I just realized, I haven't been disclaiming, have I? Well, at the risk of further copyright infringement: I own nothing. Read on, my friends, read on.

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"What do you mean, 'I'm not sure about that'?' Rainbow asks, "You don't know your own name?"

"Vait a second, you're sure you'd be okay wis zis?" Bourbon expertly changes the subject, sipping from his drink.

"Well, yeah, I think. What even IS Rathaus?"

Bourbon chokes on his drink, his eyes widening in disbelief, and his chair falling back onto all four legs. "You've never heard of Rathaus? Ver are you FROM?"

"Outreach, where are YOU from? I've never heard an accent like yours."

"Rathaus is ze biggest collection of criminal scum in ze entire metro, how have the rumors and legends not reached your station?" Another pro subject change.

Twilight and Rainbow look at each other with shared confusion. "Then why do you want to go there?" Twilight poses the question both were silently asking.

Bourbon looks down at the table, sighing.

"I'm going to share vis you an old saying from my home town: you ask me no qvestions, I tell you no lies. Understand?"

They nod in unison, figuring that he had a very good reason for not telling them, but still silently wondering what it could be. Bourbon's head suddenly snaps up, as if noticing something for the first time.

"Vait a second, you came from Outreach? I sought zat station vas deserted?" A look questioning creeps over his face, as if not believing that was really where they came from.

"Yeah, everypony seems to think that, but it's still alive." This makes Bourbon lean back again, clearly thinking, muttering to himself. Dash picks up a few words. If Outreach is … no, no, no … but that means that … Could she still … alive?

"Who is this 'she' you're talking about? I probably know her," she says.

"And you said zat you vould accompany me, does zat still hold?" Dammit.

"Yeah, sure. But why do you keep changing the subject?"

He thinks for a few seconds about how to answer, knowing that if they're his ticket to Rathaus, he owes them at least an answer to that.

"Let's just say zat some qvestions are better left unanswered." Dash could live with that.

"Alright, so we help you to this station, do we get anything in return?" Twilight, who was mostly silent until now, asks. Bourbon reaches into his rucksack and pulls out two small pouches, laying them on the table in front of him.

"Fifty cartridges. Each. Do I have a deal?" He lifts an eyebrow.

Dash immediately replies. "Deal." She stretches her hand out to shake. Bourbon firmly grasps it, shaking it firmly.

He sits back for again and starts to chuckle.

"What?" Twilight asks.

"I just can't believe zat after all of ze tough guys I've been true, all of whom vere too scared to go. And now, my tickets out of zis little station and to Rathaus are two little mares vrom a little piece of shit station like Outreach. Ze vay life works…" He replies, chuckling at the end.

"Yes well, if you're done insulting our station, us two are gonna rest up a bit, and then we'll go." Dash says. She stands up and walks through the door to the shiny, brazen station, quickly followed by Twilight.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you crazy? Why did you say 'yes' to that guy?" Twilight whisper screams at Dash after they had left the restaurant.

"Hey, I figure: it's near Central anyway, we gain, and we're safer in the tunnels. It seems like a win-win to me." she explains. Twilight thinks for a moment, then nods in understanding and admiration of her friends quick reasoning. Rainbow Dash may not be the book smartest pony ever, but she had undeniable street smarts.

"I can see that, nice thinking on your hooves."

Dash and Twilight eventually find themselves at the market. Dash surveys the weapons and ammunition, while Twilight searches the books, trying to find something she hasn't read yet.

"You lookin' for a good weapon?" a slightly greasy mechanic says to Dash, noticing her looking through the armament, "Well, check this badass out." He takes out a high-tech looking rifle and places it on his sales table. It somewhat resembles a cross between an M-16 and a mace with a firing mechanism.

"This bad boy right here is a custom build, high power, high capacity, shock resistant gauss rifle. I can almost assure you that you won't find anything like it in the entire metro, except here," he says with a smug grin.

"What does it fire? What type of ammo?"

"Ah, that's the wonderful thing about gauss rifles, it fires anything that's metal. A small nail, a chunk of twisted debris, your enemy's disassembled gear, anything."

Dash is a little more than a tad suspicious. "I don't believe you," she says, narrowing her eyes challengingly.

"Then go ahead and test-fire it, there's a target back there," he points to a crudely drawn series of circles on a piece of plywood, "And here's a piece of a nail. Go at it." He loads the nail into the internal ammo store of the weapon, and hands it to Dash. She levels the rifle, aiming at the bulls eye, even though she still doubted it would work, and gently pulls the trigger. There is almost no noise, just the sound of the nail as it travels through space to its target, hitting it dead center.

"What did I tell you? Not another in the metro like it yet, that's the first production of the first model." The mechanic sits down and leans back, crossing his arms cockily behind his head.

"How much?" Dash asks simply. "Starting at 150 bits."

The mechanic almost falls over in laughter, given his precarious position.

"I'm sorry, did I just hear you say 'bits'? For money?" he asks, going into another laughing fit.

"Well, yeah. What does YOUR station use for money?" Dash asks, annoyed at the mechanic's outburst. This is about when Rarity would call him a 'ruffian'. she thinks.

"I can tell you what I use bits for, as test ammo for that gauss. We haven't used bits since the fall of old Equestria. We use bullets down here now. Much more functional." He explains, wiping away his laughter-induced tears. "Starting 50 bulle-"

"Done!" Dash cuts him off, immediately accepting the offer, seemingly to the mechanics surprise.

"Really?- A-ah, I mean yeah, sure, done deal." He outstretches his oily hand, with Dash takes and shakes heartily.

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So, Dash has a gauss rifle. If I were there, I think I would shit myself. Then I would realize that Rainbow Dash is there, and hug her. 'Till next time /)*(\