Chapter Eleven – Unqualified Personnel

|[(  ) ]|[(  ) ]|[ /_\ ]|

Double Tap stood in the middle of a dim and dusty room, dumbfounded. He went over the facts to try and get a handle of the situation. Paharita and Leaf Marine had seemingly bolted, leaving him without food, supplies, or weapons of any kind. The city surrounding the abandoned hospital in which he currently stood, and the forest beyond that, was teeming with mindless, flesh eating ghouls. To top it all off, just a few paces ahead of him was Raspberry Tart, the mare that had disarmed and nearly beaten him to death less than five minutes ago. Rita had at least bound and gagged Raspberry before abandoning him. The little bit of light spilling through the hole that Raspberry had made in the wall was the only thing keeping the room from being as pitch black as the rest of the hospital.

Raspberry lay on her side, staring daggers at him from her place on the floor. Tap stared back, still as a statue. Her eyes harbored a cold, blue intensity that the roundness of her face and figure did nothing to soften. The smug confidence he witnessed earlier had been stripped away, replaced with a tensed expression that screamed ruthless and predatory. Tied up or not, he made sure to keep his distance, scanning his peripheral vision for sharp objects. This being a hospital, they were situated in some kind of stock room. Most of the shelves had been knocked over, lying across one another like toppled dominoes. Cartons and boxes of all sizes lay scattered across the floor, but none of them seemed to hold anything particularly useful.

How the fuck am I supposed to keep her here without a gun, he asked himself. How the fuck am I supposed to protect myself from her?

In the back of his mind lingered the hope that this was all a very poorly conceived prank and that if he waited long enough, Rita and Leaf would spring into view and laugh. He stayed rooted to the spot until he couldn’t bear it any longer. Quick, anxious glances to the doorway turned into backpedaling. He kept Raspberry in his line of sight until he felt his rump press against the cold, chipped wall behind him. The hallway was a dark abyss. It took a moment for him to remember how to cast a proper illumination spell. Soon, a bubble of light expanded on the tip of his horn. Tap took a deep breath and leaned out into the hallway. His hopes that Rita and Leaf would be there waiting, snickering under their breath, were immediately dashed.

What was waiting for him were six dash inhalers, three cans of beans, and three cans of green peas, discarded amidst the paw prints on the dust-caked floor. A single, yellow post-it note had been slapped on one of the cans, displaying a crude drawing of Rita giving a thumbs up. Tap sneered.

“Fucking bullshit,” he muttered as he scooped up the meager supplies. “I hate peas.”

Discouraged and angry, he stomped back into the room where he had left Raspberry. The moment he entered, she locked eyes with him again, sending prickles up the back of his neck with her piercing stare. She had visibly moved, leaving wide path where she had scooted through the dust. Tap swallowed and strafed around her, until she couldn’t see him past her own bulk. He darted through the hole in the wall and scrambled to gather up some knives. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Raspberry inching her way across the floor like some kind of massive caterpillar. With a dozen strips of sharp metal hovering around his face, Tap felt much more confident. He strolled right up to her and pushed a hoof into her gut. She whipped her head toward him, eyes narrowed.

“Cut that shit out. You’re not going anywhere.”

He could see her jaw clenching against the ropes that gagged her. She snorted and turned her nose up at him, haughty as ever.

“Yeah, great. I know you think you’re better than me or whatever.” She gave him a bored, sideways glance, and he continued. “I may want to keep living in Tenpony, but—”

Raspberry rolled her eyes and shifted away from him, nearly dragging Tap’s hoof with her.

There was no doubt in his mind that keeping Raspberry under control was going to be a monumental task. He sighed and made for the far wall. It was too dark to find a more defensible place to hole up, and he was still sore and exhausted from his earlier struggle. This meant forcing Raspberry to do anything but lay there seemed like far too much work for the time being. Staving off mental exhaustion was an easy fix, at least. Double Tap levitated one of the dash inhalers to his lips and squeezed as gently as he could. A puff of amphetamines whispered over his tongue, so slight that he barely even tasted it. It was enough. His vision sharpened and rekindled alertness was not far behind. He eased off of the wall and shifted his weight from hoof to hoof. Everything still ached, but standing in one place all night was not an option.

Tap trotted around the edge of the room, keeping plenty of distance between himself and Raspberry’s mostly motionless form. He returned to the examination room that Raspberry had trapped him in, occasionally peering through the hole in the wall to make sure she was still there. Raspberry Tart remained where he had left her. From her brief and violent introduction, he sincerely doubted that she had given up. She was either asleep or waiting for a better opportunity. He stayed by the hole for a moment longer, then ascended to the control room, where he had seen her down the contents of a flask. It was still there, standing neatly on a dusty, glowing terminal. He levitated it closer and sniffed the mouth of the vessel. A flat, earthy aroma filled his nose.

I wonder, he mused, peering into, and then holding the flask upside down over his tongue.

A few droplets splashed against Tap’s tongue, the taste somewhere between tooth paste and stone. He swallowed. All at once, a shiver ran through him, starting at his mouth and reaching every fleshy part of his body. It reminded him of drinking a healing potion, only this left him feeling very tense. He lifted a foreleg with no difficulty, despite the sensation of stiffness. Two steps remained in testing his theory. The first was putting his teeth to his own hide, biting a spot on his raised fetlock. The skin barely budged. He bit down harder, but felt barely anything, and left no marks. Without a moment’s hesitation, he brought one of the knives to his skin, poking and prodding. The tip seemed incapable of penetrating at first, and then, just as suddenly as it had happened, the tension left his body. His skin softened against the blade, a spot of blood welling up where he had inadvertently pricked himself.

“Son of a bitch,” Tap announced, his suspicion confirmed as he nursed the cut.

|[o’o ]|[o8- ]|[BAR]|

Sunlight filtered through some kind of crack along the seam where the wall met the ceiling. With no nearby windows to check, Double Tap couldn’t be sure what time of day was allowing for this sort of illuminative penetration, but light was light. Raspberry had definitely fallen asleep at some point. For such an immense mare, her snore was jarringly dainty. Tap envied her. He had been awake for an indeterminately long stretch of time, and even with the occasional amphetamine pick-me-up, he had reached the point where he was starting to feel sluggish. Shaking himself off, Tap followed one of his many hoofprint trails through the dust, breaching the one yard minimum safe zone around the dormant pomegranate volcano that was Raspberry Tart.

A carton of medical face shields dropped unceremoniously out of his levitation field and landed squarely on the side of Raspberry’s face. Her eye snapped open, pupil contracting and brow furrowing. A heartbeat later, she had fixed her cold stare on Tap.

“We’re moving,” he flatly stated. “And I know you don’t have any of that thick-skin potion in your system now, so I’m not gonna hesitate to poke holes in you if you try to start shit.”

Predictably, Raspberry turned up her nose at him, the carton sliding off her face in the process. Tap snorted, bringing one of his knives around, putting the point right between her eyes. That got her attention. She turned her head just enough to glare.

“I’ll start here,” he said, shifting the knife a few inches to the right, holding it just above her tear duct. “Since you can’t make up your damn mind if you want to give me the stink eye me or pretend I don’t exist.”

Her composure faltered, brow trembling, going cross-eyed as she looked up the scratched strip of sharpened steel. Finally, she snorted and turned to face him, ears splayed, looking more frustrated than defeated.

