Death is a scary thing when you're young. Living in the Wasteland is an ever-present reminder that death is always looming over your shoulder, waiting to take you at any moment.

I was faced with death, watching my mother's face as she contorted and convulsed. I was scared. I didn't know what to do. I had to do something. I had to save her.

I just didn't know how hard that would end up being.

“Mom... Mom, it's alright. It's going to be alright. Lightning's gone to get the doctors,” I frantically spouted as I held onto the convulsing body of my mother.

Several minutes had passed since Lightning had left. It felt like an eternity. All I could do was sit and watch while I held onto her. I only stirred when I heard the sounds of shouting and hooves thundering into our apartment.

“Get her onto a stretcher!” a voice shouted.

“Shit, this is bad,” said another.

I felt hooves grab onto my shoulders and I glanced back, seeing Lighting and Coconut. They both had grim expressions. I allowed them to lead me along in a daze as the medical ponies loaded Mom up on a stretcher. They began carrying her out of our apartment towards the infirmary. I followed behind, feeling utterly helpless. I couldn't do anything to help her.

Furthermore, I felt like my gut was going to drop any moment. The last conversation I'd carried on with my mother had been painful. It had been comprised of yelling and being angry with each other. I found myself wishing that I'd been able to tell her I'd loved her. I felt another stab in my own heart as I realized I was already writing her off, thinking about her in the past tense.

I lifted my head, listlessly glancing from side to side. The residents of Theater were beginning to come out of their domiciles, having been stirred by the shouting of the medics. As we passed by, I noticed many of them bowed their heads. I knew that Mom had been a respected chairpony, but I hadn't expected this. The ponies in this town knew something was wrong, and with these acts of respect, they were showing that they were with us. I tried to find some comfort in that fact, but found that I couldn't.

The infirmary popped up out of nowhere, and before I knew it we were inside and being ushered around by ponies in medical outfits. Mom was taken into another room. Coconut led me off to a different area, where we were supposed to wait. I stumbled along, taking a seat at the far end of the room away from her and my brother. I didn't want them to see me crack. They couldn't know that the last words I'd said to my mother had been filled with anger, with spite. They just... they just couldn't.

“Starry?” Coconut said, nudging my shoulder. “Starry. Look at me.”

I glanced up at her and our eyes met. In an instant, she already knew. She knew how painful this was for me. She sighed loudly and sat next to me. I lolled to one side, resting my head on her shoulders.

“It's not your fault, Starry,” she said softly.

“F-f-f-feels like it,” I stuttered.

“I know. And nothing I say can take that feeling away, but it's true,” she replied. “The best thing any of us can do now is trust and hope for the best. Right now though, you need some rest.”

I closed my eyes. She was right about one thing. I was so unbelievably drained, so tired from all of this. Maybe a rest would do me some good...

My eyes jolted open. No, I couldn't rest. I had to help Mom. I blinked, realizing that I was no longer laying against Coconut. And why did I have a blanket? I glanced across the room and looked at the clock on the wall. I'd fallen asleep and hadn't even realized it. Coconut and my brother sat next to each other on the far sofa. They too, appeared to be asleep.

The door began to open. I got up to my hooves as one of the doctors appeared inside the door frame.

“Ah, you are awake,” he said.

“Mom?” I asked immediately. There was time wasting. I needed to know what had happened to my Mom.

In the meantime, both Coconut and Lightning had stirred. The doctor sighed and pulled out a chart with his magic.

“Your mother is going to be alright, at least for the immediate future,” he said.

“What do you mean, immediate future?” I asked. “What happened to her?”

“Your mother was experiencing a reaction to some form of toxin that was present in her system,” the doctor said. “The toxin has been thankfully purged from her system, but it brought to light something else.”

“What are you talking about?” Lightning said. “Are you saying she was poisoned?”

The doctor grimaced. “When is the last time that your mother came to see a doctor here?”

I blinked, racking my brain and trying to remember. I couldn't remember if I'd ever seen Mom come to the infirmary, even for injuries. She'd always looked after herself.

“I don't remember, why?” I said. “Why does that matter?”

“The poison that your mother came into contact with is only the tip of the iceberg,” the doctor replied. “It was intended to kill her, for certain, but that's not what caused her reaction. Your mother has a problem with her heart. Something that she either knew about or didn't, and was managing it medically. Regardless, the poison exacerbated the condition.”

“Wait. She has a problem with her heart? What kind of problem?” Lightning asked.

“It's a degradation. A hole, a large one at that. While most healing potions can restore a pony to normal health, the magic can't affect chronic conditions like this,” the doctor said. “The poison tore at the hole, making it worse.”

“Can't you just... put something in her to stop it?” Lightning said.

The doctor sighed again. “Unfortunately, no. Even if we were to inject her directly in the veins with something like Hydra, there's no guarantee it would fix the problem. In fact, that could kill her, or worse.”

“The poison. You said that she was poisoned. Do you know what it was? Or who did it?” I asked quickly. A fear began growing in the back of my mind that I really didn't want to confirm, but I knew that I had to. I had to do this to help Mom.

“The poison is pretty well known to us. It's very similar to the same stuff that a local zebra named Envy uses for her own weaponry. Obviously, Envy is on our side, so we know it wasn't her,” the doctor replied.

I blinked. A zebra. There was a zebra in this very infirmary right now. Xerves. He'd lied to me. He'd... he'd used me. To get to my mother. To try and kill her.

My heart sank. This had been all my fault all along. I took a step back.

“No...” I said. I'd been the one responsible for Mom. If I hadn't... if I hadn't gone out and saved Xerves, she would still be...

“So where is Mom now?” Lightning said, missing my scared look entirely.

“Your mother is resting. She hasn't been conscious since we purged the poison out, but it appears that she is merely sleeping. You should be able to see her soon.” The doctor glanced over at me. “Starry, what's wrong?”

