I stared through the rifle’s scope from the top of the apartment complex, confused as I watched the slaver drag around the long-dead zebra.

“What the heck is he doing?” Said the disembodied voice beside me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, reflexively going into a combat position, my shotgun drawn before I realized who it was.

“Heart, stop sneaking up on me.”

The air shimmered, and a large mare with a black armored bodysuit, and a red-eyed helmet with teeth painted around the muzzle-plate, materialized in the chair beside me.

She laughed. “Sorry. I’m still getting some of the toggles mixed up.”

“Where’ve you been, anyway?” I asked.

She snorted. “Trying to get my armor on. Barely five months and I’m already having trouble with it. I shouldn’t even be showing yet. I actually had to take off a couple of the stomach plates.”

“You know, you could let somepony else take your place.” I said. “I’m pretty sure they’ll accept ‘I’m pregnant’ as an excuse.”

She laughed again. “I would if anypony else could figure out how to use it. Or fit in it.”

“In another few months you won’t fit either.” I smirked.

She shook her head. Even past the helmet, I could tell she was grinning.

“So, what’s up with him?” She nodded towards the slaver.

“I dunno. He’s just been dragging this corpse around for the past…” I looked at my pipbuck. “Half hour.”

“Can I see the scope?”

I raised an eyebrow and hoofed it over. “You don’t need to ask, you know. It’s your gun.”

She paused. “Oh… right… still not used to all this stuff.”

As she took a moment to balance on her hind legs, I shook my head in amazement. I’d only ever seen zebras fire a rifle the way she did, using her front hooves to control the thing, the trigger in her fetlock. It was weird to see her do it. She maneuvered the heavy sniper rifle with ease, looking down the scope at the slaver below.

“Well… that’s just friggin’… eugh...” She said, shuddering a bit.

“What’s he doing no-“

There was a phoot sound, as she fired the rifle. The poisoned hollow point round blew the slaver’s head apart.

“Uh…” I said.

“Sorry, but that was disgusting.” She shook her head again. “With a friggin’ corpse. What the heck is wrong with these ponies…”

I grimaced. “Never mind. I don’t want to know now.”

She plopped onto the chair, sitting biped-style, and rubbed her slightly bulging belly with a forehoof. “Oof… Aw, crud. I forgot to bring up food.”

I guffawed. “Want me to bring something up for you? I’ve got some free time right now.”

“Corn,” She said quickly. “Lots’n’lots of corn.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. “Corn?”

“The foal wants corn, apparently. So I’m getting a craving for corn.” She shrugged. “Would you deny a pregnant mare her cravings?”

“Weren’t you craving chalk the other day?”

“Touché, but still. I’m craving corn, so I must have corn. In abundance.” I could almost see her pouting at me inside the helmet. “Please? I’m friggin’ starving, and I’m too tired to walk back up the stairs again.”

“Well…” I said in mock thought.

“Please? I’m sooo hungry right now.” She begged, putting her forehooves together in a pleading manner. “Pretty please with lots of sugar on top?”

I laughed. “Yeah, yeah, alright. Anything else?”

“Coffee would be awesome. Preferably black as Luna’s plot.” She leaned back into her chair and rubbed her stomach again. “Hey, calm down, I’ll feed you when I can.”

