“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.”

The cold rain that fell wasn’t as bad as I had thought it was going to be, but most of that could be attributed to the fact that it was close to freezing and I was numb. The streets resisted the rain as best they could, but they too were losing the battle, slowly becoming muddy pits seeking to impede travel. Still, the way back towards the sheriff's station wasn’t all too bad, just quiet. Everypony in town had stayed in when the thunder came, and the seemingly vacant town looked all too much like much of the northern wasteland.

“Storm, can I get something off my chest?” Predious spoke up out of nowhere, holding his hoof out to stop us from going any further. “You didn’t have to save me down in that cell you know. You could have broken out just as easily had you not rescued me. I wanted to thank you for that.”

“Think whatever you want, but you owe me big time.” I glanced at him from the corner of my eye and hoofed out a cigarette, lighting it as I watched his muzzle twist into a frown. “Yeah, we’re friends and all, but they almost fucking killed me in there. This whole ordeal is just going to bring a ton of heat down onto us, and probably get us killed.” Taking a long drag, I found that his expression darkened with the realization.

“I’m sorry. I wish I knew what they wanted me for.” He did sound apologetic, but something about it I wasn’t buying.

“Doesn’t matter now. We need to stick together at all times.” I exhaled and started forward again. Predious’s hoofsteps followed along behind me at a slower pace, trailing behind either out of defiance or hesitation. It didn’t matter much though as I climbed onto the rickety wooden porch of the sheriff's office. The old wooden building was one of the original buildings of Chasm from before the war, and definitely looked the part. I’m sure the wood that was used to keep this place standing could have been used on another, more important building, but even in a town this peaceful I’d still rather have a fortified security station than a fortified trading post.

“Touch me again, and I’ll rip that leg right out of it’s socket.” Tasteless Smoke’s voice carried through the walls shortly before there was a crash inside. I lazily pushed open the foggy plexiglass door to the inside and walked into the middle of a scene I wholly expected to see. Ficha had his leg twisted in Tasteless’s grasp, forcing him to push back into the steel bars that separated him from her. The two of them gave me smiles for entirely different reasons, and though Ficha tried to speak up first, Tasteless tweaked his leg a bit to silence him.

“So, you’re alive after all.” Tasteless smirked. “Get me out of this joint and give me one of those smokes.” She sucked in a deep breath as I exhaled again, looking to relax a bit with it.

“You are awfully pushy for needing me to break you out again.” I said as I calmly took another drag from my smoke, stepping toward the wooden desk and chair that sat next to the entrance. Predious entered into the station as well, the grim look he had worn outside fading away to one of curious study towards the scene playing out before him.

“You know, you’re a lot heavier than you look. I didn’t have to carry your flank across the badlands to a doctor, but I did it out of the kindness of my heart.” She snorted and tensed up, rousing a low whine from Ficha as she adjusted her hold on him. “Now quit being an ungrateful bitch and tell this striped dickbag to unlock the fucking door.”

I leaned back in the wooden chair I had taken a seat in, putting my hooves up onto the desk as I took my time to respond. I did owe this mare for bringing me here, but I still didn’t know her. She was trouble, and in just one afternoon she had broken out of one prison, just to enter another. Chances are if I let her go, she’d just head north to dodge and repeat the process all over again. With a sigh, I looked to her and took one last drag from my smoke before I spit it out onto the floor.

“As much as I’ve enjoyed watching you torture this asshole, I don’t need any more debts to ponies. Ficha, let her go.” I spoke calmly as I got back to my hooves, stamping out the burning ember with my hoof. Tasteless gave me a shit eating grin and released Ficha’s hoof, immediately causing him to fall to the floor with a groan.

“I can’t just let a criminal go, Storm.” He said as he rubbed at his foreleg. Standing up, he stood proudly in front of the barred cell and gazed intensely into my eyes. “She’s a danger to this town that I can’t ignore. What kind of Sheriff would I be if I let her out with the full knowledge that she could hurt somepony else around here.”

“She will be leaving with us.” Predious stepped in front of me, taking both Ficha’s gaze and bravado. “If you wish to keep her here, by all means, go ahead. Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll find anypony fortunate enough to stop by here to stop her from putting you in a position like you were just in.” Pred’s words seemed to come as a striking revelation to Ficha, and it immediately disarmed his ‘passionate defence’ of the town. He gave a nervous smile and trot over towards the far wall where a large keyring that only bore one key, sat.

