The soft crackle of a fire met my ears when I’d woken from the orb. Despite the warmth the fire gave off, the floor under my body felt cold. I’d been stripped of my jacket, and from as far as I could tell, my hat. The bindings that had been placed around my eyes and muzzle were still as secure as ever, though I wasn’t sure what had become of my abductor. I twisted my ears around in the hope that I heard any distinguishing sounds. Unfortunately, it was dead silent.

“You are awake.” My captor spoke up so suddenly that I yelped and flailed my strangely unbound hooves. Why do ponies have to sneak up on me all the fucking time? He chuckled at my fear. “Ah, I am sorry. I did not mean to startle you.”

The knot that held the bandana loosened and it slipped off. The light blue aura of the Zony drew it away from my eyes and nearly blinded me with the what I could best guess was the light of mid-day. As I looked around, I had to squint my eyes until they adjusted properly. On the horizon sat a dark dot that I’d assumed was the hotel.

“Because we are no longer in danger of being heard…” He spoke up again as I felt a tug on my muzzle binding. It loosened and dropped off me as I lolled my tongue. “I would hope you might still be civil and avoid needless screaming.” He levitated over a bottle of dirty looking water to my muzzle and waited for me to grab it. With little hesitation, I fumbled with my hooves to pull the bottle to my lips.

I guzzled down the gritty liquid so fast I nearly choked on it. It could have contained a sedative in it, or even poison for all I knew, but I didn’t care. I was thirsty as fuck from the previous day’s exploits, and this was a gift I couldn’t refuse. As I coughed and sputtered, I caught a glimpse of him smiling at me. Even though he was obviously blind, why did it feel like he was still looking at me?

“Why?” I said as I wiped the dripping water from my muzzle. “Why untie me now?”

“Because I have to trust that you know you can not run.” He simply smiled and stared as he spoke. “From one hunter to another, we both know what happens when a contract becomes more trouble than it’s worth.”

For a moment, I thought about how this mess all got started.

“Not so much. I never take contracts for living targets.” I felt smug in my response. His words were a thinly veiled threat, and he knew that I understood what he had insinuated. Still, there has to be a way to get the upper hoof on this Asshole.

“I will not harm you. Your are too important to kill, but I do not wish to sedate you for the rest of our journey.” He laughed again. “As for what you said, that’s not the story I’ve overheard.” His muzzle grew into a fiendish smile. “It is amazing how fast a story can spread when you attach this high of a bounty to it.”

“Tell me then, what have you heard of me?” I’d always wondered what it would be like to be a legend, I just never thought I’d become a legendary outlaw. Then again, I could be the laughing stock of the bounty hunting community.

“One such story talks of a highly charismatic gunfighter. Another talks of the meanest mare from Baltimare. Yet another only describes only the latest case of misfortune in the wastes.” His smile dropped and he rolled one of his shoulders. He leaned back with a sigh, pressing against a moldy bag filled with rock hard potatoes. “Then again, I do not care for such gossip. All I know is what is before me.”

“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” As he laid back, something caught my eye. It was a small, lemon shaped green energy pistol. It sat atop his saddlebags neatly and untouched. Instinctively, I reached out for it. In return, I felt a painful shock run straight from my horn down through my body. It was enough that I screamed momentarily.

“I told you, I have inhibited your magic.” He taunted. “Any attempt to use it will convince me that you have become uncooperative. You will receive no more warnings.”

Fantastic. Why couldn’t this have been the one time Storm inconveniently showed up? Even if she did, she’d only have lectured me on how much of a failure I’ve been. I slumped back into the ground, more so than I already was. If anypony had to find a way out of this, it had to be me. Come on, PC, you have to have something up your sleeve.

I took a minute and looked around again. We’d camped out on the flat concrete foundation of a building long destroyed. The sad thing was I’d known exactly where this place was. I liked to use this spot on my travels now and again because nopony ever wandered out this way. There was nothing around us in the rolling hills for miles, except for that hotel.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” I spoke up. “What is it that you see me as?”

“A mare who took a contract above her skill level.” He barely hesitated when he answered. “And a mare who was unfortunate enough for me to go after her.” He groaned out with that and got to his hooves.

“Just who are you?” I asked. The old water bottle crinkled in my hooves as I turned it over. I stuck out my tongue as the last precious drops rolled off and into my muzzle.

“My name is Null. I am one of Flint’s personal hunters.” Null smiled and sat down. “He sent us after you because you have proven quite hard to take down. He has an exceptional talent at finding the brightest minds from those around him, you know. After one look at me, he knew I was not fit to be the slave I was sold as. He knew how to motivate me to hone my sight, how to focus on my own talents.” he paused for a moment and floated himself out a can of green beans. “This is why he has chosen you.”