I laughed again. “Yeah, you tell that unborn foal.”

~~~~

“Nine-nine-eight. Nine-nine-nine. Thousand.” I huffed and rolled over onto my side. “So… sit-ups, push-ups, wing-curls… what else?”

I started trotting in place.

“Okay…” Said the mare in the cell on my left. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I exercise when I’m bored.” I replied. “And I am very much bored.”

“That sounds stupid.” She snorted.

“No it doesn’t.” A buck snapped. “That’s a great idea! Keeps you from getting flabby.”

“Are you calling me fat?” The mare snarled.

“Yes.”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck your face!”

“Fuck your mother!”

I listened to them continue throwing curses back and forth for about a minute.

“Fuck your face with your mother’s face!”

“For the love of Celestia, shut the hell up!” A gravelly voice yelled. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“Fuck you too, skinless.” The mare growled.

“I’m not the one waking everypony up with your yelling, smoothcoat, so fuck you.”

“You’re a ghoul!” She continued to yell. “You don’t even need to sleep!”

“What else am I gonna do?”

“Uh… well… I dunno, try and get out of here?” She went quiet.

“Porridge, are you insane?” The buck from before said. “They’ll just blow the collars if we try.”

The ghoul laughed.

I perked my ears, my curiosity piqued.

“The fuck’re you laughing about?” The mare snapped.

“Heh… Not very smart for a Steel Ranger, are you?” he laughed again. “Although… I guess I do have a… unique view of the situation. Heh.”

“What’re you talking about you undead freak?” She continued.

“Could tell you, but it wouldn’t really help you in here. Just make you feel even more miserable.” He let out a raspy chuckle. “And even if it did help, I don’t like you. Heh... ‘Raftwater’s big secret’.”

A nearby door slammed open. Two slavers trotted over to my cell and opened it. One pointed a rifle at my face, while another tied a rope around my neck. I was herded out, down the hallway.

“So…” I asked after a while. “Where are-Ghahgk!”

The slaver yanked on the rope around my throat. When he let go I broke into a fairly nasty coughing fit as I massaged my now probably bruised neck.

“We’re taking you to see the boss,” said the stallion with a gun. “You’re not allowed to talk to us. We’re not stopping for any reason. Even if we have to drag you by the neck.”

“And if you try anything, I’ll fucking throttle you.” Said the one with the rope.

I spat on the ground and they started pulling me away again.

As they dragged me along, I looked for an out. I didn’t even see any doors except for the one at the end of the hall. My ears went back against my head and I let out a sigh of irritation. Not anger, irritation. There’s a difference.

The door opened, and I was shoved through it. My rope was secured around a file cabinet, and the Bone Eaters promptly walked back the way we came in. Taking stock of my surroundings, I saw that I was in what looked like an overmare’s office in a stable. The large, round desk with the wall of computer terminals behind it, file cabinets in the corners, and an imposing-looking chair.

Scratch that… it was exactly like an overmare’s office, but nopony was there. Well… noone. The Bone Eater’s leader was supposedly a diamond dog, after all.

Hrrm-ing to myself, I stepped over to the main terminal. It was locked, so I didn’t even bother with it. I examined the desk. It was perfectly neat. Recently cleaned and recently used. There were papers stacked in neat little piles, each with labels like ‘fabrication’, ‘construction’, ‘inventory’, ‘brothel’.

With a raised eyebrow, I took a look at the top page of that last one. It was a list of details about a specific pony. Their measurements, their appearance. I blinked and laughed as I realized that they were actually mine. There was another page stapled to it. A transfer paper that had recently been approved.

“Wow… They really do keep paperwork.” I snorted.

“And you have no idea how hard it was to get them to go along with it.” Said a familiar growling voice behind me. I felt something press against the back of my neck. “I advise against moving.”

I froze. “Crap.”

“Chamomile, would you care to tell me why you let him look at my files?” The voice said.

The air in front of me spoke. “I wasn’t aware I was supposed to stop him, sir.”

The voice behind me sighed. “Why would I put you here if… Never mind.”

Something yanked on my shoulder, spinning me around. I ended up facing a distinctly canine, and distinctly undead, face with a disturbing grin. He wore a black pinstripe suit and a fedora. “Hello there, little slave. I’m Rex. I’ll bet you’re wondering why you’re here, eh?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s a pretty good question.”