I panicked. He was here! Xerves was the one who'd poisoned her. Because of me. Because I had been stupid enough to save him. That meant he was a spy. I had to stop him. I had to find him and make him pay for what he'd done to my mother. Make him pay for what he'd done to me.

I charged past the doctor and into the infirmary hall, hearing shouting behind me. I pushed open the doors into the patient area and kept going, looking for Xerves' room. I found it with little issue. The guards weren't out front anymore. I kicked the door in and grimaced. The room was completely empty. I turned as the doctor, my brother, and Coconut caught up to me.

“Where is he?” I asked angrily.

“The zebra?” the doctor said. “We released him into MMMM custody earlier. They wanted to question him further, and we could not keep him here any longer.”

“Where?” I said.

“I fail to see why this is important, when your mother's life is on the l--” the doctor started to reply.

I grabbed onto his collar, pushing him up against the wall before he could finish his sentence. I glared daggers into his eyes and spoke calmly. “Where is he?”

“Starry,” Coconut said. “Put him down. What's wrong with you?”

“I will ask again. Where is the zebra? Where is Xerves?” I asked.

“C-c-c-command center most likely. He was escorted by a few guards,” the doctor said.

I grimaced, letting go of his collar. “Shit,” I said, looking over at my brother and my friend. “I'm sorry. I have to go. They have to know.”

“Have to know what?” Lightning said.

“That zebra. He's the one who poisoned Mom,” I said angrily. “And if they're not careful he could hurt somepony else.”

“The zebra that you...” Coconut trailed off as she pieced it together in her mind. She glanced at the floor nervously. “Oh.”

“We're coming with you,” Lightning said.

I shook my head. “What if Mom wakes up? You need to be here for her. Sorry, but I have to find Xerves before he hurts anypony.”

I pushed past them before they could respond. I was being stupid again, and I knew it. I should have let them come with me. I made my way out of the infirmary and made a beeline for the command center of Theater. It was still very late in the evening, and the main lobby lights had yet to come on. Still, there were ponies up and about. Ponies... shouting? Why were there ponies shouting?

I stepped out into the market place. Several MMMM guards were laying on the ground ahead of me. A few more stood over their fallen brethren. I grimaced. It had to be him. It had to be Xerves.

“What happened?” I shouted.

One of the guards lifted his head. “Hey, aren't you Patch's kid? I thought you were at the infirmary.”

“Doesn't matter. What happened? Where's the zebra?” I asked frantically. Nothing else did matter. The only thing that mattered was finding Xerves and making him pay for what he'd done.

“The zebra has escaped custody and is loose in the settlement,” the guard said. “We are doing all that we can to track him down.”

Shit! I thought angrily. Xerves was smart. He'd waited until they'd started to move him, then gotten the drop on the guards. My eyes drifted up to the rafters. Mom had always taught me to explore all angles of the situation, to look for the unexpected in the expected.

A shadow moved among the rafters. There! I thought. He's hiding above the town. A little light should help illuminate things. I growled under my breath and ignited my horn, sending a bolt of light upwards, startling the guards. The bolt flew into the air and exploded into little particles of light, showing my quarry.

Xerves. He had a sharp grin on his face. His eyes gleamed as they locked onto me. He leaped down onto the top of one of the market stalls and then down to ground level. He started galloping off away from us.

“Get back here!” I roared. I charged after him, putting every ounce of my energy into stopping him. I had to do something. I couldn't just sit back and let him go. Because if I did, if I stopped for one second, I'd be left with nothing but the stark reality that I might not get to see Mom's smiling face again. Mom was going to die, and it was my fault. If I could catch Xerves, perhaps... perhaps I could live with myself.

Xerves dodged to the right, narrowly missing a set of trash cans that somepony had set out. I charged through them, scattering them with a shove of magic. Xerves kept moving. He was just beyond my reach. I pushed harder, feeling my body protest all over from the strain, reminding me yet again that I was not an athletic pony like Coconut or my brother was.

I jumped forward, using the last of my momentum to slam into the zebra's back, sending him crumpling to the ground. I pushed myself up to shaky hooves, trying to stand tall over my quarry. He glanced up at me and grinned.

“Xerves,” I said angrily.

“Starry Night,” the bastard of a zebra replied casually. “You really should heed the warnings of your elders.”

I growled under my breath. “I'm going to kill you for what you did to my mother,” I snapped.

“Is she dead already? I knew that the poison was quick, but I had not realized it was that fast,” Xerves said, more to himself than anypony else. “Regardless, I think not. You are incapable of killing me.”

“You have no idea what I'm capable of,” I shot back. My horn glowed fiercely. I started to pant. Sweat dripped from my forelock.

Xerves frowned. His legs spun around, catching my own in a kick that interrupted my magic and knocked me off my hooves. I yelped and fell backwards, landing hard on my back. I scrambled to get up, but not before another leg came slamming down across my barrel. I cried out in pain as I heard something crack loudly. I shuddered, flopping onto my side. I looked up at Xerves and snarled.

“Ah ah, best to not move,” the zebra said. “You might tear something further.”

I took a breath. He was right about one thing. I could feel the fire inside my body. I'd broken bones before, but not like this. This felt like every inch of me was protesting at the simplest movement. I panted loudly.

“W-w-why?” I stuttered.

“That's not really a question I'm inclined to answer,” Xerves said. His ears perked up. The alarms had started going off all over the place. Xerves grumbled. “I had hoped for a much cleaner exit, but I suppose I can do it this way too. Good day, Starry Night. Do not try to follow me, I was not paid to kill you, but if you press me I will.”

And with that, he turned and disappeared into the darkness. He was gone. Gone! And there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing I could do except lay there and cry. Tears started flowing down my face. I shouted and cursed at Xerves hysterically. I didn't even really feel it when Coconut and Lightning arrived. I passed out on the stretcher as the medical ponies lifted me up.

