Greed. Greed is an all consuming emotion. It overpowers your basic will, and forces itself into your world until greed is all you can see. The ponies of the past were greedy and vicarious in their conquest of the zebras. Ponies sought more and more resources and more power until nopony had anything left except for the broken Wasteland. A Wasteland that in itself, was greedy for the souls and lives of many broken ponies. The cycle of hatred began anew, and greed crept into our hearts once again, poisoning our lives and souls for all eternity. The cycle of greed may have perhaps been the single largest downfall of our entire race.

I can truly say that I know Greed well. I have met its living avatar, a true embodiment of the avarice that resides in the hearts of all ambitious ponies. Its power is truly terrifying, and the riches that come with that power are all too attractive. Given the chance, would I allow greed into my heart and take what I want from the world? Or will I remain a staunch defender of justice, shunning greed in favor of the virtue of Generosity?

Only time can tell…

Holy clopping Princess of the Night! I shouted inside my head as the buck’s hoof nearly missed my head by mere inches. I pulled back and jumped to the side, putting all of my thrust into a fierce kick. My foot connected, and struck cold hard rock as Greed’s shield activated, sending shockwaves of pain up my spine as I dropped my feet and moved away to try and put some distance between myself and the stallion. A deep chuckle erupted from the crazed unicorn as I glared at him intensely.

I can’t even get through that shield of his with regular force. Really smart plan you had there you dingbat! I thought as Greed rushed at me, aiming to gore me with his horn. A cheer sounded from the crowd that was filled with raiders and slavers alike as the buck struck me, knocking me back and leaving me with nice size bloody hole in my side. Searing pain emanated from the wound, and blood loss began to slowly affect my stance and vision. No! I’m not going to let him win! I’m going to beat him! I thought, snarling as I took another swipe at the stallion, striking shield instead of flesh. My hooves roared in pain as I struggled to get out of the way of his next strike. Looking back, this probably wasn’t the smartest plan ever, but it was a plan. I let my gaze glance over at my companions who sat and waited for the right time to do anything. I winked at them as I turned my attention back onto Greed. All I had to do was keep the crowd’s attention on me, and my friends could sneak away. Greed’s entourage was so sure of my loss that they’d even allowed my friends to stay outside of the enclosure to watch me die.

Another hoof nearly struck my head, pulling me out of my thoughts. Come on Star! Keep your head in the game! Move like a pegasi, sting like a unicorn! I thought as I fluttered back out of reach of another kick. I had no idea if my friends had picked up on my idea, or what they were going to do, but all I needed to do was to get my hooves on Stargazer and this fight would be all over. Sure, I was playing dirty, but did anypony really ever expect Greed to as well? The thick of it was, I highly expected for the buck to cheat his way out of this fight somehow. I ducked and dodged again as Greed launched his entire body at me, crashing to the ground. I leaped back, trying to figure out what to do. He’s gotta have a weakness, something that can be used against him! I thought as my eyes scanned our surroundings for anything that I could use to end this fight, otherwise I was definitely sure I was going to die. I’d lost a lot of blood already, and the gore wound was causing extreme pain every time I moved. Finally an idea came to mind. What if instead of attacking his body, I attack his horn? I thought. If I disrupt his horn, maybe I can get a blow in. After all, killing joke is magical in nature, so any disruption in the magic inside of his body would disrupt his shield ability! It was worth a shot at least. The buck stood up from his crash, grinning maniacally.

“Hey big boy, why don’t you show me that small horn of yours?” I said, trying to goad the stallion into charging. I lifted a hoof and made a ‘come on’ gesture, grinning. “And I don’t mean the one between your legs either!” I added for good measure.

Greed snarled as he pawed at the ground, ready to charge.

“You want the horn, you better be prepared to get the bull!” He growled as he lowered his head and charged at me.

I braced myself for the impact, twisting to let the horn gore me head on. Greed struck true and I roared in pain as his horn impaled itself into my body. I gritted my teeth through the pain and reached down with both forehooves, clamping onto Greed’s horn. I twisted hard and growled as I exerted as much force on the horn as possible. Sparks began to discharge from it as I twisted, spattering my coat with blackness as Greed tried to pull back. His eyes widened as he realized what I was doing. We both snarled in intense agony as my twisting paid off and blood spurted from the base of the appendage. I let go and Greed pulled back finally, howling in pain as his very life force streamed down his face. His horn, while still attached to his head, was spurting blood every few seconds.

“You fucking bitch!” He screamed. “I’ll fucking kill you for that!”

I jumped out of the way of his next attack and grinned. “What’s the matter Greed? Didn’t think I’d find a way to beat you? I was serious when I said I wanted this fight,” I shouted back as I charged in at the buck.

I decided to go low, and struck hard at the base of his shoulder with one of my forehooves. An electrical discharge emanated from where I struck as the buck’s shield attempted to form and then dissipated, the magic not able to hold up while the stallion’s horn was discharging life fluid. The blow knocked Greed back as he continued to howl. The crowd booed and roared at us as we fought, ever increasing in the escalation of their verbal nature. I glanced over at where my friends were, and noticed they had taken leave of the crowd, sneaking out while all eyes were on us. Good, I thought as I turned back to Greed. It’s time to finish this then.

I strafed left and right as I ripped past the unicorn, putting my full weight into a shoulder strike. The stallion tried to dodge as I slammed into him, pushing him off of his feet and to the ground. He grunted as he fell, rolling along the dirt. I stepped toward him and raised a hoof over his head.

“You ready to end this you fucking prick?” I said venomously. “I owe you hell for what you’ve put me and my friends through!”

Through a blood caked face, the unicorn snarled viciously.

“Ready to end you, maybe,” he replied. “If I’m going to hell, you’re coming with me.” His horn began to glow and spark. Magic! He was going to try and use magic! With a horn that was twisted up and gushing blood? My eyes widened as I realized just what would happen.

“Oh fu—“ I started to say when everything around me exploded in pure white hot fury. What came next hurt. A lot. I was thrown back from the force of the explosion, flying through the air like a rocket. A massive *crunch* forced all of the air out of me as I struck dead center in the middle of the raider crowd. I couldn’t even what I landed on as I hit, coughing and wheezing moments later to try and regain some measure of breath. Screams of pain could be heard all around me as I struggled to stay with it.

That was when all hell broke loose.