“Chosen me?” I replied in annoyance. “You know he’s the asshole that put the contract on me. If he had ‘chosen’ me, he could have at least made it just capture alive.”

“Ah, yet you are still alive.” Null laughed as he pulled the tab off the can. “Should you have died by this point, he would not care. Resilience however, is a rare trait to find.” He levitated out a glob of heavily preserved green beans. I could feel the saliva as it dripped down my maw. I’d just realized that I was hungry as all hell. “If we make it back in one piece, you might get the same offer the rest of us did. He is a fair stallion to work for if you sacrifice a few things.”

I wasn’t sure how, but he saw my gaze at his food, and mercifully he levitated it over to me. With as much vigor as I’d had with the water, I attacked the two centuries old vegetables. I didn’t even get a taste as I guzzled half of them down, only happy that I wouldn’t hear my stomach grumble again today. With that out of my mind, my vision crept back up to Null’s peculiar eyes.

“You would ask about my eyes then.” He shrugged and laid back. I hadn’t planned on getting his life story, but I might as well learn everything I could. Who knows, I might need it to kill the fucker. “As I said, I am not blind. Merely, I see only what most unicorns can feel.” His horn flashed, and a spark flew from my horn. I winced and rubbed at it before I noticed a thin trail of red that linked out horns.

“You can see magic?” I asked, quite unsure of how that would even work.

“That is correct.” He smiled widely. “Not only can I see the radiation in the dirt, or the magic in my pipbuck…” He held his toy up on his wrist and shook it. “I can see and cancel out the magic in other unicorns.”

“Hense the name.” I nodded. It made sense at least. He was suppressing it, so that’s why I couldn’t do anything with my own. How the hell is a pony even supposed fight that! Storm would be peachy-keen with her earth-ponyness, but come on! How do I contend with this shit! My ears perked as a soft beep emitted from his pipbuck. It drew his attention for only a moment,

“Rest time is over. We have much ground to cover until...” He froze mid sentence, twisting his ears to listen around us. I’d done that enough times to know what it meant.

“It is… music?” Null spoke up.

“Probably just some stupid spritebot.” I retorted and went back to eating my beans. On the off chance that I was wrong, I kept my ears perked towards it.

Sure enough, the sound of singing carried across the hills. I cringed as I realized it was another pre-war upbeat song, not unlike the record that I listened to in the Prison. Both Null and I kept our eyes peeled at the hills that the music resonated from. It was much louder than any spritebot I’d ever heard for the distance it had to be at.

At an almost non existent pace, a dark sphere lifted above one of the hills a good distance away. I thought almost nothing of the spritebot sized object as it continued to climb up. I could tell it was slightly oblong from the way it panned back and forth across the hills. Just another pre-war nuisance. I can’t tell you how many times one of these sorts of things had ruined my hunt.

Then from below it, rose a larger object.

It was almost hulking in size, damn near as big as a skywagon if you asked me. The spritebot was connected to the lower box section by some sort of mast. It made it look more like it was a set of raised binoculars for a tank than the small, harmless archano-tech robot I’d grown up around. The whole mass sat propped up on stilted wheels that slowly dragged the massive vehicle towards us. It wasn’t fast, but robots like this? They were built to be relentless. As the song ended and left us in silence, another odd sound met my ears.

Null muttered something in zebra which ended with a word that sounded like ‘shazbot’ or something. Whatever he said, I’m pretty sure it ended in some sort of zebra curse. Which pretty much meant that we were fucked.

“You know what that thing is?” I spoke up, only to have him whirl around on me. He scrambled over to me and put his hoof over my mouth.

“Shhh.” He whispered so quietly. “It hunts. We mustn’t let it make the first strike.” As he uncovered my mouth, he got up and tapped on his pipbuck. He floated out an odd looking device and pushed it against his pipbuck until it clicked into it. After a moment, he shimmered and disappeared before my eyes. I’d never seen a stealthbuck before, and had only heard the tales of the wondrous device from Storm and Bluejay. It was a shame I had more pressing things on my mind than figuring out how I could use it once I killed this asshole. That is… if I didn’t die now.

“Wait!” I gave out a harsh whisper. “What the hell am I supposed to do!”

The music got louder with each passing moment. I took a risk and popped my head up to see how close the machine was. To my surprise, it had covered more ground that I’d thought it would. How did something that moved so slow while being this noisy get the jump on us?

Maybe I’m not the only bounty hunter who overestimated themselves.