Rex grinned wider, and turned to adjust the papers that I’d moved.. “Your little friends have made quite a mess of my city. Needless to say, I’m not happy about that.”

“Ah…” I said, nodding in agreement. “That’s a shame.”

“Indeed.” He continued. “I don’t like it when things get out of my control. Especially when it’s because of little shits like you. Breaking and entering was, at one point, illegal you know.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Oh, really? And slavery wasn’t?”

“Don’t get snarky with me, pony!” He snarled, hopping up out of his chair. I jumped and my wings flared in surprise. Some of the papers were blown out of place, and immediately replaced by the undead dog.

I mentally raised an eyebrow.

Rex growled quietly. “What makes you think you can get out of here, pony? Why do you think you can just… fight me and get away with it?”

I said nothing, but a thought popped into my head.

“Are you trying to be defiant?” he guffawed. He reached under the desk, and pulled out a box with a screen and a few buttons. I’d seen one before, but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on what it was. “I do have this, you know. Can you guess what it is?”

I faked a sneeze, making sure to flap my wings hard as I did. Several of the papers in the room were blown away by the wind. I kept careful watch on his expression.

Rex’s eye started twitching. He sighed, and got out of his chair to pick up the papers.

I quirked an eyebrow as I watched him.

Okay… the Bone Eaters are led by an obsessive-compulsive diamond dog. Interesting.

The tiny me in my head clapped his hooves sarcastically. ‘Oh, yay. You’ve managed to make a psychological diagnosis in twelve seconds. What’ll you do next, herr doctor? Find a cure for schizophrenia?’

Shut up. I’m thinking.

‘That’s a first.’

Rex finished putting his papers back, and returned to his chair.

He held up the device again. “This is the detonator for those collars that I keep around your necks. So, if you make me angry, I will use it. Clear?”

I quirked an eyebrow at him.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “I asked if we were clear.”

“Did you just say ‘the’ detonator?” I asked.

He glared at me suspiciously. “Yes.”

“As in, it’s the only one you have?”

His face changed to a deadpan expression. “... No?”

I nodded. “Ah. Okay, just wanted to be sure.”

We remained silent for a moment.

“I gotta wonder why all your slavers keep threatening to blow us up if they don’t even have control of the collars.” I said. “Are they just stupid or something?”

“What the hell are you-“

“HOLY SHIT!” I screamed, pointing behind the ghoul.

He spun around in his chair to look behind him. I took the opportunity to grab the device out of his hand and hold it in my mouth. With a flap of my wings, I tried to fly out the door, only to slam into the empty air.

“GRAB HIM, DAMMIT!” Rex howled.

I felt an invisible hoof slam into my jaw, but I refused to let go of my grip on the detonator.

Rex dove at me. I was slammed against the wall, biting down on the device and hoping that I didn’t hit any buttons or break my teeth.

Speaking of teeth, he decided to clamp his around my hind leg. I screamed and kicked him in the face with the other one. “Get off me!”

The invisible hoof slammed into my head again. The blow knocked the detonator to the ground, where it slid out the open door.

“THE DETONATOR!” The diamond dog roared, letting go of my leg.

I took the chance to buck him in the snout and flap my wings. I shot towards the remote, grabbing it in my forehooves, and kept going down the hallway.

“Get him you useless fuck!”

“Yessir!”

I flew through the hallways, blowing past shocked slavers, knocking them over. I doubted that Chamomile would be able to keep up with me.

I didn’t stop flying until I’d found my way outside, at which point I zipped up into the top floor of an office building.

I sat on the ground, panting but smiling, as I looked out the window at the now-panicking Bone Eaters.

I blockaded the room I was in, shoving every single piece of large furniture I could find into the hallway on both sides.

“Heh…” I said. “This wasn’t as hard as I’d expected.”

I looked at the device, trying to figure out what it was.

A small metal box, with an old glass screen, a control wheel on one side, three large buttons labeled…

Status… Automaps… Archive…