Gunfire and shouting erupted all around me. I could hear the telltale *crack* of Steeljack’s rifle in the far distance over the ringing of my ears, giving me pause to try and smile as I lay there in intense pain. My friends were alive still at least, and that was all that mattered. I managed to force my eyes open to see a slobbering insane raider standing over me with a twisted little knife. He glared in glee at me as he moved to bring the knife down with his teeth. He never even had a chance. In seconds, the bucks head exploded in a shower of gore, covering me in more brain matter. I struggled and managed to kick the rest of him away so that he didn’t fall on me. Last thing I needed at this point in time was a smelly ass raider’s remains laying on me. A shout drew me from my focus, but I couldn’t really make out the words, my ears were ringing so badly. I tried to force myself up, but my body just wouldn’t allow it. I was honestly amazed that I wasn’t dead yet. I briefly wondered what had happened to Greed if I was still alive. He was the epicenter of the blast and there was no way he would have survived, not in his condition. Another faraway *crack* ringed above my blown eardrums, this one slightly louder but still very tinny sounding.

Next thing I knew, I was being pushed on and lifted, a soft green glow surrounding me. I struggled to move my neck to look at what was happening as I saw Violet Iris, her horn glowing and fierce determination in her eyes. I had never been prouder of my love than at that moment. Another *crack* sounded and I saw Steeljack, unleashing hell from his rifle at unseen assailants. How many raiders were there? I thought as I lay there, being shoved along by Violet’s magic. I wonder how many survived the explosion.

Silently I prayed to Celestia, thanking her for saving my friends lives when it counted. Finally I rested at Violet’s hooves, and the familiar pinprick of a needle followed by a weak amount of pain relief flooded my system as she pumped a bit of Med-X into me. She leaned down and mouthed something that I couldn’t hear. I slowly shook my head, feeling having returned to it at least. I tried my best to indicate that I couldn’t hear her by pointing at my ears with my tongue. In retrospect, this may have looked a little silly. She mouthed something else as her horn glowed again, taking up Thunder Flash in her possession. An elegant beam of silver light blossomed forth from the tip of the weapon, traveling out of my field of vision, hopefully into a raider who deserved it.

The ground below me shook and moaned as I could see out of the corner of my eye the buffalo Roa, charging at my friends with his sledgehammer firmly held in his teeth. I tried to cry out, barely squeaking as the buffalo got closer. Thankfully, Violet must have seen it on her E.F.S. because she turned and trained Thunder Flash on the giant beast. Once again she mouthed something, and fired. The beam weapon erupted with its silver stream of fire once more, hitting the head of the massive hammer. One minute, there was a hammer. The next, there was a pile of white steaming gelatinous ooze at the buffalo’s feet, causing the buffalo’s eyes to widen. Steeljack took the opportunity and fired a shot, hitting the buffalo in the leg and forcing it to the ground.

A shadow flew over me, bringing my attention to the sky above me. I could see the griffon, one of Greed’s entourage, wildly flying about as it was firing at an unknown assailant. A bullet came from nowhere, hitting the griffon squarely in the wing, tearing feathers from it and spraying blood as the round passed through the wing and onward. I grinned as best as I could, my face numb with pain, as I pondered that it was probably Patch who was taking on the griffon, her sniper rifle aimed sharp and true. More *crack* noises rang out in my ears as I watched Steeljack fire again and again. Violet was standing over me, shouting and firing Thunder Flash at more unseen raiders. Suddenly Patch was over me, holding something small in her hoof. She lifted the item, a memory orb with the mark of three butterflies on it, and pressed it to my horn.

My… friends… I thought simply as the pain finally relented and I felt no more.

Of all the memories I had been a part of thus far; this was at least one of the more pleasant ones it seemed. The Ministry Mare of Peace Fluttershy’s body was airy and light, and a sort of radiance emanated from the lithe pegasus mare. There was lightness to her step, and at the same time a firm confidence that betrayed the mare’s shy nature. My host trotted down the small forest lane, the sun above waning as the yellow mare stepped in time to the sounds of the forest around her. A large mansion came into view eventually, sitting at the back of the small wooded glen. A statue of a graceful unicorn rearing greeted my host as she made her way up the driveway. The sounds of the forest dimmed and my host hesitated for a moment. She was thinking of running away, of just dropping off what she had come to bring, and then simply leaving. Something about this encounter frightened the shy mare; that much was obvious.

A surge of confidence re-emerged in my host as she stepped up to the lovely oak door that framed the front entrance of the mansion. She lifted a hoof and knocked loudly and clearly. A white unicorn mare answered the door, her mane purple with a white stripe in it. She smiled warmly at my host.

“Fluttershy, is that you?” the mare asked. My host nodded. “Oh dear, please come on in, you have no idea how good it is to see you.” The unicorn waved my host into the mansion. Her mane was frazzled and her eyes were bloodshot. She appeared to have been crying for some good amount of time. I recognized her immediately as Twilight’s mother from the funeral memory.

“Thank you Mrs. Sparkle,” my host quietly said. “How… how is she holding up?”

The unicorn mare waved for Fluttershy to follow her as she led her deeper into the mansion.

“She’s… busy she always says. We only see her when she leaves for one of her Ministry trips or when she comes down to get a bite to eat. She doesn’t talk to anypony, just gets what she wants and takes it back to that room of hers,” The mare known as Mrs. Sparkle replied, sighing.

“And what about you and your husband?” My host asked, prompting a sniffle from the white mare.

“We’re fine dear, thank you for asking. It’s been rough, but we’ll get by. Cadance has been very helpful and a joy to have around, but even she can’t get through to Twilight,” Mrs. Sparkle responded. We made our way down a long hallway that ended in a small door. “Please try to get her to come out. It’s not healthy what she’s doing to herself. We need her.”

My host nodded as the older mare left my side and was soon out of sight. My host stepped up and rapped on the door several times with her hoof. No answer. Several times more. No answer. My host sight and pushed on the door. It opened easily, leading into a large laboratory that should have been impossible to fit inside such a tiny house. Fluttershy knew better than to question the impossible when it came to Twilight Sparkle. She challenged the impossible several times before breakfast each day. The pink-maned pegasus made her way across the room to a table and set of chairs where a very familiar purple unicorn was writing something on a chalkboard. Twilight stepped back and grimaced at the words on the board.

“No no no no no!” She shouted at the board. “No matter how many times I try it, it never works! Why does it never work?! All my theories, they’re sound, it all fits together, so why doesn’t it bucking work!”

