For most of my young life, I've been afraid of many things. I was afraid of the dark once. I would stay up all night with my flashlight on, huddled under my covers because I was afraid that something would get me in the dark.

Of course, I've since learned to put those foalish fears behind me. Instead, I fear more tangible things. The realities of the world I live in. Bullets and bomb and mines, traps and illness and starvation. Most of all, the ponies who use those against me, who would seek to end my life. “A constant state of fear and paranoia is a healthy state”, Mom would often say.

I was afraid then. I was afraid I would never see her again.

I came back to consciousness at the sound of the door opening. I pried my aching eyes open and groaned at the pain in my shoulder. My shoulder ached heavily from where I'd been bandaged, a dull thump that told me they’d given me Med-X, and it had worn off. Light flooded the room and nearly blinded me, and before I knew what was going on I had been lifted into the air and my legs unbound. I fell backwards onto my hindquarters, grunting.

“Get up,” a brusque voice said. It was one of the Hellraiser stallions. His eyes glinted as he regarded me. “Before I make you get up.”

I glared at him and pushed up onto four hooves. My shoulder wasn’t throbbing anymore, it was pure agony. When I got free I was going to make sure that every one of those psychos would meet Justice.

I glanced over at the others. More Hellraisers were unbinding their legs and getting them up. At the door, the mare watched with glee.

“Good, good!” she crowed. “This batch will be perfect for the Pier. We're moving out, boys. Time to pack it up and head home.”

“Bout fucking time,” one of the raiders said. “Feels like it's been too long since we saw Morale, Kiss.”

“Yes, well you'll have plenty of time to drink and take all the chems you ever wanted when we get there. First things first, we need to get there without alerting those stupid bakers to our presence,” the mare replied sternly. “Don't forget what happened the last time we ran afoul of those do-gooders.”

“Don't worry, boss. We'll get these fish back to their bowl,” the Hellraiser next to me said. He smelled a lot like rotten fish, so I guess his choice of words fit.

“Alright,” the mare apparently named Kiss said as she trotted up to us. “You three will be chained together. If you scream, speak, or make any other noise, one of the boys will kill you. If you so much as make a whimper, I will kill you. You'll walk when you're told to, rest when you're told to. Shit, you will even piss when I fucking tell you to. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

I nodded. Nopony made a peep. There was no point in antagonizing them into a confrontation. Not without our gear, and not without a plan. Albeit, I wasn't relatively certain how we were going to make a plan without being able to speak.

Three of the raiders came and attached chains to our legs, holding us together. I resisted the urge to throw up as the fishy smelling one brushed by me.

“Good! I love it when they've accepted their fate. Now should you have to address me, and you really shouldn't, my name is Miss Velvet Kiss. Until we get to Filly's Pier, I am your master,” the mare said. A shit-eating-grin formed on her face. I desperately wanted to wipe it off with bullets.

One of the raiders popped his head in. “Boss, looks like the coast is clear. We should go.”

“Excellent. Now then, let's get going. And remember to keep up with the group. If you drag too much ass, I'll let some of the boys sample the merchandise before we get to the Pier,” Velvet Kiss said, winking at me.

I grimaced, trying to find a way out of this. I couldn't see one. Our only hope was that Lilith sent out patrols to find us when we didn't return to Theater. I started walking forward, following the others as the raiders carrying our gear brought up the rear of the pack. In short, we were surrounded. Even if we could make a break for it, there was no way we'd get very far before they took us down. The chains ensured that much, but it was more than just that. Other slavers used to use bomb collars to prevent their slaves from getting away. Not the Hellraisers. They used fear, pure and simple.

The bright morning sun hurt my eyes as we made our way out of the abandoned building and out into the streets. I didn't really recognize the part of the city we were in, at least not without being able to check my PipBuck. I was slightly surprised that Velvet Kiss hadn't tried to remove it, but ultimately was grateful. It would mean that hopefully, Lilith would be able to find us by our PipBuck tags.

My eyes drifted to Velvet Kiss as we walked. She seemed intelligent, too intelligent for a gang of psychos like the Hellraisers were. I didn't know really what to make of her except for the fact that she royally pissed me off. Her smug attitude made me want to punch her in the face. I pulled my eyes away from her just so I wouldn't do something incredibly stupid and get myself killed.

I looked up at the buildings around us and nearly stopped in my tracks. A flash of crimson in the light. The minotaur sniper stood on a nearby roof, his weapon drawn. I glanced around. Nopony else had even seen him. I looked back up. He was gone. I blinked.

What in the heck is he doing? Why is he following us? Hell, why is he following me?! I thought as I kept walking. Is he trying to kill me or freak me out? Either way, he's freaking me out!

I looked ahead at Coconut and Lightning. They hadn't noticed him either. I put my eyes forward and kept walking, closing the distance between myself and them so we wouldn't get tripped up by the chains. No matter what I did though, I couldn't stop thinking about seeing that stupid minotaur. It didn't make any sense. He'd shown up when Xerves had appeared, and again at Envy's place. And yet, he hadn't actually tried to kill me.

We slowed to a stop at an intersection in the street. Velvet Kiss lifted a hoof, pointing north. I still didn't recognize where we were. There was a lot of this city that I didn't know, and that freaked me out a little bit. The fact that we were so far outside MMMM territory meant that it was unlikely that we'd be found quickly. I didn't really know what the range on PipBuck tag tracking was, but if we were already at the Pier by the time they tracked us down then it was really too late.

We kept moving, this time in the direction that Velvet Kiss had pointed. I let my eyes drift up and around. The only familiar thing I could see was the spire that belonged to Filly Tower in the distance. It was the literal center of the city, so it could be seen from everywhere. Unfortunately, it still didn't give me a good idea as to where we actually were.