Tap smirked. “Welcome to earth, your highness.” He levitated the knife away, swinging it around to the rope binding her forelegs. “I’m going to cut you loose, but remember; no bullshit or I’ll carve out your fucking eyes.”

Raspberry sighed and rolled her eyes, but nodded. She shifted her weight, rolling onto her back and holding up her fore and hind legs.

“Shit, I should have thought of this before feather-fuck and Leaf bolted.”

He went to work. It occurred to him shortly after trying to cut through the braided fibers that it would probably be faster to just untie the knots. He changed tactics. Shortly thereafter, his magic backfired with a sharp pop as he struggled to correctly manipulate the rope. It wasn’t a simple knot, like the kind he used to lay traps. He recognized it as one of those weird knots that Paharita had tried to teach him for use in kink play. Raspberry began to wobble, making a muffled sound in the process. He glanced up and realized that she was giggling.

Tap raised a brow. “What?”

She stopped and shook her head. Tap gave her a skeptical look, but glanced down at the knot again, resulting in another failed attempt.

Frustrated, he muttered, “Stupid ass fetish knots.” Raspberry’s belly outright rippled, her laughter slipping past the gag. He folded his ears back and shouted, “What is so fucking funny?!”

She mumbled something, grinning and rolling her eyes away from him. Tap frowned and went back to the knife, eventually managing to saw through. He threw the rope against the floor, snorting triumphantly. As he brought the knife toward the rope binding her hind legs, she raised a hoof. He looked over, and saw she was pointing toward her gag with the other hoof.

“Hell no,” he quipped.

Apparently unsatisfied, Raspberry brought her forelegs up around her head and started trying to pull the gag off. She stopped as soon as he waved the knife in her face again, letting her forelegs and head drop with a low groan. Eventually, all four of her legs were free. Tap gathered up both lengths of rope, which were really four lengths bound together by two very ornate looking knots. Raspberry spent a moment rubbing her hind legs, then tucked and heaved her weight to one side. Tap took another step back as Raspberry rose up off the floor, mane and tail flying as she shook herself off. The stab wounds on her rump and stomach had scabbed over, dried splotches blood matting her coat. He kept the knife floating at her throat, close enough for her to feel the point beneath her second chin.

“There’s a waiting room not too far from here.” He raised a hoof, pointing out the door. “Lots of big, comfy couches and shit. That’s where we’re gonna go, alright?” Raspberry gave him a blank stare. “Alright, let’s go.”

Tap held the knife just far enough away from her throat that she could move without gouging herself. She flicked her tail, seemingly in his direction, and began to lumber forward. Faint columns of dust speckled light filtered into the hallway, failing to really illuminate the passage. He fired up his illumination spell to compensate, causing Raspberry to cast an enormous shadow ahead of them. Tap chewed his lip as they approached the first intersection.

“Okay, take a left."

He held his breath as Raspberry stood there, expecting her to bolt or try to attack. Instead, she slowly turned in the requested direction, shooting him a bored glance. It happened again less than a minute later. This, he felt, was her attempt at psyching him out. He countered this by telling himself not to think about it. Just moments after deciding that this was the best course of action, a low growling made his ears and hackles stand up straight. He whipped his head around, readying a knife, expecting to see a ghoul mid lunge. No such threat was to be found. A few paces ahead, Raspberry had stopped, because he had stopped and so had the knife at her throat. Tap swiveled his ears as he stepped back into a trot, eager to get out of the hallway.

A dash inhaler hissed softly as Tap took another hit. Things slowed down for a moment, which meant he had squeezed harder than intended. Even running on fumes as he was, all the small doses were adding up. The canister barely sloshed when he shook it, and the shadows continued to shift and sway even as his vision focused.

He made use of the perceptive distortion, his gaze sweeping over their surroundings. The waiting room was a bit bigger than the stock room, with rows of seats across the middle. It had two entrances, but the other was locked, making it slightly easier to guard. There were a pair of vending machines against one wall, but they had been smashed and emptied. The water cooler beside them was similarly damaged, the jug smashed in and left on the other side of the room. A table against the far wall held stacks of magazines and a few children’s books. It wasn’t a significant improvement, but it was better than lying on the floor.

“This is it,” he said, each syllable feeling like tree sap.

Raspberry stepped into the room, looking around and sighing. She turned toward him, then settled back on a couch, making it creak and squeal under her wide rump. They stared at each other in silence. That silence was broken as Tap heard growling once more. He turned, ready to fight, and again found nothing but dust and empty space.

Tap looked to Raspberry and asked, “Did you hear that?”

She wore a disinterested expression, like the sort she had given when turning up her nose. She wasn’t turning up her nose, but she was definitely avoiding eye contact. Tap squinted, one ear cocked. He wondered if she was hoping a ghoul would ambush him if she played coy. Snorting at the thought, he got the rope out.

“Alright, get comfy. I’m tying you up again.”

Raspberry let out another long sigh, her brow twitching. This was clearly an agonizing experience for her, but she cut the act short when Tap waved the knife in her face. She flicked her tail and heaved herself fully into her seat, lying on her side with her fore and hind legs extended. He made short work of it, tying the rope tight against her fetlocks and tugging to make sure it wouldn't slip past her hooves. Raspberry watched boredly, lazily moving her legs against the restraints once he had finished. As Tap was turning away, he heard the sound again; louder this time, and more of a rumble.

It was coming from Raspberry. She rested her hooves over her middle, briefly glancing at him before looking away again.

“Oh,” he said simply. Tap had eaten during the night. As far as he was aware Raspberry had not, since being captured the previous evening, eaten anything. “That sucks, lady, but I don’t know when they’re coming back so there’s only enough food for me.”

His own stomach chose that moment to remind him that the single can of beans he had eaten the previous night was not adequate. Tap cocked an ear and grimaced, more at himself than anything. Raspberry watched him, one brow raised, as he opened the bindle he had made from his jacket. He levitated knife to the second can of beans and punched a hole in the top, carving around the tin ridge until he could push the jagged lid up. Just as he tipped the edge to his lips, Raspberry grunted and mumbled around her gag. Tap hesitated, chewed his lip, and sighed.

"Yeah, fine, okay." Tap brought the can of beans and the knife to Raspberry, begrudgingly cutting through her gag.

The very moment the rope fell away from her round face, she said, "You aren't seriously considering eating out of the can, are you?"

Tap blinked. "Yeah?"

Raspberry's expression of concern swiftly became a look of disgust. "Would you at least heat them, first?"

He looked down at the can, then back to her. "Fine like this."

"Unbelievable," she muttered before he had even finished. "And you expect me to partake in this asinine excuse for a meal?"

Tap narrowed his eyes and folded back his ears. "Look lady, I don't have to share shit with you—"

Raspberry cut him off again, her nose wrinkling. "That's an apt description of your current course of action, no? If you'll pardon my vulgarity, cold beans out of a can may as well be shit."

"Fuck you," Tap spat, yanking the can of beans away from her. "Now you're not getting any."

"What an absolute tragedy," she droned as she canted her head to one side.

Glaring at her out of one eye, Tap upended the can, dumping the thick, cold contents into and around his mouth. Raspberry's comparison stuck in his mind. He gagged as he struggled to push it out of his thoughts.

