I stalk through the steel corridors, sniffing at the air as my tail twitched.

My eyes dart back and forth as I glance into each room, hunting down the scent.

The blade of my tail sparks off the sides of the walls as I move.

I can feel the blood slowly drying on my coat.

A grin spreads across my face as I hear sobbing. A mare’s voice.

“Please don’t find me, please don’t find me…”

I follow it, and the scent, towards a closed bathroom. I start drooling as I approach. I can hear the sizzle of my saliva on the concrete floor.

One of the stalls holds my prey.

I stomp, making the mare jump, and try to hide further in the stall. She tries to quiet her sobbing, but I can still hear her heart beating in her chest.

I throw open every single door with my tail. Every sound makes the mare’s heart beat faster and faster… faster… and… faster…

I stop at her door…

And wait…

Gradually, her heart slows.

Then I whip open her door, making her scream in sheer terror.

I move into the stall, grinning widely, and chuckling.

“Hello there, Ms. Cane!” I say. “So nice to see you!”

My tongue runs over my sharp teeth.

She tries to scramble backwards, but can’t get any further.

I raise my tail over my head… my chuckle turns into a laugh…

Open up my jaws... Plunge the blade down into-

0100010001100101011000010111001000100000010000110110010101101100011001010111001101110100011010010110000100101100001000000100100001100101011011000111000000100000011011010110010100100001

I screamed as I scrambled out of my bed, tears streaming from my eyes, my body in a cold sweat. I sniffled and tightly hugged Mr. Stellar.

“Sweetheart?” Daddy asked from the doorway. “What ‘appened?”

I ran up and hugged him, crying into his chest and shaking as he held me.

“Ah… ye had tha’ dream again, didn’t ye?” He let out a sad sigh. “Shhh… it’s alrecht sweetheart, it’s alrecht.”

“Nnnn… wha’s goin’ on?” Mommy asked. She blinked as she saw the two of us. “Oh…”

She drowsily stumbled over and cooed into my ear as she gently rubbed my back.

Eventually, they managed to calm me down enough that I was just crying.

“It’s okay sweetie.” Mommy said. “It’s just a dream.”

“Aye. Yer mother’s right. Ah know tha’ it feels real, but it’s only in yer head.”

“But… I hurt another pony…” I sniffled and hugged daddy tighter. “I don’t wanna be bad…”

“Diamond, you are not a bad pony,” Mommy sighed, giving me a gentle nuzzle. “You’re a very sweet little filly.”

I just continued to sniffle.

Daddy chuckled. “Ye want tae sleep wi’ us taenigh’, Sweetheart?”

I nodded.

“’Sid, we can’t-“

“Ah know, Ah know.” He interrupted. “But it’s only th’ one night.”

I yawned as mommy picked me up with a smirk, and carried me into her and daddy’s bedroom. She and Daddy got into bed, and I settled down between them.