I awoke to the sound of beeping and medical equipment again. I groaned loudly. I was going to have to stop this. It'd only been one day and I'd already been in the infirmary twice as a patient. I looked down my side, seeing that my barrel had been bandaged up. I felt better than I'd expected to after having taken that kind of attack.

Still, I didn't feel right. I'd let Xerves go. I'd failed Mom. I'd failed to stop her... her killer.

Stop it right now, Starry Night. Mom isn't dead yet, I thought to myself. The doctor said she was sleeping.

The door creaked open, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up to see Lightning and Coconut. I sighed.

“Hi,” I said softly.

“Hey,” Coconut replied. She cracked a soft smile. “Feeling better?”

“Physically... yes. Mentally... not sure,” I said.

“Maybe we can help with that,” my friend said. “Come on, up out of bed. We've got things to do.”

“Sorry, Coco. I... I can't,” I said. I needed to stew in my own thoughts some more.

Lightning stepped forward. “Sis. Come on. We want to show you something.”

I grimaced. It was clear that they weren't going to stop until I'd decided to come with them. I looked down at my hooves and grunted a meager approval. “Fine.”

“Good,” Coconut said as she helped me out of bed. “Trust us, you'll like this.”

I nodded, following alongside her as she helped me walk out of the room. I still felt very tender, but I was able to hobble at the very least. We made our way down the hall where we stopped at the next door. Coconut pushed the door open and ushered me inside. I lifted my head and I saw her.

Mom.

She was laying back on her bed with several different kinds of medical machines hooked up to her. She looked like hell, but she was... she was awake! Her good eye caught sight of me and a weak smile formed on her face.

“Mom...?” I said, rushing to her side. “Mom... I... I...”

Mom kept smiling. She reached out and pulled me close. I couldn't help myself. Tears started to fall. I sobbed loudly into her warm embrace. Needles and medical things all over her, poisoned and injured and yet, all she did was try to comfort me. I could hear her above my crying, trying to calm me down.

“Starry... it's alright. Stop crying,” she said.

I pulled back and stared at her. “But it... it was my...”

Mom grimaced. “It wasn't your fault, Starry. I was... I was wrong.”

“But... but... Xerves! He really was a spy, he tried to kill you!” I shouted. “He poisoned you!”

Mom nodded. “The doctors explained as much when I woke up. But that's not important right now. There are other pressing things we need to talk about.”

“But... Xerves got away! I tried to stop him, but I...” I blabbered on. “I failed...”

Mom smiled, pulling me close again into another hug. “Your father would be proud of you, Starry. He would have said that you were just like your mother, always rushing off into danger and saying 'fuck off' to the consequences. You didn't fail me. I... I failed you.”

“What do you mean?” Lightning said, interrupting. “Are you talking about your heart?”

Mom's smile turned to a frown. “The doctors told you. I had hoped that you never would have had to found out.”

“You knew?” Coconut said.

I pulled back, eyes widening. Mom had known about her heart condition? How? Why had she never told us?

“Since I was younger,” Mom explained. “I was told by the doctors in my Stable that I'd never live to be over thirty. And yet, here I am, still kicking.”

“But... the doctor said...” Lightning said, trying to piece things together. “He said that it's worse now. Because of the poison.”

“Yes... I am afraid that is the case,” a voice said from behind us. The doctor stood in the doorway, followed in by one of the other members of our family. Lilith.

“Hello, kids,” the black pegasus mare said casually. She still wore her power armor that marked her as head of Theater Security.

“Doctor. Lilith,” Mom said calmly. “Come in. I was just talking to my children about this.”

“Good, because we have quite a bit to discuss,” the doctor replied. “Unfortunately, Miss Patch. The heart condition you have is not something that we are capable of treating here. In fact, nopony in Equestria is capable of treating you.”

“Wait... so what's going to happen to Mom?” I asked.

“Starry,” Mom said.

“No, it's quite fine, Miss Patch,” the doctor said, turning to me. “It means that your mother doesn't have long before her condition begins affecting the rest of her. This is a very rare condition, and most that are afflicted with it die well before they are adults. With medicine it is manageable, but the poison made it so that even that is out of our control. The condition has worsened to the point where nopony can do anything for it.”

“I'm going to die,” Mom said flatly.

“But...” I started to say. “There has to be...”

“I'm sorry. There's just nothing we can do for her,” the doctor said.

“However,” Lilith interjected. “There is something that you three can do for her.”

“What? Anything. Just tell me what it is,” I said frantically.

Lilith smiled. “Just because no pony can treat her, doesn't mean that some zebra can't. The poison was meant to attack her heart, and it shared a similar makeup to what Envy uses. She may have some insight on healing your mother. She was an accomplished healer once.” The pegasus grimaced. “Unfortunately, our last coordinates on her are sketchy. If you want to help, you're going to have to find her.”

“Find Envy? Isn't she a little... crazy?” Coconut said.

I grimaced. “A little crazy” was an understatement. A long time ago, she was a bounty hunter who tried to take in Mom and her friends, specifically my god mother Radiant Star, for a large sum of caps. She'd failed, taking a nasty beating in the process. After the MMMM solidified their hold on the core part of the city, Envy became a recluse who shunned outside friends. In a land literally saved by the power of friendship, she was a nut job.

“She may be a little off her rocker, but she will recognize you three,” Lilith said.

“Indeed. We will spend time learning all that we can about your mother's condition,” the doctor said. “But insight from a zebra may very well help save her life.”

“Mom?” I said, glancing over at her. I didn't want to leave her so soon.

Mom smiled. “I believe that you three have a zebra to find. Go on. I will be fine. I'm sure you'll be back with a cure before the day is out.”

“But... what about Xerves?” Lightning said. “If he's the one who did this, shouldn't finding him be our top priority?”