A loud zap sounded from over my shoulder, and for a moment, I could see Null. He held the weird energy weapon in his teeth with wide, fear filled eyes. There was a loud boom from the robot’s direction, and when I looked, half the spritebot head was gone. It showered sparks for a moment, and the whole machine came to a stop, song and all.

Then the head reformed. With a grinding shudder, the whole machination returned to life again. The song blared louder than ever, as the head turned towards us. A pair of miss-sized red eyes glowed on it. They peered right towards us. With a clack, Null’s pistol fell to the ground as he returned to invisibility.

“No… the fool could not…” Was all I heard before his swift hoofsteps turned thudded away from me. “It is on automatic! Run!” His voice was almost drowned out by the song, but I knew if he’d turned tail, this had just become another of my legendarily bad days.

I tried to focus on the pistol, but my magic still wasn’t under my control. A loud zap came from the robot. It heated the air just off my shoulder as it narrowly missed me. I ducked off towards the pistol and rolled along the concrete foundation. I knew it would have to dip below the next hill soon. I hoofed the foul tasting energy weapon into my muzzle and steadied myself. Granted, I had no idea how to use a weapon like this, I assumed it was as easy as any other gun. It was lighter than I’d expected it to be, and it had no semblance of any kind of iron sights on it. Overall, I would most likely get myself killed.

I popped myself up when I’d assumed I could get a good shot in. Once again, I’d misjudged it’s speed, as it was already dipped down over that hill. Unfortunately for me, this was probably the reason it had it’s head up so high. It’s eyes glowed as they tracked my jump. A boom arm unfolded up above the hill and arced toward me. Red beams of death traced through the air from it in a haphazard spray. Most of them struck the ground behind me, but a few seared at my coat.

I whined out as I struck the ground and rolled. They were low powered magical energy weapons, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t ignore them. I let out a grunt and got to my hooves. I broke into a gallop and turned my head. I fired a few wild shots from the odd pistol in my muzzle, scoring one lucky hit to the boom arm. It fizzled and cracked with energy before it melted off and dropped into the dirt.

The robot didn’t seem to notice as it turned to follow. It’s six massive metal wheels crushed the boom arm under it as it pursued me. I didn’t care though, it had no weapon now, and I could outrun this thing on hoof. It may have been faster than I gave it credit for, but…

My own thoughts were cut short by a burst of machine gun fire from behind me. The shots were of raider quality accuracy, but I knew they came from the robot. It might have had another weapon, but I guess two centuries really does a number on targeting talismans!

I growled in aggravation from around the bit of my weapon and dug my hooves into the dirt. I skid and kicked myself into a turn. The machine gun that protruded from a now open hatch in the front of the robot chattered out at me. I felt one of the rounds dig into my side, but I couldn’t stop. If I faltered now, I was dead. For as big as it was, maybe I could use my speed to get around behind it.

It’s piercing eyes followed me as I made my way around to it’s side. Which of course, also opened up. A rectangular hatch split along it’s side, and the metal flopped down losely against the body of the machine. A long silver tube extended from it’s end, and it raised onto it’s own short boom. Even if the machine couldn’t turn, the gun on it’s back was more than fast enough to traverse around.

A short burst of thuds sent several black objects hurtling through the air towards me. I changed my direction as soon as I saw it fire. The black objects sailed overhead and hit somewhere behind me. They exploded with a ferocious blast that knocked me from my gallop. I tumbled for only a moment before I found my hooves again. As I looked up, the large breach on the cannon slammed back into place, and it corrected it’s aim.

I fired first. I squeezed the trigger as many times as I could. Scorch marks flared against various sections of the robot’s white armor, but one found it’s home. The gun exploded as the energy shot set off the explosive ammo in the cannon. The entire rear of the vehicle twisted and buckled, and the forward facing machine gun blasted out into the dirt. Flames shot out of the various seams in it’s armor, and it listed back with a groan. It’s hate filled eyes slowly dimmed, and the song slowly trailed off into silence.

My muzzle burned suddenly and forced me to drop the pistol. I looked down at it to find that the rounded front of it glowed red from overuse, and had started to slough off the rest of the frame. It doesn’t matter, at least it was over.

“Oh, come on!” I screamed out as I turned my gaze back to the machine. Of course that couldn’t have taken out the repair talisman! A golden line traced itself around the twisted hulk of it’s rear. With an ear shattering sound, it sheared itself free from the wreckage and spun its wheels. It pulled away from it’s back half on four wheels and stopped. It waited until I looked up to it’s head again. It’s eyes glowed brighter than burning steel now.