"Truthfully, I was hoping to have this fiasco resolved by now, but I can plainly see that won't be the case." She heaved a dramatic sigh. "You leave me no choice."

"What the fuck are you gonna do?" he said with his mouth full. "Sass me some more?"

"I'm going to tell you where I stockpiled food and weapons," she said simply.

Tap swallowed and locked eyes with her, brow creasing as he squinted. Raspberry casually held his gaze.

"This is a fucking trick."

Raspberry shook her head without breaking eye contact. "No trick."

"Of course this is a trick! I'm not fucking stupid! I’m an adult!" He jabbed a hoof in her direction. "Why else would you want to help me like that?"

"You think this is for your benefit?" Laughter bubbled out of her thick chest, her belly quivering. "You misunderstand, darling. I simply refuse to eat raw ingredients out of the container like some kind of scavenger. I wouldn't be able to stop you from plundering my reserves, of course, but that's a negligible consequence by comparison."

Tap shook his head and stomped off. "No fucking way."

Raspberry chuckled. "Very well then; I invite you to listen to the soothing sounds of my unabated appetite."

He glanced back at her, arching a brow. As if on cue, her stomach gurgled even louder than before. Raspberry shrugged, a smug grin across her face.

|[  7 ]|[BAR]|[(  ) ]|

"Not much farther now," Raspberry Tart called back, over the sound of her own growling stomach. She slowed down, arching her back like some enormous cat as she stepped over something. "Mind the tripwire."

Sure enough, a wire had been rigged to what appeared to be a circular weight, keeping it suspended over the valve of a tank that read "Liquid Nitrogen." Double Tap waited until she was well away from the wire before quickly hopping over it himself. He kept his knives levitating around her face, poised to strike at a moment's notice, but Raspberry had been surprisingly cooperative. Suspiciously so. Tap was almost certain that she was trying to lure him into a false sense of security and that the moment he let his guard down, she would make her move. Despite the fact that she was currently leading the way, he was determined to keep one step ahead of her.

Equally concerning was the exhaustion creeping up on him. He took a tiny hit of dash to no avail, lamenting as the inhaler felt just a bit closer to empty. Even with amphetamines in his system, he had caught himself nodding off on several occasions, unsure of how long he had been asleep, or if he had even fallen asleep at all. There was no real way to tell time, but Tap was certain that literal days had passed since the last time he had gotten proper sleep. He agonized over this fact at nearly every moment.

Raspberry slowed out of her waddling trot, taking a few more swaying steps before coming to a complete stop. She glanced back at him, past the knives hanging in her face, and nodded.

The golden glow of sunset flooded the hallway as she pushed the door open. Hollow Shades' eroded skyline stood before Tap, partially obscured by vines that spanned the broad, vacant window frames. Vegetation had crept into the room, the tile displaced by grass and shrubs, a blanket of moss over the seating. If all the tables and chairs were any indication, she had brought him to some kind of dining hall, though it more resembled an overgrown indoor garden in its current state. Raspberry casually moved through the brush and clutter, toward a long counter that occupied the left wall of the room. He slinked along close behind, tensed like a spring. A rusted door behind the counter was her next stop. The door opened with a tug and a screech, revealing a dark, dusty kitchen. A much larger door stood on the far side of the room, the surrounding wall looking to be paneled with dull, textured metal. He quickly recognized it as a walk-in freezer.

Raspberry nudged a lantern on a prep counter as she made her way to the freezer door. In the pale yellow light, he noticed smudges and hoof prints though the thick layer of dust, the counter tops wiped mostly clean as though an effort had been made to tidy up. He also spotted a shotgun, rigged to a saddle and propped up in the corner of the room. His telekinetic grasp brought it closer, and he quickly ejected the shells.

"Well, here we are," Raspberry stated, blowing on the handle before biting down and pulling.

The freezer door swung outward, revealing shelves of canned foods, and to his surprise, a selection of fresh vegetables and flowers. He could also see a few strips of some kind of meat hanging over buckets toward the back of the enclosure. Raspberry stepped aside, looking at him expectantly.

Tap shook his head and then waved a hoof toward the doorway. "You first."

Frowning, Raspberry turned and trundled in. He kept her moving until she stood against the rear wall, held in place by the sharp objects in his telekinetic grasp. First on his inspection were the vegetables. The carrots looked a bit gnarled, and one of the potatoes almost appeared to have a face, but he had seen and eaten much worse in his time. He swiped as many carrots as he could carry. Immediately, Raspberry began to protest.

"A bit of variety never hurt, darling." She tried to wiggle past the knives, but Tap repositioned them. "Maybe you'd like to make more than roasted carrots with a side of carrot soup?"

Tap already had a carrot hanging out of the corner of his mouth when he replied, "Who said I was gonna cook them?"

Raspberry stared blankly and silently for several seconds. "You honestly intend on eating everything as is."

"Yep," he said after swallowing.

"Of course you do." She started to chuckle and shake her head. "How foolish was I to think otherwise. Well, if you're satisfied with your looting, I'd like to make something a bit more palatable for myself."

Tap paused. Her cutie mark was a mortar and pestle with herbs jutting out of the bowl. She had consumed some kind of potion when confronted, and it had temporarily given her exceptional durability. Tap narrowed his eyes.

"You can eat out of a can like the rest of us."

"That's hardly fair!" Raspberry whined. He prodded her in the back of the neck with the pointy end of a knife. "So be it, but I intend to at least heat the contents before eating them!"

"Whatever," Tap sighed.

Five weird carrots was all it took for Tap get sick of eating them as they were. The texture was much too spongy, and the flavor had a strange, metallic tang to it. Similarly, Raspberry looked none too pleased with her meal, even if the smell of her soup made his mouth water.

"This is terribly bland," she announced. "I can barely taste it." She looked over the counters at him and asked, "Are you certain you won't allow me to make something from scratch? I suppose I could bring myself to share it with you if you did."

Tap snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, sure, why not let you poison me?"

"I'm insulted!" she said with a theatrical gasp. "I would never waste perfectly good food in such an underhooved way." Tap raised a brow, unconvinced. She gestured to her bowl and added, "Would you at least permit me to add some spices to this?"

"Ask me that again," he droned, "and I'm gonna put the fucking gag back on you."

Raspberry sighed. "Your cruelty is truly boundless." She paused and tilted her head, smirking as she spoke. "Although, you're hardly following orders as is. Aren't you worried that your superior will reprimand you for un-gaging me?"

He recalled that Rita had given him specific instructions on this subject, then he wrinkled his nose. "I do what I want, and she's not my superior."

"Is that so? Forgive my assumption, it's just—" She trailed off to loudly sip her soup.

Tap rolled a wad of chewed carrot around the roof of his mouth. "Just what?"

"Well, for someone that isn't your superior," Raspberry rolled her eyes just slightly to the side, "she rather seems to have you eating out of her claw."

"Fuck you, you're not getting in my head." He dropped the uneaten half of his carrot and started searching the room. "Where did I put the fucking rope?"

Raspberry stayed put, casually sipping her soup. "And I suppose it was your decision to remain here by your lonesome?"

"She's an asshole," Tap said, knocking over cans mid stride, "but that doesn't make her my boss."