“Xerves is gone,” Lilith said. “Of course finding him is a priority, but it’s one we’ve passed off to Applejack’s Rangers to sort out. Our main focus is our perimeters. stopping any new threats. The Rangers will find him and Xerves will be dealt with. And don't worry; you're not the only ones looking for Envy.”

I perked up. “Oh?”

“We're sending out a few other patrols to look for her as well,” Lilith said. “However, I have a sneaking suspicion that where Envy will avoid the other groups, she will let you find her, because of your relation to Patch.”

“I guess that means we're going off to find Envy,” Coconut said, smiling. “I suppose I should stop by the Ranger camp and get my stuff. I'll meet you guys at the front entrance?”

I nodded. “Lightning and I need to get our things together as well.”

“Good. Now, the three of you get going,” the doctor said. “We'll take care of your mother. Time is of the essence here."

I slipped on my barding and grunted under my breath. My rear was still rather sore from where I'd been shot. I ignored it as best as I could and turned to my gear. I had everything I needed to survive out there. Mom had been hell bent on ensuring that both my brother and myself were well equipped for Wasteland survival.

My kit contained all sorts of different roots and plants that Mom said could be cooked together to make healing salves and teas, in addition to four rolls of enchanted bandages. It also held a few healing potions, three bottles of water, some emergency rations, and rope. Mom was quite clear that rope always came in handy.

I bundled together my kit and put it in my saddlebag before turning to my weaponry. Another thing that Mom had always made sure of in our training was that we always maintained clean and functional firearms. My own was a beautiful silver inlaid .45 caliber pistol that Mom had built for me as a gift when I'd gotten the job in Security. It wasn't much, but it was mine. I'd called it Justice. Mom had told me once that giving something a name made it important, made it special. Somehow, it felt right. I placed Justice lovingly into my holster and bagged all the extra ammunition I could possibly need before turning to my brother.

“Ready to get going?” I asked.

Lightning looked up. He wore his own weapon, a twin rifle battle saddle that Mom had developed for him when he got his cutie mark. It was even emblazoned with said mark. Mom had explained that she had tweaked the design a little to try and make the whole thing lighter for a pegasus to carry. The two rifles were named Thunder and Bolt. I had teased him heavily about the name, I remembered.

Lightning nodded solemnly.

I frowned. “What's wrong”

“Do... do you think Mom's gonna be alright?” he asked. “I mean... this heart thing sounds scary, Starry. I don't want her to... you know.”

I sighed and made my way to his side. I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, which he gladly returned.

“It's going to be alright,” I said softly. “We'll find Envy and fix this. We have to.”

Lightning nodded again, pulling away from my embrace. “We should get going then.”

“Right you are,” I said.

We made our way down towards the front entrance, where a pony in a bulky suit of power armor waited for us. I blinked as we got closer, realizing that it was Coconut Cream Pie. A large rifle hung off of the battle saddle on the back of the armor.

“Hey guys,” she said. “Ready to get going?”

“Coco?” I asked, blinking again. “Where in the heck did you...?”

Coconut grinned widely. “Oh, you like it? Star Paladin Berry is letting me borrow this for the trip. I explained to her what was going on and she temporarily promoted me to an acting Field Paladin!”

“That... that's great, Coco,” I said, smiling. “But we're just going to go find Envy. I don't think we're gonna need the extra firepower.”

“That's what I said,” Coconut replied as she lowered the visor to her helmet. It obscured her face entirely. “But Berry insisted. Besides... what if we run into that sniper friend of yours? Or Xerves? Better to be prepared, I guess.”

“I guess. Somehow I have the feeling that Xerves has moved on,” I said, feeling a pit in my stomach. He'd moved on, that's for sure. My mother was just a job to him, he’d done what he was paid for and moved on. And I hadn’t been able to stop him.

“Guys? We'd better get going,” Lightning interrupted.

“Lightning is right. Do you have the coordinates for where we last saw Envy?” Coconut asked.

I nodded. I pulled up my PipBuck and brought up the automap function. The coordinates were marked already. “It's not too far from here, but it is outside of Theater's perimeter.”

“Good,” Coconut said as we made our way outside. “From here on out, we travel in a triangle formation. I'll hold the rear, and you two will be flanking me.”

I nodded, falling into my position. It was clear that Coconut knew what she was talking about. All that training under the Rangers had done her a lot of good in that respects. She probably knew more about combat formations than Lightning and I did now.

We made our way towards the coordinates we'd been given, keeping a close eye on the city around us. Everything was quiet, which only meant that my mind would not shut up about everything that had happened lately. Mom sat at the forefront of my thoughts, my worry for her overshadowed by my rage against Xerves. Once we were finished with Envy, I made a mental note to try and find him. While my head told me that revenge wasn't the smart thing to do, my heart said otherwise.

The journey went by quietly and quickly and soon we'd arrived at the coordinates, the remains of an old bank. I trotted past the others and pushed open the aging doors. The smell of dust and mold assaulted my senses. It was clear enough that no one had been here in some time. I made my way in further.

“Hello?” I called out. “Envy? Are you home?”

“Maybe she's out,” Lightning said from behind me. He took a sniff of the air. “Or maybe she moved out. This place reeks.”

“Looks like there's a lot of water damage here and there,” Coconut interjected. “Couple that with several hundred years of mold buildup...”

“Regardless, if she was here, she isn't now,” I said, grimacing. “Shit. Now we're back to square one. Great. Just great.”

“Well, we know where Envy was at least, even if she hasn't been here in some time. Maybe there's some clue here as to where she went?” Coconut offered.

“I guess. But can we make it quick? It reeks in here,” I said. Plus I needed to find a certain zebra scumbag and put him six feet under.

Coconut chuckled and passed me a gas mask from her saddlebags. “Here. I came prepared.”

I blinked and accepted the mask, slipping it over my muzzle. I could breathe a little better, but the smell still made me feel like I had to hurl.