I blinked, and turned the device over. A large number eighty-six was emblazoned on the back.

A pipbuck 2000.

“What the fuck?” I gaped at the device, fumbling with it as I turned it on.

“Initializing: PipOS… Complete.” The image of that irritating little cartoon pony said before the screen popped into menu mode.

“What the fuck?” I repeated. “Did he lie? Fuck… all that for… gugh…”

I clumsily flipped through the menus, the device not having been built for efficient use with hooves.

I was interrupted by a hoof slamming into my back.

Reflexively, I kicked out behind me, and was rewarded with a grunt of pain.

I tried to fly out the window, pipbuck in my teeth, but was pulled back as something wrapped around my hind leg. I fought against it, flailing my legs around until they connected with something solid.

The invisible pony screamed in pain, but held on, still pulling me back into the office.

I pulled my free leg back to kick again, when I was suddenly dragged out the window, which surprised the living shit out of me. The invisible Chamomile flew towards a building across the street from the police station as I struggled to get him to let go of my hind leg. I kicked at where I thought he was and flapped my wings as hard as I could, but I couldn’t seem to get out of his grip.

“Attention Bone Eaters! We have a loose slave in the city! Grab him and bring him back to me immediately, or I’ll have every single one of you fed to gorgons.”

A bullet whizzed past me. Another grazed my free hind leg. I screamed and grabbed the leg with my forelegs.

A third bullets passed just next to my flank, and I saw a spurt of blood from the air as it struck Chamomile, who roared in pain.

“Raid!” Called a voice from below. I glanced downward to see Knives, Zeed, and another, much larger zebra running vaguely in my direction.

Chamomile hit me in the face again. I twisted to punch at the invisible pony, and connected with something. Chamomile wobbled in the air, and we went spiraling downward, despite my desperate attempts to control our flight path.

We crashed into a salon, sending manebrushes and fur-care products flying everywhere. I think I landed on top of Chamomile, but I couldn’t’ be sure.

I grunted as I pushed myself up, and my eyes widened in terror.

Mirrors. All over the wall.

My mouth turned dry. I suddenly felt the intense urge to run, but my legs felt like jelly.

Chamomile growled from beneath me and slammed me to the floor on my back.

OH GODDESSES THE WHOLE FUCKING CEILING!

I clenched my eyes shut and tried to squirm away from the mirrors and the invisible pony holding me down, but only got hit in the head again.

Don’t look. Don’t look. It’ll be okay if you just don’t look.

I screamed when something hit me in the right wing.

You can keep going if you don’t look.

I scrambled to get away, but was grabbed by the leg.

You won’t stop existing. You’ll be okay.

“Raid!”

Chamomile hit me in the back. I screamed again.

You’ll stay real if you don’t look.

I just wanted to get away. I curled up into a ball.

A grey blur slammed into the air above me, and some glass on the floor a short distance away shattered.

“Raid, come on!” Knives said.

She dragged me out of the salon. I heard a door slam shut, and a loud crashing sound deeper in the building.

“Raid? Knives?”

“Get over here an check oan Raid. Ah think somethin’s wrong wi’ him.”

I’m real. I’m real. I’m real.

“Raid?” I felt a hoof on my shoulder. “What’s wrong? You’re shaking?”

“M-m-m-m…” I swallowed, but didn’t look up. “M-m-m-m-m-mir-r-r-r-r… Mirrors… S-s-so m-many m-mirrors. D-d-d-d-d-d-don’t wanna… w-wanna…”

“Oh crap… I think he’s having a panic attack.”

“What the hell happened?” Said an unfamiliar voice.

“Ah dunnae! Somethin’ was holdin’ him down, but Ah couldnae really see it.”

I’m sitting here. They’re talking about me. I’m real. I have a mark. I have a soul.

“Here, you’re his friends, you two deal with him. I’ll hold that door closed.”

“Raid? It’s okay.”

I took a deep breath and held it for a moment.

I’m real. I can feel. I have a soul.

“That’s good. You’re doing fine.”

I did it again.

I’m real. I can feel. I have a soul.

“Just keep going, buck.” Said the unfamiliar voice.

Another breath. I looked up to see Knives on one side, Zeed on the other.

I gulped down another breath and stood back up. I was still shaking violently.

“Raid, are ye okay?” Knives asked.

“No, but I will be eventually.” I said, swallowing again. “We need to move now.”

I started trudging down the street, away from that place full of… mirrors…

“What ‘appened? Ye scared us.” Knives said.

