We hadn’t gotten far before running into the pirates, only a few floors down the stairwell. They had two earth ponies in the front armed with long rifles, and a unicorn in the back holding a revolver with her magic. They spotted us just as we spotted them, guns aimed, words yelled, and bullets flew with the intent to kill.

*CRACK* A chunk of concrete on the wall fragmented when a bullet ricocheted off it. The pirate’s rifles were no joke, as each shot was deafeningly loud.

We didn’t have time to carefully fight off the three ponies, so my sister and I synchronized our timing, and entered S.A.T.S. as we peeked over the stairs. I found that I could only take two shots with S.A.T.S. but had a whole host of other options to choose from. I only needed to shoot the three ponies, so I didn’t investigate, choosing to go for a headshot on the two earth ponies.

The two ponies took defensive actions almost as soon as we peeked out to shoot, the unicorn dove back down the stairs. I hit the first pony, scoring a headshot, but missed the second one as the pony fell to the ground limp. Rototom had finished off the other, but the third pony had gotten away.

‘What’s going on with my S.A.T.S.?’ I asked Rototom through my telepathic link. I didn’t feel like talking to her at all, but the situation did not call for a family dispute, and I still had an overwhelming feeling of dread.

Rototom took a look down the stairs, and began walking down. “Let’s go before our window closes.” We all followed, with me keeping an eye on our flank. ‘It’s updated to tactical programing.’ She thought to me.

‘Tactical?’ I asked a little confused.

Stopping to quickly loot the two ponies we had killed, we quickly took their rifles off their battle saddles, and what ammo we could find on them. Minerva labeled the rifles as naval battle rifles, the one in my hooves looked to be in moderately good condition, looking as though it had been fixed up many times do to use. The second rifle was passed over to Light, her fumbling with it before strapping it to her back.

Sweet took one of the pirate’s uniforms, quickly looking it over. I could see the same symbol on its leg that I had seen on the vertabuck; a green ring of thorns with a red teardrop in the middle. It was safe to say that it was their symbol, though I couldn’t understand its meaning. Before stuffing it in her bag, Sweet pulled out a pipe bomb from a pocket, and smiled. “Crud, but probably better than a tin can grenade.”

‘It’s an alternative variation on the spell.’ Rototom responded. ‘S.A.T.S. simply helps a pony target an attack. Very useful to those with or without combat experience. The Arcane Tactical Spell takes that concept, and expands it to a wider range of actions. You only got two actions before the spell needs to be recharged, but you can use it to run, dodge, reload a gun, or even combine actions to run to cover as you shoot a gun.’

We hit the bottom of the stairwell, which was odd, as we had not gone that far down. On the door leading out of the stairwell were the words ‘First Class Dining Hall’, and I could see two red bars on the other side.

Rototom continued explaining the new S.A.T.S. I was now using. ‘The program has the ability to learn new actions as you use it, sometimes attacks, other times things like running in a way that’s better for you.’ She peeked through the door, and was greeted by gunfire, another pony had a battle rifle. ‘It also recharges fast’

Opening the door, more gunfire came from the pirates on the other side. As soon as the gunfire stopped Rototom became invisible. We waited for a moment, and the two red bars vanished. I waved at Harp and Light, letting them know it was safe now. Stepping in, dead on the floor was another earth pony, and what was probably a donkey, it at least looked like the ones from some old books I had read as a foal.

“Sis, where did the unicorn go?” I asked, feeling a little concerned about what the missing pony might be up to.

Reappearing, Rototom scanned the room. “She’s on the other side of the hall, with two others, and it looks like they set up a barrier with the tables.” Her helmet had some of the best sensors built into it, I never had one on myself, but I bet she could see as though the room was light up.

A door to our side burst open, and we raised our guns to it, only to lower them as it was the others. Merit, Wild, and Sweet had jumped through the door, a little dinged up, but overall okay. I could see that they had picked up some battle rifles as well, of which Sweet had already strapped onto her battle saddle.

'Shit, and here I was hoping to get down here first. What’s the situation?' Sweet asked as she kept her guns pointed at the other end of the hall.

‘We got three hostiles.’ Rototom responded. ‘Currently not moving.’

‘Probably stalling us until reinforcements get here’ I added. It was a standard tactic we would use in Orthrus when dealing with an armed and dangerous group. Personally I never been in that kind of situation, not until Sweet and I had left Orthrus, and we didn’t have the safety of having backup.

‘I agree, we need to move before we’re cornered.’ Rototom took charge of the situation with one sentence. ‘You two take your teams and move in the shadows, I’ll surprise them.’ With that, she became invisible again.

I turned to Light and Harp, who looked concerned, and a little confused. “Here’s the plan, we will move to the other side of the room, sticking to the shadows and regroup with the others there.”

“It can’t be that simple!” Light quietly retorted. “And what about the others, do they know this plan?”

I sighed, understanding why she was confused. “We have telepathic talismans on, so the others know the plan.” I looked at the princess and back to the Enclave captain. “We use it to talk to each other without alerting the monsters out here.”

The two had an ‘ahh’ look on their face, now understanding what I was talking about. I couldn’t help but feel that these two were made for each other. Following my lead, we headed to the other end of the dining hall, ducking behind the tables, out of what little moonlight there was.