“Oh, I see your point.” He muttered softly before hoofing the ring from it’s hook. Turning back towards me, he stopped and looked me over slowly. From the way his nervous smile turned into a half lidded smirk, I knew exactly what the stupid he was about to emit from his muzzle would be. “You know, even with the threat of more pain, having this does leave me in a rare position of power over you. Maybe you could do a little something for me in exchange for her freedom?” He wasn’t even holding back anymore, instead only staring at my flank. “You know, she’s not the only one around here who needs to be released.”

Normally, I’d have been grateful for a distraction, but the sound of automatic gunfire is not one I ever welcome. Both Pred and I crouched low in reaction to it, whereas Ficha only gave a yip and practically threw himself behind the desk. Moving up to the door, I hoofed it open just wide enough to peer through as the citizens started to react in panic. I peered out the door and up the street to find a squad of power armored ponies. My heart sank as I thought about how stupid it was to have come back here. Of course they were going to come after me, how could I have been so stupid not to have lead them away?

“It seems that the Steel Rangers didn’t give up after all.” Predious muttered from above me, craning his neck so he could see out the door as well. “They could have caught up to us at any point in the badlands, why attack the town?”

The power armored ponies stopped shooting abruptly, halting their reign of terror to stand as stiff as statues. As the reports echoed off the sharp cliffs and hills, a group of robed ponies appeared along the trail behind them, the leader of that group raised a small object to her face. I squinted my eyes to try to make out what sort of weapon it was, but was rewarded with a loud screech blaring through the air.

“Citizens of his settlement, we are not here to cause further harm. We are simply looking for a dangerous criminal whom we believe to be injured and has taken refuge in this town.” The mare speaking into what I could now recognize as a megaphone swung it from side to side as she shouted. “She is an earth pony mare, grey in pallet with a black mane. Any information you may have will only expedite both our stay and your return to your lives.”

The quick hoofsteps running towards us from the opposite side of town made me back away from the door. I slid my rifle from my back as Predious reached into his own saddlebag, slipping out one of the rifles I had taken from the Ranger’s storage room. We both raised our weapons as the door flew open, and a very panicked looking Touchy Feely raced inside.

“What are you doing in here, Ficha!” He blew past Pred and I, pulling Ficha up from the floor with an angry grunt. “Get out there and do something!”

Ficha pushed Touchy away with a scowl. “What do you want me to do? Just hand over Storm?” For once, he was defending me? I don’t know whether to be impressed he cared or insulted that he think’s I can’t take care of myself. “Look, we’ll just calmly go out there and explain to them that they are free to search the town, all the while Storm can take her friends and go. They won’t find her, and we’ll have cooperated. It’s a win-win for everypony.” He ended by kicking the keyring to me, only to have Pred intercept it with his magic and float it over to the lock.

“A… alright, if you think that will work.” Touchy was so scared, he was shaking. I’d say that ‘I told you so’, but I’ll save that for next time I’m around here. I reslung my rifle and trotted across the room to the back wall, putting my hoof against a few boards that looked like they had been due to be replaced a few decades ago. They gave slightly under my hoof, and I knew that this would be our only exit. “Storm, wait.” Touchy called out softly. “A few years back, I developed an evacuation plan for the town for a scenario such as this. I never thought we’d need to use it, but I need your help.”

“I’ll do what I can, but we don’t have much time.” I have a bad feeling that this day was about to get a whole lot more complicated.

“There is a tunnel in the hot springs caves, it runs north under the town for about a half mile. Morning Dew should be gathering concerned citizens there as we speak, and she is instructed to lead them to Dodge until I send for them.” Touchy put his hooves on my shoulders and gave me probably the most serious look he’s ever had on his face in his life. “Please, make sure they get their safely. Most of them stay here because they can’t fight the wasteland like you can.”

“Alright, alright.” I pushed him back and rolled my eyes. “Now go before they get impatient.” He nodded and headed for the door, taking a deep breath before pushing it open. Ficha gave me a nervous smile as he followed through, the thought of this all going downhill quickly flooded my mind. “Pred, Tasteless, get this wall open and stay out of sight, I’ll catch up in a moment.”

