”
Azure then patted a nearby unicorn that was levitating a deck of cards. “But here it’s the norm. Used every day. Back home such things only existed in fantasy books.”
The unicorn mare dropped her cards in surprise which caused the other ponies she was playing against to throw down their own cards in annoyance. She then huffed and shot Azure a dirty look as she gathered her winnings and began dealing the cards again.
“Alright, I get it. Magic is far more rare from where you're from. I understand your… disbelief.” I told the Lurker.
Azure regained his composure, returning his attention to me. “Sorry. It’s been a lot of new things for me. All that aside, you said that this group, Orthris, you called them, can help me.”
I nodded. “Yes. They're the ones who control the sight where the megaspell is. Even if it’s not there anymore, they may know how to recreate it on a smaller scale. If I talk with my father, I’m sure they will help you.”
My pipbuck then beeped. “Orthrus has had over the last two hundred years to preserve and study old world technology, then apply it to everyday living.” Order explained.
I sighed at my own pipbuck, now understanding that its VI system had turned into a full AI. If it has a soul or not like Quicktrot was unknown to me, but it clearly has broken free of its own programming and could learn. Only time will tell if this is a good or bad thing, but at least it meant I could rely on Order without having to give it commands.
“That is a lot of time to study,” Azure commented. “But why have they not emerged after so long?”
That was a question even I wanted to know now. There is no way Orthrus could not have known that others were alive out there. Not when there are so many ponies running around and doing crazy shit all the damn time.
Order then spoke up again. “Historical records show that much of the resources of Orthus and other groups had gone to keeping the large population of the metro alive. There are a few accounts that expeditions were planned, but conflict within the metro had drained the resources for any expedition.”
That did make sense, to some extent. But that’s also what Orthrus openly told everypony. Believing the face-value explanation was always unwise. I would have to ask my father when I finally find him.
“Fascinating,” Azure said as he wrote it down in his journal. “I’m sure there's more to that, but right now it’s good material.”
He then looked back up at me, tapping on his notebook. “One more question, then I’ll stop chirping your ear off. Do you really have no desire to clear your name? There are a lot of ponies back in that town who don’t believe you three were behind the death of the gun dealer.”
“I… don’t know,” I answered, my uncertainty returning like a wave crashed on a cliffside. “I would love to just go back to denounce Ashy for what she did. I even have the evidence for it with Order. But I know that a lot of ponies would still side with her. It would only turn into a shootout. I know this. If we go in guns blazing, then to everypony, we just prove her right. We would be nothing more than raiders to everypony. I should have left town long before things went to shit. It’s not like I didn’t see the writing on the walls from day one.”
“Such as?” Azure asked.
“First off, I got on the bad side of the Mayor. I don’t regret it, but I should have started my plans on leaving town then and there. Second, I pissed off the deputies. I don’t regret what I did with that either. There were other smaller things too, along with two ponies who made everything worse. I guess I just stuck around because I was hoping things would work out in the end. That Ashy would leave us alone. That we could help the Gunrunners a little bit more before leaving ourselves.”
A sigh came from Azure. “A tale as old as time, for it is about time itself.
“Sorry, old bits of wisdom I picked up over the years. It’s from a tale that is about two brothers, the older one who always rushed around, and the younger one who always waited. They were tasked with cooking an offering for the gods. The older brother in his inpatients, cooked the offering too fast and with too harsh of a fire. This caused it to be burnt and undercooked. The younger brother took too long to cook the offering, resulting in him being late to even give it to the gods. Annoyed by the brothers, the gods cursed them to have one body between them, so that together they may find the right time to do things.
“So that they may find a balance between them,” I commented on the tale. “Though that must be horrendous for the brothers. And how does it relate to me?”
Azure nodded. “That’s just how old tales are. No sugar coating things to protect the feelings of others. Life is cheap, as I’m sure you know, so their lessons try to drill in the point. As for you, I guess it could mean that if you had rushed things, then disaster would still have happened. But then again I’m just spouting off old tales, not much more.”
He then pulled out another notebook, opening to a page which revealed his drawing of me. It was a simple sketch for the most part, but I could tell it was me. “Why don’t we stop dwelling on the past? And, if it’s okay with you, can I add more detail to my sketch?”
Positioning myself to pose like I had been taught to do growing up, I told the Lurker, “That’s fine by me. Just make sure you catch my good side.”
“Frankly, I don’t know enough about ponies to know which is the good side. I’m just glad you ponies don’t have a horse face. Snout aside, their faces are just so long and they always try to bite me,” he commented.
I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I took it as a joke. I sat still as he began to draw. It would be some more time before we reached the Desperados, so I was hoping for a really nice portrait by the time we arrived.
Spending the rest of the ride trying to decipher the stelthbuck talisman was fortunately made easter with Azure lending out one of his notebooks. He had a lot to spare, along with a collection of artistically made pens. It must have been his hobby collecting them with how many he had and how different they were.
As for the invisibility spell, even writing down the little parts I could decipher with my own magic was barely helping. Much like teleportation, invisibility was not just one spell, but many spells woven together. If I were to try and make one myself, it wouldn’t just require me to carefully weave all these spells together, but to find a talisman strong enough to not blow up in the process. Then there was the problem of the talisman burning out when used. It made me want to see how Orthrus managed to do all of it themselves. Find out what trick they used.
The sound of several roaring engines passing by clued me to the presents of the Desperados. “Open the door!” I told Henbane.
The Mare nodded and put down her deck of cards, trotted over and pushed the door open. We were all bathed in bright unforgiving sun as dust blew in. Looking out myself, I could see a Desperado motor wagon take a wide turn around and roll up along the side of the open cart. The intimidating vehicle was armored with a wire fence and metal plates as it sparked with magical energy from its large engine. On the side was a familiar-looking large pony looking right at me.
“Make way. We have a guest!” I told everypony as I trotted to the side. Fortunately we had not taken everyone who wanted to come, giving everypony some space for this journey.
Riding close, the large stallion Crankshaft jumped in. His heavy hooves thumped on the train cart’s floor. Picking up a bottle of water from my saddlebag, I passed it to the Desperado who then quickly guzzled it down.
“Thanks. It’s been getting hotter out here by the day,” Crankshaft said with a smile as he looked down at me. “I guess I don’t have to ask why you're coming our way since Tire Fire is riding on top of that armored bulldozer.”
“Don’t worry. We have some gifts to repay your generosity,” I told the stallion as I then pulled out one of the snake-bight 10mm pistols we had. “This, among other things, we’re willing to hoof over if your clan is willing to let us stay.”
He huffed before taking the gun. “What's with the paint? It’s cool and all, but why?”
I smiled. “It’s a little zebra magic some friends of ours put on it. Make the bullets venomous. That aside, can you go tell your clanmates that we’re coming? Last thing I want to do is make a bad impression on them.”
Crankshaft shoved the gun into a large pocket on his clothes and smiled. “It’s good to see you’re well, and Elder Big Papa will be glad to know that Tire Fire is back. It was a fight in itself to keep his mother from raiding New Appaloosa over this brahmin shit.”
Trotting back over to the door, Crankshaft jumped back onto the motor wagon. It sped away while honking its loud horn.
Henbane quickly closed the door, looking a bit flustered. “So who’s that big cup of water?”
I chuckled. “Down, girl. Too soon to get thirsty now. We will have plenty of time for everypony to get to know each other later.”
She chuckled back. “I hope so. After seeing nothing but these ugly mugs for a year, I was starting to lose hope in seeing a real stallion again.”
“Fuck off bitch!” one stallion shouted, followed by several ponies laughing.
As we rolled into a small canyon, I saw a densely packed campsite nestled between the tall cliffs. The large round tents were made from what looked like a patchwork of leather and cloth. They looked like anything from the old world and had a charm of its own. They were all a pale off-white color with yellow and orange decorations along the sides along with their symbol proudly hanging off the tent on flags.
From the tents, I could see heads of adults and foals poking out. There were a lot more ponies than I had expected to see. Young and old, it was clear they had far more than just fighters here. Possibly enter families.
Along the edge of the campsite were less impressive-looking tents that housed their collection of vehicles. Many I could see were similarly shaped motorcycles. The rest were a collection of motor wagons of different shapes and sizes. None of these looked rusted or beat down.
When Daisy Chain finally stopped, I hopped out onto the dry dusty ground and trotted over to the front. Star Charter quickly joined me as we met up with Slowtrot and Tire Fire.
“It’s good to be back,” Tire Fire said with a smile on his face.
A bottle flew out, nearly hitting us as it shattered on the ground.
“FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Dead Axle screamed as she ran out.
“Oh, did my little sis miss me?” Tire Fire mocked his sister.
The mare didn’t take the comment lightly as she charged in and tackled her older brother, wrestling him to the ground and getting him into a chokehold before he could resist. “You had one job and you still fucked it up!”
“Well, it was not his fault,” Slowtrot said nervously.
“You shut the fuck up. This is a family matter,” she chastised the Slowtrot.
Tire pulled himself up with his sister still around his neck. “Oh, I thought you wanted that stallion to be part of the family?”
“Just die already,” she growled.
Like a yellow blur, Live Axle tackled her brother as well, knocking him back to the ground and repeatedly hitting him in the stomach. “You moron, you moron, you moron. You know how upset ma was?!”
“She's going to be more upset if you fucking kill him girls,” the husky voices of a mare caused the three siblings to stop fighting. An older yellow mare with a short jet black mane trotted out. Hanging off of her in a satchel was a very young foal, and under her legs was a small colt.
“Hey ma,” Tire Fire called out with a bit of fear in his voice.
Crankshaft soon appeared with his grandmother, Burning Asphalt, sitting on his back. The older mare looked down at the mother with a dignified and amused smile. “Dear Rack End, maybe you should take your son to talk with his father before he goes see Elder Big Papa. I’m sure Stud Axle will want to see his eldest son alive and well.”
Rack End looked at her children with an intimidating glare. “Ya. Heard the elder. Fucking get off that idiot, or do you want to come with?”
Both Live and Dead Axle quickly let go of their brother, letting the stallion slowly trot over to his mother.
The older mare then eyes us, her gaze landing on Slowtrot. “Mister, I want to talk with you later as well.”
I looked at Slowtrot as he gulped nervously.
“Move those legs, you igit!” Rack End shouted at her son, getting him to pick up the pace as they left.
I leaned over to Dead Axle, whispering so that the others can’t hear me. “So… how many ponies know that you slept with Slowtrot?”
“Turns out I suck at keeping secrets, so only Live doesn't know,” she whispered back.
My eyes drifted to Live Axle who was now dusting herself off and giving an almost shy look at Slowtrot. “Really now?” I whispered again.
Dead sighed. “I’m not looking forward to when she finds out.”
“She can’t be that into him, can she?” I asked.
The mare rolled her eyes. “That whole raider nest incident got her properly interested, and the fact he is surrounded by mares has her thinking the lug is more desirable than he is. Also, she still thinks I’m a virgin like her.”
“Ahem!” Burning Asphalt spoke up as she hopped off Crankshaft’s back. “You ponies are just filled with one surprise after another. My grandson here says you want to stay with us, and have bright gifts. Now we may not care about what the NCR thinks about us so long as the trade routes stay open, but even we are not so stupid to piss off Gwadian Grimfethers. Now what do you have to offer that may make this risk worth looking after some escaped criminals?”
I stepped forward and gave the elderly mare a polite bow. “Well to start, we have a mostly untouched stable filled with preserved foods, clean water, and tech that you may find useful. There's also this bulldozer, of which you can see, is practically a tank needing a cannon. My friends and I are also willing to offer you our services in exchange for taking us with you out west. I’m sure the three of us will prove to be quite useful to the Desperados.”
“Talking all fancy ain't something we like, missy,” the old mare said to me as she squinted her eyes.
I just gave her a smile and said, “Talking fancy is what I was raised to do. Words can’t fill your belly, keep you warm when you're cold, or crush your enemy. That's why I’m not asking you to trust what I say, but trust in what we have done and what we now offer you.”
I looked back and whistled at the other ponies back in the train carts. They began pulling out several boxes and bringing them over for the Desperados to see. Mostly food and water, the simple things, but one box was put in front of me so that I could show it to the gangers.
From the box, I pulled out a water talisman, the very thing responsible for purifying the water in the stable. The other water talisman was left alone for now so that the ponies still in the stable could drink the water. “Right here is a bonafide water talisman. Hook it up to a power source and a water tank, and all that water will become clean to drink. Though you will still need to filter the water in case of other contaminants, with it, you don’t have to worry about any toxins or radiation. This is only one of many things we have recovered from the stable.”
The talisman itself was a work of industrial acano tech ingenuity. Not as complicated as an invisibility talisman. It was just made up of many similar spells set up to work together to clean water. I could reproduce such a talisman if it weren't for the fact that it required a large rare gemstone to even hold all the spells inside. The thing bordered on being a megaspell with how much magic went into it.
Burning Asphalt took a closer look at the talisman, a sense of unsureness momentarily on her face. Then she began to laugh, dropping any sense of seriousness. “You youngins didn’t put on the brakes at all. Bring all these gifts and shit, as though we’re some uptight soft ponies who need gifts to be happy or some shit.”
I tilted my head in a little bit of surprise. “You don’t want the gifts?”
The old mere snatched the water talisman from my hooves. “Fuck ya, I do. This shit is going to give us more options for setting up camp the next time we move out.” She then smiled at me. “It’s just that you, Slowtrot, and Star don’t need to give us gifts. Not when we still have to give you three back what's yours. We ain't thieves… well, not when we don’t need to be.”
Tilting my back, I then coked an eyebrow at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”
With a smirk on her face, Burning Asphalt spat on the ground. “Just follow me and tell all those ponies back there to get settled in before you do. We got a lot of shit to sort out.”
I glanced over to see one of Cherry’s mares dropping off a box near me. “Tell the others to settle in. We got the okay to stay for now. Just avoid getting into any fights. These ponies are the real deal.”
She grinned as she looked over at one of the Desperado stallions. “How settled in is settled in?” she asked.
“So long as it does not cause any problems, do whatever,” I told her.
She smiled and nodded before trotting back to the train cart. She waved at one of the other mares. I didn’t like the idea of letting a few whores run a lot, but I was sure the ponies here could handle them.
“And the Nightstalkers?” Henbane asked as she trotted over.
Looking past her, I could see a few of them peeking out, but they didn’t seem that interested in leaving the train car. Since Star was the only one who could control them, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving them at the stable. So far there haven’t been any problems, so I wasn’t that worried. “Just make sure they're fed. I’m sure they will stay out of sight.”
Henbane sighed. “So the usual. Are you sure they can be trained?”
“It’s what they were made to be. Once I go back to check that lab, I should have more information on them,” I said, looking down to see Cavall happily under her legs. “Anyways, I think they're starting to like you.”
“Joy. A pack of invisible stalkers,” she said, sounding a bit exhausted.
The small nightstalker then practically bounced off to Star, turning invisible. The sound of its rattling tail was the only sign of where he was.
Following Burning Asphalt, Star, Slowtrot, and I were taken to the line of motor wagons. The one we had stopped at was covered in a sheet and several “Do not Touch” signs were placed around it aggressively. I quickly recognized its profile. The vehicle was sleeker than the others with a smaller front and a protrusion on the top. Not only that, but Order appeared in my hud display with a happy look on its cartoonish face.
“So after yall gave us back our guns, we had a few ponies stay behind to keep an eye on shit. They heard a gunshot and came to take a look.” Burning Asphalt clapped her hooves, and Crankshaft pulled on the sheet to reveal the Smuggler. “Caught the sheriff Deputies loitering around this wonderful piece of art. After scaring them off, they drove it back here and told us about it. When we tried to go back to town to ask what the shit was going on, the fucking uptight assholes chasted us out and told us we were banned from New Appaloosa. So we’ve been keeping an eye on your shit since then.”
“Untouched?” I asked.
The old mare laughed again. “Fuck no. We took this baby for a ride and tested out the guns. My grandson also fixed a few things wrong with it. That Griffon, Longslide, may know how to make this, but we know how to make it run better.”
“Well, as long as everything is still here,” I breathed as I trotted over to the Smuggler. I saw that even the trailer with all the trade we got from the Desperados was still here. “Well, we can at least get this stuff back to the Gunrunners somehow.”
“FUCK YA!” Star shouted as she pulled her sword out from its sheath. The silver blade gleamed in the light.
Slowtrot, too, had trotted over. He pulled out the burnt service rifle from the Smuggler. He looked a little puzzled when he found a strange charm hanging off of the barrel. It was a small rodent skull with a miniature cowpony hat on and with yellow and orange cloth mane that looked like fire.
Dead Axle chuckled. “Seriously, Live, that's where you lost it?”
Live Axle looked embarrassed, face hoofing herself. “Oh fuck me. Now I remember.”
Looking inside myself, I found Order’s drone body along with my father’s enforcer. Picking up the revolver, the light beaming down on it giving it a blue-like shine on the dark steel. Checking to see it was loaded, I found six unused .357 in it. With a sigh, I shoved the gun in the secret pocket of my jacket. I don’t know why, but it made me feel far less naked now than when I finally got some proper clothes on.
My bolt launcher was also here. There were some signs of somepony having been messing with it. That somepony was awkwardly smiling at me.
“Ya. How does that fucking thing even work?” Dead Axle asked me.
“It works if you're a mirage pony, just like my drone.” I told her as I took a deep breath. Drawing magic into myself, it felt like warm water was filling my insides. Exhaling, I then pushed the magic to my drone, feeding it the energy it needed to function.
With a flickering of its eyes, the drone’s propeller wings came to life and Order flew up. “All systems are in green. Gun barrel is a millimeter off. Will need to be calibrated.” He then clunked. “Possible tampering detected.”
I looked over at Dead Axle, hoping for an answer to who touched my drone.
“Oh., Sorry about that. I wanted to see how it worked too… couldn't make heads or tails of any of it,” she admitted.
With a sigh, I turned back to the others, asking. “So is everything here?”
Slowtrot looked down at the sights of his trench gun, looking less than happy. “Everything but my pistol.”
“And Hardballer,” Star said as she put Hardballer’s large revolver and his griffonstone typewriter on the vehicle's hood. She then kicked the Smugglers tire hard and screamed “FUCK!”
Trotting over to her, I gave Star a hug. She was shaking, clearly holding back so as to not actually damage anything. “I know. Trust me, I know how you feel.”
“Doesn't make it feel any better,” she grumbled as she squeezed me tight.
“No, it doesn't,” I agreed.
Star held me for a long moment before letting me go, returning her attention to Hardballer’s guns. Taking the griffins guns, Star put them on the back seat as she started pulling out some junk. Eventually she found a large cloth and wrapped the two guns in them, all before placing them in a safe compartment on the Smuggler.
Letting Star do her thing, I trotted over to Burning Asphalt. The old mare had waited patiently. “Alright, there’s a lot of things to do, and probably not as much time as we would like to do them all. So, what's next?”
“Good. I hate beating around the radscorpion,” Burning Asphalt said with a smirk as she jabbed Crankshaft.
The stallion huffed in annoyance as he crouched down low enough for his grandmother to get back on his back.
“Now if you three would follow me, Elder Big Papa would love to talk with you,” the old mare told us.
I nodded, then looked back at Star and Slowtrot. Both looked like they were ready for a fight, and with how things had been, I didn’t blame them. “Alright, let’s go. It would be rude to keep our hosts waiting.”
“Mind if I come as well?” Azure spoke up, catching me by surprise.
“Where the fuck did you come from? And what the fuck are you!” Burning Asphalt said in shock as she held a hoof to her chest.
I sighed, feeling a bit ashamed that I had almost forgotten he was here. The Lurker magic might be strong with him for nopony to have seen him this whole time. “Sorry. Azure here is a friend of mine. I can explain the rest later.”
What else is there to say? Not only did the three bring back a lost clan member, but with him, you’ve come bearing gifts. The Desperados are not going to stick their nose up at such generosity. Not from ponies they have already grown to respect.
-Items Recovered-
All formally lost items have been returned to the three, all except for Chekhov's Promise.
"Having stayed with the Desperados as Harp’s friend, it was fascinating to observe this warrior culture up close. Unlike the other ponies I had seen in this world so far, they didn’t like to live in the ruins of their old world. Instead, they chose to make huts that were both easily constructed and packed away.
The only old things they did hold onto were their old guns, vehicles, and ponies. All things they held in high regard for how much they needed them to live their way of life. For them, if it was not useful or held any meaning, they didn’t feel the need to maintain it. Better to sell it off or leave it along the side of the road rather than let it drag them down.
Unfortunately for them, this also meant that if a pony has new ideas or some new invention, if it is not quickly proven useful to the rest of them, it is forcefully dropped. There is little room for brilliant inventors, reclusive scientists or eccentric artists. Such things are needed for a civilization to grow and not be taken over by its rivals. Strength alone only makes a civilization strong for a brief moment of time." ~ Azure Dice
Having trotted through the camp itself and seeing the Desperados home up close, it had a strangely comfy feeling to the place. With foals trying to sneak a peek at us, watched over by their parents or older siblings, it made me feel safer than I had for a long time now. Some adults give us less than friendly glances, but they still minded their own business. I even saw a few familiar faces among them. A few gave me a friendly wave.
What really caught my eye was the decorations. A lot of them involved decorated skulls of animals being used as torch parts and their other bones hung up like windchimes. Morbid parts aside, they have impressively tapestries everywhere. Most were more detailed versions of their flags with the quality being inconsistent. Others were detailed in ways that could rival the ones from my home with clear love and care having taken part in the weaving. Some depicted battles and others of what I could guess were family members. Quite unsurprisingly, a few were of their motorcycles.
Nothing here had the shine like the art back in stable 50, but I could see the skill put into the tapestries from just a glance. There had to be a master artist among them for the skill to be this high.
As we trotted up a pathway, we were taken to a much larger tent in between several normal tents. Inside the dim tent, I could see several older ponies sitting at a table, waiting for us. The elders were clearly experienced wastelanders. Scars were proudly on display along with bold tattoos and at least one of them had a prosthetic limb. More importantly, though, they all had the look of a pony in charge. The Unicorn ghoul at the center had this still, yet intimidating appearance.
As my eyes finally adjusted to the dimmer light, I was almost left breathless as I saw the tapestries behind the elders. They were six individual tapestries that made up one image. It was clearly made of fine cloth and rare materials that shimmered in the low light. Looking at them, it was clear to see what it was about. It showed ponies fighting zebras with both Celestia and Luna flying above them. The Desperados rode away from a Megaspell explosion and then formed different campsites along route 50. It was their history in the form of ancient art.
“I see that you enjoy how we honor our history, Miss Harp Melody,” said the gravelly voice of a unicorn ghoul to me. The ghoul was like the few others I had seen before; skinny with almost no fur, thus showing off his leathery skin. His milky white eyes had the barest hint to life in them. He wore clothing meant for a pony much larger than himself, but how he wore it gave off a sense of strength and pride.
“You must be Elder Big Papa,” I addressed the ghoul as I politely bowed.
He looked at me in a way that reminded me of my own mother. Cold, calculating, and with a heavy sense of responsibility. “A polite little lady, aren't you? Not many of those like you left in this world. Most of them have forked tongues, too.” He had a slight accent that reminded me a bit of home. He had the barest inflections of a Canterlot accent.
“Well, when you cannot fight as well as others, having a cunning tongue can make up for it,” I said while holding my head up and looking him in the eyes.
I knew they didn’t like ponies who talked fancy and talked fast, but I also didn’t want to lie to them and pretend to be what I was not. It was going to be better to be Honest in the long run rather than get temporary favor through a lie.
“And where did such a cunning tongue get the pones of old then?” The ghoul asked.
I smiled at him, knowing what he was getting at. “Clearly the world we live in now. Isn’t that right Slowtrot?”
“What?” Slowtrot blurred out, looking between me and Big Papa. “Oh, well there were a lot of things that happened back then, though I guess the Ministry of Image nonstop propaganda made sure nopony could voice against the war without sounding like nutjobs. Then there were the pinks. A few ponies I know who were taken by them made everypony paranoid.”
I looked back at Elder Papa with a smile. “If you want to know about how things were during the war, I’m sure Slowtrot here can tell you all about it. He did come from that time.”
The elder scratched his hairless chin. “He certainly does sound like a pony from back then. And his accent… say colt, are you from the Coltiforna region”
Slowtrots eyes lit up a little. “Yes. Applewood actually.”
The old ghoul squinted his eyes for a moment before relaxing. “Right. You have that stupidly fast-talking accent of those up-tight assholes. Here I thought I would never have the displeasure of hearing it again. Maybe the zebras didn’t bomb it hard enough.”
He then looked over at Star. “And you filly, going to try a fucking story about being from the past? Or let me guess, the descendent of a ministry mare?”
Star cocked an eyebrow for a moment and then smiled mischievously as she chuckled. “If I been a descendent o' a ministry mare aft where I’m from, they would 'ave gutted me an' thrown me to the waters. I don’t know what problem the prophet Roseland 'ad with them, but in the scripture, they was labeled as false prophets who was responsible fer the death o' the goddesses.”
Big Papa froze for a moment before his hoof hit his face. “You're one of those damn pirate loons. How is it you got this far inland… No, I don’t care. Just keep your religion to your fucking self.”
He turned his gaze back to me. Now he really studied me with his eyes. Elder Big Papa then sighed. “So we got a pony who says he’s from wartime, and a member of the Thorns. So what are you supposed to be? A princess or something?”
I had to hold back my own laugh at his guess. I knew it was because of my little horn and small wings. My family hated that about mirage ponies, seeing them as a bastardization of the princesses, made worse by our stripes.
So I took a deep breath. “I am the daughter of Queen Gilded Gold, a Descendant of Princess Platinum. My family has survived in stable 50, awaiting for the time we can go home and rebuild Equestria. It is a dream that will likely never come.”
I then waited for the old ghoul to laugh and mock me. Instead, he slumped back in his chair, looking at me with a curious look on his face. The moment went on in uncomfortable silence with the ghoul just looking at me.
When he finally spoke, his words caught me off guard. “Then would that make you a descendant of princess Majesty, then?”
“Well… yes… you're correct. My ancestor, Majesty, was on the Marewaii islands at the time of the bombs and took shelter in stable 50 along with other famous ponies and many servants,” I stammered out.
He again went quiet. His eyes did not leave my face.
After another long moment, he then glanced away and whistled at one of the Desperados standing guard. “Oy, colt, go get my memory chest. I need to confirm something.”
This got the other elders to become nervous as they began whispering among each other. Some were confused and others were curious. Both of these emotions I shared.
The guard had quickly galloped out and soon dragged in a large old steamer trunk.
Elder Big papa’s horn glowed with magic as he used it to pop open the trunk. Inside were rolls of tapestries, each one looking vibrant in color and made from fine materials. He pulled one out with his magic, then levitated it in front of him as it unrolled the thick cloth. His eyes darted between it and me several times before he smiled.
The ghoul laughed and then turned the tapestry around for us to see it. On it, it showed a young unicorn mare on a motorcycle wearing an olive-green uniform that was a size too large on her. I was shocked to see that the style of her blue mane and tail was just like mine. She even had silver streaks in her mane in the exact same places as I had my gray streaks. The only real difference was that her coat color was pure white and her eyes were purple. She also did not have any stripes. Under here was the world's “Equestria Need You.”
“Oh! I remember that! it’s the poster of Princess Majesty” Slowtrot blurted out.
I trotted up to it in order to get a closure look. “Indeed it is. Even her cutie-mark is correct.” Back home there were several portraits of Majesty, but none of them were of her looking this young. She looked closer to my age in this tapestry.
I looked over at Elder Big Papa, asking only one word. “How?”
He carefully placed the tapestry flat on the table for some of the other elders to see, all while smiling wide. “Before the war, my family worked as personal artisans for the Equestrian royal family. Tailers, seamstresses, anything involving cloth work, we made it just for them. Learned how to professionally make tapestries as a colt. When the war first started, I proudly enlisted. When the princess went on tour to keep the troops’ morale up, I was transferred into the mobile unit that protected her. I was there when this picture was made and kept several of the posters as memories of that time.” Gently stroking the tapestry, the old ghoul sighed with content. “Made this after I retired from the war. Before things had turned for the worse.”
Pulling out several other tapestries from his trunk, they were a mosaic of images. No. Actually they were pictures. Pictures of ponies in the same olive green uniforms as Majesty was, though they filled in the outfits much better than she had. “The war back then was far more… civilized. If we could, we would take prisoners and would conduct regular prisoner exchanges. Nopony wanted to kill each other back then. We just wanted to prove that we were in the right.”
A gravely chuckle came from the elder. “Got captured once when they came to take princess Majesty. Those stripes made a damn good tea and biscuits. If I were a lesser pony, I would have told them what they wanted to know. Got to pay my interrogator back a few months later. Showed him how Canterlot does tea and biscuits. He, too, didn’t tell us anything, but nopony really cared at the time.”
Elder Big Papa placed one of the tapestries down in front of him which showed pictures of the soldiers celebrating and having their photos taken with Majesty. On top of the tapestry and surrounded in a gold embroidered frame were two stallions holding up Majesty on their shoulders. One was a yellow Unicorn stallion with a battle rifle on his back, the other stallion was a blue pegasus with a trench gun. Majesty herself was holding a golden harp. The instrument had almost impossible detail to it and gleaned in the light. Under the image were the words, “Me and my good mate Lt. Windchester, celebrating the Princesses first successful show.”
“Show?” I asked.
The old goul smiled. “Oh yes. Princess Majesty was quite the musician. She sang and played that harp. She was quite the savant at it. I’m sure if she didn’t have other responsibilities due to the war, she would have become quite the star of classical music.”
Hearing that strangely put a smile on my face. “Mother would never let me skip my music classes. She told me if I was going to be good at anything, it should at least be that. I always found it off that she insisted it to be the harp since it was what she named me after.”
Big Papa looked at me and chuckled. “Maybe she saw a bit of Majesty in you. Maybe she wanted to see if you could live up to your ancestors' standards.”
I wasn’t sure it was that, and I’ll never get the chance to find out. Even if the pirates hadn’t taken my stable, Mother was still dying. Last I saw her, she was bedridden and couldn't breathe without assistance.
“Thanks. That’s a comforting thought,” I told the Elder. “But I can’t help but ask; why did you start this gange if you were a royal tailor?”
His happy and content smile faded a bit. “War changes a pony. Makes it hard to return to the life they had before. I no longer cared about making fancy decorations or hearing the ignorant demands of the upper class. While my friends and I fought and died in the war, they were getting drunk on their own sense of self-righteousness. They even looked down on the soldiers still fighting. If I had stayed, I would have killed them, or myself.”
Another tapestry was pulled out. This one showed a large group of ponies on motorcycles. They all had the same helmets that the soldiers in the other images and many of the ponies had military pins adorning their dirty jackets. Some were missing limbs or had large scars on their bodies. It was amazing how much detail was put into the whole thing.
“Found some of my friends from the war,” the Elder resumed explaining, “and formed our own club. All we really did was drive up and down route 50, but it helped keep our minds clear. Of course, there were a lot of ponies who didn’t like to be reminded of the cost of war, so there were a lot of fights in those years.”
“We provided a place to belong for other veterans of the war. In time our family grew, but so had the desire for the ponies in charge to sweep us under the rug,” Elder Big Papa said bitterly. “It was easy to deal with at first, but then the ministries took over. The Ministry of Image and the Ministry of Moral tried to shut us out of polite society by labeling us as deviants and criminals. They even tried to take our guns.”
He pointed at Slowtrot’s trench gun. “Pissed me off how the Ministry of Image tried to make it so that the Windchester’s Trench Gun never existed. Saw my good friend leave Equestria because of that. I’ll never forgive Rarity for what she did to his family.”
The old ghoul then sighed as he slumped in his chair. “Don’t know what came first anymore. It’s been so long. Did we start smuggling chems because we were labeled criminals, or were we called criminals because we started smuggling chems? All I can remember was that, as long as we gave chems to the right ponies, it kept the Ministry of Moral off our flanks.
“Well, as my family grew, so did how crazy all the soft ponies got. It was good for business since it seemed that almost everypony was taking chems now just to get by. But that got us worried, too, since we know what it looked like when a pony was about to snap.”
“That's when you started stocking up?” I checked.
He nodded. “If it was our own, then we could deal with it our way. Help them get it all out of their system. But all the soft ponies cared more about pretending that things were okay. They always feared that the pinks would come and drag them off if they ever stopped stretching their fake smiles. When ponies outside of your control snap, then you must be ready to put them down.” The elder then pointed to a part of the tapestry behind him. “Fortunately most of them didn’t know how to fire a gun correctly, but there were a lot of them.”
The scene on the tapestry showed the Desperados fighting ponies in old-world suits and dresses who were inside ruined houses. A bit past that scene, the well-dressed ponies were replaced with what looked like raiders.
“The first raiders, I guess?” I surmised.
“In a sense,” Big Papa partially agreed. “Most of them were just scared and angry. The world had changed overnight and everything they held with value was reduced to ashes. There was no pony coming to save them, nor any pony coming to condemn them. So, when one of them stepped up to take charge, the others followed. Unfortunately, most of the ponies who took charge were power-hungry psychopaths with a severe chem addiction. We had to put a lot of ponies down back then, mainly out of our own safety with how we were already seen as enemies in their eyes.
“Not saying it was all like that, there were those we could get along with,” he said, taking a more relaxed posture in his seat. “The ponies who lived far away from the cities were ponies we had done business with. There were those who simply had no way to fight and just stayed calm in hopes we didn’t kill them. We helped protect those ponies from the ones who had lost their minds, the first raiders as you called them, and in exchange, we got things we needed to keep on riding.”
“And you have lived that way for over two hundred years now,” I realized.
He nodded. “That is correct. Now that we're talking about the present, why are you here? No pony comes bearing such gifts and does not expect anything in return. I understand you wanting to hide with us for a time, but that doesn't require the gifts you're offering.”
Finally on the topic at hoof, I took another deep breath. “Yes, that is true. For the most part, we are requesting safe passage to the west through route 50 and for the ponies joining us to have shelter within your territory. But I rather not lie to ponies who have been friends to us, and honestly, by having us with you, it may attract dangerous ponies to you and your clans.”
Elder Big Papa cocked his nonexistent eyebrow. “Don’t take the Desperados as weaklings. We can handle anything the wasteland can throw at us.”
I thought he would say that, so I turned to my friends and gave them a nod.
Star Charter spoke up first. “Well, the Chosen… or as you called them, the Thorns, they might be interested in taking Harp for themselves. Bishop Purity Spiral wants grandchildren with true royal blood, and my old gang boss wants to use her as some sort of bargaining chip with the Pope. It's all a bit over my head. Also, I happen to be related to some nobility from the holy fleet. I’m two whores removed as the bishop said, so the bishop wants to use me for the same purpose. Not interested in being some breeding mare for a stallion that looks like a mare and likes to wear pink frilly dresses.”
I was still wrapping my head around that part of her story and that she actually enjoyed having sex with that stallion.
Next was Slowtrot, taking a moment before speaking. “I’m not sure how much Dead Axle has told you, but the boss of Blue Skies, Quicktrot Fragment, is not what she appears to be. Safe to say, she is not even a real pony, or even a living thing. As for how that's a problem, she likely wants me dead for a few reasons that's hard to explain, but I know that as long as I’m far away from her she is not going to bother coming after me. But Harp, on the other hoof, because of her bloodline, she may be able to open doors in which Quicktrot would want to get past.”
The elder pondered on that information for a long moment, staying quiet as he rubbed his chin. “If I didn’t see the image of Majesty in Harp, I’d call you all liars. Even now I don’t entirely believe any of you,” he said with a grimace. “But if true, this would be dangerous for my family. To some ponies out here, such a prize is worth the cost of other ponie’s lives.”
He then let out a gravely, yet bellowing laugh. “But when have we ever shied away from danger? If true, not only will we meet that danger unflinchingly, but with honor. If you truly are the descendant of Princess Majesty, I would truly be honored to once again ride with a member of the royal family.”
“And how would I prove this?” I asked.
A prideful grin formed on the elder’s face as he levitated another, yet far smaller trunk from within the large steamer trunk. “That will be a simple thing.”
Opening the smaller trunk, inside was a gleaming golden harp that looked a lot like the one from the photo of Majesty. The beautiful instrument had a silver engraving of flowering vines that ran along a spiral silhouette of Canterlot. Its strings shimmered like crystals, and I could feel a faint but familiar magic radiation from it.
“That… can’t... be?” I stammered.
“It is,” Big Papa confirmed as he ran his hoof along the strings, yet no sound came out. “Majesty's magical harp. It only played for her and made such a beautiful sound that would warm even the coldest of hearts. It helped lift up soldier’s spirits during the war and helped to remind them why they were fighting as well as not to forget who they were. Many fights were won with ponies humming her tune as they took zebras captive over killing them. It’s an instrument for inspiring civility amidst barbaric hate.”
Trotting closer, the harp was just too beautiful for words to describe. “But why do you have this?”
“I still don’t know myself,” Big Papa said as he hoofed over the harp to me.” Just one day, I was camping out in the middle of nowhere and Princess Majesty just appeared in front of me. She looked sad, but a lot of ponies looked sad at that time. Princess Celestia had just stepped down after the Littlehorn massacre, so many ponies felt lost and angry. She told me to keep it safe and I’ll know why when it’s time for it to be used. Then she simply vanished. Well, I mean, teleported. Not a word other than that to me.”
“She was a mare full of mysteries,” I said as I picked at one of the strings.
*Ping*
Everypony was silent as the harp let out one clear and beautiful note.
I then picked at a few more strings, playing a simple tune. The sound this harp made compared to the one I used back home was far superior in every way, and the one back home was considered a work of art. Not just that, but the sound it made was literally magical. Each note sent a small wave of magic that wrapped around the ponies who heard it.
“And so, I now know why she gave it to me,” Elder Big Papa realized calmly as he got out of his seat with a smile on his face. Trotting around the table with many eyes on him, he then gave me a bow in perfect gentalcolt form. “It will be my honor to escort the descendant of Princess Majesty, as it was my honor to escort the Princess herself. If you would give me this honor, Princess Harp Melody.”
It was strange. I have had ponies bow to me before, but never with such reverence. It didn’t fill me with joy back then but neither did it disgust me. I just felt at ease. Smiling, I told him, “Well I was already asking for an escort, so please lift your head. I may be a royal, but right now you're the most important pony here. I should be the one honored to have you escort me. Who else can I trust but a pony who once served my ancestor?”