“I’m scared of mirrors.” I replied quickly. “And you don’t need to hold that door. I’m sure he already left.”

The large zebra in front of… that building shrugged, and went inside.

“Uh… dae ye need anythin’?” Knives offered.

I shook my head and swallowed. “No. I’ll calm down eventually.”

“You might want something for those cuts, though.” Zeed forcefully sat me back down and started wrapping bandages around my wounds.

I sighed. “What happened to Stock?”

“We don’t know. I lost her after I… eh…” Zeed glanced at the other zebra. “Got my disguise.”

“Well, I might have found out something pretty damn interesting about the collars and oh goddesses dammit, I dropped it in the fucking office complex.” I groaned. “FUCK! GAGH!”

Suddenly, I heard the flap of wings, and saw a cloud of dust puff off the ground. I swore loudly and flared my wings.

Before I could flap, I was tackled by Zeed. “You’re not going anywhere!”

“Zeed, let me go!” I growled. “Rex was waving a pipbuck saying it was a detonator. Chamomile’s going after it right now!”

“What, you mean this?” The large zebra trotted back out of the salon, holding the pipbuck with his teeth. “Makes sense. I think most of these have transmitters on them.”

I blinked. “How did…”

He spat the device onto the ground. “It was sitting on top of a broken mirr-“

“PLEASE don’t… mention those right now…” I exhaled shakily. “I don’t want to go into a panic again.”

Knives game me a sympathetic grimace.

“Okay… So…” I blinked at the zebra stallion. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“Probably not. Nezan Imulane Mirivo Kazdri, trader, handler, farmer, and hunter, at your service.” He said in a fake posh accent.

I stared at him in disbelief. Then I looked at Zeed. Then I looked at him again. Then I looked back at Zeed.

“You’re… you’re her father?”

He gave me a confused look. “Uh… last I checked, yes. Why do you ask?”

I looked at him, then I looked back at Zeed once more. The height difference was significant. He was at least a head taller than me, she was at least a head shorter.

I blinked at them, and eventually shook my head. “O…kay then… Moving on. Rex said that this was a detonator.”

“Ah thought it would have… Ah dunnae, more buttons?” Knives shrugged. “What’s with the eighty-six oan it?”

“It’s from a stable. Rex was hiding in a room that was pretty damn close to an overmare’s office, so I’m guessing there was one under the city at some point.” I scratched the back of my head. “Kinda wish I had my pipbuck so I could be sure.”

Knives picked the device up in her magic and started flicking through the menus. “Maps… Inventory… Injury tracking… Huh… This thing is sorta cool. So… Ah guess it belonged tae somepony called th’ overmare. Eh…”

Dear Miss Upgrade,

We at Stable-Tec apologize. The stable numbered 86-F has, once again been delayed due to unforeseen setbacks. The experiment has been canceled and the collars have been stored in a nearby warehouse for the time being. We will begin construction of 86-G as soon as possible within the Broken Basin. The distributed pipbucks may remain in the possession of the chosen ponies for the time being.

Construction Foremare Rictus.

I chuckled. “I always wondered where ‘F’ was.”

“Personally, I only ever found ‘A’ and ‘D’.” Nezan shrugged. “Never really cared to look for them.”

“I kept running into them and decided to just go looking for them.” I smiled. “You should hear some of the reasons they got cancelled.”

“Oh! Here they are. Detonator codes.” Knives scanned the letter. As she did, her expression turned from one of amusement to one of shock. “Wat.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Her eye twitched. “WAT.”

“Knives, what’s wrong?”

Knives glared at me, her eye a-twitch, and gave me an infuriated smile. “The goddess-damned collars are duds.”

I blinked at her. “Wat.”

She held the pipbuck up to me. “There’s th’ note, written by Rex himself, tellin’ how he found th’ warehouse full ay collars, and how a bunch ay raiders had been takin’ all th’ explosives out ay them so they could blast their way intae th’ Stable.”

I read through the note. My eye twitched. “That… miserable… fucking piece of SHIT!”

Nezan sighed. “Oh that just sucks beyond belief.”

“So even if there was more than one detonator,” I laughed. “IT WOULDN’T FUCKING MATTER! GRAGH!”

We stood there for a time, Knives and I both fuming , Nezan with a hoof over his face, and Zeed patting him on the shoulder sympathetically.

“So…” Said Zeed. “What are we going to do?”

I thought…

And a grin appeared on my face.

“Anypony know how to hack a sound system?”