Slowly and happily, I fell back asleep.

~~~

“Subject 25687-CG-12 appears to be having a minimal reaction to the implant,” Whispered a male voice. “Only one effect has been observed, no other changes noticeable.”

I groaned, and gently put a hoof to my throbbing head.

“Subject appears to be regaining consciousness,” The voice continued. “Recovery seems to have occurred more rapidly than in most subjects. However, I need to retreat. Need to retrieve more supplies before returning for observations.”

My eyes cracked open, and I found myself in a concrete cell, complete with a door of iron bars. Standing just outside was a familiar golden stallion, speaking into a… pipbuck?

“Ah, hello miss Knives. Good to see that you’re awake.” He smiled. “I’d stay and interview you, but I’m afraid that I haven’t quite reached that stage of the experiment yet. My apologies.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “The hell are you talking about?”

“As I said, I can’t tell you that, especially as you don’t seem to be getting me any results.” He turned away from me. “Get some and I’ll likely tell you what you want to know.”

“HEY!” I yelled at him, only for the pony to vanish in a flash of golden light.

I snarled in irritation.

“QUIET IN THERE!”

My ears fell flat against my skull.

“Bilge? Meda? You guys around here?” I called out quietly. “Raid? Anypony?”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

I growled, and then whimpered softly as my head throbbed again. My horn seemed to be getting the worst of it.

“Wow, he seems pissed.” Said a male voice from the cell opposite mine. “Even more so than usual.”

In the dim light, I saw a fairly large, smiling zebra, with a prominent scar across his right cheek, running from his mouth to his ear. He wore a necklace made of small broken metal rods attached to a chain.

I grunted in acknowledgement as I laid down on my stomach, clutching my skull in my forehooves.

“Not much of a talker, eh?”

“Sorry… My head hurts. Not feeling well.”

“That’s fine. Might wanna check your horn, though,” the zebra said. “Last time they threw someone in like that, he got a pretty nasty crack in his horn.”

“That would explain why it hurts so damn much…”

“So…” He casually leaned against the wall of his cell, sending me a friendly grin. “You’re one of the ‘half-breeds’ that got chucked in here, ah?”

“I guess? Why?”

“Just a little warning, old Rexy says you three are going into the pit later tonight.”

I groaned. “Of course. You know where they put Bilge and Meda?”

“The cells right next to you.” He pointed with both hooves. “They’re out cold right now, out like lights. Broken lights with those little squiggly thingies.”

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What about a dark blue pegasus?”

“Eh… nope, sorry. Can’t say that I have.”

I sighed in frustration.

Somewhere nearby, a door slammed open.

A slaver trotted through the passageway, completely ignoring us. He kept going for a while, until finally, I heard a stallion start begging for his life, and the sound of one of the iron-bar doors swinging open.

A moment later, the same slaver came back, forcing a sobbing zony stallion out with an electric baton.

I spotted a set of keys hanging from one of the slaver’s belts. Taking the opportunity, I tried to levitate them towards me, but only managed to cry out when a sharp pain went through my horn.

The slaver turned and fixed a vicious grin on me. “Don’t worry, you and your friends’ll be up tonight.”

I closed my eyes to try and shut out the pain while the slaver snickered, shoving the striped stallion out of the corridor.

“Poor buck… hope he does alright. Good singer.” The zebra muttered as he closed his green eyes and ran a hoof through his white mane.

Everything was silent for a while.

I tried to pull up my magic again, but I only managed to make my horn hurt again.

“Not feeling good, are you, Knives?”

I groaned.

“Awww, don’t be like that. I’m only trying to help.” She cackled.

“Stop talking.” I grumbled. “Just. Stop. Talking.”

“Sorry, what? You say something?” The zebra across from me asked.

“What’s the matter, Knives? Don’t like-“

“Oh, fucking Celestia, where the hell am I?” Meda whimpered. “Hello? Purity? Bilge?”

“I’m in the cell to your left.” I replied. “Are you alright?”

“Uh… I think?” I heard her shifting around noisily. “Nothing feels broken… How about you?”

“Pretty sure I’ve got a cracked horn, and I’ve got a splitting headache, but other than that I’m fine.” I put a hoof to my horn and groaned again. “Apparently we’re up for a fight soon.”

“A-a-a-a fight? I… I don’t know how to fight!” She wailed. “I-I’ve never been in a fight!”

I blinked. “Seriously?”

“Yes! I just do what I’m told!” She broke down and started sobbing. “They’re gonna kill me out there!”

“Alright, relax. I’ll cover you. I’m sure-“ I let out a frustrated sigh. “You’re faking it aren’t you.”

“…”

“I’m not hearing a ‘no’.”

“No?”

“I think I like this mare again!”

I frowned. “Stop doing that.”

“Dammit.” Meda whined. “I didn’t want to get in this.”

“Then you shouldn’t have followed me.”

“I didn’t expect you to do something stupid!” The other zony yelled. “You’re the idiot who snuck in here!”

“I’m trying to find somepony.” I snapped back. “You’re just being annoying.”

“I’m sensing some hostility here.” The zebra interrupted. “Lover’s spat?”

I growled. “I’m not a stallion!”

“Woah, woah! Calm down, I never said you were.” He replied quickly. “Never said, spoke, spake or otherwise implied.”

I snorted in irritation.

“She’s definitely not my lover.” Meda said. “I’d rather get ploughed by a raider day in and day out.”

“This is an interesting conversation to wake up to,” A voice on my left chuckled. “How long have they been at this?”

“’Bout a minute and a half.” The zebra replied. “You’re up for a fight tonight, by the way. Rexy’s orders.”

“Fantastic.” Bilge’s voice practically oozed sarcasm. “I can’t fight for shit.”

I groaned.

“Ouch. That’s gotta suck.” Said the zebra.

“I know. I’m fucked.”

“I’ll cover you, since Purity is too much of a bitch to do it herself.” Meda snorted.

“You were trying to manipulate me, you lazy fuck!”

“You should just let her. Stop trying to think for yourself, Purity. Let someone else do it for you. Like me.”

“Shut up.” I sighed.

The door slammed open again, letting in the faint sound of a roaring crowd, accompanied by the groans of the zony buck from before, now covered in blood and bruises, who was being dragged through the hallway by a slave wearing medical gear. A moment later, he was followed by the slaver who’d hauled him out.

He sneered as he stepped in front of my cell, looking back and forth between Bilge, Meda, and myself as he unlocked the doors.

“Alright, scabs, get a move on. Boss wants the medics to take a look at ya.”

“Oh, goddesses… we’re the ‘special entertainment’, aren’t we…”

“Hehe, damn right you are.”