"But you have done quite a bit of work for me in the past," she continued, a note of amusement in her voice. "Haven't you ever wondered why she never wanted you and I to meet?"

Tap swept up the rope in his levitation and turned toward her. "Nope."

"And you've never questioned your cut of the payouts? You've never considered if you were being paid fairly for doing the bulk of the dirty work?" She laughed and took a step back as he advanced.

"Not really!" he lied, folding back his ears, trying to smother the valid questions she presented.

"Do you even know how much those contracts were worth? Do you know how much any of your contracts were worth?" She backed up against the wall, grinning. "Did you ever have a say in which jobs you would do?"

Tap swung the rope, hitting her across the face with a knot. "Shut the fuck up!"

He froze, feeling a strange pang of guilt amid his frustration. The frustration, he realized, was not because Raspberry was mocking him, but because she had hit the nail right on the head. His guilt eluded him, however. The force of the blow had caused Raspberry to turn her head. She was entirely silent for the moment, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye, nostrils flaring as she inhaled slowly.

"Whether you want to admit it or not," she said with cold and even measure, "Paharita has been taking advantage of you for who knows how long, and I sincerely doubt you've been entirely oblivious to this fact." Her cheek rolled as she pushed against the inside with her tongue. "But if you want to silence me for speaking the truth, be my guest."

"Stop acting like you give a shit about me, alright?!" He waved a knife in her face, his face twisting up in anger. "None of that changes a damn thing!"

Raspberry held his gaze, looking past the knife just inches from her eyes. "Nor would I expect it to. Despite the jeering, I'm well aware that you're not a simpleton."

He eased back, still glowering. "Then stop trying to fucking trick me already! I'm not letting you go."

"In the name of living with convenience, no?" She rolled her eyes, stepping away from the wall. "What a fine reason to escort someone to the gallows."

That was the last straw. Tap snorted and stepped away from the counter, wrenching open the door to the walk in freezer. He began pulling things off the shelves, throwing them into heaps on the floor of the kitchen. Immediately, he heard Raspberry's heavy hoofbeats behind him. He brought up his knives defensively, like the quills of a porcupine.

"What in heaven's name are you doing?" she cried. "I had everything organized!"

"If I don't get some damn peace and quiet and sleep soon," he growled as he added to the pile of cans, "I'm gonna do something you really aren't gonna like." He glanced back at her with a dead, vacant look on his face. "You're going in here, and I'm gonna take a nice, long nap, got it?"

She glanced away, frowning. "As if I had any say in the matter to begin with."

Tap shook his head with disgust. "How can you act so damn high and mighty? I know what you did."

"You know what I did?" she repeated, arching a brow, but still looking away. "Somehow I doubt that."

Squinting in disbelief, Tap said, "Don't play fucking stupid. You sold out Friendship City and killed hundreds of ponies."

Raspberry Tart shot him a sideways glance and narrowed her eyes. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Tap stepped away from the door, keeping the knives between himself and Raspberry . "You're just another fucking Littlepip, stepping on whoever you can to get what you want." He jabbed a hoof in her face, sneering. "I'm gonna make sure you get what you deserve."

A pained sort of noise whispered past her lips, as though she were lost for words. An anxious feeling bubbled up in the pit of Tap's stomach as she looked down at the floor, going still as a statue. When she spoke, her voice was soft, trembling, but clear as day.

"You don't know the first damn thing about me, boy." She looked up at him, but he could only one eye through her bangs. That eye was wide and furious. "I helped Friendship City grow. I helped it thrive. That was my city." She stomped a hoof. "My home!"

Tap wanted to move, to push her away, to do anything but stand in range of her, but his legs refused to budge. He was rooted to the spot, paralyzed with fear and regretting his decision to unload the shotgun sitting just a few paces away.

Raspberry bared her teeth, now just a hair's width from his face. "And you think I wanted to see it razed? You think I somehow benefitted from losing everything I worked for?!"

Tap didn't realize the knives had fallen out of his telekinetic grasp until he heard them clatter to the floor. Raspberry heard it as well, her ears swiveling. He stayed frozen in that moment with her, expecting her to charge the moment he tried to pick up the knives. Her eyes flicked from him to the floor, visibly considering it as they hesitated on their next course of action.

Raspberry snorted and looked away, trudging into the fridge and slamming the door behind her.

Double Tap felt himself deflate as he exhaled a sigh of relief. A nagging in the back of his mind demanded that he tie her up again. The idea of confronting her while she was still furious was less than appealing. He wedged a chair under the handle, then spent a few minutes wiring empty cans to the door, nudging them with his hooves and nose to make sure they rattled when provoked. Unsatisfied, but too tired to care, he curled up in a corner with the shotgun and a can of cooking sterno and drank himself to sleep.

|[o8- ]|[ /_\ ]|[o8- ]|

A loud bang jolted Tap awake. He whipped his head around the kitchen, swinging several knives in a panic. He heard it again, ears swiveling toward the freezer door. As he watched, it visibly shook with the third bang, rattling the cans he had strung up around it and shifting the chair under wedged under the handle.

"What the fuck?!" he shouted, ears pinning back.

From within, Raspberry boomed, "I have been patient and civil for as long as I can stand!" The door shook again. "I need to visit the mare's room and I refuse to relieve myself in this wretched box! Release me this instant!"

Hesitantly, Tap pulled the chair out from under the handle and opened the door. Before he could say anything, she shoved her way past him and his levitating knives. He followed her to the closest bathroom in silence, escorting her back to the kitchen just as quietly. Her cooperation continued to arouse as much appreciation as it did apprehension. He dreaded the thought of having to fight her again, and wondered how much longer she would bide her time before making a move.

A short while later, Tap was looking down at the bowl of stew in front of him, swallowing a mouthful of nothing as he weighed the safety of the opportunity against his hunger. The deal was that he would leave her ungagged and unbound if she would heat up food for him. Tap had watched Raspberry Tart prepare the stew, from the can to the burner to serving, and she had talked him through the whole process, but he still had reservations. Raspberry had not yet started eating, either. If anything, that was a sign that she had somehow poisoned the stuff.

She cleared her throat, bringing him out of his anxious thoughts, watching him from the other side of the counter.

"How long did I leave you in there?" he asked, stalling for time and looking down at the bowl.

"Long enough. You realize that I didn't have access to a clock while confined, I hope."

"So," he glanced up at her, "what happened to the pony that was tracking you before we got here?"

Raspberry arched a brow. "I wouldn't doubt that there are others who are eager to cash me in for a reward, but you are the first non-ghoul I've seen since arriving in this city."

"Bullshit." Tap shook his head and pointed. "Leaf said their scent was as fresh as yours. Now are they still wandering around here or did you kill them?"

"Your stew is going to get cold," she replied, adding, "and I take offense to how quickly you assume I would resort to violence."

Tap furrowed his brow. "You almost fucking beat me to death!"

"And I was pursued into a corner," she said with a grin. "I assure you, my actions were purely in self defense."

"Look, I know that two ponies came here before us." He waved a hoof at her. "One of them was you. Was the other one your body guard or a bounty hunter or what?"

Raspberry rolled her eyes. "If I had a bodyguard traveling with me, do you really think I would allow myself to remain in this wonderful predicament?"

"Maybe they're waiting for a good chance to attack," he said with a shrug.