Several hours passed as we plodded along. We stopped at certain intersections, waited, and then were forced to keep moving. My legs hurt all over, but I didn't dare stop when we were walking. All throughout the journey, I kept catching glimpses of the crimson-cloaked sniper. He was keeping up pretty well all things considering. I thought it was pretty strange that I was the only one who noticed him. Each time I saw him, he disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

With each and every stop, the raiders grew increasingly restless. A few times they'd put their hooves on Coconut and myself and had even given us a few bruises and scratches. One of them tried to bite my neck, drawing a line of blood on it. Each time Velvet Kiss put them back into their place. I realized that she was the only thing holding them back from having their way with us. The money must have been worth it to deal with such psychotic stallions. Of course, we didn't fight back either. Fighting back would have broken her rules, and something told me I really didn't want to break her rules before I could fight back effectively.

We were all deathly thirsty, our throats dry because we hadn't had any food or water for what felt like forever. I was starting to go a little stir crazy because of the inhibitor on my horn. Not being able to feel my magic really bothered me. The possibility of never feeling it ever again frightened me to no end. My thoughts drifted to Mom while we walked. I hoped and prayed that she was alright, and that Lilith had hopefully gotten up some form of search team to come find us.

“Stop!” Velvet Kiss called out suddenly and happily, jarring me from my thoughts. “We're close to home boys!” She pointed down the street. Far in the distance, down a large hill and across a narrow bridge was Filly's Pier.

The Pier itself looked to be in pretty piss-poor shape. I could see the wreckage of Equestrian Navy ships in the harbor next to it. They were barely afloat, many of them halfway sunken already. Rubble and debris from the large steel warehouses that had occupied the Pier was spread everywhere. The bridge itself was lined with barbed wire. Several guards stood in shoddily constructed towers above the entrance. At the rear-most end of the Pier was a mish-mash of lights and pink metal that could be seen clear as day even without binoculars. The top-most portion of the structure was adorned with the face of Pinkie Pie, the Ministry Mare of Morale.

“Look at it, boys. Home,” Velvet Kiss said. She glanced back at us and grinned widely. “Take a good hard look. You won't be seeing the outside of the place again, once we're inside. You should relish this opportunity.”

I wanted to relish sticking my hoof into her face repeatedly. I grimaced. If we were going to make our move, we were going to have to make it before we made it into the Pier. If we got inside, there was no going back. We were going to have to chance it. I tore my gaze away from the view. There had to be some way out of this.

It was then that I caught that flash of crimson again.

I looked right at him, and I almost swore that he saw me too. He stood on another rooftop, weapon at the ready. I had to admit, the craftsmanship of his rifle was stunning. It gleamed brightly in the sun. The minotaur then lifted his claw and made a motion. It took me forever to realize that he was signaling to me. It took me even longer to realize that he wanted me to duck. As he lifted his rifle my eyes widened.

I took a wrong step forward and tripped, falling to the ground. Luckily, I had drifted back enough that the chain attaching me to Lightning and Coconut drew taut, tripping them as well.

“Hey!” one of the raiders behind us shouted. “Get up, fish! Boss didn't say you could--”

*BLAM*

A deafening roar echoed across the street as the sniper fired. The bullet struck the raider in the head, splattering his brains all over the pavement. Chaos erupted. The surviving raiders scrambled to find the source of their attacker.

“What's going on?!” Lightning shouted, no longer caring about our imposed silence.

“Our friend in the rooftops,” I said under my breath. “Decided to help us out.”

“Who?” Coconut said.

“You know who,” I said. “Our sniper friend.”

*BLAM*

Velvet Kiss snarled loudly as one of the raiders next to her fell to the ground. “Get that sniper! Find him and fucking end him!”

“Working on it, boss!” the fishy smelling raider shouted. He pulled out a mouthgrip pistol and began to fire wildly off into the distance towards the rooftop where the minotaur was. I rolled my eyes. There was no way he was going to hit him from here.

*BLAM*

Fishy's chest erupted in blood and gore and he crumpled to the ground. Couldn't have happened to a nicer raider, I thought, grinning.

“Where the fuck is he?!” Velvet Kiss roared. “Get him you stupid fucks!”

“We need to get out of the line of fire,” I hissed under my breath. “Before we're next on the hit list.”

“We need to get our gear first,” Coconut replied, pointing at the raiders that had been previously carrying it. They'd thankfully dropped the gear on the ground at the sound of the first gunshot.

“I still can't use my magic,” I said. “If you can get this inhibitor off, maybe we can help our new friend, if we can even call him that.”

More gunshots erupted from the raiders, but for every four to five rounds of assault rifle fire the sniper returned in kind with one shot. Most of the raider bunch was down and out. Velvet Kiss was hiding behind a pile of rubble, screaming and shouting.

“Hold still,” Coconut said as she bit through the straps holding the horrible ring to my horn. She bit down on the ring itself and pulled, hard. The inhibitor ring pulled off and I felt a familiar warmth in the base of my horn.

I grinned, igniting my horn. It felt so good to have my magic back! I didn't even know how much I really missed it! With a burst of telekinesis, I ripped the shoddy shackles off my legs. I freed Lightning and Coconut after that. Lightning spread his wings and grinned at me, and I returned it happily.

“Alright, let's get our stuff and help,” I said, making a beeline for our gear.

Velvet Kiss turned her head, noticing that we were free. “The slaves!! Get the slaves! Get them!!”

“Kind of pinned down here, Kiss!” one of the other raiders who had been smart enough to jump behind his own pile of debris said.

“I don't fucking care! Get them!” the slave master snapped.

Another gunshot rang through the air, forcing the other raider to duck back behind his cover. I smiled. That would give us enough time to get our shit for sure.

I was the first to reach our gear that the raiders had so unceremoniously discarded. My magic reached out and grabbed onto Justice, lifting the gun into the air. I turned it on one of the raiders cowering behind a large set of rubble.