Elder Big Papa lifted his head. “Then we are both honored, aren’t we?” He then took a closer look at me. He nodded with a smile. “Yes, that will do. That will do nicely.”
“What?” I asked, feeling a bit confused.
“If you want to ride with us, why not make it official? The others already speak highly of you and your two friends so I doubt anypony would be dumb enough to object.” He then put his hoof on my shoulder. “So let’s have you three officially become Desperados.”
“What?!” I screeched.
The elder chuckled. “Yes. That way none of the other herds will give you any trouble and the other ponies within our territory will show you respect. Also, if the NCR come making demands, it will be easier for us to tell them to fuck off.”
He then took his hoof off my shoulder and offered it for me to shake. “Sounds like a good idea.”
I wasn't sure what to think about it since I was sure there were still strings attached. As loyal as he sounded to be to my ancestor, it had been over two hundred years. Also, I was no fighter like the ponies here. I was the exact opposite of them, not to mention that I plan to reach out to Orthrus and rejoin with them.
“And what if I don’t plan on staying with the Desperados? There are ponies I need to see and I plan on staying with them once I find them again.” I told him.
“Baa!” the elder let out. “Like fuck we control our mares. So long as you don’t betray your family, you can do as you like. Just remember that you have a family with us as well and with us, you will stand strong. Everything after that is just boating bullshit made up by young stallions looking to prove their strength.”
His voice then lowered to a calmer, gentler tone. “If you're worried about us wanting to use you like those other ponies you mentioned, then trust me, we have no interest in doing that. Everything we are, we built with our own hooves. It’s how we have survived, and how we will keep surviving for hundreds of more years into the future. Even if it’s only for a brief moment of time, having you in our family will be worth more than any treasure of the past you can gain us.”
Looking back at Slowtrot and Star, they did seem to know what to do either. Returning my attention to Elder Big Papa, I could see the sincerity in his milky white eyes. Anyways, it’s not like it was going to make anything worse for us. We did break out of prison in probably the worst way possible.
If I had to choose who to join in this wasteland, then the Desperados were far from the worst ones, and ones I felt I could trust. So I reached out and took his hoof. “Elder Big Papa, I would be honored to be counted among the Desperados.”
“You can call me Arras Weaver, Princess Harp Melody,” he told me.
“Then just call me Harp if we're going to be family, Arras,” I told him as I matched his smile.
Arras smile widened. “Then Harp, why don’t we get you ready to join the family? With the food you have brought over, a feast is in order.”
Another feast. I already felt like I regained the weight I lost in the NCRCF, and now I was worried I was going to get fat if this continued.
“Oh, before that,” I stopped Arras. “What about the ponies that are coming with us? Will they have safe passage?”
“If they're with you…” he said, pondering. “Well, it would not hurt to have them take the initiation ritual to see if any of them can join the Desperados.”
“Wait-” I said, but was then stopped by the ghoul putting his hoof in front of my muzzle.
“Trust me, it’s better they take part. Even if they fail, the other Desperados will still show them some respect for at least trying,” he explained to me.
“Alright, but let me explain it to them first,” I proposed with a sigh.
“Better yet,” Arras said with a smirk. “You said you know how to play the harp, right? Why don’t you also put on a little show as well? It’s been over two hundred and twenty years since that harp has been used. Why have it wait any longer?”
I squinted suspiciously at the old ghoul. “You just want to know if I can play as well as my ancestor.”
He chuckled. “Guilty as charged. So, will you do it?”
I looked down at the beautiful instrument in my hooves. It was a piece of my family's history, unblemished by time, or by the hooves of those who would tarnish it. As far as I know, I may be the only pony who can even play it. My nephew may still be alive, sleeping with that harlot of a pirate. Last thing I would want is the first pony to play this after so long be one of a tainted bloodline.
“Alright. I can give it a try,” I said a bit meekly.
“FUCK YA!” Star shouted. “I’ll sing and you play. Slowtrot… you can do the lights or something.”
“Thanks…” Slowtrot said flatly.
“I can do the lights, Madam Harp,” Order spoke up.
I sighed, “No, you all calm down. We're not making a big show of it. Just a small performance.”
Again the old ghoul Arras chuckled. “Why not? Nothing goes better with a feast than a big show.”
Again I sighed. “Whatever. Then a show it is.”
“Well this is a pleasant turn of events. Music is food for the soul, as some say.” Azure spoke up, and predictably, several ponies jumped in surprise.
“What the fuck kind pony is that?!” Arras said in shock.
“That is another story,” I said as I put the harp away into in a case and turned to leave. “But I’ll save it for another time.”
Majesty's Harp - A well-crafted and fine-tuned instrument made for the Equestria royal family. The tune it makes is enchanting to all that hear it, but can only be used by a member of the royal family.
“Dear Majesty,
It has been some time since you returned to your magic studies after helping the troops in the war. Shutting yourself off is not healthy, and the fact that you have been looking into time magic has me worried. As family and a friend, trust me when I say that time magic only leads to more pain. I will not stop you, but I ask that you come and confide with me about your worries. I do miss our tea parties from when you were smaller. Maybe we can have them again? Just don’t isolate yourself like Twilight. It’s not healthy. Not for you, not for her, and not for me.
Your loving aunt, Princess Celestia.”
Reputation Gan: The Desperados
Well, it’s pretty much official at this point. Welcome to the family.
"One of the things both Harp and I truly enjoyed about the Desperados was their reverence to their history. They didn’t attempt to hide the blemishes or puff up their greatest moments. Though history is written by the winner, and they would have every right to write what they thought their history should be, they still embraced both the good and the bad of their history. They sought to learn from it and become stronger.
Learning all this made me a bit surprised at why they had such a flawed way of living. Though because of their harsh history, it was not hard to understand. Victims of their own success, time and time again their way has proven right, and because of it, they saw no reason to change. The more time I spend in the Equestria Wasteland, the more I have come to see their ways of doing this as acceptable.
But an era does not stay stagnant for long, and as other ponies begin to light the fires of their civilization, the already dim light of the Desperados will dim even more. History has never treated nomadic people well, and though their way is acceptable, a change will be needed for them to not be left behind. This too is what Harp believed, though she also believed she had no right to meddle in their affairs." ~ Azure Dice
It felt good to be back in the Smuggler again, the wind blowing past my mane as the scenery rolled by. We were on our way back to the stable with several of the Desperados trailing behind us. With Slowtrot driving and the sisters, Live and Dead Axle, riding with us. Star stayed behind to oversee the initiation ritual, along with keeping an eye on the nightstalkers, and to practice singing a song we agreed on.
The Desperados wanted to have their celebration at sunset when everything was cooler and everypony was done working. I felt that, until then, I could oversee some of the ex-prisoner’s departure and take a look at the Ministry of Awesome lab.
“So about the initiation ritual.” Live Axle finally had gotten to the topic after being sidetracked on the topic about her family. I was told a little bit about it. Something about a test of endurance and strength, but Arras was vague on the details. “Most of us call it the gauntlet. You have to pull a heavy load while enduring a beating and insults. Oh, and drink some nasty chem mix that makes you feel like shit.”
It was a simple description but made me glad I got to skip it. “That sounds… unpleasant.”
“Trust me, I would never want to do it again. If you fail, you can always try again, but you're not considered a Desperado until you do, so most that fail will have to live outside of camp or join a settlement. Not everypony can be as strong as us, but we have a rule to never look down at those who try to become strong.” Live Axle explained.
“There are a few settlements along route 50 made up of those born from Desperados, but never became one.” Dead Axle spoke up from the gunner nest. “They look after our vaults and produce a lot of the shit we use to stay strong. Booze too.”
I looked up at the grinning mare as she was molesting the Smuggler’s energy turret. “Then if any of the ponies that come with it fail, would they get to live in those settlements?”
“Fucking unlikely. They are uptight about only having Desperado-born ponies in their communities. But I wouldn't worry about where they will go. There's a shit ton of places they can settle down along route 50,” she explained.
It didn’t matter to me where the other prisoners ultimately ended up, but knowing that at least I could uphold my promise to them was comforting.
I watched as Live Axle got up and leaned over Slowtrot’s shoulder, watching him drive. I wouldn't have minded it, but her butt was now near my face.
“Give her a slap!” Dead Axle told me.
“How about no!” I told the mischievous mare.
Unfortunately, Slowtrot had to drive around some, causing Live’s hip to knock into my face.
*Slap*
Live gave out a feminine scream, causing Slowtrot to swerve the Smuggler a bit and Dead to burst out laughing.
The drive didn’t take much longer. The Smuggler and the other Desperados vehicles were far faster than Daisy Chain. Slowing down, we saw the entrance that led to the Stable along with a pony poking their head out.
Waving as I got out, the mare retreated for a moment before she then climbed her way out of the hole. “Wow! So you did get them. I was half expecting to never see you again.”
“Well we're back. I hope nopony has done anything stupid already?” I asked the mare.
“Other than the norm, no. Everypony is either working or relaxing,” she informed me.
“Good, then let's get to work sorting the rest of you out,” I told her as I trotted to the hole in the ground.
It hadn't been that long, but the list of names of who wanted to do what had shifted around. Predictable, the Zebras still wanted to go off on their own to find their tribe out in the wasteland. It would have been nice to have kept Bitter Tea and her knowledge of making enchantments, but the last thing I needed was a zebra curse on me.
That said, if they stayed with us, the likelihood of Star getting high and fucking the two zebras again was higher than zero. Seeing the videos of her still left me with mixed feelings about the matter, and I had a strong feeling that Cherry Knot wanted to make another one of my friends. The last thing we needed was Star becoming a porn star or getting pregnant. We already had enough pregnant mares to deal with as it was.
Among those who wanted to go back to the NCR was Chainlock. The strong-looking stallion was now before me wearing a chef's hat and apron.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked him cautiously. “There is no guarantee that the NCR will treat you any nicer.”
“I know,” Chainlock agreed with a sigh. “But I talked with the others and were willing to take that risk. We also want to see Spritz’s corps be paraded around by her hated enemy. Anyways, most of us have family in the NCR or along their borders. Personally, I want to see my mama again without having to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”
Including Chainlock, there were six of them that wanted to turn themselves over to the NCR. All of them were in the NCRCF for petty crimes or minor gangger activity. None of them had a hint of a hardened criminal or dangerous wastelander about them. They were just ponies driven to crime to survive.
“Well if you want to take anything with you, I won't stop you, but I don’t think the NCR will let you keep any of it. Other than that, there’s a Desperado waiting for you and the others at the entrance. Do whatever you need to do before you go, and… I wish you luck.”
Chainlock had a gentle smile on his face as he said. “Thanks. I made some more gumbo downstairs for anypony who wants some. I even wrote down the recipe for it. It was good seeing so many ponies enjoy eating my food. Maybe, if things between you and the NCR calm down, and I’m let out as a free pony, you and the others can come find me. I’ll cook you some more food, not just gumbo.”
“That would be lovely. If things go well on my end, maybe I can bring you some food from my homeland.”
As he left, Cherry and Bitter trotted in along with the twins and Slowtrot. All four mares were dressed up in intentionally torn-up old-world clothes and socks. It gave them all a wiled but fashionable look to them. It made me annoyed that I was stuck here, sorting out ponies, while they got to play dress up. Oh, how I miss shoe shopping.
Among them, Live Axle looked considerably embarrassed.
“Did you take them to your brothel, Cherry?” I flatly asked.
The pregnant whore laughed like nothing was wrong with that. “Well they looked like such sweet mares, so I asked if they were interested.”
Dead Axle chuckled. “Never saw a mare bend like that before. Right, sis?”
Live Axle hit her sister on the shoulder. “Fuck you. All I wanted was a dress. Why did you have to drag me to that?!”
I sighed as I looked over the paper that listed Cherry and all of her mares. “To the matter at hoof, why did you make a new list, and why is it called; Harp’s Wild Mares?”
“Oh you know why. We get to follow you and meet new and interesting ponies. Also being protected by the Desperados isn’t a bad deal,” she explained.
Frustrated, I told her. “I’m not going to run a traveling whore house, and that's final. Also, aren't you and almost half of these mares pregnant?”
Live’s eyes lit up. “Really? How far along?”
“She’s about one month in,” Slowtrot answered for her.
Cherry gave me a coy smile. “Oh come on, Madam Harp. I mean, ya, half my girls got themselves knocked up. It’s the danger of this kind of business. Anyways, this is what we do. It’s all we’ve ever known. I mean, most of us were born in brothels and whore houses. Out there in the wasteland, we’re just going to end up scattered and taken advantage of by some pimp. Seen that happen many times.”
Hopping on my desk, the mare again showed off some leg as though she thought I would be interested in her. “Our boss, the Madam, was what kept us together. She even kept track of our cycles to keep us from, well you know.” She rubbed her stomach for a second before continuing. “So we need a new smart mare to lead us. One that knows how to lead and can talk another pony into a sniveling wreck.”
Cherry licked her lip as she eyes me with desire. “You are exactly that smart mare we need. Yes, we're just a bunch of whores, but you're a smart mare who's better at getting information out of a pony than a slut. There's also the benefit of you getting a cut out of any business we do or helping you with more delicate matters.”
She then cut her playful act and hopped off my desk. “ Also, I know you're going to want some new dresses, and who else do you know that can make them for you?”
“I’m not against the idea,” Dead Axle spoke up in Cherry’s defense. “Those mares got some skills. With making clothes, I mean. They’d fit in with the other mothers among the Desperados. Also, I’d like to learn a thing or two from them. Show off my hoof work to somepony.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Slowtrot who avoided eye contact with the mare.
I just placed my face into my hooves, trying not to lose my cool at this stupidity. “Alright, but you're under my direct command. No whoring once you leave the Stable unless I give you permission. Otherwise I’m dumping you and your mares off at the first settlement we pass by. Understand?”
Cherry trotted over and gave me a hug. The older mare pressed my head to her chest, giving me a nose full of some strong perfume she must have made down here. “Oh, you're not going to regret this. I’m going to finish your dress right away. Those two adorable sisters told me you're putting on a performance tonight, so I must see it.”
Thinking about it, I was sure I was going to regret this decision. However, having a pony who can make me new dresses was possibly worth the risk. Now that I’m thinking about it, I realize that I also need to ask, “Can you also make shoes and proper underwear?”
A wide smile formed on her face. “Already ahead of you.” She then leaned in and whispered. “Just come by later and you can try out some lacy panties I’ve recently finished. They're your size.”
The mare then let me go and trotted to the door. “Oh, if anypony wants to try on some nightwear I recently fixed, follow me.”
I watched as Live Axle uncontrollably shifted away from her sister and followed after Cherry.
“Should I be worried that Live is going to get in over her head?” I asked Dead Axle.
Dead Axle shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, she may not be the smartest pony, but she’s not that dumb. But I would suggest that Slowtrot here keep an eye on her. Don’t you agree?”
“Personally, I rather not watch more mares play dress-up,” he responded.
Dead slapped him on the flank. “Just go, unless you want to join me in that other room. I got a scratch that needs itching.”
Slowtrot stopped to seriously think about it for a moment but then sighed. “You know what? After what happened with Star, it might be better to keep an eye on your sister. Cherry is annoyingly persistent when trying to convert other mares to her herd. We can meet up later.”
As soon as Slowtrot had left, Dead Axle sighed. “Maybe I should have suggested a quickie.”
Dead Axle then looked at me as she asked, “So, what happened with Star?”
“She got high and made a video with two of my clan mates,” Bitter said in an annoyed tone. The fashionably dressed Zebra then turned my way, holding up a pipbuck 2000. The screen turned on to show images of a lab. “Harp, there's something there you need to see with your own eyes.”
Looking at the green-colored photograph, the old pipbuck was barely able to get any good details of what I was looking at. “I guess I should go down there myself.”
With Order lighting the way, we found that the tunnels were safe for the most part, mainly because of ponies hunting in them frequently. The need for meat in Chianlock’s gumbo had lit a fire under some ponies. The fresher, the better. The Zebras were also offering to make a snakebite weapon for anypony that helped get them materials for it, so that also fueled the drive to hunt. There were also plenty of ponies harvesting the crystallized sulfur, so the hoof traffic scared much of the snakes further into the tunnels.
Unfortunately, this meant that the three of us were relaxed enough for Bitter to show Dead the video of Star. The echoing sound of my friend moaning was a bit disturbing.
Arriving at the Surmount Mining Unlimited tourist trap, the place was a mess, but at least the lights were still on. The animatronics that Star described was in pieces all over the place. Fortunately they were not making any noise. Here we met up with the other zebras who had a collection of odd materials.
I raised my eyebrow at Bitter who stopped in front of me and placed a very old-looking cigarette in her mouth. She lit it with flint and steel. “Just so you know, we ain't your bitches. This is just out of thanks for getting us free and killing that bitch of a tin can. We plan to keep anything good we find down here.”
“Fair enough. I’m only down here for information, so take what you can carry,” I told her as I trotted around her to where Star said the lab was.
“Oh, it’s you two!” Dead said out loud as she trotted over to the zebra stallions Star had a short relationship with. “Say, would you consider joining the Desperados? I know we would make an exception for you two.”
“Not the time for flirting,” I told Dead as Order nudged her to follow us.
“Think about it, studs,” she offered as she followed me.
“Why are you ponies so thirsty?” Bitter asked.
I loudly groaned. “Please don’t lump me in with them. Anyways, didn’t you fuck a prison guard for some smokes?”
Bitter gave a long pull of her cigarette and trotted past me. “The thing I want you to see is over here.”
Following her, my hooves crunched as we trotted over the discarded shells of nightstalker eggs that littered the floor. We came to a desk that was in front of a dusty glass window. There was one streak on the window from where a hoof had pushed the dust aside. On the desk were several egg-shaped rocks sitting on a display. To the side was a terminal. It had long since lost power.
Looking through the streak on the window, I saw racks and racks of the egg-shaped rocks… I then bent down and picked up one of the nightstalker egg fragments and compared it to one of the egg-shaped rocks. They matched. They were nightstalker eggs. “But why are they stone?” I asked out loud.
“We wondered that too. Maybe they just petrified over time, or they were petrified intentionally. It was known that your princesses used petrification on certain criminals they could not cage,” Bitter pointed out.
Looking back through the glass, I couldn't see them all, but there had to be hundreds of them. “That would make sense. If the Ministry of Awesome was planning on making a stable population and then use them to guard sensitive places. They would need a lot of them for that. Petrifying them would likely make it easier to transport and prevent any of the eggs from hatching while in transit.”
I looked at the dead terminal. An idea formed in my head. “Maybe this has the answers.”
Drawing magic to myself, it was cold and stagnant. It was actually worse when my pipbuck clicked with the warning of radiation. It wasn’t much, but my stomach churned a little from taking it in. Sending the magic out and to the terminal, it slowly came to life. The screen flickered for a moment.
Text filled the screen. A list of notes appeared. Quickly scrolling through them, I found that my assumptions were right. Indeed the Ministry of Awesome was planning on shipping the Ghost Nightstalkers out to several black sights and VIP’s along with instructions on how to train the pups. As stone, they would be able to pass through any check unnoticed, and if investigated, they’d pass them off as pet rocks… a weird cover story?
It looked like they originally planned on petrifying them as pups and passing them off as small statues for wealthy ponies, but they soon realized that keeping them as eggs proved to be more space-efficient.
Near the bottom, I found how they were supposed to de-petrify the eggs. By using a simple talisman they developed down here, the petrification should be removed. This, too, was meant to be passed off as jewelry for wealthy ponies. All one would need to do is place the talisman on the egg and it should hatch a nightstalker.
“Did you find any talismans? They should look like jewelry. It says they're the key to hatching the eggs,” I told Bitter.
The Zebra mare pulled out a brilliant sapphire blue necklace. The chain had tarnished with time, but the gem was no less beautiful. I could feel a faint magical power from it. It housed a simple spell that ever so subtly reached out. Bitter placed the talisman on one of the eggs on display and waited.
After a moment, the egg cracked. Emerging from it was a very small and pure white ghost nightstalker. It looked up at Bitter and gave a hissing yip.
“Well, that one is yours now,” I told her.
She sighed and picked up the pup. “You said they can be trained?”
Nodding, I told her, “From what the documents left behind said, it would be easy as long as it starts at a young age.
“Here, pass me your pipbuck. This terminal has instruction on training and what to feed it.”
Taking the pipbuck 2000, I plugged it into the terminal, and downloaded the files. Passing it back to her when it was done. Now the question, what do we do with the rest of the eggs, and if there are any more talismans?”
“We have a few more talismans. I’ll exchange most of them for extra supplies. We also want some of those eggs,” Bitter requested.
“Deal. Not like we need them all anyhow, so take what you need,” I invite her.
She threw me the necklace, “If only you were a zebra, then maybe we could be true friends.”
Pocketing the talisman necklace, I gave her tired smile. “So many ponies have told me that about if only I was a unicorn. Still, thanks for the thought.”
A chuckle came from Dead Axle as she eyes the newborn nightstalker puppy. “Oh, can I have one?!”
Bitter glared at the Desperado. “Why do you want one?”
Dead picked up one of the eggs, grinning like a mad mare. “Why else? Who wouldn't want their own pack of invisible snake dogs? This is just too awesome, and it might be the solution to the raider problems back on route 50.” She looked me in the eyes. “Please tell me you’re giving them to us. You have to be.”
I took the petrified egg from her and put it back on its display. “That’s part of the idea. I’m also thinking we could sell some to a wealthy merchant. It could earn everypony the caps needed to help supply us with the guns and ammo we all might need later.”
Placing her hooves on my own, Dead fluttered her eyes in a seductive manner at me. “If I was more into mares, I would show you a good time right here, right now.”
Taking my hoof back, I pushed her a little away from me. “Let's be thankful your stable door opens only one way, and that’s away from me.”
Returning my attention to Bitter, she was currently busy holding onto the newborn nightstalker pup. “So, Bitter, did you find anything else of importance?”
“Nothing useful for you,” she told me as she motioned her head to the other side of the lab. That part was in an even worse state of decay with broken glass and destroyed machinery. “Looks like the nightstalkers broke almost everything that could be broken by them. We did find a few things usable for alchemy and the talisman that likely went to the acano device that petrified those eggs. Everything else is just scrap.”
I had a feeling that she was not telling the entire truth, but I both didn’t want to get in a fight with her, nor did I care if they kept a few things and didn’t tell me. If I had to guess, they might have found that serum the ponies here developed to survive the radiation. If true, the only pony I could see being dangerous too, was themselves.
“Alright. I’ll take that talisman and see if it can be of any use to us,” I told her.
“Naw. We're keeping it,” Bitter said back.
I gave her a flat, stern look. “Not to sound ignorant, but do you even know how to use a pony talisman, or do you just plan to sell it?”
“It’s our own business, pony,” Bitter grumbled at me.
I sighed, feeling a bit frustrated at how she was being stubborn now. If my anatomy lessons were correct, Zebras were actually distantly related to donkeys, not ponies, so the same stubbornness could be in them as well. “Then what do you want for it? More supplies?”
Bitter smiled as she trotted close to me. “Well it’s true, we can't use pony talismans like you can or know how to work the acano tech like others, but you have something we can use. The blood of a princess.”
I… didn’t like that. “Alright. If you’re asking for one of your friends to knock me up, then no.”
Shock and confusion appeared on Bitter’s face as she stumbled back. “What?! No! I mean your literal blood, not your firstborn. Why would you think that?”
Facehoofing, I took a moment to collect myself. “Sorry. The last pony who wanted my royal blood only wanted me as a breeding mare for her son, so I have a reason to think that. Now, why do you want my literal blood?”
Bitter took a moment to collect herself. “You truly have a difficult life, Harp… As for the blood, it’s just to make another enchanting potion. Legends say that the Equestria royal family are the descendants of a king that once traveled to our homeland over a thousand years ago and slew a tyrannical dragon that plagued many powerful zebra tribes. With the wizard of swirling stars at his side, he welded the magical sword of sovereignty and made right any wrongs he came across. In the legend, he helped a shaman complete a powerful protective enchantment by using his own blood as the catalyst. That shaman then became the first caesar of the Rommony. The protective enchantment allowed their tribe to grow and prosper, safe from rivals and monsters.”
I was left a bit stunned. Never have I heard any story like that about my family. But the part about the wizard sounded familiar. “I… I’m sorry, but I think your family might have been mistaken. We didn’t have any kings or queens in my family up until after the war. But if all you need is some blood, then that shouldn't be a problem.”
Bitter sighed and chuckled. “Yes, even I question that, since you ponies only ever have princesses. It might have just been an honest mistake. Celestia’s thousand-year rulership is almost unheard of, so they might have thought she was his daughter.”
“That? Naw. The two Princesses were adopted into the royal family. The history is a bit vague, but I think the Master of Clover the Clever had found them and brought the Princesses to Equestria.
“Anyways, let's get back on track. Now if you do find anything else here, I doubt it’s anything safe. So just be careful. Okay?” I told her.
“We are not some dumb pony wastelanders. When it comes to dangerous magic, we know what we're doing,” she confidently said to me.
“Then I’ll trust you wholeheartedly. Just stop by medical before you leave. I’ll have Slowtrot drain some blood from me and store it.” Trotting over to the door that the eggs were stored behind, I again took magic into myself and used it to power the door, thus opening it. “Take what you think you’ll need and leave most of the talisman. When you're ready to go, just go to the Desperados with whatever you think you will need to survive. And again, thank you for all your help.”
Bitter cracked a small smile. “Don’t go telling anypony, but it has been… fun.”
Things progressed quickly as the day went on. Farewells were had as some ponies loaded into different Desperado vehicles. One was heading to the NCR controlled Junktown, along with Spritz’s body as a trophy. A few others didn’t want to stick around, choosing to be dropped off at a nearby small settlement before trotting off into the wasteland. There were some who had changed their mind and wanted to join us, and the rest stayed at the Stable to do more work before leaving, wanting that extra week’s worth of supplies.
Slowtrot didn’t say much as we got into the Smuggler, but seeing that Live Axle was taking home an extra full bag, she clearly liked a lot of what she tried on. Even Dead Axle managed to find some more clothing while I was being suited up for the dress.
Relaxing in my seat as the wind blew through my mane, I had almost forgotten how good it felt to have clean underwear on, though now I was worried that Star would flip my skirt again. The lacy panties were smaller and more tight-fitting than I had expected. Still, I felt some of my dignity returning.
Rolling back into the Desperados camp, I hopped out to stretch my legs. The camp was as lively as we left it. The Desperados were either sitting around doing nothing, doing some sort of exercise, or working on a vehicle.
“Sup, Sluts!” A rather thin and well-kept mare with too much makeup on yelled at us as she trotted over.
Another mare next to her loudly whistles at us. She was much bigger and stronger looking than the previous mare. “Where did ya get those outfits, and can we get some?”
“Where the fuck do you think, Transmission?” Live Axle told the bigger mare as she jumped out. “Turns out the whores of that Stable know how to make a dress. Wish I didn’t see them do their other job when I first trotted in.”
I could feel for the mare. Cherry was an outright nympho with no sense of shame.
“Ohhh, I’d like to visit.” the smaller mare practically gushed.
A shiver ran down my spine as Dead Axle chuckled, holding a pipbuck 2000. “They got some videos if you like to share.”
When the fuck did she pick that up? “Order, delete all videos in Miss Dead’s pipbuck.”
“Sorry, Madam Harp. That pipbuck had been locked out of the system,” my AI servant told me. It had a dejected-looking cartoon twittermite bowing in my hud display.
“Ha! I knew removing that part would keep ya out!” Dead gloated.
Her gloating lasted only a second before Live Axle snatched it away. “I think I’ll hold onto this for the time being.”
“Oh come on, sis!” Dead complained.
With a sigh, I left the four Desperado mares behind as I trotted over to see the Elder Big Papa. Slowtrot had other obligations and was going to do some medical scanning for the Desperados before the show.
As I trotted through the camp, I saw several of the escaped-con ponies laying about, battered and bruised. They all had smiles on their faces as they shared drinks with each other with several Desperados among them, acting like they were all old friends.
The elders’ tent was far cleaner than it was this morning, and Arras himself had on something that looked a lot more formal. It was still the same gangger outfit the Desperados normally wore, but just a lot more well-made and decorated. What was striking was the heavy use of reds and yellows along the thick seams as well as a rhinestone embroidered skull on the blue suit.
“Please don’t tell me that’s what you all wore back in Majesty's time?” I begged Arras.
The old goul looked at his outfit and chuckled. “Oh no. Pony from the Canterlot would be caught dead in this, no. This was actually made by my granddaughter. That mare had no sense of style, but had a big heart.”
“Sorry for bringing that up,” I said, feeling awkward.
“Don’t be. She passed away a little over a hundred years ago. I had already accepted outliving her long before she died. She was the one that pushed me to teach everypony how to weave and to use that skill to remember those who had passed. Because of that, even after so much time has passed, I’ve not forgotten her face or that of any of my family. Their portraits will even live on long after I finally pass,” Arras explained.
He got out of his seat and trotted around over to me. Now I could see that he had pants on. The trim lines were small red and yellow tassels. His granddaughter really didn’t have any taste in clothes. “So I’m presuming your job at the stable is done and you can finally relax, Harp?”
“For the most part, yes. I just had to confirm who was going where. We also found this.” I pulled out one of the petrified eggs. “I’m sure you have seen or heard about the Nightstalkers that came with us. Well, this is an egg of theirs.”
Arras got a closer look at it. “Yes, the strangely well-behaved white ones. Well, this is certainly a nightstalker egg, but made of stone.”
“Petrified, actually,” I correct. “We found hundreds of them along with the key to hatching them. I just want your approval for taking them with us,” I explained to him.
The old ghoul fell silent for a few seconds. “We have a lot of foals here, so just letting the beast you already have around them is stretching their parent’s trust. If they didn’t do what Star said, I would have ordered them to be slaughtered and cooked. You understand?”
“Perfectly. They are dangerous animals.” Pulling out the talisman, I passed it to Arras. “This is the key to hatching them. We have a few more that are being kept safely locked away. But, if you're uncomfortable with the live ones, we can send them back to the Stable.”
Arras looked at the talisman before putting it on around his neck. “That's fine. They can stay so long as they don’t cause any trouble. We got our own aggressive guard dogs ourselves. Good noses on them. These nightstalkers shouldn't be able to get near any of the tents without alerting them. That aside, what are you planning to do with these eggs? Sell them?”
“For the most part, yes,” I answered.
“Personally, I would make my own army of them. Have them clear out any raider nests.” He chuckled.
I chuckled too. Arras was surprisingly easy to talk to, and the more we talked, the more I shared. About my home stable 50, about the Marewaii Islands, and about my time in New Appaloosa. In return, he shared with me some more of the Desperados histories. Victories, losses, and how they had changed over the last two hundred years.
Though beautiful in its own right, the dress Cherry made was still quite odd to wear. Half made from extruded cloth that was part rubber, and half from two old-world dresses sewn together seamlessly. Star had on a similar dress that Cherry had brought with her, making us match a little.
I looked out onto the crowd and saw many faces looking back at me. Mares and stallions, the young and old, all were looking at me expectantly.
“Oh Star, I’m getting cold hooves,” I said nervously.
She laughed. “This is giving you cold hooves? Not doing a striptease at the Ruffled Feathers?”
“That is that and this is...well… not as embarrassing.” My nerves calmed, and I took a deep breath.
Star gave me a friendly pat on the back. “There you go. After working as a dancer, this shit is nothing.”
Looking back at her, I gave Star a mischievous grin. “Is that why you’re fine with there being a video of you fucking two zebras?”
Rolling her eyes, Star trotted into position. “Well, that’s different. Also, I was high at the time. But returning to polite society is impossible for me now, so what does it matter? I avoided the brothel because Mom wanted me to get a decent job in town, and I didn’t want Bridget to ever find out I did such things. But that’s all ruined, so why not let loose do some things I’ve always wanted to try?”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously, you wanted to try… all that?”
She gave a nervous smile, “Well not all… that. Just the idea of it. Anyways, holding back now is just going to drive me crazy. You too. Maybe you should think about finding a stallion to have some fun with. The last thing you want is your first time to be from a raider. We are going deeper into the wasteland after all. Just saying.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. So let's not talk about the possibility of getting raped. It’s making me nervous again.” I told her with a sigh.
“Sorry. Just trying to be honest, that's all. Now let’s not keep the ponies here waiting any longer,” Star told me with a calm smile.
I turned my attention to the harp in my hooves and then up at the crowd. Picking up a megaphone, I addressed the crowd. “Hello Desperados and those who may become Desperados. First off, I thank you for accepting us, for giving us a chance. Things have been hard for everypony lately, and harder times are to come. Yet you all stand strong in the face of adversity, meeting it head-on. For better or for worse. This I can respect, for we all know the stings of liars and the lashes of schemers. Some ponies may not have the strength to stand on their own, but desire power above anything else. But to you, nothing earned is nothing worth gaining, for it is just an empty reward, desired by hollow ponies.
“Your leader, Arras Wever, or as you know him, Elder Big Papa, has shown me the strength of his resolve. To be honored by him is far more than I deserve. It’s something I have yet to earn. For that reason, I wish to earn it. Even if my own hooves prove too weak to run, I will still try and run as far as I can. So, in these coming days, I ask you, treat me like any pony who must earn their place so that I may truly earn it. Together may we help each other become stronger.”
I plucked a string on the harp, letting out a pleasant tone. “So I will sing a classic song of which Elder Big Papa should know from a time long passed, once sung by a pony important to him. This is, Oh it’s a lovely war!”
Strumming the harp, the notes were simple enough to do. It’s nothing like the more complex music I had to practice back home. It had a carefully depressing feeling to it, as did the song itself. Singing the lyrics was Star with me backing her up, her voice had the perfect condescendingly upbeat sound to it.
Up to your waist in water, up to your eyes in slush,
using the kind of language that makes the sergeant blush,
Who wouldn't join the army? That's what we all enquire.
Don't we pity the poor civilian sitting by the fire.
Oh, oh, oh it's a lovely war.
Who wouldn't be a soldier, eh? Oh it's a shame to take the pay.
As soon as reveille has gone we feel just as heavy as lead,
but we never get up till the sergeant brings our breakfast up to bed.
Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war.
what do we want with eggs and hay when we've got plum and apple jam?
Form fours. Right turn. How shall we spend the money we earn?
Oh, oh, oh it's a lovely war.
When does a soldier grumble? When does he make a fuss?
No one is more contented in all the world than us.
Oh it's a cushy life, boys, really we love it so:
Once a fellow was sent on leave and simply refused to go.
Come to the cookhouse door, boys, sniff the lovely stew.
Who is it says the colonel gets better grub than you?
Any complaints this morning? Do we complain? Not we.
What's the matter with lumps of onion floating around the tea?
The three are now part of a family. They should wear their vests proudly, as who wouldn't want to be part of a wasteland biker gang? Any place under the Desperado's control will be considered a home for them, and merchants associated with them will give the three a discount.
-Faction Item Obtained-
Desperado Vest - It’s a simple black vest woven with care to be stronger and more durable than most cloth. Embroidered with great skill is the Desperado symbol, a flaming skull wearing a cow pony hat. While wearing this, the three will be recognized as members of the Desperados, and treated as such.
FoE: Desperados, Ch70, The Consequences Others Pay.
"Star Charter had many stories of her time in the Wasteland. After all, she had lived in it for the last eleven years. Most of that time was spent in New Appaloosa. I asked her about her journey to that growing town in order to see if she had been to any other interesting places.
Her journey started at a pace called Bold Harbor. It was once lived in by raiders, but other ponies had managed to push them out and move in themselves. She only spent a few months there, but she saw it growing into a fishing village as the ponies there restored the boats. Nopony messed with her there since she took part in the battle to keep the raiders out, and she was only eleven years old at the time.
Like Star, I have an interest in visiting the place to see how the place had developed. From what I know about civilizations, they do well to be near the waters. But with the danger of Pirates, one cannot know their fate until you see it with your own eyes." ~ Azure Dice
Hangovers were not fun and I was currently suffering from one that felt like my skull wanted to split. Looking around, I found myself in one of the Desperados tents with a big stallion by my side. It didn’t take long to remember as I laid there, though most of it was a haze. Harp and I sang a few more songs, and then I left to join the reverie as she continued to play the instrument. I had some food, drank a lot, drank a lot more. Before I knew it, I got well acquainted with the locals.
Remembering now, I got extremely friendly with the Desperados and somehow Cherry got herself involved. I really needed to stop getting drunk around her, the last thing I needed to become was another whore. Though I wouldn't mind having another round with that stallion, see if he could help me remember a bit more of last night.
That all aside, I was going to seriously need a wash up before doing anything. This includes my clothes as well as myself. It didn’t help that I was covered in markings all over my fur. A lot of them were compliments, strangely enough. There were also several tally marks on my flank. That made me a bit worried. I did something more than a little dumb last night.
Getting up, I saw Henbane and another mare inside the tent. Both of them were covered in the same marks as mine. Crankshaft was in between them. I guess, when the mare had a mind for it, she gets her stallion… even if she has to share. Looking back at my partner from last night, I swear I had been with a different stallion… Well, I had been drinking a lot last night.
Gathering my clothes, I trotted out into the dim early morning. “Sup, Star Charter,” greets the pegasus, Thunder Crack, from above with an amused smile on her face. “You had fun, I see.”
I shrugged. “Having fun while I can. Who the fuck knows when shit will turn bad again? Anyways, got these pills from the stable, so I don’t have to worry about the aftermath. That said, you ponies got a place to wash up? My partner… or partners… got a bit too excited last night.”
Thunder landed next to me and playfully jabbed me with her shoulder. “Don’t I know it. If I didn’t have my own responsibilities to tend to, I’d have joined in. Oh, makes me miss when I first became a Desperado. Other than getting beat to Tartarus and back, the sex was wild. Then nine months later, you know.”
“Oh, I know all about that,” I assured with a chuckle.
Her eyes lit up. “Oh! You have your own? Tell me about it over at the water pump. I know the others would want to hear as well.”
The ruff and tumble mare almost gitty trotted off. I quickly followed her. Where Thunder took me was a somewhat blocked-off part of the camp that surrounded a single pump. Several mares were here washing clothes, themselves, and their foals.
“Take a bucket,” Thunder told me as she shoved an old rusty bucket in my hooves. Inside, it had a rather nice looking rag. I knew what to do next. I pumped some water into it before finding myself a spot to start washing.
“Hey new mare!” a little filly said to me. She looked just like Thunder except she was a small unicorn.
“Hey. My name’s Star. What's yours?” I said with a friendly smile.