"Oh, how precious." She laughed and shook her head. "As if one had to wait for an opportunity to overwhelm you."

"Fuck you."

She met his gaze again, a sly grin on her face. "And darling, if you're not going to eat the stew I made, I'm going to eat it for you. Wasting food is an intolerable offense."

Tap felt certain that if he could just swap bowls, he would get to eat and she would unwittingly suffer her own trickery. He grinned and glanced across the room as he figured out the appropriate distraction.

"What did you do with the salt and pepper?" He put his hooves on the table, leaning back. "I like a lot of pepper."

She raised a brow, but heaved herself to her hooves and crossed the room. Tap quickly switched bowls, his horn going dark again before she had turned around. She set a pair of shakers down and seated herself again, watching Tap intently. Still grinning, Tap lowered his muzzle to the bowl and took a long slurp. Raspberry smiled and did the same.

"I switched the bowls," he announced after she had swallowed several mouthfuls. "I know that you poisoned mine." He swallowed and added, "Serves you right."

"I poisoned both bowls," she replied calmly. "But the poison loses potency based on body mass, so while I'll get quite the belly ache, you, on the other hoof—"

Tap stumbled back, eyes wide. He clutched a hoof to his belly, clenching his stomach as tightly as he could and forcing himself to vomit. Between heaves, he watched as Raspberry lifted her bowl, gulping down the rest of her stew. She then circled around to his side of the table and sat down, starting on his stew as well.

"Or," she said aloud, carefully holding the pepper shaker over the bowl with her hooves, "I was lying because you don't deserve to enjoy my culinary mastery." She sipped again and made a pleasant sound. "You were right, this did need more pepper."

"You asshole," Tap managed between coughs.

He focused on the bowl, levitating it right into her face with a satisfying splat. She sat completely still for a moment, then wiped a hoof across her face.

Without turning toward him, she muttered, "Your lack of maturity continues to astound me." She uttered a long sigh. "Even if I may have deserved that, there was no reason to take it out on the food. For shame."

"Back in the freezer," he grumbled, thrusting knives in her direction.

Raspberry shuffled to her hooves, smirking as she waddled toward the door. "Be a dear and clean up while I'm in containment, won't you? I would hate to share with any more vermin than I already am."

Tap slammed the door against her rump, hearing her yelp on the other side. The satisfaction was minimal. He shoved a chair under the door handle and dragged himself out of the kitchen, hoping to distance himself from the smell of bile. The moon had traded places with the sun, hanging low on the horizon. Pale light cascaded down the mountains, flooding past the vines and in through the bare window frames. Emptying out his stomach had left him weary. His hooves felt so heavy, head hanging low as he looked for a place to sleep.

Walk with me for a while, won't you?

Lady Luck tilted her ill-defined head and smiled, standing in the swaying grass.

"I'm too tired for this shit," Tap muttered.

"Perhaps, but there's something I'd like to show you." She waited patiently, and as Tap began to follow, she led him through the room, toward a door on the far side. "Something I'd like you to consider."

Tap followed her through the door, and everything went blank.

|[    ]|[    ]|[    ]|

A warm breeze blew through his mane. and he found himself standing in Arbu. He glanced back the way he had come, and saw the interior of Glade Skimmer's home. Anette and her children waved, smiling.

A feeling of dread gripped him. "Please," he whimpered, "I can't watch this again."

"Sometimes we have to look back, even if it's painful." Glade Skimmer smiled as he met her gaze, standing where Lady Luck had been. "How will we learn if we don't see where we went wrong?"

Tap felt comforted by Skimmer's presence, if only slightly. "But what went wrong?" he asked as he stepped closer to her.

"I think we all started taking things for granted. For us—" She clicked her tongue. "Arbu, I mean; we just figured we could keep on eating whoever we thought no one would miss." Shrugging, she added, "It was supposed to be a temporary thing to get us through a hard winter, and it just kinda got out of control."

Tap nodded, frowning.

"Then you've got the Steel Rangers who figured they could do whatever they wanted." She shifted her weight, lifting a hoof and rolling it. "You know, like all the tech in the world belonged to them as soon as they laid their eyes on it, whether it actually belonged to them or not."

"Alright," he said, cocking an ear. "But what does that have to do with you?"

Skimmer huffed. "I meant where we went wrong in a broader sense." She chuckled and shook her head. "We take this stuff for granted, like we're entitled to it, and then when it gets taken away we think that lashing out will make things right."

Tap furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. "You mean like revenge?"

"Exactly," she said, pointing. "But revenge doesn't fix anything. The Steel Rangers send an assassin to do their dirty work, but that doesn't bring back any of the rangers they lost when their mission went south." She looked down at the ground, and everything went dark. "Someone shoots up Arbu because they find out it's full of cannibals, but the travelers that never left Arbu aren't any closer to rising from the grave."

His lips tensed. "She didn't have the right."

"No, she didn't." Skimmer whispered sadly. "Do you?"

A chill ran through Tap, from his hooves to the tip of his horn. His surroundings changed, starting with a dull, orange light that flickered as it grew more intense. The air was full of smoke, but he could make out shapes in the haze. An easel, buckets of paint, a few metal drums. He was standing in the basement of Skimmer's home. A pale glow radiated from his horn, keeping a rifle levitating just in front of him. Skimmer herself hung in the air, staring calmly at him down the barrel of the rifle. Her radigator armor was wrenched away, leaving nothing but her necklace on her exposed body.

"No no no!" Tap tried to drop or throw the rifle, but his magic resisted any attempts to control it.

"Friendship City is destroyed, and hundreds of ponies killed or left homeless, because someone tried to make a deal with the Enclave." She closed her eyes. "Do you really think that revenge is going to undo all that death and destruction?"

Tap could feel his grip tightening on the trigger. "Please! For fuck's sake— Don't make me do this!"

Her eyes snapped open. "Vengeance is not justice."

The hammer fell. Three rounds tore into Glade Skimmer, their incendiary effect searing the entry wounds as they burned her from the inside.

"NO!"

Tap squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, his perspective had shifted, now lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Skimmer dropped to the floor across from him. The set of hooves between them slowly clicked out of sight.

"If you have to choose between the two," she whispered, smoke and flame pouring out of her mouth with every word, "don’t pretend that one is the other."

His vision blurred and faded.

When it returned, he saw the horizon stretching before him, hazy pink with swirls of clouds and pinpricks of starlight. He felt sand under his haunches and heard the crashing of waves. Someone nestled in against his side. He looked and saw Skimmer, her forelegs wrapped around him, smiling as she looked out over the ocean.

"We should never forget the past," she said. "When we forget, we make the same mistakes and lose the lessons we learned from them." Her eyes shifted, lidding as she met his gaze. "But it's okay to let go. If you chain yourself to the past, you can never move forward."

|[    ]|[    ]|[    ]|

"Skimmer."

Double Tap sat up and tried to blink his eyes into focus. He hadn't left the cafeteria. The grass moved in waves, shifting and sliding against his coat as they were disturbed by a gust of wind that rolled through the room. Outside, the sky wore a vibrant blue. He guessed it to be about noon. He sat there for a long while, feeling sad and happy and full of dread all at once. As he prepared himself to roll to his hooves, something caught his eye. A sheet lay out before him, fluttering gently in the breeze. The edges had been weighed down, he realized, to cover something. Tap pulled on a corner, lifting until he could get a look.