“What? You’re staying here?” Pred asked as he approached. He still did as I asked, starting to pry at the boards as I made my way to the door. Tasteless didn’t seem to care, but stuck close to me as I pressed up against it.

“Just long enough to see if they take the bait.” I whispered, cracking the door open just far enough to get another peek. The power armored rangers had consolidated together around the robed ones, and stood at the ready as Ficha and the Mayor approached. Everything was going smoothly, and I was hopeful that this plan would work.

Then the mare with the megaphone gave a dismissive wave of her hoof.

The whole plan disintegrated in an instant. One of the armored rangers opened up with his minigun on the two, cutting down Ficha and the Mayor only a split second before the rest joined in. They turned their guns on the rest of the town, forcing Tasteless and I to flatten to the floor as a line of rounds punched through the old wooden walls. Scrambling across the floor towards the hole Predious had torn in the wall, I threw myself through it as I felt the blast wave from a nearby rocket go off and shutter the sheriff’s office.

As it turns out, Tasteless had the same idea, seeing as the second I was through, she barreled into me and sent me down into the muddy dirt. The screams of frightened townsfolk filled the air between bursts of gunfire and explosions, some of them making the mistake of running out in the open down the streets. I slicked the mud from my muzzle and eyes just in time to see a mare scream as she was struck by a pair of rounds, sending her tumbling into the mud while the filly with her cried out in fear. A blinding flash followed as a rocket burst on the mother, and I clenched my eyes shut. I knew better than to look at them, the silence from where they once were was all the confirmation that I needed to get up and go.

Tasteless clambered off of me quickly, forcing her cyberhoof under me and pulling me from the mud. I turned around before opening my eyes, and when I did, I was met with the quivering eyes of Predious, who had what looked to be a thousand yard stare. Tasteless trot to the back corner of the building, looking up and down the street as I put a hoof onto Pred’s shoulder.

“There’s nothing we can do for them, Predious. Staying here will only get us killed.” I didn't care about this town, I never have. This wasn't our problem right now, all we needed to do was focus on getting out of here. As long as we could get back to dodge, we could get them help, but the three of us versus a squad of paladins was suicide.

“They never asked for this…” Pred groaned and shifted his gaze to me. “This town, these ponies. They didn’t deserve this!” His horn lit up and his gun levitated to his side. The look that fell over his face was more relaxed, but I’d seen it on plenty of ponies right before I’d killed them. “Somepony has to make a stand.”

“Really, you’re going to kill them?” I spoke up as he took a step forward. Instinctively, I turned and bucked my hooves back, knocking him up against the sheriff’s office. He gave a yelp and hesitated, giving me enough time to spin again and pin him with my regrown hoof. “This isn’t something you can win, Pred. I don’t care what you’re thinking, but we are leaving, now.” I shifted my hoof against his neck as he struggled against me, shooting me a furious glance as he started to choke. “Even if I have to carry you this time.”

Black smoke drifted down the road, and even through the rain I could hear the growing fires that burned in the town. The hardened look Predious had began to fade, his body relaxing enough that I let him go. His eyes turned from me back to the street, and with a sigh he turned around and slung his rifle around himself. As tempting as it was, I didn’t look back either and we both came up beside a waiting Tasteless.

“You bitches done with your drama?” She snorted and shook her head. “If we stick to the backsides of the buildings, we should be able to give those toasters the slip.” She gave another quick look around the corner before both waving us forward and taking off across the backstreet. “Now, let’s get out of this hellhole!”

Darting across the street felt wrong with the sounds of gunfire and misery all around. The thick smell of burning buildings and the choking smoke clung to me more than I wanted, causing me to struggle to find enough air to breathe. I felt like the scared little filly I once was, shaky and panicked when I first had to kill somepony to keep myself alive. I’ve killed hundreds since then, and not a single fuck was given for any of them. Now, as we make our way across the next street, and the gunfire is less focused and dangerous, I find it harder to take each step.

We crossed the next street, then the next. The gunfire was quieter even here, and the fires hadn’t burned enough to cloud the air, yet I still felt like I was suffocating. Leaving this place shouldn’t be this easy, not for the price they’re paying. In the back of my mind, I wanted one of those rangers to find us, to shoot at us. Anything to keep their attentions away from Chasm. What was the point? Why did they open fire!