“Thunder Flash!” the filly said before making a dramatic noise that sounded like she was imitating the sound of thunder.
“Ain’t she adorable?” Thunder Crack said as she trotted over with a smaller earth pony filly that also looked like her, and with them was an even smaller pegasus colt that only somewhat looked like her.
“Okay. Don’t tell me you have even more of them?” I said with a laugh.
She laughed as well. “Got two more still sleeping in our tent.”
I face hoofed. “Cloudy was right. You enclave ponies are baby crazy.”
“Damn straight,” Thunder Crack agreed.
“Damn straight,” her two fillies copied.
The broodmare then sat down next to me and began washing her filly’s as I washed myself. “So Star, you said you have a foal?”
I smiled. “The most adorable filly. Six years old and full of energy.” My smile faded. “She’s probably desperately missing her mama, and here I am fooling around.”
“From what Tire Fire told us, you didn’t have much of a choice. It’s not like you can trot right back into town. That sheriff is a mean bitch, and those mercenaries are real trouble.”
“Mercenaries?” I asked.
“BlueSky’s new guns,” she grumbled. “Unlike us, they were allowed to move about the town freely. Even help the deputies keep the order along with keeping eyes along the town’s border.”
That didn’t sound good. If it was just the deputies, I could sneak in easy enough. “That’s annoying. But ain't they just some skinny ponies from the wasteland? How are they any trouble for you?”
Finished with her eldest, Thunder Crack moved onto washing her second filly. “Skinny? Yes. Soft? Not in your life. I’m sure you have heard and seen them from time to time. They’re known as “Wasteland Ponies”. Always thin, dusty-looking, and from the more forgotten parts of the wasteland.”
I was slowly getting my mane clean, but with how long it was, it was proving to be annoying. Since I was not going to be able to return to the Ruffled Feathers, I might as well get my mane cut short.
“Ya,” I recalled. “They come through now and then. A lot of them have been moving into NCR territory. If you ask Harp, she got real close to one wasteland mare that's rebuilding the train tracks.
“So what's so different about them? Aren't they just ponies? I mean, aren't most ponies out here called wasteland ponies? That's a bit vague.”
“Well that's the thing; they aren't. Not completely. We just call them that because… well… we don’t know what else to call them,” she said as she rubbed her filly down. “We do know they are actually mutants. The kind that still mostly look like normal ponies. The Desperados know of a few mutant colonies out in the wasteland like the White Scorpion mercenary clan. Those ponies eat poison and spit it. Heard that if one of them is inbred, their bodies tend to be so toxic that it could kill you if you have sex with them.”
“That… sounds nasty,” I said as I took a mental note.
“Ya, but their good ponies. It’s a shame they ended up working with Red Eye, thus putting them in a bad spot when the NCR took over.” Thunder Crack then moved her second filly aside and began to work on her colt. “Fortunately, the Wasteland Ponies are not dangerous in the same way. They're more dangerous in an annoying, if a bit more terrifying way.”
I cocked an eyebrow, “How so?”
She gave a long sigh, taking a moment before answering. “Well, they're weirdly durable. They don’t need to drink or eat as much as a normal pony, and they're not as bothered by radiation. There was one who seemed to be outright immune to radiation. Even enjoyed that shit. They also don’t sleep as much as other ponies and are almost always alert. If there is any kind of pony who can live in the wasteland and thrive, it is probably them.”
It did make some sense now that I thought about it. The wasteland ponies were all coming from previously nopony zones. Places where the radiation was too high for anypony but ghouls to live. Yet they came from those places.
“Freaky,” I said.
“I know. Right?” Thunder Crack then jabbed me again. “Let's change the subject. I want to know more about your little filly.”
Smiling, I told Thunder. “Her name’s Bridget.”
Talking about my daughter filled me with a bittersweet feeling, both by remembering the joy she brought me but also a longing to see her.
We then continued to chat. Even had a few more mothers join us. The amount of foals I could see really bought it home that the Desperados were not just some roaming band of mercenaries. They were literally a nomadic community with several generations of ponies traveling together.
They were rough and tumble kind of bunch and openly vulgar around their foals, but they clearly cared about each other. The longer I talked with them, the more I felt like maybe I could bring Bridget and mom with me. Bridget could make some new friends, and mom… mom would probably hate it here.
But I know she would endure it if it meant keeping the family together. Maybe if I could find a nice place along route 50, we can start again there, but this time among the ponies who want us around. No more ponies keeping us out of decent work or looking down on us. No more deputies breathing down my neck and baiting me to make a mistake.
I could finally work a job that I’d be proud to tell Bridget about, even show her it.
Maybe all this was a good thing. All I needed to do was just leave town. Maybe we should have done that from the start. Maybe I should have not been so stubborn about staying, about making things right, and making things work out.
That was all in the past now. If I had not stayed, I would not have made the friends I had. Would not have met Harp and Slowtrot ether or gotten to know Hardballer better.
“You okay, Star?” Thunder Crack asked me.
Taking a deep breath, I smiled. “Ya. Just feeling a bit homesick. But thanks.”
“If it was not for that bitch, I’m sure everything would have been fine and dandy, don’t you think?” Thunder asked me.
“You mean Ashy? Ya. This is all her fault. She dared to try and make things better by just sending us to other prisons. She dared judge us when she is nothing more than a murder herself.” I growled out before calming down. “But what does it matter now. All I want to do is see my Bridget and my mom. Maybe I could have them come with us.”
A wide smile formed on Thunders face. “That might be possible.”
“What?” I asked.
“Ya. There are a lot of merchants passing through right now. Ya know, with the lightbringer festival being tomorrow. It shouldn't be hard to send a message through one of the traveling merchants. All we need to do is find one friendly with us,” Thunder suggjested.
Rinsing out my tail, I looked at her hopefully. “It can’t be that easy, can it?”
The chuckle of an old mare caught our attention as Burning Asphalt trotted to the pump. “Oh, that's easier than ya think. We already have a few merchants who regularly do business with us from under the sheriff's nose. Just tell me what message ya want to be sent, and to who, they'll get it done so long as the caps are good.
That was great news. No. It was wonderful news. “Oh, then I need a message sent to my mom, Prism Paint… oh, I probably should send one to the Gunrunners too. We should at least return Hardballers guns and the Smuggler. Then there's my friends.”
“Slow down there, missy. Maybe we should take this someplace more private. I’m sure your friends would want to send letters as well,” Burning Asphalt said as she pumped some water into a bucket. “Now before that, help an old mare with her laundry.”
“Fine, but let's make this quick. There's a lot I want to say,” I told the old mare as I trotted over to help her.
Gathering in Elder Big Papa’s tent, the atmosphere was a bit... awkward. Harp was now wearing the black vest of the Desperados over her jacket and was looking through the Followers care package that Azure gave us. Slowtrot, on the other hoof, was just looking off into nothing like some pony who saw a bit too much.
The only one that seemed to be in a happy mood was Cavall. The pup jumped over to me and nuzzled my leg. Sitting at the table, I let Cavall jump on my lap and began petting his fur.
“Uhh, did something happen to you, Slowtrot?” I asked.
He slowly came out of his daze, finally acknowledging me. “Oh, ya. Got pulled into a talk with Rack End, Live and Dead’s mother. It was… a lot to take in.”
“Rack End wants Slowtrot to marry Dead Axle,” Harp said as she pulled out two armbands with the Followers of the Apocalypse symbols.
“She held onto a shotgun through the whole talk,” Slowtrot continued with a sigh. “Dead was no help. She tried to convince her mother to pass me onto Live. Now she wants me to choose one of them or she’ll put me in the grave. I don’t think she was lying.”
“Tough break. Maybe you shouldn't have fucked Dead Axle then,” I figured with a chuckle.
“Pot calling the kettle black,” Harp said to me with an annoyed look in her eyes.
“What? What did I do?” I defended myself.
She sighed. “What didn’t you do last night, Star? Don’t you remember what happened last night at all?”
“Some. The rest is still slowly coming back,” I told her. “I do remember I had fun.”
Harp looked at me for a long moment, then face hoofed. “Let’s just say that you… won a contest.”
“What kind of contest?” I asked.
Her cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment as she stammered out. “It… well… you know… see how many times… you can… climax.”
It took a moment, but it then clicked. “Oh, oh my… So that's what the tally on the mares was for. Wow! I wish I could remember it all. Sounded like a lot of fun.”
“Whatever.” Harp huffed as she tossed one of the armbands to Slowtrot. “I think Cherry got it on video. Maybe you should ask her to jog your memory.”
“I might, but right now I got some good news,” I told them.
“You better not be pregnant!” she snapped at me, causing me to flinch a little.
“What’s your problem? You didn’t have much of a problem when I was with those Zebras.” I reminded her.
Harp slumped back into her seat and sighed. “Sorry, I’m… I guess I’m just jealous. You're off doing whatever you want with no care in the world. It didn’t help that I had a nightmare where False Cap was harassing Cloudy and I couldn't do anything. I really hope she's alright.”
A smile formed on my face “You could ask her. I mean, that’s why we're here right now.”
Harp looked up at me with both skepticism and hope in her eyes.
“Oh let me explain it,” Burning Asphalt requested as she trotted to the table followed by Elder Big Papa and a few other elders. She then winked at me. “Maybe later you can tell me how your hips aren't as sore as mine are all the time.”
“I think it’s called not being old,” I said back at her.
Big Papa chuckled as he trotted to his seat. “If you want old, those who are left from my generation are literally falling apart. Old Road Rash is quite literally all bones now.”
“You can’t be serious?” Harp asked.
“As serious as a snake bite,” he replied.
I shivered a little. “Let's not talk about snake bite… So how is a ghoul even alive if he is, well… all bones and no flesh? Is he a feral you keep locked up?”
Taking his seat and pulling out a pipe, the elder took his time filling it in with tobacco then lighting a fire in it. After taking in a long breath of it, he puffed out a near-perfect circle and a line of smoke going through it.
“He’s still sane, though he doesn't move much anymore. From what I’ve learned, if you ever turn into a ghoul and don’t want to go feral, find a purpose. That's how you stay sane.”
“That’s all?” I said, finding it a bit hard to believe. “I thought the radiation, you know, eats at your brains or something. Makes ghoul a timebomb as most say.”
He gave out another puff, this time it looked a bit like a pony. “Naw. Seen it myself. I have been around since the beginning. About all the ghouls I’ve met who hadn't gone feral had something they had to do. For better or worse. Seen some go feral before my eyes, and after you see it enough, you figured it out. One ghoul I met was out for revenge. When he got it, he was practically feral overnight. Another spent a hundred years finishing a shitty piece of art. Then, within a week, feral.”
I didn’t quite get it, but if he saw it, he saw it.
“Fascinating.” I almost fell out of my chair as Azure spoke, causing Cavall to hiss angrily. I was really starting to think we should put a bell on him or something. It was ridiculous how he was able to sneak around despite the fact that he wasn’t sneaking, and that he glowed. “So could this feral state be similar to when the elderly pass away after retiring, or if their spouse passes on? If it’s not too rude to ask.”
“How does he do that…'' Big Papa grumbled. “Well I don’t know about that. Not many of us reach such a grateful age as Asphalt here, and we make sure even our elderly still have a place.”
“Makes sense. Survival cultures often make use of whatever they can,” the Lurker commented as he wrote a bit more down in his notebook.
“So with that out of the way, what about talking to ponies in New Appaloosa?” Harp reminded anxiously.
“Right,. That's what Asphalt said to me, yes,” the elder ghoul muttered. “We can send some letters for you. That part is easy. Just don’t expect to see anypony or go near there yourself. We tried to contact the Gunrunners, but they have yet to reply.”
“Ya. I suspect there’s some difficulties because of Ashy Oaks,” Harp said as she pulled out a soda bottle with a vibrant purple-colored liquid. “But so long as we can get a message to the ponies we care about, then I’ll be fine.”
“Agreed,” I spoke up. “There are a lot of ponies I need to tell that I’m okay. Though if I could see them again, that would be better than anything. Maybe even get my mom and Briget to join us.”
“If your mother is tough enough, she can be one of us.” the old ghoul chuckled.
It put a smile on my face. “If you saw her, you would know. Long ago, she had her wings cut off and kept on fighting. No pony is tougher than Prism. Nopony.”
Harp let out a long sigh and stretched her legs. “So I guess we should make those letters then. We can’t stay here forever, so let’s be quick about it.”
“Say, Miss Harp, I’ve been wondering, what are those strange drinks you have in that bag I gave you?” Azure asked.
My friend picked one up and smiled. “It’s a Super healing potion. We got twelve of them in the bag.”
Slowtrots ears perked up. “So they managed to make Doctor Lifebeats potion. That's excellent news.”
“Ya, but it says to not operate any heavy machinery after taking it. Causes drowsiness.” Harp answered then her eyes drifted over to Slowtrot inquisitively. “Say, you have the recipe for it on your pipbuck. Is it possible you can make some yourself?”
He quickly looked at his pipbuck with intense interest. “I’m no chemist or potion maker, but it’s a possibility. The instructions aren't anything complicated. There aren't too many ingredients. The problem might be finding the ingredients and distilling them.”
Harp smiled. “Well we did bring that distiller from the stable, so that's half that problem over.”
“Ya, but where are we going to find a bunch of healing potions, Sparkle-Cola, and New Apples?” Slowtrot asked.
“What are New Apples?” I asked him.
He scrunched up his nose for a moment as though remembers something that smelled bad. “The Flim and Flam’s revolutionary nutritional New Apples,” he said with a sigh. “When a lot of the Apple clan ponies stopped growing apples and started making guns, those two assholes filled in the voice for food production. A lot of ponies lost the work they relied on when robots started doing all the farming, so it was not an uncommon story for me to hear. Supposedly it was meant to be the apple to end all apples, but trust me, they were tasteless garbage. Last I heard about the stuff, the Flim and Flam brothers sold all the farms to Barnyard Bargains, and the apples were being used for military rations. I know that the soldiers hated them with a passion. I highly doubt any of them are even around anymore.”
“Actually, they are,” Elder Big Papa spoke up, a smile on his leathery face. “They're called mutfruit now, and the taste has improved over the years. I also know where you can get a bunch along with a shit ton of Sparkle-Cola and healing potions if we're lucky.”
“You don’t mean that place?” Burning Asphalt asked the ghoul nervously.
“Oh yes, and it will give them something to do instead of waiting for a letter to come back,” Big Papa replied.
It was good to be riding in the gunner nest of the Smuggler again. The wind blowing through my mane was nice and the ability to blast anything that bothers me with a stream of magical energy beams is extra comforting. I rode with Slowtrot, Harp, Azure and one of the nightstalker females, Yipper and the pup Cavall, were with me too. The nightstalkers were getting a little anxious around all the ponies, so I felt we should take them out for a bit. Cavall, on the other hoof, had snuck aboard, and we were already too far away to turn back.
The other nightstalkers were on the other vehicles in hopes that they would get more used to being around other ponies that were not just me. I knew Henbane would be fine, but we all made sure they were fed before heading out.
Our destination was a small town within the former nopony zone. It was infested with feral ghouls and other nasty critters that kept ponies and any sane ghoul out. From what Elder Big Papa told us, such towns should have their own shelter set up in case if the worst happens. The other Desperados had also scouted the area. The place oddly had a still working movie theater and an apple plantation that was covered in wild mutfruit. All we needed to do was clear out the nasties and let the Desperados harvest what they could.
“So I’m wondering, why didn’t they do this before? Why wait till now?” I spoke over the com system Harp had set up through the Pipbuck 2000’s.
It cracked, and over the radio, Dead Axle explained. “Lots of shit going on in the wasteland, even if you don’t see it. The fucking Cazadores alone have been no end of pain in our necks. But, now that we have more ponies with us, no time is better than to tackle this bitch.”
“Nopony said we're fighting Cazadores!” Henbane shouted over the radio.
“Relax. Iit’s a small nest, and we're not going to get close to them. The Smuggler will just take pot shots and drive off. If you can get them in the wing, they’re easy pickings. It’s the hoard of ghouls who we are dealing with,” Dead said in a relaxed tone.
“That’s not much better.” Henbane sighed, followed by several ponies laughing over the radio.
“Enough chatter. I can see the target,” Harp spoke up with authority. “Like what Dead said, our team will deal with the cazador nest and keep them away from everypony else. The rest of you will lure the ghouls to a kill zone and wipe out that horde. Once the main danger is taken care of, we can then take things slowly.”
“Why are we the ones dealing with the cazadors?” Slowtrot asked.
Harp looked up at me. The old biker goggles on her face looked oddly fitting for her. “We got the right gun for the job. Right, Star?”
With a grin on my face, I patted the Aeternus. “Oh, we certainly do.”
Separating from the others, we sped over to the ruined town and began driving along the edge of what still stood. The place certainly looked untouched; no sign of raiders or scavengers. Just the ravages of time. The only sign of ponies having been here were the tire marks left behind by the Desperados who scouted this place before us.
Swinging by the movie theater, the place was what the elder called a drive-in theater which was open to the air and covered in long-dead rusted motor wagons of all shapes. There we saw a mass of ghouls watching a decayed film on a large screen that was half its way to falling over. There had to be at least over fifty of them just standing motionless. Some were still in their motor wagons.
Supposedly there were even more ghouls around and this was mainly why the Desperados did not venture any further into the town. A few ghouls at a time they could deal with. Over fifty of them at once, however, was suicidal. But supposedly there should be a treasure trove of sparkle-cola inside. Something about places like this always seemed to be well stocked with things like that.
Passing the place by, we drove to the other side of town where we arrived at an overgrown apple farm. Slowing down, we saw that the front gate was still intact. Above it, a sign read, “Barnyards Happy Orchards.” Under it in smaller text read, “A subsidiary of Barnyards Bargains.”
Again Slowtrot was spot on.
“Say, you said that they used robots here, right? What kind?” I asked Slowtrot.
He hopped out of the Smuggler enough to get through. “Don’t know actually. Ponytons, I guess. They were used for everything.”
Unfortunately, I couldn't see any robots inside. Oddly enough for a place in a wasteland, it was truly overgrown with plant life like a miniature forest from an old book. Other than the mutfruit trees, there were vines of some red plant all over, and lots of moss hanging around. Most of it stayed contained within the orchard, but the red vines had made an effort to creep further out.
A loud buzzing caught my ear. I turned the Aeternus in Slowtrot's direction just in time to see him jump for safety. A large pony-sized black wasp buzzed out. Its wings were bright red and orange. It just barely missed Slowtrot as its dagger-sized stinger hit the ground.
Pressing down on the trigger, the Aeternus let out a stream of pink beams at the oversized bug. After a moment, the Cazador lit up and exploded into ash.
“Have I told anypony that I hate these large bugs?!” Slowtrot grumbled as he got back up.
“I’m rethinking about driving in there now,” Harp admitted as she looked down the path. “I was hoping the nest would be reachable and the orchard would be mostly dead, but this is… a bit much.”
Pulling out some binoculars the Desperados gave us, I got higher on the Smuggler to survey. “Let’s see… I can see what looks to be a house further in. It’s clearly infested with those bugs. The land looks clear around it, so if we can just get in, then we should be able to just drive around the house to keep the bugs off us.”
Slowtrot jumped back in and put his shotgun in an easier-to-grab position. “Aren't we going to burn down the nest? That means some pony will have to get out and start the fire.”
“Ya. That pony would need to be real sneaky,” I said as I got back down.
Harp then sighed. “Ya. That's the one thing we are not.”
“Maybe you can go back to the others and change the strategy,” Azure suggested which caused us to almost jump out of our skin. “You all should stop forgetting I’m around,” he grumbled.
A smile then formed on Harp's face. “Say Azure, you think you can start the fire for us?”
The lurker thought about it for a moment and sighed. “Alright, but you better not leave me behind. It was enough trouble finding you the first time.”
With a crude but doable plan ready, Slowtrot crept the Smuggler through the gate, and hit the gas.
I had to duck down as branches slapped the Smuggler. Doing so smashed a few mutfruit against the metal siding. The sound of buzzing cued me into another cazador. Grabbing my Rust gun, I looked through a gap in the gunner nest and saw one of the buggers hanging onto the back of the Smuggler. Pointing, I blasted the fucker, thus shredding its wigs and causing it to fall to the ground.
The Smuggler then busted out of the orchard and into a large dead and dry area of land. At its center was the bug-infested house, though seeing it up close, I doubted anyone lived here even before the bombs fell. The place was just a facade. The front that faced the town was just a flat wall painted to look like a farmhouse. One side was a large hole, and inside it, we could see chambers for robots, some with the robots still inside.
Slowing down for a moment, Azure jumped out, taking with him all the stuff he needed to set a big fire.
Speeding up just in time for several cazadores to buzz out, I turned the Aeternus on them. One burst to ash and another fell to the ground, but a third came in too fast for me to hit. The bastard was then impaled by a metal bolt, sending it to the ground. Harp’s drone hovered out of the Smuggler and finished one of the downed cazadores off.
Circling around the not house, more cazadores came out of both their nest and the orchard. Fortunately, the Smuggler was fast enough to keep the dumb bugs behind us, giving me a good shot at them. It was so nice of them to line up for me, though a bit scary with how many of them there were.
*Thud* the Smuggler swerved a little as the guts of a bug went flying out.
“Fuck!” Harp shouted. I looked back to see her using her bolt luncher’s bayonet to stab a cazador then fire a bolt through it. Half of the bug’s insides were ejected from its body.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“I’m fine. Just keep shooting. If they get on, we're all dead!” she told me grimly.
I returned my attention to the mass of angry wasps gathering behind us. I let loose another stream of energy fire.
The sight of smoke billowing out of the fake house told us that our work was nearly done. Shooting at the last cazadores following us, I turned and shouted. “All clear!”
Slowtrot slowed the Smuggler down in front of a waving Azure who was covered in slime and holding onto his lever-action rifle.
“The fuck happened in there?” I asked the lurker.
“Bug larva,” he told us.
The house cracked and part of the side fell off. Behind Azure, two cazadores burst out at him at full speed. It was only for a split second, but both bugs hit the floor. One had Yipper on its back, holding it by its neck like the snake hound had done this hundreds of times before. The bug was unable to touch her. The other had two bolts in it as Order buzzed over to us.
“Several hostile lifeforms detected in the vicinity. I advise for Madam Harp to vacate the premises,” Order spoke as it landed inside the Smuggler.
I scanned the area but saw no cazadores in sight. “I guess the others are hiding, then?”
“This will be a problem. We can’t have the Desperados go mutfruit picking with those things still around,” Harp said in a worried tone.
Looking down at the Nightstalker, Yipper, she had already popped the cazadore’s head off and started eating it.
A yipping hiss then drew my attention. I saw Cavall had also caught a smaller cazador in very much the same way Yipper had.
“Say… do you think the Ghost Nightstalkers might be suitable for hunting those things?” I wondered as I pointed down at the two as that chowed down on the bugs.
Harp’s eyes went from the nightstalkers then over up at the now flaming nest, and then over at Azure. “I know we just asked you to do something dangerous, but… can you do one more thing for us?”
The lurker squinted his eyes at us before tossing his rifle into the Smuggler. “Then I’ll need a better gun. This one bearly hurts those bugs.”
“Alright, he can have mine,” Slowtrot offered as he hoofed over his service rifle with several magazines.
Harp then passed Azure one of the super healing potions and a Pipbuck 2000. “We’re going to go pick up the other nightstalkers, so it’s fine if you just sit tight.”
“Trust me, I’m in no rush to go hunting oversized wasps without more help. That's how people get killed in all those horror stories,” Azure figured with a happy chirp.
The Smuggler began moving again. We made our way back down the vine-covered dirt path with a flaming fake farmhouse behind us.
"Another place Star Charter told me about was a strange town called Highground. It was a small town built on top of an intact highway overpass that towered over the ruins it passed through.
The town survived by growing food in hanging gardens, and herding brahmin. They relied on traders to supply them with anything else they needed. What made the place interesting to Star was how the town was afraid of almost everything. They did their best to keep others out. They only let her and Prism in so that they could help them deal with some local ganggeres that were harassing them.
When you live in this wasteland where nearly everything is out to eat you, it’s understandable why ponies find any way to keep the wasteland out. Like an old saying goes, guns and walls make good neighbors. Unfortunately, it seems that over here, those things aren't enough to make good neighbors. " ~ Azure Dice
It was funny to see the Nightstalkers happily running around the still burning fake farmhouse. Azur let them do as they pleased until he located another cazador. With a very loud whistle, louder than any of us could do, the nightslakers would come running and later drag out a large bug.
“Oh be careful mister Azure. You can hurt sompony by whistling like that, somehow.” Harp told the Lurker.
“How so? Is it related to the native lurkers?” he asked.
Harp gave him a nod. “Only saw it a few times with a friend of mine. It was some sort of sonic attack she could do. Don’t ask me how she did it. It was, well, you know.”
“Hard to describe for someone that’s not a lurker,” Azure answered for her. “Don’t worry. I understand. Where I’m from, that's a common problem. I once spent a week trying to decipher a story a tree was telling me. Well, it wasn’t actually a tree. Trees can’t talk, but it was hard to tell the difference.”
Harp looked… confused, before letting out a sigh. “Alright, we will come back to pick you up once we clear out the town of ghouls.”
“Oh, Miss Harp, a bit of advice from an experienced explorer. You might already understand this with what you told me about the stable, but if all you're doing is recovering treasure from a ruin turned crypt, avoid reading the history. One, that’s the archaeologist's job. Two, you may not like what you find out.” The lurker advised her.
“Thanks, and good hunting,” she said back before trotting over and hopping into the Smuggler.
Slowtrot started the engine. We were off to return to the main group.
The excitement of this job had died down enough that I was able to relax a little. I wanted to get it over with it sooner so that I could see if we got any replies to our letters.
Possibly out of boredom, I remembered the predicament Slowtrot was in. With all that had been going on this morning, it had gotten drowned out.
“So Slowtrot, which mare are you going to pick?” I asked over the coms.
The Smuggler swerved a little. “Fuck, I don’t know. I had forgotten about it,” he muttered over the radio.
“Star, not the time,” Harp told me.
I chuckled. “Oh come on. Both are cute mares with their own advantages. Live has that though mare with a soft inside shit going on. Then there’s Dead who is fun to be around.”
“I rather not talk about this right now. Not until I’ve had more time to think about it,” Slowtrot said.
“Or you want to fuck Live first before choosing?” I chuckled. “See if she is as wild as her sister is?”
“Oh no,” Harp said as she face hoofed.
I looked down at her for a moment, then I heard a crackling over the radio followed by Live axle yelling. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!”
The radio remained silent as Slwotrot kept focused on driving. Nopony else said anything during that time. After a moment, we could hear Dead Axle speak up. “Smooth, Star. Real smooth.”
With a bit more driving, we arrived at the forward base of this operation. It was a mostly walled-off parking lot with dead ghouls laid all around it. Rolling in, we saw a very upset Live Axle stomp over to the Smuggler.
“WHY DID NOPONY TELL ME FUCKING SHIT?!” she yelled at us.
Both Slowtrot and Harp looked a bit lost for words on how to deal with this firecracker, so I hopped out of the gunner nest to head her off.
“You're an emotional time bomb. That's why,” I told the younger mare. “And you're kind of a bitch.”
Live Axle slapped me hard. “FUCK YOU!” She screamed in my face.
That just made me sigh. It wasn't the first pissed off mare I had screaming at me for no good reason. Probably not the lase. Unfortunately, it was likely not a good idea to hit her back. Harp and Slowtrot would likely get upset with me if I knocked one of her teeth out.
“If you're so upset about your sister getting laid, then we’ll just let you and Slowtrot drive off somewhere private. You can have your turn to get your cherry popped,” I told her.
She slapped me again. “That's not it, bitch! I want to know why nopony tells me anything!”
“We're telling you now, aren't we?!” I snapped back at her. “Anyways, that is your sister's business, not yours. Now stop pretending like you're some tragic mare and just admit that you're jealous. That you wanted him.”
She raised her hoof back for another slap, but then put it back down, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s just not fair.” Live whimpered.
I was now feeling bad. Making such a sweet mare cry was not my intention. “Oh sorry… I didn’t mean to be so harsh.”
Reaching out to give the mare a hug, she slapped my hoof away. “Fuck off,” she said softly and trotted off to one of the vehicles to sulk.
After another awkward moment, the other sister finally came trotting over.
“Give her some time. She will get over it,” Dead Axle said, looking as uncomfortable as the rest of us.
Raising an eyebrow at her, I had to ask, “So… why the fuck didn’t you tell her that you had sex before? Also, why Slowtrot of all ponies? No offense.”
“None taken. I’m still confused by it myself,” Slowtrot said from the Smuggler.
“Because she gets upset over everything. I guess we just started to avoid telling her some stuff just so she doesn’t blow up at us all the time. Actually, this is the first time I’ve seen her take it so well,” Dead explained
“She slapped me hard… twice,” I reminded Dead.
Dead shrugged. “Trust me, this is a lot better than her normal freakouts. I guess those counseling lessons she's been getting have really helped.”
Harp trotted to us. She looked over at Live as she thrashed about within the vehicle she hid in. “You sure she's okay? She looks like she's about to rip that thing apart.”
“Well, maybe somepony should talk with her. If they're brave enough,” Dead suggested, sounding unsure.
A long sigh came from Slowtrot. “I’ll do it. This is my fault in the first place.” As he trotted past, he gave Dead Axle his shotgun and trench shovel.
“Say, we’re still good for later?” Dead asked him.
“Got other shit on my mind,” he answered.
“You fucking kidding me, Dead. After all this, you’re still thinking about fucking him?” I asked the now more annoying mare.
She trotted up to me and bumped my flank with hers. “Oh come on. You of all mares shouldn’t talk. I saw some of what you did last night.” Dead raised an eyebrow and looked at Harp. “Say, what was the final score, Miss referee?”
My head slowly turned to Harp who now looked extremely embarrassed. “Hey, you roped me into it. Oh by Celestia, actually seeing it is so different than from that video.”
Dead laughed as she gave Harp a hug. “You're so cute. You know that? Maybe we can have a little fun once the ghouls are cleared out. Scratch that itch we’re both feeling.”
Harp pushed her away, looking both embarrassed and annoyed. “That is a no. Now let’s get to work. All we’re doing is wasting time right now. We can talk about that later.”
With a laugh from Dead and I, we checked our gear and then joined the others for the feral ghoul extermination.
The closer we got to the center of town, the more rusted over vehicles were piled up, thus making it impossible to navigate without having to climb over them. Fortunately for us, most of the vehicles were of the non-explosive kind that could be found out here. Unfortunately, they were a natural hazard of jagged edges and ghoul hiding spots.
“So why did some of these things explode?” I asked Dead as we climbed over one of them.
“From what Elder Big Papa said, it was because of an arcano-tech engine made by the Flim and Flam brothers. Something about it being more powerful and longer-lasting than any engine used before,” she explained.
“And explosive,” Harp added.
“Well... it was just really powerful,” Dead said mockingly.
She pulled out the trench shovel as a ghoul slowly got up, then lobbed its head off like she was digging into dirt. Putting it away, she chuckled in satisfaction. “This thing is surprisingly good at killing things.
“Well, that aside, we don’t use those engines for diving because of the exploding problem. I’ll admit, we do use them for providing power for settlements and make sure they're not where ponies work or sleep.”
Harp carefully tipped hoof around the oozing dead ghoul. “But why not use them for your vehicles? Why not use them for spark battery engines?” she asked.
“Probably the same reason why Longslide didn’t use that kind of engine. There are more parts to be found with a spark battery engine. They're easier to fix too, and don't explode when shot.” Dead explained as she climbed over a vehicle then offered a hoof to help Harp up. “Got a look at one of those Flim and Flam engines, and fuck, I don’t know how anypony was supposed to fix that shit. It was something to do with them being tamper-proof that also made them near impossible to work on. Like they were expecting ponies just to throw them away after a few years.”
“So why are there so few of them here?” I asked as I hopped on top of a rusted vehicle.
Dead shrugged. “Probably because this ain't a city. You see most of those stupid rides in and around the big old cities. Most of the exploring vehicles here are further out along the edge of town. They probably came here from farther away and got abandoned out there. Ponies actually died after finding out that this place was just as screwed.”
After wading through the field of rust, we made our way to the town center where the underground shelter was supposed to be. Since nopony had gotten this far and the others were clearing out the surrounding area, we had decided to not break open the door guns blazing.
“Order, go take a look inside for us,” Harp told her drone.
The little robot flew up and over to a broken window above the door. It was just large enough for the thing to hover inside. Harp herself kept an eye on her pipbuck with a worried look on her face.
“Now that's a lot,” Dead Axle remarked while looking over Harps shoulder.
Harp nodded. “More than we can reasonably deal with. We should come back later and bring back more ponies.”
“I don’t know. They don’t look like they’re going to just stay there,” Dead commented.
Trotting over, I saw the green filtered video on Harps pipbuck. On it was a room packed with feral ghouls. Many of them just stood around. Dead then pointed to several that were around the edges of the building. There the ghouls were moving about. Some thrashed at each other. Others bumped into the walls.
Dead then explained, “See, all the noise we have been making has already woken them up. Some are alert now. Our ghoul elders have had a long time to observe the ferals. When they get like this, it takes days for them to calm down. If it was just a few, then whatever, but larger groups like this will rile each other up until they space out a bit.”
“So you're saying that eventually they're going to break out just because a few woke up,” Harp said and sighed. “Right. Nopony but ghouls have been here for over two hundred years. This might be the first time they've been moving around since then.”
“And that can be used to our advantage,” Dead said as she pointed to one ghoul that stumbled around. “It takes a while for them to be able to move around properly. Right now is going to be the best time to attack.”
I pulled out a bundle of powder charge and suggested, “We could also bomb them first.”
Harp looked at the building, back over at the crowded road of dead vehicles, then at her pipbuck. “Alright. If we used the dead motor wagons as a barrier, even if there's too many, it should slow them down as we retreat.”
Dead then reached out her hoof with a goofy smile on her face. “Hoof bump.”
Harp and I looked at each other awkwardly for a moment and shrugged before hoof bumping the mare.
With a basic plan, we quickly got to work. Order came back out to pick up the bomb. Once the other two were a safe distance away, I lit the fuse and ran. I jumped behind a rusted slab of metal and readied my rust gun. I watched as Order flew into the building. A short moment later, the robot quickly flew out and over to Harp.
With a boom, thick smoke burst out of the building. The explosion sent the front doors flying off its rusted hinges.
It didn’t take long for the first ghoul to trot out. The rotten corpse suffered burns from the bomb as it fell down the stairs. Looking around with its white soulless eyes, the thing then saw us and let out a gargled howl right before Harp put a bolt through its head.
More howls came from inside. The first wave of ghouls burst out. I unloaded my rust gun at them. Dry rotted gore went flying as 10mm bullets ripped into them. With such a small bottleneck, it was easy, but they kept on coming. Those that managed to make it past the doorway were soon hit by bolts or a shotgun blast.
*Click*
Ejecting the drum magazine, I inserted a large magazine and began firing again. A few ghouls had gotten closer in the short few seconds I reloaded, but made quick work of them.
*Click*
Again I changed magazin then fired. Steam rose from the rust gun as I felt some heat near my hooves.
*Click*
My last large mag was spent. I fumbled around for the smaller magazine.
Loading it, one ghoul got close enough to jump at me. Grabbing my rusty gun and shoving it into the ghoul’s mouth, it made a loud hissing noise before I pulled the trigger, thus blowing out the back of its head.
*Klunk*
That was a new sound!
Looking at my rust gun, a shell was stuck inside, half crushed by the gun's receiver. “Stupid piece of shit!” I grumbled as I attempted to free the shell.
*Ping*
Another new sound?
The shell fell out and just in time as another ghoul came too close.
*Bang click*
The one bullet hit the ghoul’s shoulder, barely stopping it. This forced me to again use the now burnt gore-covered gun to bash the undead freak, knocking it to the ground. Looking at my gun, I could see it still had some more ammo in, so I racked the action and fired.
*Bang click*
Again!
The shot was not enough to kill the ghoul, so as it got up, I just bashed it again and again until its head caved in. When I was done, my rust gun’s barrel was bent and part of its frame had come loose.
“Fuck! I just got it back!” I cursed.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to mourn my gun as more Ghouls were coming through the doorway. Quickly using my Nightstalker’s Regards, I took out the closest ghoul. Then I quickly holstered the pistol in favor of using my sword, ready for a brawl.
“Fall back, Star!” Harp called out.
Hopping onto the vehicle behind me, several ghouls slammed into the vehicle I had been using as a barrier. Even more ghouls soon joined them which had the benefit of keeping the ones in front pinned. This unfortunately did not stop several pegasus ghouls who flew out from the building on tattered boney wings.
One came right at me with its mouth wide open to take a bite. With a step to the side and a swipe of my sword, the head of the ghoul split open and it crashed down. A second flying ghoul didn’t have the chance to get me as a shotgun blast ripped through it. It crashed in a way that it decapitated itself on one of the rusty vehicles. A third got real close, but I managed to cut off one of its wings. After that, Harp finished it off as it got up. Two more flyers were taken out by Order who was diligently flying around as air support.
Looking back at the crowd of ghouls, they were slowly making their way over the vehicles now. I also saw that no more were coming out of the building, meaning this had to be most of them. Seizing the chance, I hopped over to the first barricade and over the mass of ghouls. I made sure to cut one down as I landed.
The ghouls quickly turned around to come after me like a wall of gnashing teeth and cracked hooves. In response, my sword cut through them cleanly, breaking teeth, bones, and hooves with each swing.
Several managed to grab me, even bite me, but I quickly broke free with aid from Order. I rolled away from the pack. Getting back up, shotgun pellets and bolts ripped through the ghouls and opened me up to finish them off.
Once the last ghoul stopped twitching, I made sure to clean off my sword and return it to its sheath.
“You crazy bitch!” Dead yelled as she went in for a hug, but skidded to a stop with a disgusted look on her face. “You are going to need to wash up... again.”
I had managed to get some of the ghoul guts and icor on me. It’s a hazard of the fight.
“When I say fall back, you really should listen to me,” Harp huffed. “There was no need to take such a risk.”
“But it was fun,” I said, smiling.
Harp sighed as she called over her drone. She loaded it with some new bolts. “Ya, but also gave me a heart attack, you know. Now let's get this over with.”