The face of a pony greeted him.

Tap fell back, teeth clenched, but the pony stayed where he had left her. He waited a few moments, then he got to his hooves, circling around for a closer look.

A mare had been laid out beneath the sheet, surrounded with flowers now wilted and dull. Her grey coat was patchy, rashes and discolored splotches showing through her fur, and the black strands of her mane were thin, as though a great deal of it had fallen out. She had wings as well, their sparse plumage tucked against her sides. He recognized these as symptoms of severe radiation poisoning. She almost resembled a ghoul, minus the decomposition, but something about her seemed strangely familiar. He tried and failed to recall where he had seen her face before.

Immediately after that, he recognized that this was intended to be her grave, and he was blatantly violating it. He quickly covered her back up, feeling ashamed of himself. His curiosity was no less prevalent. As he stood there, trying to remember, something shifted out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up just in time to meet Glade Skimmer's gaze, the warmth of her smile making his heart ache. She shook her head, brushing a hoof over the side of his face.

"You're not alone," she whispered, dissolving into ash on the wind. "I promise."

|[ /_\ ]|[(  ) ]|[  7 ]|

Tap sat across from Raspberry, looking enviously at the plate of mixed greens with grilled meat, radish and potato that she was eagerly tearing into. He pushed a spoonful of dry, burnt beans into his mouth, sighing quietly as he looked down at the blackened can. Skimmer's words and the face of the mare under the sheet lingered in his mind. He wondered how he could mention the corpse in the next room without being too obvious.

Studying Raspberry closely, he asked, "So you came here all by yourself?"

"That's right, darling," she said without so much as a glance.

"And you haven't seen anyone here since me and Rita and Leaf?"

Raspberry sighed softly, her brow twitching. "As much as I cherish these little exchanges, I'm not fond of repeating myself."

He chewed his lip, deciding that he should just say it. "Alright. Who is that, then?"

"Who is whom?" she asked, still focused on her meal.

"Out there," he said, gesturing toward the cafeteria. "Under the sheet."

Raspberry thumped her hooves against the counter so hard that it shook. She stared daggers at him and in that cold, level way, she slowly demanded, "What did you do?"

A shiver ran down Tap's spine, the hair standing up along the back of his neck. "I didn't— I covered her back up, okay?" He raised his hooves toward her. "Chill."

She sat back, keeping her eyes fixed on his, but said nothing. They stared in silence for an uncomfortably long time.

"She's the other pony that Leaf smelled, isn't she?" he finally said. Raspberry looked away, her hooves sliding off the counter. He leaned closer, one brow raised. "Did you do that to her?"

"I would never," she said as she glared over at him out of the corner of her eye.

"But she was tailing you, right? She was after the bounty?"

She shook her head slowly. "No."

"Then why—" He suddenly remembered where he had seen the mare's face. He imagined her standing next to Raspberry with the ruins of Manehattan behind them, as they had been in the photograph he found in Raspberry's loft. "Who was she?"

Raspberry opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She heaved herself to her hooves, slowly making her way to the freezer. "Please excuse me."

Tap got up and started to follow. "What the hell. Did she come here with you from Friendship City?"

She paused in the open doorway, looking back, but not at him.

The freezer door clicked softly behind her. He hesitated. Common sense told him not to press the issue any further, but now there were questions that only she could answer. Just a day ago he had cherished silence on Raspberry's part.

Moments later, the silence was broken. Clattering followed by a loud, metallic clang were clue enough that Raspberry Tart was up to something on the other side of the freezer door. In the instant it took him to wrench the door open, the only glimpse of Raspberry was her rapidly retreating backside and the swishing locks of her tail through an enormous hole. At a glance, she had apparently managed to peel away the paneling of the rear wall of the freezer and charge right through exposed insulation to the other side.

"Come the fuck on," he called after her, doubling back as he remembered to grab the shotgun.

He couldn't see her, but her thundering hoofbeats echoed back to him. Once more, he found the speed and endurance she displayed were startling, considering her size. His horn lit the way. She had chosen an escape route laden with traps, he assumed, to slow him down. The tripwires were easy enough to spot  and avoid. He weaved through them as swiftly as he could, seeing a flash of blonde vanish around the next corner as he slid into a sunlit hallway.

"There's nowhere to go, fucker!"

A crash reverberated through the walls. He turned out of the hallway fast enough to lock eyes with Raspberry at the other end of the room. She had knocked over a shelf, bringing down the rest in a domino effect, and there was something glowing in her hooves. A bottle containing with a fluorescent blue liquid.

"Hey!"

Tap whipped a knife across the room, shattering the bottle before she could bring it to her lips.

She scowled at him, turning tail again. "So inconsiderate!"

The toppled shelves were barely an obstacle. He dismounted and resumed the chase, keeping her in his sights while she plowed through a reception area ahead.

Raspberry grunted as he stuck her in the backside, the blunt end of the knife jutting out of her right haunch, but she did not slow down. He closed the gap, throwing another knife, but narrowly missing her left hind leg as she rounded another corner. A wall of pomegranate and a pair of rear hooves awaited him around the same bend, much to his surprise. Tap crumpled, his hooves and body managing another step while the side of his face molded to the contours of Raspberry's hoof. His vision blurred and he hit the floor, Raspberry's hoofbeats already sounding distant. He shook it off, one eye squeezed shut as he tried to ignore the pain and swelling.

"I'm gonna fucking blast you!" He levitated the shotgun off his back and pumped a shell into it. "You hear me?! I'm gonna blow your legs right the fuck off!"

And then, just as surprising as the kick to the face he had received moments ago, he heard Raspberry shout, "Don't shoot! I surrender!"

"Well… fucking good," Tap yelled, brow and nose wrinkled with anger and a bit of confusion. "You almost knocked my fucking teeth out, you—"

Tap blinked as he emerged into a foyer. Raspberry stood several paces ahead of him, all four hooves spread wide, her head raised. She was bathed in an intense white light, her shadow stretching across the floor behind her. Several paces ahead of her was a heavily armed, heavily armored equine figure. Immediately, their spotlight swung to him, blinding him in the process.

"Who the fuck—"

Through a megaphone, someone ordered, "Lay your weapons down, and keep your hooves, mouth and horn where we can see them."

Again, Tap tried to shout, "Who the fuck—"

"We are the Justifiers, and we have come for the fugitive Raspberry Tart. Please cooperate, we mean you no harm."

Double Tap gritted his teeth. He could just barely make out several silhouettes through the glare. Slowly, he lowered the shotgun and knives until they touched the ground, but he kept one knife hidden in the tangles his mane. The prospect of using it was unappealing in the face of unknown variables. He kept quiet, hoping to learn more about them before making his next move.

"What do we do with the other one?" he heard one of them hiss, as though she had intended it to be a whisper.

"We must consult Brother Flint," answered another, his hushed tones carrying the telltale accent of a zebra.

There was a short pause before a third grunted, "Ya mean Rhino?"

"Yes, initiate," the zebra stated simply. "That is what I said." There was a heartbeat of a pause before he added, "Brother Flint, we have reached an unexpected complication."

"It would appear so," someone rumbled, his voice like a rockslide, accompanied by heavy hoofbeats and a sound like rattling chains. "What do you make of it?"