I walked past Coconut deeper into the ruins of the bank. As I walked, I flipped on my PipBuck's sensors. Thankfully nothing showed up other than Coconut and Lightning. That definitively proved there was no one else here. I wondered how long ago Envy had been using this location as her home. I trotted around the back of the teller's desk, hoping to find something that pointed to where we could find her.

Nothing. Nothing but junk and refuse littered the desks. I started to move forward and nearly tripped over some sort of wire below me. I heard a click. My eyes widened as a beam with spikes embedded in descended from the ceiling above. Frantically I accessed my magic, grabbing onto the beam and halting it before it could impale me.

“Uhh... think I found something,” I said, motioning to the beam, which now hung limply in front of me.

Coconut trotted back to me. Although I could not see her expression underneath her helmet, I was pretty sure it was one of her famous stone face grimaces. “A trap. Envy must have suspected somepony would come looking for her, otherwise she wouldn't have set this.”

“She didn't do a very good job,” I said.

“She probably didn't anticipate magic users,” Coconut said.

“Hey guys, there's nothing here, can we go back ---” Lightning said as he walked up to us. He stopped dead in his tracks. “What the heck happened here?”

“Starry found a trap,” Coconut said.

“Man, you guys get to have all the fun,” Lightning said.

I chuckled. “Don't worry; we'll save the next one for you, Bro.” I pointed at the door along the wall behind the trap. “It's highly likely that whatever she was protecting is through there.”

“Good eye,” Coconut said. With a quick flourish of her back legs, the spiked beam went sailing into the wall. “There. Now we can all get through.”

I blinked. How in the heck did she...? Sometimes earth ponies amazed me with how strong they really were. Shrugging the thoughts away from my mind, I made my way to the door and carefully inspected it for any possible traps. I should have been smarter about the beam. Mom had covered makeshift traps. I was letting my emotions and my boredom with being here get the better of me. I had to start using my head, or I was going to lose it.

“Not seeing any traps here,” I said, finishing up my inspection of the door. I carefully pushed it open, revealing a long hallway that ended in a collapsed section of the bank. Below the collapsed ceiling there was a tunnel that went underneath. Two very bright lamps illuminated the hall.

“Whoa,” Lightning said. “I wonder how deep it goes.”

“Let's be smart about this,” I said, as if saying it out loud would make me take my own advice. “Envy trapped the area in front of the door for a reason. Who's to say she hasn't laid any further traps?”

“I agree,” Coconut replied. “There's only one option. Lightning. You'll need to fly in and check for any traps.”

Lightning's face widened. “But... why me? Can't we just like... throw rocks in there or something?”

“And set them off? What if they're explosive traps?” I said. “You know what Mom would say if she were here?”

“She'd tell me that the best way to deal with trap triggers that require somepony to physically touch them are best dealt without touching them,” Lightning recited.

I sniggered. I was almost impressed that he'd remembered that lesson. Mom was such a stickler for making us memorize every little thing that sometimes we would lose parts as soon as we moved on to the next.

“Fine,” Lightning said after a few moments. “If I get blown up, it's your fault.”

“If you make it out alive, there might be a reward in it for you,” Coconut replied, lifting her visor briefly and winking.

Lightning gulped loudly and nodded. Silently he lifted into the air and flew through the door. He flew several feet in and stopped, looking down at the floor. After a few long moments, he hovered back outside and set down.

“Other than the fact that the place is dirty as hell, there's nothing there,” he said. “Nothing that suggests any further traps.”

“Alright,” I said. “Let's see what Envy was hiding down here.”

I trotted forward into the hallway, keeping a wary eye on my surroundings. Just because Lightning had cleared it didn't mean I was going to let my guard down. Mom had taught us better than that. But, as it appeared that he was right, that there really was no other traps leading up to the tunnel, I started to relax just a little.

The tunnel itself was fairly well lit and was wide enough to fit us comfortably. It went under a large chunk of the hall, finally turning upward into a small room. It looked to be some sort of back office that had been used by the bank manager. A Stable-Tec terminal sat on the desk, its soft glow the only real light in the room. I flicked my horn alight, bathing the rest of it in a greenish haze. There was nothing that indicated that there were any further traps. I grimaced, finding that slightly odd. Why go to the trouble of trapping the area around the entrance to the hall, but not trap the rest of the place? It didn't make any sense. Then again, this was Envy I was thinking about. Nothing made any sense when it came to her.

I trotted over to the terminal while Coconut and Lightning were looking around the room for any clues. It was still powered on. The last thing it had on the screen was an audio message waiting to be played. I clicked on the file, and a thick accented voice began to play through the terminal's speaker.

“If you have come to this place seeking me, I am gone. Do not try to follow me. The Cult is after me, and it will only bring danger to those who seek me out.

If this is the Cult and you've managed to get into this room, which is not an easy task for minotaurs, then I am happy to say that this terminal will be your doom. It is rigged to explode upon the completion of this message, sealing you inside forever...”

My eyes widened as the terminal began to beep. I backpedaled as fast as I could. “Uh, guys we need to get out of here now!”

Coconut's head whipped around at the same time. “Everybody into the tunnel!” she shouted.

I wasted no time filing in after her and Lightning into the tunnel. The beeping coming from the terminal got louder and started repeating much faster than before. We were about halfway through the tunnel when a deafeningly loud *thud* echoed off the tunnel walls. The tunnel began collapsing behind us.

“Shit! Run faster!” I yelled. I pushed all of my energy into running, breaking out of the tunnel behind my brother just as the tunnel fully collapsed. I leaped forward landed on my rump, grunting as I struck the concrete ground.

“Well, that was exciting,” Coconut said, panting loudly.

“Exciting? That was fucking scary!” Lightning exclaimed.

“She was being sarcastic, Bro,” I managed to say in between deep breaths.

“Oh. Sorry,” Lightning replied.