Sending in Order first, we entered the main building. The place was dilapidated and filled with the bodies of ponies who didn’t turn into ghouls. It was hard to not step on them with how many dead ponies were here. There were still feral ghouls here and there, but they were more spread out, making them easier to deal with. Order was doing most of the work by cleanly and quietly killing any feral that stuck its head out with a bolt shot.
Finding the shelter wasn't too hard. There were signs hanging everywhere which lead us to two large metal doors. It was a shock to see the doors themselves having been ripped open long ago. The long dead rusted tools used to open them were discarded next to those doors.
“Warning, radiation detected,” Order alerted us from inside the shelter.
“How bad?” Harp asked.
“The drone flew around for a moment before telling us “Low levels. Simple protection is advised.”
Harp pulled out her gas mask and looked back at us. “Did any of you bring protection?”
“Only from getting pregnant. Right, Star?” Dead joked for a moment then pulled off her saddlebag. From inside she pulled out two rough-looking gas masks. “Ma is a bit paranoid about us and radiation. We both got sick from the stuff when we were really young, so she makes sure we at least have something to protect ourselves from it.”
Harp nodded and turned to her pipbuck and turned on her broadcaster. “Advised to anypony going into the town’s center shelter, low levels of radiation have been detected. Use protection if you come down here.”
Putting on our gas masks, we made our way down. Both Harp’s and my pipbucks now clicked slowly.
Inside more dead ponies and more ghouls were found, and again Order did much of the fighting for us here. Fortunately the ghoul population was rather light down here, and most were not awake enough to charge us when they did see us. Also surprising, the shelter was not very big. It was nothing like the stable. It was also rather light on supplies.
“Well… fuck…” Harp said, sounding really annoyed.
“What?… Oh, you got to be fucking kidding!” Dead complained, sounding even more annoyed.
Trotting over to see what it was, I saw several sleek-looking vehicles looking right out of a billboard advertisement. In and around them were skeletons, each with a broken skull that was clearly from a gunshot wound. A few of the skeletons had guns, holding them in a way that was clearly suicide.
“I guess that’s why there are so few ghouls down here. I probably would have done that too if I were in their position,” Dead Axle said.
Not far from the dead were several yellow barrels labeled as HALM, with what looked like half-melted skeletons next to them. “The fuck happened over there?” I asked out loud.
“Highly Active Liquid Magic,” a muffled Slowtrot spoke up from behind us, causing everypony to jump in shock. “It’s the stuff used to power a lot of the newer magical powered machinery. That’s another product made by Flim and Flam, of course. It was used all over the place in the last few years of the war. Had a temporary job moving the shit around until the robots arrived to do the job. Never wanted to get close to the stuff with how many safety procedures there were. Oddly, one was to not even look at the stuff.”
Live Axle was next to him, looking at the vehicles in the room.
“You okay sis?” Dead asked.
“Fuck do you think? We really need to talk later, okay?” Live hissed through her gas mask.
Not wanting an argument here in all places, I spoke up. “Say, why are those near mint condition motor wagons here? I thought you said their city folk shit.”
“Clearly somepony wanted to drive them once everything blew over,” Harp answered and she trotted over to a generator. She backed up when her pipbuck’s geiger counter spiked. “Looks like somepony fucked up refueling this generator.”
“Just keeping these barrels here is a big fuck up. The stuff inside has a tendancy of eating through nearly everything when it goes bad. They needed a containment room, not a warehouse,” Slowtrot explained.
A beep came through our pipbucks as Orders voice spoke out through them. “Madam Harp, desired materials have been located.”
Trotting over to Order, we found it hovering in front of a shutter. The thing had several bullet holes and signs of an attempt to break-in. “On the other side are your desired materials. The door requires power to be opened from the other side.” We then watched as Order entered a vent that connected to the other side of the wall.
Harp sighed as she muttered. “I’m going to have to thank Jali for giving Azure those packs of rad-away.”
After she supplied the door with some power, a light flickered on and the shutters rolled up. Inside was a dusty and very almost untouched room filled with several boxes that had the ministry of peace symbol on it. Oddly, there was also a rather nice motorcycle inside the room as well painted in the sparkle-cola colors and adorned with the company’s symbols.
A gasp came from Slowtrot. “A Sparkle-Cola Lone Wander? How in Celestia’s name is there even one here!?”
“What?” the rest of us said.
He trotted over to the very shiny motorcycle. “It’s a motorcycle that just recently came out… well a few months before the bombs fell, I mean. They were advertised everywhere. Even got put in a big action movie. As you can see, sparkle-cola got in on it too. It was selling a bunch of custom-made ones. As far as I know, only super-wealthy ponies could buy them.”
“Neat,” Dead said as she trotted over to the bike. “I want to ride it.”
Live hopped over and pushed her sister to the side. “Sluts go second.”
“Not the time for that shit. I think I found out why it’s here,” Harp spoke up as she sat next to a terminal. Slumped in a seat next to it was a skeleton in a suit. Several used syringes of med-x littered the floor around it.
“From what it looks like, the mayor had embezzled the town's money and made himself rich. Also, the mayor was getting paid off by Barnyard Bargains to let them conduct some sort of agriculture experiment. There's also a note here about Flim and Flam paying him to use the town to dump expired products. Instead of using that money to build a proper shelter, he just bought shit for himself,” Harp explained.
She then back hoofed the skeleton. “He hid here because he knew it had shit like rad-away in bulk, but then chose to take himself out in a painless manner.” She then slumped down, looking extremely upset. “Ya. Azure was right. I shouldn't have read that.”
I trotted over and gave Harp a hug.
“How can some ponies be so selfish?” she asked me.
“Because some are evil. Simple as that,” I told her as I looked at the others. “Alright. Let’s get the fuck out of here, and bring the bike.”
Things went fairly quickly in the next hour. We swung by to pick up Azure as ponies grabbed what they could load in the vehicles they came in. With the town mostly cleared of danger, it was time for everypony to return to the Desperados and let them return later to gather what they needed.
Live Axle enjoyed her new ride as Dead was forced to be just a passenger on the Lone Wanderer.
Rolling in, there were several Desperados waiting for us, clearly wanting to know if we cleared the town for them. As we stopped, I tossed a bottle of sparkle-cola to one of them as I yelled, “BIG SUCCESS!”
A yellow claw caught the bottle in mid-air, and with his beak, Longslide opened the two hundred-year-old soda and guzzled it down.
I locked eyes with the angry-looking pony-griff as he trotted over. Not saying a word, Longslide caressed his claw gently across the Smuggler before popping open an armored plate that protected the engine. We all sat there, waiting for whatever he did next.
After a moment, Longslide finally spoke up. “So you really did manage to install a high magic voltage converter into the engine.”
Crankshaft trotted out and over to Longslide, both looking at the engine. “Ya. You find them in a lot of old-world military combat transports. The best are found in heavy industrial machinery which is made to last and can take a lot of punishment. With it, you can pump more power into this baby and not have it burn itself out.”
Longslide closed the panel. “I’ll have to keep that in mind if I ever make another Smuggler.”
He then looked back up at me. His eyes had dropped the anger. “Star, we need to talk.” I was glad to see the grumpy griff, but the way he said that made me worried, as though this was not about him venting his anger at me.
We watched him trot off to the elder’s tent as we got out of the Smuggler. Both Slowtrot and Harp looked unsure.
“Well, at least this is better than just a letter,” I said.
Harp sighed. “Ya. Still does not make it easy. We did see his father die after all.”
“Then let's get this over with,” I said as I dug into the back of the Smuggler and pulled out Hardballer’s guns. “I want to make sure these at least get back to where they belong.”
Trotting over was Live Axle, looking a bit confused. “Was that one of the Gunrunners?”
Slowtrot nodded. “Longslide, the son of Hardballer. We're about to go hear what he has to say to us… so where’s Dead?”
“Enjoying the new motorcycle… She’ll be a while,” Live explained.
Not wasting any more time, we trotted over to the big tent where not just Longslide was waiting for us, but also the elders. Even Tire Fire and some other pony I didn’t recognize was here. He was in a very clean suit that screamed merchant.
“Moody? What are you doing here?” Harp asked the new pony.
The stallion put on a smile that could have been fake, but I couldn't tell. “Doing business. That's all.”
A growling hiss came from behind him as a cybernetic nightstalker walked out with its tail up. Alpha then made herself visible as she growled back. The larger female was just as agitated as the cyber mongrel.
“Easy, Alpha. This is not your territory,” I told the ghost nightstalker. Fortunately, that was enough for her to at least lower her tail and stop growling.
“Now that's new. She listened to you without a problem,” Moody said in astonishment, then whistled. The cybernetic nightstalker immediately sat down and became calm. “I doubt you have trained that thing since it hatched, and I don’t see any modifications to it. Nightstalkers are known for being utterly uncontrollable, so how is she so calm?”
“Maybe later, Moody,” Longslide spoke up.
“Yes. business talk later,” I said as I placed the two cloth-wrapped guns on the table and pushed it over to Longslide. “First, I guess these are yours now.”
Longlside froze for a moment before slowly unwrapping the guns with great care. His claws carefully caressed the griffonstone typewriter his father had made. After that, he looked over his father’s claw cannon, an imposing magnum revolver with a light amount of engraving along the barrel and cylinder.
Using one claw to cover his eyes, Longside took a deep breath. “Thank you for returning these. It means a lot to know they aren’t in the hooves of some bastards and will be returning to where they belong.”
“We're glad to give them back to your family,” Harp said. “But that's not what you're here for, since you wanted this to be more private.”
Longslide took a deep breath and sighed. “You're right. This is about more than just getting back what belongs to the Gunrunners. But where to start?”
“Let's start with the side of events, then we can get onto recent events,” Moody advised.
Tire Fire huffed. “I already told them what happened, but the griff wants to hear from you.”
We all looked at each other and nodded.
Slowtrot was surprisingly the first to speak. A sense of guilt was on his face. “Well first off, it was an accident, as far as-”
“Accident!” Longlside blurted out, but Moody put a hoof in front of him, giving Longslide a stern look.
“Continue,” Moody invited calmly.
“Well, I forgot that my gun, Chekhov's Promise, was in my bag when Ashy had us all disarm. It fell out and she took it. Words were said, and she accidentally shot him with it.” Slowtrot tried to explain.
Harp quickly covered for him. “Hardballer was trying to call for peace and had trotted up to Ashy. He wanted to move on and wanted her to do the same. At some point, as they talked, the gun went off. Hardballer was shot in the heart and didn’t suffer.”
A sense of anger washed over me as I replayed that moment in my head. How in the end, after all their talk about justice, she was exempted from her own rules.
“Doesn’t change the fact that she then ran the fuck away,” I complained, “and let her deputies label us as raiders and throw us into that prison to be slaves. Oh, and let’s not forget she was going to send us further away as some fucked up apology. She was going to send me to Arbu, that fucking cursed place where cannibals once lived.”
“Star... you're shaking,” Harp observed.
“Damn right I’m shaking! I’m still pissed off about it!” I told her. “They were waiting for us like fucking cowards. Slowtrot should have just ran her down as soon as we saw her.”
“That’s enough, Star,” Harp said with a sigh, then turned to Longlsed, saying. “If you want definitive proof, I had Order record most of it,though I haven't had the heart to watch it myself.”
Again Longlside took a moment before responding, his claws in a tight fist. “Show me.”
What followed was Longslide growing more angry as he held a pipbuck 2000. He watched the video with shaking talons. Once it was over, he put the pipbuck down and sat there in silence for a minute.
Taking a deep breath, Longslide then asked Harp, “Can you make several copies?”
Harp nodded slowly. “I can make them as soon as you want.”
I was still pissed off, but at least now I know something was going to get done over all this. Maybe we can even have our names cleared. It would be nice to see my Briget as a free mare, but I doubt I could stay. I know Harp can’t stay. She needs to get back to the ponies who could protect her.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I was curious as to what else he was here to talk about. “So before we go talk about how the Gunrunners and Talons will be ripping Ashy some new holes, what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?”
Longslides angry expression quickly faded as he looked at me, becoming more dower in expression. Somehow I knew I was not going to like this at all.
“Star… it’s Prism,” he informed gravely. I felt a hole form in my stomach that was like a bottomless pit. “She was attacked, and-”
“IS MOM OKAY?! IS BRIDGET OKAY?!” I yelled.
“Bridget’s fine. Prism had her stay in the compound after you were taken away,” he told me, but he also avoided eye contact. “But Prism isn’t. The Flowers have done what they can, but they can't fix what was done to her.”
Tears… tears started to flow from my eyes as a wave of fear enveloped me. “Take me to her… NOW!”
The Desperados now have access to needed resources in which they will need in the future. With the three now part of the Desperados, those resources are also their resources.
FoE: Desperados, Ch72, The Consequences Others Pay.
"Before Moving to New Appaloosa, Star Charter said that she and Prism lived in Junction Town, a place that grew even faster than New Appaloosa has.
Junction Town was a former Talon base before the Lightbringer used it to send refugees, including the ponies of stable 2. Over the years, and with the guidance of their mayor, Calamity, Junction Town had flourished. It became the best example of what the NCR can offer.
Unfortunately, from what Star had described, its golden reputation has also made it a place where work had become hard to get as competition for jobs was high. There, the Followers gave Prism a job in New Appaloosa where they would move to and live in up until recently.
I have seen a few places in my own travels. Such a new settlement under the care of a strong leader. Often, if the next few leaders are just as strong, these places become the center of new civilizations. It seemed to me that the NCR had everything it needed to make a strong start; a creation story with a hero and a villain. It had a goal that pushed it to grow and the will to fight for what they want and have.
But I know there are other forces out there that want to snuff out this new republic while it’s still in its crib." ~ Azure Dice
All the joy and excitement from riding in the gunner nest of the Smuggler was missing, replaced with anxiety and impatience. My mind focused on one thing: to see Prism no matter what.
Longslide took the driver's seat of the Smuggler. It is his vehicle after all. Harp and Slowtrot took the passenger seats as a Desperado transport cart followed behind, struggling to keep up.
The scenery passed by, hot and uncaring, the sun only just now passed high noon and the horizon blurred mirages. This tricked me into seeing New Appaloosa before it had arrived.
Longslide had not explained much. He didn’t have many details to give, but in my heart, I knew what might have happened. I cursed myself for not going home as soon as I could.
No. I had to fool around. Get into that stupid fight with Spritz. We could have just taken the Daisy Chain and fucked right off while everypony slept, but I got too interested in myself. To have fun. To literally fuck around. All while my family suffered.
When New Appaloosa finally came into sight, my anxiety only grew worse. The anticipation of what I didn’t want to see or know was eating away at me.
Changing directions, Longslide gave the town a wide berth. He did not go any closer than we needed to until we saw the Followers camp.
“Stopped Clock has been extra diligent at keeping an eye on the town's border for the last few days. He stopped everypony who comes near,” Longslide explained as we got closer to the camp. “Luckily today they’re not out in as much force. Something about dealing with a raider camp. Seemed that, because the mayor took so long to get the festival started, it's given some raiders the time to set up camp not too far away. From what I know, it’s going to be an extermination, so they don’t plan on returning until tomorrow.”
“Odd time for that, but lucky for us. Still, I rather not overstay our welcome,” Slowtrot said before looking up at me. “Star, you're going to be okay, right?”
“Would you?!” I asked him hotly.
He gave me a sad knowing look as he said,“Ya, just checking. But remember, whatever happens, we will be there for you.”
Finally arriving at the Followers camp, I hopped out and ran to the first Follower I saw. I grabbed them as calmly as I could as I demanded to know, “WHERE’S PRISM?! TAKE ME TO HER NOW!”
The pony was stunned and confused as I shook them.
“Already forgetting your manners, Star,” the gravelly voice of Jali spoke as she trotted out from a tent. “I’m not going to allow you to see your mother if you don’t calm down. You're liable to make her condition worse if you're that agitated.”
“I have all the right in the world to be agitated!” I huffed at the ghoul.
Jali nodded. “That you do, but please think about her right now. Prism is not going to want to see you so… disheveled.”
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I repeated this over until I found some sense of calm under all my panic, fear, and anxiety. Ponies get hurt and die all the time. What makes Prism so different? Other than she is Prism, a pony who should not be hurt, who should be with me forever. I should never have gone out and put myself in danger. I should have just stayed in town, with her and Bridget.
Trotting over, Jali gave me a somber smile. “Good. Be strong for now. Save those emotions for later. Trust me, I have done this for hundreds of years. Now follow me.”
She led us to a tent on the far side of the Followers camp. It was marked with signs that stated “Followers Only” and “Do not disturb”.
Jali stopped at the entrance and looked back at me. “Also, before you go in, refrain from touching anything. It’s all delicate things in there, including the patient. She’s also asleep right now, so keep your voice down.”
She entered and I followed.
What I saw caused me to gasp. On an old medical bed was Prism. She had several tubes inserted into her neck and a leg. It injected a rainbow-like fluid into her. As I got closer, my shock and horror only grew as I saw the extent of healed over injuries she had.
Prism was missing a leg and eye. Her horn was broken and had several deep scars across her body that looked like somepony had carved a chunk of her out. Whoever did this was cruel and malicious, and I had an idea who.
“Victoria,” I growled.
“Maybe, if what she said about her is true. What was done to her, it’s not something a raider can do without anypony causing alarm. Also, why she has not gotten better is a mystery to me, and without the right tools, I can't even investigate,” Jali said as she trotted over to a desk and pulled out an envelope from a drawer, passing it to me. “A message was found on her. I copied it before hoofing it over to sheriff Ashy.”
“Fuck load of good that murder is going to do,” I angrily muttered as I took the envelope.
It only confirmed my suspicion as I read it out loud.
“From within the island were those who could be saved. lost souls in need of guidance. All Thorn Roseland needed to do was reach them. But blocked by walls, blocked by cannon, and by sea-bound mines did sinners keep her holy presence away from those she could uplift. But to let souls be damned because of fear of loss was not her way, nor is it the way of the chosen. With the might of the Leviathan, she carved a path through the sinners, blooding both them and herself as the fires of battle raged for six days and six nights. On the seventh day did she raise the flag of victory, calling out to all those who wish to be saved. On the seventh night, without the sinners blocking them from the right path, did the lost souls find salvation.”
Jali huffed. “The Thorns being this far inland is unusual for those fanatics. They normally stay near the coastlines and rarely venture into Equestria. It’s also hard to believe Victoria Rosary is one of them. Too clean around the edges from what I know about the Thorns.”
“Thorns?” Harp asked.
“It’s what others call us, both referring to Thorn Roasland, and to how we are thorns in the side of any creature that goes out into the waters. But we just refer to ourselves as the Chosen,” I explained.
“And why that message?” Slowtrot asked.
I sighed as I gave the note back to Jali. “I guess… Victoria is referring to this town as the island, the locals as the sinners, and Prism… She is the wall that keeps me in. She is the one that keeps me from returning to the Chosen, why I turned her down and why I first left. If Prism never showed up in my life, likely… no, I would have been in Blackspot's position, aiding in the raid on the Marewaii Islands.”
Trotting over to the unconscious Prism, I struggled to keep myself calm, but like a dam, my mouth quivered and tears began to flow. “If she never showed up… if she never treated me like my real mother never did, I would have been dead. I would have never known I could have lived a different kind of life. She gave me a new choice. Something nopony ever did for me before.”
“No…” Prism wheezed as she opened her eyes. “You found the path all on your own. All I did was follow your directions. You always knew what to do when it counted.” Her voice was so pained. It caused me to feel pain in my heart hearing it.
“Mom, I’m here. You're going to be okay. I’ll make you okay,” I told her desperately as I reached out for her hoof and found it hot to the touch.
Prism winced in pain at my touch, but she also smiled. “Yes, you’re... finally home. I was… so… worried.” Her eyes closed as she fell silent again.
Backing off, I glared at Jali. “What’s wrong with her? Why is she in so much pain?”
Jali gave a deep and long sigh before answering. “That I do not know. We have done what we can, but we’ve only managed to keep her stabilized. Whatever her attacker did, it was meant to be as cruel as possible. That’s all I know.”
“Maybe I can help?” Slowtrot offered.
Giving him a nod, he trotted over to Prism. He hovered his pipbuck over her.
Slowtrot scrunched his nose, looking confused before telling us, “I don't know if this is meant to be used on alicorns, so some of the information might be off. But it says she’s suffering from some kind of poison… Hydra’s liver, it says.”
“Then that would explain it. Truly cruel indeed,” Jali’s voice quivered and a look of disgust formed on her face as she spoke. “The healing property of hydra blood is legendary. Their other parts have similar properties, including the liver.”
“Then why is she in pain?” Star asked again.
Jali put the note away, taking a moment to take a deep breath before answering. “As I’ve told Slowtrot, any medicine in the right amount is no different from poison. The liver is where a lot of nutritional energy is stored, but I’ve seen those who ate the liver of some creatures and suffered from a heart attack soon after. The energy it gave them was too much and caused their heart to literally explode. Hydra liver is something on a much higher scale.”
She trotted over to Prism. A weak tear in her eye. “My tribe knows a lot about medicine. There are many tales about those who tried to harness the healing powers of the hydra. They were the ones who originally made the chem Hydra so as to help our troops return to normal after losing a leg or an eye, but not without considerable experimentation. Even then, hydra was never meant to be used more than once since the chance of it causing mutations was exceptionally high.”
I trotted up to her, looking the ghoul in the eyes. “And that means what? She is already a mutant. Should it not heal her?”
“It is… what’s killing her,” the medical ghoul spoke in a defeated tone. “Her body is overworking itself to the point it’s destroying itself. The liver is likely replacing her cells with its own, and her body is taking that energy to kill the new cells. It’s something that the chem hydra was made to not do.”
“Then take it out. I know you can do tha,.” I growled.
Jali turned away from me, looking at Prism. “That’s not going to fix what's going on now. Hydras heal fast, and so does the chem made from them. It’s likely spread to her whole body. Removing the liver at this point will likely do nothing. What's worse, she is going to rapidly heal if I cut into her. I thought it was because of the super healing potion we gave her, but it was working too fast. I’m sorry, Star. There's no fixing this.”
“No. There is,” I huffed as I trotted over to Slowtrot, grabbing his bag. “Give it to me. The Lazarus serum can save her.”
Pulling out the apple-shaped jar with the red fluid inside, I presented it to Jali. “This can do it. It can even bring the dead back to life.”
Jali looked skeptical as she glanced at the jar and then at Slowtrot. “Is this true?”
He nodded. “Strange story, but the pony that gave me this shot me in the head first. I also gave it to Harp when she was dying from blood loss.”
“Strange…” Jali pondered for a moment, but then shook her head. “No. That doesn't solve what is killing her. The hydra liver is likely already part of her. Can you check again, Slowtrot? See how far it’s spread?”
Slowtrot hovered his pipbuck over Prism again, tapping at it. “Says her blood is… overproducing. Traces of the hydra liver are… everywhere.”
Jali reached out and gently pushed the Lazarus serum down from where Star held it. “If you use that, maybe you buy Prism a day, but it will be a day where she is in great pain for every moment. Even if it does work, it’s highly likely she will mutate into something you might have to put down yourself. Trust me, I’ve been there. Still have nightmares sometimes.”
“I’ll take that risk. I want her to live, even if for a day!” I pleaded.
Harp trotted over, giving me a hug. “Star… Star… I’m so sorry, Star.” she buried her face in my chest. “My own mother had an illness of the blood that not even the most advanced medicine or treatments could cure. It’s not much, but I understand what you're feeling.”
Taking the serum, Slowtrot then placed a hoof on my shoulder. “We're here for you, but do you need some time alone?”
“Please… please leave,” I requested sadly.
Except for Jali, they all trotted out, giving me the space I needed.
“You too,” I told the old ghoul.
“In just a moment. I want to tell you something.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “When you were taken away, Prism had a fit and wanted to talk to you. She wanted to get your side of the story. She caused a huge stir and almost attacked the sheriff over this. Not once did Prism even think you might have done it. When I asked her why since you do have a history of being unpredictable at times and getting in with bad ponies. She told me it was because you're not evil. That you are, at heart, a good pony.”
With that, Jali trotted out, leaving me alone with my mother.
I felt the tears welling up again as I looked at Prism. “Mom, I’m… sorry. This is all my fault. Again you were right… about everything. Victoria was up to something and wanted to take me away. For a moment, I wanted to go with her. To return to that old life I lived before you came into it. I thought that, with her, I could make good money and send it to you and Bridget. I thought without me there, you can finally have a normal life. Bridget too. But I got selfish and turned her down, fully knowing that she was not going to simply let me go. I didn’t think she would come after you. I was too stupid to see past what I wanted.
“I remember when I first saw you. Thought I had died and Luna had taken me away. I mean, how can some pony be so kind and worried about ship rat filly other than the goddesses?
“You know, I could not figure you out at all. Some strange mare that looked like Luna who worried about me and protected me. I don’t know why, but I wanted you to do it more. To keep worrying about me, and to keep protecting me. So when Victoria had captured you and dug those chains deep into your skin, I thought it was all over. I hated that feeling.”
Holding onto her burning hoof, I continued talking. I asked the question I had avoided forever now. “Why did you save me back then? I was just one filly out of too many that needed a pony like you. It wouldn't have been hard. Just let the water take me and move on. Your life would have been so much better if you did.”
Prism’s eyes slowly opened. She struggled to smile. “Why else? You were… there. I wanted to forget. I wanted to be a pony who was not... Prism Paint. It distressed me, but also gave me… purpose.”
I squeezed onto her hoof. “But any filly or colt could have filled that role.”
“No…” she said softly. “You needed help and I... was there. I saw you falling and heard you call… for your... mother.”
“And you came for me,” I said as I wiped the tears from my eyes. “But why did you stay? Why did you not leave me when you could? You could have left me on the Blackwater or in Bold Harbor. I didn’t need you anymore. I would have been fine.”
“You… chose me,” Prism’s voice became strained. “I was lost, and you chose me. I… saved you, and you… saved me.”
I choked a bit at her words. “But I’m why you're dying. This is all my fault. Without me, you could have been happier.”
“I would have… killed myself… without you,” she promised as she looked me in the eyes. “If I had not… given myself to the goddess… I would have committed suicide. Without you… I would have been… dead inside.”
Prism weekly pulled me closer. “You chose me. Chose Bridget. Call it… selfishness, but we all are… selfish. Making the right decision doesn't… mean you will get what you… want. If I had chosen better, I would… have lived poorer… but happier. You made the right choice… you always make the right choice when it… matters. I don’t blame you, I could… never blame you for wanting… to be with me.”
She had a satisfied smile on her face as she said, “Your good pony, Star, and these last eleven years have filled me with more… happiness than I deserve. That’s what you… gave me, Star. So don’t… blame yourself for what others do. They're not you, and… you’re, not them.”
I held onto her tighter. “But I don’t want you to go. What will I do without you?”
Prism’s leg went limp. “You… live.”
Her eyes closed as she fell back to sleep.
I sat there, quietly sobbing into her hoof, not wanting to move.
“Star,” Jali spoke as she trotted back in. I don’t know how long it had been, but it hadn't been long enough. “There's a pony here to see you, so please come out.”
Now was not the time, so whoever this pony was, I was going to give them a piece of my mind. I needed somepony to hurt!
Leaving the tent and back into the dry hot air, I followed Jali to another tent where I saw Longslide standing in the entryway. He motioned with his head for me to come inside before going in himself.
Trotting in, I grumbled out “So who’s the-”
“Mommy!” Bridget screamed as she jumped into my chest and tightly held onto me with her talons.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment. My mind raced and what anger I had faded away to nothing as I grabbed my filly in my hooves. “My baby.”
I looked over at Longslide. Next to him was Javelina holding a case.
“I knew you can’t stay for long, so I went and got Bridget,” Longslide explained.
“Thank you,” I told him as I continued to hold Bridget tightly. “Thank you.”
My little filly squirmed out of my grip, poking her head out from my chest. “Mama, where were you? Grandpa is gone too. Nopony would tell me anything, and now they say grandma is not feeling well.”
More tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at my adorable Bridget. “I’m sorry… something forced me away. I wanted to come back, but I couldn't until now.” I lied. I could have come back so much sooner.
Bridget then smiled a goofy smile. “Now that you’re back, Grandma will get better.”
I didn’t have the heart to say it, but I couldn't lie to her either.
Fortunately Javaliena spoke up, drawing our attention. “Color blue with a hint of white and black… I.. it… sadness is like that… but harder to… describe. It is like the cold. Like wetness.” She fidgeted, struggling to find the right words. “It’s loss, but wanting to see again, but knowing you can’t. You… here… now. Like yellow and orange… warm.”
I smiled at the poor griffin. “I missed you too.”
She then placed the case she was holding in front of me. “F… Father worked. Your... rust gun, it filled him with light red and gray-blue. Made this to make him feel yellow like gold. Take it… he made it… it’s yours.”
Raising an eyebrow and letting Bridget go, I reached out and flipped the latch that kept the case closed. Opening it, inside was a griffonstone typewriter. Unlike Hardballers, this was made to be used by ponies with a large hoof guard and a front hoof rest. Strangely it had a ported heat shield over the barrel instead of the wings they normally had. With it were two large drum magazines and several stick magazines.
“Why?” I asked.
Longslied sighed. “Like Javelina said, Dad hated that rust gun of yours and made this as an example of what a real SMG should be. It’s mostly a traditional early model of the gun, but Dad threw in a few modern techniques into it, so it can’t be considered a classic typewriter. Probably why he gave it a heat shield and never put it out to sell. Javelina always said it was your gun, called it the-”
“Outlaw.” Javelina blurted. “You don’t trot like others. Restricted when you do. Trot around it, under it but, not like others. Not one of many. Not to be restricted.”
“She means you don’t follow the rules, just like how this gun was made,” Longslide explained.
I closed the case and smiled. “Are you sure? Without Hardballer, you're going to need it.”
“We’re going to be just fine without Dad,” he said coldly, but I could see a hint of sadness on his face. “He was no fool. Told me many times that he could suddenly drop… well, you know. Every griffin in the compound was trained to know what they need to do if he’s not around, so we will be just fine. We're not going to pack up and run with our tails in between our legs. Not when we now have the truth.”
“That sounds like you. I wish I could be there when you finally show Ashy why she shouldn’t mess with the Gunrunners.” I told him.
“Unfortunately we can’t do it the old fashion way. A bit too violent for more civilized folks. But having the NCR force the mayor to remove her from power and have her taken to court is at least proper justice,” he said, sounding unsatisfied.
“Worried she will go free?” I asked.
He huffed out in annoyance. “A bit, but even if she does go free, I doubt she will have peace. Likely president Gwad will send her someplace far away to avoid a scandal with the Talons. We griffins aren't known for forgiveness.”
“But you’re half pony.” I pointed out.
“I ain't going to sing about it, if that’s what you're implying.” Longslid chirped at me, then asked me, “So... what's next?”
Pulling the case closer to me and holding onto Bridget with my other arm, I couldn't help but feel warm. There was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to do, but time was quickly running out. “Not sure. I'm going to need more time to think. I also want to be there for Mom.
"What about you now that you have the Smuggler back?”
He grimaced. “That's going to be complicated. Ranger Gavril has been showing a lot of interest in what we have been doing before you were taken away. He’s good at getting griffons to loosen their beaks, so the NCR has been making requests. If I take the Smuggler back now, they will likely force me to sell it to them so that their own ponies can make copies, so I’m going to let the Desperados hold onto it for now.”
This had me a bit confused. “And what? Skip on a big payout?”
Longslide smirked. “Naw. Instead, I’m getting a bigger payout. It’s going to cost them more if I make them their own vehicle from the ground up. Turns out they found a small fleet of broken-down old-world troop transports in Fillydelphia a few years back. They don’t have anypony that knows what to do with them. So, if Ranger Gavril can’t get their hooves on my Smuggler, then he wants me to take apart the vehicles they do have.
“Anyways, I have a delivery job that requires the Smuggler. I was going to have that merchant Moody do it, but his prices are steep. But now I’ve asked the Desperados to do it as part of the deal to hold onto the Smuggler for me.”
“That sounds like a Gunrunner.” I chuckled. It was good to have a normal conversation with him for once. Longslide and I rarely saw eye to eye, but we could at least trust each other. “Again, thank you. Both of you. You’re like… you’re family to me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Safe travels, Star,” he bade as I turned to trot out with Bridget by my side.
Waiting for me was Jali, Harp, and Slowtrot. Several other Desperados were mulling about further away, along with that merchant.
“So everypony… I’m going to stay here for now. I need to be with Prism and Briget. Could you come by later tonight or tomorrow and pick us up?” I told my friends.
“Of course, Star,” Harp said as she trotted over to Bridget. “Now Princess Bridget, do look after your mother for us.”
My Bridget smiled wide. “Mama is safe with me!”
“Oh, Slowtrot,” I addressed him. “Turns out that Longlside will be lending the Smuggler out to the Desperados. Wants them to use it to do a delivery job for him. So you can take the Smuggler out of here. Just bring it when you come and pick me up.”
“I see… then I’ll do just that,” he replied.
Again Harp gave me a hug. “Please stay safe.”
“Naw, I’m trouble,” I said with a smile. “But ya, I’ll do my best.”
Watching them leave, I held onto Bridget a bit tighter. “You want to see grandma?” I asked her.
“Ya!” she replied.
“Are you sure, Star?” Jali asked.
I looked at the zebra ghoul with determination in my eyes. “We don’t have the time for a debate. I at least want us to see Prism off.”
She gave a gargled sigh. “This part of the job never gets easy, even after over two hundred years.”
Looking down at my adorable daughter, I knew she was not going to like what she was going to see, but I knew she would hate it even more if she's not there for Prism. At least I can be there for her. For both of them. It’s the least a family can do. “Alright, let's go see grandma and be careful of what you touch in there.”
Outlaw: A griffinstone Typewriter made by the Gunrunner Hardballer for controlled and sustained fire. Perfect for life in the wasteland. Though heavy compared to all other SMG’s, it has almost no recoil and is built to even outlast its user. The gun also has an air of mischief and style only a roguish pony could truly enjoy.
"I got into a strange conversation with Slowtrot. I asked him about things he hated. One can learn a lot about a person from the things they truly hate. From how open or closed-minded they are, to how much they will tolerate and how they justify their hate.
I got three answers; The pony Thorn Rosland, The ministries, and himself.
His hatred of Thorn was very clear cut. She had killed a pony he respected and hurt others he grew to care about. He has also seen parts of her true self, and had his own soul been tainted by it. She was a pony that cared nothing for others, revealing in their pain and suffering. He also knew that she contributed to the creation of the wasteland, though how much he didn’t know.
If I said that I have never seen or heard about people like that in my world, I would be in self-denial. Unfortunately, those people are everywhere. They are so obsessed with their own goals and tribes that they are willing to burn everything around them. It doesn't even matter if they are wrong in the end because they understand that if they're the ones left standing, then they can make it so that they were right all along. Sometimes, they do win." ~ Azure Dice
“I’m a bit conflicted seeing you with that on, Slowtrot,” Jali addressed me. She had been too busy organizing the other Followers to have a proper talk with me until recently. They were slowly taking apart their own campsite and preparing to move back to Junction Town where they would later be sent to other locations to help other settlements. It seems that Mayor Espresso had used the whole incident with us as an excuse to not just push them out of the nice part of town, but the town itself.
Looking at the Desperado vest I had on, I sighed. “Ya. I’m just glad I don’t have to go through their initiation ritual. Between getting shot while in the raider’s nest and almost getting whipped to death by the prison Warden, they say I already earned my beat in.”
“Whipped? I thought the NCR had outlawed corporal punishment in the labor prison.” Jali said in shock.
“I had some scars, but they’re all healed up now thanks to the Lazarus serum,” I explained.
She looked at me suspiciously, then told me, “Show me where it was. Healing potions will still show some markings even if applied quickly. I want to know if this serum is the same or not.”
I took off my vest and jacket, letting the ghoul look at my back. “I’m not sure you will find them. The serum healed me up better than anything I had used before. I even feel far better than I have in a long time.”
She didn’t say anything for a minute. She simply parted the fur on my back as she investigated. “No, I see them, but something’s a bit odd. Your fur is slightly discolored at the roots and your skin is… well, not right. I need to check you closer. Harp too!”
“Me? Why?” Harp replied.
“Star said you also took this Lazarus serum. If possible, I want to do some extensive testing. I know you can't stay much longer, so let me just do a quick look over,” she requested.
Knowing that she had our best intentions in mind, the two of us did what she said and trotted over to an unused tent. There Jali spent a few minutes giving us as thorough an exam as she could in a short amount of time. This included taking a few blood samples, sealing a few, and dropping some liquid in some others. We watched as our tested blood changed color from a dark red to a purple.
“Is… that bad?” I asked.
“Sometimes,” Jali answered. “It detects mutations. Unfortunately both your blood already did this, but it was only a moderate change to purple, so some change has happened. Still, nothing is showing up that says it’s harmful. Just that there’s a change. I’ll have the other blood samples get a closer look with proper equipment once I return to Junction Town. After that, I’ll send a courier to you with the results.”
Well that was concerning, but not the worst news. “So about my scars, you said the fur was discolored?”
She got two mirrors. She hoofed me one and aimed the other at my back. It was hard to see, but with the help of her parting my fur, I could see that several hares were turning a lighter, almost greenish color on my back. “They run along your scars. Possibly they are follicles that were regrown. It’s possible, but in time all the hairs along your scars will change color. That's not the only thing.” She took her mirror and placed it in front of my face. “Did something happen to one of your eyes?”
“Why… well ya, I got shot through it,” I told her.
Looking closer at that eye, I could see some red flecks in it that were not there before. “What the?”
“Healing magic is rarely ever the safest of magics. It can be quite dangerous if in the wrong hooves or not made correctly,” Jali explained as she put the mirror down. “I visited the place where the main ingredient for healing potions grows, long before the gardens of Equestria were used. It is where Miss Fluttershy used the first megaspell you see. She had hoped that it would cause the fighting to stop. With it being a mass healing spell that even brought back the dead, so as the legends say.”
From her blood-stained white coat, Jali pulled out a tattered-looking notepad. Flipping it open, she showed a page that had two plants drawn on. “Broc Flower and Xander Root. Those are the two plants that grew and thrived in that magic, which are also the main ingredients for healing potions. You can find them all over the wasteland. If you know your potion making, you can make your own healing potions with them.”
Somehow I felt a “But,” coming.
She flipped a page. It showed a pony floating above the ground. “But the place also happens to be haunted by those hit by the megaspell. Found my uncle there among the lost souls, and he had died back home from old age. Very few of them even understood where they were. Just floating around or fighting with the other ghosts.”