“Don't kill me!” he shouted. “Please!!”

I growled under my breath and counted to four. On four, I fired. The raider slumped to the ground, dead. I couldn't afford mercy for these fucks. Not after what they'd put us through. They didn't deserve it.

“Sorry,” I said under my breath. “Begging isn't really my style.” I lowered my weapon and holstered it. It felt really good to be able to use magic again.

By the time I turned back to the others they'd already managed to get their gear back together. Coconut had even gotten her power armor back on somehow. I blinked. Earth ponies, I thought to myself.

“Shall we help our new friend?” I asked loudly over the sound of Velvet Kiss and the remaining raiders squabbling about who was coming to get us. Every time they appeared to get courageous, the sniper on the rooftop would keep them pinned down.

“Are you certain he's our friend? He did try to shoot at us earlier,” Lightning said.

“I'm sure,” I replied. “He's had plenty of opportunity. We're in the open, but he's keeping Velvet Kiss down instead. Remember what Mom always said?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” we both recited, chuckling.

“Alright, you got me,” Lightning said. “But we got a problem. We're seriously close to Filly's Pier. Who's to say somepony else isn't gonna hear this and send reinforcements?”

“That's why we're going to help,” I said. “Right, Coco?”

Coconut's eyes gleamed as she lowered her visor. Her battle saddle rifle swung around, sending a spray of fire at the raiders from behind. Many of them yelped loudly as bullets skipped off the ground in front of them.

“I'd run if I were you,” she said.

The eyes of the raider gang went collectively wide. The ones that were left scrambled to get away, but didn't get very far. Heads and legs exploded with gore as the sniper mopped up those we flushed out. At some point, the only ones left were Velvet Kiss and the other raider that had managed to hang low.

I glanced up. The sniper had disappeared. Where did he...? I thought to myself. My eyes went back down to Velvet Kiss, who looked like she'd figured out that our new friend was gone as well. Her SMG came up in her magic as she rushed at us.

“You fucking slaves! Look at what you did!” she roared as she loosed a burst of fire at us. Her aim was pretty terrible, however. If she'd have learned anything like I had from Mom, she'd have known that running and gunning, while looking cool, isn't very accurate at all. The best results come from the calm and collected movements.

Unfortunately, I was all out of those myself. This raider bitch had chained me up and forced me to walk most of the day, and very nearly had sold me into slavery in the one of the most depraved areas of the city. She'd starved me, she'd dehydrated me, and I wanted to put her so far underground it wasn't funny. So I did what only came natural to me at the time.

I charged too, lifting Justice in the air and taking pot shots at her as she came at me. I missed, of course. I am a terrible shot when I'm not focused on it, but I didn't care. I wanted her to be done for, so I could get back to Mom and figure out what to do next. With a growl I leaped into the air and slammed into her. Well, more like we slammed into each other.

We both went down to the ground, our weapons tumbling with a clatter next to us. I snarled, pushing up as fast as I could only to meet the barrel of Justice being pressed against my temple. My eyes widened as Velvet Kiss stood, her horn glowing softly.

“I think not,” she said, glancing past me. “Your friends are quite busy, so let's not mince words. You're brave. I like that. But you're also stupid. Did you really think that you and your friends could escape this close to the Pier?”

I glared at. “The thought had crossed my mind,” I spat.

She frowned and smacked my face hard with the grip on Justice. I felt a tooth break upon impact. Pain shot through my face.

“I wasn't expecting you to reply,” she said. She kept Justice trained on me, grinning widely as she floated out a small radio.

My eyes craned to see what was happening to the others. As best as I could see, the raiders had rallied and surrounded them. Not only that, a few new raiders had appeared, likely because of the noise floating down to the guards at the Pier. I returned to staring hard at Velvet Kiss.

“Oh, excellent. Reinforcements,” she said. “Your sniper friend must have been taken care of by the other Hellraisers. Meaning that without help, you're right back to where you started.”

“Let her go,” a gravelly voice said. It had a hint of static to it as well.

I blinked, looking in the direction of the voice. The crimson-cloaked minotaur stood there calmly, his rifle trained on Velvet Kiss.

“It seems as though your friend didn't bite the dust after all?” she said. “No matter. You won't be leaving here either. Make one wrong move and the filly here will get her brains splattered all over the place.”

“I will repeat once more. Let her go,” the minotaur replied.

I blinked again. I couldn't even see his mouth move. Was he wearing some sort of mask? Was that why his voice sounded so distorted?

“Are you thick?” Velvet Kiss said. “This is my property. My slave. Mine. Not yours. Drop your weapon or I will do what I must to discipline you.”

The minotaur hesitated, lowering his weapon slightly. He growled softly before lifting his rifle again. “Let her go, or I will fire.”

“And risk the life of your pretty little friend? She'll be dead before you even pull the trigger,” Velvet Kiss replied, pressing the barrel of my gun harder against my forehead. “I suggest you drop your weapon if you don't want to see that happen.”

The minotaur glanced at me and back at Kiss. His eyes hardened and he lowered his rifle, dropping it to the ground. Several of the other raiders swarmed him, binding his claws and taking away the weapon.

Velvet Kiss grinned widely. “Excellent. You're not the usual stock, but you will make a fine slave.”

“Kiss,” the male raider that had survived said. “What about these two?”

I glanced over to see Coconut and Lightning. They were being marched up next to us, solemn looks on their faces and bruises all over from where the raiders had beat them. I couldn't blame them, really. We'd tried to escape, and we'd failed. Not only that, we'd roped another into this as well. I was starting to really hope that any moment Lilith would drop in and save us, but it wasn't looking likely. I was sure Mom was feeling horrible about all of this. I hoped that it wouldn't aggravate her heart condition.

“Bind them. We're not far from the Pier. We'll take all four of them in. The minotaur will fetch an especially handsome payment,” Velvet said. She motioned at a couple of the other raiders from the Pier to come and shackle us.