“It's fine,” Coconut said. She stood from where she'd fallen and made her way over to the tunnel entrance, which was now covered with rubble and debris. “Looks like there's no way we're going back in there. It's sealed up tight. I guess now we know why there weren't any other traps.”

“Yeah... Envy wanted to draw them in and get rid of them in one fell swoop,” I said, standing. “She mentioned the Cult though. I thought the Cult was like... gone.”

“I don't know,” Coconut said. “But it seems like we're back to square one again. We don't really know how long ago she recorded that message, and she didn't say where she was going for obvious reasons.”

I grimaced, hanging my head. The whole trip out had been a complete bust. We were going to have to return to Theater, to tell Mom that we couldn't find Envy. And then... then we'd have to watch as she withered away and died.

“Yeah,” I said under my breath. “Sounds like we should just head back to Theater at this point.”

“Agreed. Perhaps some of the other patrols have had better luck in locating Envy,” Coconut said.

“I'm all for that,” Lightning said. “Not only does this place reek, it's sort of creepy. Who knows what else is lurking around this area that we just alerted to our presence?”

I nodded. He had a good point. The explosion had been pretty loud. It was bound to attract some attention. Regardless, I could never pass up an opportunity to poke a little fun at my brother. We removed our breathing masks and started walking back towards the front of the bank as we spoke.

“Aww, is poor widdle Wightning afraid of the abandoned bank?” I said, snickering.

Lightning frowned. “Cut it out, Sis. I'm not scared of anything.”

“Oh? Did you ever tell Coconut about the time you --” I started to say.

*BLAM*

A gunshot broke through my sentence, slamming through the bank's front window. Glass sprayed everywhere as we ducked behind a nearby set of overturned tables.

“See? What did I tell you?!” Lightning exclaimed.

I turned to my PipBuck, flicking on my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle. A single red dot lay out somewhere beyond the confines of the bank. I grimaced. “There's only one. Sniper.” I considered that Lightning had been right, that the blast had attracted someone's attention, but why was there only one then? It didn't make much sense.

“Where?” Coconut said.

“I don't know, the E.F.S. only shows one dot,” I said. “It doesn't tell me where it is, just that it's in front of us!” I poked my head up from behind the table to see if I could tell where the sniper was.

*BLAM*

Another gunshot ripped through the broken window, striking the ground. It ricocheted off the cold stone and embedded itself into the wall. I ducked back down as quick as I could. Even if we couldn’t see them, the sniper could obviously see us and knew how to keep our heads down.

“I can't tell,” I said. “Could be on a rooftop, or in a building. I'm not really sure.”

“Well, that's useful,” Coconut said. “The real question is, what do we do now?”

“There's no other way out except for the front door. If there was a way out the way we came, it's trashed now,” I said.

“So we fight, instead of trying to run,” Coconut said.

“Are you fucking kidding me? How in the heck are we supposed to fight that?!” Lightning shouted. “The second we exit the building he's gonna blow our heads off!”

“Calm down, Lightning,” Coconut said, her words immediately deflating my brother's panic. “We're going to get out of here and get back to Theater. We just have to be smart about this.”

“We have to figure out a way out of here without alerting him,” I said, glancing about the ruined bank. I groaned when I saw no other way out. The front door really was it. I was starting to get really annoyed with these kinds of situations. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, while that bastard Xerves was laughing all the way to the bank. I had to get out of there so I could find him, and make him pay for what he'd done to...

Mom. Shit. Mom was going to die, and I wasn't going to be able to do anything about it. I couldn't stop it. I looked down at my hooves, sighing.

“Starry?” a voice to my right said. Coconut leaned in close. “Starry, we've got to move. I've got an idea.”

“What good is it? There's no way out,” I said. “He's got us pinned, Coco.”

“Yeah, he does. But we don't stay down when we're pinned. We look for a different angle,” Coconut said, pulling up the visor on her power armor helmet. “We'll get out of here and back to your mom, I promise.”

I looked up into her deep brown eyes and nodded. Coconut had been my best friend for the longest time now, and she'd never given me any reason to not trust her. “So what's your plan then?”

“We force his hoof. Something Star Paladin Berry taught me. One of the best ways to deal with this kind of situation is to force the situation to occur. Right now, he's toying with us,” Coconut explained. “We have to force him to react.”

“And how in the hay are we supposed to do that?” Lightning exclaimed.

Coconut glanced over at my brother, a smile forming on her face. I could see the inner workings forming her plan.

“Oh no,” Lightning said. “I am not going out there.”

“Lightning, you're faster than both of us combined,” Coconut tried to reason. “Besides, you only need to get across the street. Once you're there, you can cover our escape.”

Lightning cocked his head in confusion. Coconut sighed loudly and put her hoof to her forehead.

“What I'm saying is,” she continued. “If you get across the street, you can fire up at the sniper and distract him. While he's distracted, we'll make our way across the street and out from under his fire.”

“Alright,” Lightning said. “I'll... I'll give it a shot. I just hope I don't get shot.”

“You'll be fine,” Coconut said, batting her eyelashes at my brother. “Just trust in me. Please.”

Lightning nodded. I had to admit that he was a sucker for Coconut's feminine wiles, but she wasn't wrong. Lightning was a dead on fast flier, and few other pegasi in the MMMM could match his wing power, save for Lilith.

My brother crept back towards the back where the tellers were. No activity from our friend meant he couldn't see him that far back. Spreading his wings, Lightning bolted forward like a rocket. In a flash he had breached the front windows of the bank, bursting through and out into the street. Several gunshots echoed through the air as the sniper tried to adjust, but none of them hit. Lightning landed on the other side of the street looking no worse for wear. He quickly chomped down on the bit of his battle saddle, sending a few bursts of fire in the supposed direction of the sniper.

“Now!” Coconut shouted. She rolled out from behind the table and started hoofing it towards the door.