We made it out. Once we reached the outer sheet metal wall, Tasteless and I bucked a section of it down and from there we looped around and galloped north. My mind felt like it was spinning and I was hyperventilating, recognizing the tree where we had been only a half hour ago now. I steered us towards it, slowing down as I started to feel sick. Emptying the contents of my stomach did little to help, but it gave my legs the perfect excuse to fold up under me and let me rest.

I had done so well on the street back there, I’m surprised I made the mistake of looking up. Chasm burned brightly as the quick bursts of gunfire were punctuated with the tortured screams of it’s inhabitants. Up against the mountain, I could see the Inn burning like a funeral pyre for Chasm itself, and I almost questioned if anypony made it out before this all went so fucking wrong. They had to have, somepony, anypony had to have made it. There was a large whump as part of the smelter went up in a bright blast, the whole rest of the building tilting before collapsing down in a dark plume.

“Fuck me…” Tasteless muttered under her breath, watching as the black clouds rose up to meet the cloud layer. “What the fuck happened back there? No group of Rangers that I’ve ever seen have been that aggressive, not even to raider camps.” She scrunched up her muzzle and rubbed at her chin. “Unless… how long was I imprisoned for?” A bolt of lightning snaked across the sky as the storm above intensified, the wind picking up as we all sat fixated on the carnage before us.

My vision shifted to pink as Pai popped up in my vision. “I have a feeling that these ponies have been very bad in the last few years.”

“I think that’s the understatement of the century.” Predious snarled out as he kicked at the muddy ground. “Back before things went to hell, ponies were never this cruel. At least… not towards each other.”

“When I was inside their systems, I found that they had been trying for years to find me.” Pai shifted the screen to purple, donning the bubble pipe and hat that always seemed to accompany that color. “They finally figured out that I wasn’t connected to any of the other bunkers around them, and instead started to search old pre war settlements for anypony still alive with connections to the Ministry of Moral and Ministry of Arcane Sciences. This is why Predious was given a bounty.”

“Oh, really now?” I couldn’t fucking believe this! “This whole time, you used to work for them?” I put two and two together in my mind, and I wasn’t happy with where it lead. “Leading me through the snow, you walked me right onto that ruin. We just ‘happen’ to fall in and instead of looking for a way out, you instead want to go further in?” I pulled my rifle from my back and leveled it at him. “You better come clean with me Pred, real quick. And you better hope I like your answer, or the only ponies that will find you aren’t the type to show mercy.”

“But, I knew nothing about you!” Predious shook his head and looked to me. “I had no idea you existed until we fell in there, it was an accident, I swear!” He held his hooves out to the side, and wore a shocked look on his face. “Yes, I lied about being a ghoul, and yes, I didn’t tell you I used to work for MAS, but I’m telling you the truth. I worked up in Manehatten and I never even knew about the facility in ponyville other than the above ground ruin!”

We all sat for a good half minute in still silence. The sound of the chaos in town and the rumblings of thunder kept us all tense, and I could tell even Tasteless wasn’t sure how this would turn out. Pred’s face only shifted to look more and more sorrowful, and the more I stared, the more I knew that guilt wouldn’t be something that would rear it’s head now. With a sigh, I lowered my gun.

“We’re friend’s, Storm. I don’t have any reason to lie to you.” He gave me a final glance before getting to his hooves. Tasteless let out an exasperated groan and pulled herself to her hooves, eyeing me with a bored look.

“I get it, shit happened. Get over it, and let’s get going. I don’t want to be around when those tin cans show up.” She held her hoof out to me as if to offer me some help up. Instead, when I reached out, she diverted her hoof. “You going to give me that cigarette you owe me or what?”

Forcing myself to stand, I figured that we might as well fulfill the last request of Mayor Feely and go check ahead for survivors. I just hope that we can reach dodge in time to get ready. If they were willing to wipe out Chasm, there’s no telling if they’d risk going after us in there. At the very least, we can give them a warning as to what’s coming, and maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll get to stand on even ground against them.