The moonlight was luckily not shining directly into the building, so there was plenty of shadows for us to stick to. Though the pirates knew we were out here, they didn’t know where to fire, and didn’t know we had a bead on them. We just needed to get close enough to get a clean shot on them, and move on out of here.

‘So Viby, what happened to your panties?’ Rototoms voice jumped into my head.

‘Something happened to her panties?’ Sweet chimed in.

‘Well she didn’t have any when I found her with the Pegasus.’ Answered Rototom.

I had to hold back a groan, and kept myself from shouting at them. ‘This is not the best time!’

‘True, but I’m asking right now. You’re not the kind to go commando, so what happened?’ Rototom pushed the question.

‘Damn it, fine. I gave it to the princess. Her panties got ruined on our way here, so I gave her mine!’ I answered hoping to end this conversation.

Sweet chimed in. ‘So wait. You’re going commando right now?’

‘No, I gave her Shamisens gift from her birthday.’ Rototom answered.

‘You mean the frilly purple ones! I wondered what happened to those, I was hoping to steal them after she stomped out.’ Sweet responded, and I had to hold back from face hoofing myself.

‘Can we get back to the task at hoof.’ We were getting close, and I was getting distracted. ‘it’s not like we're in a life or death situation here.’

‘Right.’ Rototom responded. ‘When were close enough, Vibe will take the first shot.’

Now closer, I could see that all the tables were set; plates, silverware, and glasses. It was not something too out of the ordinary, as it was a common tale of discovery. Some far off forgotten rooms sometimes still had food on the table, long petrified after a hundred years. Half the time it was some pony’s last meal that they didn’t have the strength to eat, or they had rushed out of the room as their world came to an end, remembering to lock the door before never returning.

What was out of place was that, like with the rest of the park, it looked like it had been maintained. Everything was in its proper place, and in the moonlight I could see that it all looked cleaner than it should be.

*Crack*

From behind us, the sound of liquid splattered to the ground. Taking a quick look, what I could only guess was a wine bottle had been shot, and the liquid from inside was now dripping to the floor.

Harp had managed to keep herself from making any noise, but the sudden rifle shot sent her to the floor and she started shaking. It took a few seconds, but she managed to pull herself together, and we continued on.

‘A bit premature shot don’t you think.’ Rototoms voice kicked in, though it was slightly off, having a faint echo to it. ‘At least we know they haven’t seen us yet, so keep your heads down.’

‘We know what we’re doing Rototom’ I thought back at her.

‘On the topic of doing thing, so how was he? ’ I abruptly stopped, the other two behind me nearly bumped into my flank. ‘Does he talk dirty?’

‘Not the time for this!’ I thought back at my sister. I continued forward, making sure that the other two were following.

‘Must have been real rough, you practically came on the floor when you jumped out of bed.’ Rototom continued.

Sweet chuckled through the telepathy, her amusement bounced around in my skull. ‘Oh I hate it when that happens, fun at first, but one time it was so bad I couldn’t come in for work.’ I was not interested in having this conversation right now, or ever to tell the truth. But Sweet likes to feed the beast, so she continued. ‘After that I went and got a modification for my hips. A little pricy, but it was worth widening my hips just to get it to stop.’

‘So that’s why you had to get new armor a few years ago. Here I though you just had too many snack cakes.’ Rototom said in a joking tone. Being Sweets friend, I had known about the surgery, and it having more to do with a pregnancy scare than to do with sex. She had actually gone in to have a sterility implant put in, and payed extra to widen her hips at the same time. She talked about her rump for months after.

We finally got in close, my E.F.S. showed four hostiles, not three. As I looked over at the pirates, the unicorn’s horn glowed, and suddenly another pirate pony appeared before her. That answered were the reinforcements were coming from, and gave us a whole new problem.

‘I’m taking out the Unicorn. Cover me.’ I asked. As I levitated my rifle out, and aimed down the sights. Getting the mare in my sights, one shot was all I needed. Her attention suddenly turned to the side, one of her companions must have been taken out. Not wanting to miss the shot, I pulled the trigger, and with a soft ‘puff’ the ball bearing flew at her head.

The ball bounced harmlessly off the metal plate of a heavily armored pony. Taking a moment to process what had just happened, I took my eye off the scope to get a full view at what I was seeing. In front of where the unicorn was standing, was a large armored pony. It had to be power armor, no mistaking it. Unlike the power armor in Orpheus this one had a horn on its head, and what looked like lightbulbs along its side. Its head turned towards me, and the heavy table levitated up above the armored pony. I took a step back, knowing what was about to happen.

“TAKE COVER!” I yelled as the three of us jumped to the side, dodging the table as it flew at us. The table practically bounced on the floor before flying out the window. Beam and gunfire followed, most of it falling onto the pirates as Sweets group caught them by surprise.

A few pirates were killed outright, but none of them was the unicorn, who had already summoned in another pirate. The power armored pony hadn’t flinched, from Sweets attack, countering with a minigun it levitated. The roar of the gun filled the room, and I knew that we had missed our window.

My team was quickly pinned down before we could regroup. Harp had luckly gotten behind an overturned table, and was flat on the ground looking terrified. The tables were thick, so I doubt the gunfire could simply go through it. Light on the other hoof was in a real bad spot, simply hiding behind a chair. The only saving grace in her position was that she was in the shadows, keeping herself hidden. My position was no better, taking shelter behind an old food cart, it already had a bullet hole in it that ripped off its top.