“How dreadful. Is there a way to put them to rest?” Harp asked.
“Already done. The Gardens of Equestria broke the curse and set them free. The Followers have now turned that place into a monument to the victims of the Megapells,” She said in a solemn tone. “That aside, I just want you to understand that nothing in this world comes without a price.Any good deed you do could unintentionally doom another pony. The more good you do can cause an even greater tragedy if you don’t have the foresight to understand what can go wrong. This is the lesson Fluttershy learned.”
Jali pulled out an envelope and passed it to me. “This arrived not long after Azure had left. It’s addressed to you.”
Opening it, I found a letter.
“To Slowtrot,
With the figurine of myself came with your story, and both had the name of an old friend of mine on it; Healing Herbs. She and I both went to the same nursing school together. We both looked after the injured soldiers sent home from the war. She was also the one who helped me develop the first magaspell. It’s what destroyed the friend I held so dear to me.
It was such a simple idea, to take a simple healing potion meant for mending cuts and soothing bruises and amplify it. We also took many of those spells and compressed them. Even Twilight had never thought of doing that with spells. But its a success, it destroyed everything as we all know. I was too blind by its potential. To blind by my belief that ponies and zebras didn’t actually want to fight that I made the worst mistake. There are so many ponies I want to blame. So many hooves pulling at strings.In the end, I was the one who let myself be used. To be tricked. I blinded myself to what was going on around me, and it killed everypony I loved.
I’m sure Healing Herbs felt the same way. It’s why she left me. We both knew if we ever talked about it, it would force us to pull off our blinders and force us to see what we had done. But where she left, I stayed. If I had left as well, maybe things would not be as bad as they are now. But it’s too late for that.
Sorry for rambling.
As the last pony to have seen her, I felt that, in a way, I can talk to her through you. There's so many ponies I need to apologize to. Most of them have long since passed. If I can get my feeling across to any of them in any way, I want to. So, Mister Slowtrot, if possible, can you take this gift to Healing Herb’s last resting place? It’s her favorite flower, and I want to pay my respects.
Signed, Fluttershy.”
I folded up the letter and looked at Jali. “Gift?”
Jali pulled out another envelope. From this one, she removed a picture of a purple/pink flower. “It’s an echinacea. It’s good for helping with alleviating the symptoms of the common cold. This flower is currently locked in a spell that keeps it inside this paper, so it should stay fresh for as long as the paper itself is not damaged.”
She put it back into its envelope and hoofed it over to me.
Taking it, I put it inside the letter’s envelope. I put both inside my saddlebag. “I did say I wanted to revisit the Marewaii Islands. Anything else?”
Jali shook her head. “No. That’s everything. If you are heading out into the wasteland, do put on the armbands that Velvet sent you. It will mark you as a friend of the Follower of the Apocalypse. Many of our members have ventured out into the wasteland to aid those in need, so you may come across them in your journey.”
Jali looked over at Harp. “You too. A smart mare like you can do a lot of good if the right pony seeks your help. That armband should at least help in that.”
Putting back on my stabletech jacket and Desperado vest, I made sure to also attach the follower armband on as well. I gave Jali a friendly nod as I did. “Take care,” I told her.
“I’m over two hundred years old. I should be the one telling you that,” she said with a chuckle.
Leaving, we made our way back to the Smuggler. We found Live and Dead Axle waiting for us. Harp quickly trotted up to Dead and gave her a hoof bump. “So where’s the bike?” Harp asked.
Dead gave an annoyed huff as she answered, “Our bitch of a mother took it. Said were too stupid to have such a good bike.”
Live trotted over to me, looking concerned. “Heard Star is not coming. Will you two be okay?”
“She’s just staying around a bit longer. We're going to pick her up later, that's all,” I explained. “But shouldn't you two be with the others?”
“We were, but after we finished trading with the Followers, we decided to go back with you guys,” Live answered.
Live trotted over to the Smuggler and hopped in the driver’s seat. “Also Dead wanted to be in the gunner nest.”
“Damn straight!” Dead said excitedly.
Harp got in as well. “Then let's get going before we overstay our welcome.”
I stretched my legs, ready for the long drive back to camp. I knew I was going to do this trip one more time. “Alright, but no back seat screaming like last time.”
As we pulled up to the Desperado camp, a shiver ran up my spine as I saw Rack End waiting for us, sitting on the Lone Wanderer.
“Bitch probably took my bike out for a joy ride,” Live grumbled.
“Our bike, sis,” Dead loudly corrected from the gunner nest.
Rolling to a stop, Rack End left the bike and trotted over, smiling pleasantly at Harp. “Miss Harp, Elder Big Papa has a few things to go over with you. Things like organizing ponies and who were going to deal with on our way back to route 50. You're smart and a good talker, so he may be thinking of putting you up as a face. Lucky you.”
Harp hopped out of the Smuggler, smiling. “A natural assumption. It’s also good to know who I’ll be dealing with out there. Last thing I need to do is make enemies of the ponies we should be friends with out there.”
We watched as the further Harp trotted away, the more the friendly smile on Rack End’s muzzle faded to a scowl. “Now for you three idiots, since you still have the Smuggler, why don't you go and clear out the cazador nest north of the canyon? With the camp sending ponies out to scavenge that town and stable, the ponies on guard are stretched thin. Last we need is one of those damned bugs slipping between our defenses and getting into camp. While you're at it, one of you better work on getting me a grandfoal.”
Both the twins balked at their mother and I was just stunned.
“Don’t give me that look. At your age, I was already pregnant with you two morons. I ain't gonna know when I die, and I want to make sure at least one of you can actually raise a foul before I croak,” she scolded her daughters.
Rack End looked up at Dead Axle. “I know you’ve been getting all cosy with the princess. Don’t think I don’t know why. If you start putting ideas in her head about getting the Desperados to change how we do things, then I will personally knock out your teeth. Elder Big Papa wants that mare to stay out of Desperado politics for her own safety. Delicate mares like that are liable to get broken by the savagery of the other elders.”
She turned to me. “And you, stop pussy hoofing around the issue and pick one of my girls. I don’t care if ya knock ‘em both up, but I rather have a stallion around that can do the smart shit and stay out of the way. Last thing I need is them having a retarded foal from some mut raider that got the upper hoof.”
Dead hissed at her mother. “Like fuck are we going to just let some raider rape us!”
Rack End hissed back. “You got locked up in a fucking raider nest where they ganged raped their captives until they broke, then eat them!”
Dead fell silent as Rack End turned back to me. “Before you go and say something stupid, I’ll tell you again what I told you last night. This wasteland is not the Equestria of old. That died long ago, and we ponies don’t have the luxury to be waiting for the best partner or bullshit like true love. You find who ya can where ya can and hope ya live long enough to see your foal have their own foals. So ya. Either get with one of them, or get out of their way. There are other stallions who'd like to take my girls, but they're not going to wait forever.”
Her pleasant smile returned as she passed Live an old cooler. “Take this. It’s got food and drinks since you’ll likely be out there for a while.”
Live took the cooler, looking a bit unsure. “Thanks… Mom.”
“Now git. Git before I have ta beat one of you!” Rack End yelled at us.
I put my hoof to the peddle, wanting to get further away from that mare.
“At least she didn’t have her shotgun this time,” Dead spoke through the Smuggler’s com system.
“She means well,” Live began to explain. “I mean, most of our aunts and uncles are dead. It made her a bit… oh what’s the word?”
“Apprehensive?” I asked with uncertainty.
“Ya. Let's go with that. It’s why there is a ten-year gap between us and our younger siblings,” Live further elaborated.
“You mean around the enclave attack?” I asked.
Dead chuckled. “Ya. Supposedly those assholes bloodied us real good when they first attacked. Unlike down in Redeye territory, the ponies along route 50 weren’t in hiding, so the fucking fly ponies knew where to hit us and hit us hard. They still didn’t know about our old military artillery, but those took time to be brought out. By then a lot of us had been turned to ash in the fighting.”
“Almost lost dad and Tire Fire back then. It scared the shit out of Mom. It made her more obsessed about the family.” Live added.
An annoyed huff came from Dead. “But that shit aside, I don’t like how the bitch thinks having a foal at the age when she first had one as the standard of when we should be having foals. Not when Tire fiver is five years older than us.”
I did the math in my head and almost swerved the Smuggler into a rock when I got the number. “She had a foal when she was fourteen!”
Dead chuckled again. “At least it was with Dad. There's a few young mares who head out on their own, only to come back after surviving a raider attack. Heard some were as young as twelve, but that might just be the elders trying to scare young mares from wandering too far off. Still, so long as the family approves, age is a secondary concern.”
“That’s… horrible. What parents would let that happen?” I asked in shock.
“Very few actually. Mom’s just an exception,” Live spoke up. “There are a few herds that live much further away from everypony else and are known to be more… extreme in their beliefs. It’s hard living where they stay, so we leave them alone. But the elders do keep a close eye on them when they come closer to us. The elders make sure they understand that their rules are not exactly the same as our rules.”
“At least it’s better than some of those incest cults you can find out in the more dead areas of the wasteland. Fucking wasteland ponies got some screws loose, the creepy fucks,” Dead said in a bemused tone before goiing on to say over the com. “So Live, I know ya don’t like just doing what Mom says, but now might be the best time to pop ya cherry.”
“OH FUCK OFF BITCH!” Live screamed, causing me to swerve again.
Unlike the orchard, the cazador nest here was just up along the side of a cliff with flat land all around. There would be no surprise bugs jumping out from any blind spots here or restrictions on where we can drive due to trees or large rocks.
“So what's the plan?” I asked.
“Take potshots and drive away when they get close.” Dead explained bluntly.
I pulled out my service rifle. The burnt wood on the gun was smooth to the touch, and the hard metal was cool. It also was going to be a pain to shoot from this distance. “Do we have any guns good for shooting at this range?”
“Ehhh, I’ll be manning the gunner nest,” Dead said as she aimed the big energy gun at the nest while avoiding eye contact.
I looked at Live who had a smile on her face. “Oh, I’ve been practicing gun modification. Got some parts too!”
From a compartment in the Smuggler, Live Axle pulled out a duffle bag with the Desperado symbol on it. From inside the bag emerged a Redeye rifle. One of the guns was given to the Desperados before the gun deal happened. It was painted in the Desperados orange and yellow colors and had several junky-looking modifications on it. With the gun were severe gun parts, mods, and accessories, including cans of spray paint.
She grabbed my service rifle from my hooves with a smile. “Just give me a few minutes. I think I have something that might work. I’ll even make it nice and pretty.”
“I don't think-” As I tried to take my rifle back. She just shoved her hoof into my muzzle.
“No. Don’t thank me. You have helped us a lot in the first place.” Live said as she hopped out of the Smuggler and trotted to its back. Following her, I was surprised to see her unfolded a small workbench from the back of the Smuggler.
“When has that been there?” I asked.
She giggled. “You didn’t know? I guess Longslide didn’t tell you about it. Well, it was incomplete when we discovered it, so Crankshaft and the others decided to finish it along with a few other modifications.”
Thinking about it, the Smuggler was made by a gunsmith, so it made sense in a way. “Lucky us.”
For the next ten minutes, I watched as Live Axle disassembled my service rifle, changed out a few parts, and put a few others to the side. She then pulled out her spray paint cans and sprayed orange and yellow flames on the metal parts followed by another can that simply sprayed a clear liquid onto the gun. It quickly dried after that.Live Axle began applying oil to the rifle as she put it back together, all while humming a simple tune.
Finished, my surface rifle now had a longer barrel and the same scope the ponies from the NCRCF used. Taking the rifle off the workbenches rigg, Live loaded it and gave it a few practice shots before fiddling with the scope again.
“Shoot. A bit too far to the right,” she said before doing a few more practice shots. After a moment, she smiled and hoofed the rifle back over to me. “There. Give it a try.”
Shrugging, I trotted to the other side of the Amuggler and placed the rifle over the front of it, using it as a brace. Looking down the scope, I could see one of the cazadors clearly. “Do I shoot the bug?”
“Just fucking shoot it. I got Aeternus ready to blast any bug that gets close,” Dead told me.
Taking a deep breath, I fired.
“Shit!” I huffed from missing the shot, causing the cazador to quickly scurry around in shock.
Watching it moving around in a jerky motion made it nearly impossible to get a crosshair on it. But it soon slowed down, coming to a stop as it looked around.
Taking another shot, again I missed. “Fuck!” I shouted.
This time the bug saw us and was now quickly buzzing our way.
Once again I took aim and fired. I aimed at its large buzzing wings.
The shot landed right where I wanted it to, thus shedding its wing and sending it to the ground. It flailed around in confusion for a moment before getting back onto its six legs, looking quite crossed with me as it scurried at us.
Taking another shot, I hit the bug dead center. I watched as it exploded.
“Well… that actually worked! And it fired so smoothly,” I said in approval as I looked at Live. “What did you do to my rifle?”
She looked a bit embarrassed as she explained, “Just put in a few stronger parts. When I got a look at the service rifles you brought us, I saw that they used similar parts to the preserved old-world gun parts we still had. So I asked one of the elders in charge of our guns if I could keep some of the parts just in case. Since there was plenty, the elder said I could.”
“She’s an apprentice to that elder, and he has a soft spot for her,” Dead Axle said with a yawn. “Sadly we're nothing like the Gunrunners, but my sis will know how to take a gun apart and put it back together so long as she has the parts. That's why she was given that pipe assault rifle.”
“Well color me impressed, you did a fine job,” I complimented Live as I took a closer look at the paint job. It was a bit messy, but that had some charm to it, like a wild flame. “But why the paint job?”
“Thought it should have some flare to it,” she said with pride, “and I rarely get to use that quick-dry spray paint on anything. I also coated it with a sealant paint to protect the gun from rust. If you want, I can do the same for your other guns.”
It was actually nice to have my own personalized gun just like Star had. Something made just for me. “Well, I love it and I would love to have you do some more work on the other guns. The rifle itself looks, well… badass.”
Live Axles cheeks blushed as she grabbed her own rifle. “Well, if you put it that way, it gets me a little excited. Why don’t we unload our rifles?”
Dead gave an amused whistle, “Careful there, Live. You sounded like you said you have a cock.”
“Shut it, slut!” Live growled as she trotted over to me and propped her rifle on the Smuggler.
We then began taking shots at the cazadors that were buzzing around in the distance. We killed a few before the nest finally figured out where the shots were coming from. After that, a horde of cazadores flew out. Murder was in their bug eyes.
The Smuggler proved more than enough to keep distance from the flying bugs as Dead fired at them. The mare hollored in excitement each time she disintegrated a bug.
Whenever the bugs would stop following us after we got far enough away, we would return to take potshots at them. When the cazadors would eventually come for us again, it was Dead’s turn to score a few kills. We repeated this three more times until the nest stopped sending out more bugs.
Feeling daring, we drove closer and let Dead unload a long assault of beams into the nest. We ran away as soon as a bug came out to stop us. This was clearly the end of this cazador nest as it caught fire. Only much smaller cazadores came out to scurry around in confusion.
After quickly finishing off the remaining bugs, we made tracks further away. We found a nice shaded place in the middle of nowhere as the sun drifted low into the sky. We didn’t want to risk any surviving bug sneaking up on us. Hungry and thirsty, we opened the cooler to find soda bottles and some rough-looking sandwiches inside.
“Not bad, Mom,” Dead said as she took a bottle and a sandwich.
I took my share as well. “Never seen food exactly like this before, but that’s been common for me lately, so I’m guessing it's a Desperado dish?”
Live took a bite of her sandwich, squealing with delight as she chewed for several seconds and swallowed. “Nothing special. We don’t get yeast and other soft cooking shit, so we make do with this.”
Dead also squealed a bit before adding to what her sister said. “It is bread made from razor grain, potatoes and other shit from hard-to-grow plants we have to go out to find. As for the meat, it’s got to be brahmin slices. The soda, definitely a sarsaparilla rum mix Mom's kept hidden. She really wants us to get it on if she's giving us the good shit. I can't quite place the sauce. It’s definitely the scorpion mayonnaise we got from the White Scorpions, but it’s a bit tangy yet familiar.”
Taking a bite of the sandwich, the flavor was considerably strong, making my mouth water for more. Other than the meat, it was like a daisy sandwich I would have when I was a colt but with tougher, tasty bread. It also had salty meat. The soda had a strong root taste that blended well with the strong alcohol which helped wash the sandwich down.
Finishing her meal, Live sighed. “I get why, but I wish Mom would stop pushing me so much. It’s just hard, you know. Shouldn't be my first time being with a pony I really like, not just to make myself pregnant.”
Dead nudged her playfully. “Well you can always do it for fun. You have another hole, or I can try and sneak that stuff again to prevent pregnancy.” She, too, then sighed. “Almost got it last time. A bit worried now. I should have started cramping a bit the other day now. You know, right sis?”
Both Live and I looked at Dead in shock.
“Well, now that you mention it, my cycles have been a bit odd lately. But unlike you, I’m still a fucking virgin, sis!” Live said accusingly.
“Ehh... didn’t mean to say that… hu, the booze must be stronger than normal,” Dead said in mild confusion.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, feeling a bit of dread. I took my last bite of the sandwich.
Dead scrunched her nose, clearly thinking hard. “Well, things have been a bit strange with Mom since we went through that whole raider shit with you. Tire Fire was waiting for me where we kept the herb.”
“Mom’s been making food for us a lot lately. Normally she just tells us to get our own,” Live added, her face looking a bit red.
I was also feeling a bit hotter than I should.
Something was clicking in my head, like a pony screaming danger at me. “So… how much does your mother want grandchildren?” I asked while hoping for an answer that was close to normal.
Live giggled. “Since Tire Fire sleeps around with skanks, Mom’s been really pushing us to find a stallion. She even was making some sort of fertility powder… or was it a potion?”
Dead also giggled. “Ya. When she figured out that I was sleeping around, she got all kind and made me some tea. It was from the herb I was trying to get at the time, so I drank it up. Now that I think about it, it was a bit strange for her.” Dead looked at me, her face more bubbly than normal. “The next day she tried to give me some sort of potion. Told me to drink it before sleeping with you again. Something about it makes things more fun. Really weird, right?”
I chuckled as well, finding it kind of funny. “Sounds to me she was making sure you got pregnant. If she would go that far, wouldn't she drug the food?”
Dead burst out laughing. “She would so fucking do that. Maybe all the food she's given us was drugged.”
Live burst out laughing as well. “I know, right? Dad even warned me about eating mom’s food. Said she was having her crazy moments again.”
The laughing from Dead just stopped and dread formed on her face. “You… you tell me that now?”
Live could not stop laughing. “It… it slipped my mind.”
I was doing my best to hold back on my own laughing as I could tell what was happening. “So… so… so this will at least pass, right? Not like it’s making us do more than laugh?”
Dead also struggled to not laugh, but was failing. “The lau… laughter will pass… but it’s just to loosen us up... If I remember correctly.”
The laughter from Live began to fade. After that, she then fell onto me and began rubbing her head on my shoulder. Somehow she smelled good. Really good.
“Ohh… okay. I get it,” I said as I looked over at Dead. She, too, had fully stopped laughing. Her eyes looked into my own with a sense of desire.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed Live away with a hoof, but she just held onto it and began snuggling it. Then Live began crying. “All the stallions were so rude, or cowards. None of them said nice things to me or tried to help me before. None of them backed up their words with strength. It made me so… frustrated,” Live mutters as she held onto my hoof.
Again I looked to Dead for help, but she scooted closer to me. “You know, when I said I lost my virginity, it was a lie. I only got as far as a blowjob before chickening out. I liked him, but his wanting to hurt sis made me hate him. You ... you actually care. It’s not that fake kind of care that’s all about looking nice for others.” She licked my hoof. “I thought, if you weren’t such a pussy, I wouldn't mind getting it on… then we killed all those raiders together.”
It was getting hard to think, but I was at least holding onto myself. Likely because I was much bigger than the twins. The food had not affected me as much. Unfortunately, it still affected the lower part of my body which I had no way to hide with the twins holding onto me.
I felt a tug on my arm as Live pulled me closer. “Fuck off. I found him first. Anyways, you already had your turn.”
Dead then tugged on my other arm. “Ya, so that means I already claimed him. If I’m already pregnant, then that means he’s mine.”
“No! You only say you are. I bet you're lying again!” Live growled.
“Why the fuck would I lie about that?! Like fuck do I want to have foals!” Dead growled back.
Live pulled harder. “Braminshit! You’re just afraid of becoming like Mom. I’ve seen how you baby our little sister. Don’t think I’ve not seen you read those old baby books!”
Dead let me go. The pulling from Live sent me over her. I almost fell right on top of her, just barely catching myself with one hoof.
A low chuckle came from Dead. “You win. You got me.” Looking back, her eyes were glazed over. She had completely given into whatever was in the food. “You can go first,” she said as she rubbed her stomach. “You can go first.”
“Alright, that’s enough. I’m taking you two ho-” I tried to protest, but Live yanked my head into a kiss. Her smell and taste invades my mouth and nose.
It felt wrong, like I was dancing to some other ponies tune. But to say I didn’t like this would be a lie. If the twins liked me this much, then why not let this happen? I did like them too. So maybe giving in wasn’t such a bad idea. Who knows when I’ll get an opportunity like this again? With my luck, something bad was bound to happen to me.
"Slowtrot’s hatred for the ministry was more than understandable from what I had been told about them and what they left behind, but the core for his hatred was a bit different then what most ponies would normally share.
He hated them because he respected them. To Slowtrot, the ministries were meant to be the solution to the war. To put every pony's worries at ease. They were led by the heroes of friendship who had made a name for themself by conducting ambassadorial duties. At that time, because of them, the war never escalated beyond just a pony, zebra conflict. Then the heros became the ministry mares and everything changed.
Everypony accepted the change because it was the heroes of friendship leading the changes. To Slowtrot, they betrayed the people's trust. Though he does worry that in that trust, maybe the ponies betrayed them, crushing them under the expectation of victory. The only survivor, Fluttershy, being an example of that.
In my own experience, much of it was learned from historical scholars. The fall of empires is rarely the fault of one or a few people. Often an empire's fall comes at the hands, or hooves in this case, of the apathy of the masses with leaders fulfilling their desires unrestricted. By the time the masses see the foundation crumbling under them, those who can save them have either left, been killed, rendered impotent, or are the ones destroying the foundation themselves." ~ Azure Dice
By the time I finally came to my senses, the sun had already set. The night sky just barely lit up by a red glow along the horizon. On either side of me were Live and Dead Axle, both looking satisfied with themselves.
I felt a bit guilty looking at the two mares. We were all not in our right mind thanks to the food and drink. But remembering what had happened, I couldn't deny it was fun. Fortunately, I had some contraceptives back at the camp. It was a wise precaution in case Star got herself another stallion again, which she had gotten a bunch of last time. I was going to share my concerns with her about that, but I guess I was in no place to complain about Star’s fooling around now.
Curious, I shifted my body up and scanned Dead Axle with my pipbucks medical spell. A contraceptive was not going to help if she was already pregnant.
Dead reached out and stopped me, giving me a mischievous look. “Shouldn't you ask first?”
“S… Sorry.” I said nervously.
The mare pushed herself up and got onto my lap, making me glad I was no longer in the mood. “Well I didn’t say you can’t, but you're going to have to give me something first.”
“How about another time when your sister is not right next to us?” I asked Dead, feeling that she was likely still under the effect of whatever her mom gave us.
She rolled her eyes and gave me a kiss. “I don’t think that's a problem anymore. Though truthfully, I don't want to make a habit of this.”
“Neither do I,” I grumbled.
“Alright, then we can fuck later, in private.” Dead huffed.
Placing my pipbuck on her stomach, my heart began to pound. The anticipation filled me with conflicting emotions. I wasn't even sure the pipbuck could detect such a thing so early.
On the screen, my pipbuck displayed a long list of medical stuff I would not even pretend to understand. It did detect trace amounts of chems in her system, mostly unknown, but one was labeled as minor love poison. Something didn’t sit right with me that it was called a poison and not potion. Under the poison was another odd chem that was listed under fertility potions. It was stronger in her system than the rest.
I passed through several other medical information, mostly stating that Dead was a healthy young mare, though mildly malnourished. The sense of dread hit its climax when I hit a part of the scan that simply listed pregnancy. In the description, it read that eggs were fertilized, and significant growth within her womb, along with an estimated nine months till birth.
“Ya… there it is. You're pregnant. And… you might have more than one foal,” I said flatly, not knowing how to feel.
Dead embraced me in a hug, holding onto me tightly. “Damn… damnit, damnit!”
“I’m… sorry,” I said, knowing that this was not what she wanted.
“Don’t!” She told me. “Don’t apologize.”
I was a bit stunned as I said, “What?”
She held onto me tighter. “The elders always said it takes two to tango, so this is just as much my fault as it’s yours. So don’t apologize.”
“Then what?” I asked her.
Dead loosened up and looked me in the eyes before giving me another kiss. “Well, you can stick around. I mean it can’t be that bad having my own stallion, and I guess we can have all the sex we want. Not like I can get double pregnant.”
I was still conflicted, but it was not like I had any place to return to. All that was destroyed over two hundred years ago.
Anyways, under the tough act, and the dumb act, Dead was a sweet and caring mare.
Something else then occurred to me. “Actually, the chems your mother gave you might be why you're possibly having more than one foal. So that might be possible if you have more of those potions.”
Dead glared at me, making it clear that I was being dumb. “Alright, but can we take things slow?” I asked her.
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “A bit late for that. I imagine Mom’s already got a wedding plan in the works.”
Somehow, I felt that was a definite possibility.
A chuckle came from our side. W e looked over to see Live Axle smiling at us. Her eyes still half glazed over. “Big sis is going to be a mom!” She then frowned. “No fair. I want my own foals too.”
“Live, you're still under the influence of that-” I tried to tell her, but Dead shoved her hoof over my muzzle.
“Are you sure? You're not going to regret it later are you?” Dead asked her sister.
Live Axle pouted like a little filly as she said. “I don’t care. If sis has to go through it, I want to go through it with you!” Her face then flushed. “Anyways, I saw Slowtrot first.”
Dead looked at me with a smirk on her face which made me a bit uncomfortable.
“No, we should be getting back to the camp now,” I told her.
“Oh, what's just a few more minutes? Anyways, aren't you ready to go another round? It would be a waste if we didn’t do something about that.” Dead said seductively.
Unfortunately, she was right. I was not used to having a mare sitting on my lap like this. At some point my flag had begun to rise again as well.
I narrowed my eyes at the mare. “Okay, you win... but why?”
Dead shrugged. “Because I’m sure Live will change her mind on the ride back. And… I don’t know. I guess I do feel a bit guilty for snatching you when she clearly had a crush on you,” she said with a sigh then looked over at her sister who was slowly coming out of her haze. “Alright, since you saw him first, you can go first.”
I sighed as I laid back down. “She's not going to forgive you for this.”
“I know, but I don't care.” Dead chuckles as she got off me. “Anyways, at least it’s not with some stallion filling her head with lies for a quick pump and dump. So she’ll get over it.”
Things had gone on a bit longer than I had wanted. I was feeling more drained than I had before. Live and Dead too were ready to hop into their beds and sleep, but unlike them, I had a pony to pick up soon.
“So-” Dead spoke from the gunner's nest.
“NO! I don’t want to hear it!” Live shouted back at her sister.
Dead laughed before asking, “Colt or filly, which do you want?”
“I can't hear you! I can’t hear you!” Live chanted.
Chuckling through the com’s Dead then asked me. “How about you, Slowtrot? Colt or filly?”
I sighed as I answered. “Either. I’ll find out when the time comes.”
Live growled as she then flicked my ear. “Don’t encourage her!”
“A bit late for that now. At least I got something to give you once we're back at camp,” I told her.
She sat back down. I saw her pout in the mirror. “Ya. It’s not like I wanted a foal.”
“Just take the medicine before Mom finds us, or she's liable to give you something to make sure you get pregnant,” Dead explained. “Anyways, nothing stopping you from changing your mind later. You can even go after Slowtrot again.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea if we're going to be a thing, Dead. I much rather Live find a stallion that’s hers alone. As for us, let's not open ourselves to other partners until we know whether this will work out or not,” I told Dead Axle, trying to draw some boundaries for our relationship.
I heard a huff from Live. I swerved as she said, “Well, I wouldn't mind being a lover until you and Dead get official.”
Even Dead looked a bit shocked. “Ahh, sis, I was just messing with ya.”
Live looked up at her sister and stuck her tongue out at her. “Too late for that. Get serious or get fucked. Anyways, I want to do that again, and not with some random stallion.” She then looked at me through the rearview mirror and winked. “I’m in your care.”
All I could do was sigh and say, “You're both going to be the death of me. You know that?”
Live Axle then leaned over from behind me, whispering, “You can always just pick me. I wouldn't mind you having her on the side so long as you're my stallion in the end. Or I can just not take that contraceptive and make sure I have your foal.”
It was going to take a long time to get used to this if this is how the Desperados mares were like, but I had grown to understand that they hated indecision. If I had made a choice, I needed to stick to it.
“Sorry, but I’m going to say no. I’m not going to force you to do anything, but I’m not just going to change my mind on a whim,” I whispered back.
Live Axle smiled. “Good, cause I was going to beat you bloody if you backstabbed sis like that.” She sat back down, looking up at her sister. “Say sis, what if I decided to have a foal anyways? Then you can still be the cool aunt.”
Dead did not look pleased by this suggestion. “The fun part about being the cool aunt is that I don’t have any foals of my own. So you fucking damn better take those contraceptives. If Slowtrot is right, I already got more than one bastard on the way. I don’t need more to worry about.”
My pipbuck then crackled as the garbled voice of Harp came through. It became more clear as we got closer to the camp along with the sound of panic in her voice. “Slowtrot, are you there?! Answer me now!”
“Iron Buck, open the pipbuck coms!” I told my pipbucks VI.
When it beeped in conformation, I spoke. “Harp, what's wrong?”
“Oh thank Celestia.” The sound of gunfire erupted from my pipbuck, causing my blood to run cold. “We need help, and fast. The camp is under attack. Ponies have already been killed… Including children.”
The coldness only got worse, but also a fit of anger deep within me. We finally got things going right again, and now some pony is trying to destroy it!
“Where do you need us?” I asked urgently.
My pipbuck beeped as the cartoon image of Order buzzed into my vision. “Madam Harp had pinpointed two locations where the attackers are shooting down from, and where the Smuggler can go to take them out.” On my pipbuck’s map, two points were listed, along with a skull and crossbones spot along the main and side paths into the camp. “The attacker has mined both exits, causing the Desperados to be unable to drive out. Several lives were lost because of those mines.”
“Do you know who's attacking?” I asked.
The sound of gunfire came from my pipbuck again before Harp answered. “We don’t know. Whoever it is didn’t announce themselves. They just started shooting. Just get here fast. The sooner we get some breathing room, the sooner the Desperados can counter-attack.”
I pushed down on the Smuggler's gas pedal as I announced, “On my way.”
Behind me, Live Axle took out her rifle. She loaded it and racked it. “Whoever these fuckers are, they’re as dead as Luna!”
“You got that right, sis,” Dead Axle agreed viciously as she gripped the Aeternus hard.
Going as fast as the Smuggler can on the broken and cluttered road, we managed to get near the Desperado camp fairly quickly. The crack of gunfire in the distance signaled the danger ahead along with a fire burning on the road.
Closing in, we could make out the smoldering wreck of a Desperado vehicle. “Fuck! What did that?” Live Axle asked with a gasp.
An answer came in the form of an explosion from behind us.
“FUCK! THE ROADS OUT HERE ARE MINED. DON’T SLOW DOWN!” Dead Axle shouted.
I pressed down on the peddle, speeding up the Smuggler as I maneuvered to go around the burnt vehicle. Several more explosions rocked the Smuggler from behind, but it was too fast for the mines to trigger in time. But as I hit bumps and rocks, the Smuggler shook violently. The risk of us hitting something stabbed into my mind.
*Ping!*
I ducked my head down a little as what I was sure of was a bullet that struck the side of the Smuggler close to my head. Not wanting to be an easy target, I turned off the road, hoping that it would be enough to avoid getting shot.
This proved to be the right decision as a few more shots whizzed by, but none as close as the first. Dead counter-attacked, blindly blasting the Aeternus at where she thought the shots came from.
“No more to the right. At the top of the ridge!” Live told her sister and she looked through one of the spare scopes from her bag.
The line of pink magical beams moved, peppering a ridge that overlooked the Desperado camp.
“Fuc, those fuckers!” Live cursed.
Taking a quick glance at my pipbuck, I saw that we were not far from one of the spots Harp wanted us to hit, but it was dark and hard to concentrate while driving at such speeds. “Hey, can one of you help me navigate? There should be one of the pipbuck 2000’s in the Smuggler.”
A moment later Live shouted “FOUND IT!” before asking, “What do I do with it?”
“Open up the map. See if Order has placed the markers on it. If there is, give me directions if you can,” I instructed her.
“Right. I see it, but don’t see any… no, here they are.” Live announced in a confused tone.
Orders voice then spoke through the pipbuck 2000. “Updated maps to all approved pipbucks.”
“Alright. It looks like the bastard took our watchout point. There actually is a paths on the other side of where we are. We can just ride up into it,” Live informed me before hoofing the pipbuck to her sister. “They took the dry crater too.”
“Sucks to be them,” Dead muttered before giving the pipbuck back. “If we can take Watchout point, then we can shoot down at the dry crater from there. I’ll be a bit blind without light, but it’s not like I’m shooting a sniper rifle.”
Dead ducked down as another bullet whizzed by. “Fuckling assholes!” she growled as she again fired back at the shooters.
With Live navigating, I quickly drove the Smuggler over to the path up watchout point. Dead provided covering fire to keep the attacker’s heads down. As we hit the peak of the cliffside, sliding to a stop, the beams of the Aeternus lit up the area around us as the attacking ponies scattered for cover.
I hit the brakes, I pulled out my shotgun, Boomstick. I slam fired it at several ponies jumping for cover. Those who didn’t die outright were mutilated by the 00 shot. Live got to shooting as well, burst firing her rifle at any pony that peeked out their head. All the others that had not gotten to cover in time were turned to ash by Dead then scattered by the wind.
The light of fire caught my eye. I dropped my shotgun and grabbed the trench shovel. I jumped out of the Smuggler and charged at the light. A pony poked their head out with a molotov cocktail balanced on his hoof. His eyes were wide in shock as he saw me swinging the shovel at his face.
The pony stumbled back, dodging my attack, but the bottle he held was not so lucky. Tipping back, the contents of the bottle spilled over the pony setting him on fire.
As the flaming pony screamed, a shot came for me, scraping against my back leg and smashing on the side of a rock. Not caring, I charged at a unicorn mare with a shitty pipe revolver. She fearfully fired two more shots at me, missing both times as I closed in. Bringing the shovel down on her, a loud crack was followed by the mare’s screams. Her leg bent in an unnatural direction. The bone was visible.
Looking down at her, this pony was no raider, dusty and thin. Instead, she looked like any other pony I’ve seen in the wasteland. However, in the fire of her burning friend, I saw something that should not have surprised me, but still made my blood boil. She had a blue patch with the letters “B.S.” on it. She was a Blue Skies mercenary. She worked for Quicktrot Fragment.
The mare was whimpering from under me, likely pleading for mercy, but it was all so hard to hear over the gunfire. As I raised my shovel for a final blow, I stopped myself. She was down and out of the count. There was no need to do any more.
A sharp pain in my side sharpened my senses as my eyes slowly looked over at what hit me. A crude knife had become stuck in my ribs as a muted gray magic attempted to pull it out. My eyes drifted to the mare. Her horn just barely lit up with the same muted gray magic. Fear was on her face, but I no longer cared. I had things to do and a life to live.
Her expression didn’t change even when her head rolled along the floor. Pulling the shovel from the dirt, I trotted back to the Smuggler where Dead was firing down from our position.
“Fuck! Are you okay?” Live gasped as she dashed over to me and pulled out what was half a healing potion. She shoved it in my mouth. Pain erupted as she yanked the knife out. It had cracked my ribs as she did. As she also looked at my leg, she sighed. “Looks like it was a clean shot, so you should be fine.”
“I was only scraped,” I told her.
She pointed at my right foreleg. It was covered in blood. A hole was through my jacket. “You are tougher than you look if that’s just a scrap. At least it didn’t hit any bone.”
It must have been the adrenaline, but I was only feeling a moderate amount of pain.
Live also looked like she took a few hits. Her dress was torn in a few spots and stained with blood.
“Are you okay?” I reflected in concern.
She nodded. “Sis and I are Desperados. Getting shot a few times is not going to stop us. That, and the healing potions helped.”
Trotting back to the Smuggler, I grabbed my Boomstick, and began reloading it.
A shot would whiz by now and then, making Dead Axle keep her head low as she attacked. Worried, I quickly looked at our stock. I found one left out of the six we had. Four empty bottles sat near Dead’s legs.
“Will you be alright up there? We only have one healing potion left!” I warned her.
“I’m fine. That was just what I took when getting up here. They don’t have a clean shot at me here,” Dead said back as she kept firing the Aeternus.
Trusting her, I decided to contact the others. “Ironbuck, contact Harp,” I ordered my pipbuck.
It beeped and the radio turned on. “We took one of the spots. How are things on your end?”
My pipbucks radio buzzed for a moment before I got a response from Harp. “Could be a lot fucking better. Whoever these fuckers are, they must have been planning this. It was too well coordinated.
“Anyways, thanks. With those sniper positions out, we can deal with the next problem. They have set up a machine gun nest on a ridge. It has been ripping apart anypony trying to clear the mines or take the sniper positions.”
“It’s Blue Skies. They're who’s attacking,” I told Harp.
She didn’t speak for a moment, then a bitter curse came out. “Fucking bitch! Is that why she didn’t want the Desperados moving out? But why?
“No. It doesn't matter right now. We just need to get that machine gun taken out.” Again she paused and I understood why.
“It’s fine. We're the only ponies who can move around right now, right?” I asked her.
Harp sighed over the radio. “No. Although you have given us some breathing room, we're still stuck. The problem is where that machine gun is, you would need to drive through the camp to get to it. It’s not accessible from the outside, and I’m sure they know it. The elder is planning an assault on their position now that you cleared out their sniper spots.”
“And the likelihood of any of them surviving?” I asked.
“Low, but if they don’t, then it will be the end of everypony here. Likely Blue Skies will turn this place into a trap and kill the remaining Desperados as they return,” she informed me.
