*BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

With my head pounding from a hangover, my heavy eyelids struggled to open up. One thought ran through my mind, asking 'Why did I forget to turn the fucking alarm off?'. Reaching my left foreleg out to turn it off, I found that my left prosthetic leg was not attached anymore. Annoyingly, the leg wasn’t actually anywhere in sight.

“Where did that damn leg go?” I grumbled.

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZ, click*

The radio switched itself from the normal morning alarm, to music. To my dismay, it was a fast paced electronic style, which didn't help with my headache. Mercifully, the music died down, being replaced with the raspy voice of a familiar mare.

"Good morning Marewaii. This is DJ Cerberus, bow-wow. Broadcasting to you with love from club Three-Dog, here under Pineapple Isle. Now, if you've just woken up, or have been partying all night without a care in the world, then I have some news for you. The Ponies Republic of Valley isle is once again, surprise surprise, trying to bully it's neighboring stations into joining there collective cult. If you want to hear more about it, just tune in to radio station two for your daily dose of propaganda, I'm sure president Garmon Keys will love to know that more ponies are tuning into him being a windbag. The Trade Union is practically arguing over what the definition of 'is' is, as they siphon the bits from our coin purses. Radio station one has most the political asshattary covered there, so if that flots your boat, tune into them. In other news, Gatherings isle's Orphic kingdom had been strangely quiet. Now, I'm with you all with saying good riddance to bad rubbish, but we all know that if the deep dwellers aren't yapping, then they are up to something. I'm hoping that's it's just an extended tea party. I have one more bit of news, and it’s about the increased amount of Orthrus regulars seen about the various stations. They say that there running drills, but I don't kn...."

I finally gathered the strength to roll over and hit the snooze button with my right hoof. That's when I discovered that something long and hard was nestled down between my legs and my marehood. Quickly throwing the covers off, I discovered the culprit was my missing left foreleg.

"I’ve got to stop doing that." I grumbled as I rolled my tired eyes.

Feeling to lazy to put it on with one hoof, I moved the wayward leg into a position near my shoulder. In a less than graceful attempt to fit it in, I simply rolled my left shoulder onto it. Of course, it didn't attach and save me a bunch of effort this morning. Instead, after a little nudging with my right forehoof, I finally heard the click of success.

Focusing my innate magic into the mechanical left foreleg, I started to charge it. It always felt like a liquid passing through me, warming my left shoulder as the leg came to life. The screen on my pipleg flickered on, and from it, the logo for the Orthrus popped up as part of the boot-up process. The projection it made in my head aggravated my hangover, reminding me of why I’d probably taken the leg off in the first place. Twisting my leg a little to the left turned off the mental projection, replacing it with a smaller logo at the bottom right of my vision.

After my pipleg finished booting up, the blue heads up display dimmed in the sides of my vision for a few seconds before fading out like it always did. It left my vision clear of any icons until a point where I needed them, and that was how I liked it. On the other hoof, what I actually needed was some sort of painkiller, because my head was still pounding. Damn hangovers...

Rolling out of bed, I kicked open a panel at the base of my mattress, revealing a small, inset button. I pressed it haphazardly with another kick or two, grunting with my attempts. The room lit up as the bed rose up and folded neatly away into the wall. My closet took it's place as it rose up out of the floor.

Ignoring it for now, I took a step toward my fridge. Opening the small thing up, I looked at what remained of last night's dinner. A half eaten green vegetable wrap. It wasn’t bad, but I could still only really taste the bland recycled plant matter they used for the wrap part. The filler was made of beans, cabbage and carrots. Just the kind of food to help with a hangover.

"Minerva?" I asked, my pipleg beeping in confirmation. "Use the holding spell on the green wrap."

"Hold where?" Minerva responded with its synthetic mare-like voice. The assistant V.I. in my pipbuck was useful for everyday tasks, but it did get irritating that I had to specify exactly what I wanted it to do half the time.

"Above my head for now." I responded. The pipleg beeped again, and the green wrap levitated, covered in the blue glow of the pipleg's magic. With the wrap just above my head, I took a step back and closed the fridge. Turning my attention to the Microwave, I took a step to my left and opened it's door.

"Minerva, Place the green wrap in the Microwave." I sighed, giving the pipbuck yet another command. Unicorns have it damn easy, what with their horns that actually work and whatnot.

The pipleg beeped in confirmation again, and the wrap levitated down into the microwave oven. Closing it, the door secured with a click and I turned the timer knob with my right hoof to cook for forty five seconds. The microwave oven lit up, and the wrap slowly spun around as it started to cook.

Taking a step back and turning around, I faced my room’s flat, wall terminal. I hoofed at it, turning it on with a tap of it’s power button. The screen lit up with it’s classic Stable-Tec green glow, and displayed that I had two video messages, and one audio only message. In playing the first video message, my mother appeared on screen.

"Vibraphone, dear, sorry we couldn't meet up yesterday. You understand, I know, but still it was rude of me to cancel on such short notice.” I inherited her peach color coat, but lucky not her fizzy green mane. “But good news, Anechoic is fine. I know he'd love to see his big sis again."