I nodded vigorously as I followed behind. My heart pounded as I jumped over the broken glass and out into the daylight. Every hoof step towards my brother felt like an eternity. My eyes drifted upward to keep an eye on our friend.

I blinked, stopping dead in my tracks part way through the street. The crimson cloak, the horns, it was the same sniper that had attacked me when I'd gone out and saved Xerves! He had lowered his gun the moment he'd seen me. Did he recognize me? I could certainly see him more clearly. His lower jaw was metallic, likely completely cybernetic. His cloak looked tattered, and his yellow eyes narrowed at me. Despite the wear and tear on his body, he looked rather young.

“Starry! Hurry up!” Coconut shouted. She was already on the other side of the street with Lightning.

The minotaur stood silently for a few more seconds and then made to move. I panicked, thinking that I'd been too slow and that he was going to shoot at me again. When he disappeared from the building, I blinked. He just... left, I thought. Why? Why did he just up and leave? He could have killed me...

“Starry!” Coconut shouted again.

I blinked again, returning to the present. I started moving towards the others. I stopped in front of them, only to meet two hooves grabbing me and shaking me.

“Are you insane?! You could have gotten yourself killed!” Coconut yelled.

“It... it was him,” was all I could say.

“Him?” Lightning asked.

“The minotaur, from the other day when I... when I saved Xerves,” I said, gritting my teeth at the mere mention of that bastard zebra's name. “He must have... I don't know... recognized me or something.”

“That doesn't make any sense,” Coconut said, scanning the buildings with her eyes. “He's gone, though. What do you think he wanted?”

“How the heck should I know?” I said. “It's not like I can read his mind.”

“Maybe he's got a crush on you,” Lightning teased. “And he's just too shy to approach you.”

I shot him a death glare. “I don't think that's it, Lightning. Besides, he showed up right after that explosion. I wonder if he was here for Envy too.”

“Unless we see him again, it's likely we'll never know,” Coconut said. She glanced down at her own PipBuck. “It's getting late though. We should get going back to Theater.”

I sighed, and nodded. Coconut was right. We needed to get back. Maybe we'd get lucky and one of the other patrols had found Envy. I really didn't want to think about what would happen if anyone hadn't found her. A deep pit sunk into my stomach as we started walking. The only thing I could think of was Mom.

“Hold it right there,” a voice said from up ahead suddenly.

My head lifted towards the voice. That wasn't Coconut or Lightning. I blinked. Up ahead there were several large earth ponies. They were gathered around a slate colored unicorn mare. Except for the mare, the other ponies wore spiked metal armor emblazoned with the symbol of a demonic pony head wreathed in flames. Blood stains spattered on the metal where the spikes were. Raiders. Not just any raiders, but the Hellraisers, the filthiest gang of raiders in the whole city of Chicacolt.

The mare, however, was clean and dressed in a slinky black dress. A set of glasses sat on her snout, a sharp grin on her face. An SMG hung in the air beside her, supported by her magic. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her.

“Well, well, well,” she said, her voice silky and smooth. “What do we have here? Three lost little ponies in our territory.”

“Yeah,” one of the earth ponies said. “Lost.”

I glanced over at Coconut and my brother. This was not good. We had escaped near death only to blunder into... near death. I couldn't see a way to talk out of this.

You rock guys. Woohoo, I thought to myself.

Coconut took a step forward, puffing her chest out to look important. “Under the authority of Applejack's Rangers, you will stand down and leave us in peace.”

“Oh look. The little filly wants to sound important,” the mare replied, sounding highly amused. “We don't answer to Applesack and her stupid rangers, filly. This is our territory.”

“We don't mean to intrude,” I said softly. “If you want us to leave, we will.”

“Did you hear that boys? The filly thinks we're going to let them just leave without paying the toll?” the mare said.

“Yeah,” another of her entourage said. “The toll. Gotta pay the toll.”

I narrowed my eyes at the mare. Whatever this toll was, it was not going to be pretty. The Hellraisers had a reputation for being highly violent towards mares, especially younger mares, but they weren't stupid. They were the only gang in Chicacolt that still controlled a part of the city, if only by their sheer tenacity. In fact, they were the only raiders within the city limits, but they generally stayed away from MMMM controlled territories.

“What toll?” Lightning ventured.

I looked over at him, gaping. He didn't. He just had to ask. I glanced down at my holster, focusing on bringing out Justice at the first inkling of a problem.

“He wants to know what the toll is,” the mare said. Her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Boys, why don't you tell him?”

“The fillies,” one of the earth ponies next to her said. “Give us the fillies and you'll be free to go.”

Shit, I thought. We need to get out of here. I looked over at Coconut, our eyes meeting. She nodded slowly. Her gaze returned to the gang.

“That's a very fair offer,” she said. “But I'm afraid we must decline. We're on important business, and our friends wouldn't be too happy if you just took us. Perhaps some caps might cover the toll instead?”

The mare chuckled. “Oh, you are too rich. That wasn't an offer, dearie. Boys, get them.”

The two earth ponies in front charged forward, each one of them wearing large spiked shoes on their front hooves. They roared loudly as they closed the gap between us.

I ignited my horn, sending a burst of magic down to pull Justice out of its holster. I took aim on the one on the left and activated S.A.T.S. Time seemed to slow to a complete crawl as a display showing various targets on the first raider's body appeared. Selecting my shots had to be careful. Justice could only fire eight shots before I had to reload, and S.A.T.S. only let me queue up half of those at a time.

I decided quickly that the best place to go for would have to be their hooves. Knock those out and they'd be on the ground and no longer a threat. I queued up the four shots I had to the outside front leg and released S.A.T.S. Justice fired, sending four piercing bolts of hot lead towards the raider. They struck, completely obliterating his leg from the knee down. Blood exploded from what was left of the leg.