I turned to run, but a brilliant light flashed across the dirt around me. I pushed myself to move, but I toppled over instead. The faster my heart beat, the quicker I tried to get my hooves under me. I felt like my heart would explode if I didn’t move. If my legs didn’t want to run, the least I could do was crawl. So that’s what I did.

The machine itself crawled towards me slowly. I could hear as it’s immense size and weight crushed the small rocks behind me. The pain from my injuries started to catch up to me. The burns from the shots in my forelegs kept my reach short, and the stabbing pain in my side kept me at a slow pace. My legs didn’t help either, and felt like it was on fire from my flank down. The time came after only a few more grunts, that I couldn’t go any further.

The music turned off as the machine got within killing distance. I figured that I might as well look this thing in the eye as it came for me. With as much effort as I could muster, I rolled myself onto my back. Then I made the mistake at looking down at my torso. My left hindleg wasn’t there, having been cut off cleanly just below cutie mark. My right wasn’t much better, and ended just above the hock. They had been cauterized when the last attack had actually hit me.

The machine stopped a few feet from me. It towered over me, a monolith to the effectiveness of the old world. It’s miss-sized red eyes peered down at me. They burned brightly behind the glass lenses that protected them. For a moment, I wondered if there was somepony on the other side of them. There was a chirp from inside of it, and the eyes moved from me. They quickly turned and swiveled up across the hills beside us.

It’s wheels ground against the dirt as they shifted, slowly turning the lumbering vehicle towards the hill it gazed at. I panted heavily as my heart raced in my chest. This was my chance to get out of here. If I could just crawl to freedom…

A grey figure appeared above me in a flash. In a moment’s notice, I was enveloped in a blinding light that felt like it heated the air itself. I felt it’s magic course through my horn, and I felt the resort hotel lobby in my mind. With an arcane snap, we shifted locations. I was unceremoniously dumped a few inches onto the moldy carpet of the lobby, and screamed out in agonizing pain. My scream however, was cut short as somepony stuck their hoof in my mouth.

“If you stay quiet, you live.” It was the voice of the mare above me. I bit down on her hoof and writhed in agony. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I was truly hit with a realization. My fucking legs were gone. That was it, my life was over. Normal ponies hardly have a chance in the wastes. Crippled ponies don’t even stand a ghost of a chance. The heavy steps and labored pants of another pony echoed through the room for a moment. It at the very least let me focus on something other than how utterly fucked I was.

“What the hell was Synchro thinking?” Nulls voice resonated through the air. “That fucking moron nearly killed the both of us.”

“You’re welcome for the assist.” The mare above me snarled and yanked her hoof from my muzzle. She stepped over me and swung a forehoof at the air. The soft thump of hoof against flesh met my ears, and Null materialized for a moment. “What the hell were you two doing out there in the first place? Fucking chased off my god damned contract.” She kicked at the old carpet and snorted in frustration.

“Fuck off, Specter. This mare is the highest priority. Flint’s orders.” Null angrily retorted. With a soft click, he shimmered back into sight. “Do you know what he would have done to me if Synchro’s toy had killed her?” He walked over to me and gave me a once over. I decided it was worth a chance and took a swing at him. Not only did I miss, but I screamed out as the bullet wound in my side felt like it was tearing me apart.

“If you want to get the bitch there alive, I suggest you keep her from bleeding out.” Specter fired back. She was hard to see in the shadows, but I could tell when she turned to look at me. Her violet eyes almost glowed in the dark corner of the old ruin. She gave me an all over eerie vibe, but that wasn’t much of a concern when I felt something jab into my side.

“Yeah, yeah.” Null said as he used some sort of kit to clean out my bullet wound. He grabbed the slug in me with his magic, and slowly worked it out. I writhed in pain, and as I opened my mouth to scream again, I found the gag shoved back into it. “I am just lucky that it did not seem to hit anything vital.” He pressed his horn into my side, and a wonderfully numb feeling washed over me.

“You know what, never mind. Let her bleed out.” Specter scoffed. “Really, how much usefulness is the bitch with no legs? Flint isn’t even going to waste his time with the likes of her.” She held up a suppressed pistol in her magic and pointed it at me. “Might as well save you the weight when you bring him the bad news.”

“No, you will not harm her.” Null snapped. “Her legs were Synchro’s fault, not mine.” He paused to focus on wrapping my wound. “Besides, we still have to call off that infernal machine.”