The chains were placed back on our legs, this time with the minotaur sniper leading our little train. In addition, the magic inhibitor was put back on my horn, negating my magic once more. We started walking again, this time forced along by the other raiders. Velvet Kiss trotted happily at the front, my gun holstered on her belt and the minotaur’s rifle bobbing in her magic. I really wanted to yank it back and splatter her brains with it, but no magic meant no bounce, no play.

We walked in silence as we crossed over the bridge leading into the Pier. I felt the hungry eyes of all of the raiders on me as we walked under the guard towers. A loud scraping sound nearly startled me as I realized the raiders were retracting a portion of the bridge. My heart sank. Even if we did get loose, there'd be no getting home without getting across that bridge. I looked ahead to the newest member of our little slave group.

The minotaur walked stiffly thanks to the chains. Now that he was closer I could see more detail to him. His arms were powerfully built and very muscular, covered slightly by the crimson cloak he wore. I could see the hints of scars on his forearms. He looked as though he could snap his chains at any second, so I wondered why he had given up. Was it because of us? Because of me? I didn't know. I couldn't see his face to get any indication of what he was thinking. His horns were weathered, one of them cracked in several places, while his hair was well kept and braided down his back, disappearing into his cloak. It was actually sort of... cute.

I saw his head turn to glance back at me and I looked away, trying to hide the fact that I'd been staring at him. Instead, I focused on our surroundings. The Pier was as dirty and disgusting up close as it had looked from far away. Refuse littered the street, and several times I had no recourse but to step in what I assumed was feces. It took most of my willpower to not release the contents of my stomach. We were passed several times by packs of Hellraisers on their way out of the Pier. Most of them jeered at us and said things I'd rather not repeat in polite company.

We passed into one of the Pier's minor settlements. I was surprised to see several youngsters and mares around. The image the Hellraisers had given off to the rest of the city was always one of psychotic and oppressive violence, especially towards the opposite sex. And yet, I had witnessed already that there were mares within the organization that were respected, feared even. Velvet Kiss was one of them. It was strange to see it on a larger scale. They gave us solemn looks as we passed by, almost as if they knew where we were destined to go.

“Stop!” Velvet Kiss called out suddenly. “We will rest in this settlement before moving on to Morale in the morning. The boss will want to personally inspect the slaves, and I want to be paid, not killed.”

The other raiders grumbled, but grudgingly accepted Velvet Kiss' authority. “What about the slaves?” one of them asked. “Where are we supposed to put them?”

“Unbind them, strip of them of whatever gear they have, and stick them in a room,” Velvet Kiss said. “They should be fresh for the boss tomorrow.”

I glared at her as the others moved to take us away. I silently swore that I would make her pay. First things first though, we needed to get out. I hoped that our new friend could help with that.

We were shoved into a nearby building, the remnants of what appeared to be an old ticket office for a ferry boat. The front window was cracked just enough to let in air, but was painted over so we couldn't see outside. Once inside, the raiders undid our chains, except for the minotaur. His claws remained bound. He sat in the corner silently as the raiders slammed the door shut, bathing the room in darkness.

I flicked on my PipBuck's light, still unable to believe that the raiders hadn't tried to cut it off yet. Likely Velvet Kiss didn't believe that they were a threat to her. I looked over at Coconut and Lightning. “Are you two alright?”

“Feel like I got the shit kicked out of me,” Lightning said.

“That would be because we did, sweetie,” Coconut replied. She winced. “I'm fine, though. Think I have a broken rib, but can't really tell.”

I grimaced. “We have to get out of here. Coconut, you're good with all this tech stuff, do you think that our PipBucks could get out a distress call?”

“I could try, but I doubt it would work. The Pier has so many metal structures on it that the signal just bounces all over the place. It's like a natural scrambler. Something prewar. Berry told me about it,” she said. “Apparently, the last time she was here, she couldn't even use her radio.”

I looked down at my PipBuck and started fiddling with it. Sure enough, the radio wouldn't pick up anything. I sighed loudly and slumped back against the wall. I glanced over at the minotaur. He watched us silently.

“So, what's your story? Why in the hell did you stop shooting?” I said, anger filling my voice as I stood in front of him.

The minotaur lowered his gaze to the ground. Several long moments passed before he spoke in that grating voice. “I am... sorry.”

I blinked, taken aback by his words. He was sorry? That certainly didn't make any sense. I sighed, breathing in and out. “Alright. Apology accepted. Let's start with the simple questions then. Who are you?”

“My name is Rock Thresher,” the minotaur said calmly.

“That's a bit of a mouthful,” I said, grinning. “Got a nickname?”

“No,” the minotaur said. I could tell he was a hoot at parties.

“Okay then... how does 'Rocky' sound? Can I call you that?” I asked. I continued before he could respond. “So, Rocky... my friends and I would really like to know why you're following us and why you saved us, well... tried to save us from the Hellraisers?”

The minotaur's yellow eyes met mine. In the dimmed light I could see his face more. His lower jaw was more than cybernetic. It was practically fused to his face! He didn't have a mouth! No wonder he didn't make any jaw movement when he spoke. In place of where a mouth would be was a speaker. My eyes widened as I saw it.

“I was hunting the zebra. The one that you saved,” Rocky replied. “My employer wished for him to be dead.”

I grimaced at the mention of Xerves. I felt the knife twisting in my back, further reminding me of the fact that I'd saved him and what he had done to Mom. I coughed. “Yes, well that explains that part, but why follow us? Why try to save us?”

“My employer also instructed me to retrieve you,” Rocky said after a few moments pause. “You set off her trap in the bank. She wanted to know who it was that did that.”

“Wait... her trap in the bank? You work for Envy?” Coconut said.

Rocky nodded. “I am part of her... family.”