The oven beeped, signaling that it finished cooking the green wrap. Turning around, I waited for the message to conclude before grabbing it.

"Also, if you are planning to do any more of that escort guard work, keep an eye out for Rototom. I know she's been busy with her work in Orthrus, but it's been over a week since the last time she called. I fear I may get gray hair from worry." Mother took a fainting pose before the message cut out. I should have expected that from her, being she’s the dramatic one of the family.

I'd considered visiting over the last month, but things had just grown awkward over the years. The ten year age gap between me and Anechoic was weird enough, but he was born sickly and mute, so much of my parents attention back in the day had gone to him. It wasn't until after both Rototom and I left home to join Orthrus that mom began to give us more attention. She would never say it outright, hiding behind Anechoic, but she regretted not spending time with us over those years. Both my sis and I knew it, but it didn’t make things any less awkward for us.

Opening up the microwave, the smell of warm green wrap hit my nose. It was nothing glorious, and barely something one could label as ‘food’, but I was hungover and hungry. The sacrifices we make for booze filled nights, as they say.

Grumbling, I issued a new command. "Minerva, I want to eat the wrap."

Minerva beeped, and the green wrap levitated near my face. Opening my mouth, it floated in close enough that I took a small bite. Like it always did, it tasted like recooked, reprocessed food.

Turning around again, I selected the next video and pressed play. This time, it was my Father. He had a straight golden and gray striped mane, a bit longer than I remembered it being from last time. His coat however, was just as light a brown as always. We both shared the same mane and tail, right down to similar striping, and it always made me smile…

"Vibraphone, dear..."

I shut down the message knowing what he was going to say. As much as I smiled, messages from him these days killed them. He took it personally when I left Orthrus, and ever since, has been trying to get me to re-enlist. Most of the messages now consist of him talking about how successful Rototom had gotten, and how I could be too. Some times it turned into a guilt trip, mostly if he had been drinking before making the message. At one point, he’d tried to get Rototom to get me to re-enlist. That had ended with the two of them fighting until he gave up.

The last audio message was a little over an hour old, and listed as being 'From your money mare.' Rolling my eyes, I selected play. I was expecting one of two things. It was either being asked for a loan of bit's, or I finally had a real job offer for once.

"Hay Vibraphone!" The sultry voice of Sweet Sax Solo filled the room. "I got a big job for us. I know, I know, you’re probably still mad about how that last one went weird on you. But you gotta trust me that I didn't know that she was a filly fooler. Or, that she had mistaken our services for the more... private kind." I was still adamant that the mare was just making up an excuse and thought she could throw bits at us. She did have two nice rear legs, I’d give her that, but I wasn’t into mares.

"But this one checks out. Best yet, we're getting paid ten thousand bits for the job. That isn’t total, that’s each.” Who the hell would offer to pay that much to ponies like us unless there was one hell of a catch? “All we have to do is help a pony go into the big Island, track his brothers pipbuck tag, and then get them both back to Charon's Stop alive. If it turns out that the brother is already dead, we still get paid for bringing back the body.” This much on an offer for a simple retrieval job? “I'm at the normal meeting place, so get your shiny metal flank over here Asap, and we can be in and out before the day is over."

Processing this information, I finished eating the wrap, slowly chewing on the last bite before gulping it down. Ten thousand bits for just one job that seemed too good to be true. One problem, is that Sweet Sax doesn’t lie about money. The pony has got to have the bits to offer, or she wouldn’t have even mentioned it to me.

"Sweet, you better not be lying about this!" I whined, hoping that for once this would be a straightforward job.

Stepping into my washroom, which was almost half the size of my small, one room home, I turned on the shower. Steam jetted out from the top of the shower as I stepped in. Not wanting to waste time or pay a high water bill, I set the shower for a quick wash. Standing in the proper position, the shower hit me with steam from above and below, and two robotic arms came out to scrub me with soap. It took less than a minute to get me soaped up before the water came out to wash it off. The shower turned into a wind tunnel after that, as the robotic arms patted me off with a towel.

Jumping out of the shower, my mane and tail almost fizzed out as much as my mothers tended to. Willing to let my mane and tail flatten on it's own, I got right to brushing my teeth. Well, it was more having my pipleg brush my teeth for me. Thankfully, telling it to use my toothbrush was a simple program. For something as basic as this, having full unicorn magic would have been nice. At least I didn’t have to tell the V.I. when to brush side to side...

Feeling clean, I walked out of the wash room and back to my closet. Sliding open one of the doors, I revealed my large gun case that took up most of this side’s interior space. Slamming that door shut and opening the other side to were my cloths were. Looking over my somewhat over-stuffed selection of shirts, I threw on a plain white button down shirt. Looking down, I opened the undergarment drawer. From it, I pulled out a clean pair of white panties and put them on. Simple yet stylish.

Returning to the gun case on the other side of my closet, I placed my hoof on the small panel built into it. A red light flickered on and off for three seconds before turning green, prompting me to speak the password.

"When Orpheus turned around, Eurydice was gone." I stated plainly. With a click, the case unlocked and opened. Sitting inside where I left it, was all of my gear.