~~~

We found ourselves sitting exposed, in the middle of the street, near one of the badly-hidden speakers. Knives had managed to crack the wall open and, apparently despite never having seen one before, patched the pipbuck into the system.

She was still routing things through other things when a rotting face poked itself around the corner.

“Blue!”

“Stock, where the fuck have you been?” I hissed. “And keep it down!”

She looked taken aback. “Dude, what are you so angry about.”

“I’m not angry! I’m mad!”

Knives looked up and quirked an eyebrow at me. “There’s a difference?”

“Yes!” I turned back to Stock. “Now where the hell have you been?”

“Gathering slaves who’d be willing to make a break for it, and trying to find a key for the collars.” She nervously scratched what was left of her mane. “It hasn’t been going too well.”

Knives unplugged the pipbuck and showed the note to her.

The ghoul then turned a blank stare on us. “I don’t believe it. It’s too convenient.”

“Dunnae believe… it’s right here!” Knives pointed to the note.

“You guys’ve jumped the gun. You’re gonna get everypo- sorry, everyone killed.” The ghoul said. Zeed’s eye twitched a bit. “What makes you think this wasn’t planted?”

I worked my jaw up and down as I tried, and failed, to come up with a response. “Fuck, she’s right.”

“What, sae because it might ‘ave been planted, ye think it’s nae real?” Knives groaned. “Goddesses damn- what the hell?”

“What is it?” Zeed asked.

“Did it get foggy all of a sudden?” Knives swept a hoof around. “And does it seem weird tae any ay ye?”

I blinked. There was indeed a thick layer of fog, and as Knives said, it did indeed seem weird.

“Seems like normal fog to me.” Nezan said.

Stock took on a defensive stance and stuck the bit to her machine gun in her mouth. “Fog cover. They’ve got a pegasus with them.”

As if on cue, Knives yelled, tackled the air, then she started beating up the asphalt. Then she started stabbing it with a knife. It wasn’t until I saw blood pooling on the ground that I realized that she’d somehow grabbed Chamomile.

I had just run over to help when she was launched away, accompanied by the sickening crunch of broken ribs. She landed on the ground several feet away, her knife clattering to the ground beside her. I saw the fog shifting as Chamomile flew off.

Zeed and I both ran over to check on Knives, who was making a sound somewhere between a gasp and a squeak of pain.

“Knives, are you okay? How did you-“

Chamomile interrupted me by driving his hooves into my side.

Nezan tackled the spot where I’d just been, but only managed to grab empty air. Stock was assembling large chunks of the fog into a ball about the size of a pony.

Knives forced herself back to her hooves, and brandished her namesake at the empty air, a pained grimace on her face.

The air shifted and she jammed the knife downwards. The tip of it disappeared, a pony screamed as the air seemed to bleed. Nezan tackled the now self-levitating knife, and was rewarded with a grunt.

Then the knife shot up into the air. I pushed myself up and flew after it.

Chamomile and I collided in midair, and I grabbed onto what I thought were his front legs and flew straight down.

“CLEAR!” Stock yelled.

And then I was struck by a massive bolt of lightning.

Words cannot describe how excruciatingly painful it is to be struck by lightning, even the weaker, pegasus-made lightning.

My entire body stiffened, and I was thrown back into a nearby building.

I think I heard somepony screaming, but my head hurt too much to recognize who it was. I couldn’t seem to breathe right. My leg hurt a lot.

Slowly, I made my way back to my hooves, just as the others found me.

“Holy… Raid, don’t move!” Zeed yelled.

“Oh calm down. He’ll be fine.” Stock snorted.

“He was just hit by lightning you moron! It was your fault!” The zebra growled as she checked me over for injuries.