“Twilight…” my host said meekly as she stepped up behind the studious unicorn. Twilight didn’t hear my host as she continued to rant at the chalkboard.

“Even if I carry the x here, and then move this over there, it still doesn’t add up to anything at all!”

“Twilight…”

“And that doesn’t fit because if x is fifty-two then y possibly can’t be six thousand, five hundred and forty seven!”

“Twilight…” my host’s voice crept up a notch in annoyance.

“And if I take the square root of this, then this is wrong too! It’s almost like I’m going to need to invent a whole brand new kind of math just to understand all of this!”

“Twilight!!” my host finally shouted, exasperated.

Twilight turned with a shock.

“What do you want?!” she yelled, causing my host to tremble and shoot immediately underneath the table, holding her hooves above her head as she shook from fear. Twilight stuck her head underneath the table, glaring at my host.

“Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” The purple mare asked, causing further shakiness on my host’s end as she tried to squeak out an answer. Noticing this, Twilight’s glare softened. “Oh Fluttershy. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Come on out.”

Carefully my host extricated herself from under the table and stood up. “Sorry Twilight, old habits die hard I guess. You just startled me is all. Really I’m alright.”

“What can I help you with? I’m very busy at the moment,” Twilight said, moving to the table and sitting down at one of the chairs.

My host trotted over and sat down in one of the chairs opposite of the lavender unicorn.

“I… I just wanted to check up on you, see how you were doing,” My host squeaked out.

The purple unicorn gave a grunt of frustration.

“Applejack sent you didn’t she? I told her the last time that I was just fine and that she should drop it,” Twilight responded, sounding increasingly agitated.

“Twilight, we’re all worried about you. It’s been three months, and we barely even see you anymore. Your own parents barely even see you anymore,” My host stated, exasperated at the behavior displayed by her purple friend.

“I’m fine Fluttershy. I’m doing just fine. I’ve been really busy lately is all,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes. “I’m on the verge of a breakthrough Fluttershy I can feel it in my bones. This is going to be life changing for everypony.”

“What is it?” My host asked, surprised at Twilight’s upswing into her work talk. “Some new project?”

“Better. What I’m working on will improve the life of everypony in Equestria! I can’t really go too much into details at the moment, there’s still too much work to do,” The purple mare said, animatedly chattering as she stepped past my host and back to the chalkboard.

My host sighed. “But Twilight, you’re never going to figure all of it out if you shut us out. Please, I brought something for you… please?” my host said, eyes pleading with the unicorn.

The lavender mare finally relented as my host pulled out a few items out of her saddlebags.

“What is it?” She asked, to the bright smile of my host.

“Well… I know how much you like that honey chamomile tea that is sold in Canterlot so I brought you some of that, and also this…” My host replied, revealing a small statuette, this one of a white unicorn with blazing blue hair. A plaque at the base of the statue held the words Love Others. Twilight’s eyes widened. “Rarity made it special, just for you. We hoped maybe… if you had a small part of him with you, you wouldn’t feel so sad all the time.”

Twilight closed her eyes as tears began to leak out of their sides. Soon she erupted into bawling as she propelled herself forward at my host, capturing her in a hug.

“I’m… I’m so sorry Fluttershy!” The lavender mare cried as my host accepted the embrace.

Fluttershy rubbed her hoof over the crying mare’s mane softly, not in a romantic manner but more of in a motherly manner.

“I’m just… so lost… I miss him so much!” Twilight said through her sobs.

“There there, it’s alright Twilight. We all miss your brother. We loved him just as much as we loved you,” the yellow pegasus responded quietly. “But not letting your friends or your family in to help you isn’t going to make it any better.”

The memory began to fade to black as the lavender unicorn cried harder and harder, letting out all of her anger and sadness into the tender embrace of my kind host.

Bright white light filtered into my eyes as they slowly opened, warmth spreading across my face and neck. Am I dead? I thought as my eyes tried to adjust to the light. Am I with the Goddesses? I winced as I felt pain in my side from where Greed had struck me with his horn. Nope, definitely not dead, I thought. My mind quickly turned to my friends. Did they survive? Were they all alright? I couldn’t help but think about them as my eyes finally adjusted. The room I was in was very clean, for some strange reason. Crude medical equipment adorned the area directly to the right of me, the only sound the beeping the machines gave off every few seconds. I looked down my body, noticing bandages where my wounds had been. Nopony else was in the room at the moment.

I wonder where I am, I said as I pushed myself up, wincing again at the pain and crying out just a bit. A creaking noise indicated that the door had opened and a pony entered as I flopped off of the bed to the floor below. My eyes arched up as I heard the pony cry out something, and then hooves beating the floor until they were next to me. I looked up, seeing Patch standing over me. She looked much the same, her blue mane ragged and unkempt. The only major difference was the eye patch over her right eye.

“Hey!” She called out behind her. “She’s awake! And… on the floor.”

Shuffling of hooves and the door opening followed, and moments later I was lifted up and laid back onto the bed. Steeljack tipped his invisible hat as he took a seat next to the wall. A lump of green mare-y goodness hit me moments later as Violet crushed me on the bed, holding me tightly.

“Hey now… gotta let me breath sometime,” I said, chuckling as the green unicorn let up on her hug. From the state of her mane, and the bags under her eyes, I could tell she hadn’t been getting much sleep at all. How long was I out? I thought.

“Some plan huh?” were the first words out of Violet’s mouth, a wry grin appearing on her face.

“What happened?” I asked animatedly. “How long have I been out? What happened to Greed? The raiders? What about…?”

“Whoa there, easy darlin’ you’ll pop another wound open,” Steeljack interjected. “Violet will explain everything.” I turned to my marefriend and glared intensely. She grinned in return.

“Okay look. You had a good plan, okay? Poor execution, but good plan. Greed blew up and knocked you back. Right after that we pulled you as far as we could and tried to hold our ground against the raiders. A good portion of the freaks were wiped out in the explosion, or at the least severely injured to the point of not being able to fight. You were in a pretty bad shape, and we didn’t have any time to try any Med-X or any other chems. I remembered reading somewhere that memory orbs were sometimes used as temporary anesthetics, so I told Patch to grab one and force you into it. We thought we were goners, but then the NCR showed up,” the mare began to say. “Anyways, I guess the amount of gunfire and the fighting going on drew some attention to a few NCR patrols around the area, prompting Kirby to send in a strike force. The raiders have been dispersed, but many of them took to underground and went into hiding. We couldn’t find any sign of Greed’s body, not even a drop of blood. It’s like he just… disappeared.”