The first thing to go on was my tactical barding. It was pretty much standard issue, but mine had been re-enforced with rad-boar leather and alloy plates. Strapping it on, I made sure that I didn't pull any feathers out from my small wings as I carefully pushed them through the two wing holes in the back. The barding lightly covered me from neck to flank, with my shirt and panties there to keeping it from chafing uncomfortably against my coat. Without them, I was always taking some of the fur with it when ever I took it off.

Next were my tactical saddle bags. Though having less space than normal bags, its armor plating more than made up for it in protection. I had previously loaded them with the necessary supplies, just in case I had to run out to a job without any notice. You know, like today, which was more common than one might initially think. Inside the bags were two healing potions, one super healing potion, four bundle's of healing bandages, two rad-aways, two rad-X’s, two med-X’s, a small screwdriver box, rations of food and water for a day, and fifty bits. When I’d resupplied last, I’d also dropped in a flash bang, and a frag grenade for good measure.

Last but not least were my weapons and ammo. Pulling out my gun’s travel case from the gun closet, I hoofed it down to the floor and opened it up. First I pulled out my air powered hunting rifle from the closet. Still attached to it was the low light scope I had for it. Along with that, and it took over a month to get it calibrated just right, was the levitation talisman inset into the grip. It had been annoying to get set up, but now I could use the rifle with absolute precision without the need of a battle saddle. Also replacing the gun’s frame with carbon fiber helped reduce the stress on the talisman, though made it impossible to rapidly fire the rifle with any amount of accuracy.

Placing the rifle in the case, I hoofed out five cartridges of 15mm ball bearings from the floor of the closet. Each of the cylindrical cartridges held ten silvery metal balls. Who knew why there were so many down here! I was just thankful because it made them a relatively inexpensive type of ammo to replace.

Next, I pulled out my enforcer, a simple but reliably effective .357 magnum revolver. Everypony in Orthrus is given one when they become official members, and I never left home for a job without it. It's short barrel also made it easy to keep concealed on me. I loaded the gun, and shoved it into the space between my shirt and barding. I also dropped a 24 round box of .357 into the case. Last, I pulled out my combat knife, drawing the blade to look over it’s condition. It was getting old, and could use a polish, but it looked good enough for continued use. Sliding it back into its sheath, I set it down into the case.

Closing the case, and locking it with a firm click, I placed it onto my back. My own magic wasn’t strong, but with a bit of effort, I managed to get it attached to my saddlebags. Going into my closet once more, I pulled out my rebreather mask. Hanging it securely on my saddle bag, I closed my closet up and locked it.

Turning around, I adjusted my barding until I was good and comfortable. Mostly until it wasn’t riding up on my flank as much as it had been. Walking to the door, I picked up my key card, ID, and coin purse. The coin purse currently had fifty three bits in it… or at least there was before I blacked out last night. I’d have to check into that later.

Opening the door, I turned off the lights and stepped out. Leaving my small home behind, I quickly trotted out of my apartment complex and down to the nearby monorail station. It was just one trip from the monorail over to the train station. From there, I could ride all the way to Charon's Stop without another tram change.

Outside the monorail stop, some foals were playing jump rope. The small courtyard they occupied had just enough space for the foals to run and play in. The courtyard itself had posters plastered all over the walls of political elections long passed, with no pony caring to take them down. Everypony had other, more important things to worry about than cleaning these old walls.

"HEY! IT'S MISS ECHO!" A chipper little mirage colt bound up to me, trying to match my pace. His prosthetic legs awkwardly stumbled as he trotted. "So, where ya going?"

"Got work." I responded. "Why aren't you at school?" I looked down at the kid with a raised eyebrow.

"School's out early today" A Mirage filly trotted up on the other side, her gait was at more of a prance, but still awkward like the colt. "Are you off to shoot some pony? My papa says all you Orthrus types shoot first and ask question never."

"Nu-uh." The colt spat. "Your papa only says that cuss he's with the trade union. My Mom said that all they care about is bits, and want to take over the metro for themselves." The colt blew a raspberry at the filly to solidify his point.

I picked up my pace, leaving the two foals behind. There were better things to do rather than get caught in a childish ideological battle. At least they didn't have guns. Or worse yet... lawyers.

Luck was on my side as I trotted into the station and found that the monorail was still here. Placing my ID card into a nearby terminal, I fed one bit into the machine. Promptly, a ticket popped out. Taking both my ID and the ticket, I made my way to the monorail cart. I only slowed down so I could give my ticket to the local ponytron, which gave me me a ‘have a good day’ as I left.

It wasn't long until the monorail was on the move. The electric hum of the motor filled the cart, with only me and a ponytron security attendant as the only passengers. Now that I was on my way, I could finally sit and wonder just how Sax had gotten her hooves on a job worth 10k bits for us each...

Transferring from the monorail to the train only took a few minutes. When I got to it, I still had five more minutes until the train was scheduled to actually leave. I’d actually made good time leaving when I did, and that made me happy. So much so, that with no need to rush, I decided to get something to drink before hopping onto the train.

