Iron Gem, the main town of Blood Skull. This is where our target was: Blood Rose, the clan leader who had my parents killed for unknown reasons. This was meant to be a serious moment, but the fact that we were riding in a pimped out wagon with a weird zebra was kind of ruining the mood.

The zebra with the top hat and smiley glasses started smoking his pipe, before defusing the building tension. "First time to Tri-Hole?"

Sharp just kept staring at the zebra, so it was up to me to speak. "Yes actually, although wasn't the town's name Iron Gem?"

The wagon began to move again as we entered the town. I looked out the window and saw that we were actually on a metal bridge. On our sides were massive cliffs that seemed to get swallowed by a black abyss. I looked forward and saw the town. The whole settlement was suspended over the giant abyss by wires and bridges like the one we were on now. I’ve never seen anything like it, I couldn't help but to gaze at its amazingness.

I looked up the bridge to the actual town entrance, it was another gate. But unlike the last, we weren't first in line. We soon came to a stop in the middle of the bridge as we were behind at least a dozen other carts and wagons, all on this massive one lane bridge.

"Tri-Hole is the name of this place in total. It was built as a mining platform during the war. They apparently dug out three whole mountains and decided to just keep going." He pointed his pipe to the right and we looked in that direction.

There it was, not as big as Iron Gem but still quite large and more like a castle in shape. Another platform strung up above the abyss by four massive bridges. Three were connected to the land and one joined it to Iron Gem. There was no need to ask what or whose it was; a giant banner proudly bore his clan's symbol. Blood Rose's Headquarters. If the banner wasn't obvious then the guards swarming around it were a dead giveaway.

We stared at it for a bit, before the zebra moved his pipe to the other side and yet again we followed. This time it pointed to a bridge, much like the one we were on. But this bridge was broken and warped, leading to nothing.

"I don't get it? It's just a broken or incomplete bridge?"

The zebra chuckled a little before blowing a puff of smoke in my face. "No, it was finished and it had a name, Iron Coat. The twin city of Iron Gem. Like the platforms before you, repurposed into large towns or cities, even a castle. Only this one was destroyed during the War of Thirty-Two." He blew another puff of smoke up and made a mini mushroom cloud that soon dispersed.

"Who are you and what was that at the gate?" Sharp interjected.

The zebra just seemed to smirk before giving us a little bow. "Name's Mr. Luck and I am the most important zebra in the north. The right hoof of the mighty Iron Palm, leader of the Iron Fist clan."

I looked to his actual braced right hoof then back at him. "Who?"

"Remember how I told you there was a bunch of clans before? Well I guess that Iron Palm is the leader of one of them," Sharp said, answering my question.

"Hehe, that's right." The way he said that gave me chills as his accent made certain things sound creepy. "Iron Palm owns an arena near the center of the land. I am his adviser, spoke zebra and announcer at his arena."

I tilted my head, thinking. "Arena? So if you run an arena then why are you here and why did you let us come with you?"

"And why did you call us your champions?" Sharp added.

He smirked at us, bearing his teeth for the first time. They were rectangular in shape and looked rather sharp. Sharp and I stared at them before moving back a little. "Listen kiddies, I'm rather good at spotting when someone has the 'it' factor and one of you has a lot of it."

He then proceeded to pull out two bottles of Crystal-Pop, both blueberry flavour. We happily took them, popped the beads and drank them. Crystal-Pop really was thirst quenching. Sharp handed me her cap, a nine star, and I checked mine, also nine. We thanked him and put the caps in my pocket.

"Wait!" Sharp interjected. "Our stuff, we left it in a wagon at the gate."

Mr. Luck waved his good hoof. "Relax, it'll be there when you leave Iron gem. Speaking of which, what are you two doing out here?" His piercing yellow eyes looked us up and down, searching for an answer.

"We're here to K~" I would have finished my sentence, but Sharp's hoof in my mouth made it kinda hard.

"Business, with the clan leader. Just boring trade stuff," Sharp said, trying to bluff the zebra.

The zebra made the weird sound with his mouth as he shook his head. "You got a good silver tongue. But that one over there ruined it," he said, nodding to me, Sharp's hoof still in my mouth. "That and you may be the most charismatic pony I met, but you are not as charismatic as me, my little pony."