~~~

“Ow!” I hissed in pain.

“Shut up.” The slaver medic smacked me on the muzzle again as she continued poking at me. “I can keep this up all day. Can’t believe those fucking idiots cracked your damn horn.”

I grimaced. The thought of my horn being damaged was one thing, but broken would be horrible. Even if my magic was weak, not being able to use it would take away quite a big part of me.

“HEY! Where the fuck is the newbie!” She screamed.

“I’m right fucking here! L-goddesses. Don’t get your tail in a bunch.” A voice called back.

“Bring me another bag of bandages, dammit! Can’t you see these bruises?”

“Calm down Rusty, fuck!”

The medic growled angrily and turned to me. “You stay the fuck here.”

With that, she trotted out of the room, arguing with her assistant.

I looked at the mirror on the wall. Thanks to the medic, bitch though she may have been, I was free of any bruises that I might have had. I moved my mane, still entwined with multi-colored electrical cables, though most of the metal scraps had been removed, out of my face and away from my horn, which currently had a small, but visible crack in it. I gave the appendage an experimental poke, and once again hissed in pain.

With a frown, I took the opportunity to swipe a couple of healing potions and hid them in my mane, suspended within the hairs by a few wires each. I was lucky that the medic didn’t come back as I fumbled with the bottles, and was reminded of how clumsy I was without what little magic I had.

“I swear to Celestia, if you don’t shut up, I’ll have you do this your fucking self.” The medic screamed. “See how pissed Rex gets when you fucking kill his entertainment.”

“How can you not know how to fix a horn crack, dipshit?” The other voice responded in kind. “It’s not that fucking difficult!”

“Oh, that is fucking it. You wanna do this? Fine. I’m fucking out of here.”

I heard the sound of somepony storming off, followed by the slam of a door.

Moments later, a striped face popped into the room.

She looked at me with an irritated expression.

I quirked an eyebrow at her as she stared at me with a pair of dark green eyes. Her mostly stripeless face was covered in dirt and muck, and her barding looked like it was several sizes too big. Her long striped mane hung down near her-

“Zeed?” I blinked. “Holy crap, I hardly recognized you. I’m used to seeing you with a red mane.”

“No fucking duh.” She grumbled. “Took me forever to get the dye out.”

“Aren’t you a little short to be a raider?” I asked. “And why are you wearing slaver gear?”

“I thought I’d join in on the pillaging and… and raping…” She shook her head. “What happened to your horn?”

I shrugged. “I woke up and it was like this.”

With a frustrated sigh, she grabbed a healing potion from a nearby first aid box, popped the cork, and grabbed my head.

Then, completely ignoring my protests and gasps of pain, she proceeded to screw the glass bottle onto my horn.

I stood there for a moment, holding my now-aching head with a forehoof.

“Zeed… Why?” I asked quietly. “Why did you attach a bottle to my head?”

“The potion’ll pull the bone back together.” She replied. “Just leave it there and you’ll be fine in an hour or so. Where’s Raid?”

“Ow… we got separated when I was knocked out. I have no idea where he is.”