The nearby vending machines looked like a good choice, one being an old sparkle-cola machine, still in good shape even after being over two hundred years old. It was funny how there was still a Sparkle-Cola, but sadly the drinks they made didn't taste as good as the irradiated stuff I could find out in the wild. Next to it was a metro-cola machine. It's yellow, orange and silver popping out better then the sparkle-cola's red and purple. The company making them was still quite young, but in a few short years they exploded in popularity. I still remember when it was first being sold, Rototom and I made a habit of collecting the bottle caps, seeing who had more at the end of the week. We still collected them today, and last I knew, I was up by ten.

My decision was made, and I trotted to the metro-cola machine. I had three options to pick from, first being metro-cola itself. The drink was good, not too sweet, and had a refreshing aftertaste to it. The second was metro-fusion, far sweeter and carbonated than the normal stuff. Fusion felt more like a celebration drink, something I could sip on for an hour. Last was Lurker-Blue, the energy cola. The stuff had an odd taste to it, more chemically than sweet, but the stuff was excellent at waking me up and keeping going.

Pulling out my coin purse, I found that I only had six bits in it. With some sadness I put two bits into the vending machine, and hit the lurker-blue button twice, it dropping two blue glowing bottles. That was the other thing about metro-cola, all the drinks glow. It was a secret how they did it, probably magic, but you knew if a bottle was flat or out of date if the glowing stopped.

Placing both in my saddle bag, I trotted onto the train with a minute to spare.

"Now leaving Valley Isle for Charon's Stop, please stand clear of the yellow line."

The doors hissed before they closed, and the train thumped before it moved. I watched as the mostly empty platform moved to the side slowly, soon replaced with a gray wall, and the occasional yellow light.

"Bing Bong Bing. Thank you choosing the Orthrus rail line, if you have any complaints please take them too your closest Orthrus official. Have a nice day."

In the train cart with me were two mirage ponies, who were loudly conversing, and laughing with each other. Both were like me, with diminutive wings, horns, and light gray stripes that extended from their backs, and thru their manes and tales. They both stood on four prosthetic legs that were connected to cybernetic stumps. The front legs were more complex, though only to a small extent, and the back were simply built for sturdiness. My own legs were of higher quality, with most of the bits I saved up in Orthrus having gone into getting the legs. But my sister got me the pipleg as a gift. It being the only full cyber leg I had on, the rest ending in high grade prosthetics.

Looking at myself in the reflection of the train cart window, I could see that my mane had flattened out, though a few parts stuck out. Using my hoof to brush my mane a bit out of the way, I took another look at my legs to see if anything was out of place. I already knew my front legs were just fine, but checking the back was a bit more difficult. Getting a tail stuck in the back legs was an annoyingly common problem, and painful if it snagged on something when running. Right now I didn't have that problem, and everything looked in place. Quickly shifting my weight to the back legs a few times told me that the they were fine, not even making a squeak.

"Bing Bong Bing. The Orthrus rail line would like to remind you that in case of an emergency, all windows can be opened for easy exit. Just pull down on the red lever at the top of the window to unlock, and push open the window with your hooves. If needed, pull further down to detach the window. Remember your safety is Orthrus top priority, but safe always starts with you, so keep yourself safe, and Orthrus will handle the rest."

The train cart picked up speed, at this point hitting the straight part of the tunnel to the next island. It was hard to hear, but after riding this train for so many years I could tell when the tunnel went underwater. It was subtle, but the sound of the cart moving had more of a lower tone to it now, not as flat a sound as when we were underground. It was because they built the tunnel out of different materials when underwater, then the rock the normal lines were cut through.

Maintenance on the tunnel was a pain in the flank, at least, so I’d heard. Though I never properly worked on it, I did help guard the maintenance crew on a few occasions when I was part of Orthrus. Mainly it was to haul gear, and secondly to act as a guard. It was one of the naturally coldest places you could be in the metro, and water always found a way to get in. The tunnel was never at risk of collapse with how well it was maintained, but the maintenance ponies would often complain about how these tunnels were never meant to last over two hundred years.

"Bing Bong Bing. The Orthrus rail line is brought to you by our sponsors." The low tone mare voice was cut off by the sound a soft polka music and the smooth voice of a stallion. "Are you looking to start a family, and have a foal on your own. Are you unable to afford to live in the deep tunnels, and are worried about birth defects. Well New Gen Genetics has the solution for you. With our improved gene therapy system, we can insure that your new foal is not just alive, but is healthy. Call New Gen today for more information."

One of the mirage ponies, a mare, huffed. "What they don't tell you is that you'll be in debt for the rest of your life after using them."

The stallion mirage pony nodded. "True, my ma and pa are still paying off New Gen. My sister may have all her legs, but they barely have the bits to feed her. I send them money to help, but unless I get that promotion they will be living off scraps soon."

Some more music came up, this time it was electronic club music. The husky voice of a mare spoke up with a voice full of energy and rhythm, it was hard to ignore her, not that I wanted to. " This is DJ Cerberus, here to tell you about the best drink on the market, Lurker-Blue. Are you having trouble staying awake as you study for that test, need to keep focused as you're working late at night, or just partying until morning? Well Metro-Cola has you covered with Lurker-Blue, the best energy cola on the market, and the only one that glows. Drink Lurker-Blue and fly."