Sharp pulled her hoof away and smiled, reading the zebra. "We are here to kill Blood Rose and throw this world into chaos."

My jaw dropped a bit as my eyes were on Sharp, then back to the zebra, who was starting to chuckle. The zebra soon calmed down and we started to move again, slowly. He was still smiling, but no words were spoken.

"Hmm, chaos you say? Just by looking at you, I can tell you’re above petty revenge for whatever Blood or his clan has done to you. No, you are a pony who has a reason and a plan." He put his pipe down and pulled out his pistol type gun as we tensed.

"Now, I should just kill you both and be on my way, business and what not. But I must be honest, you have caught my interest."

The two of them stared each other down as I was seemingly forgotten. That was until the zebra turned the gun to me. I swallowed whatever spit I had and looked at him, trying to intimidate me. This was completely different than Twin Barrel. I could sense that he wasn't going to shoot me. But this zebra, I couldn't get a read on what he was going to do. He suddenly flicked his head and I flinched. He had opened the gun onto an empty chamber.

"Relax kid, if I wanted you dead then I would have just told the guard that the infamous Blue Bird was at their gate." Even around a gun, his words were still devilishly charming. Neither Sharp nor me spoke, so he spoke for us. "If you want to look at my gun, simply ask."

My jaw dropped a little as I didn't know what to say at first, so I just blurted out “yes”.

I went to reach for it and even gripped it with my teeth when he stopped me with his good hoof. "But first, you must impress me."

I tried to think of the most impressive thing I could do or say and it came to me. I scooched over to the side and pulled out one of my wings. He smirked as we looked at it. You know, it's been awhile since I actually looked at myself, but just by seeing my wing, I could see how I was changing. The burnt off ends of some feathers from plasma. The bite mark from that ghoul. It was also filthy, my white feathers were dirty and even had some blood drops on them, both ghoul and other.

He gave a light chuckle. "Impressive, a Pegasus. Here I thought the radio called you Blue Bird because of that badge on your jacket."

I slowly put away my wing, giving Sharp most of her space back. "Yea, it was my dad's." I didn't feel too happy as I reminisced on the past, the very thing I said I'd try to stop doing.

"Straight Shot, the stable pony junkie of the Immortals."

"Yea the stable, wait what?!" I began to say when his words hit me, and my sister. "Junkie?!"

Mr. Luck proceeded to pick up his pipe and slid his gun over to me with his hoof. I slowly picked it up as I was still a little stunned at what he had said.

"Tell us what you know," Sharp demanded as I began to look over the gun.

The gun, in fact, was smaller than a pistol and seemed to feature a smooth bore barrel, and a spark plug hammer that was connected to a small battery in the handle. By the looks of it, when the spark plug hit the metal pan it could complete an electrical circuit that would activate the ammo of the gun. It looked like the ammunition was plasmatic and disintegrated the casing upon firing. The gun chamber barrel focused quite a large amount of power.

When I first saw this gun it was in perfect condition. But after firing once I could see that its condition had dropped considerably. By design or side effect, this weapon didn't seem like it could handle more than four or five shots before breaking. This one also appeared to be a high-quality make, even being engraved and constructed out of high-quality material. So I assumed low or cheap variants would struggle to last more than two shots.

"They take one-third of a plasma cartridge. If you break one open carefully, you'll find that there are three mini plasma cells connected. They decided to make plasma cartridges because then you got twelve shots instead of just four. The guns are called Plasma Locks and they are a post-war zebra invention from the Zebra homelands." Mr. Luck's words were quite informative as I kept looking over this fascinating gun, and here I was afraid the only post-war guns were those crappy pipe weaponry.

"Why did you call my dad a junkie?" Sharp repeated.

Mr. Luck picked up his smoking pipe and began to smack his lips around it. "My dear, that is a long story. But seeing as we still have some time till we get into Iron Gem, I will tell you. Although I must mention it's usually much quicker to get across than this."

I finally finished looking over the gun so I put it down. "Why is it taking so long? Is it rush hour?"