I knew this was a bad idea to charge a machine gun nest. Ponies who fought in the war had told me such stories. They had sacrificed friends and limbs to the machine gun before some pony managed to chuck a grenade into the nest. They said they would have nightmares nearly every night from the experience. It could kill a hundred ponies before getting taken out or running out of bullets.
“Is there another way?” I asked Harp over my pipbuck. You said I could drive the Smuggler through the camp? Why not do that?”
“NO!” Harp shouted. “I told you that the way in is mined. We already lost ponies trying to drive out. Both from those mines and from snipers. If… if I didn’t send that family out the back way first… they would be alive.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. It filled with the pain of guilt.
I ground my teeth, now feeling useless.
“Aren’t we faster than the mines?” Dead then spoke up. “Also, we should get moving. I think I got most of them and Live can’t keep sniper spotting forever.”
With a whizz crack, Dead ducked down. Blood flowed from her shoulder. “Fuck! Almost got me.” I tossed her the last healing potion and she guzzled it down. “Thanks.”
Live Axle fired her rifle in a controlled burst. “Got the fucker!”
Seeing that we were out of healing potions, I released the brakes and drove the Smuggler to a safer position. I also got an idea. “Say Harp, we already ran into the mines further out, but we passed over several mines before they went off. So maybe-”
“I said no!” Harp insisted firmly. “The Smuggler is a bigger target than a pony. Just stay back there. You have done more than enough already.”
The radio signal stopped. Harp must have disconnected.
I slummed in my seat, feeling the weight of what was going on to happen bearing down on me. I had hoped the fighting was over for at least a long while. But to have it happen so soon, was this what those soldiers had to deal with?
No. They had it even worse. At least I could sit by and let others do the heavy lifting now as I had always done.
“So if we go through the main entryway, it will be a straight shot to the machine gun nest.” I heard Dead Axle say.
Looking over, I saw her and Live Axle looking at the pipbuck 2000. Both looked up at me.
“Before you puss out, we have a plan,” Dead said as she showed me the pipbuck map. “From the sound of it, they only have one machine gun, so we should be able to rush them while firing back.”
“Also, that gun doesn't seem to fire at a regular rate. It stops frequently. I bet it’s a piece of junk, so if it’s made to fire faster, it could jam.” Live added.
“We were already told to sit this part out,” I reminded them.
The twins laughed.
“Fuck that! We got the Smuggler!” Dead said with confidence.
Live patted her rifle. “And I’ll back up my sis. They can't shoot at us if we shoot them first.”
They both trotted out and to either side of me, wrapping a leg around my own. “Who would see us coming?” they both asked in unison.
I had a bad feeling, but I’ve been having a lot of bad feelings lately. “This is stupid,” I breathed as I shrugged them off me and put my hooves on the steering wheel. “But I guess we all aren't smart ponies here.”
A chuckle came from Dead as she and her sister got back into the Smuggler. “Sometimes action is all you can do. Ponies who stop and think all the time tend to end up dead.”
“Those who act without thinking end up dead too,” I told the mare as I put the Smuggler in reverse and turned the vehicle around. “But I see your point, so let's do this before I lose my nerve.”
We were almost flew off-slope as I drove the Smuggler down as fast as I could. The vechile kicked up a cloud of dust in the dark night. At the base, I followed Live’s directions and took a turn onto a well-worn road and pushed the Smuggler to go even faster.
Ahead of us was another destroyed Desperado vehicle. Not far were a few motorcycles. Their driver’s had eaten lead in their attempts to get out of this killing zone. As I drove as fast as I could around the wreckage, several explosions began going off behind us from the minefield. However, this time they didn’t have sniper backup. We did since the Desperados were now able to fire up at any pony we had missed.
It almost felt like we were ripping up the road behind us as the explosion followed. We only stopped once we got deep into the Desperado camp. Slowing down, my blood continued to boil as I saw the sight of ponies who had been cut down by gunfire from above. Many of them were unarmed. From within the tents were young foals and other unarmed ponies. Worried looks were on their faces as they stayed low to the ground and covered themselves with what protection they could find.
“Celestia damn cowards,” I growled as I slammed down on the peddle as I turned to the machine gun nest.
Kicking up even more dust, the Smuggler shot out like a rocket.
Bullets and lasers roared out as Blue Skies. Dead Axle fired at each other, preparing both us and them. Live joined in as she said she would., With a burst from her rifle, the machine gun went silent, thus letting the Aeternus light the attackers up as we closed in.
Not stopping, I drove the Smuggler right into their net, knocking over the bulky-looking machine gun and crushing the damn pony hiding behind it. Taking a sharp turn, the Smuggler drifted in a circle, thus kicking up dust all around before I hit the brakes.
Like before, I grabbed my Boomstick and slammed fired into the dust cloud. Live and Dead Axle had the same idea as they fired wildly, spreading out our shots.
Everything but the ringing in my ears had fallen silent. The dust slowly dissipated as I reloaded my shotgun, ready for any survivors to attack.
*Crash, Fosh!*
The light of fire erupted behind me. To my horror, Dead screamed. She jumped out of the gunner's nest and began rolling on the ground, fire following her. I jumped out to her. I took off my jacket to smothered the flames. Fortunately, only a small part of her had caught fire. I managed to put it out quickly.
Looking down at Dead, her eyes went wide as she warned, “Look out!”
A burst of gunfire roared out of Live’s rifle, mutilating a pony armed with a hatchet, and… was wearing a duster. That was not a Blue Skies pony. “That’s one of Ashy’s deputies?” I muttered in shock.
*Bang!*
Live gave a pained scream as she fell out of the Smuggler with a sizable hole through her stomach.
“I knew we should have taken this fucking thing with us, but no. Stop Clock had his damn hypocritical morals,” a blooded False Cap growled as he propped up the bulky machine gun. No. A gatling gun? A really old crank-fired gatling gun. Another deputy helped propped the gun up as False grabbed the crank with a smile on his face. “But it’s better late than never.”
I was unarmed and the three of us were dead in his sights, but it didn’t mean he had won just yet. “Iron buck, S.A.T.S!” I growled.
The world slowed to a green filtered crawl. This situation was not unfamiliar to me. I watched as an evil pony was going to cut down ponies I have grown close to.
But this was not the R&D Stable, and he was not Thorn. This time I was not going to run and hide.
No!. Not this time.
Picking the fastest route to get at False Cap, I put both my actions into rushing the bastard head-on. Even as time began to move again, I was already moving at what felt like faster than my normal speed, practically flying at the stallion. There was no grace to it. No glorified attack. I just slammed into him with my body.
The gatling gun fired a few shots wildly up as it was knocked to the side. Falling on the bastard, I placed my hooved around his neck and squeezed. “WHY! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!” I screamed at him.
The butt of a gun struck me, causing me to roll off False. The other deputy then aimed his rifle at me but was then tackled by Dead Axle who wrestled the mare for the gun. Several shots rang out, but Dead got the upper hoof. She pulled the mare to the ground. She took the gun and hitt her with it until the pony’s face caved in.
Dead then fell over with several bloody holes in her.
Getting up, I trotted to her, but was then tackled by False who struck me with his heavy hoof. “WHY?! Because you're raiders. Because you're a threat. Why else?! When I’m done, I’m going to find that pink friend of yours and ride her-”
My trench shovel slammed the side of False Cap’s head. He crumpled over. Live Axle stood over me, looking pale. “Those asshooles sure do love to talk.”
She then fell over, blood still flowing from her wound.
My blood ran cold as I saw both Live and Dead Axle bleeding out from their gunshot wounds. Scrambling up, I rushed to the Smuggler, looking for my saddlebag. I must have had some healing potions on me. I know I must have.
“Slowtrot!” Harp shouted as she trotted into the scene with several Desperados flanking her.
My saddlebag only had healing bandages inside. The potions we had, having been distributed among those who had been fighting the ghouls or given to the elders for emergencies. “I need two healing potions, and now!” I told her as I tossed them the packet of healing bandages.
Harp grimaced then nodded before turning to the other Desperados. “Take the sisters to the others. If we can stop the bleeding, we can save them.”
Two Desperados quickly picked them up and rushed them out.
Harp’s eyes then fell on the unconscious False Cap. Her face filled with disgust and hatred. “This one ... we're taking him alive… for now.”
What is there to say? The three are seen as criminals, and they are the law. Though they can make up whatever they think is the law and who is a criminal. Deputies are now the enemies.
-Blue Skies-
One bad deal after another, but what would anypony expect more from a band of crooked merchants and mercenaries? Blue Skies are now the enemies.
"The third thing Slowtrot hated was something all people felt at some point or another. The hatred for oneself is simply looking back with hindsight and knowing you could have done better.
Unfortunately for Slowtrot, it involves the deaths of several ponies he had become close to. Not that he could have changed much of what would have happened. From how he described the events the guilt remains. Oddly, this was my first time seeing survivor's guilt in person despite how long I have been around. I had read about it and pondered it, but never met someone who was suffering from it.
Under the why me is a simple wish that they could trade their life for another, for they valued that person more than themselves. Others may not see it, but that's what I’ve come to understand. It’s not that they view themselves as lesser, but that they value the other person so much more." ~ Azure Dice
“On three, pull it out,” I told the distressed mare. A large piece of shrapnel was logged into her husband's stomach; the fact he was even alive after the mine blew up his vehicle was a miracle in itself. Now we needed to work quickly to seal up his wound as soon as it opened.
I didn’t know if this was going to save him or not, but all I had was the instructions from my pipbuck and the trust of the others around me. “Three!”
His blood spurted out and I immediately shoved the clean cloth on top of it. I tried to stop the bleeding while another pony held him from the other side. Everything turned red under my hoofs as I applied the pressure. “Now you do it. While you do that, I’ll get bandages.” I further instructed the mare.
She bravely did as I said with tears in her eyes. Taking the bandages, I tightly wrapped them around the stallion which turned red on contact. It didn’t take long. It felt like forever, but somehow the bleeding was stopped. Ever so carefully, we loaded the pony onto a stretcher, making sure not to disrupt the bandages. His wife went with him as he was taken to one of the tents to hopefully recover once more healing potions arrive.
Several vehicles were sent out to both the stable and the town we cleared out to gather medical supplies. I soon realized that itt was going to take a while until they would arrive. Time some of the ponies here didn’t have.
“Thank Celestia you were here Slowtrot,” Crankshaft said to me gratefully as he trotted over. The large stallion sported a few bullet injuries and a solemn look on his face.
“Couldn't save Burning Asphalt or most of the others,” I lamented with a sigh.
He sighed too. “Gam’s was old. She knew what was more important. As for the others, there was nothing you can do with so little of what we have.”
“I wish we had taken all the medical supplies here when we could have,” I growled.
He cracked his neck. “Ya, and I wish I could see the future or go back in time to prevent this. Anyways, with those broken motor wagons in the way, it makes it really hard to move a crate of medical supplies out of that ruin, so don’t blame yourself. They were right under our nose and we didn’t even see that attack coming. It didn’t help that what healing potions we did have got drained from fighting with the cazadors. By the way, thanks for taking out another nest.”
“Fat good it does anypony now,” I grumbled.
Crankshaft forced me up on my four legs while avoiding eye contact. His voice cracked a little as he said, “Since that’s everypony that needs to be recovered, you should go. I heard they're doing better now.”
Nodding, I left Crankshaft to look at the moon. He didn’t need somepony to see him break down. Anyways, I would too if I saw it.
As I trotted through the camp, the dead were lined up. Bits of cloth covered their face to give them their dignity. The healing potions we had were used up in the attack which saved adults and foals alike.
But the attack was too sudden and too savage for the Desperados to deal with. Many got cut down before they could even fight back. Now fifty-eight ponies were dead. The killing was indiscriminate with several of the victims being foals who hadn't even gotten their cutie-mark.
The tent where Live and Dead Axle was being held had a very angry stallion standing in front of it. It was clear that the twins got their colors from him. He was a fury of a red, orange, and yellow pony.
Stud Axle lifted me up by my collar with murder in his eyes. “The fuck were you thinking? Who gave you the right to put my daughters in danger like that?!”
I didn’t say anything. He was right. I should have just said no. Harp had a plan. She was the thinker. This was my fault, so I deserve this hate.
“Put him down!” Rack End growled. He scowled at me for another moment before dropping me on my flank. “Good. Now get in here. both of you!”
Trotting inside, the look of the Rack End’s eyes was of cold hate that I deserved. Passed her was Live and Dead Axle. They were bandaged up, but not getting any better. Without healing potions, all anypony could do was seal up the wounds. It was not going to be enough. They had lost too much blood and were suffering from internal bleeding. I wasn’t even sure a healing potion could even help them at this point. They only closed wounds and mended bones, not produce more blood.
Scanning them with my pipbuck, it only confirmed what I already knew.
I still had something I could use, but only one of it. What the Lutece siblings told me now felt like mockery. I had held back just in case they were to make a recovery, but it was now apparent that it was not going to happen. The fact that they were still holding on after getting shot where they did was something I doubt most ponies could do.
The Desperados were certainly built tougher than most.
Pulling out the Lazarus serum and the Peitho that’s needed to activate the magic, I checked again on my pipbuck, hoping for a change.
They were both still dying.
A groan came from Dead Axle as she stirred, looking at me with drained eyes. “So that’s the miracle juice Star mentioned? I wished you had a second one.”
“I wished I had enough for everypony here,” I told her.
She smiled, showing me her blood-covered teeth. “Ain't that the truth. But you’d have to go somewhere far away to get it.”
If only it was something so easy as going to the store. “Ya, and there wouldn't be enough time. Never is.”
A pained laugh came from Dead Axle. “Funny from the pony who can skip around in time.”
It was an idea, but one that I knew was unreliable. There was also no way to know when I would come back, or if I would return alive.
I wanted to offer her the serum, but then it would mean abandoning Live Axle instead. How could I make such a choice? Too many ponies had already died today, and now I could save one, but not the other. It was just not fair. They got shot and I came out with barely a scratch. This was their world. Not mine. They should be the ones living in it.
Why is it that a pony who should have died two hundred years ago is the one who gets to live?
“I’m… sorry. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have just done what I was told. I would not have charged that hill with you two. Now one of you is going to die and that pony should have been me!” I cried out at Dead Axle.
Her eyes were slowly draining of life, but even then she managed to roll them at me. “We would have kicked ya out of the smuggler if you went all pussy on us. Ain't no way we’re going to just let our family charge to their death so long as we can do… something about it.”
Dead Axle then reached out with her hoof and pushed the Lazarus serum away from her. Her eyes teared up. “Now go save my sister. I’ll never forgive you if you don’t. And… please don’t… don’t forget me.”
“That’s just not fair. you know that.” My voice quivered.
Again she smiled and said weekly, “It’s the wasteland. Shits here is never fair. We all know that.”
Taking a step back, I took a long and deep breath. “You would have made an excellent mother.”
She frowned at me. “Now… that's not fair, you… asshole.” Dead then turned her head, now looking upwards. “Please, take care of my sister. She’s... stronger than she knows, but… is going to need somepony by her side.”
“Don’t worry. I will,” I promised her as I turned around to the unconscious Live Axle. Pulling off the cap of the Lazarus Serum, I again took a deep breath before jabbing it into her arm. The red fluid forced its way into Live Axle. When it was done, I did the same with the Peitho.
Like with Harp, the color quickly returned to Live Axle’s face. A moment later, she shot up. Her eyes were wide with panic.
“NO!” she screamed as she leaped up and over to Dead Axle. “No, no, no, no, no. Please no!”
Live held her sister up, but she was already limp, causing me to feel like I was about to collapse.
“This can’t be fucking how it ends!” she shouted. Her head slowly turned to me. Deep hatred was in her eyes. “You? Why did you save me?!”
“Because… I…” I could not find the words. It all just got stuck in my throat.
Letting her sister go, she trotted right up to me. The only sign she had been dying of blood loss was her bloody bandages. “Because what? Tell me, tell me!”
She raised her hoof up to strike me. I stood there without flinching. I deserved to be knocked around for what I let happen. When her hoof came down, it was weak. Too weak. Tears were now flowing in her eyes as her lips quivered. Then she buried her face into my chest, sobbing. “Why does she do this to me every time? Why can’t she let herself be happy for damn once? Why does she always have to put me above herself like this?”
Holding Live in my hooves, she collapsed. The strong battle-ready mare was still just a mare. She wanted to love and be loved. To wear pretty dresses and have tea parties. She also loved her family deeply. So much so that losing her sister hurt more than a bullet ever will.
“MAKE WAY!” Tire Fire shouted from the outside before busting in. He looked at the scene, and then at me with desperation on his face. “How long?”
“What?” I asked.
“How long has my little sister been dead?” he asked me in a panicked tone.
“Can’t have been over a minute. She might still be alive, if barely,” I told him weakly while trying to hold in my own tears.
Tire Fire breathed a sigh as though he was relieved to hear his sister was dead?
“Harp, there's still time!” he shouted out.
From outside, Harp trotted in, b-lining it to Dead Axle with Order floating behind her. She then placed an odd-looking gemstone on top of Dead. It began to shimmer.
“What are you do-” I was about to ask before Tire Fire shoved his hoof into my muzzle.
“Let her work. Talk later,” he told me.
The magic around Harp continued to shimmer, seemingly flowing into the gem, then to Dead. As I watched, Dead Axle slowly turned gray until she looked like a statue. My jaw slacked as a saw that Harp had petrified her!
“Simply amazing, isn’t it?” Azure said, having at some point come in without being noticed. “Using a petrification talisman to preserve those who cannot be saved right now, but are not yet too far gone to not be saved later.”
I looked at him in shock. “You mean she… can be saved?”
The Lurker scratched at what would have been called a chin if it was not made of claws. “Possibly. There is some magic and technology from my world that's used to keep a person alive long enough for them to get help. I mentioned that to Harp, and she apparently had an epiphany. We… well, she conducted a few tests as fast as she could. Once we knew it was a viable solution, she got to using it on those who needed it.”
“Then why did you say possibly? Sounds like this will save her,” I figured to Azure.
“Unfortunately the petrification does not heal the damage already done. Also, nopony has the cure for death or a treatment that can work fast enough to keep those about to die from expiring,” he said to me. His eyes looked down and over at the empty glass bottle of the lazarus serum. “Unless that is.”
“Unless I go get more lazarus serum!” I answered loudly.
Harp then tumbled to the floor where Tire Fire quickly scooped her up and sat her down gently. She was breathing heavily as though she just ran all day. She also looked like she was about to throw up.
“Fuck,” she panted. “That … talisman… needs a lot… of magic… but it’s… done.”
Live got herself out of my hooves and trotted over to her sister and then hugged her petrified sister as she began to cry again.
Grabbing my jacket, I threw it over Live Axle’s shoulders. “I know where I need to go to get more of that serum. I’ll save her, and any pony else that needs it.”
Several tears fell onto Dead Axle’s face, making it look like she was also crying.
“Please… please save my sister. She deserves to live,” Live pleaded.
“I know… I know,” I assured before tuning to Harp. “How many others need the serum?”
Harp took a moment to catch her breath before telling me. “Not many. Fortunately enough. Most of those I petrified just needed several healing potions. Only a few had reached their limit.”
Standing, her legs wobbled a little as she struggled to hold herself up. “But that can wait. I have another matter to attend to.”
I quickly trotted over to her to give her some support. Taking a quick glance back, the rest of Dead Axle’s family had gathered around. Rack End looked at me. Seeing the hopeful look in her eyes was enough to send a message to me. It was that of a mother telling me that I better do what I said I will do.
If I could undo at least one death that I helped cause, then I will try even if it meant descending into Tartarus if I must.
Was this how Healing Herbs felt? Seeing an opportunity to change fate and running to grab it? She had helped make the first megaspell and she attempted to change the past itself in hopes to fix what she started. She also was dragged down by forces beyond her control and was murdered by me… I can’t help but feel that the same fate awaits me.
The sound of a pain-muffled moan from inside a tent caught me off guard. I had the distinctive sound of somepony crying. It wasn't the sound of a pony suffering from an injury, but one actively being hurt.
Trotting in, I saw one of the Blue Skies mercenaries bound and gagged. He was beaten bloody and had a broken leg. Standing over him was a pissed-off Desperado mare.
Harp eyed the Desperado and sighed. “Has he told us anything?”
The mare spat on her prisoner. “More of what we already know. Are you sure this is necessary? It’s not like it’s a mystery to who sent them.”
“There's always more to know like what one of her friends has shared with us,” Harp said coldly as she looked down at the mercenary with disgust. “Turns out that their friend’s own life was worth more than all of yours.” She then motioned with her head at the Desperado.
The gag was removed from the prisoners, and the stellion spat out some blood. “Fuck you! Nopony said nothing!”
Harp didn’t look amused as she sat down in front of the stallion. “You say that, but after you cut off a pony's hooves and force them to dance, the others change their tune quickly. I would have trotted that pony over here, but I rather not scare the children here. Gleaning that pony also sent a strong message.”
The prisoner looked shocked for a moment but quickly regained his composure. “Like fuck would a stable pony be able to do that. We know how your kind ar-”
Harp threw a sack from her saddlebag onto the floor in front of the stallion. From it, several body parts fell out. I almost puked when I realized what they were. They were pony testicles, still fresh. Even the Desperado looked away in horror.
The prisoner looked down at them. His confidence faded from his face.
Getting low to him, Harp then said softly, “If you are cooperative, I will let you live. But if you have nothing new to tell us, well… you can live as less of a stallion.”
With shock and horror on his face, the stallion began talking, revealing to us how this attack even happened. From his testimony, this attack had been planned for a week now, and the Blue Skies mercenaries had gotten help from Stopped Clock in getting around the land here such as what route would keep a pony hidden, where to find small caves to hide in, and what routes the Desperados normally took. He even told us about where some of the weapons cases were nearby, but Harp’s face didn’t change. She still looked with disgust at the stallion. Getting even more panicked, he started telling us about other cashes unrelated to this attack, where they kept chems, guns, and other commodities.
There was even the mention of slaves, which only made my blood boil more.
“That’s… that’s everything I know of. Please let me go,” the prisoner pleaded.
Harp finally backed off and smiled. “Now don’t you feel better that you told me everything? But… turns out that none of that is new information to us, and I was lying about letting any of you live.”
Panic erupted on his face, but before he could do or say anything, the Desperado brought down a tire iron on his head, caving in his skull.
I looked at the dead stallion, and then at Harp. “Was.. was that ne-”
“Don’t you go telling me you have any sympathy for them after what they did,” she growled at me.
Looking back at the dead stallion, the scene was shocking and disgusting, but I also felt numb. “Honestly, I don’t know how to feel right now. Maybe I’m just tired of seeing dead ponies.”
Harp's face softened as she looked at me. “Ya… me too. But there is still one more death that needs to happen before I’m satisfied.”
She quickly trotted out of the tent. Since I was worried about her, I followed.
“Wait. What do you mean? Don’t you already have the information from them?” I asked her.
“It’s called corroborating evidence by keeping those mercenaries separated while tortured. We were able to prevent them from working together to give false information. While I tested the petrification talisman, I was also gathering that information. Now the Desperados can get their revenge and take their supplies at the same time.” Harp explained.
Following her, I saw that we were heading to the Elders big tent where Azure was waiting for us. The pony-shaped crab stopped us. “You sure you want to go in?”
“Arras promised to keep him alive for me, so yes. I want to go in,” Harp confirmed. Because of it, Azure stepped aside.
I sighed as I told him, “This is all just so messed up. I’m sure nothing like this happens in your world.”
He chuckled. “If only that was true. Being an explorer, the first lesson I had to learn was that my life had little worth to others. They would not hesitate to kill me if they could get something of worth out of my corps. Also plenty of violence came from where I was born, sadly enough.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Abuse?”
Azure chuckled again. “Fortunately, no. I was born in the floating fortress casino of Dice. Crime was not uncommon, and the Lurkers of Dice were not kind to those who broke the rules.”
“Wait, so you’re what? Named after where you were born?” I asked him.
“Well that’s what Lurkers were given who didn’t have direct parents. Sometimes a fool will bet their eggs and those lurkers born from it would be raised to work for the casino. Fortunately I had a bright blue shell when I hatched, so I got one of the nicer names.” He looked a bit happy with himself before his face claws straightened over his mandibles. “But that aside, cruelty can come from anywhere. This night stands as proof of it. So long as there are individuals, there will be conflict and violence.”
“Maybe, but all this? Why would anypony agree to it?” I huffed at the Lurker.
“Today, I, too, don’t understand, but I know better than to pretend ignorance,” he said and sighed. “This is a subject that would take too long to go over, so I’ll make it short. So long as someone feels justified, the violence they can enact will not have limits. Unfortunately, that justification can be as shallow as they were paid to do it, and it’s to someone they don’t care about.”
“Or as deep as seeing the others as evil, and if they don’t kill them, then they will be killed by them,” I said, remembering all the wartime propaganda depicting the zebras with evil red eyes.
The sound of crackling and the scream of a stallion startled both of us.
Trotting in, I saw False Cap bound to some wooden bars, forcing him to stand up. He was bloody from lashes all over, and one of his ears was missing. Harp had her baton out, but it was covered in wires that sparked with energy as she shimmered.
Jabbing False with the baton, it crackled with energy, causing False to scream again. After several seconds, she pulled back the baton and just glared at False, not saying anything.
The fat stallion gave a weak laugh. “See… Ashy… was… right,” he panted. “You… nothing… more… than… raiders.”
She jabbed the baton at him again, but this time in his eye. False screamed even louder. His body convulsed from the shock. After a moment she let go, and shockingly False was still concise. He moaned in pain as he glared at Harp with only one eye. The other was burnt and bloodied.
She looked over at Elder Big Papa who was sorting through a box with several different chems inside. “This chem relay does keep him from passing out,” she said in a low, tired tone.
“All nighter powder. Before the wasteland came to be, this shit was in demand from any pony who had to work all night. Students in university and Ministry ponies dealing with paperwork.” Arras told her as she held a jar of white powder. “I know a horror story where ponies using the stuff had to go into emergency surgery and nothing could knock them out. Just imagine being awake as some surgeons take out your organs to remove a broken knife a biker logged into you after being an asshole.”
“And I wonder who owned that knife,” Harp said flatly as she turned her head to look at False. “As for you, why did you do it? Ehy are you even here?”
False panted for a moment, catching his breath. “You don't know… how much of a group of dumb… fucks can you all be. The Desperados are… Raiders. We kill raiders.”
“There are foals here. You shot and killed foals!” Harp yelled at him.
An arrogant chuckle came from False, filling me with disgust.
Spitting out a bit of blood, False Cap spoke. “All of you are raiders. We shoot raiders. Foals of raiders become adult raiders, so just exterminate the vermin before they can spread. That's how this has always been. Ever read that Lightbrigner book? It was how Calamity did shit too. We're only doing what heroes do.”
He hacked up some more blood before glaring at Harp with a cocky smile on his face. “When Ashy sees that we have not returned, she will come for you and end this once and for all.”
“And why is Blue Skies with you?” Harp asked.
“The more guns, the better. And I heard that their boss has a score to settle with them,” he answered.
I then spoke up. “You do know that Blue Skies is involved in the slave trade, right?”
Harp nodded. “Several of them admitted to such. So much for the famous slaver hunters.”
False’s smile didn’t fade, but instead it twisted and became filled with malice. “Why would I care? I’m only with Ashy because I can get what I want while under her. The mare is so blind for so long that, if I say the right thing, she will ignore what I do. All to forward her ideals of justice. Just keep saying the right thing and I get all the caps. All the bitches and all the power!”
His glare at Harp intensified. The one good eye filled with a deep hatred that reminded me of the ponies from my time when they would talk about the zebras. “If it wasn't for you, you bitch, I wouldn't be leading this attack! Ashy would have stayed blind to what I was doing. I could have been partying it up right now. A whore like you should have just done as I say and suck my-”
Harp shoved the baton in his mouth, pushing it far in. “I’d make you deep throat your own hogshit, but this will do,” she growled at the fat stallion.
Harp’s shimmer intensified as False cap began convulsing violently. His restraints digged into his flesh and causing it to bleed. Electricity sparked off False Cap as he began to blacken from his fur burning. Smoke began waving off the baton. Sparks flickered off of it before the thing gave a loud pop and everything stopped.
She then quickly trotted out of the tent, leaving the baton inside False with both it and him smoking.
He weekly looked up at me, somehow still alive after that.
Trotting up to him, I felt nothing. The scene was shocking and the smell was horrendous. But looking at the tormented and now dying False Cap made me feel nothing. I wanted to hate him. he deserved my hate, yet I felt nothing.
“Is it because you’ve gotten the punishment you deserve, or is it because I’ve already seen too much?” I shook my head, somehow understanding why. “No. That’s not it. You're just like all the others. Out to get your own. Never thinking about more than yourself. So many of them were around during the war who made things worse by just letting it get worse. All because it let them get what they wanted.All they needed to do was say the right thing to the right ponies.”
I gave him a slight slap on the cheeks, almost as though messing with a pony who was not garbage. “At least the other horrible ponies I have met had greater goals than you. Spritz wanted the Steel Rangers to be the only ones to have technology. Quicktrot seeks to have a body that doesn't rot. Victoria? I guess she wanted to go home. Then there's Thorn Roseland who wanted to see the downfall of Equestria. By with what you see all around you, I guess she got exactly what she wanted. You, on the other hoof? You're nothing and deserve nothing.”
Taking a step back, False Cap groaned as he let out one last breath before going limp. The scene was horrible. Utterly horrific, but I still didn’t feel anything.
I looked over at the Elder and asked him, “Is it bad that I don’t feel anything from this, or have I finally gone mad?”
The ghoul closed the case of chems. There was a solemn look on his decayed face. “No, you have just resolved yourself to what comes next.”
“And that is?” I asked.
“War,” he answered.
“War?” I said in shock.
Elder Big Papa growled. “They attacked us.No way we're running with our tails between our legs. This requires a debt to be paid in blood!”
This filled me with dread because I knew that there was nothing I could say or do to stop it. No. They had the right to want to strike back, and I had no right to tell them otherwise.
Trotting outside, I found Harp just sitting in the dirt with Azure next to her. She looked up at the sky. “You know, we sent a few ponies up there,” I said as I sat next to her. “Going to the moon like Luna had, they would say.”
“Why can’t they just leave us alone. Nopony ever needed to die,” she complained to me.
“I… don’t know, but I agree, none of this would have happened if ponies minded their own business. Then again, is it ever that simple?” I asked as I looked at my own blood stained hooves.
Harp let her head drop and nodded. “Ya. It’s rarely ever that simple. Maybe this is partially my fault as well. Maybe I should have just worked for the mayor or accepted Quicktrots offer.”
“You can’t change the past. Trust me, I’ve seen a pony try. No, we just have to live with the mistakes we have made… though it still doesn't stop it from hurting.” I told her as I began messing with my pipbuck. I looked through some of the messages the R&D Stable left me, wishing me good luck. I wondered what they would say if they knew how this world would have turned out to be.
“Too many mistakes to count, but ya, it hurts to remember.” Harp said softly.
As we sat there, we saw Crankshaft galloping to us. He was holding one of the Pipbuck 2000’s in his mouth. The large stallion slid to stop, kicking up a bit of dust as he dropped the pipbuck in one of his hooves. “You two need to hear this!”
He fiddled with the pipbuck for a moment before pressing play on a recording on it. Longslide’s voice then came through its speakers as it crackled. “To the Desperados, if you're hearing this, y'all need to get to the Followers camp and now. Somehow Ashy knows Star is there and she’s gathering her possy to go down to get her. I repeat-”
Harp quickly got up. Her lip quivered in what I could guess was hate and fear. Having also gotten up as well, it only took a glance between us for us to know what we were going to do.
Galloping past Crankshaft, we made our way to the Smuggler. There was no way we were going to wait and hope Star would be okay.
Wasteland Medic- It takes confidence to patch a broken pony together with nothing but random scraps around you, and even more luck for them to survive. Healing is 10% more effective with a 25% chance of doubling the healing effect.
-Harp Melody-
Lv, 9
Science is now at 80
Speech is now at 80
Small guns is now at 25
-New perk gained-
Guardian Dulhan- As though death itself had come to drag the wicked to the river stix, it appeared like a nightmare. In battle, a strange headless pony in black armor will come to Harps aid, dual-wielding two revolvers engulfed in blue fire. The presence of this pony gives Harp an unnatural aura when around death, thus greatly increasing her ability to eliminate. As mysteriously as the pony appears, they vanish, leaving behind the smell of brimstone and installing terror in those who have seen it.
-Star Charter-
Lv, 9
Small guns is now at 61
Melee Weapons is now at 60
-New perk gained-
War Dancer - All’s fair in love and war, and being able to move one’s hips can also help in both. When dealing with the opposite sex, Star takes a -5% to damage and a +5% to damage given, along with new dialogue options.
Trait: Kamikaze - Star Charter acts fast and recklessly when in conflict. She is often the first to attack, even when taken by surprise. Because of her reckless nature, she rarely gets out unscratched, having -2 damage threshold.
Trait: Hot Blooded - Star has a +15% damage increase but a -2 to Perception and Agility when health is below 50%.
Unique trait: Evil Eye’s Corruption - Star was "given" the power of the evil eye at the age of 11. This gives her the power of terrifying presence when making eye contact as well as regeneration. The use of the evil eye does damage to Star, starting with bleeding from her eyes which progresses until she is bleeding from every orifice. Her regeneration keeps the evil eye from crippling her. Though magical, the eye uses her natural energy to heal. Because of this, she will need to eat or risk her body consuming itself. The self-consumption of her body also puts great strain on her body. It pumps adrenaline to extreme levels and causes her to go into a berserk state of hunger.
Developed Perk: Canterlot Gourmay - Your discerning palette allows you to gain more health benefits from food and drink and resist substance addiction.
Developed Perk: Foal at Heart - Opens up dialog options with younger NPCs and characters.
Learned Skill: Stone Throw - when tossing heavy rocks for hours on end a pony quickly learns how to throw them a bit better. Star Charter can throw weapons 10% farther with 10% more accuracy.
Perk- Earlier Sequence:Star reacts a little faster in a fight, possibly faster than anypony around her. This often gives her the first strike in a fight.
Perk- Pathfinder- Star’s intuition leads her in the right direction, even if it is down a twisting path. She will commonly find shortcuts when traveling or avoid going down the wrong path. All through intuition alone.
Perk- War Dancer - All’s fair in love and war, and being able to move one’s hips can also help in both. When dealing with the opposite sex, Star gains a -5% to damage taken and a +5% to damage given along with new dialogue options.
-Gear-
Cosmic Cutlass: A sword that both holds an edge and is more durable than any known metal, but most strange is its ability to take in and hold heat. The blade will have an added burning effect if ever near a heat source.
Nightstalkers Regarded: An enchanted 10.mm fully automatic pistol with snake-like engraving and paint that resembles the ghost Nightstalker. It has the ability to envenomize those hit by its bullets.
Outlaw: A 10mm Griffinstone Typewriter made by the Gunrunner Hardballer for controlled and sustained fire. Perfect for life in the wasteland. Though heavy compared to all other SMG’s, it has almost no recoil and is built to even outlast its user. The gun also has an air of mischief and style only a roguish pony could truly enjoy.
-Companion-
Caval: This young Ghost Nightstalker will go wherever Star goes as her protector.
It was like a pain I had never known before. It was worse than any physical injury or sharp word. I could lash out at that kind of pain to make myself feel better by breaking a leg or two.
But no. There was no making myself feel better from this. The pony I wanted to hurt for it was far out of my reach.
This pain boar itself deep inside of me so deeply that I knew it was now permanently part of me. It was something I would have to live with until I die. Was it guilt? No. I heard guilt was like a heavy weight on one's back where this was more like a void. Part of me had been carved out, leaving me empty on the inside.
Loss. That had to be it. I was looking at Prism and it made me feel hollow.
Prism breathing had only become weaker as the day turned to night. Each breath filled me with the dread that it was the last one. I knew she could not live forever. We lived in the wasteland. Pony’s die here. Everypony dies at some point. Not even the goddesses were exempt from that truth.
Looking down, Bridget was fast asleep next to me. Her energy died down with the sunset. I was at a loss as to what I was going to do next. How was I to raise Bridget without Mom? Do I take her with me into Desperado territory or leave her here with the Gunrunners? Just thinking about it made me want to hurt myself for letting things get this bad.
If Skipper had not run off, then Briget would not be at the whims of her irresponsible mother. Disappearing to become a Talon and never showing his beak for the last six years, I can’t even remember what I saw in the pink hippogriff fool.
The flaps to the tent rustle as Jali quietly trotted in. She noddiedat me as she went over to check on Prism. A long sigh came from her. The ghoul looked over at me and motioned with her head for me to go outside.
Stepping out together, Jali pulled out a packet of cigarettes. They were clearly hoof rolled. It was not something from the old world. Passing me one, I accepted. We both shared a moment of silence as we breathed in the wasteland tobacco. It was harsh but strong in flavor and effect.
“How much longer?” I asked.
Jali’s eyes looked tired, both from having to do this for over two hundred years and that it was another friend she was burying. “Not long. She will likely soon go into a state of extreme pain, possibly some mutation or rapid tumor growth. That's why I’m offering to… let her die with… dignity.”
I snarled at her but held back as I swallowed down my anger at her suggestion. “How so?”
She took a long drag from the cigarette. Smoke escaped holes in her cheeks and some in her neck. “We happen to have a very powerful opioid in our stock. It’s too strong to be given to any pony without killing them. It can be diluted, but the risk of addiction is still considerably high if used. It should be powerful enough to ease Prism's pain as we disconnect her life support and let her pass away peacefully.”
Talking a long drag myself, the nicotine filled my lungs and restored a brief sense of calm. I didn’t like the suggestion to hasten Prism's death, but if anything could ease her pain, I wanted her to have it. “Are you sure that will work?”
“Not my first time doing this. Friends, family, strangers. Met a lot who could not be saved, but would suffer greatly if I did nothing. Sometimes it was a plague. Other times it’s a fellow ghoul who finally went feral. Met one pony who had all their limbs cut off by raiders and just wanted the pain to stop.”
Jali took another long drag of her cigarette, turning it all to ash before dropping it and stomping it out before she continued. “It’s part of the job I hate the most. No matter what any of us do, the patient is being harmed. I’ve seen some with weaker minds be driven mad from having to do such things. After that, the only solution I can see is to let them go. It’s one of the few times when I’ve administered a bullet as the solution.”