The stallion mirage pony chuckled. "You know, I've heard that DJ Cerberus is actually a stallion, and uses some voice changing talisman to make him sound like the original DJ Cerberus."

The mirage pony mare shook her. "No, DJ Cerberus is a mare, I met her once at the club... I think. It was crowded and I may have been drinking a lot. But I did meet her I know that, and she was a mare."

Scratching his chin with the prosthetic hoof, the stallion nodded. "Well if you say you met her, then you met her. Maybe I was just thinking of the last DJ Cerberus."

More music began to play. This time it was to the sound of drums and brass instruments, along with the voice of a stern stallion. "Even with Orthrus giving their all, the Metro is still a dangerous place to live. If you want to protect your life, and the lives of those you care about, you’d better get armed. Ironshod Firearms has you covered! From the latest in weaponry, right back to the classic’s of the old world. If you need a gun, we have it. If you need ammunition for the guns you already own, we sell it. And body armor, well we got that too! Order your equipment today, and be ready to fight tomorrow!"

"Be ready tomorrow my ass." the stallion mirage pony huffed "I'm still waiting for the pistol I ordered, and it's been over a week."

The mirage pony mare shook her head. "You bought another one? Here I thought you were saving up your bits."

"I am, I am." the stallion stammered. "But Ironshod was selling the old .45 Stable-Tec pistols, and they only sell them once a year!"

The mare face hoofed. "Well I heard that Ironshod got a big order from one of the communities on the main island. That's probably why it's taking so long."

The stallion shrugged. "Makes sense I guess. I just hope it's not because of more paradise dragons showing up. Those things are terrifying."

Cello music began to play, and the soft voice of a mare spoke up. "Home is where the heart is, but sadly in our time home is not always the healthiest of places to live. With pollution still everywhere, it's hard to avoid the many diseases that plague us. But Crystal Synthetics has a solution to this problem. Here at Crystal Synthetics we make the cutting edge in medical supplies, and the best in synthetic organs. If you believe that sickness should be a thing of the past, Crystal Synthetics is here for you."

The stallion looked at the mare. “You think…”

“No! Your lungs are just fine, you're hyperventilating is neurological.” The mare quickly responded.

The Stallion looked down. “Yeah, I remember what the doc said.”

“Bing Bong Bing, Thank you for listening to our sponsors, we will be arriving at Charon's End shortly. Have a nice day.”

The quiet rhythm of the train cart returned, and I found myself yawning. I didn't know how much sleep I had gotten last night, but it didn't seem like it had been enough. pulling out one of the lurker-blue bottles, I popped open the cap with my hoof and tossed the cap in my bag. The blue glowing liquid poured down my throat, its artificial flavoring barely covering the chemical taste to the cola. It made me wonder how this was Metro-Cola's best selling product, but then again I had gotten two for myself. We ponies needed to get more sleep.

Finishing the bottle, I placed it in my bag, not wanting to just litter. That, or get fined for littering. The effects of the energy drink was slow to kick in, but I could feel myself becoming more and more awake.

The feeling of the train slowing down signified that we had reached the other island, and we were almost at Charon's end. I decided to check my pipleg quickly, the display made a 3D image above the screen when I activated it. It was less annoying now with the brunt of the hangover having passed. The images from the pipbuck could only be seen by me of course, with display being used as a reference point, and everything else in the image being formed in my own head. I've seen a few ponies try to show off images to others, only confusing their friends as they forget that they are the only ones who can see it. I used to have that problem, but my friends aren’t really the kind you’d show anything too anyway.

Looking into the settings, nothing had been changed from the night before, and only one thing had been added. It was a picture of a stallion's flank, with one normal leg, and one prosthetic. The photo was listed as ‘not into mares’. I must have had less than a fun night. Shame.

“Bing Bong Bing, welcome to Charon’s Stop. Please secure all belongings, and exit in an orderly fashion.”

The train came to a stop, and the doors hissed open. Exiting into the station, To my left were a few pony sized boxes. Coffins, here to take the dead back home for burial. It was one of the main reasons few ponies ever came out here willingly, many ponies never come back alive. The hooves of the other two passengers echoed as they trotted past me, still chipper as ever. Cracking my neck, I made made way to the stairs out of the station.

Charon’s Stop was, for a lack of a better analogy, like if somepony had designed a town with a radroach nest in mind. The main street was more of a straight line of market stalls, and behind them a maze of shanty homes. The place was at least clean in the litter sense, as most trash could be rescued and recycled into something useful. The things that were nothing more than actual junk could just be thrown out in no ponies land. Even here at the edge of civilization, nopony wanted to get sick by living in their own filth. Even so, everything here still had that fine film of dust, dirt, and grime.

The markets most common commodity was wild punga fruit and cave fungus. They were plentiful enough on the island, but as the picking season went on, the further out into the island ponies had to go to gather more. Rad Boar meat and leather was a less common commodity here in the market, with it being dangerous to hunt all year round. There were a few market stalls that sold trinkets, mostly made from old junk, but it was always worth checking out for that rare piece of art among all the junk.