He gave an annoyed eye roll. "Well, Iron Gem was always Blood Skull's main trade hub. But over the past year or so its amount of trade has quadrupled. Blood Rose usually sold slaves and what not, but lately, they've been arming themselves. Buying up all the ammo, armour and guns they can get their hooves and talons on."

"Talons?"

"Star, I want to hear about dad's past."

I must admit I am curious about that too, although also the present. "Fine."

Mr. Luck cleared his throat and blew a puff of smoke. "During the early days of the war of thirty-two, I was a part of one of the less favorable clans, a name which was been forgotten to time and losses."

"You forgot your own clan's name?" I interjected.

"I chose to forget it, along with everyone who was in it. After it was destroyed, I became the last member of said clan." He coughed and continued his story. "Back then I was a simple chem dealer. One day I met a pony wearing that jacket and a stable suit. He was fresh out of his stable with nothing but a 10mm pistol and eight rounds to protect himself. At the time he had no caps, so he traded me his stable jumpsuit for some Dash and Med-X. Said he was going to try and earn some caps and needed it in case, well in case he did."

"What Stable was he from?" Sharp asked, curiously.

"It wasn't a number like a normal stable, but in fact a letter 'X'." He blew an X shape out of smoke. "I didn't expect to see him again. But to my surprise, he made it somehow, even got a few caps. So in time, he bought more from me, but I was mainly a drug merchant. He began to buy more and more Med-X and Dash. Before he knew it, he was an addict and a regular. He was so much better than the other addicts, he survived, he had 'it'."

The cart jostled as we drove over something and I looked out the window and saw that we were entering the town. All the buildings were made out of metal welded and patched together with more metal. The ground was concrete. We seemed to be on the main road of the town, with dozens of wagons and ponies moving around as they made their way through the city.

"But one day he overdosed on some Dash in front of me. Normally I'd have walked away. But besides being my best customer, he was also starting to make a name for himself. So I took him to the nearest doctor and left him there. Think the doc's name was Red Cross. Next thing I heard he and the doctor joined forces to save Red Cross's childhood friend."

The carriage came to a sudden halt as the driver announced, "We have arrived at the center of Iron Gem, sir." before opening the door.

I squinted at the light and sound as I realized how dark it was inside the carriage. I began to hop out but I stopped. Before I could ask my question Mr. Luck nudged me out. I turned to wait for my sister, but after she got up Mr. Luck placed a hoof to stop her.

"I'd like to have a conversation with the lady, if that’s alright?" He asked, with his smooth oily voice.

Sharp sat down and nodded at me to go.

"Oh and little birdy, as per your suicide quest. I recommend finding a pony by the name of Armour Wall, look around the bars. And if you manage to survive your mission then feel free to come by my arena any time. I can make you a gladiator and a star."

I gave a light chuckle, barely audible over the noise. "Thanks, but I'm already a Star."

"I'll find you in the bar after I'm done here," Sharp said, as the doors closed and the carriage began to pull away.

It looked like we were in some round warehouse. Wagons pulled by groups of ponies and brahmin were being lowered down and raised up by huge elevators. Filling the air was the sound of ponies and brahmin wagons full and empty, moving in and out, getting on and off the elevators as they were instructed by guards. I chose not to linger in this place and moved along with the crowd, soon finding myself outside the building.

There I was in one of the biggest, most crowded places I had ever seen. It was more active than Slave Town on the trading day and moved twice as fast. I struggled to move through the crowds of ponies and avoided the rushing carts. But in all that chaos I found myself surprised. There was a traffic light, stopping carts and letting ponies walk when it turned red. It turned green and ponies made way for dashing carts as they moved on the road, a lane for carts going one way and a lane for carts going the other.

The roads and sidewalks then split at a four-way intersection. I was becoming disoriented and confused by all the motion so I decided to try and move away from all the chaos. Soon I found myself in the massive market, dozens of ponies shouting and yelling, trying to get my attention and caps. I tried to move away but the flow of the crowds kept pulling back towards the markets.

I really wished I didn't need to hide my wings, otherwise I would fly to get away from this crowd. So I hoofed it to a less busy part of town. Eventually, I found a billboard with a map on it. The town, which was huge by the way, had multiple districts and even lower level slums. But the bars were close by on the surface level. This place was more like a city. According to the map it had a middle residential layer and a post-war third layer which were the slums.