“LIGHT!” I yelled out, getting her attention. The minigun was loud, so I felt confident that the pirates could not hear me as it was firing. “I WILL GIVE YOU COVERING FIRE, MAKE YOUR WAY TO HARP WHEN I DO.” She nodded, and I began to count in my head, going backwards from five.

Five, I placed my revolver in my mouth, my tongue right on the trigger.

Four, I pulled out the battle rifle, holding it in my hooves.

Three, I position the rifle in a way that I could fire it with my chin.

Two, levitating my hunting rifle I positioned my rear hooves on the ground, putting me in a squatting position.

One, I stood up on my rear legs, turning to the pirates as I did.

All three guns fired, it was a difficult thing to do, and lacked any accuracy, but the pirates all ducked for cover as the bullets flew over their heads. I had actually hit one, but he went down too fast for me to see if it was a kill shot. It all lasted a few seconds before I dropped back under cover, but it was enough time for Light to regroup with Harp. The princess clutching onto Light, tears in her eyes.

A bullet blasting through the food cart I was crouched behind made my heart stop for a second. The bullet didn’t hit me, but the shredded metal folded outward and cut my cheek. I needed to change positions or I was going to die.

“HEY! CRAZY CYBER PONY” It was Light, trying to get my attention. I nodded back at her, and she sighed. Harp said something to her that I could not hear, but the Pegasus nodded and turned back to me. “GET READY TO RUN, WE’LL PROVIDE THE COVERING FIRE!” Light hoofed the battle rifle she had over to harp, and the two poked out from behind the table and fired. Harp fell over after shooting once, the rifle falling to the floor.

I bolted, but despite the covering fire from Light, I could see that the pirates were not ducking for cover this time. I quickly activated S.A.T.S. slowing time to a crawl just in time to see a bullet pass in front of my face. It was so close I could have kissed it, and if I could, I would have jumped back in surprise.

Remembering Rototoms quick lesson, I quickly looked through the extra options I now had, and found the running option. It was one action point to move, and two to sprint. I chose sprint, and suddenly before me was a grid board that laid on the floor, and an arrow pointing at a square lighting it up blue. It took me a short moment to understand that this was the option of where to move, I selected behind Light and Harp, and selected enter.

All four of my hooves hit the ground, and with a sudden burst of speed it felt like I had just threw myself forward. I nearly crashed into the table before coming to a stop. “Right, sprinting moves fast.” I blurted out, my voice muffled by the roar of the minigun.

Gunfire smashed against the table, some bullets breaking through, some getting stuck in the wood. Both Light and I attempted to counter the attack, but another pirate pony had joined them, armed with an SMG, and kept us pinned down. That unicorn was really starting to piss me off, making me regret not shooting her first in the stairwell.

A loud explosion rocked the floor, and blew out what windows were still intact. The ringing in my ears had deafened me, but I could tell the gunfire had stopped. Peeking over, the barricade the pirates had built was in shambles, and the ponies that were behind it were either heavily injured, or dead. Rototom stood closer to the ruined barricade, the obvious perpetrator of the explosion.

The explosion did not take out the power armored pony, though it did knock the minigun out of its magic. The power armored pony had turned its attention to Rototom, and I could only guess the pony inside was scowling, contorting its face to look like the face of its helmet. I’d bet bits that Rototom was smirking under her helmet, her body posture looking ready for a fight.

“I GOT THIS, YOU ALL GO ON AHEAD!” Rototom yelled out, not turning her head away from the power armored pony.

Both my and Merits groups bolted, Light and Harp right behind my flank as we gave Rototom and the power armored pony a wide berth. The power armored pony attempted to grab Harp with telekinesis, but was interrupted by a shot from Rototoms railgun, shattering one of the glass bulbs on its back.

Rushing through a doorway, we entered what was a kitchen. The doors closed behind us, and the report of a ten gage shotgun blast shook the air, followed by the sound of wood being smashed on wood. Rototom could handle herself, but I couldn’t help but feel worried.

Like with the dining hall, everything in the kitchen was in its proper place, as though it was waiting for the staff to return. Knives, pots, and pans hanged from hooks, swinging ever so lightly. Plates and cups were stacked on top of each other, waiting to be filled and sent out into the hall. And other then some dust, the room was considerably clean.

“I’ve seen this setup before!” Exclaimed Sweet, as she ran to what looked like a small closet.

“Setup?” Merit asked.

She opened up the closet and a pile of canned food came tumbling out. Stepping closer, I could see that it was all canned Sweet Potatoes. “I hope you have an idea Sweet.”

“Yep!” Sweet pushed out the cans from the small closet and looked back at us. “Remember when we were working for that cook with a stalker. The kitchen he worked in kept all their supplies a floor below.” She aimed her rifle at the roof of the closet and fired, and to my surprise, the inside of the closet dropped. “They used an elevator to bring their supplies up.”

Walking up to the small elevator closet, I looked inside, and could not see the bottom. “How are we going to get down?” I asked, giving her my best ‘this better be good’ look.

“I was thinking we fly down.” She looked inside. “But now that I think about it, it’s a bit too small for them to use their wings.” Sweet looked back at me and shrugged. “Climb down I guess”

I faced hoofed. We didn’t have time for mane brained ideas. Taking my hoof off my face, I gave Sweet a glare and opened my mouth to chastise her. Before I could say a word, Merit stepped in-between us and stuck the front half of his body into the shaft. Sweet and I turned our attention to the stallion's flank that was now close to our faces.