Further down into this place was where the normal meeting place was, a pub called the Two Tailed Pony. It didn’t take to long to get to it, as the place was right in the middle of the street, splitting it into two. The building extended all the way to the ceiling, and out in front was a sign with an image of a two tailed pony painted onto it. The pony on the sign was a mare with her flank in full view, and the two tales curving different ways up and over her, forming a heart. The side of the mare's face could be seen looking back with a sultry look.

The pub was protected by two armed guards playing cards, and a cyberdog sitting at the front of the entrance. Both Mirage ponies, they were armed with older varant air rifles than mine, and a steel baton each. These rifles looked to be one of the early attempts to make an air powered assault rifle. It sort of worked, but doesn't have the same punch as it’s gunpowder counterpart. The rifles can be modified to have more power to it to compensate, but that can get expensive fast. The batons on the other hoof, were simple steel hollow tubes with a levitation talisman mod at the base. With those talismans, the guards could probably swing the batons as hard as any normal unicorn out there.

The cyberdog, who I knew was named Rufus, looked as mean as ever. However, in my many times here, I’ve come to know him as a gentle sweetheart. As long as I didn’t start trouble, he was one of the friendliest creatures I could meet here.

Passing the guards with little more than a glance in my direction, I entered the pub. The inside was a wealth of finely recrafted junk, all the way from the floor to the ceiling, and all the places between. Drinking glasses were made from old cola bottles, tables made out of old skywagons, and even a chandelier made out of small crystal shards surrounding a bird cage. The place had a far more upper class feeling then it should have.

The bartender gave me a little wave, and pointed upstairs. Sweet Sax must have already informed him that I was going to arrive, so I made my way to the more reserved area of the pub.

At the other end of the bar, I could see the pub owner cleaning one of the glasses. Shamisen Tuning had a pearl white coat, and a long black mane and tail that she kept tied up with two sticks. Along with that, she had it decorated with bottle caps made to look like a large flower. Her prosthetic legs were made of finer materials than mine, and had brass flowers embossed on them from hoof to the shoulder. She had a little grin on her face, and though her eyes seemed closed, I knew she was looking my way.

Stepping up the stairs, I could hear Sweet Sax before I could see her. The mare was singing an old Orthrus tune to keep herself distracted. She didn’t like the quiet much, and always made an effort to chat with me when we worked for Orthrus. When she could not find another pony to talk to, she would simply sing.

Walking in, I found that she had on the same barding as I did. Under it however, was an old stable-tec jumpsuit with the legs cut off. Her pale yellow coat and burgundy mane didn’t stand out much, even with the barding. What did stood out, were the metal studs in her ears. Five on each side, her little way of being ‘different’ without making noise all the time.

Sitting not far from Sweet was a white unicorn with a gray mane and tail, unsurprisingly, he still had all his legs. The stallion looked like he had a better place to be with how he stared down at his pocket watch. The deep dweller, or Orphic as they called themselves, wore clothes that looked to easy to ruin. A clean gray vest over a pristine white shirt all under a dark gray trenchcoat, and to top it off, a genuine pre-war tophat. The Orphic kingdom was very fussy about how they dressed, and this pony was no exception.

Sweet Sax saw me, and trotted in my direction.

“Vibraphone! My friend, my comrade, the butter to my toast.” She called out with a smile, getting up close. Once she was, she leaned over and whispered into my ear. “About time. I was about to strangle the life out of this asshole, bit’s or no.” Pushing herself away, she trotted to the table with the annoyed looking deep dweller. “Now that we’re all here, perhaps we can get down to business?”

Following, I joined the other two at the table. Our ‘employer’ huffed as he put his pocket watch away with a grumble. “Finally, any longer and I would have taken my bit’s elsewhere. I expected a professional group to be more timely than this.” With the prospect of ten thousand bits on the line, I avoided rolling my eyes.

Sweet Sax on the other hoof let her eyes show her irritation by rolling them. “Like I said, unless you schedule ahead of time, you're just going to have to wait until we're prepared for the job.” She lightly tapped on the table. “No matter how many bits you throw around, we're not going in until we know we can get back.”

“Fine.” The Unicorn said as he pulled out a map and unfolded it on the table. He pointed his hoof on the north east part of the island where one of the old world city ruins still stood. “My brother went out hunting here. Rad boars are in season, so he thought he could get a trophy for himself. He was supposed to have contacted me last night, but he never did, and still hasn’t returned home. If something has happened to him, I know he'd get himself somewhere safe.” He pulled back the sleeve on his right hoof, revealing a decorated pipbuck. “We just need to locate him and bring him back here. I have his pipbuck tag, so once were close, I can take you to him without much effort.”

This situation struck me as odd. Rad boars tended to be further south this time of year, so if he was going after one, he would have gone to the old city on the south end of the island. I raised a hoof, but saw Sweet Sax give me a ‘not yet’ sort of glance. Trusting her, I put my hoof down.

“Got something to add, miss?” The unicorn snorted. Damnit, the unicorn saw my hoof.

“Vibraphone Echo, and yes. If your brother is stuck out there, he is probably in one of the hunters safe rooms. The boars are known to chase a pony to one, and trap them there. Sometimes the radio’s in there aren’t well enough maintained and they short out.” I stated rather matter-of-factly. Good save.