“Family? What do you mean?” I asked, cocking my head. “Envy has a family?”

“My employer trains and assists many mercenary operations in the city,” Rocky said. “She takes us in, cares for us.”

I blinked. I hadn't quite considered Envy to be the maternal type, but clearly she had some effect on our new friend. “Okay... what about Xerves? Did she train him?”

“Yes,” Rocky said.

“Did she send him to kill my mother?” I asked, anger rising in my voice.

“Starry...” Lightning said, placing a hoof on my shoulder.

“Don't you 'Starry' me,” I said, removing his hoof. I stomped the ground hard. “Did she or did she not send Xerves to kill my mother?”

Rocky fell silent for a few moments before replying. “No,” he said. “She did not. She was approached for the contract, but refused it.”

“So Xerves took it up on his own? Who hired him?” I asked angrily.

“I do not know. Envy would be able to give more information on this,” Rocky said. “I was instructed by her to find and eliminate Xerves once she had found out he'd left. When that failed, I returned to her and reported my findings.”

“And then you showed up at her old home when her trap went off,” I said, putting the pieces together in my head.

“Envy instructed me to locate whoever set off the trap,” he said.

“When you saw that it was me, you stopped shooting,” I said. “You recognized me.”

“Yes,” he said. “You were the one that helped the zebra.”

I winced. “Yeah... that was me,” I said. “I made a mistake that day. One that's nearly cost my mother her life. That's why we were looking for Envy. We hoped she knew any sort of medical techniques that could help save her.”

“I can take you to her,” Rocky said. “But first, we must free ourselves from this captivity.”

“Yeah... you saw how well our last attempt went,” Coconut said. “If we're not out of this place soon, there's a fair shake we won't ever get out.”

“Yeah, we got our butts kicked,” Lightning said. Everyone glanced over at him. He shrugged. “What? We did.”

“Yes, well. If we're going to be working together, I guess some introductions are in order,” I said. “My name is Starry Night, and this is my brother Lightning Chaser. Over there is Coconut Cream Pie. She's with Applejack's Rangers.”

“It is... good to meet you,” Rocky replied. “And do not worry about escaping. Mistress Envy should be arriving to collect us soon. She has been tracking my location.”

“Wait, what?” Coconut said. “How is she doing that?”

“My body has cybernetic impants in it, including tracking devices that allow Mistress Envy to keep tabs on my location,” Rocky said casually. “I have initiated a distress beacon to alert her of our situation.”

“Wow,” I said. “That's certainly fancy. How... how did you get them if I might ask?”

“I do not discuss that part of my life,” Rocky said simply. His yellow eyes glanced at the ground. “Bad memories.”

I grimaced, but nodded. “Understood. How long do you think it will take Envy to get here then?”

Shouts and gunshots erupted from outside, almost as if my question was being answered by Envy herself. I stood and rushed over to the painted window and tried to bust it open to see what was happening. Unfortunately the metal grating over it made it practically impossible to break.

More shouting and more gunshots came from outside. Then, almost as if a storm had just blown through, everything was silent. I heard hoofsteps coming up to the door. A swift kick landed on the door, knocking it from its hinges. Light flooded into the tiny room as the door swung inwards. A dark green-eyed zebra stood on its hind legs just outside.

She wore a dark brown cloak that hid her form and the multitude of weapons she certainly hard on her. Her mane was wild, and her piercing green eyes commanded attention. Envy's gaze rested on us and Rocky and she sighed loudly.

“Always getting into trouble, Rock Thresher. If you keep this up, I may have to resort to drastic measures,” she said.

Rocky stood to full height and briskly swung his arms apart, snapping his chains into tiny pieces. “I am sorry, Mistress. The possibility of civilian casualties was too high.”

Envy's eyes flittered back over to us. “I see. You three are the ones who set off my trap?”

“Yeah... that was me,” I said. “Sorry about that.”

“Ah, now I see. You are from Theater,” Envy said as she examined us with her eyes. “What are you doing so far from your home?”

“We were... looking for you actually,” Lighting said.

Envy grimaced. “Well, you have now found me. I do not wish to know why, I came only to retrieve my best employee,” she replied brusquely.

“Please,” I pleaded. “You know our mom, Patch. She needs your help.”

“I know this mare, this mother of which you speak. Tell me then, why she did not come and sent three youngsters instead to seek?” Envy said.

“She was poisoned,” I said. I narrowed my gaze at her. “She was poisoned by Xerves.”

Envy's eyes narrowed as well. I could tell that I'd stuck a chord somewhere. She grimaced. “Come with us. We shall retreat from this hellish place to a much safer location to discuss this. Rock Thresher, acquire their gear and ensure their safety.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Rocky said. He moved past her, exiting the tiny room. He returned a few short moments with our gear, depositing it on the ground in front of us. He then walked up to me and pulled the magic inhibitor away from my horn so I could use my magic once more.

I glanced down at our things, searching for the one piece of my own gear I knew I wanted back. My eyes narrowed as I realized it wasn't there. “Where is my gun? That bitch took it.”

Envy blinked, apparently having some issue processing what I'd said. “Ah, the unicorn mare who captured you. She took one of your weapons from you?”

“Yeah, she took the gun Mom made for me,” I said as I pulled on my barding. “Didn't you kill her too?”

“Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen,” Envy said. “I am sorry. I do not know where she went.”

I cursed under my breath. That gun meant everything to me. It was a reminder of who I was, of who... who Mom was. It reminded me of what she gave up for us to be alive and free. It was mine, and I wanted it back.

“We do not have much time,” Envy said. “We must leave. The innocents in this town will call their raider masters to come here.”

“Innocents? What do you mean?” Coconut said, her visor lowering to obscure her face once more. “Didn't you take out the raiders?”

“Not everypony the Hellraisers harbor here are evil. Many of them are slaves who know no other life than slavery,” Envy explained. She motioned outside the door.