“Looks like Sweet is right, there's a ladder in here.” Merit pushed himself and this time went flank first into the shaft. “Let’s go!”

Sweet looked at me and wiggled her eyebrows. “I see why you tapped that.”

I shook my head and picked up three cans of the canned food, placing them in my bag. “One more word about it, and I’ll tell Shamisen that you’re the one walking out with her beer glasses.”

“Fine, I get it, I get it.” She picked up a few cans as well, and stepped into the shaft.

Tuning my telepathy spell, I reached out and connected with Rototom. ‘We found a safe way down, a service shaft in the kitchen.’

‘Go on ahead, this bastard will take a few minutes to put down.’ Rototom responded, with a slight interference giving her a slight echo.

I let the rest go on ahead of me before going in myself. The shaft had a strong draft that riffled up my mane and tail, as well as sending a chill up my spine. The shaft itself was solid, and I wasn’t worried about the ladder failing on us, but I could see how worn out the inside of the shaft looked. It looked like we were in a two hundred year old shaft, which gave me the feeling that this shaft had been overlooked by whoever was maintaining the park.

The shaft went all the way down into the basement, which had seen better days. It was flooded, making Minerva click with radiation warnings, and was covered in dead plants. If any of us had hopes of stocking up on food and water here, the advanced levels of decay dashed any of that. The building construction was still solid, definitely earth pony construction, so there was no worry about the place coming down anytime soon.

There were signs that there was once a stalker down here, the bones of the mutated hound having long been picked clean by some bigger beast.

The shelves were mostly clear, with most of the items scattered on the floor. Even the most preserved food had fallen to the rot, or had been fed upon by animals.

After we had pushed our way to the stair well, we had seen nothing of any value, only more junk. If there were ghouls still living here, the basement was their dumping ground. We could only hope that we don’t run into them, ghouls this far out tend to be both insane, and infested with something nasty.

Out of the water, we all took a moment to dry off. Sweet and I simply shook the irradiated water off of our metal legs. The other four had to wipe it off onto their cloths, with Harp looking less than happy about doing so.

I took a step up ahead of the others, and turned around to look at them. “Right everypony, same plan as before. We head out through the restaurant, and make our way to the Andromeda building.” Everyone nodded, and we were off.

The basement was actually a few floors deep, with us only on the second basement floor. Anything below level two must have been under water. We quickly checked level one, hoping to find a tunnel system we could use, but only found more storage. It was hotel storage, mostly cleaner and spare sheets.

As we were looking around, Harp found a saddle bag. The bag was made of a red velvet like cloth, and had a big ‘FH’ printed on it. Quickly running around, she put two towels, a bottle of soap, and a small bag of hooficure supplies in it before regrouping with us.

“What? A lady must take care of herself. I say I earned this after all the muck I’ve been in.” Harp pointed her nose up a little as she spoke. I rolled my eyes, and got moving again.

The lobby floor was quiet, our best guess was that the pirates were moving upstairs in hope of trapping us there. If we’re lucky, we’ll sneak out of here before they know we’re gone. Like before, I took point, muffling my movement, and amplifying my ability to hear the sound around me.

A drip of water, the movement of wind, I could clearly hear the vertabuck outside keeping watch. There was a second vertabuck outside, flying over the other side of the building. Sneaking was still our best option, but it was not going to be easy.

I could hear something else, faint, but much closer. It was the sound of humming, just a little further ahead of me. A sign near me pointed in the direction of the humming, letting me know that we were heading to the Reception Desk.

As I rounded a corner I could see the reception desk. Faintly, the humming formed words. From the voice I knew I was dealing with a mare, soft, yet unnerving at the same time.

The empty room help to carry the song, and its slight echo made it feel even more out of place. I pulled out my rifle to get a better look through the scope before moving in.

In my scope sights, another unicorn… no, it was the first one from the stairwell. “How the fuck” Her outfit was similar to the other pirates, red and green, but in reverse, having more green than red. She had a tan coat, and a dark gray mane and tail, both of which were well kept and had small braids weaved into them. She even has some of the same accessories as the other pirates, with a gold stud on her nose, and gold rings in her ears. On her shoulder was the same symbol the other pirates had, a green ring of thorns with a red teardrop in the middle, but she had a second symbol under the first. The second was a green eye with red were the whites would be, and a line of red going down from the eye. The pirates loved their red, black, and green color coordination.

She turned my way, looking right at me. Her eyes were green, but some sort of wrong kind of green. I couldn’t place it, but her stare felt wrong, it made me feel wrong.

I couldn’t pull the trigger, I wanted to, but nothing in me moved, or even willed movement. I simply watched the unicorn as she got up onto all four hooves and slowly walked to me, never breaking contact. She pulled out a sword from her belt, but with our eyes locked, I couldn’t follow it.

‘Stop’

‘Stay back’

‘Somepony help me’

‘Anypony’

She was right on me, nose to nose, eyes locked.

The sword pressed against my side, she was toying with me, like she fed off of fear. The sword went in, and I could feel every inch. I couldn’t look away, not scream, not even call for help. The unicorn giggled and gave me a kiss, her tongue rolling in my mouth as she twisted the blade in my chest.