The Unicorn scratched his chin. “Huh. I didn’t know that.” He took off his hat and bowed. “As you have probably observed, going above ground isn’t really my forte. The names Silver Relief. I’ll be relying on you and your partner from here on out.”

Sweet Sax placed a hoof on one of the tunnel lines on the map. “To make the most of our time, we should take this tunnel. Shouldn’t be too many things lurking in it this time of year, so we may be able to use it as a shortcut.” She got out of her seat, and placed her gun case on the table. “We just need to get ourselves fully equipped, and we’ll be ready to move out.”

Silver got up, and nodded. “The sooner, the better. I’ll just go get my things in order, and then with your all clear, we can be off.” The stallion walked off, giving me a brief look at his flank.

“Vibraphone.” Sweet Sax placed a telepathy talasman down on the table. “You're going to want to install this.”

It was a bit odd, as I already had one installed in by back left leg. “Why?”

Sweet Sax rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask, and give me your flank!” She waved her hoof at me in urgency as I sighed, getting out of my chair and turning around. “Good, this will only take a second.” I felt her press on my cyber hindleg, opening it’s upgrade panel. My old telepathy talisman was removed and placed on the table. Just as promptly, the new one disappeared behind me and into my leg. “Good, now let’s talk in private.”

I focused on the talisman, and made contact with Sweet. Of course, she was on the same frequency as she’d always been. ‘So what’s going on Sweet? Is this stallion for real?’ I asked as I put my own gun case on the table alongside hers. Nearly in sync, we both opened them up.

Sweet Sax chuckled. ‘This deal is as rotten as a year old pineapple.’ She pulled out her air assault rifle, one of the standard issued ones in Orthrus, and attached it to her battle saddle.

‘Then why are we working for him?’ I put as much irritation into the thought as possible. I took out my own rifle, attaching it to my saddle bag. With a soft click, I knew it was secured.

‘Oh, we’re not.’ She pulled out a hatchet, and looped it through a retention ring on her saddle bag. ‘We’re working for Shamisen Tuning.’

I pulled out my combat knife, fastening the sheath to the underside of my barding. ‘What!? Why are we working for that crazy sneak of a pony? She has been nothing but a pain in our flank.’

‘Um, Vibraphone?’ She thought, beginning to attach her cartridges of 15mm ball bearings to her barding. Her calm demeanor gave an irritated tick when she thought that.

‘Shit, is she on this frequency?’ I took out my ammunition with a frustrated huff, facehoofing as a still silence hung between us.

‘Hello girls.’ Shamisen Tuning’s voice rang in my head. ‘It’s so good to see you again, and might I add that it’s such a wonderful day.’

‘You know sarcasm is the lowest form of comedy.’ Sweet Sax retorted.

‘I don’t know, I think it suits her.’ I added.

‘Enough banter, It’s time for business.' Shamisen snapped at us. ‘First off, I have a little goodwill gift for you. Sweet already collected it, and I trust that you two will make good use of it.’ Sweet Sax looked at me as she placed two leather cartridge holders out on the table. Both looked brand new, and they looked to hold twelve .357 rounds each. ‘It’s made from Rad boar leather, high quality and stylish for established gunslinging girls like yourselves.’

If Shamisen Tuning was giving a gift, no matter how small, it was unwise to turn it down. One reason was because the mare was known to have some serious rejection issues. The other reason to keep it was to show that this was a serious topic, and we were seriously interested.

‘So what’s this job?’ I asked, as I loaded my .357 bullets into the two leather cartridge holders.

‘To follow along with mister Silver Relief. You will help him to find this... quote unquote, brother of his.’ Shamisen said with more sarcasm in her voice.

‘The catch?’ Smooth Sax asked.

‘The catch is that you may not only find this brother of his.’ Shamisen answers. ‘It’s highly likely that the orphic kingdom’s unwanted princess may have been with this brother.’

‘Fuck, really?’ Sweet Sax nearly fell over onto the table. ‘That’s the youngest of them, right? The mirage pony princess, Harp Melody?’

‘Well we don’t see many full legged mirage ponies out here, much less one with a deep dweller guard.’ Shamisen gave a little chuckle through the telepathic link. ‘He tried his best to keep the young princess unseen, but ultimately failed to trick any keen eyes.’

I finished equipping myself, and closed my gun case. ‘So why is she even out there?’

‘There's a lot of rumors coming out of the Gathering Isle, whispers that the Orphic Kingdom may soon have a new queen is one of them.’ Shamisen paused for a moment. ‘My sister has her own pub on that island, and has some reliable contacts. It seems that one of the heirs has up and vanished, and the the rest of the queen's brood are highly agitated. This all started after the queen didn’t appear for her daily duties, and has not been seen for over a week now.’

Sweet shook her head. ‘So those tight asses are about to have a war of succession. Not a problem of mine, but I have to ask. Where does the mirage princess play into this? I thought she had no claim to the throne. ’

‘True, but most of the nobility think she's a disgrace to their pureblood ideology. So any of them would love to see her removed.’ Sweet closed her gun case as Shamisen continued. ‘The problem for them is that she is immensely popular among the citizens, who are majority mirage ponies. If she dies they will riot. but... if she were to become lost? You would see lines of volunteers willing to go looking for her. A simple but effective way to pacify any pony that might try to revolt, as well as to reduce the population a bit as well.’