My eyes followed her motion past the heaps of dead raiders. Huddling across the plaza were the mares and the youngsters we'd seen on our way in. They looked scared of us. I couldn't imagine living such a life. I was frightened enough of the prospect of going to Morale as a slave. Still, there were other more important things on my mind. I stepped outside of the tiny room past Envy and trotted over to them.

“Hello?” I said softly.

The mare in front stared at me and shrank away from me. I grimaced.

“I'm not going to hurt you. You don't have to live under their shadow any longer. You can be free,” I said calmly.

The mare shook her head. I could see the fear in her eyes. She wasn't going anywhere.

“Fine, let's start with something a little easier then. The mare that brought us here, Velvet Kiss. Where did she go?” I said.

“Starry...” Coconut said. “We have to go.”

“I need my gun, Coco,” I said, growling under my breath.

“Young one, I am sorry for the loss of your weapon, but we must leave. Even I cannot defeat a massive army of these raiders. We will be captured,” Envy said.

I turned back to the mare. “Where did she go? Did she go to Morale?”

The mare tentatively nodded. I grimaced. Shit... Shit shit shit shit shit! I thought to myself. I'd lost Justice. It felt like I'd lost a piece of myself.

“Starry,” Coconut said again. “Come on. I know that Justice meant a lot to you, but there's nothing we can do about it.”

“We could go get it,” I said angrily. “She can't have gotten far during the attack.”

“Are you crazy, Sis? We're in the middle of Hellraiser territory, and you want to go deeper in?” Lightning said. “I don't know about you, but I'd rather take my chances with the crazy zebra lady.”

Envy raised an eyebrow. “Crazy?”

“No offense,” Lightning said, grinning sheepishly.

“None taken,” Envy replied. Her eyes turned back to me. “Your brother is correct in at least one part of his statement. The Hellraisers will not be too pleased with our intrusion. We must pull back to our headquarters.”

I fumed. I knew they were right. I knew Justice was gone. It was just too hard to accept. I'd had the gun for so long that it was a part of me. More than that, it had been a gift from Mom. Mom... who was lying on her death bed, waiting to die. Because of me. Because I had been too stupid to accept the fact that there was still danger in this world. Because I had been too stupid to face reality.

I felt a hoof pulling me away from the crowd of slaves. Coconut led me back to the others. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I'm not really sure why. I just glared at Envy as she motioned to a path that led out of the settlement and back towards the city. I followed along quickly and quietly behind the others. I took one look back at the settlement and decided then and there that I would come back one day, and when I did... Velvet Kiss was going to pay for what she had done.

“We are being followed,” Rocky said softly.

“I know,” Envy replied. “They've been following us since we left the settlement.”

I glanced about. I couldn't even see anything behind us, let alone hear anypony trying to follow us. According to my senses, we were alone in the alleyway we had escaped down. “How do you know that?”

“Smell. Hellraisers aren't prone to taking baths,” Envy said. “Keep moving. We must make haste if we want to make it to the bridge.”

“Isn't the bridge... you know... retracted?” Lightning said, piecing things together in his head. “How are we supposed to get across it? Wait… if it’s still retracted, how did you even get here?”

“Do not worry about that. I will take care of it once we arrive,” Envy said. She turned to Rocky. “Rock Thresher, watch our backs. I fear we may be embroiled in conflict before we make it to the bridge, and I do not relish the thought of being surprised.”

Rocky nodded as he fell back behind me. “Yes, Mistress.”

I dropped pace a little, settling next to the minotaur. “I'll help him keep an eye out.”

“That won't be necessary,” Rocky said. “I can handle this on my own.”

“That's nice. Still gonna help you,” I said under my breath, winking. “Why do you keep calling Envy that name anyways? Mistress? Are you two... you know...” I made a motion with my hoof.

Rocky's eyes widened. “Of course not. She is my master. I do what she asks of me.”

I grimaced. “That kind of makes you sound like you're a slave.”

“No,” Rocky said. “My will is my own. I have given up some of my freedom in return for the honor of learning from her. She is no slaver.”

I nodded. I have to admit, I was intrigued by him. I had met minotaurs before. They were usually part of the Cult of Iron Will, and usually psychotic. I had never met one as well mannered and calm as Rocky was. It didn't hurt that he was easy to look at either. Once you got past the cyber hardware, he was pretty cute. Great... now you're crushing on a minotaur. You need to get out more often, Starry, I thought to myself.

Rocky tensed for a moment and stopped. He lifted his rifle. His yellow eyes scanned the alley.

“What's wrong?” I said, stopping next to him.

“They are close. If you are going to help me, perhaps you can use your magic to try and flush them out. A light spell should do it,” Rocky replied.

I smiled. “That I can do. Just tell me where you want me to point it.”

Rocky moved his rifle, and I followed his lead. With a flare of my horn, I sent a bolt of light in the direction he was pointing. It was then that I could hear their laughs. The cackling madness of the Hellraisers was on our tails. They were everywhere. I didn't realize they could be that silent, that the only way that Rocky and Envy knew they were there was by smell alone.

One of the raiders popped up from where my light spell had settled. He lifted a rifle in his own magic and took aim. He never even had a shot. Rocky's sniper rifle exploded, tearing the raider's head from his body in a flash. He fell to the ground in a heap. I could hear the cackling getting louder.

Rocky pointed his rifle again, and I sent my light spell out. Another raider took the bait and lost his head for his troubles. All the while, I could hear hooves pounding on pavement. The raiders were getting closer, and not only that, there were far more of them than I had thought there were. It was as if the entire population of the Pier had descended upon us.

“I don't think this is such a good idea,” I said hesitantly.

Rocky grimaced. “I agree. There are too many of them. We should be catching up to the others now, I think.”