“What about my dad? You seen him?”

“Uh…”

She glared at me. “You completely forgot what we were here for, didn’t you?”

“Well… I…”

“Dammit, Knives!” She growled. “I don’t even…”

She let out a loud groan of frustration.

“Zeed, are you alright? Did something happen?” I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Uh… where… exactly did you get this barding.”

She blushed. “You’d be amazed at how many ponies are willing to do… stuff with a stranger in the early hours of the morning.”

“Okay. I wish I didn’t ask.”

“So do I.” She sighed. “Why did you drop your accent?”

I froze. “W-what?”

“Yeah. You’re actually talking normal for once.”

She started cackling somewhere in the back of my mind.

“W-well… N-no reason. Hehehe…” I chuckled nervously.

“You didn’t even notice!” She laughed. “You had no idea the whole time!”

“Knives, are you okay? You’re looking a bit pale.”

“I-Ah’m fine. Heh. Dunnae worry about me…” I swallowed. “So… eh…. What… what does yer dad look like, eh?”

“Too late now, Knives…”

I swallowed again, and forced myself to focus on what Zeed was saying, pushing her as far back into her cage as I could get her.

The zebra let out another frustrated sigh. “Green eyes, solid white mane, scar on his cheek-“

“Talks a bit fast?”

“He used to talk really fast. He was kinda hyper befo- YOU SAW HIM?” She suddenly jumped into my face with a look of shock. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“Ack! He’s fine! He was in the cells down… wherever the hell that was.”

“He was in the police station?” Her eyes widened. “Oh mother of Luna they’re gonna make him fight. Oh fuck, what am I gonna do?”

“Well ye should calm down fer one.”

“I doubt she’ll listen.”

“I can’t even get in there! They wouldn’t let me in without permission from their boss. I just spent the last couple of hours trying to find a way to get to you and Raid.”

“Hey! You done in there, yet?” Somepony called from outside. “Hurry the fuck up!”

Zeed looked at me, then the door, then back to me, and then to the door again. “Shit…”

“Relax, Zeed. Ah’ll be fine. If Ah see yer dad again, Ah’ll tell ‘im yer lookin’.”

Though she was nervously biting her lip, she nodded. “Uh… Good luck, Knives.”

“By th’ way, Aam goin’ by ‘Purity’ right nao. Just in case of…” I paused. “… Stuff…”

She raised an eyebrow. “Okay… I’ll see if I can find Raid, or Stock.”

With that, I left the medical bay, and made my way towards the exit, where Bilge and Meda waited with our mutual slaver friend. Meda tried and failed to suppress a laugh as she caught sight of the bottle on my horn. She stopped when I shot her a glare.

The slaver snorted. “Armory’s next.”

He pushed us through more corridors for several minutes until we reached a room with a large, wire-mesh fence leading outside, and walls covered in an assortment of weapons and armors.

“You have two hours to get ready. If you’re not, we’ll blow the collars.” He spat on the ground and trotted back out the door, locking it behind him.

I snorted in irritation and, while Bilge and Meda began to browse one wall of the room, quickly scanned the weaponry. I was sorely disappointed to see that, while not broken, most of the equipment was in the absolute worst quality.

Within the space of a few minutes, every single knife in the room was on the bench in the middle of the room. The effort had made my horn throb with excruciating pain, but I was glad my magic was working enough that I could actually use it.

I started to sharpen the knives on each other. It was probably the worst way to do the job, and it was slow going, but I eventually ended up with a useable knife.

Then I looked over the barding, and groaned as I grabbed a few of them and started patching them together.

“What are you doing?” Meda’s voice nearly made me jump out of my skin.

“Aam tryin’ tae fix these.” I grunted.

The other zony blinked at me. “Why are you talking like that?”

“That’s a good question, isn’t it Knives… maybe you should tell her?” She whispered in my ear. I swallowed and tried to push her back down.

“Ah just am, all right?” I snapped back.

“Okay, okay!” She backed away from me, and returned to helping Bilge into a set of metal barding, her own set of padded barding already donned. “Sorry… Goddesses, what is with you?”

“Alright, scabs! Time’s up, haha!” The slaver slammed the door open.