Much less quietly, the mare from earlier asked, "Is he a bodyguard?"

"Unless his employment very recently ended on poor terms," replied the zebra, "I do not believe so."

The spotlight went dim with a clicking-thump, revealing six equines of varying size. The smallest of the group didn't look much older than a foal, dressed in light-looking leather armor and brandishing a silenced pistol. The zebra stood at about average height, peering out from beneath a combat helmet, armored vest hugged tightly to his striped body. A shotgun bit-trigger hovered just before his mouth, teeth bared in anticipation. They appeared unusually sharp. The pony in heavy armor rigged with a spotlight was the one that had tried and failed to whisper. She neglected the trigger of her heavy machine gun to chew her lip, her eyes darting anxiously between Tap, the zebra, and a pony that Tap could only assume went by both Rhino and Brother Flint.

The pony in question was the largest of the group, towering over them all. More than half of his body was draped in heavy iron armor that was held together with a series of chains. What drew Tap's attention first was the helmet topped with a long, curved spike, stained red all the way to the base. The little that was visible of the pony underneath was coated in brown with patches of white. His hay-colored tail flicked to one side, matching the few errant strands the escaped his helmet and clung to his lantern jawed face.

It took Tap a moment to realize that the metal plate along this pony's jaw was not simply armor, it was his jaw, set into his cheekbones about where the jaw should have been. The right side of his face and neck were badly scarred by what appeared to be burns, and in the shadow of his helmet, a dull red light glowed from the right eye socket.

"You were chasing this fugitive," the immense pony stated as he stepped forward. His prosthetic jaw moved at it should. The absence of a lower lip didn't seem to hinder his ability to speak. "I am to assume that you are a bounty hunter?"

Tap raised a brow. "Oh, I can actually get a word in now?" The pony said nothing, and Tap flicked an ear. "Sure, I'm a fucking bounty hunter."

"We will safely escort you and your claim to Stable Twenty-Nine for a small fee."

"Yeah, I don't have any money, sorry."

Without any shift in tone or expression, the pony replied, "Then we will accept payment after you have received your reward."

Tap sneered, lifting his head. "You will, huh? It sounds like you're not giving me much of a choice here."

"You were chasing this fugitive, by your lonesome." Without gesturing, he added, "And you appear to have injured her without effect. Our assistance would be to your benefit."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I would have gotten her under control just fine." He sniffed once, shifting his weight from hoof to hoof. "And anyway, I'm just waiting for the rest of my team to get back. I don't need your help or whatever." The entire group stayed put, staring at him. "That means fuck off."

"The cost of our services—"

"Look, when Rita—" Tap glanced to Raspberry, a wave of revulsion coming over him as he realized that what he was about to say would have validated her. "I mean, my partner and I—"

"Rita?" the immense pony repeated.

"Yeah, Paharita.” Tap flicked his eyes over the group, then back to the ironclad stallion. “I need to discuss this with her first, and she's not here, so you can either fuck off or get comfy until she gets back."

The pony was silent for a long, uncomfortable stretch of time. Finally, he rumbled, "Very well." He turned and receded through his squad. As he did, Tap realized that his left hind leg was also prosthetic. "Should you find need of our services, we will be nearby."

And just like that, the entire group lowered their weapons and turned to follow. Tap stood his ground, watching closely, occasionally checking his surroundings to make sure he wasn't being flanked. The last of them disappeared around a corner less than a minute later. Tap grabbed up his weapons without a moment's delay, pointing barrel and blades at Raspberry as he circled around her. Her expression was anything but fearful. Instead, she almost seemed disappointed.

"That settles it then," she said with a sigh.

"Settles what?" Tap grunted.

Raspberry shook her head and turned, casually trotting back the way she had come. Without looking back, she answered, "I'm stuck with you."

|[o’o ]|[  7 ]|[ /_\ ]|

"Her name was Digit."

Tap blinked his good eye. "Wh— Oh."

The swelling had gone down on the side of his face where he had taken the full force of Raspberry’s buck, but it was still very sore with no healing potions to speed up the recovery process. He kept quiet for a moment longer, watching Raspberry bring the pot to the counter. She had cleaned and bandaged all of her wounds, her rump bearing several bandaids.

"Why are you telling me now?" he asked.

She shrugged, sliding a pair of bowls to the side of the pot. "Telling you her name does not put me at any sort of disadvantage, and it's disrespectful for me to deny her name over my own personal grievances." She poured both bowls full, and slid the closer one to Tap. "In short, I'm telling you because you asked."

"I asked who she was," Tap replied, briefly glancing down at the bowl in front of him, "not what her name was."

Raspberry Tart was wrinkling her nose at him when he met her gaze. "You'll forgive me if I don't feel inclined to divulge information about her personal life."

"Uh-huh." Tap stared at her, his expression vacant. "If she wasn't your bodyguard, then—"

She gave him a stern look from across the counter. "I would sincerely appreciate it if you would stop asking me about her. Might I ask why you've taken such an interest in my personal affairs?"

Tap chewed his lip, glancing to the side. "Just trying to make sense of things, I guess. I don't understand why you did what you did, or why you came here of all places, or where that mare fits into it."

"Digit," Raspberry snipped.

"Right, Digit," Tap said, cocking an ear. "Sorry."

Tap stared into the bowl of soup in front of him. It smelled vastly different from what he was accustomed to, but that made sense considering it didn't come from a can. Wisps of steam curled away from the amber broth, several freshly boiled slices of carrot floating just below the surface, obscuring chunks of potato that had settled in the murky stock at the bottom. He glanced up at her, then gestured to the bowl. Raspberry rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, then leaned forward and took a long, loud slurp from her bowl.

"As if I hadn't already explained that I'm willing to cooperate from now on."

He arched a brow. "That doesn't mean I believe you."

"Oh, darling, if I had really wanted to poison you, you would already be dead." She paused to take another sip, then added, "Thank goodness I didn't when I had the chance, otherwise I'd be on my way to Stable Twenty-Nine in the custody of the Justifiers, and you, well—" She giggled dryly. "I suppose we're both lucky that I was too hungry to bother."

"You're a riot," Tap muttered. "Anyway, are you gonna explain what happened or what?"

Raspberry's brow twitched. "I don't owe you an explanation."

"But I did ask," Tap said with a smirk.

"Yes, I suppose you did." She took a long, slow breath and looked away. "The short of it is, I turned to the Enclave in the hopes of receiving their support, and paid a very heavy price for my foolishness."

Tap swiveled his ears. "I already knew that part. I mean why did you think that was a good idea?"

"Because, truthfully, I was getting desperate for results." She set her eyes on him, a frown etched into her rounded face. "In her infinite wisdom, Mayor Black Seas saw fit to shoot down my attempts at being diplomatic on the grounds that my business interests were selfish and non-beneficial to the community."

"Business interests?" he asked as he leaned against the counter.

"I had plans for expanding the housing areas of Friendship City. We would have been more than capable of supporting an increase in population, but Black Seas insisted that opening the island to more residents would turn it into a shanty-town." She upturned her nose. "As though we weren't already living in a once abandoned relic of the old world!"

Tap stopped chewing the inside of his cheek to ask, "How would that be selfish, though?"