‘VIBRAPHONE!’ Sweet Sax’s voice rattled through my head. Surprised I fired my rifle, only missing the unicorn by an inch. She was back at reception, glaring at me. Looking away, I saw Sweet, she had a look of worry on her face. She was also holding me, her front legs tightly wrapping around me. “Good, your back.”

Looking around, everypony looked worried. “What just happened?”

Sweet shook her head. “You were lining up your shot, and then suddenly you were calling for help over telepathy. Before I could do anything, you were screaming bloody murder through the telepathy.”

I looked over at the Unicorn, avoiding eye contact, she was still sitting there, waiting for us. Turning my attention back to Sweet, I gently pushed her off of me. “Ya, I remember, she was killing me, and I couldn’t move. Something's wrong with her eyes, magic maybe.”

“Right, let’s pop her, and get out of here.” Sweet still looked worried, but in nudging me, made me feel better.

I looked through the scope, this time going for a body shot. Whoever, or whatever this bitch was, I didn’t have the time to find out.

I didn’t have the time to fire as she teleported from her position, and into the middle of the lobby’s main room. She was closer now, and I didn’t need the scope to see the smirk on her face. “Ahoy! ma chérie. I’m a little surprised t' see you down here so soon, naughty little rascals. It looks like I will have t' hold you here until the others come aft dovn.” Everypony already had their guns at the ready, so it was unlikely she was going to hold anypony. “Oh no no, zis vill not do, six agents moi. Well five.” She pointed at Harp. “zat one’s not much o' a fighter.”

Teleporting again, she had moved back to the reception desk, and pulled out an SMG with her magic. Sweet and I fired at her, but she took cover, and the ball bearings just bounced off the metal desk. Her SMG floated over the desk and blasted at us, forcing us to take cover as bullets flew wildly around the room.

‘Shit, she got me.!’ Sweet nearly shouting into my mind.

I looked over at her, Sweet was ducking behind a chair, and a small amount of blood was dripping onto the floor from her. ‘How bad?’ I asked.

‘Nothing that can’t be fixed, I’ll live.’ She pulled out a healing potion and sipped at it. ‘I’ll be charging your sister for therapy when this is over.’

‘Not before I get at her first.’ I responded.

I could hear the sound of metal scraping against metal, which I guessed was the pirate reloading her gun. Sweet looked over at me. ‘So got a plan?’

“YOUR ALL DAMN QUIET OVER THERE. VAT ARE YOU PANNING?” The pirate shouted, following her statement with another burst from her SMG.

Looking around, luckily nopony got hit this time. We couldn’t sit here and play bullet tag, we had to move. ‘Just run for it, I’ll go for the pirate. She can’t shoot all of us with me on her.’

Sweet looked over at the reception desk, and back at me. ‘Okay, but you better be right behind us. On your mark.’

Taking a moment to calm myself, I took a deep breath. The moment was ruined by another burst of bullets from the pirate. “Alright, on three we all charge for the kitchen and make a run for it.” The others looked at me concerned, but I knew this was going to work.

Activating my muffle once more, I charged. Without any old world garbage littering the floor, it was easy for me to close the distance without making any noise. “YOU'RE GOING NOVERE MY LITTLE PONY’S” her SMG burst again, and I ducked behind the desk. My ears screamed. My talisman was still on, and being this close boosted the noise to an extreme.

I held my breath, and holding my ears shut. It wasn’t much, but enough to keep myself from passing out. Waiting, I watched for when the SMG retreated back behind the desk. Seizing the opportunity, I jump up to the counter and shouted. “THREE!”

The unicorn mare looked up at me, and mouthed two words. ‘Clever girl.’ My hearing was shot, and everything sounded muffled, but it didn’t matter as I had the advantage. Tackling the mare, my metal hooves crushed her under me. The pain was easy to read on her face, I had hurt her good, and I hoped I broke a bone. With one more strike, I brought a hoof to her head, slamming her head between my hoof and the hard floor. All movement from the pirate mare stopped, eyes rolled back into her head. She was out cold.

I had time to see the rest make their exit, Sweet stood by the door waiting for me. ‘Go on ahead, I need to fix my ears.’

‘Do that and catch up to us. If I have to come back and save your flank than you owe me big.’ She thought at me before running out.

Everything sounded like I was under water, but luckily with the help from Minerva applying a little bit of healing potion to my ears was a simple task. Slowly but surely my hearing came back. Not that there was much to hear, other than the sounds of a vertabuck, it was all quiet. “Hearing check…” I flopped my ears around as I tested hearing myself talk “all good.”

*pop* something bounced off the back of my head.

I froze. It sounded like a bottle had been just opened, the kind of sound only a cork from a bottle could make. Turning around slowly, I saw another pony right behind me. It was another unicorn mare in the green on red uniform, symbols of Luna and Celestia adorned her cloths all over. She had a carrot red mane and tail, curly all over. Her coat was a vibrant green which blended well with her uniform, making the red even more striking. Her eyes stared at me with a hunger, with an unnatural looking green. In her magic was a Champagne bottle, bubbles pouring out of it, and onto the other pirate I had knocked out.

“Good that you can hear again lassie, cuss I got good news for you t’ hear.” She took a long pull from the Champaign bottle, gulping half of it down. “Ahhhh... And with the goddesses as my witness, I’ll preach it.”

“What?” I said as I backed away from the pirate slowly.