I nodded, turning to join him as we started running to rejoin our friends. Several gunshots rang out as the Hellraisers made their move. Three hulking monstrosities appeared out of nowhere, massive ponies in motley armor charging after us as we ran. I yelped loudly as one of them nearly took my hindquarters off with a spiked club.

“Mistress! We have company!” Rocky called out as we caught up to Envy and the others.

Envy grimaced, pulling several bladed weapons out from underneath her cloak. “Quickly now, run to the bridge! It is not far! Rock Thresher, ensure their safety! I will join you soon!”

“Yes, Mistress!” Rocky said, motioning for us to follow him. “Please, come with me. We must get to the bridge.”

I glanced back at Envy. “But we have to help her. She'll be captured!”

“I will be fine,” Envy said as she threw one of her bladed weapons at the group of monstrously large raiders that had been on our tail. It slammed into the leader’s eye, sending him to the ground in a bloody heap. “Go! I shall join you shortly!”

I grimaced. I wanted to stay and help her. We'd gone through too much to find her in the first place to be forced to abandon her. However, reason smacked me in the back of the head in the form of Coconut Cream Pie.

“Come on, Starry! We have to keep moving!” she shouted. “We're no good here! We have to leave it up to Envy!”

I nodded, turning to follow my friends. She was right. I didn't have my gun, and even with Lightning's speed and Coconut's firepower, the raiders had proven to be more than a match for us before, and that was when there was only a couple of them. I had to leave the only hope of maybe saving my mother behind, in order to save myself. I just hoped I was making the right decision.

I cantered along behind the others, grunting loudly at the physical exertion that was wearing down on my body. The only thing that kept me going was the adrenaline. Well, that and the utterly excruciating fear of being caught and turned into somepony's plaything. I followed blindly as we neared the end of the alleyway. I could smell the lake. We were almost to the bridge. Almost free.

The bridge was in sight as we emerged from the alley. Rocky spun to the side, lifting his rifle and letting loose two sharp blasts from it. Two raiders standing guard on the tower above the bridge fell to the ground before they could even react. He motioned to my brother.

“Fly up and hit the switch to lower the bridge,” he said.

Lightning hesitated for a moment before finally nodding and extending his wings, taking off in a flash. He landed on the guard tower and walked inside. After several moments, the bridge began to shriek and squeal as it lowered. Lightning exited the tower and landed back next to us, looking very proud of himself.

“Don't get cocky,” Rocky said. “We still need to get over the bridge.”

Lightning grimaced. “Yeah, yeah. We know. Why are we taking orders from you again?”

“Because he's the one with the big gun?” I argued.

“I'm with Starry on this one,” Coconut said. “I just want to get the hell out of here, and he knows how to do it.”

The grinding bridge began to screech to a halt. My ears perked up.

“The bridge is down,” Rocky said. “Come on. I shall provide cover fire.” He started towards the bridge.

I followed with the others, hoping and praying that Envy was going to catch up to us. We made it onto the bridge and started across it. The sounds of shouting carried across from the Pier as Envy appeared out of nowhere from the alleyways. Three Hellraisers armed with baseball bats with spikes embedded in them were chasing after her. Rocky's rifle came up and took out two of them. The third was felled by a few combined shots from Lightning and Coconut.

Envy was panting as she caught up with us. She acknowledged us and pointed. “We do not have much time before the whole Pier realizes that the bridge is down. We must make it across before they can regroup and bring it back up.”

I nodded as we started to run. My sides burned, my legs burned, everything about me burned. I was not used to all this physical exertion. But still I ran. I ran harder than I'd ever had in my entire life. And within mere moments, we were across. We were out of the Pier. Out of the clutches of the Hellraisers. Away from... her. We didn't even look back, we just kept going.

Eventually we began to slow down to a walk once we had all realized that we were no longer being pursued. Feeling the need to eat, drink, and rest, we quickly found the nearest abandoned building to take refuge in.

It was a massive structure that shot up above our heads. It was nestled just on the outskirts of the city in its own little lot. The grass around the lot was dead or dying, crinkling underneath our hooves. As we approached, I thought I caught glimpses of movement in the dark windows. When I looked again there was nothing there. There weren't any signs out front indicating where we were at. I glanced down at my PipBuck and brought up its automap functionality. The only thing listed for this location was something called the “Hoofwich Building”.

“Quickly. Inside,” Envy said quietly. “You must be exhausted, and we have much to talk about.”

I nodded as I followed the others into the lobby. She was right about one thing. We did have quite a bit to discuss. I needed to know how she knew Xerves, and why he came after my mother. But most importantly... I needed to know if she could save her. I needed to know that Mom wasn't going to die.

In that moment, I was very afraid of the answers to these questions. I was afraid that I was going to arrive back at Theater with Envy in tow and that Mom would be already gone. Even though it had only been a day, I felt like I'd been away from her for an eternity.

“Whoah,” Lightning said.

“You're telling me,” Coconut replied.

I blinked. The lobby of the building appeared to be as pristine as the day the bombs dropped. The lights even worked! I couldn't believe it. Not many places in the Wasteland, even in this day and age, looked this good. There was even a functioning Stable-Tec terminal sitting on the front desk, which was immaculately clean. It was a far cry from the devastation just outside the front doors.

“This is... crazy,” I said aloud. I took a few steps forward. “Can you guys believe this place? It's like...” My head began to ache and I stumbled. When I looked up again, the pristine vision of the lobby was gone. Rubble lay strewn about. The front desk was sunken into the ground, the terminal there laying on it’s side and sparking occasionally. The lights flickered on and off, revealing a long dark hallway at the far end that led deeper into the building. Whatever I had seen before was gone, and in its place was the Wasteland at its best.

“What the hell just happened?” Coconut said, glancing up at Envy.

The zebra narrowed her eyes. “I do not know. But I believe it would be prudent to stay within this area while we rest. Do not wander. We do not want anyone getting lost in this place.”