“Where are we now?” I asked.

“NCR Headquarters. Been here for several days now, waiting for you to wake up,” Patch responded. “You came out of the memory orb, but then you were unconscious afterward.” She smiled warmly.

“And umm… what happened to you?” I said, pointing at the eye patch over her eye.

“Lost it during the fight with the griffon. Nasty sonofabitch he was. Might have been a she, not totally sure. He managed to get in close to me,” The green mare replied, chuckling. I gasped softly at this, at which point she just smiled brightly. “It’s fine though. Doctor says it’ll heal; I just won’t have any use of it. I can still snipe though, use my left eye for that job. At the very least, I don’t need to close my right eye anymore to do that.”

I blinked, not able to believe what I was hearing. One of my friends had just lost an eye for me, and was treating it as if it was no big deal. I grabbed Patch in a hug.

“I’m sorry,” I said as tears welled up in my eyes. “I shouldn’t have put you in that kind of position to get hurt like that…”

Patch warmly returned the embrace and smiled.

“Hey… I meant what I said. You guys are my friends. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for the job,” The green earth pony said as I released her from the hug. “Besides… speaking of jobs, I sort of need one.”

“I thought you were with the NCR?” I asked blankly, clearly confused.

“Yeah… but even with my skills an honorable discharge is still a discharge. Kirby wasn’t too happy about it either, but it wasn’t his call. Half-blind Security officers can’t do as good of a job as those with all their vision,” Patch said, chuckling. “Violet said I could tag along with you guys for a while.”

“Oh,” I said, looking crestfallen.

“Unless… you don’t want me to?” Patch said quietly.

I quickly shook my head and smiled. “No no no, not like that. I’m just sad you lost your job is all. You’re more than welcome to join us,” I replied nervously, thinking back to the morning I spent waking up sandwiched between her and Violet.

“Great!” The earth pony said, smiling.

“So… Greed’s gone then?” I asked, earning a nod from my friends. I sighed, content with the knowledge that I had managed to get rid of the crazy buck in the process. “What about the artifact?”

“The NCR picked it up, it’s in their hooves,” Patch said. “Why?”

“I’d like to get that back to the ponies it belongs to. They deserve that much,” I replied. “Is there any chance that we could get it?” A cough behind my friends answered me. I looked up past my companions and saw the Major. My eyes lit up like a star on fire.

“I’ll have you know missy, I control everything in this place. You say that thing belongs to some ponies you know? It’s yours,” Kirby said, grinning.

“Really? You mean that?” I asked.

“I’ll see that it’s added to your stuff before you leave, along with the caps you are owed for performing this service for us,” the Major responded. He saluted me and grinned, stepping out of my room and taking his leave of us.

I groaned as I lay back on my side. “Looks like I still have a little bit of recovery to do,” I said, chuckling.

“Should only be a couple more days, your wounds were pretty bad,” Violet said. “You really should get some rest. It’ll make you feel better.”

“Say… in the commotion of everything, what happened to Stargazer? You guys picked it up right?” I asked nonchalantly. My companion’s faces went white, as if they’d all seen a ghost. Why were my friends all staring at me like that?

“Umm… about that. We umm… couldn’t find it,” Violet said blankly.

I stared back for a few moments and imploded.

“What?!” I shouted angrily. “What do you mean you couldn’t find it?!” My gun! My beautiful amazing gun! The only thing I had that could shoot Discord! Gone!

“As in it wasn’t there. It’s almost like when we were captured, he took it somewhere away from our stuff,” Patch chimed in.

My blood went cold and my eyes widened with realization.

“He’s still alive,” I finally said. “He’s still alive, and now… he has my gun.”

“You’re serious,” Violet said, stepping front of me.

I nodded fiercely as I picked up my saddlebag. “I am,” I replied. I moved to step out of my room, being blocked by the unicorn.

“No, I’m not letting you, you’re going to get yourself killed,” she said angrily.

I sighed and stared at her. “Violet. I love you, but I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to find him, and make sure it’s over. I owe that much to the ponies of Far Hills,” I said.

“But you’re not going alone, why do you have to do it alone?” Violet asked.

After my brilliant deduction that Greed was still alive, I indicated to my friends the desire to follow and end the buck for good, as well as to retrieve my gun. I couldn’t leave such a weapon in the hooves of a psycho like Greed. It was imperative that I got my beautiful gun back. But after putting all my friends in such danger in the first place, I made my intention clear that I wanted to do it alone. Patch and Steeljack stepped out of the room, mostly because Violet shot me a glare that could kill probably every raider from here to Manehattan.

“I told you already. I almost got you three killed out there. It’s not fair to ask you to go with me now. Besides, it’s just Greed. I’ve already proven I can beat him,” I said confidently.

“Yes, but if you’re right and he is alive, then he has Stargazer. Not something you really want to go up against now is it?” Violet replied, leveling her gaze at me. “Please… let us help you.”

“Violet, I know what Stargazer does… and I couldn’t… I don’t know what I would do if one of you got hurt by it. It’d be my fault, all over again,” I said, pulling my marefriend into a hug. “Please. I have to do this.”

Violet sighed and embraced me back.

“Fine. But you better come back. We have a lot to… discuss if you know what I mean,” She said, flashing some eyelash at me.

I blinked. Did she just come on to me? Yeah… I’m that clueless sometimes. I smiled hesitantly and kissed her softly. I really did love this mare, for all it was worth. And it was for her I had to do this. My heart had broken in half when I had seen her unconscious in that raider den, and when she had looked so disheveled and sad. I was intent on not letting that ever happen again. I stood up and pecked her on the cheek lightly as I walked out of the room, under the quiet gaze of my other two friends. Patch moved to say something as Steeljack stopped her with a hoof.

The walk out of the NCR hotel was a somber one. In the days that I had been out of commission, the NCR had called in Talon assistance and was actively scouring the streets for raiders and gangers, taking them into custody if they were willing and filling them full of holes if they weren’t. The city that had previously felt so dead the week before now was teeming with activity as the griffons made headway further into the city. This made the trek back to the raider camp at the crater a much easier thing. The camp was now being repurposed for use for the NCR. Long gone was the art deco of pony body parts, but most of the stench remained. It was going to be a while before that cleared up I supposed. I merely guessed that based on my fame that I was allowed to go where I pleased, which turned out to be rather accurate. The officers posted at the camp merely waved me on in as I entered. I asked one of the officers for directions, and was pointed to where my fight with Greed had taken place.