I made my way into a designated elevator section and discovered that it too was a bar. It was at the edge of town, but in truth it was over the edge. The building sat elevated Past an open gate and a few hooves out along what I assumed was the bridge to Iron Coat, or what remained of it. I could hear the sound of Blood Skull’s radio playing from the bar, showy and uplifting tones played and thankfully the “self-confident” DJ wasn't on.

There was a big neon sign that read ‘Three Stories Bar’. It was clearly a post-war building, but it seemed to be in good shape. I walked into the sound of laughter and music. There were dozens of ponies sitting around playing games and drinking multiple types of drinks together. I avoided them as I looked around, seeing what looked like guards looming on the second-floor balcony.

They had a fully stocked bar, a stage where a band was playing and a few games going on. Neon tubes illuminated everything as it even had slot machines and an indoor water fountain. All of that was on a smooth marble floor. The whole thing looked like what I imagined the old world must have been like when it was new. Even the tables were made of some polished see through glass.

The bar itself looked to be made out of glass, with a light, fully stocked booze wall behind it. I trotted up to the bartender, a slender olive unicorn wearing a white and blue striped shirt, red tie and a straw hat with a red cloth around it. Although that wasn't the first thing that grabbed my attention, no. It was his red and white candy cane hair and handlebar mustache.

"What'll ya have fella? We got whiskey, apple cider, and even Jack Rabbit." He spoke fast and charmingly, overwhelming me with words and spunk.

He grabbed a black bottle with his magic, which was green by the way. I couldn't believe what I saw, a Jackalope on the label. But it was moving, with some kind of magic spell placed on it. It had a bottle, similar to this one. It drank that bottle and spun around drunk and fell over. Its eyes were spinning lines and little bubbles came up after it laid down, before getting back up with another bottle and repeating the animation.

"The name is Jack Rabbit, see, the colors mean the flavor and type, there is Black, White, and Grey. There's also Jack Dragon, which is a vodka. Jack Rabbit is the wine of the group. Jack Jackalope which is a champagne and the rare Jack Griffin, which is a beer." He grabbed me as he held me close and pulled out some more bottles with the matching creatures on them. They all had the same matching animation as the first bottle, but with their respective creature instead of a Jackalope.

"Now, what will I put you down for? A bottle? Why not three, I'll even throw in a glass of beer." He just kept fast talking me and I just froze up.

"Elevator!" I yelled.

He froze and let go of me as I backed up a little. "Oh it's over there. But before you go would you like to know about our great deal on.~"

I bolted for the elevator as I couldn't take it. Luckily it had just gotten there and I jumped in. I shook that off when a surprise almost made me jump.

"What floor, sir?" A synthesized male robotic voice asked.

There was a pony shaped robot operating the elevator. It stood on metal hooves, its body looked like solid metal. It had a glass dome for a head, that showed its array of sensors. Two red gems connected to a sensor box and there was an audio sensor that spun around. It seemed kinda bulky and I'd imagine it wasn't very fast, although it seemed to have a decent amount of armour. The grill under its dome lit up when it spoke. No weapons were visible on the robot, but it could have internal weaponry. Best to be careful around it.

"What floor, sir?" it asked again.

"Um, I'll try the second floor." I stood up and relaxed a bit.

The elevator began to move down, to my surprise. I guess the floor numbers were reversed. Looking at the elevator, I'd say it was a re-purposed supplies elevator. I could see past the grates as we were lowered down. I was a little confused until I saw we were on the third floor before. We arrived at the second floor, the elevator making a 'ding' sound as we came to a stop.

"Second Floor. Mid quality booze and gambling. Residential area for topsiders," the elevator robot pony said.

"What are you?" I asked curiously.

"I am a mark two Ponitron built by Robronco."

I didn't take my eyes off the robot as I exited the elevator. That was until I was startled by a voice I had already heard.

"Ah, a new face around here. Welcome to level two, residential area for those who live in Iron Gem." I hadn't even taken a step out of the elevator when a familiar face appeared. Well, it wasn't the same face, this one had a goatee as well as a handlebar mustache.