"Black Seas saw it as selfish because all she could focus on were the bottle caps. Would I have made a substantial sum of money out of the project? Absolutely. But I would have re-invested it into the community!" She gestured to the countertop with her hooves. "Happy residents and satisfied merchants benefit everyone, so even if the city became a bit more crowded, the end result would have been a positive one!"

Raspberry snorted and turned her head. "But Blackseas wouldn't listen to the head of the merchant's union; oh no. What could a pony with a profound understanding of socio-economics possibly know about the dynamics of a growing community?!"

Double Tap opened his mouth to say something, but quickly realized the question was hypothetical. Raspberry continued uninterrupted.

"So, since Black Seas refused to even try my plan on a trial basis, I began looking for the push necessary to make her reconsider." She flicked her hoof around idly as she spoke. "I started within the city, of course.  Even after reminding Chief Lantern of favors owed, and Doctor Freshwater of all the funding I had provided, neither of them dared oppose the word of the almighty mayor. The merchant's union was already willing to help finance the project," she shook her head, "but they lacked the political sway necessary to make changes."

"I thought this was about how you made a deal with the Enclave," Tap monotoned.

Raspberry gave him a glaring sideways glance. "Yes, I'm getting to that. I want you to have context."

She cleared her throat. "Anyway, support from beyond the city limits was the next logical choice, the idea being intimidation. Red Eye's diplomats weren't interested in backing me as I was not interested in selling off residents of Friendship City as slave labor, or scrapping and salvaging parts of the city for whatever project he happened to need metal for. The Steel Rangers would only be interested in stripping the city of it's technological resources, so I never even considered them as an option."

She sighed quietly. "I began to believe that I had run out of options, and then, one day—"

"Is this the part—"

"Yes," Raspberry hissed. "Now do you want me to tell the story or not?"

Tap leaned away from the counter, hooves raised.

"Thank you. Ah-hem." She rested her hooves neatly on the counter. "After centuries of silence from the pegasus war machine, suddenly, the Enclave was once again a very real military force in the Equestria. They had made its presence known when they obliterated Canterlot, and through their broadcasts. Naturally, everyone was terrified—"

"Not me," he interrupted, chuckling. "I don't give a fuck about the Enclave."

"Really." Raspberry raised a brow. "Well, everyone sensible was terrified, but I also saw potential in that military might. Digit had a means of contacting them, and so, we began to plan." She exhaled sharply, not quite snorting. "Initially, the deal was that I would turn over Radar, an Enclave deserter that had taken up residence in Friendship City. In exchange, they would provide the muscle necessary to perform something of a change in management."

Tap nodded along. "Right, you were going to kill the mayor."

"Well… yes. It wasn't the most subtle approach, but killing Black Seas would have made things go a great deal more smoothly than simply incapacitating or exiling her. In hindsight, I should have planned on having Chief Lantern removed as well, but she wasn't the one inhibiting my agenda. I couldn't think of anyone that might make a suitable replacement, either. She was very good at her job." Raspberry furrowed her brow. "Too good. You'd think she would have the sense to suggest surrender to the Enclave even if Black Seas was still alive."

"So what happened there?" He waved a hoof and added, "With this Seas lady."

"What happened is that you weren't available," she said with a scowl, thrusting a hoof in Tap's direction. He shrugged. Raspberry's brow twitched briefly as she continued. "You and Paharita were my first choice for the job, as the pair of you had done an excellent job of discretely handling my affairs in the past. As fate would have it, you were out of commission at the time, and I had to settle for less reliable services."

"Yeah, well, you know." Tap shrugged again. "I was kind of down because all of my friends had been murdered recently."

Raspberry widened her eyes. "Oh… I’m terribly sorry." She looked down at the table, lowering her head. "At any rate, not only did the buffoon I hired get himself caught, but I'm told that he had the gall to say Tart says hello as he was attempting to carry out the assassination."

Tap raised his brows. "Wow. That's really fucking stupid."

She nodded slowly, sighing again. "I'd hire you to track him down and kill him, but I'm currently your captive, and I have a feeling that he didn't make it off the island." She looked up again, but her gaze seemed distant. "Regrettably, the plan hinged on that assassination. Since Black Seas was still in the picture, my transmission to the Enclave was intercepted. Even with the knowledge that they were coming, against all rationality, Friendship City put up a fight against an organized military force."

"That's also really fucking stupid."

"Yes," she breathed, closing her eyes. "And the Enclave responded accordingly."

Tap clenched his jaw. "And that's when you took off?"

"No… no, Digit and I fled Friendship City well before the Enclave arrived." Raspberry opened her eyes, staring down at the bowl in front of her.

"So why didn't you just kill Black Seas yourself?" he asked, cocking an ear.

Slowly, she looked up. "I could have poisoned her at any time before then, certainly, but if security traced it back to me and I were arrested, the plan would still have fallen apart. She had to be taken care of on that day, and within a reasonable span of time before the Enclave's arrival." She paused, as though lost for words. "I… did consider taking care of the matter personally once the assassination failed, but it's just as likely that I would have died in the process, and by that point, I— The moment I heard that Enclave bastard say that he would prefer to do things the hard way—" She swallowed. "I don't think they ever intended on holding up their end of the deal. Not really."

She closed her eyes again, shaking her head. "And if they were just going to lay waste to the city… Celestia help me, I didn't even want to consider what they might do to a pegasus that had lived her whole life below the clouds. There was no choice. There may never have been, once I made that deal." She locked eyes with him, breathing heavily through her nose. "We had to flee."

Tap tilted his head. "Why come here, though?"

"My family is from Hollow Shades." Tap squinted at her. She paused, then waved a hoof. "Not recently, of course. When the Stable under the city opened, several generations ago, my ancestors were among those who emerged into the Equestria we know today."

He tilted his head the other way. "You came here because you're the descendant of some Hollow Shades Stable ponies?

"Friendship City was our home. I couldn't think of anywhere else in Equestria that we might go where we wouldn't be bothered, and I thought that, maybe, coming here might give me some sense of direction." She sighed and shook her head. "But… for a number of reasons, that turned out to be another poor decision in a recent spree of poor decisions."

"It happens," he offered.

Raspberry propped her head up with one foreleg, moving the bowl around with the other fore hoof. "It shouldn't. She didn't deserve any of this." Raspberry sighed once more, pushing the bowl away from herself. "She just wanted to help. She always wanted to help."

Double Tap's brow furrowed. Before he could say anything, she pushed herself away from the counter, slowly trotting through the kitchen.

"Help yourself to the soup," she said, holding the freezer door open. "I'm going to lie down for a while. I've lost my appetite."

True to her words, she laid out on her side, blanketing the bedroll with her pomegranate bulk. He watched for several moments, then turned his attention to the soup.

It wasn't visibly steaming anymore, but he could still feel warmth radiating from the broth as he brought his lips to the edge of the bowl. Suppressing the anxious chills, he took a sip and swallowed. The taste cascaded over his tongue and down the back of his throat like liquid gold. Several sips later, and he had not yet dropped dead. He spent a moment staring at the granules of seasoning at the bottom of the bowl as he swallowed the last mouthful. The aftertaste complimented the warmth in his belly, and death never came.

He glanced over at the freezer again. Raspberry noticed his gaze, but didn’t quite lock eyes with him.

"Well?" she asked, turning an ear in his direction.

Tap nodded. "That was really good."

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