“Like usual, you’re one step behind. Why do you think it didn’t kill her?” Specter Rolled her eyes and lifted her hoof. Attached to it was a fairly well used looking pipbuck. It’s screen however was either too dim to see, or broken, because it didn’t show with the same intensity as Storm’s. “It’s like you’ve forgotten how to use your tools. And that amature move to fire first, was the only reason this happened in the first place. If you weren’t greedy for the contract, you wouldn’t have been in this mess.”

“Flint forbid him from putting a repair talisman in the thing for exactly that reason. What if it goes rogue? It is too dangerous to have even been built.” He snarled and yanked the bandage tight. I whined out in protest, but was more trying to focus on his voice than anything. “Besides, I would not have shot it if I knew it was not going to knock the fucking thing out.”

“Well, that is your problem now.” Specter sighed. “Thanks to you two, I have to catch the other mare’s scent again.” Her eyes narrowed as she growled. “And you better hope that I do.”

“Oh no, you are going to help me carry her.” Null stomped a hoof and pointed at her. “Better yet, you can teleport us almost half way before sunset.” Call it a hunch, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t go for that.

“Yeah, fuck that.” She let out a hearty laugh. “You two can ride Synchro’s toy back for all I care, I don’t owe you shit.” She paused for a moment and tapped her hoof on the floor. “However, because of the trouble you’ve caused, you now owe me.” Her eyes shifted down to me. “Both of you do.”

I tried to get out a ‘fuck you’ through the gag, but it just came out muffled. Her horn glowed slightly for a moment. I could see the slender outline of her muzzle for just a moment before she teleported away. The jarring of rocks under metal gave away the robotic monstrosity as it finally closed in on us. Without their conversation to distract me anymore, my thoughts began to drift back to the realization of what I now was.

My legs were gone. Cauterized as they were, not even hydra would be able to bring them back. That Specter bitch had at least one thing right. I would be useless to pretty much anypony now. I’ve never seen anypony recover from wounds like these unless they had connections. So I stared at the stumps. A lasting reminder of all my failures.

“Don’t worry about them.” Null spoke up. He spoke in quiet, almost remorseful tones. “Flint will still want you when we get there, I’ll make sure of that. Synchro can fix you up or something. If he doesn’t, he’s going to find himself owing me a whole lot of favors.” He sighed and lowered his head. His horn gave off a flare as he wrapped his magic around me. I felt myself lifted off the floor.

“You see, that’s what’s great about working for Flint. You don’t have to worry about needing something.” He smiled as he maneuvered me onto his back. “We all get paid in favors. As long as you’ve saved enough favors, you can ask for anything and Flint will acquire it for you.” He used his magic to remove the gag from me. The numbing magic was the best thing I’d ever felt in my life, and I had no more reason to scream.

“You said I’d have to sacrifice something before.” I lolled my tongue around in my muzzle. The taste of leather clung to it, but it wasn’t all that unbearable. “What do you mean?”

“Well, your freedom to leave, for one.” He spoke up as he carried me towards the front door. “Technically, we are still his slaves. If we don’t have a favor to spend on free time, you are working.” As we walked out, the Robot rolled up to the edge of the building and stopped in front of us. “Your freedom of choice also goes out the window. The different jobs you will receive will offer different amounts of favors. But you must accept any job you are given if you don’t already have one.”

Even with a repair talisman, the machine looked a lot worse for wear than it did before I fought it. The miss sized red eyes watched our every move as we approached it. The closer we got, the more my heart pounded in my chest. I felt like at any moment, it might recognize me and decide that it would finish the job it started. I needed another distraction.

“You said your friend could fix me.” I closed my eyes and sighed. Even though I was numb, and I knew they were gone, I could swear I still felt my legs as they dangled. “How?”

“First of all, he is not my friend. Secondly, I did not promise that he could.” He wrapped his magic around me again and hoisted me into the air. I kept my eyes shut tightly as I floated past him. For a moment, I seemingly hung there before I felt the cold steel plates rise up below me. “But… Synchro is supposedly a prodigy with arcano-technology. His sign up bonus was to learn everything he could from some doctor who works with Red Eye himself. If anypony could help, it would be him. I just hope Flint lets me cash in some favors for your mission in advance.”

So then there was still a chance to live a normal life. All I’d had to do, was sell away my freedom. Then again, this was exactly what I’d wanted to do. To get back to bounty hunting again, with guaranteed jobs and the pay being exchangeable for anything I could want. On the other hoof, I really doubt they’d let Caltrop and Sandy work with me. More so than that, I don’t think these ponies are anypony they could even exist around for more than they’d have to.

“Let me ask you something.” As bad as it was, I didn’t have any choice left. “That sign on bonus. Could it buy me some legs?”