I took a step back as I was worried about being overwhelmed again. Clearly, the similar looking unicorn to the one above took notice of that and stopped talking.

I slowly took a step out of the elevator and cleared my throat. "I'm looking for a pony by the name of Wall."

I looked around the bar, comparing it to the one above. It wasn't nearly as luxurious as the first floor. The floors were wooden, as were the walls. But it was solid, no holes or rot whatsoever. There were a few wooden tables and even a few gaming tables. This area was most likely lower class than the one above. But it held more ponies and more tables for drinking and playing games.

Unlike the first floor, the second floor bar was not as well stocked and the room did not have a balcony to an elevated section. Also different were the guards: the upper-level guards were wearing suits and glasses, whereas the two guards by the door and others scattered around were wearing simple armor and visibly carried pipe pistols and batons on their side.

"Ah, would that be Armored Wall? As in the recently fired chief of Red Skull's security force Armored Wall?" The nameless pony, who was dressed and sounded just like the one upstairs said, before stroking his goatee.

"Yes, I think that’s the one."

"I know where he is, but It'll cost ya," he said with a smirk.

It was at that moment that I knew who these ponies reminded me of: the mean merchant back in Frost Crystal. What was his name? Coin Sack I think it was. He was so greedy and fat, the only thing he cared about was making a profit. The owners of this bar/casino were no different. Even if they did do it using fancy machines and their oily tongues instead of a demand.

I groaned and dug around my pockets, remembering that I had left most of my supplies in the wagon. I then pulled out all the caps I had on me. "I have three caps."

The snake-tongued charmer seemed annoyed at the low number, but took them regardless. "Third floor. Lucky for you the elevator ride is free." He then seemed to walk off, knowing I wasn't a wealthy customer.

I on the other hoof trotted back into the elevator and went down to the third floor.

"Third Floor, lower class slums. Get out," the robot said in its monotone voice.

I was a little baffled by its demand, but nevertheless, I proceeded to walk out into the third-floor room. I wasn't very descriptive of the bar back in Slave Town. That bar was housed in an old saloon building kinda like this one. It was similar to the second floor of this place, albeit, in a worse condition. Well, the third floor was kind of like that, but even worse.

I walked on old misfitting wooden floor planks. They creaked and moaned and some even appeared to be broken as others had holes in them. There were bits of sheet metal nailed and tied in spots to provide extra support, even if they seemed to be more rust than metal. But despite them, I could still easily see through the floor into the abyss below.

The walls weren't much better, or thicker. Unfortunately, most of the rotten and damaged tables seemed to be broken. I didn't see one working chair or solid pillow. The patriots of the bar seemed to be in even worse condition. They looked like they were starved and dying of thirst, despite being in a bar. I swear there was a dead pony in the corner and what looked like sleeping ponies atop a few tables. Most of them were, in fact, drinking or gambling though, acceptant of their condition.

Over at the bar was another pony identical to the two above in appearance, except for the fact that he had no facial hair at all. He was cleaning a dirty glass with a rag, paying no attention to me. Behind him was level three’s drinking wall. More broken bottles than whole ones, filled with the cheapest booze caps could buy, including a few jugs full of water. One seemed like it was scooped straight from an irradiated river, all murky and dirty, things seemingly floating in it. Another jug held crystal clear, pure water, with no signs of dirt or contamination.

Water, something to quench your thirst. That was one of, if not, the most important things in the wasteland. You will die within a few days if you don't have water. But with food, it tends to take much longer. Whenever dad would go into town to buy supplies, he'd always spend most of our caps on bottles of purified water. Now, living in a frozen tundra, you'd expect water wouldn't be an issue.

Well, you'd be wrong. Melting ice and snow into water takes a lot of time and energy, doing so with one's own body. By say, ingesting snow would in fact help cause dehydration. That's because it would require more energy to melt then it would return. The other problem was the fact that snow wasn't high in something dad called minerals. When making water from snow, mom would always add bottled water and sometimes some other stuff.

Another problem was the high demand for water. Right now it was the middle of the summer cycle, so the weather was as warm as it was going to get. It was the main reason why a few, Sharp included, walked around without snow gear. But come winter, the temperature drops to freezing levels. When you wear full winter gear, you tend to be fairly hot and sweaty. That and any task tends to be harder and require more energy. This, in turn, makes you hungrier and thirstier faster.