I also finished off my cigarette. I took the time to process all of this. I knew there was nothing I could do to save Prism. What was done to her far beyond any ponies ability to fix. She was clearly in pain and it was getting worse. I was also leaving soon and I didn’t want to leave her alone again. No. Not again and not like that.
“Alright… but I want to say one last thing to her,” I told Jali. The ghoul simply nodded back at me.
Trotting back inside the tent, I went to Prism. I again held her hoof. Jali soon entered. Following her was one of the other alicorns who gently levitated Bridget out of the tent.
Taking a deep breath, my mind was all mixed up on what to say, but eventually I found the words. “I’m going to miss you Mom… so much that it hurts. But I’m going to try my best out there. To be the good pony you saw me as. To show Bridget that her Mom is like that hero from the book. I’ll also make sure she has a safe place to grow up. There's a chance that I’ll mess up again, but I’ll make sure to set things right if I do, so don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. When it’s time for the waters to finally claim me, I’m sure we will meet again. I’ll tell you all about what good I’ve done and how Bridget has grown up to be a fine mare.”
Prism stirred as her eyes opened slightly. A small smile formed on her face. “I… expect nothing… less from my… daughter.”
Holding her hoof tightly, Jali administered the chem. For a brief moment strength returned to Prism. “I love you, Star,” she said before her eyes closed and she drifted off. Jali stopped as the machines kept Prism alive. The pulse in her hoof grew weaker and weaker until it just… stopped. I held onto her a bit longer as I did my best to hold back my tears, but they flowed anyway.
Finally, and painfully, I let go of Prism. making sure her hoof was pushed over herself and not left hanging. She looked peaceful, as though she was finally getting the sleep she had deprived from herself for all these years.
Jali placed two old-world bits over Prism’s eyes before placing a blanket over her face. She then trotted over to me and raised a hoof to console me. However, I didn’t want to hear it and slapped her hoof away.
"Give me some time,” I told her. The old Ghoul did just that as she left the tent, letting me be alone.
I sat there not knowing what to do or where to go. Without Mom I had no home. Mom had been my home, and now she is gone. As I let the tears flow from my eyes, the exhaustion from everything today began to take me over. I let it go. I let sleep take me as I sat next to Prism. For one last time, I wanted her warmth next to me, even as it fades.
“Welcome back Star,” Lethe spoke as she cleaned a broken glass at her bar. “You look like you can use something dry and filled with flavor.”
I had somehow found myself at Lethe Watering Hole, but it was not in town. The place was literally in the middle of nowhere. Nothing seemed familiar. It was just dry barren land filled with dead plants and bones. Above me was the biggest and reddest moon I had ever seen.
“Here. This one's on the house. And before you ask again, the answer is the same. It’s an investment. No strings. Just expectations.” Lethe then placed several bottles on the table in an ice-filled bucket with glasses inside. It also had a fresh lemon. I had never seen an actual lemon in my life before.
“How… What is this place?” I asked her.
The ghoul, Lethe, began mixing the drinks together. “You're neither here nor there. We’re at someplace that isn’t someplace. It's clearly a dream, but you're very much awake.”
This did not help. In fact, it only made me more confused. “Have I gone mad or delirious?”
Lethe chuckled as she used some sort of press to squeeze the juice of the lime into a small cup then poured it into the glass. “A bit late to ask that. You went mad a long time ago. It can be said that you were born mad and sanity is not your natural state” She grabbed a large bottle with a mushroom shaped cork and popped it out. It popped. Bubbles flowed out as she poured some of it into the glass. “Now sit and enjoy this drink. You're going to need it.”
Taking a deep breath, I sat down while looking at the fancy drink
Before I could ask another question, Lethe answered, “It’s called Ambrosia. It was quite a popular drink in Canterlot during Equestrias’s golden age. Celestia was the one who named it that. It also helped that it’s quite a good tasting drink, though pales in comparison to actually Ambrosia.”
I took a sip of the drink. I found that it tasted wonderful, but I also found no joy in drinking it. “By Ambrosia, what do you mean?”
“Oh no. It’s far from that concoction of warped magic,” Lethe assured with a chuckle. “Something you will find out... eventually.”
Downing the rest of the drink, I tossed the empty glass. It shattered in the distance. “Alright, tell me what’s going on!” I demanded to know. “What the fuck is all this? The fucks wrong with the moon? How the fuck is your bar out here? And how the fuck did you get a fresh lemon and ice?”
She smiled at me with her perfectly white teeth. “Dear Star, that’s not for you to know… not yet that is… or maybe ever... I’m just making sure you understand what must be done.”
“Fuck what must be done! Tell me what all this shit is or I’m going to break your fucking face. I don’t know if you understand, but I’m not in the mood for crazy shit right now!” I threatened Lethe.
Somehow Lethe became far more menacing looking. Her suit seemed to be made of shadows. A skeletal-like figure that was even more thin and frail, all the while her empty eyes glowed with a blue light.
Lethe spoke with a loud wispy voice that sounded like it was the wind itself. “Abandoned child, blooded fighter, navigator, cannibal, daughter, mother, friend, enemy, and one who deals death. A pony can become many things in their life, many of which will condemn them to death. You are no different. Only by the negligence of others have you been given the life to achieve these titles. A privilege that can be revoked!”
“That’s enough!” the voice of a meek mare spoke up, causing Lethe to turn back to normal.
Joining me at the bar was a cream gray-colored unicorn with a red-orange and yellow mane. She had freckles-covered face and a cutie-mark of a painted rainbow. It somehow felt very familiar to me. The mare looked at me and smiled as she passed Lethe two bits. Lethe quickly made her an ambrosia cocktail before going back to cleaning another glass.
“Who are you?” I asked, feeling at ease by her presence.
She chuckled. “You know, I never could tell how tall you actually are. Everypony just seems so small when you're so tall.”
Looking her in the eyes, I just knew. “Mm.. Mom?”
Prism Paint smiled warmly as she took the drink Lethe made. “I can’t even remember how old I was when I gave myself to Unity, but then I didn’t care at the time. All I cared about was running away. It was all I had left. The unending cloud cover robbed my dreams of seeing rainbows. Poverty stole me of my dignity as I became a whore. My own negligence caused the death of my son. I guess I believe that if I died, I would be punished for what I let happen, so I ran and became part of Unity. Life was already a punishment. I didn’t want it in death as well.”
She took a long sip of the drink and squealed with joy. “Oh this is good.”
“The number one drink of Canterlot, long before its fall,” Lethe announced with pride.
Leaning on my shoulder, Prism sighed. “I always thought that I should never have become a mother. It’s not like I chose to in the first place. As you know, it simply happens when you're selling your body for just a few caps. So, when you became pregnant, I was terrified, but then you changed. You chose to be responsible. You became everything I wish I had been so long ago.”
“But that’s all ruined now.” I sighed. “And it’s all my fault.”
“You’ll be fine. All you need to do is stay calm and think of what to do. You're sure to find the right path,” Prism told me before she took another sip of her drink. “Doesn't matter what it is so long as your mind is clear when you make that choice.”
I felt calm. It was as if everything was alright at this moment. I even felt like I could joke, despite the reality. “What if I decided to follow the same career of both my mothers? Sell my body for caps?” I asked with a chuckle.
Prism frowned. “That’s not funny. Not when you can do far more than that. But… I’m sure if you think it’s the right thing to do, then do it without regrets. Just don’t make the same mistake I did and get lost in despair and hopelessness. And please, make sure Bridget has a mother for years to come.”
She sat up straight and finished her drink. “Also, I wouldn’t mind if you gave her a little brother or sister. I just wish I could be there to see it.”
I laughed. I found the request unlike Prism, yet somehow it was something she wanted to say to me for a long time now. “I would give almost anything to have you here with me again.”
Prism laughed as well. “I know, but the price you would pay, from what Lethe told me, is not worth paying.”
Lethe took the empty glass and nodded. “Yes. Doing such things disrupts the natural flow of life and death. To have it flow in reverse destabilizes the foundations of reality itself. Not even Discord would do such a thing, even in jest.”
Placing a hoof on my shoulder, Prism looked me in the eyes with a serious look of determination. “It’s time, Star, so listen to me. Stay calm and don’t lose your head. So long as you do that, everything will be fine.”
“Mom, what are you talking about?” I asked her.
She hugged me. “Even if I’m not with you physically, I’ll do my best to be with you in spirit.”
“Star! Wake up!” Jali said as she stood over me. A look of worry was on her face.
“What… happened?” I asked as I sat up. I looked at my pipbuck. It was still late, but getting close to morning. I must have been out for only a few hours.
"You need to go, and now!" she ordered me firmly.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but the sound of shouting quickly confirmed what was going on.
“Do we have to knock over every one of these tents? Bring her out now!” Ashy Oaks shouted from outside.
I snarled as I grabbed my sword.
Jali stopped me and hissed. "Are you mad?!"
"Damn right I am, and you should be too!" I hissed back at her.
"Trust me, I'm as pissed as you, but I will not have a shootout here of all places," Jali said calmly.
I took my hoof off my sword and breathed in deeply to calm my mind. What did that dream tell me? To stay calm and don't lose my head?
"Fine,” I resolved, “but what am I to do? And where's Bridget?"
"The little one is safe. She is in a tent with the other foals here, under close watch," she informed me as she moved to the tent's door. "There's a little passway just behind this tent. It will take you to a cave you can hide in until they pass. I'd have had you teleported out, but that mare is still dealing with the mess you left at the NCRCF."
"So, run away and hide. It's just not fair, but fine. I would rather not cause trouble here. You're good folk and you have to deal with enough brahmin shit as it is." I told her as I gathered my things.
"Thanks and good luck," Jali told me as she left the tent.
Drawing my cosmic cutlass, I made a cut at the back of the tent and hopped out. The nearly full moon helped me see where I needed to go with the path illuminated just enough for me to find and follow it.
"Have you gone mad?! This is a place of healing. Stop this nonsense!" Jali shouted in the distance.
"From a pony harboring a known criminal? That's a lark!" Ashy shouted back.
I wanted to go back, but I also knew that the old ghoul would be fine. Jali has worked to help ponies far longer than I have been alive. Not even Ashy could justify attacking her.
Leaving the camp behind, the trail was not long. The caves were nestled behind some dead bushes.
"Thought as much," the worn voice of Stopped Clock spoke from within the cave. A small flame illuminated his face as he lit a cigarette. "The Followers are smart, but not smart enough to be unpredictable."
I took a step back but froze when I heard the cocking of a gun from behind me.
"Nowhere to go, Star. We know this part of the wasteland like the back of our hooves," The asshole sucked on his cigarette as he trotted into the moonlight. "There's only a few places you can run and hide here, and Ashy has the other deputies blocking the other routes. Now drop those weapons or be shot right here and now."
"Fuck!" I breathed as I unlatched my saddlebag and let it slide off my back.
"Good. Now come quietly with us. You have a date with a noose," Stopped said to me as he levitated a revolver in my direction.
I wanted to jump him and tear his throat out, but I stayed calm. I was outgunned and outmaneuvered right now. Anyways, if I go with him, I'll likely get to see Ashy up close. Maybe get a shot at her.
One of Stopped Clock's deputies ran off as the rest escorted me around the Followers camp where everything had gone silent. As we skirted the edges of the town, I could see lights in the distance along with the sound of music. The Lightbringer festival must have started, meaning sunrise was not far off.
We eventually arrived at a familiar place, the town graveyard. The place was dotted with both crude and well-made tombstones along with plenty of pre-dug holes.
"Looks like the new grave digger's been really busy. Hope the fucker's not as much of a creeper like the last one," I said as I was marched to the center of the graveyard where the gallows stood.
"Keep talking. Not a lot of good it will do you," Stopped Clock said as he poked me with his revolver.
It was all I could do right now, so I flashed him a smile. "Topsoil got what he deserved. He stalked Cloudy and tryed to kill me and all."
Stopped Clock lowered his gun. "Ahh! Finally willing to talk about that."
"Ya… yes I will, not that I'm guilty of jack shit. But you’re still going to up and murder me no matter what I say," I told him.
"It's justice, not murder," he growled out.
That got a laugh out of me. "Like how the NCRCF was totally not a slave labor camp, or how Ashy is not just another cold-blooded-"
A swift hit with the butt of a revolver to the side of my head caused me to stumble. "I don't want to hear that out of a criminal's mouth."
"And what? Shoot unarmed me and pretend it's not murder?!" I spat out at him.
He raised his gun at me. A snarl was on his face. "It be a mercy you don't deserve."
"That's enough!" shouted Ashy as she trotted over while flanked by six more deputies.
"So the queen bitch is here. Kill any more innocent ponies lately?" I mocked her.
"None I've killed were innocent. Every last one deserved what they got," Ashy assured calmly as she trotted over. "That includes you, Star."
I glared at her. "Tell that to the Gunrunners, I'm sure they will see it your way. I mean after Longslide shares the video of you murdering Hardballer. I've also heard that the Talons are the most forgiving creatures in the wasteland. Once you’re dead and all."
She paused, but for only a moment. The cold uncaring look on her face did not faltering once.
"He was the least innocent of them all and far more deserving of a worse fate than the one he got," Ashy said as she trotted closer to me until we were only a few hooves apart. "I have suffered too long for some budding raider to give me lip."
"Oh fucking get off that woe is me pity train, bitch. I neither have the patience nor the fucks to give to even care about your life," I said with a snarl as I looked her in the eyes. "It's the wasteland. Shit happens and we all have no choice but to move on. You can keep digging up the past, but eventually the rot will set in and the crops you parade around will be just dust."
Ashy drew a gun and smacked me with it, but unlike the revolver before, this felt awkward. Getting back up, I saw that she was holding Checoff's Promise in her magic, Slowtrot's gun. The same gun she used to kill Hardballer.
"What do you even know, child?" she asked with gritted teeth.
I growled back at her. The feeling of rage was just barely held back. "What do I know? How about the fact that if you didn't unjustly throw me in that prison, maybe my mother would still be alive right now! I could have protected her, but no. I was breaking rock and fighting an insane steel ranger!"
I took a step forward. My eyes locked on her. The magic in my eyes kept her frozen in place. "And suffering? Prism suffered all her life and not once did she lash out. No. Not even once. She saved me and helped others. When she was tied down by spiked chains, she cared more about my safety. When her wings were sawed off, she didn't stop to cry. Instead, she fought on and never regretted losing them. Prism suffered, but all you saw was a monster worthy of your hate."
I felt pain in my eyes as its power drained me. I was pushing all my own pain at her. I wanted her to feel everything. "You know what I see, right now, looking back at me? I see a monster in the form of a pony, and that monster deserves all my hate."
I felt another hit to the side of my head which sent me to the ground. Stopped stood above me. A look of disgust was on his face. "So you are a mutant. I had always suspected."
My vision was reddish from the blood in my eyes. I had let it all out. Let other ponies see it, and it felt good.
Ashy had fallen over and was being helped up by two of her deputies. Shock and horror were on her face along with hate and disgust. "String her up before she does any more strange magic," she wheezed out.
I was dragged away by several deputies. Several more trained their guns on me. I was going nowhere but to the gallows. Pulled up, a noose was placed around my neck as the bitch watched.
Stopped Clock spoke loudly and with authority. "I will now list the crimes this… pony has committed."
The way he said pony sounded as though he was talking about some monster in the shape of a pony.
"Arson, vandalism, assault and battery, extortion, public indecency-" he listed.
"I was drunk at the time!" I clarified.
He continued. "Underage drinking, discharge of a firearm in a public place, possible murder of the town gravedigger, consorting with raiders and supplying them with arms."
I rolled my eyes. "The Desperados are not raiders for fuck sakes."
"They'll be not much of anything soon," Stopped Clock sneered.
Something in me didn't like the sound of that. "What did you mean by that? What have you done?"
He glared at me as he explained. "By now, they should have been exterminated down to the last raider. Took some planning. It was only made more difficult by your arrival, but it matters not anymore. By sunrise, their camp will be nothing but ash and corpses as all raiders should end up."
"You… WHAT!" I shouted as my blood boiled. "They have innocent foals and the elderly there! The Desperados aren't raiders, their ponies. Their families live there. How can you even do that? Is your fucking justice just some excuse?"
"Stopped Clock, is what she says true?" Ashy asked her head deputy.
"In the way that there are several generations of raiders living there. They simply pass on their madness to the next generation as they always have, and always will. We are simply pulling out this problem at its roots for the good of all," he coldly explained.
"Oh bramin shit ya ignorant fuck!" I said loudly, glaring at them with all my hate. "You're so far up your own ass that you can't tell raiders from ganggers. The Desperados are only still here because of that Blue Skies contract keeping them here! What is wrong with you? All of you?"
He glared back at me coldly. "We're perfectly normal, unlike a monster like you. And it was Blue Skies who so generously kept those raiders in one place and offered their help in the extermination of their nest."
I looked at Ashy who was avoiding eye contact with her hat. "And you, miss justice, believe any of this?"
"How I see it," Ashy's voice was not just cold, but it felt empty. "Even if what you say is true, it still doesn't change what the Desperados are. A roving band of marauders is just another way to describe raiders. I have seen all types of raiders in my time, and it all ends the same, given time. They either kill you, or you kill them. Even the foals eventually come back as full-fledged raiders, so they must be razed from the ground and the land salted, otherwise, they will return. For the good of all, any raiders or slavers must be killed. It doesn't matter if they say they don't do that no more. At least for the sake of their victims, they must die."
I laughed. Just the idea of me thinking she could even care was comical to me. It all was ridiculous to me now. I hated it so much. "Spoken like an evil pony if I ever heard one before. At least I stop to think if what I'm doing is wrong. That, maybe I should do something different! But you? You go all in and don't look back. You feel so sure that you're right, you're willing to act just like a raider. Oh how the mighty has fallen. The great slaver hunter, the bringer of order. Now nothing more than a raider who sells ponies into slavery."
She snarled then shouted, "Enough! I hereby judge you guilty and sentence you to be hung by the neck until dead!"
One of the deputies pulled a lever and the floor beneath me gave way. Instinctively I tightened the muscles in my neck which helped prevent the fall from snapping my neck. No way I was making this easy on them.
A loud flash illuminated the graveyard followed by a bang that echoed through the town. If I was not slowly being strangled to death, I would have laughed at the fact my sendoff got some fireworks.
It at least gave me a better look at Ashy as more fireworks lit up the sky. She looked as though she had not slept in days. Deep bags were under her eyes and her clothes were disheveled. If anything, I was sure she would be following me in death soon, hopefully by her own gun.
Another light lit up the sheriff and her deputies. It got brighter and brighter. The deputies ran, as though from something. They pulled out their guns.
Everything flipped around for a moment. The noose around my neck suddenly loosened. After a moment, I realized Harp was looking down at me and I was in the Smuggler. The rubble of the gallows was all around us and its gun fired wildly.
"You're late!" I scolded them as I threw off the noose and got up to look around. "Now which asshole has my shit?"
-Trait: Good Natured - Slowtrot grew up in a time where war and violence was still a foreign
concept. He held to those ideals, even if they failed in the end. He gains a boost to non combat skills, but all combat skills are lowered.
-Odd Trait: Wild Wasteland - it might just be that Slowtrot is out of place and time, but the world seems different to him. Odder and wilder. He might be crazy, or it's Equestria that's gone mad? All the same, something is not right.
-Unique Trait: Forgot how to Door - Slowtrot does not retain information as well as other ponies, but he tries his best, for better or worse. -1 to skill points when advancing in level, but for the first hour gains +1 to luck whenever entering a new area, and has a %10 chance to succeed on skill check he is too low to complete.
-Learned Skill: Scrap Craft - The workers of the wartime industry had many ways to make the most out of what they had at hoof, and having lived among them, Slowtrot had learned how to make tools from old scrap.
-Learned Perk: Classic Education - Slowtrot gains two more skill points every time you advance in level.
-Learned Skill: Smash like Yak - By simply striking at the right point, an object can be easily broken into bits without having to apply much force. Slowtrot now does an additional 5% to critical chance and a 10% chance to cripple limbs when using melee weapons.
Perk -Healer - Slowtrot may not be a professionally trained doctor or nurse, or all that gentle with his hooves, but he has been taught the proper way to administer first aid which is more than most know how to do in the wasteland. When performing medican base skills, Slowtrot has a higher rate of success and will heal for more.
Perk - Toughness- Slowtrot has been knocked around by the wasteland quite a bit. Shot, too. Be it thicker skin or simply learning to live with it, his ability to keep standing when the hits start coming has improved.
Perk - Wasteland Medic- It takes confidence to patch a broken pony together with nothing but random scraps around you, and even more luck for them to survive. Healing is 10% more effective with a 25% chance of doubling the healing effect.
-Gear-
Rockhoof Pattern Trench Shovel: A simple short handle shovel used in the trenches by the Equestria army. Its handle is wrapped with a coarse canvas. The metal is covered in black paint and the blade sharpened to a fine edge. It also gives off the faint scent of earth, gunpowder, and blood.
Boomstick: The trench gun was Equestria’s counter to the Zebra close-range fighters. It allowed a pony to quickly slamfire five shells in a wide cone. The Zebras eventually phased out much of their close quarters troops because of it. This gun has passed through many hooves in the Stormland. It never failed to fire even once and it was always being hoofed over to those who needed it, never retiring.
The Burnt Rifle: A service rifle made by the Gunrunners and taken into a Dragon Ants nest by Slowtrot. It somehow managed to survive being hit by one of the exploding ants, thus burning the rifle with its napalm-like fluids. Even after being clean and modified, the rifle still gives off the smell of sulfur. More oddly, those hit by the gun sometimes explode.
-Vehicle-
Smuggler: A custom-built light strike vehicle made for long-range transportation. It is equipped with the Aeternus, a light gatling magical energy weapon. This makes the Smuggler is a highly mobile weapons platform.
Once again I found myself hyper-focused on driving the Smuggler. I went as fast as possible. I hoped I didn't hit anything. I was heading back to New Appleloosa and into trouble.
"Slowtrot, we’re close!" Harp told me from the back seat. She tracked Star Charter's position from her pipbuck.
Fireworks illuminated the town in a colorful confectionery of lights followed by deep penetrating booms. In the distance we could see her hanging by a noose. I put my full weight down on the peddle, no longer caring what I hit as the Smuggler accelerated even faster than before as though it, too, wanted to save Star.
The deputies saw us coming and scattered as we plowed through the graveyard, thus sending flimsy wooden grave markers flying. We even knocked over the scarce few stone tombstones. None slowed the Smuggler down at all.
Reaching the center of the graveyard, I just plowed into the gallows, seeing to it that Star was free from her execution before bullets started flying. Star herself swung in the air before falling down into the Smuggler. She had safely landed next to Harp.
There was a pause as the deputies scrambled for cover. Some rushed Ashy out of the graveyard as Crankshaft began firing the Aeternus in a wide burst.
"You're late!" Star said in an annoyed tone as she got up. She took the noose off her neck. "Now which asshole has my shit?"
Looking out among the deputies that stayed, I saw one behind a large stone tombstone with a beat-up saddlebag that had a sword attached to it. Pulling out Boomstick, I pointed it out and shouted to Crankshaft, "Behind that big tombstone!"
The hum of the Aeternus was followed by a stream of pink bolts of magic as Crankshaft fired it from the gunner nest.
Everything became a roar of gunfire as the deputies fired back. I unloaded the trench gun into the area in a wide sweep. Harp and Order joined too with their bolt launchers. Star used my service rifle.
The tombstone exploded. As a result, the deputies further scattered as the Aeternus again swept the area in pink bolts of light. Hopping out and using the Smuggler for more cover, I began reloading my shotgun again but found that I was down to my last three shells.
Star and Harp joined me. A scowl was on Star's face as she asked<, "How are the Desperados?"
"So you know?" I asked back.
"Stopped Clock told me. Said they were exterminating raiders," she explained.
Harp growled as she closed her gun's chamber. "Over fifty dead, some of which were innocent foals."
I racked my gun as the despair returned to me. "Because of me, they got Live and Dead Axle. I was able to save Live, but Dead… she's…"
Star snarled as she lifted a hoof, ready to poke her head out. "Fucking bastards!"
"Calm down, Star!" Harp hissed. "I was able to petrify some of them so they can still be saved."
"But Dead Axle will need the Lazarus serum, which is in Desponies," I told her.
Star calmed down. "So that's how it is... but let’s get some revenge first!"
I was not going to argue. Not with the other Desperados on their way here to get their pound of flesh.
We popped our heads out and fired our guns. We aimed at any deputies that had their own heads poking out from under the light of the fireworks. But our ammunition was quickly spent. We ducked back down. We were followed by an injured Crankshaft.
"I'll be fine!" Crankshaft told us before we could ask. The large stallion pulled out some less than clean looking bandages. "But I think I'll be staying down here, so go get them."
He looked at me. Fire was in his eyes. "The others are not going to care who they hurt so long as they get their revenge. Grandma would not want that. She always saw such violence beneath us. Kill them all before the others get here!"
I nodded. "Got ya."
Pulling out my trench shovel, I passed it to Star as I warned her, "I'm out of shells. Give me back my rifle."
Catching the shovel, she tossed back my rifle then looked at the blood that stained the tool of war. "You got down and dirty."
"Enough chatter. Let's go!" Harp ordered as she poked Star and pointed to our left. "Go that way. There's only one deputy on that side. We will cover you as you get your gear."
Star nodded and bolted out. We, too, poked our heads up with rifles out. The deputies that were waiting for us were blinded by Order shining its lights on them, thus giving us the opportunity to apply suppressive fire. Unfortunately, neither Harp nor I were crack shots. We only managed to scrape one deputy before they ducked down.
One of Order's lights went out. The drone rapidly retreated as smoke trailed behind it. The deputies counterattacked by shooting. This nearly got me as the bullet grazed my cheek, thus forcing us back down.
"Shit!" Harp breathed as she loaded some more bolts into her rifle. Blood was trickling from her ear. It had been torn by a bullet, but she didn't look like she was in pain. "Stopped Clock got Order. The drone will be fine, but it can't fight right now. Also, the other deputies are rushing in!"
A long chain of gunfire blasted out in a rat-ta-ta sound, some of which whizzed over our heads as bullets peppered everything. The red dots on our E.F.S. then disappeared one by one until only a few remained and the shooting stopped.
Only a moment later did Star hop over the Smuggler with her saddlebag and landed right next to us. She had the typewriter gun, Outlaw, slung around her neck. Smoke drifted from the barrel. A wide grin stretched across her face as she stroked the gun. "Fuck, this thing has absolutely no recoil at all. Hardballer was an absolute genius!" The smile faded, but she kept stroking the gun. "He would have loved to see it in action."
Loading in a magazine into my rifle, I sighed as I racked the charger and told her, "I know, I know. I miss him too."
A gunshot ricocheted off the Smuggler, followed by Stopped Clock shouting, "You think you're proud of yourselves? You’re murdering good and noble ponies!"
I gritted my teeth at the nerve of such a statement, but Harp placed her hoof on my shoulder. A scowl was on her face and determination in her eyes. "When I give the signal, we will take him out."
Harp cleared her throat and shouted. "Good and noble they might have been, but it is not us who are responsible for their deaths. Not after you declared war on the Desperados. Not after you fired the first shot!"
The pompous stallion laughed. "War! You know nothing of war, of what we had to do to make this land safe. All of you are a bunch of raiders who only think of yourselves. Your mere existence is an act of war, an affront to law and order. This war has gone on before you even fell out of the clear blue sky! And I will win this war, no matter how many bodies must pile up!"
Star laughed. It was filled with pain, hate, and bemusement. "You know what, Stopped? You'd make a shitty preacher back on the Blackwater. Even those zealous assholes knew when to stop when it was time to put their guns down and trot away. Saw it when you talk with Bishop Purity Spiral. Even though her forgiveness came at the end of a bloodied whip, she at least could forgive. You, on the other hoof, you're pathetically broken and unable to see the world in any way but one."
Dropping her saddlebag and SMG, Star passed me my shovel as she got up in plain view of Stopped Clock.
"What are you doing?!" I frantically asked her as I put the shovel away.
She gave me a tired smile. "Ending this."
Star trotted out slowly to Stopped Clock.
"Finally accepting your execution," Stopped figured as he pointed his gun at her.
She sighed as she got closer. "You know, I was actually scared of you when we first met. Like I said, you reminded me of the preachers back from where I came from."
*BANG!*
Star stumbled after getting shot in the leg, but it didn't stop her from getting closer.
"But the more we butted heads, the less I feared you, and the more I was annoyed by you," She said calmly and coldly.
*BANG!*
Another shot hit Star's leg, but this time she barely stumbled at all.
She just chucked. "Now I get it, and it's pathetic. You're looking for an excuse, not justice. You want to murder and pillage just like the raiders and slavers, but be seen as in the right."
*BANG!*
This time the shot grazed Star's cheek. She managed to move her head just in time to avoid a worse blow.
"So tell me, did you secretly envy Redeye? Did you covet his power? Respected how the wasteland feared him, still even to this day? Let me guess; your biggest regret is not joining him when you had the chance. I bet you scared your own eye to be just like him!" Star shouted at the deputy.
Brass fell from Stopped's revolver. Six more bullets were loaded back into the cylinder before he growled out, "And you're not the same!"
*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!*
Star had leaped back. Her body twisted as each shot ripped through her body. She fell to the ground. Blood splattered around her.
We sat there in horror as Stopped Clock reloaded his revolver again. His eyes were fixed on Star. "I was there, he was just an idiot stable dweller wandering the wasteland. Before he got that name, he was all ideals and no backbone. He preached about how we should all work together to save the wasteland. Having earth ponies, unicorns, and even the fucking pegasus become one group. He even got my own son to join his cause. The same colt that never once listened to me. He always fraternized with those damn dirty mud digging earth ponies."
Stopped's one good eye was opened wide. It filled with madness and hate. "Showed Red how wrong he was when he shot my own boy and cut out his eye. We're better off separated. That's what I told him as we chased him out of town. Who would have thought he'd return years later with an army? Such a waste, using all that power to force ponies together when we were better off apart. If I had that power, I would have made a paradise for unicorns and let the others rot in this Celestia forsaken wasteland!"
Pained laughter erupted from Star as she sat up. She was still covered in her own blood. We were shocked, and so was Stopped Clock as she spoke. "So that's what it was all about. I wasn't a criminal in your eye because I nearly burnt the town down. It was all because I was an earth pony! And here I was all this time thinking you were just a vigilant fool. What was the saying? A broken clock is right twice a day… but that's only true if it has arms to tell the time!"
Stopped Clock aimed and fired his revolver twice at Star, but she charged in this time. The bullet only caused a flesh wound as she tackled the deputy. "MONSTER!" He shouted out as Star struck him across the face. He countered with the butt of his gun.
A wicked and far too wide smile formed on Star's face as she looked down at the Deputy with pinpoint pupils. "You want to see a monster?"
He fired four more times into Star's gut, but she didn't flinch. She only opened her mouth wide. Blood and drool dripped from her maw as her own eyes filled with pure madness. She bit down on Stopped Clock's neck. The stallion struggled as he screamed and gargled in pain.
Like from a horror movie, but all the more real, Star pulled her head up. She took the blood and flesh of Stopped Clock's neck. His own blood dribbled down Star's neck and back onto Stopped Clock as the stallion gurgled for air. Blood bubbled from the hole in his neck.
Star took a few steps back and stumbled over. Without thinking, Harp and I rushed over to our friend, not caring about what we just saw. All that mattered was that our friend needed aid.
"Search the deputy for healing potions!" Harp commanded me. Complying, I skipped over Star to the mutilated Stopped Clock.
He was still alive, but I doubt even a healing potion could help. It would just heal over most of the missing flesh unless the ripped-off chunk was reattached first. Not that I wanted to do such a thing. Not for this bastard. Never forgiving and never forgetting, he was just like the ponies who took over after the Littlehorn massacre. It was not ever about justice or revenge. All they cared about was being proven right, no matter who was hurt by them.
Rummaging through his pockets, I found one healing potion. "Got one!" I said before tossing it over to Harp.
Star greedy guzzled it down. She breathed a sigh of relief once it was gone. Her bullet injuries closed before my eyes. Seeing it, all that ran through my mind was one question, 'Why didn't I keep more on the Smuggler?!' But the thought was interrupted by Stopped Clock reaching for me.
Fear was on his face, almost pleading for help. It disgusted me and I knocked his hoof away. "At least die with dignity. It's all you're good for," I growled at him.
Looking back at the others, Harp was helping Star back to the Smuggler. Star was still in bad shape. Getting shot like that was far beyond what one healing potion could reasonably solve. My smaller friend was doing her best, but she looked ready to fall over. The day had been just as difficult for her as it had been for the rest of us. Also, she had been extensively using her magic all day. Shed was likely still suffering from the after-effects.
It was a dumb idea, but I rather not lose another friend. I realized that Harp was going to be an easy target if she continued the fight so I told her, "You all stay with the Smuggler. I'll finish this."
Harp looked at me with shock. "Slowtrot! You can't do this on your own. let me join you."
"Don't worry about me. Just make sure Star is safe. Anyways, I doubt we can talk this out here. Things are far beyond talking anyway. Just let me do this. Your hooves are bloodied enough as it is. Let them be clean of this," I told her.
She looked like she was ready to cry. She did her best to suck up the emotions. "You better not die, or I will find a way to kill you myself."
That made me chuckle. "Then it's a promise. I mean, I was supposed to have died a long time ago, so what's living for a bit longer? Anyways, there are ponies counting on us now."
Totting off into town, I kept my service rifle slung over my shoulders, ready to grab and shoot at any time. The fireworks had stopped now, leaving everything bathed in just the silver moonlight and the few lamps muting what colors there still were. It was all powered by failing spark batteries.
It all had an oddly nostalgic feeling to it. It reminded me of when I was a foal and when Applewood was going into its silver screen revolution. At night the city was void of color, but shimmered like polished silverware. It was something the movies sought to copy and they did gloriously. It was the charm I had loved about Applewood and why I never left, even when the magic had faded and been replaced by plastic. I guess I always wanted to see that charm return. I hoped that, once the war was over, things would finally return to as they should be.
Yet right here, right now, I see it again. All at the worst time and even worse place.
In the distance, a radio flickered to life. The voice of Victoria spoke loud and clear. "I hope you all enjoyed that light show, because I know I did. Soon a new day will dawn and we will usher it in with a song, but firstly, I have a fun performance for you all!"
Somehow, not surprising me, Quicktrot Fragment passed in front of me. She wore what looked like the outfit the king of rock wore in his first big hit movie. The stylish black and white striped prison garb perfectly blended into the silvery light, thus making the feeling that this was an old movie I was in all the more real. "Would you be surprised if I told you that Thorn actually liked this song? I bet you don't care. It is, of course, not directed to you."
She was mocking me, and Victoria was mocking Star, or that's what it felt like. Both so close, yet so far out of our reach.
"Fuck off, Qucktrot," I growled at her as I kept my eyes on my E.F.S. counting four red dots that were spread out. No way to tell how far they were, but it did tell me that one was higher up.
"Fine by me. Just so you know, I've made sure nopony will disturb this squabble so long as the show goes on. Also, for what it's worth, I hope you die." She then faded from my vision, leaving only a wide grin for a second before that, too, disappeared.
The warden threw a party in the county jail
The prison band was there and they began to wail
The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing
You should've heard those knocked out jailbirds sing
The deputy above moved. I readied my rifle to greet them. Firing, I missed, but so did they with their lever action. Dashing behind some junk for cover, another deputy joined in, pinning me down.
Let's rock
Everypony, let's rock
Everypony in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock
I didn't have time to sit around and wait for them to take me out, so I activated S.A.T.S. I chose to dash out while firing. It was only a 33% chance to hit, but fuck it. The second deputy didn't have time to react as I popped out and fired three shots. Two missed, but the third hit the pony dead center. I must have hit an explosive on the deputy because he then exploded in a display of blood and gore. A smoking trail of bits was all that was left of him.
Spider Murphy played the tenor saxophone
Little Joe was blowin' on the slide trombone
The drummer colt from Fillinois went crash, boom, bang
The whole rhythm section was a purple gang
Several shots rained down at me as I rolled to dodge. I ended up taking a few light hits. When the shooting stopped, I took aim. I saw that the pony was rapidly reloading their rifle. They were fast and clearly didn’t load the gun fully as they took aim. They zoned in on me faster than I did on them, but I had S.A.T.S. and used it for a near-perfect shot.
The deputies’ shot grazed my leg as mine had hit their rifle. That somehow ricocheted into their neck. The deputy rocked for a moment before tumbling over and off the roof.
With two dots left, I quickly trotted closer to the center of town. The sound of music only got louder. As I passed the now-closed down free clinic, I saw one of the red dots pointed inside.
Busting from within was a deputy with a hatchet. It hooked onto my rifle. He threw it away from me before I could stop him. Jumping back, I pulled out my Trench Shovel, ready for this brawl.
Let's rock
Everypony, let's rock
Everypony in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock
I was clearly outmatched as all I could do was defend myself and back away as the deputy ferociously swung his hatchet. Each strike of metal on metal made a loud clang and a spark. The look on the deputy’s face was wild with bloodlust.
The smart move was to keep defending since anything else would get me hit. I didn't have time to be smart, so I charged in at the deputy.
Number 47 said to number 3
"You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see
I sure would be delighted with your company
Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me"
The deputies hatchet finally struck true, but it landed firmly in my hard saddlebag, thus becoming stuck in the metal case. He stumbled back in surprise and I entered S.A.T.S. one more time.
With one powerful blow, the deputy's neck made a loud crack sound as it spun in the air before hitting the ground hard. My saddlebag went with them, snaping the hinges and spilling the few items inside. Their marker on my E.F.S. then quickly faded, telling me that they were dead.
Let's rock
Everypony, let's rock…
The music faded.I could hear ponies cheer in the distance and remaining ignorant of the carnage that had been going on. It only reminded me of how disconnected I had become… no, how I always was. My world died long ago, and theirs was just starting.
Following my E.F.S., it took me, of course, to the sheriff's office. Inside there were empty booze bottles and paperwork scattered about. The place looked as run down as the wasteland itself. It was as if it rapidly aged or simply revealed its true colors.
Whistling a sad tune, Ashy trotted out from the back. She floated a bottle of wild pegasus whisky in her magic along with my gun, Checoff's Promise. She did not look well at all, and I could guess why.
"Guilty conscience, sheriff?" I said coldly.
She threw the bottle of whisky at me. it flew over my head and shattering behind. "Do you know what you have done?!" she shouted.