With a swift motion, the pirate swung the bottle of Champagne at me. I managed to hop backward in time to doge. Glass and bubbles flew everywhere as the Champagne bottle shattered on to desk. “I said I was going to preach lassie, now stop fidgeting and open your heathen ears.”

I had no time for this madness. Jumping back, I spun around and bolted for the door. As I ran, I heard a heavy click, my amplify sound talisman was still on. Jumping to the side, a burst of bullets flew into the kitchen, just barely missing me. My ears rang again, but not as bad as before, so to save me from anymore pain, I turned the talisman off.

“OY! Did I say you can run? What are you, some godless cunt?” The SMG levitated at her side, matching the anger on her face. “I got to make you a goddesses fearing pony, and then send you t’ them. Yes, that’s what I ot t’ do. May the goddess have mercy on your soul?”

The SMG pointed at me, and I had no cover to take. Activating S.A.T.S. time nearly halted completely. I was not going to outrun bullets, so I needed to out maneuver the pony shooting them. Looking through my movement options, I found a dash option. The distance was shorter, but it cost one point and was faster than running. My first dash I selected to move to the side and closer to the pirate, and for the second dash I picked straight at the mare. Pressing enter, the feeling of time returned to me.

I jolted right before the pony fired at me, the dash having me just avoiding the bullets as I got closer. The second dash took me right under the SMG, the pirate unable to aim the gun fast enough to hit me. Now close enough, I brought my hoof up at her face, using my back legs to push me at her, hoping to take her down in one strike.

The bitch dodged, not enough to get out of the way of my hoof, but I only managed to clip her jaw. Stumbling back, the pirate just glared at me, gun at her side. If she aimed her gun at me I would go for a tackle, and stay too close for her to properly use the gun. The tactic was better for countering rifles, but most ponies had a hard time aiming even a pistol when the opponent is right on them. I just had to move before she could pull the trigger, and I would be able to avoid getting shot.

“Not bad lassie.” The pirate rubbed her chin and adjusted her air filter. “Not bad at all.” Dropping the SMG, she took a step to the side, and placed herself between the way out and me. “Names Shamrock Bayonet.” She smirked. “Now tell me yours before I rip your heathen throat out.”

Times like this I’m glad I keep my enforcer hidden, putting me at an advantage when my enemy thinks we're on a level playing field. “I’m Vibraphone Echo. Now tell me why you’re here.”

Her smirk became a grin, nearly ear to ear. “Lassie… exactly what I’m going t’ tell you.”

A leg wrapped around my neck, and my own legs were kicked out from under me. With a thud I hit the ground, finding the unicorn mare I had taken out before on top of me, holding me down, with a sword to my neck. “If we were all introducing ourselves, names Couteau Duel” Looking up at the mare, her green eyes were surrounded by red, which leaked onto her coat. Her eyes were bleeding.

“Duel keep her there, I’ll explain our mission, our crusade.” A book levitated out of Shamrocks bag, and opened up in front of her. ”Witness heathen, for I have the perfect book here, written by our saint t’ the followers of the goddesses. Listen well and be in awe.”

Something fell on my neck. Looking at Duel, the blood from her eyes was now falling from her air filter, and onto my neck. My stomach churned at the thought of it touching me.

“Long ago we were lost, faith less, and easily fooled. We turned from the true path, and placed our faith into six false saints. In war they came, offing lies and gold. With our loyalty they promised victory, but in the end we received only damnation.” Shamrocks motion her legs in wide motions, looking overly dramatic. “Their true motives was t’ take the right to rule from the goddesses, and in the war they did just that, taking them away from us. We are the ponies who know the truth of this, and have devoted ourselves to the true path. Lady Thorns showed us the path two hundred years ago, and today we follow her still, the true Prophet of the goddesses.”

So a pirate and a cultist, next she’s going to tell me that there is a prophecy that is soon at hoof. I was going to say something, but the blade at my neck was way too close for comfort.

Shamrock continued “The way of thorns, the true path to know the goddesses. Now join me as we sing in her honor”

I felt something rubbing onto my lower body, just going up and down. Taking a glance, I saw that Duel was grinding on me. Looking back at her face, she was fixated on Shamrock, and grinding on me. The bad situation turned humiliating.

Duel pushed into me harder, making me glad that I had the extra layer of the panties on so that my barding didn’t rub into me.

I could hear Duel breath heavily as she started grinding faster, my own body being rocked as she got off on me.

She arched her back, and moaned. The humiliation was complete, and all I could feel was the blood rushing to my face. Shame, rage, it all mixed together.

The grinding slowed down, and Duel was now panting heavily. Her grip on the sword weakened and dropped, and she pushed her air filter to the side. “I like you.”

Everything came boiling out all at once, and I screamed, right in her face. With my free hoof i struck her in the face, sending a few teeth flying.

She rolled over, and back on her hooves, looking shocked. “Vas it somethin' I said ma chérie? Is it me, do you not want me?” She put her air filter back on after spitting out a bloody tooth, and pulled out a second sword. “If I cannot have you, then nopony should, NOPONY!” She charged.

I rolled back onto my hooves and entered S.T.A.S. Selecting my revolver, and having it fire at Duel took up two points, the option was called quick draw. Entering it in, time returned to normal, and in one simple motion I pulled my revolver out and shot Duel in the chest. The unicorn tripped over her own hooves and fell to the ground. She was not getting back up from that hit.