The further we were from Chasm, the more it weighed on my mind, and the more I had to question just what my place in all this was. I’m responsible for what happened back there in part, but I still don’t know what they wanted me for. Once we were safely to Dodge, I was going to have a nice long chat with Pai about what they wanted with her.

Another enigma that I needed to unravel was Tasteless. Now that I had some time to actually look at her, I found that her extensive augmentations didn’t look like they replaced specific parts of her. Some of the metal that glinted from under her skin didn’t look to be any sort of functional cybernetic, it looked like just another piece of metal that happened to be set inside some old wound.

“Like what you see, sugar?” Tastless nudged me and blew a puff of cigarette smoke at me. “I already told you, you just aren’t my type.”

“Yeah, sure.” I rolled my eyes and picked up the pace, easily catching up to Predious who looked lost in thought. No, his expression was more than that. He was reflecting on something from a long time ago. Before I could ask him what it was, he stopped abruptly as we crested the top of an old reservoir. I traced his squint with my own, following it to the horizon ahead to see a large group of ponies on the other side of the dry lakebed.

The closer we got, the more that I could tell that they had to be from Chasm. Huddled and scared, most of them hid behind the few ponies brave enough to defend them against the strangers approaching them. One of them happened to be Cocoa, who broke into joyful tears when she recognized me. She galloped across the flats towards me, slowing down only when she was about to slam into me. She threw her hooves around me in a squishy embrace and cried into my neck. This was enough assurance to the rest of the crowd that we weren’t dangerous, and the roughly forty ponies who had made it out gathered around to ask what had happened.

“Is this everypony who made it out?” Predious asked hesitantly. The moment he did, you could feel the monumental shift in the crowds spirits, instantly spiraling into chaos and panic. They all either started shouting incoherently that they needed to go back, or they started to cry out. They were all silenced in an instant by Tasteless firing off a round into the air with her shotgun.

Pushing Cocoa away, I cleared my throat to get their attention. “I was told that your evacuation plan meant that you were to head to Dodge, and that you were to wait there for somepony to tell you that Chasm is safe.” I scanned the crowd, trying to make them all understand that gravity of the situation. “I’m sorry to say that Chasm is lost. Touchy made me promise to lead you all safely to Dodge, and it isn’t a far trek, but it isn’t an easy one either.”

“She’s right you know.” The haunting voice of an impossible stallion spoke up from beyond the crowd, splitting them apart before me. “But what’s the point, if they’ll just attack there next?”

Before me stood one whole, not dead Ficha. He looked like he had gone through hell to get here, bleeding from several bullet holes in his legs and what looked to be a half caved in skull. I fought with my mind to believe that he was real, and only the confused and frightened looks of the other survivors told me that he was physically there.

“I watched you die to that Ranger’s minigun. How the fuck are you still alive?” I growled out. This screamed all sorts of wrong, and I had to resist the thought of grabbing my rifle and putting a couple of shots into his fucked up head.

“Why? Are you happy there's one less BODY left in your wake?” He let out a maddening laugh that ended in bloody coughs. “You want to know why I stopped following you years ago? Because I got sick of the violence that you always seemed to perpetuate, tired of the all the blood on your hooves. But that's just who you are, isn't it. The Bounty hunter who won't kill an innocent, but instead let's them be slaughtered without care.”

No, this had to be some wasteland magic. “Answer my question.” Ficha was dead, and I intended to prove it. Biting down on the bit of my revolver, I drew it from it’s holster and roused a collective gasp from the crowd. Tasteless walked up beside me and readied her shotgun, just itching to pull the trigger.

“No, I'm done with you. The only reason I'm not going to kill you here and now, is because I wholeheartedly believe that you're one of the only ponies who can get us out of this fucked up mess.” He smiled as wide as he could with his injuries, pointing next to me. “Tasteless told me all about what you did to escape the bunker, and right now, you're the best weapon we have. So here’s the deal, we’re all going to go to Dodge, get ourselves armed to the teeth, and we’re going to grind the ones who took our town from us to dust.”

There was a collective cheer that came from all around us, and as much as I admired a good motivational speech now and again, it wasn’t going to work out that way. So long as we get to Dodge, I don’t care. The Rangers were going to have their hooves full for hours searching the ruins for me, so at the very least we’ve got a good head start on them. Problem is, will that be advantage enough when the time comes?