"Do you?!" I reflected back with equal volume. "There was no reason to kill Hardballer, nor any reason to attack the Desperados!"
"They deserved to face justice!" Ashy snarled.
I snarled back. "Murder is not justice!"
She pointed my .45 auto at me. A cold and stern look was on her face. "I decide what is justice, for I understand what true injustice is. I have seen the depths of evil and depravity, been I’ve been scared by it. I survived it all. What have you suffered that I have not suffered a hundred times more?"
The numbness from False Cap's tortures death and the disgust from Stopped Clock's came to me like a moment of clarity. I wanted to yell and scream, to cry and curse, but it all didn't matter. She would not hear me. There was no point. Yet I still had something to say.
"Is that all you have to say? Whoa is me? I have suffered so I get to hurt others. That your pain gives you the right to trample over any pony that you see as a threat," I chastised her.
Ashy face filled with anger and indignation as she aimed the pistol at my head. "Ponies like you are all the same. All talk and no real action. Never having the backbone to do what needed to be done. My sister was no different. She did jack shit about Redeye when she was mayor of Friendship city. I told her many times that he needed to be taken out of the picture, but she only gave flowery speeches. That damn DJ pon3, too, called for hero's while never lifting a damn hoof himself. Oh and don't get me started about Watcher. A fucking dragon who couldn't be bothered to be a hero itself. Instead he sent ponies to their death one by one."
She laughed. It was filled with bitterness. "Nothing really changed when I was finally free. Yes, Redeye was dead, but there was a wasteland before him and it continued to be after him. Yes, the skies were clear, but that only made it easier to see how ugly this world was."
"And how does that justify your actions?" I demanded to know.
"Everything justifies my actions! Every hanging of convicted criminals, every unmarked grave of those who tricked everypony else of their innocence," she ranted with a cold yet wild look in her eyes. "Before I came along, this town was the same shithole it had been before Redeye given it his stables water talisman. I cleaned it up. I opened the quarries. I made it safe for trade. That fact alone justifies all the pain and all the death!"
The more she talked, the more I saw all the ponies back in Applewood. The mangled veterans whose only escape was booze, chems, and the hatred for the zebras that disfigured them. The grief-stricken parents whose sons and daughters never returned from the war. They fed the machine of war themselves in the hopes of giving their children's death some meaning. The ponies in power, the few doing their best to help, only dug everypony's grave in hopes they are right in the end.
All of it, and more, bundled into one hurt and angry mare.
Maybe she was right. In the end, she would ultimately make things better by amputating and cauterizing Equestria from this blite known as the wasteland. But would a pony with no legs to stand and no eyes to see could ever be happy? Is being alive just enough?
It was too heavy thinking for me, and I had already come too far. There was a pony that deserved to live, and I had the chance to save her. Everything else didn't matter. Not this twisted sense of justice, not her goals, not even the past that justify everything for her.
She was simply a pony in the way. Nothing more and nothing less.
Taking a step forward, I felt neither fear nor pain at this moment. "Then fine. If that's what you believe, then it's the same for me. So long as I achieve my goals in the end, it's all justified."
"Braminshit! You will undo everything I have worked for. You're just another Redeye. All of you are!" she screamed.
*click*
Again, Checoff's Promise had misfired, so I charged in, seizing this moment. With a snarl, Ashy threw my gun at me as she drew her revolver.
Entering S.A.T.S., I used it to catch my gun. As soon as its bit was in my mouth, pain rippled through my body as a bullet tore through my shoulder. I hit the floor hard, yet I managed to hold onto my gun.
Ashy looked at me as I looked at her. It was only a moment. Realization on her face which was mixed with a snarl.
I fired.
*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*
All shots hit their mark as I shot Ashy. She tumbled back as blood spattered the room behind her. She not once took her eyes off me as she fell. Not even showed pain on her face.
As the ringing in my ears subsided, I could hear her wheezing in pain as she laid on the floor in front of me. I waited for a moment, expecting her to get up. I expected her to reveal that it would take more than that to end her, but instead, she just stayed on the floor, wheezing.
It hurt to get up. Blood oozed from the hole through my shoulder. As bad as it was, I was lucky it didn't hit anything more vital. Trotting over to Ashy, the blood-drenched sheriff smiled with blood-stained teeth. "They... ain't… gonna… see… things… your… way," she said with pain-filled wheezing. "They... will... hunt... you… all… down… for… this…"
She was right, at least about this. Even if the NCR and Talons don't come for us, there is no stopping other ponies. If Ashy was as well known as everypony says she was, then somepony will come for revenge.
But I didn't care. I did what had to be done. I took on the burden so others didn't have to.
Anyways, we were expecting ponies to come after us anyways, so what's a few more?
I grit my teeth to keep myself from screaming at her. "Then let them. I'm not going to waste my breath on justifying all this to anypony that demands answers. If they come to kill us… then we will fight back. At least we will not pretend it's justice to protect ourselves. At least we will not make up excuses to go and slaughter others! Unlike you, we will never have an excuse for killing the innocent!"
After placing Checofs Promise into my saddlebag, I looked at the dying sheriff one last time. I had one last thing to say. "You know, Hardballer told me something about Redeye. A fatal flaw of his. He said that he couldn't leave something well enough alone. That he had to have his hooves in everypony’s business. That it ultimately made him enemies in every corner of the wasteland and few allies to be found. It left him isolated and surrounded by those who wanted to use him. You… you were no different. You could not leave things well enough alone. You were deaf to everypony but those who only had their own interests in mind, not the towns. You're just his shadow, just like this wasteland is the shadow of the Ministrys. Nothing ever changed. It just became a lesser version of itself."
I took a deep breath to say more, to vent more, but the room was silent. Ashy was silent. Her eyes still looked at me with hate, but were now dead... empty. Sighing, I reached over and closed her eyes before limping out. A trail of bloody hoofprints followed me.
The roar of an engine greeted me as I saw Live Axle drive on the Loan Wander. She wore my Stable-Tec jacket under her vest. She looked at me with hard, sorrowful eyes. "So… it's done?"
I nodded. "Want to take a look?"
Live shook her head. "I believe you. Now get on before some pony sees this. Crankshaft has already moved the Smuggler to the Followers camp."
Getting onto the back of the motorcycle, I wrapped my hooves around Live Axle as tightly as my injured shoulder would allow. "Will this end the call for war, or does more blood need to be spilled?"
"I… I think this will do. If the one responsible is dead, then it should," Live Axle said before revving the engine and driving off.
I was sick and tired of seeing death, but mostly just tired.
Unique Item returned: Chekhov's Promise - This classic .45 auto pistol was hoof crafted by a stable-tec gunsmith with the stable-tec mindset to make things last. The gun itself has a strange air about it. It fires unreliably and sometimes mysteriously fires an extra shot.
“Never draw your gun unless you mean to use it.” - Musket Ball.
Trait: Good Natured - Harp focused on less combative skills growing up. Instead, she focused more on social and constructive skills.
Trait: Small Frame - Due to her small size, she have +1 Agility but your limbs are more easily crippled (25% extra limb damage).
Unique Trait: Blood of Platinum - As a direct descendant of Princess Platinum, Harp has a natural aura of authority and power which is both magical and social. When performing magical feats, Harp gains a 2x power boost and has unique dialogue options open to her.
Learned Perk: Princess Training - Charisma.
Learned Perk: Educated - You gain two more skill points every time you advance in level.
Learned Skill: Take Charge - Sometimes just giving orders is all a pony needs to do to get things done. When Harp Melody gives out commands in combat to her friends/companions, they gain a 5% boost to damage, accuracy, and critical chance.
Perk: Presence- Harp commands the attention of those around her. The average pony will have a somewhat positive opinion of her before even knowing her.
Perk: Empathy- Harp has grown to understand the ponies in the wasteland and knows how she must talk to them to get a favorable or negative response from them.
Perk: Guardian Dulhan- As though death itself had come to drag the wicked to the river stix, it appeared like a nightmare. In battle, a strange headless pony in black armor will come to Harps aid. The entity is dual-wielding two revolvers that are engulfed in blue fire. The presence of this pony gives Harp an unnatural aura when around death. This greatly increases her ability to eliminate. As mysteriously as the pony appears, it vanishes, leaving behind the smell of brimstone and installing terror in those who have seen it.
-Gear-
-Phorminx's Enforcer: A simple compact revolver that is easily concealed. It was once used by Harp’s father, Phorminx. It was gifted to her for safekeeping. This revolver has a +10% to critical chance and critical damage.
-Lelantos: A prototype bolt launcher using a revolver system. This air rifle is devastating at medium range. It uses easily recovered steel bolts. It is powered by mirage pony magic. No other race can effectively use this gun unless they're willing to strap spark batteries to it.
-Companion-
Order: Harp’s recon drone. It’s VI system has evolved into an early-stage AI. which is equiped with two Lelantos rifles. The droned can also be installed with up to three talismans. Order lets Harp fight without having her put herself into danger.
The Followers took Star to patch her up. They were more surprised to see that she was alive than at seeing all the blood that covered her. Same for Slowtrot when he showed up with a hole in his shoulder, but at least he’s still alive enough to slowly trot to a medical tent.
"I had warned Ashy many times that this would happen, Harp," Jali said to me as she sucked on a cigarette. Some of the smoke leaked through holes in her neck and cheek. "But she just kept on pushing, and now it's all over."
I had run out of any patience that I might have had after the attack on the Desperados. I could tell that Jali knew it. Before Slowtrot had shown up, I told her what had happened. The old ghoul began chain-smoking right there. The stress of one horrible event happening right after the next, along with getting kicked out of town, must have caught up with her.
Jali finished off another cigarette and said, "Maybe, and it's just me, but I think she wanted someone to kill her. To end her suffering."
"And take as many ponies with her as possible. She sure got what she wanted," I said with a huff.
I sipped on a Sparkle-Cola as I looked over at the horizon. The sun was finally peeking over. It bathed the land in pinks, reds and orange as the blue sky slowly returned. All the fighting and anger had kept me going up until now, but exhaustion had finally caught up. The caffeinated drink was the only thing keeping me going.
Jali lit another cigarette. She placed it in her mouth and puffed. "At least it's over, for what good that's worth. I can at least tell Velvet what happened, though even her power in the NCR has its limits. With her husband, Calamity, running for president, I have no doubt they will be forced to have an opinion on what happened here. They will likely have to denounce you three as outlaws, otherwise they’d risk becoming marginalized right before an election."
I understood politics very well. Even though my family stood above all others, my mothern still had to placate the mayors and other ponies with power. She would tell my siblings and I that if the royal family ever lost favor, there would be a convenient peasant revolt waiting to put a new dictator in charge. In that respect even in the wasteland, that had not changed except now I was an easily disposed of an outsider.
"It's a good thing that we are leaving as soon as possible. I got my own political fuckary back home to deal with. It’s time I get my hooves as far away from this one as possible." I then sighed. "I'm going to miss you. A lot."
She looked at me with a sly grin. "Ya, it's been… a thing. That's for sure. Let's hope we get to see each other again under better circumstances."
A small smile formed on my muzzle "Ya… I can only hope."
"Hope is sometimes all we have. Maybe it’s the only thing that has been keeping Equestria alive all this time. I know that I've lost everything but hope for the longest time. So don't stop hoping. Maybe that day will come.," Jali told me as before she finished off her cigarette. She lett it drop stomped it out. After that, she trotted off to one of the tents.
Looking at the camp, several of the petrified Desperados who could be saved had been brought over to be treated. The Followers themselves were absolutely stunned to see how we used that magic to save those lives, but I was unwilling to give up the talisman to them in case I ever needed it again. Still, it took a little weight off my shoulders to see those ponies finally recovering.
But to save the rest, it meant trotting to the lair of a monster who had their hooves in the creation of the wasteland itself. A pony who harmed my ancestors and is still hurting ponies today. Yet that was still far away and not yet a concern. No. Not yet.
"Oh HARP!" Soft hooves wrapped around me in a warm embrace as Cloudy Sunrise buried her face into my side. "I thought I'd never see you again."
I nuzzled my marefriend. I had not seen her for so long was painful, but now that pain faded in this very moment. "Cloudy, I've missed you."
She let go of me and gave me a stern look. "You know how worried everypony was?! For all three of you?! Then the news about the NCRCF came through and we were shocked. Those two jackasses said you led a prison riot!"
"Wait! Stone and Rock are still alive? Talk about dumb luck," I said in genuine surprise. "Oh, better keep them out of the brothel. One of them gave a zebra friend of mine an STD."
Cloudy frowned for a moment then laughed. It sounded like she was under a lot of stress, only for it to be lifted. "Ya, we know. We know." Again she hugged me. "Please tell me you're staying. I know you can't, but just tell me everything will go back to normal."
I hugged her back, but couldn't bring the words to say it. It was one lie I just could not say. Not to her. I wanted her to have hope. Desperately so, but not false hope.
"S… sorry... but I can't. Things will only get worse if I stay. Not just because of ponies that will come for me, but also ponies that will hurt you to hurt me. So I have to leave," I told her.
She squeezed me tighter. "And if I demand you stay, will you?"
"Then others will drag her away, for better or worse," spoke Waterspout. The sharply dressed hippogriff trotted over. He carryed a plane-looking saddlebag that stuck out like a sour hoof on him. "But I can't help but be reminded of my youth. So many goodbyes with many lovely hen's."
Cloudy finally let me go and snarled at her boss. "Not the time!"
He placed a talon on her shoulder. Concern was on his own face. "Sorry. Just trying to say that I understand. It's not like you will never see each other again. The Equestria wastelands is a big place, but not as big as you think. I’ve bumped into many creatures I thought I'd never see again. Some I wish I didn't."
With a long sigh, Cloudy relaxed. She rubbed her eyes as though wiping away her tears. "I guess I knew this was going to happen someday. I just wish it was not such a mess of a parting."
Waterspout glanced back at town. "A mess is an understatement."
He then lifted up the saddlebag with a wing and placed it next to me. "Never did get to pay you for the good work you did for us. Also, owe Star as well. It has not been easy without her keeping order."
Looking inside, there were clothes, a bag of caps, and several bottles of booze. There was even a picture frame with a photograph of the staff. Star stood alongside the other workers.
"I may be a shrewd business hippogriff, but Star is still family. A frightening and dangerous pony, but still family," he explained before pointing out, "Both your dresses are there. I also added six bottles of our top shelf in-house herbal vodka. It should last you a while if you drink responsibly."
"Fat luck that's going to happen," Star said as she trotted out of a nearby tent. My friend was covered in bloody bandages and was chewing on some sort of jerky. She looked like she had not been shot ten times.
Cloudy jumped, tackling Star into a hug. The smaller mare barely made Star budge. "Why must you keep getting yourself in trouble?!" she sobbed.
Star patted Cloudy on the head. "Because trouble finds me, but I'm sorry that I worried you."
"You better damn well be!" an angry Rusty Cleaver shouted as she scurried to Star followed by a shocked-looking Brass Chain. Both their Foals groggily trotted behind only to find energy when they saw Star. Once that happened, they zipped past their parents.
The fluttering of wings drew my attention as Longslide and Gyrojet landed nearby. Carrying in their talons wre both their children and a heavy-looking saddlebag.
With a big smile, Star beamed as she said, "So, you're bringing everypony just for me."
Longslide sighed as he put his son down. "Even if that wasn't true, I still need you to deliver some supplies for us. Have some of the griffins pushing the trailer over right now."
Both the young griffon hybrids rushed over to Star, giving her a hug. They clearly understood that she was leaving as they held her tight.
Under her smile, I could tell that Star was hurting inside. Up until recently, this was her home, and all of them were ... No, they are her family. If it was possible, I would tell her to stay. To be with the ponies who love her. It was unfair that she had to leave. unfair that the wasteland took one of the most important ponies in her life from her.
Star embraced the foals in a big hug for a long moment before letting them back down. Pepperbox clung to her tighter than the others, and Star had to gently peel her off. "I know,” Star acknowledged sympathetically. “I'm going to miss how adorable you are, but please be strong. Bridget is going to need you and your brother. Family must be strong for each other and I know that Gunrunners are stronger than any griffons in this wasteland."
She turned to Copper Wire and Light Step. "Both of you too as well. Good friends are worth more than all the caps in the world. like a mountain of them. Treat Bridget right and I know she will treasure you."
"Star, what are you on about?" Longslide asked.
She got up, a crack in her smile now betrayed the sorrow she must be feeling. "Longslide… I want you to look after Bridget for me. I can't take her with me. Not where I'm going."
Longslide squinted at Star, concern just barely visible on his face. "And where is that?"
She took a deep breath as she stepped forward where the foals couldn't quite see her face. Her expression turned to a cold determination. "A friend wants me to go home, so I'm going home to see them. It's not a place for good foals like Bridget."
Longslide didn't respond for several seconds, then slowly nodded. "Dad always told me it's best to throw out your own garbage no matter how old it is. So, when you're done with that, you better come back here. You’re her only mother, and I've long lost faith that my stupid brother will ever return."
A true and happy smile formed on Star's face along with a tear in her eye. "Thank you… thank you so much."
"We're family, Star. It's what we do," Longslide told her.
A clunk near me drew my attention to Gyrojet who dropped their saddlebag next to the one Waterspout had left. Inside one bag was an ammo box. In the other was what looked like some tools and mechanical parts.
"Longslide will never admit it, Harp, but he was worried sick about you. So much so that he worked on the ammo press just to distract himself," Gyrojet informed me as she pulled out one of the tools. "We got a lot of spares, so these old tools are no loss to us, along with the extra parts for the Smuggler’s workbench. Think of it as part of your payment for the job. We also packed most of Star's things, what little she had. It’s mostly jewelry and a few magazines."
She reached out and patted me on my head, ruffling up my mane a little. "You did a lot for us. It's amazing that the time has been so short. Take care of my husband's baby, but don't be afraid of giving it a few more scratches."
A bump on my flank was followed by Cloudy resting her head on my shoulder. The mare made a little motion for us to move a bit away from the crowd before trotting off herself.
"I'll keep that in mind Gyrojet, and I hope your foul, or chick… your baby comes out healthy and happy," I told the griffin as I followed Cloudy.
Looking back, I saw Star giving Brass Chain a big hug as a few of the others laughed.
Once we were far enough away that things felt quiet, Cloudy stopped. She looked nervous and downtrodden. I tried to say something to cheer her up but she interupted me with a kiss.
Until this moment, I didn't know I needed this. This embrace, this kiss. I didn’t want it to end. Yet it had to. We both nuzzled each other for a moment longer, taking it all in. The touch, the smell, the taste. I had missed it all.
"Harp… I just…" she was nervous as she spoke, so I held her hooves.
"Just say it. I'm here for you," I told her.
Cloudy took a deep breath and said it. "I… I want to break up… sorry."
"What?" My brain stopped as everything went blank with only the echoing of her words could be heard.
"It's just after everything that happened, I've come to realize that I’m not ready for such a serious relationship. It was fun. Really fun, but maybe too fun. I got to thinking after you were taken away about what I liked about you, and maybe what I liked was that sophisticated air you had. You were a cute pony who doesn't do crazy things. What I'm trying to -"
Cloudy stopped as I began to laugh, finding it ridiculous. "So you want a… princess, but not one that hunts raiders and such."
She nodded slowly. "When you left to deal with the raiders… it reminded me of my father and how he likely died out there all alone and wanting to come back home."
I knew what she was doing, but at the same time, I could tell that she was not lying. She needed a pony that could stay near her. To give her the peace of mind that one day she would not be left all alone with no knowledge of what happened to her loved one. She was also letting me go, freeing me from any responsibility to her.
From here on, there was nothing tying me to this town other than bittersweet memories.
"I… understand," I told her.
Cloudy backed away, clearly trying not to cry before trotting back to the others.
I don't know why, but it did hurt hearing her say that. I knew the relationship was over and it was never that serious to begin with, but it still hurt in my heart for her to break up with me. I still didn't know if it was love or lust, but I did know that I cared for her. Leaving her also left an emptiness in my heart.
So I sat there, looking at the sunrise as slight breeze caressing my fur.
A shuffling behind me was followed by Slowtrot asking. "You alright?"
The stallion was now wearing the white long coat he found in his last time jump. The Desperados vest was under it and the Followers armband was attached. It made him look like some high-class mad scientist.
I shook my head. "No, but I will be. It's just the first time I've ever been dumped. That's all."
He sat down next to me. A dopey expression was on his face. "Ya, that never gets easy. But look on the bright side; now you don't have an excuse to turn down all those ponies."
I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you serious?"
Slowtrot chuckled which caused him to wince in pain. "No… well, maybe a little. I still agree with you not wanting to bed convicts, but we're going to be wanted ponies now, aren't we? So it doesn't matter all that much anymore."
Looking back at the sunset, I chucked a little as well. "No. No, it doesn't. Still, I have standards, so no fucking way am I going to act like Star."
"Oh?" Star spoke up from behind us as she trotted over and sat down on my other side. "Says the little mare who wanted to hear all about how I got dominated by two Zebras. Even watched the video. But ya, it's not a good idea to act like me. I'm not that smart."
She turned to Slowtrot. The happy look on her face diminished. "I heard about Dead Axle."
"There's still a chance she can be saved," he reported with a sigh.
"Like a quest from all those ancient tales," Star commented.
I nodded. "Feels like it. Maybe we'll save a princess along the way."
They both looked at me and then laughed.
After a long moment, we got up, knowing it was time for us to go. Most of the ponies that had come to say goodby had already begun to leave. Likely they knew if they stay for too long they too will be tied to what we did by association.
As we trotted to the Smuggler, several of the Desperados were standing around as the Gunrunners were attaching a trailer to the back of the vehicle. Not far was the other trailer the Desperados had been holding for the Gunrunners, finally completing the deal the two had made.
Talking with Longslide was Elder Big Papa. When the ghoul Arras saw us, he smiled and waved us over.
"So I hope this war is over?" I asked the elder ghoul.
"As Desperados yourselves, I can say you have honorably delivered the revenge we craved and without innocent blood spilled by our hooves," Arras calmly said with a smile. "Though the cycle of hate will likely keep spinning, it's good to know that, for now, our hooves are clean."
Longslide huffed as he got off the Smuggler. "Though I wish I could have seen Ashy be dragged through an NCR court. But truthfully, I'm just glad that I, and the rest of the Gunrunners, can move on. And maybe, with Ashy now gone, things can calm down."
He pointed to the back of the Smuggler. "We made sure that the workbench was finished. You should be able to safely press your own ammo as well as clean and modify any guns you get your hooves on. Treat my baby well and she will take good care of you."
"Thanks again, Longslide," I told him as I looked on our ride out of here. "I hope you're business will flourish."
A cocky grin formed on his face. "No need to hope. Other than the NCR wanting me to make them their own Smuggler, we also have an order for making more service rifles. Even without the town, we will get by."
I turned to Arras. The ghoul was looking over at some of his now recovered clan mates. "So what's next?"
He sighed, turning his gaze over at me. "We bury our dead and hunt down the supply cases you pulled out of Blue Skies while the others pack up. Then we finish scavenging that town and stable before heading north. Shouldn't take more than a day. I doubt anypony will give us problems."
"Then that's it. It's time to go," I said. The words I spoke felt both heavy and hollow.
"That time always comes," Arras said as he started trotting to the other Desperados. "Trust me when I say this, Harp, an ending is never just the end, but simply the time for a new story to start."
"That I can agree," Azure said from the Smuggler's passenger seat.
I had started getting used to him appearing like that, so I was only startled a little.
The lurker clicked his face claws in a way that sounded a bit happy. "Though I would love to see how this town will change, we do have places to be. I have a feeling that there will be far more interesting stories to experience out there anyway."
He scooted over to give me room to board the Smuggler. Getting on, I placed my bolt launcher in its vehicle holster and made myself comfortable. It was strange to be in the Smuggler again after such a short time. It was like I was now where I was supposed to be, and in being here, things were going to be alright.
Slowtrot turned on the engine. Star Charter climbed into the gunner nest. But before we could go, the cry of a young filly stopped us.
"Mommy, don't leave me!" Bridget cried out as she galloped, hoped, and flew into her mother’s arms. "Don't go!"
Star held onto her daughter tightly. "I'm so sorry baby, but I can't stay."
"Then take me with you!" Bridget sobbed.
Star sobbed as well. "I can't. It's too dangerous."
"But I'll be good. I won't do anything bad again," the filly pleaded.
"You never ever have been a bad filly, so don't say that," Star said through her tears.
This only made Bridget cry more. "But why are you leaving? I don't want you to go. I don't want to be alone."
Star gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry baby…"
Longslide flew over, ready to take his niece.
Stroking her daughter's head, Star told her. "Mommy's going on another adventure. I’m going to punish some really bad ponies. So be good for me. Be good for your aunt and uncle. I will return, and I'll tell you all about it. I'll even bring you some souvenirs."
"I don't want souvenirs. I want you, Mommy!" Bridget again pleaded.
"I know, and I want to be with you too, more than anything in the world," Star said through tears as she pulled Bridget off her. "But the bad ponies that hurt mom… hurt grandma, they will hurt you too If I don't go and punish them. I promise I'll return to you. Even if I have to turn this wasteland red, we will be a family again."
"MOMMY!" Bridget screamed as Longslide took her. The filly struggled with all her might as he flew back.
I watched as Star buried her head into the Aeternus, still sobbing.
I reached out to her, "Star… it will-"
"Shut up!" She quietly growled. "Go. Let’s… just go."
Sitting back down, I let my friend quietly sob as the Smuggler slowly lurched forward and drove away. The cries of Bridget faded the further away we got, eventually drowned out by the Smuggler's engine.
Ahead of us, for now, was the sunrise, and behind us was the past. A town built from the scavenged ruins of the old world. It sought a new future in this cursed wasteland the ponies of old made. It was filled with good ponies and bad ponies. It had those who struggled to get by and those who made others struggle. It had ponies I loved and those I hated.
It is a place we could never return since we left it with bloody hoof prints.
New Appleloosa, for the Lightbringer, was her first stop in the wasteland where her existence as a hero started.
For others, it's a place in a story, of which they may one day visit.
For those who live there, it is simply home.
And for us… it was the place we had to leave to truly begin this long adventure. A gateway to the wasteland and a promise of a new life left unfulfilled.
New Appleloosa was a lot dryer than the last time I was here, but also bigger too. I wouldn't have recognized the place if no creature had told me where I was when I had gotten off the train.
"You're finally here. I was getting worried that Gwad had decided to abandon this place." Ambassador Gavril greeted us. The former ranger reached out to hug our vetren ranger.
The old griffin stopped the ambassador in his tracks by pointing one talon in his face. "We ain't never been that close, Gavril," he warned. He looked over at me and pointed to the mayor's office. "Green claw, go tell the fuck head mayor we’re here. I have some paperwork to fill out."
Saluting my superior, I turned to the team of twenty NCR troopers that were assigned to us. Their job was to secure the stability of the town since most of their law officers had died and the mercenaries left. "Let’s go, and don't fuck with the locals… yet."
As we trotted down the main street, one of the lieutenants broke formation and matched pace with me. "Say, isn't this your home town? Got family here, right?"
I glared at the idiot through my ranger helmet. "None of your business… but ya, though my old buzzard of a dad is liable to shoot me as soon as he sees me."
"Fuck! Whad ya do?" he asked innocently.
"I… broke a promise and ran away from my responsibility," I said solemnly.
Inside the mayor's office, I could hear yelling. The ponies inside were clearly not having the best of times. I could only imagine how much worse they would react if they knew it was me under this mask.
Looking at the troopers, I ordered them to stand outside as I went in.
A portly looking mayor Espresso was yelling at a less than held together Deputy Willow, both looking at least a bit drunk.
"I don't care. just tell the NCR to fuck off out of my town. Nopony wants them here. No pony needs them here!" Espresso loudly elaborated.
"With all due respect, there are only five of us left. Even if we wanted to push the NCR out, we don't have the pony power!" Willow yelled back. "And how were we to know that Blue Skies would just up and leave like that?! At this rate, without the NCR, we're just one big target for every raider in the wasteland."
The mayor glanced my way. "Oh look, a fucking NCR ranger. Just shoot me already."
I trotted over to them, making it nice and slow to piss them off. "Hello Espresso, Willow. I'm here to inform you that twenty NCR troops have arrived to help stabilize the town. More are on their way. I do hope we can find common ground in these troubling times."
Willow sunk into his seat. He grabbed a bottle of whisky. Espresso, on the other hoof, just glared at me and yelled. "Get the fuck out!"
I wish he could see me smile as I told him, "Also, to ensure we help serve the ponies of New Appaloosa to the best of our abilities, we will be holding an election within a month's time. As new members of the NCR, we look forward to your corporation, Mayor."
Espresso chucked a half full bottle of booze at me. It bounced off my helmet harmlessly and shattered on the ground. "GET OUT!"
"Gladly," I told them as I turned to leave.
I barely contained a chuckle as I left since pissing off that sack of brahmin shit had been something I wanted to do for so long.
"Sorry, but no visitors. NCR business only!" The lieutenant told one of our new citizens.
As I stepped out, I saw it was a griffin… no, a hippogriff…SHIT! It was Longslide! Among all the creatures in this town, he was among the few I was not ready to deal with.
He looked at me and pushed the lieutenant aside. "Good. I need to talk with one of you assholes about that damn custom order your superiors keep requesting. It’s what my father did, and he's not around to do it anymore!"
"Dads… gone?!" I asked in shock.
Longslide froze. His eyes widened as he looked at me. His eyes went from my hemet, down to my talons, then further back to my hooves at my flank. He then snarled. "Skipper!"
I took off my helmet, unsure what to say. "Ehh… I'm home."
We both said nothing as we stood there. The painfully long moment was only broken by a filly crashing into Longslide.
"Uncle! Uncle! Look at what I drew!" The filly yelled as she held up a yellowed piece of paper. It had a crude drawing of a blue pony with a green mane and tail.
She had the same pink fur as I and dad have, but with a thick wavy green mane. Her talons, wings and tail were that of a griffon, but she had the cute face of a pony, similar to that of a mare I loved. Seeing this little filly sent a pin into my heart since I knew who she was.
Longslide bent down and took the drawing as he patted her on the head. "Nicely done, Bridget. That looks just like Star." He then looked at me, glaring with anger that had been smoldering for over six years. "Now Bridget, why don't you go get your cousins and meet me back at the compound. There is someone you need to meet."
With a big grin on her face, my daughter ran off, skipping with excitement.
Getting up, Longslide passed me the drawing of Star Charter. "Your fucking late, as usual. Now finish your business and come home. There's a lot of shit you need to make up for."
I couldn't argue. I didn't have the right. "Fine, but first, tell me where Star is. I need to apologize to her… for everything."
Longslide sighed. "Sorry, but that's impossible."
My heart almost stopped. my mind raced with the worst conclusion. "What do you mean? Please tell me she's not dead!"
My brother pointed to a board near the entrance of the mayor's office. It was covered in notices long unfulfilled, but had three new wanted posters. One of them had the drawing of Star, but her wavy mane was far longer, almost covering one of her eyes.
"She is far away from here now. Likely she’ll never return," Longslide told me.
I looked at him in genuine shock. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you all about it later when you come home." Longslide bargained me as he turned around and trotted off. All I could do was watch.
Meanwhile, my mind was a mess.
The lieutenant whistled loudly. "I think I might know what's going on, ranger. Hate to be in your hooves."
"Shut up, lieutenant. That's an order," I growled. He saluted and got back in formation.
I reached over and tore Star's poster off the wall. As I looked at it, I also pulled out a small box from my pocket. Inside was an old world ring I found and polished up. Gripping both tightly, I didn't know what I'll learn from my brother, but I did know one thing.
I should never have run away. It was time I started taking responsibility.
In the time after the Lightbringer festival, New Appleloosa would go through a dramatic change. Without the protection of it’s vigilant guardian, the town would be annexed by the ever expanding New Canterlot Republic, becoming the new nations western most territory. For merchants traveling from the west, the town would become the final stop in their journey through the wasteland and their return to civilization. For those seeking independence, New Appaloosa became a symbol of the NCR’s insatiable hunger for territory and control. But for the citizens of the NCR, the annexing of the town was simply another example of Equestria slowly recovering and slowly becoming unified once again.
-
Mayor Espresso knew his time was up. All his old rivals were part of the NCR and they knew how to deal with him, unlike the townsfolk of New Appaloosa. Before even the first political smear even reached the town, Espresso had poached his things and vanished. The void left behind helped the NCR transition their new citizens to their new lives as members of the NCR.
-
Though still plentiful in number, the remaining deputies were shattered by the death of Ashy Oaks and further devastated by the evidence of her murdering Hardballer and the raid on the Desperados. They would quickly disband until there was only a hoof full left. Many found small settlements in need of a protector far off in the wasteland.
-
Deputy Willow never quite recovered from the loss of his hero and mentor, but was worst affected by the knowledge that he had done nothing to help Ashy Oak’s from herself. Though doing his best to take up her mantle as sheriff of New Appaloosa, he only lasted a year before passing on his badge. Supported by his wife, Willow would refocus his life to the care of his family and attempted to start a farm just outside of town.
-
The New Appaloosa General store stayed as it was, tended to Heavy Hoof diligently. What did change was that things were now a lot quieter for the stallion since his wife, Karat Gold, ran off with the town doctor along with his kids. Though lonely, he was also a lot more at peace and would soon remarry the dancer Rusty Clever and adopt her daughter and newborn son. Strangely, though not strange at all to those who knew, they looked more like a family then Heavy Hoof had with his first wife.
-
The practice of chain gangs would be banned soon after Calamity took office as president of the NCR. He decryed it as slavery under a diffrent name. This led to the NCR having to precure cheap materials through more diplomatic means which resulted in the quarries of New Appaloosa having a bigger inflow of money and able to bring in more workers to break rocks. This also had the benefit of providing the NCR more taxpayers in which to support the system. This, in turn, painted Calamity as an economic genius, even if he had no idea that that would happen.
-
The Followers of the Apocalypse would eventually return to New Appaloosa, taking over the void that Quacksalver would leave after being found out to be a fraud. His medicine was nothing more than sugar pills and diluted chems. Under the supervision of Velvet Remedy, a proper clinic would finally be made. The health of the citizens would gradually improve. Though New Appaloosa would suffer from chem abuse for the foreseeable future, the new clinic would at least ease their pain as they slowly recover.
-
Jali would move on from New Appaloosa, staying in Junction Town for a time as she worked on making a medical scanner device. She tirelessly attempted to recreate the technology that would undoubtedly help save many lives. The notes she copped from Slowtrot’s pipbuck would rattle in her ancient mind along with the name Doctor Life Beat. The name translated to Ukushaya kwempilo, which happens to be the same name her grandfather had. The thought would drift from her mind as she refocused on her work. The future was far more important to her than the past.
-
With an influx of customers, the Ruffled Feathers would continue to be what it always had been, a wild and raunchy place for any creature to unwined. Its owner eventually had to expand the joint and hire more staff to manage it. In time, ponies from all over the NCR would come to the “Taver” looking to get their start as dancers and “entertainers”.
-
Cloudy Sunrise would later retire from her job at the Ruffled Feathers after having been scouted by Apricot. With the NCR in power, the discrimination againt the pegisi was lifted, legaly at least, and the most popular mare in town could finally spread her wings. With her cheerful disposition and skills she had gained from the Ruffled Feathers, her popularity would only grow. She would quickly become the manager of the Saloon. Later, Cloudy would find a new partner in a simple mare that moved in from the west after hearing about New Appaloosa, and strangely enough, already knew Cloudy by name. She learned from a friend she had made out there.
-
Brass Chain would relapse in her alcoholism and nearly passed away only to be saved by her son Copper Wire. Her near death experience would do little to cure her from her deeply bedded trauma, but she was forced by her son to regularly visit the new clinic. Under the protective eye of her son, she would improve. Slowly but surely she would become the mother Star knew she could be.
-
Nothing much changed for the Gunrunners, though they were now far busier than before. They later called in for more claws to assist them with the orders. For anypony heading into the wasteland, their first stop, after getting drunk at the saloon or the Ruffle Feathers, was always the Gunrunners. This provided plenty of reliable and new guns and ammo. Raiders would become rarer and rarer in the region as everypony had a gun they could rely on and enough ammo to protect themselves and their family with.
-
Longslide, recognised as the new leader of the New Appaloosa branch of the Gunrunners, would find little rest in the years to come. Between being a father of five and the inventor of a new line of mortar wagons, which he just started calling them carts for short, his work would never end. When he rode in the fleet of NCR transport carts with his family, he truly felt happy. Even more happy when he got to test out the NCR’s new machine gun attached to the cart's gunner nest.
-
The NCRCF would be left as a ruin, later reclaimed by scavengers. It was taken apart bit by bit. The only thing that would remain of its existence would be it’s broken foundation and a strange circle of ashes that smells of sulfur.
-
The residence of New Appaloosa would finally finish what the Lightbringer started and permanently sealed Stable 24 using explosives to cave in the tunnel leading to the rusty cog shaped door. Tales of the monsters that once called it home would persist. All could at least sleep soundly knowing that no longer could monsters come from it again.
-
Blue Skies would continue to do business within the region, taking no responsibility over what happened to the Desperados or for the cut chems being distributed through the market. They were, after all, a simple guild of merchants, not a single company. If any members were found breaking any law, they did it independently. It also helped that they made friends with some of the higher ups in the NCR who may have pulled a few strings to keep eyes where Blue Skies wanted them. Still, rumours of their less than savory business practices persisted. Because of that, few politicians in the NCR would openly support them, and that’s how Blue Skies liked it.
-
Victoria would continue her tour of the NCR, spreading music and cheer, along with being followed by fans wherever she went. Few would ask about the ponies that would go missing who had followed her since ponies went missing all the time in the wasteland. When her tour was over and Victoria could rest, she simply disappeared from public view and could not be found unless she was scheduled to appear. But one question was asked by those not interested in her music. “How was it that she could so easily whip a crowd into a frenzy by merely staring at them alone?”
-
Bridget would bounce back, as all young foals tend to do, but not once did she stop thinking of her mother. When her father finally returned home, the filly had only one question for him. “Can we go find mom?”
-
The wasteland has many tales. Some good. Some bad, and some of them mutated. The tale about the New Appaloosa shootout would become quite popular and exaggerated, as tales go. It started with two ponies falling from the clear blue sky and ended with a bloody shootout with a legendary sheriff turned mad mare. The three ponies who broke out of prison and enacted revenge would receive names like so many wasteland legends. But only one stuck, “The Desperados”.