I turned to aim my enforcer at Shamrock, but she was already on me, a hoof striking the side of my face, knocking the revolver to the ground.

Shamrock sneered at me. “She offered you salvation lassie, and like t' heathen you are, struck her down. Typical o' your kind.”

“Like I give a fuck” I spat back at her. My hoof fell onto the sword that was once at my neck, and I smiled. “Minerva! Sword! Attack!” I lifted my hoof, and the sword jolted up and slashed at Shamrock. The pony rolled out of the way, and onto the SMG. Not wasting time, I pulled out my hunting rifle, and fired it at her. Scoring three shots into her, two to her center mass, and one into a leg.

She ignored the bullet holes in her side and lifted the SMG at me. I jumped, and she fired.

Screaming in pain, a few bullets hit me in the soft parts of my flank. I was able to avoid getting hit somewhere vital, but I now had lead in me.

Ducking to the side of the Reception desk, I quickly pulled out a Med-X and plunged it into me, and took a quick swig of a healing potion. It was a quick fix, but I was going to need to get a doctor to pull the lead out of me soon.

“We be here t' cleanse this world o' t' faithless, and brin' about a new golden age. Convert or die, CONVERT OR DIE!” Shamrocks shouting made my hair stand up.

*Clank*

Something had pulled on my lower leg. Looking down at it, I saw Duel chewing on my metal leg, drooling all over it. Pulling my leg away, I kicked her in the face. “Why the fuck won’t you stay down!”

“BECAUSE I VANT YOU IN ME, I VANT TO KNOW HOW YOU TASTE, AND TO SATISFY THIS HUNGER!” Duel screamed back at me, blood flying from her mouth, the kick having broken her snout. Her eyes were now darting back and forth, like a pony on a drug binge. Looking closer, her bullet hole was gone, blood still there, but her wound was gone.

She swiped at me with her sword, and I rolled out of her reach.

*Clack Clack Clack*

A burst of bullets flew from Shamrock, and I managed to just dodge them. Seeing my revolver not far from me, I ran for it, and entered S.A.T.S. once more. I selected to roll at it, and then pick up the gun. Returning time to normal, the roll managed to help me dodgemore SMG fire. I got the revolver firmly into my mouth and aimed it at Shamrock.

*Clack Clack Clack*

*Blam Blam Blam*

We exchanged fire. We stood in place for what felt like a minute, but only a second passed. Shamrock fell to the ground.

“FEED MY HUNGER!” Duel jumped out, only to stumble. Splattering blood from her face to the floor.

*Blam Blam*

Two more shots into the sick bitch. I would have put one more into her head, but I was all out of bullets. These two had cost me too much time, and I needed to catch up to the others. Putting away my revolver, and picking up the sword, I walked to the door. On my way I almost slipped on some blood, not once, but twice.

I entered into the restaurant's kitchen, as the door was closer. My breath was short, and my body dull all over, from my nose to my flank. The med-x did its job, and the bullets In my flank didn’t make it feel much different from the rest of my body. Though I could do without the lightheadedness.

Something gleaming caught my eye, and I trotted over to it. It was a silver looking frying pan hanging on a hook. Tapping it with my hoof, I smeared some blood on it, my hoof was covered in blood. The frying pan turned ever so slowly, its shiny surface crudely revealing my reflection, presenting me with my bloodied face.

I had a long gash traveling from my nose to my mane, and another along my neck, both leaking blood. Grabbing the pan, I used it to check the rest of me. My barding was slick and wet, and the white shirt I had underneath was a dark red. All four of my legs had blood leaking onto them, and my tail was stained red at the base, and at the end. The med-x had worked too well, and I hadn’t even noticed getting hit after the first time. I didn’t even know I was bleeding out.

Through the pan I saw a figure enter the kitchen and charge at me. Rolling to the side, I Just managed to get out of the way of Shamrock, who slammed into a stove. “Now I’m not into mare’s lassie, but I’ll make an exception for you.” Shamrock glared at me, her green eyes were now surrounded by the same blood red as Duel’s, and was now bleeding like Duel’s was. “I’ll make it a three way, Duel can peg ya with t' hilt o' her cutlas, and I’ll peg ya with a grog bottle.”

Backing away, I slipped again. The blood loss was making me uncoordinated, and weak, but Shamrock seemed to be just as healthy as before I shot her. Attempting to stand back up I slipped again. Shamrock was hovering over me before I could recover, grinning at me.

Shamrock chuckled. “You'd be amazed how many fights I’ve won like this.” She bent her head down and whispered “Lassie.” Lifting her head back up, she chuckled again. “It t' gift o' our saint and savor. We followed her as t' message o' her might, her corpse brigade.” A hoof slammed my face into a cupboard, imprinting my face on it in my blood. The hit made my head spin and I fell to my side. “Good good, you should sleep, a pony as strong as you needs their sleep.” She stroked my mane, which made me cringe. “Though you’re a heathen, I can tell that you will see the light. You just need a little push.” She pulled out a syringe from a little bag on her uniform, the liquid inside it had a green glow to it that sent a shiver down my spine.

I struggled to get back on my hooves and back away, but Shamrock just slammed her hoof down on my side. The pain could be felt through the med-x. I glanced around looking for a way to save myself, but the needle slowly came closer, and I was not getting away. “MINERVA!, S.A.T.S.!” I shouted, and time slowed to a crawl.