I swore, and slung the padded barding over my back. It was still shoddy and pretty much useless, but it was better than nothing.

“Oh, you three are gonna be slaughtered.” The slaver chuckled. “Boss says you’re fighting one of his gladiators! Hah!”

Bilge groaned and shook his head, nearly hitting me with his sledgehammer in the process. “I’m fucking screwed.”

Meda sighed. “You and me both.”

I rolled my eyes at them.

The wire mesh fence rolled off to the side, and the slaver ushered us out, quickly pulling it shut as he sat on the bench to watch.

I recognized the place as the pit that had been dug into the middle of the city. It was a lot deeper than I’d thought, with multiple mesh fences put together quite a way up to make a kind of net. Around the edges of the pit was a very large number of slavers, all cheering and screaming for blood, with even more slaves amongst them simply watching us with dead eyes. The dirt floor had four large posts with chains attached to them near the center of the… I guess it was a ring. There was another wire mesh fence on the opposite side of the area, painted blue. Taking a glance behind me, I saw that ours had been painted red in a similar manner.

“Welcome my bretheren!” Growled a voice over the comm system. Almost instantly the crowd grew quiet. ”We are gathered here today to witness what happens when you defy the Bone Eaters.”

The voice was responded to with roars of agreement.

”Early this morning, a trio of zonies made an attempt to escape by creating a fake attack by the assassin known as ‘Hearteater’. This is an insult…” The voice made a pensive growling noise. ” And this is disobedience. A slave should not try and run from their master. A slave should not insult their master. Yet these three have seen fit to try and do just that. And they have failed.”

The red gate opened. I heard loud, metallic barking sounds.

”I give you those three who caused that panic. Those three who thought they could defy us,” the voice continued. ”Tonight, we will give them a trial. If they survive it… maybe we’ll set them free.”

I braced myself, taking on a defensive stance.

”You may begin.”

From beyond the gate, three silvery shapes shot out, heading across the field and straight towards us.

The first tackled me, throwing me to the floor as it snapped it’s jaws at me, held back only by my hoof against its throat. Its tail lashed at my sides, but only managed to make small cuts on my flanks.

I glanced to my sides to see Meda in a similar position to myself, and Bilge frantically swinging his sledgehammer at the ironwolf going after him.

I levitated out my knife, and quickly stuck it into my opponent’s mouth. As soon as the ironwolf closed its jaws, it howled in pain, the knife piercing the roof of its mouth.

Pulling it out quickly, I stabbed the wolf in the throat, temporarily interrupting its howl. Keeping the blade in its flesh, I dragged the knife down towards its collarbone.

It pulled away from me, making sounds that resembled metallic coughing. I leapt on it and stabbed my knife into the base of its neck, wriggling the blade around for good measure, and the creature dropped to the ground.

Seeing that Meda was still holding off one of the other wolves, I charged into the one that had its jaws around Bilge’s tail, slowly dragging him backward as he desperately flailed the sledgehammer, his metal armor now heavily dented from the ironwolf’s tail strikes.

The ironwolf was launched back several feet as I body-slammed it, and Bilge scrambled away.

I flipped the knife over in my magical grip, preparing to charge the ironwolf again as it slowly stood back up, its white glowing eyes staring right into mine, its tail twitching violently.

”Don’t you just love fights?”

Her whisper startled me, and the wolf took the opportunity to slam into me. There was a loud crack, and I screamed in pain.

"Ooh… right in the ribs.” She chortled. ”Try not to get killed.”

I grunted in pain as I forced myself to my hooves. I was just in time to be tackled again, this one pinning me down as its companion had.

Despite the pain in my chest, I managed to hold it at bay with the use of both hooves while it continuously tried to snap at my face. I tried to drive the knife into this one’s throat as well, but the ironwolf grabbed hold of the blade with its teeth and started lashing at me with its tail instead.

I swore loudly. I could barely hear the crowd scream with excitement.

Then the wolf’s head collapsed on top of me, howling with pain. I shoved its head out of my way to see Bilge start repeatedly whacking the thing’s back. He kept going until there was a loud crack, and the ironwolf stopped moving.

He stood there, panting as I wriggled my way out from under the thing. I smiled at him. “And ye thought ye coulnae fight.”