I nodded, walking over to the front desk. I was vaguely paying attention as Envy directed the others to start setting up a place to rest in the corner, My curiosity piqued by the strange vision we'd encountered, I used my magic to lift the terminal back upright. I grimaced as I realized the screen was also broken. Laying next to the terminal were a few bottle caps, in addition to what looked like a set of audio tapes. They were unmarked. I shrugged and swept them into my saddlebags. Perhaps they'd be fun to listen to later on. I then took out a few of the desk drawers and broke them apart with my magic, figuring we could use them to make a fire to cook something.

I made my way back to the others. They'd managed to set up a crude little camp. I deposited the wood in the center of the camp. “I pulled apart some of the drawers for a camp fire,” I said.

“Excellent,” Coconut replied. She picked them up and began to arrange them appropriately. Pretty soon she had a nice warm fire to cook with.

We didn't have much to really eat. A lot of our rations of oats had been taken by the Hellraisers, leaving us with only a pittance. Envy thankfully had some to add to the mix, ensuring that we had a filling meal. As we ate, I watched Envy and Rocky. Rocky wasn't eating at all. I wondered briefly if he could eat with his cybernetics, or if he even needed to in the first place. Envy also did not eat, instead preferring to keep an eye on our surroundings.

As we ate, I thought I was hearing things. Whispers, tiny bits of sound that were coming from deeper inside the building. Probably just radroaches, I thought. Or something worse. I glanced at the others, noting that it didn't seem that they'd heard any of it themselves.

As we finished our meal, Envy stood and faced us. She looked grim.

“So... explain to me why you set off my trap,” she said. “You mentioned Xerves already.”

I stood, sighing. “Xerves showed up outside of our settlement, hurt and being attacked. We brought him in, where he attacked my mother.”

Envy's gaze narrowed at me. She motioned to Rock Thresher. “Rock Thresher here explained to me that somepony from the MMMM had interfered in his work. He was sent to track down Xerves.”

I looked down at the ground. I couldn't look her in the eye. “That was me. I saved Xerves. And in turn, he poisoned my mother.”

“I see. Your mother, she is the one with the eye patch, correct?” Envy said.

I nodded mutely in response. It was all I could do to keep from breaking down. “Yes, her name is Patch. You met briefly before my brother and I were born.”

“Ah yes. I do remember her,” Envy said. “And what condition is your mother in now? You said you needed my help as a healer. Were your doctors unable to remove the poison from her system?”

“Yes. The doctors were able to stabilize her,” Coconut interjected. “But there is another problem, which led to us trying to find you.”

“It's her heart,” Lightning said. “She has a bad heart condition, and Xerves's poison accelerated it. We were hoping you could look at her and help her.”

Envy grimaced. “Matters of the heart are difficult to heal. I... I will come with you and see what condition your mother is in. I feel... obligated after what Xerves did to her.”

“Your protege here mentioned that he was some sort of mercenary assassin that worked for you. That you trained him,” I said angrily. “That he was working a contract to kill my mother.”

Envy turned her gaze downward. “It is true that I trained Xerves. What mother would not train her young in the arts of survival in this world?”

My eyes widened. Xerves. Envy's son. I blinked several times.

“Wait... he's your son?” Coconut said.

“Yes... and I'm afraid that he has already left the city,” Envy said. “I take in ponies, zebras, and even ones like Rock Thresher here. I train them to survive. It is the best thing I can do to try and help this city. But Xerves... he wanted more. He wanted to take the dangerous jobs, to be a true mercenary. His moral compass was... misguided.”

“Who approached you to kill my mother?” I asked point-blank.

Envy frowned. “The Cult of Iron Will. The MMMM has long-time been a thorn in the Cult's side. Wrath, my brother in spirit, wished for her to be dead. He was willing to pay handsomely too.”

“But you refused the job?” Lightning said.

“Yes. I do not take contracts to kill. The MMMM have been very kind to me and mine, and I did not wish to sour that relationship. Xerves however... he's long been bristling at the chance to perform a job of such nature,” Envy explained. “When we found out that he was gone, I knew exactly what had happened. Now I fear that he is gone for good.”

“He ran,” I said. “I tried to stop him, but he got away. He got away and now... now Mom is...”

Envy reached forward and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Do not fret, young one. We will make haste and see what we can do about your mother. I promise you, I will do what I can.”

I met her gaze and nodded. I swore to myself that I would do whatever I could as well to find Xerves and make him pay for those he'd hurt. He would not be allowed to harm anyone else.

“Now then,” Envy said. “We must rest. Food can strengthen our bodies, but rest strengthens our minds. You must be exhausted from your ordeal on the Pier. Rock Thresher and I will take shifts. In a few hours time, we will make our way back to Theater.”

I nodded again. I was pretty tired, and a small glance at Lightning and Coconut and I knew they were too. We were all banged up and breathing hard and despite the good meal, Envy was right about us needing rest. I trudged to my bedroll and slumped onto it, grunting. My eyes drifted to Rocky, who was standing guard at the edge of our camp. He watched the empty hallway beyond the lobby, his eyes shrewdly picking apart the area for any threats. I smiled a bit as I watched him. I wondered if he had heard the strange whispers I'd heard during our meal.

Moments passed and I began to drift off, letting sleep take me wherever it desired, feeling at the very least safer with our new friends watching out for us. After this, we were bound for home, and hopefully a cure for Mom's heart.

At least, I hoped so...

Author's Notes:

And there we are, another chapter down and many more to go! This story is really shaping up to be a lot of fun to write, that's for sure. And now we have our new mysterious minotaur Rock Thresher, aka Rocky! He's going to be a lot of fun to work with and I can't wait.

Major big time thanks to Wirepony, McMesser, and Heartshine for all their awesome pre-reads/edits. You guys are the best!

Also, please please please please check out my Patreon! I could really use the support to keep writing!