I made my way to the small arena that was the center of Greed’s explosive end to our fight. The area was still covered in rubble, and a large black mark stained the ground. I ran a hoof over the black ground, picking up a little soot as I went.

Hmm, I thought. That’s odd. I decided to ask an old friend for a little help. Spark? You there?

Hmm? Yes? What do you want? The sarcastic spirit of Magic responded.

Look at this… what do you think? I asked the voice in my head, indicating the black marks on the ground.

Oh… yes. The fight with that… thing, Spark replied. That’s very odd, but not unexpected to see in a normal unicorn.

I think we’ve established that Greed was no normal unicorn, but what do you mean? I said. The voice chuckled.

Isn’t it obvious? He teleported, Spark said, still chuckling.

My eyes went wide, and I grinned.

Is there any way to track him? I asked. Like… follow where he went to? If she had physical arms, I supposed that Spark would have shrugged.

You’d have to be able to trace where his magic went. It’s difficult, but not impossible, Spark responded.

I nodded to myself and reached out to the ground with my horn. Yes, there were trace amount of magic here still. Even days after he disappeared, Greed had left a mark on the earth. I began to follow the threads in my mind, jumping from each broken connection to the next, searching for something, anything that would indicate the unicorn’s position. Finally, a single silver thread stood out, trailing away and out of the camp and into the city. In my mind’s eye I saw a dilapidated Church of the Goddesses sitting on a street corner. The thread ended there.

My eyes opened with determination in them as I flapped my wings and took to the sky. My eyes scanned the skyline, and I spotted my destination. I flew like a bat out of hell through the city until I landed on the courtyard of the church. One of its spires was ruined, broken in half, revealing a staircase that effectively went to nowhere now. Stained glass windows, once beautiful and vibrant, were either now completely shattered or so dirty from the test of time it was impossible to tell what they were supposed to be. The large front doors of the place were ripped off of their hinges, indicating recent activity.

I cautiously stepped forward, heading into the open doorway. The hallways twisted and turned until I located the main sanctuary hall, a large room that extended back to the end of the church's lot. A massive balcony loomed overhead as I entered the darkened sanctuary. Twisted laughter filled the hall as I entered, a sign that I was in the right place. At the altar sat the devil himself. His formerly pristine white coat was marred to a charcoal grey because of dirt and soot. His mane was scraggly and unkempt. Dried blood stained his hooves and a wide maddening grin crossed his face. The unicorn’s eyes were wide with glee and hatred as he stared me down. At his hooves rested Stagazer.

“You’re so… predictable Ministry Mare. I took something of yours, I wanted it, so I took it, and now here you are… right into my lair,” The mad unicorn said to the room.

I growled and put a hoof up. “Greed. It’s over. You’re finished. Give me back the gun, and we’ll end this,” I shouted.

The stallion shuffled to his feet, his bloody horn taking up Stargazer in its magical grasp.

“Yes… let’s do that shall we,” The buck said, lifting the minigun. Deftly, he pulled the trigger and began to fire.

Shit! I shouted in my mind as I triggered my shield spell and moved to duck behind a few of the ruined benches. A blaze of blue shattered wood and impacted against my shield, triggering sizzling noises as the bullets struck it. Several bullets passed right through as the strength of my shield waned, soaring over my head. I turned and ran, making it around a stone corner. It’s alright, I’ve got this. I just have to let him deplete out the core or tire himself out from holding it too long, I thought to myself before a second thought suddenly occurred. I’d never actually fired Stargazer long enough to know how much it would take to deplete the starmetal core. Furthermore, I didn’t really know how fast the core regenerated itself! I became suddenly glad that Greed didn’t have a PipBuck, or else I would be splattered on the walls of this church. The gunfire broke off as I could hear wild cackling from the center of the room.

“Come on out Ministry Mare. I want to see you tremble. I want to see you shake with fear as I kill you!” The unicorn snarled.

“You won’t get that shot Greed!” I shouted from behind the stone.

I levitated out the rifle I had brought with me. Inelegant compared to my normal fare, but it would have to do. It was now or never, that good old do or die time. I leaped out from my hiding place and triggered S.A.T.S., queuing up a shot at the buck’s head, hoping to catch him in his damaged horn. Time resumed and the rifle fired, slamming directly into the stallion’s face. An electrical discharge emanated from his head as his shield ability struggled to form, brushing off the bullet but forcing his focus on my gun to drop. I quickly went to try to lift Stargazer with my magic, only to have it pulled out of my grasp by Greed’s familiar glow. He snarled as he leaped at me, bringing the gun to bear. Another storm of bullets spewed forth from the minigun as I struggled to my move my rump to another safe spot. Stone and wood flew around me as I pushed myself around another column with my wings. Stargazer wound down and Greed spoke again.

“Stay still so I can kill you!” He shouted.

“I probably could and you’d still miss me! You’re a pathetic shot!” I yelled back, trying to goad the buck into action. I heard hoofsteps coming closer.

“Not going to fall for your tricks again Ministry Mare,” Greed said, stopping short of the stone column I was hiding behind.

I snarled and turned out from behind my cover and pushed forward at the stallion. I let my horn glow, putting a little extra oomph into my voice as I stretched my forehooves out to strike the unicorn.

“MY NAME IS RADIANT STAR!” I shouted, catching the buck in the face with a hoof, sending me and him into a rough and tumble of kicks and punches.

Greed snarled and slammed me in the side of my face with his right forehoof, drawing blood as I heard a *crack* from the jaw. Pain shot through my body as we slammed into each other. Greed finally got the better of me, pushing me to the ground with a forceful slam. I cried out in pain as the buck held me there, levitating Stargazer over the top of my head.

“Alright then Radiant Star. Any last words before you shuffle off this mortal coil?” Greed said, his eyes mad with rage.

I stared up into the black barrels of my own weapon with fear. I failed. I’m so sorry Violet… Patch… Steeljack, I thought as I shut my eyes and waited for the end to come, but it never did. In fact, several things did happen, all at once as I shot my eyes open at the noises that occurred while they were closed. Greed cried out in anguish as Stargazer clattered to the floor next to me, and a blasting noise that hummed through the air passed over me. I looked up at Greed and saw that most of his left hoof was now gelatinous goop, dripping onto me as he screamed in intense pain.