“Oh please. Pegasi can stand electrical shocks.”

“F-f-f-fuck-k-k… y-y-ou.” I managed to get out.

“See? He’s fine already.”

“He has a broken foreleg ‘cuz of you!”

Knives rushed over to me. “Ye alright?”

I stared into those beautiful silver orbs of hers.

“You’re even prettier when you’re worried...”

Knives’ face turned red, and she worked her jaw for a moment trying to think of a response.

Then I fainted.

~~~~

“So, have you ever been to the Mall before?” Barkeep asked.

The two foals trotted down the pathways of the Mall, one merrily, one nervously.

“Um… n-no?” The nervous verdant filly replied.

“Really? Huh… well… honestly I’ve only been here once.” The red colt replied. “We’re just visiting ‘cuz mom wanted to borrow grandpa’s mix book.”

“Oh.”

“But since mom already paid Mrs. Rose to take care of her bar for the next month, I guess we’re here until then.”

“Oh…”

Barkeep turned to Green, and fixed his blue eyes on her orange ones. “You don’t talk much, do you.”

Green shook her head and backed away nervously.

The colt blinked, and rubbed his navy blue mane. “Sorry… I wasn’t trying to be mean.”

“Six?” Called a surprised female voice. “Six, what are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be at home.”

Barkeep grinned nervously. “Uh... I... uh...”

Green looked at the newcomer, a unicorn mare with a brown coat, brown mane, and azure eyes. Green noticed that her belly had a noticeable bulge to it.

The mare narrowed her eyes at Barkeep. “You snuck out again didn’t you.”

Barkeep shook his head frantically. “No! I didn’t! Backlash tried to break in while dad was out and chased me all the way here! Green helped me get away from her.”

The mare’s expression softened, and she sighed. “Again? Goddesses I can’t believe that fucking bitch. All because your father said one- Oh, I’m so sorry.”

She turned to Green, and smiled apologetically. “Thank you for helping my son. I really appreciate it. Your name is Green?”

The pegasus filly nodded.

“I’m Barkeep. It’s nice to meet you.” She offered her hoof, and Green shook it with a confused look.

“You’re... both Barkeep?” She asked.

The older Barkeep nodded. “Yup. I’m Barkeep the Fifth, and my son here is the Sixth. Eh... if you don’t mind my asking, why are you wandering around here? The Mall isn’t exactly... safe...”

Green swallowed nervously. “Um... well... I came here with Wretch because she needed to find an expert on memory orbs, but she had to um... go through them quicker so she started helping Xixixix. She said I could do... um... stuff...”

Barkeep the fifth rose an eyebrow. “Stuff?”

Green nodded. “She said I could do whatever I wanted, so I just went outside... I guess.”

“Is Wretch your mother?” The elder asked curiously.

Green shook her head. “She... she killed my master so-”

The older Barkeep gasped in shock. “You’re a slave?”

Green shook her head again. “No. Wretch set me free and let me travel with her. She... doesn’t really ask me to do much, though. I... I don’t really... know where my mother is, though...”

Green’s ears drooped. “I hope she’s okay...”

Barkeep the Fifth looked from Green to her son for a moment, who had become distracted by one of the vendors of the Mall. After a moment, she blinked, smiled, and patted her stomach with a chuckle. “Green, I was about to go and get some lunch. Would you like to come with me?”

Green smiled and nodded.

----

Footnote 1: Diamond Knives

EXP 93%

~~~

Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri

EXP: 70%

~~~

Footnote 3: Raid (???)

EXP:50%

`

To-Do List:

Active Quest:

Where For Art Thou?:

-Find Raid

-Find Knives

-Completed

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.

-Escape from Raftwater.

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:

Okay... Later than usual, due to a few severe technical difficulties. All taken caree of now, so I shouldn't need to worry about them again. Probably jinxing myself, but honestly, I'm too relieved to care.

Thank you Kkat for creating this gigantic sandbox we screw around in, thanks to all who inspired me to write, and thanks to everyone who reads the crap I write. Critiques are appreciated.