Then Meda was thrown into one of the posts in the middle of the pit.

I turned just in time to see the last ironwolf leaping at me, and managed to duck out of its way. It went sailing over me and into the wall. It stumbled back for a moment, apparently stunned.

Bilge ran up to it and slammed the sledgehammer into its hind legs. I followed up by grabbing its neck with my fetlocks and jabbing the knife into its spine. Then we continued beating it until I managed to pull its head off, due to repeated stabs.

I was a bit surprised to see that, instead of flesh and blood, the insides of the thing were comprised of something like concrete dust and oddly clean, shiny rebar surrounded by a metallic skin. There was no blood, or any kind of liquid at all, though a small amount of dust did fall away from the wound.

I smirked. “That was actually easier than th’ last ones Ah fought.”

I suddenly realized that the crowd was still cheering.

“Uh… alright… we killed them… what’s going on?” I asked the others. “Aren’t we done, yet?”

I glanced around.

“Meda? Bilge? Are ye two alright?”

Meda groaned. “I’m gonna be a bit sore, but I’m fine.”

“I…” I could see Bilge smiling beneath his helmet. “I feel pretty good, actually.”

The crowd’s cheering had turned into an unintelligible chant.

“What th’ fuck are they doin’?” I growled. “We killed th’ damn-“

“Purity!” Meda called.

Something stabbed me in the back, and I screamed out in pain, the severed head dropping out of my hooves and falling to the ground.

My cry was drowned out by a howl resembling nuts and bolts stuffed into a blender.

Craning my neck, I saw that the first ironwolf was now standing just behind me, about to try and bite down into my neck. I ducked and jammed the knife into its eye.

Meda galloped up and threw a punch into its jaw.

It whipped its tail into her side.

I drove the knife into its other eye, and it howled.

There was a clacking sound in front of me, and I looked over to see the severed head snapping towards me as its body began to move around.

My eyes widened in shock. In a desperate attempt to kill the damn thing, I stomped on its head, but while its skull was crushed, its body continued to move around.

“What the fuck!” I screamed. “This didn’t happen last time!”

The second wolf was still where we’d left it, its back end writhing about, making loud grinding noises as it apparently righted whatever bones it had.

The first one was lashing its tail about wildly, stumbling around and rubbing at its now-empty eye sockets.

Number two started to approach Bilge, who nervously backed away from it step-for-step.

Meda charged it.

It swung its tail at her in an attempt to drive her away, but at the last second, she stopped on her front legs, using her momentum to swing her back ones around, and delivered a full-force two-legged buck to the ironwolf’s face, making its head spin around past what any living thing would be able to take, but receiving the business end of its tail in her gut. She gasped as the force of her blow pulled the blade out, and left her bleeding out in the middle of the ring.

I ran up to her. “Fuck, are you okay?”

She put a forehoof to her stomach. When she pulled it away it was covered in blood. She shook her head, not removing her gaze from her reddened hoof.

I desperately tried to think of anything I could do to stop her from dying.

Number three’s body found its head, and the appendage began to gradually reshape itself.

Number one roared. The blinded ironwolf turned its head towards us, its ears a-twitch, and howled.

I narrowed my eyes at it and growled.

I stepped away from Meda, and slowly started walking towards it.

It did the same.

We circled each other for what felt like forever.

We kept going…

And going…

And going…

It charged.

I charged.

We collided half-way.

I drove my knife into its throat.

It drove its tail into my side.

I stabbed it in the eye socket.

It broke another one of my ribs.

I cut off the end of its tail.

It bit down on my leg.

My knife cut its chest open.

It howled in pain.

I cut out a piece of its new torso cavity.

It let out a sound like a gasp.

I cut away more of its dusty flesh.

It howled again.

My efforts revealed a small rod, glowing with yellowish-green energy.

I hit it.

I hit it again.

And again.

And again.

The rod cracked, and the glow dissipated in a small puff.

The ironwolf fell limp. Its skin immediately began to crack, and it fell apart into a pile of dust and rebar.

I spun around and charged at number three, now with its head back in place, screaming in rage.

I blinded it with two quick stabs to the eyes.

I cut into its spine until there was little left.

I didn’t give it a chance to respond.

I hit, and hit and hit.