Mom had taught us many times before that in order to survive in the Wasteland, we had to be quick. If were being attacked, mercy wasn't an option. Stop the threat before it stops us, all that jazz. So I wasn't about to let some raider take me and my friend and force us into whatever sadistic plans that bitch unicorn had for us. Besides, I still had a zebra to deal with. I wasn't planning on dying anytime soon.

“Fuck!” the left raider cried out as he went tumbling forward. The other one kept coming, ignoring his fellow's plight. A mad shout of glee erupted from his mouth.

Coconut jumped back next to me and chomped down on the bit for her battle saddle. Her rifle swung out, sending a spray of fire into the approaching raider. Two of her shots pinged off the raider's metal armor, while the third found purchase in the raider's neck. Blood spurted onto the ground. The raider continued forward like nothing had even touched him. His eyes were bloodshot and his grin psychotic.

“Coconut!” Lightning shouted. He moved to intercept the raider.

He was too late. The raider slammed into Coconut hard, knocking her to the cold concrete. She grunted in pain. Lightning stood over her, seething as he readied Thunder and Bolt. The raider replied by punching my brother in the chest. Lightning went to the ground.

“Hey ugly!” I yelled as I turned to fire Justice at the raider. I stopped cold as a blast of gunfire struck me in my shoulder barding. I yelped and glanced in the direction it had come from. The unicorn mare stood there, grinning widely.

“Did you really think you'd be able to fight your way out of this?” she said.

“Stay away from my sister!” Lightning roared from the ground. He made to stand, but the raider slammed into him again.

I grimaced, my breathing starting to feel very ragged. I looked down at my shoulder. The barding was cracked and blood streamed from the wound. I was really getting pissed off at this. In the span of two days I'd been shot more times than I'd like to have been. I glanced up at the mare as my eyes started to roll into the back of my head.

The last thing I heard as I passed out was the mare saying something.

“Tie them up. And don't kill any of them. They're important.”

My eyes fluttered open. I was... alive? In a lot of pain, sure, but I was alive. I was... tied up, but still alive. I was on the floor. Well... shit, I thought. I craned my neck to see where I was.

The room we were in was dark, save for a few lamps sitting on the far table. I could barely make out the forms of Coconut and Lightning next to me. I could hear them breathing, which meant they were at least alive too. They were both stripped of their gear and bound. I looked down at my shoulder. It had been bandaged up. I blinked. The raiders fixed me up? That didn't make any sense. I wondered what kind of sick plans they had for us.

The door opened, revealing the unicorn mare. Her eyes glimmered in the darkness. She trotted across the room and stood triumphantly over me.

“Oh good. You're awake. We're going to be moving soon, so you'll need to be on your feet,” she said.

I grunted in reply. I was not interested in hearing what she had to say. I craned my neck further. Our gear was sitting on the table under the lamps. If I could just use my magic, I could get us out of here. I tried to flick my horn, and my eyes widened. I couldn't. My magic had been disabled!

The mare chuckled. “Did you think that we were just stupid raiders that wouldn't know how to deal with a unicorn? Well, the earth ponies are a little dense, but I'm not. I'm the brains of this operation, darling.”

“Who...?” I managed to say.

“Tsk tsk. No need for any of that. The Hellraisers don't like their mares to talk much, except for screaming of course,” the mare replied with a grin. “We'll be on our way to Filly's Pier pretty soon.”

With that, she turned and left before I could reply. I laid my head back in defeat. We hadn't managed to find Envy, but we had found trouble. I thought about Mom, and what she would do in this situation. Of course, she wouldn't have gotten herself caught, but if she had she would have had some form of an escape plan. Without my magic, I was pretty useless.

I heard stirring next to me. I craned my neck again to see that Coconut and Lightning were beginning to wake up.

“Starry?” Coconut whispered. “Where are we...?”

“I don't know,” I said. “That unicorn said we were going to be taken to Filly's Pier.”

Coconut remained silent for a few moments before groaning. “Shit. Filly's Pier. That's not good.”

“What's Filly's Pier?” Lightning said..

“One of the strongest Hellraiser controlled areas in the city,” Coconut said. “Even the Rangers won't go in. They take all of their slaves there. It's probably the worst place anypony could end up.”

“Great. Any idea how we get out of here?” I said. “That bitch shut off my magic. I can't untie us.”

“She took off my power armor too,” Coconut said. “Oh... Berry is going to be so mad at me...”

“We have to survive for that to happen, Coco,” I said. “At least they didn't take off our PipBucks. Probably not smart enough to take them off.” Except for maybe that unicorn mare. I expected that she would probably do that before they transferred us to the Pier.

“I can't move my wings either,” Lightning said. “They're bound too tightly.”

“Looks like we're gonna have to wait til they move us,” Coconut said.

I sighed, nodding as best as I could. Coconut was right. The only way we were getting out of here was to wait until the best opportunity to escape. I laid there and I thought about the last day or so. We had been unsuccessful in finding Envy, and had instead gotten ourselves caught by a group of psychos. I yawned. There was nothing to do but wait, and waiting... waiting was exhausting. I closed my eyes.

Mom... I thought as I drifted off to sleep. We'll get out of this, and we'll find Envy. We'll find her and we'll save you...

Author's Notes:

And there you have it folks, Chapter 2 of Mending Hearts is officially on the books, and we're rocking and rolling right ahead with the story. Will Starry and company break free of captivity? Will they find Envy? What is up with that minotaur sniper? Will I ever stop asking these questions? Who knows!

I'd like to thank you folks for all your support. I'm so sorry this took so long to get out! My writing process has gotten more intensive, and I spend a lot more time working things out than I used to.

Also, please please please check out my Patreon and support me! I want to love and give back to you fine peoples!

Big thanks to Wirepony, McMesser, and Heartshine. You guys are awesome. This is no lie.

See you kids on the flip side for Chapter 3! I promise it'll get published quicker than this did!