“Get off of her, now!” An angry voice shouted. I looked up and saw Violet standing there, brandishing Thunder Flash in her magic. She had fire in her eyes and determination in her stance as she aimed again and fired, grazing the unicorn stallion’s mane, singing off several tufts of hair in the process.

I snarled and moved to push Greed off of me with magic, finally extricating the screaming mess that was the unicorn to the floor beside me. I pulled myself up and grabbed Stargazer, running over to my lovely companion. Greed pulled himself up to his hooves, panting hard through the pain. He grinned, pointing to the wall and the stone columns around us with his gelatinous hoof.

“I told you already… if I’m going to hell, you’re coming with me,” He said.

I looked up and saw bomb collars strapped to the sides of the wall and to the columns. Suffice to say, it was enough explosive to bring down the ceiling on top of us. But where was the detonator? There had to be one, otherwise why would he make such a threat? He grinned, catching my expression. He licked his lips and my eyes went wide. He swallowed it, which means…. shit. Violet glared at the buck and lifted Thunder Flash.

“I’m sending you there first,” She simply said as she took aim and fired.

“Violet no!” I shouted to try and warn her but it was too late. The elegance of the beam rifle sent silver fire screaming across the room, hitting the stallion dead center in the chest, beginning the process of dissolution immediately.

Greed shrieked in pain as his chest dissolved into goop, a gleam of silver appearing as his insides were revealed to us. A beeping noise emanated from his body as Greed laughed in death. A few moments later the world shook as bombs all around the church began to detonate. Stone and wood flew through the air, mixed with deadly cutting glass. And that was the least of the problems. Large chunks of rock began to fall as the building’s support system could no longer sustain the weight of the sanctuary ceiling. I latched onto a very surprised Violet and activated my shield just before a really large chunk made us pancakes. I covered her with my wings and laid there, trying to keep my shield up as it was bombarded by debris and rubble.

I struggled with my magic, the pain of my injuries sustained during the rough and tumble with Greed finally catching up to my adrenaline. No! I thought as my shield strength began to fade. I began to push Violet along, using myself to keep her safe. Her eyes filled with fear as a rather large chunk of rock fell from the ceiling. I didn’t see it as it passed through the shield, striking my head directly. The last thing I heard was shouting as I blanked out and fell unconscious.

I blinked as I stared down the hallway. I really gotta stop doing this, I thought as I wondered which door would open next. I mean come on, why is it always me that gets knocked unconscious?! The bare hallway stretched out before me and the torches hanging over the doors provided very soft light as I sat there, waiting for the next door. The *fwoosh* indicated a door further up the hallway on my left. I trotted up and pushed the door open, a creaking noise meeting my ears. I stepped out and into a Ministry office, where two purple mares that looked nearly identical were standing there arguing over something. One of the mares looked like Twilight, while the other looked like a desaturated version of the other, her coat almost a light grey color.

“No no no no! I’m not going to do it!” the grey mare shouted at the purple unicorn, who rolled her eyes in response.

“She said we have to, silly!” The other mare chirped excitedly before sticking her tongue out.

“I don’t care. Spark can go buck herself, I’m not doing it!” The grey unicorn said angrily. They both seemed to be engrossed in their own argument and hadn’t noticed me standing there just yet.

“Umm… hello?” I said, startling the two mares.

The deep purple one smiled and bounced up and down.

“Oh, hi there! We’ve been waiting for you!” She proclaimed. “It’s just such an honor to meet you!”

“Ugh. Stop it would you, you’re embarrassing,” The other mare said, rolling her eyes.

“Who… who are you?” I asked, staring blankly at the two unicorns.

“Oh. I’m Harmony! And this cranky puss here is Disharmony! We’re twins!” The energetic lavender unicorn exclaimed.

Disharmony shrugged. “I’m still not doing it Harmony,” She stated flatly, staring off to the side and not directly at me.

“Dissy, you’re just a cranky cranky pants. Spark said you have to, so you have to do it!” Harmony said, grabbing the grey mare into a hug.

Disharmony groaned and pulled herself away from the excited unicorn.

“Excuse me… but what did Spark tell you to do?” I asked. These two had to be the most confusing of Twilight’s emotions that I had ever met so far. What kind of emotion is Harmony and Disharmony anyways? That’s almost like getting a cutie mark for arguing.

“We were supposed to wait here for you because we have an important message for you. But Dissy is being a prissy,” Harmony replied. The purple mare stuck out a hoof and wrapped it around my neck.

“A message?” I asked, still really confused.

“Sure! You see Star, you’ve been super busy with thinking that you’re the only important pony around that you’ve neglected to see the Harmony in your friendship! Especially with that Violet, wowza have you seen the flank on her?” Harmony chattered excitedly.

Disharmony groaned again. “We’re supposed to remind you that we can’t exist without each other. It’s sort of like good, and evil. Order, and Chaos. You know, two sides of a coin,” Disharmony interjected.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to do it?” Harmony asked.

Disharmony shrugged. “If it gets you to shut up for a few minutes, then I’ll do anything,” the grey mare said before turning to me. “Listen. I couldn’t care less about anypony but myself. But you’re letting too much of me in, and that’s bad for both of us. Twilight did the same thing, and it nearly broke her.”

“What do I do then?” I asked.

“Let your friends in sometime. Don’t always dismiss their strengths or their weaknesses. They’re always there for you Star,” Harmony said.

“And as much as I hate to say it, don’t be so selfish all the time. You need balance, not all me all the time,” Disharmony chimed in.

Harmony nodded along with her twin emotion, smiling brightly.

“I just… I feel like all I’ve done is put them into harm’s way. I’m a failure,” I said, with a defeated tone.

Harmony giggled and hopped around me. “Silly filly, it’s not just all about you, y’know. Your friends know what they got themselves into when they signed up for this. Stop blaming yourself, and let a little Harmony into your life,” she said, grinning as she bopped off down the hallway.

“Ugh… there she goes again. I’d better chase after her before she causes more trouble. She’s been causing Anger trouble all week,” Disharmony sighed, starting down the hallway after the energetic mare.

I blinked, and then blinked again.

“Twilight. You are so random sometimes,” I finally said as the world faded to black.

A green hoof was shaking me as I woke up. Violet was sitting next to me, tears in her eyes. It was dark all around us. Debris was everywhere, and I couldn’t even see where we were.