Without the beating of my heart, the panic in my breath, and the dull pain leaking through the med-x, I was able to properly think. Opening up my options, almost everything was in red, telling me that it was a non-actionable move. Any action available to me was for pulling things out of my bag, useless with Shamrock over me. Looking at her, somehow S.A.T.S. allowed me to look at whatever was in front of me. I could only guess that my eyes were moving at an extremely fast rate, like with my mind. In Shamrocks jacket, just under her leg, was a knife. Scanning the actions for S.A.T.S. I found what might help me, a target selection mode.

I had seen it in a movie once, were the hero, with the super special pipbuck, was able to use it to pull the bad pony’s gun from its holster, and shoot it. I was hoping to do that, but with the knife.

Push, no. Swing, no. Grab with my mouth, the option was predictably in red, so no. Pulling out the knife was not quite the option I wanted, if Shamrock could get up after getting shot, the knife was not going to keep her down. Swing back was an option, and the one I needed, the blue outline of the blade brought the knife’s point right under her head. Next was to get it in her, sadly the pipbuck was not going to have the strength to do it, but thinking about it, I knew what would. The Dash was in red, but only for landing back on my hooves, but I just needed to move, not land on my hooves. Selecting right at Shamrock, Minerva gave me a 0% to a successful Dash, but still let me do it.

Time resumed, and Shamrock had brought her hoof up, ready to strike me. My body jolted, and I could see the knife in the pipbucks magic swing out. My body moved awkwardly, but still right at Shamrock, my head making contact with the knife’s back end. We connected with a thump, and I hit the ground almost as fast as I had got up.

Looking at Shamrock, she had backed up, her flank hitting a stove. The knife had plunged deep up into her jaw, and must have entered her brain. The crazed pirates looked shocked, glaring at me with hateful scorn.

I didn’t wasting time, using Minerva to guzzle the first healing potion, and picked myself up. My body felt more compliant now, and my head didn’t feel as light. So I ran right out of the Kitchen, and to the exit. I took one more glance back at the kitchen, to see that Shamrock was pulling the knife out of her slowly, blood dripping down her chest. She glanced back at me, and grinned a bloody grin. I ran, not caring if I was going the wrong direction, I just had to get away.

Before I could orientate myself, I found a hiding spot, somewhere between a little foal’s space ship ride, and its older pony’s counterpart. With how I felt, the foals ride looked like too much for me. Due to my blood loss, my head was still feeling fuzzy, and would stumble a little from time to time.

I guzzled another healing potion, trying to get my strength back up. I had been hurt far worse than I thought I was during the fight, and the only thing that had saved me was my barding, and my saddlebag. Checking it over, I picked out a few lead balls that had gotten stuck in the armored padding and plates, the little metal lumps thudding on the ground.

A vertabuck flew overhead, its searchlight illuminating the area around me. I was underneath an old tarp, so it didn’t see me. Waiting for it to leave, I checked the map on Minerva, keeping its light off and using the hologram. I had definitely gone the wrong direction, but not so far that I had to pass the hotel to get to our destination.

The vertabuck moved on, the searchlight beaming at another section of the park. Feeling that it was my time, I ran out of cover and to the Captain Andromeda’s Space Adventure building. Sticking to cover I didn’t want to risk running into another pirate, and drawing the attention of a vertabuck.

An explosion came from the hotel, and looking back I could see fire bellowing out of one of the rooms. The place had actually withstood the test of time, and felt like it was waiting for the princesses to return. Now it was on fire, a fire that was sure to spread and consume the building. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad for it,only if I could have come here under better conditions.

Suddenly I remember Rototom was still in there, and I had to stop myself from running in for her. She could handle herself, and was far better geared than I was, so I had to have faith that she was okay. But it didn’t stop me from being worried about her.

“No time to waste.” I softly spoke to myself, and ran to where Sweet and the others were waiting.

I had to pass through what looked like a little village, though all the homes were of a round shape, and had mannequins inside. I could only just barely make out the figures inside, all in happy looking poses, but with the paint long faded off of them.

I had to cross the street, and I was free. Only problem was that there was a pony standing in the middle of the street, motionless. I stared at it for what was probably a minute, motionless. Light reflected off of a building, revealing that it was another mannequin. Letting go a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I trotted across the street.

As I passed the mannequin I could see that it was in far worse condition than the ones inside. It was covered in holes,charred black. On it was a sign dangling from its neck. The writing looked crude, but I could still read it clearly enough in the moonlight.

It was probably the ramblings of a mad pony, or a ghoul going feral. But still, the sign didn’t look like it’s been here for a very long time, so whoever placed it here might still be around.

Holding the sign, I could hear the faint sound of an engine roaring back to life. The mannequin's head suddenly turned to me “Welcome to Captain Andromeda’s Space Adventure! Just stand in line and you will be inside in no time at all!” It’s voice was loud and scratchy, echoing past me.

The hair on my neck stood up, and I nearly tripped over myself. I was sure this thing just gave away my position, so I ran, ran as fast as I could to the Space Adventure building. I had a bad feeling down in the pit of my stomach, and I had to get to the others, and get to them fast.

Quest Progression -

- My Kingdom for a Pony – 50%

- Who Dares, Win – 50%

- Are you having fun yet? – 66%