Everything became a blur as I tore the beast apart, piece by piece, throwing chunks of its dust-filled body away until I reached and destroyed the green rod at its core.

Screaming, I shoved somepony aside to get to number two.

I cut it, again and again and again and again.

I stood there, panting, as I watched the glow leave the core of the last ironwolf.

All of my fury left me, and I fell onto my haunches, panting.

The crowd was silent.

I realized that it had been for quite a while.

Then they erupted into cheers.

~~~~~

“And this is the kitchen,” the zebra said when he pointed to a room filled with random junk and several refrigerators. “It’s where I keep about a quarter of my food and my waffle iron collection.”

Wretch worked her jaw for a moment, trying to figure out something to say about this.

Green, on the other hoof, seemed absolutely intrigued by Xixixix’s every word.

“This is my bedroom, where I store the mayonnaise.” He continued matter-of-factly. “For research purposes.”

Wretch grimaced. “Uh… why are you giving us a tour, exactly?”

“Huh, what?” Xixixix turned and blinked at the pink mare. “Oh… I kinda forgot why I brought you two in here to begin with. Sorry.”

Wretch deadpanned at him.

The zebra shrugged. “I did apologize.”

“Memory orbs.” The unicorn growled.

“Oh! Right. That.” He turned and walked back into the living room, which was really just the main room of the empty, nondescript shop. “So, what did you want to know about them?”

“I’m looking for a specific kind of orb.” Wretch said. Black mist on the inside.”

Xixixix put a hoof to his chin and hrrm-ed thoughtfully. “Nope. Never heard of ‘em.”

“Are you sure?” The pink mare’s eyes widened. “He told me I needed to find one. He told me they hold more than just memories.”

Xixixix blinked. “Now that I’ve heard of. There was some old project where they were trying to create a more… advanced memory orb. Didn’t work the way it was supposed to. I don’t think they had a chance to finish it before the bombs fell.”

“Do you know where I can find that project?” Wretch asked hopefully.

The zebra grinned widely. “Nope! I have no fucking idea! Eh… sorry miss…”

Green looked up from the waffle iron she was examining.

“But,” he added quickly. “I do know where to find how I can find where to find the way to find it.”

As he nodded smugly, Wretch blinked in confusion. “What?”

“I can help you find it.” He smirked. “I am an expert on all things memory orb, after all.”

“How is a zebra an expert on something that needs unicorns?” Green asked.

“Canturbury Tech Memory Thingamabob.” Xixixix replied. “I swear, that’s the actual, patented name. Kinda like one of those recollectors, but it’s supposed to be able to put memories in, and not just pull them out.”

He chuckled. “I love those crazy scientists.”

He led the two ponies into yet another room, this one housing a large, clockwork contraption.

Green oooh-ed at it. Wretch simply frowned.

“Yup. That’s pretty much my reaction.” He smiled.

“Can we get on with this? I’d like to do my job, please. I’d really rather not disappoint him,” Wretch sighed.

“Oh, alright. If you insist.” Xixixix huffed indignantly. “It’ll take a few hours to search through the orbs, though. So you’ll have to be patient.”

Wretch’s eye twitched. Green returned to inspecting the waffle iron.

“Why?” Wretch asked nopony in particular. “Just… why?”

--------

Footnote 1: Diamond Knives
Level Up! (12)
Repair: 100 (maximum achieved)
Melee: 89

Perks:
Intense Training: +1 strength. Strength is now 5.

~~~

Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri

EXP: ???%

~~~

Footnote 3: Raid (???)

EXP: ???%

`

To-Do List:

Active Quest:

Where For Art Thou?:

-Find Raid

-Find Knives

Other quests:

Layin’ Down The Rails:

Find a way to remove bomb-collars

-Find a way inside Raftwater without getting killed

O’ Father, Where Art Thou?:

Infiltrate or assault the Bone Eaters’ base near Bladesville.

Sifting through the dust:

1) Find information on the location of Ashes.

2) Find information on the location of Obsidian Knives

3)–Find information on the location of Nezan Kazdri

Author's Notes:

I have absolutely nothing to say except that I have absolutely nothing to say and to say that I have absolutely nothing to say about having absolutely nothing to say.