“What happened?” I said weakly.

Violet pointed up at the ceiling. “We’re trapped. The whole thing came down, and now we’re trapped down here. I’ve tried clearing away some of the debris, but there’s too much to cut through, even with Thunder Flash,” she responded, sniffling.

I pulled myself up, ignoring the small pains I felt all over and grabbed Violet, and pressed my lips to hers fiercely. Her eyes popped open at the contact and then closed, smiling as our tongues mingled. After a few moments, we broke the connection, breathing hard. I looked into her eyes and smiled warmly.

“It’s alright. We’re going to get out of here, you and me. We just need to work together,” I said. She nodded slowly as I stood up and looked around the area. We were trapped in what appeared to be an underground basement below the church. I guess the damage was pretty bad, I thought as I stepped about the area. Luckily we hadn’t lost any of our supplies, and Violet had been able to carry both of our weapons along for the ride. Granted, most of our supplies did diddily squat in a situation like this. It was still something at least.

“How did you find me by the way?” I said as I poked at some of the rubble.

“Followed your PipBuck tag. Wasn’t that difficult,” She replied as she picked up our saddlebags and Thunder Flash.

I groaned loudly. I needed to move, needed to find a way out of this trap. Without my harness, I just set Stargazer aside for the moment. I slid on my bags, and sniffed the air. It smelled sweet, and I could feel a breeze coming from somewhere.

“There’s air somewhere coming in, otherwise we’d have suffocated by now. How long was I out?” I asked as I tried to follow the source of the air. I poked at a few rocks, causing them to tumble down and a massive roar to start up before quickly subsiding.

“Only a few hours or so. You really had me worried there for a bit,” Violet replied, stepping up next to me. “Are you alright?”

I sighed and lowered my head. “I… I’m sorry I came alone Violet. I should have trusted your instinct. I should have trusted you,” I said finally.

The green mare hugged my side in appreciation. She smiled up at me warmly.

“It’s alright. I’m sorry too. I should never have let you just go. That’s why I followed you,” She said. “Star… you can’t do everything on your own now. You’ve got me.”

“Somepony else just gave me that exact same advice,” I said, seeing the confused look on her face. “More of Twilight’s emotions. They talk to me sometimes when I’m asleep or dreaming. It’s a little crazy sounding I know, but they’re in there.” I tapped my noggin as Violet nodded and nuzzled closely to me.

“I don’t think that’s crazy at all Star,” she replied.

I continued to pick at some of the debris, trying to find the right pieces that would free us from this underground death trap. After a few moments of searching, I found a hole where air was pushing through slightly. I looked to Violet, who nodded and brought up Thunder Flash. The beam rifle’s silver energy careened into the spot, melting stone into goo instantly. In the dim light beyond the debris we could see a stairwell leading upward amidst even more rubble. Violet stepped through the hole first and I carefully followed her, trying not to knock too much more loose while carrying Stargazer through. The stairway was in disarray and was sealed shut by large chunks of rock that had fallen down into it. I tested the rock a bit with my magic and determined that there was a likely chance the whole thing might collapse downwards if anything was removed. Violet began to slowly carve a path using Thunder Flash up the stairs. I was relying more on her than anything with that beam weapon. It might just be our only way out of this mess, I thought as I watched my love fire the rifle. My eyes traced up her legs and her flank, taking in her subtle beauty. I grinned as I watched her work.

“Star…?” Violet asked. I must have been zoning out again, I thought as I looked down, seeing her next to me.

I looked back up and blinked. Wow, she was quick. She also had a frown on her face. Uh oh, incoming wrong time!

“Yes?” I asked softly.

“I… I killed him didn’t I?” she asked.

I blinked. I hadn’t been expecting that question. She hadn’t mentioned Greed the entire time. Had she been mulling over it all this time?

“Yeah… you kind of did. I don’t think anypony would survive that kind of shot, let alone that kind of explosion,” I said. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I just… I’ve never, I’ve never wanted to kill somepony as much as I wanted to kill him at that moment,” she finally said after a slight pause.

I sighed, and hugged her close. “It’s okay. He was a monster. He was evil. You know that right?” I said. “You did the right thing.”

“I… I know. I was just so mad you know… him standing over you with your gun, I just…. I felt like I was going to lose you,” My mare replied.

I smiled softly. “I felt the same way down in that Stable you know. I let my anger get the best of me. I let it get in the way of what was really important, and that was you,” I said. “Now then, are we clear enough to move this rubble?”

She nodded and I stepped into the stairwell. Violet had certainly done a bang up job of cutting through the rock. Above we could see a room that possibly was part of the sanctuary of the church. We tread lightly as we navigated upward, finally emerging into the darkness of the sanctuary. A large hole in the wall revealed that it was night outside. Glass and metal were strewn about the sanctuary floor, which was mostly sunk into the basement below. We breathed a sigh of relief as I helped Violet up onto my back. I flew across the sanctuary hall, landing outside of the giant hole in the side wall and onto the street. The city felt empty in the middle of the night, nopony around to even notice us as we walked along the streets. It was an odd sort of quiet, one I didn’t much care for, but was there anyways, almost taunting me.

“The NCR will have closed up the gates to the hotel for the night,” Violet said quietly as we traversed. “We should probably find someplace to bed down until morning.”

I nodded in response as we came down a few streets over from the church. Several of the buildings held gang symbols but they were dead quiet. Too quiet. It was no surprise when several red blips appeared on my E.F.S. and gunfire came from one of the buildings. I shouted and tossed up my shield, warning Violet of the incoming danger.

“We’ve got company!” I yelled.

Violet nodded, and brought up Thunder Flash, sending a stream of silver fire across the street at the abandoned building the gunfire had came from. The beam looked simply radiant in the night sky as it slammed into the side of the building, eating up small chunks of stonework and masonry as it did. I was about to join her defense when another spray of bullets came from the building on the other side of the street. Violet merely grinned at me.

“Back to back!” she shouted.