‘But something went wrong, right?’ I asked.

‘Yes, it seems so.’ Shamisen agreed. ‘Like Silver said, this brother of his never came back. But, I doubt that’s what he is worried about. It’s highly likely that Harp Melody is still alive, and hiding. If she turns out to be dead, bring me any and all information about it. Knowing the truth will be worth more than your weight in bits.’

‘And if she’s alive?’ I again asked.

The conversation paused for a few seconds before Shamisen answered. ‘Bring her to me, and I’ll rain bits over you until the end of time.’

The telepathic link cut off, removing the feeling of other ponies thoughts in my head. It had ended just in time too, as Silver rejoined us at the table. His cloths hadn’t changed much, but now he had a saddle bag, a lever action rifle, and some impractically nice looking boots. Why it took him so long to prepared, I don’t think I wanted know.

“I see that we are all ready?” Silver said as he looked us over. “Poor attire notwithstanding.” The stallion was a bit insufferable, but it did ease my annoyance that I was not actually working for him. Even if that meant that I was actually working for Shamisen.

We made our way out of the Two Tailed Mare, leaving our gun cases with Shamisen. Rufus did come up to me with a whine, and I patted him on the head.

“Sorry I can’t stick around and play, I got work to do.” I said with a frown. The cyber dog barked once, and returned to the two guards. Such a good dog.

Taking the left street from the pub, we headed down the way out of this shithole. The closer to the exit we got, the more scattered the market became. Soon, the shanty homes were replaced by small community farms, most using old or dying hydroponic equipment to grow what meager crops they could. Crud covered water purifiers dotted the area, converting the salt water that leaked in down here into somewhat potable water. Small mounds of salt sat in boxes to be sold further into the metro, but more likely it will simply be thrown out.

At the end of the street was an Orthrus checkpoint. The logo of a two headed hound in front of the stable-tec symbol was proudly displayed above the checkpoint. The Orthrus regulars were simply the grunts of the Orthrus group, a job that even I’d once held. It wasn't the most exciting job to have, but every now and then we did see some combat.

The checkpoint was there to keep anything dangerous out, be it monsters, insane survivors. Or even somepony with a scavenged undetonated balefire bomb that somehow remained hidden for over two hundred years. Some materials for making narcotics were also banned from entry, being materials like flux, corrosive acids, and the more common punga tree sap from the surface. Smugglers had always been a problem that came up now and then, but while dangerous, it tended to spice up guard duty a bit.

Stepping into the checkpoint, we were met by a Orthrus regular in her dress uniform. The uniform nowadays didn’t look much more advanced than the old stable jumpsuits they’d used over two hundred years ago. A simple blue suit with a yellow accent, the zipper had been replaced with simple buttons to save on metal, and the R&D patch had been replaced with the Orthrus logo. The normal guard uniform hadn’t changed much over the centuries either, simply being stable-tec security barding with a few extra armored padding segments.

“One bit per pony.” The regular spoke to us, holding out a can in her fetlock. The tunnel tax was how Orthrus made most of it’s money. They never go over one bit, so nopony gets too upset over it, but because Orthrus owns most of the tunnels, they get bits from nearly every pony, every day.

“Pay up Silver, we’re here working for you.” Sweet Sax chimed. The Unicorn grumbled in response, dropping the three bits into the can.

The Orthrus mare gave a properly rehearsed smile. “Just sign out, and you can be on your way.” With a tap of her hooves, she returned to her comrades. Immediately, she’d re-joined a conversation they were having, forgetting all about us.

“Even here we have to give Orthrus our bits, shameful.” Silver muttered under his breath.

Stopping at the checkout stand, each of us wrote down our names. Along with my signature, I added a note section that I was leaving on bodyguard work. Once we were done, the regulars let us through to the other side.

The other side of the entrance made Charon's Stop look positively clean. The grim was layers deep, and trash rolled about everywhere in the tunnel. Hunters and gatherers were standing around, all armed, and some twitchy. Most of them were probably forming parties before heading out into the big island’s metro. Safety in numbers was a common belief down here, while I tended to side with small and fast groups keep you unnoticed and alive.

Sweet Sax stepped forward. “Okay Silver, Just follow us untill we get to the city area, then we will follow that pipbuck tag you have.” She then pointed at the lever action rifle he had. “Also refrain from using that gun unless your life is in clear danger. I know the temptation to shoot first, but it’s more likely to attract bigger monsters than it is to kill the smaller ones.”

So, forward we pressed. Our objective was set, and we left the civilized world behind. Sadly the problems of the civilized world came with us, as it always does. However, I was less concerned with the safety of Silver here, than the fate of this ‘princess’ we might find. Sax had stumbled us into one hell of an opportunity, and if this went well, we’d never have to worry about anything ever again. At least, that had been my hope as we left the safety of the station, unsure of what lay ahead.

Footnote:

New Quest - My Kingdom for a Pony