I nodded and put myself rump to rump with her. I turned towards the other building and triggered E.S.A.T.S. Oh it felt so good to be back on good terms with my gun! Not having any actual targets to shoot at, I queued up several shots targeting the windows of the building. Let’s see if they’re being interested and looking out the window, I thought as I let the targeting spell drop and Stargazer unleashed its payload at the stone building. Windows burst and screams were heard from inside. I could hear similar screams behind me as Violet spewed hot fiery death from her beam rifle. We turned to each other and laughed. It felt good to be out here with just her for some reason, like it was truly meant to be. Red blips on my E.F.S. disappeared as I lobbied round after round into the windows. Eventually only a few red blips remained. Those blips quickly turned yellow as a white flag extended out of one of the windows and shook fiercely. I nodded to Violet as we held our fire, grinning. The flag receded back into the building and the blips remained yellow. I guess they don’t want to fight us anymore, I thought. Funny how that works out.

I looked over at Violet, who had pointed out an abandoned Macs Department Store down the street. Although the front of the store was absolutely ruined, it appeared the inside was actually not too bad. We made our way into the store, searching for a place where we could stay for the night. The store itself was dirty, but bearable. Several radroaches scattered as we walked through the old store. We stepped into the area of the store that was supposed to hold furniture and smiled profusely. Although they were centuries old and extremely dirty, there were several beds and mattresses strewn about the furniture area. Nopony cared too much about taking a bed with them when the megaspells dropped apparently.

“This will have to do,” Violet said. “Maybe in the morning we can load up some of these and take them back to the hotel with us. Clean them up a bit, and they’d make good extra beds for the NCR to use.”

I nodded in agreement as we found ourselves a nice comfortable mattress to lie on. We laid there for a few moments next to each other and sighed.

“Violet?” I asked quietly.

She looked up at me. “Yeah…?”

“Thank you. For just being here with me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it,” I said, smiling. She flashed her own smile. I nuzzled her neck, holding her closely as I gave her a small lick on her cheek, prompting a fierce blush from her as I kissed her lightly.

“Star…” she choked out as she reached up with her hoof, caressing my neck.

I lowered my mouth onto hers and we kissed, letting ourselves go for the moment. A feeling quite like heaven shook through my body as we lingered in the other’s mouth, finally breaking away to come up for air.

“You told me earlier you wanted to… what was the word… ‘discuss’ some things?” I panted as I kissed her neck, prompting a soft moan from the mare. I had been through so much in the last week that I almost forgot how good I had it sometimes. I had devoted friends who would put their life on the line for me, and a beautiful marefriend who loved me for who I was. Life suddenly didn’t seem so bad at that moment in time. In fact, it almost seemed downright wonderful.

“Mmm… I umm… yeah… keep doing that,” Violet moaned as I nibbled on her neck and caressed her body. Her breath had become short and she was panting hard. She turned around in my embrace and began kissing my neck as well. She slid down my neck with her tongue and grinned playfully.

“What are you – ohh!” I half said/half moaned as my love let her hooves further down my body. I clinched my teeth as her caresses became more intimate and softer with every nibble, kiss, and lick. Violet worked her way up the side of my flank and thigh, prompting several moans from me as she did. Her hooves finally came to rest at the base of my wing, where she began rubbing. It felt extremely good, I must say. That is, until the nibbling began there as well.

“Ohh!!! Oh Celestia!” I shouted as Violet worked her tongue and mouth over the base of my wing, taking great care with my feathers to keep them in place as she did. The feeling was beyond incredible, an electrical tingling shooting its way up and down my spine. I moaned and thrashed about as my lover worked; a fire building up in my nether regions. Violet moaned just as much as I did as she slid a hoof down my body. I sighed as my love bore down on my other wing, gnawing on the base and prompting me to moan even more. I was panting hard by this time as Violet grinned at me, continuing her delicate work on my wing.

Now bear in mind, I do preen. Preening is one of those deals you normally don’t hear an alicorn or a pegasus talk about too much, but we do keep our wings in condition. Preening is typically one of those normal things, you think nothing of it as you bite and gnaw at your wing, putting feathers into place. But having another pony do that for you? Pure unadulterated heaven. It is absolutely one of the most romantic things a lover could ever perform for their mate. It is also highly intimate, as we don’t normally just allow anypony near the base of our wings. It was with this intimacy in mind that I vocalized my excitement at Violet’s act of love.

“OH BUCK YES!” I shouted as teeth pulled on feathers and tongue pushed them into place. I shook with sheer excitement as my lover worked her magic on me, my eyes lolling into the back of my skull. I felt like jelly in her mouth, melting at each twinge of pleasure. The fire inside me intensified as she continued her gnawing. I moaned and bucked and kicked and then lay there, sighing intensely. Finally, I managed to gather enough strength to pull my love into a fierce kiss as I smiled. We broke apart and stared into each other’s eyes, wild with excitement.

“I love you,” Violet breathed. Her mane was tussled and sweat glistened on her coat. She had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment in time.

“I love you too,” I replied as I nuzzled her neck, burying myself in her embrace. I giggled as she nuzzled back. For the first time in a long time, I was feeling like I was on top of the world. Only one thing could have made my life a little better at that point in time. Of course, I had to vocalize that want.

“You don’t think we could find any chocolate syrup around this place do you?”

Author's Notes:

Wow, what a chapter to get through. There was a lot to this, and I hope it wrapped up Greed’s character well enough. Greed as a character was a lot of fun to write, as he was based on the character of the same name from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. Beyond that, I tried to turn him into a real villain, one that was a foil to Star. But, as it stands, I needed for his character to die in order to move on to the next chapter in Star’s adventure.

Also… if anyone feels that the scene at the end is too suggestive, well then I may have to move this to a Mature rating. I wasn’t intending for it to be outright clop, but more intimate love type stuff. The wing gnawing is a fun cute reference that you might pick up on, but I still didn’t feel that it was too sensual.

As always, I am ever appreciative of the feedback given to me on this story. If you like what you’ve read, feel free to comment, favorite, and toss me an upvote! That being said, I have a challenge for you readers that are already tracking this. I’d really like to get a little more exposure and some more views on this, the more the better. So… recommend it to others who you think may enjoy the story please! I promise that I will cook up something a little extra special for you guys if you do.

Also… I have a tumblr now! Or more accurately, Star has a tumblr now. http://askradiantstar.tumblr.com is the address. Feel free to drop her any questions you’d like to ask her! I may not be extremely artistic at times, so I will try the occasional picture response. For right now since I’m spending so much time writing chapter, it will be text response only.

One again, I’d like to thank Kkat for this incredible world she’s given us. It’s truly been a fun ride sofar. I’d also really like to thank Wirepony for all the brainstorm ideas he gives me in IRC every night. It’s been a blast to have someone to bounce ideas off of and see how they stick.