I stared at the water, knowing it must have looked like gold to these ponies. Then I noticed why they simply didn't rush over and take it. On the roof were small turrets, similar to those in the Stable Tec building. But those weren’t shooting plasma bolts that burned and evaporated. Looking at the holes in the floor, they seemed to bebullet holes, meaning these turrets fired ballistic rounds. I looked around and saw there were four turrets, one near the elevator, two at the bar and one near the door. That would explain the lack of guards.

I trotted up to the bar, the turrets taking notice and aim. I stopped as I saw their red targeting gems focus on me. The bartender looked up at me. "What do you want?" Unlike the other two, he didn't bother with any smooth talking, he actually seemed annoyed.

"I, um, paid a pony upstairs to tell me where I could find Armored Wall," I said, not taking my eyes off the turrets.

The bartender pony sighed and did something with his magic, turning the red targeting gems green. "Blim or Blam, one of my brothers. My names Blom by the way. I'm one of the famous Blim, Blam, Blom brothers." He still seemed disinterested in me, but at least he noticed me.

"Right... So where can I find Armored Wall?" I nodded a little, obviously never hearing of these brothers before.

"Agh, I have level three shifts. So boring, no caps down here," he mumbled. "He is the fella currently passed out on that table over there." He gestured to a pony at a table before going back to cleaning glasses.

"Thanks."

I trotted over to the pony and sat opposite to him. His mane was a long straight mess of cobalt blue that was all over his face. He had large grey hooves with a veil of fur draping over them. His coat was a dark orangey rust color and his flank sported an iron wall cutie mark. But besides the ugly color palette, the first thing I noticed about the earth pony stallion was the fact that he was rather huge.

Unfortunately, he was out cold and waking someone was rude. That and I didn’t want to anger a pony that looked like he could turn me into a pancake with a single hoof. Also it’s bad luck to wake a drunk person. So I slumped over the table and began to wait. I contemplated asking the bartender for a story or two but assumed he'd try to charge me for it. So I let my mind wander, remembering to avoid self-hating.

My mind just kept going back to a few events. One being the post office, Dark Star, the numbered letter found on Silent Times and how I didn't really know what happened. Another was the illusion of Candy and the last was what Mr. Luck had said, about dad being a drug addict.

Out of those three, Candy was the strongest, but I chose the info Mr. Luck provided. After thinking about it. It really didn't matter anymore, it was in the past. It wouldn't change how I felt about him or what an amazing father he was.

As for the post office, that is just something I hope to remember in time. Even if I don't really want to remember it. Dark Star had changed after I took Nightmare, so I wasn't sure if taking more was a good idea. Although I knew it was Nightmare's power that saved me at the post office. Even now I could feel him, but he seemed to want to be quiet, instead of before when he kept trying to bring up topics.

Another thing I wasn't sure about was whether or not the fight with Silent Times was right or not. During the fight Dark Star and I felt like one being, we felt whole. It felt really good, but I am not sure I like that version of me. The way we fought and acted it scared me afterwards. But what I was really scared of was how others would think of me after seeing that. I probably should refrain from doing whatever that was during that fight.

I sighed and rolled my shoulder as I stared at the snoring Armored Wall, wondering if he could really help us. Him sleeping there reminded me of Candy, how she looked sleeping peacefully. I didn't want to but I felt like crying. My eyes began to water up as I kept thinking about what Sharp had said, about only crying when this was over. For now, I just have to hold off on grieving.

At some point, I ended up nodding off. My dream was uneventful and over in an instant. I groaned as I felt someone nudging my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes to see it was Armored Wall. I stood up and wiped my eyes.

"Are you~" He gripped his head and groaned as he pushed a hoof to my mouth. I could see his tired face and his seemingly blank emerald green eyes.

"No talking, hangover, heading home, follow me." He blurted out as he began to walk out the door.

I followed close behind, not saying a word. As we trotted along I got a good look at the slums. This place was built on the underside of Iron Gem. It was literally made out of hanging wooden beams and scrap metal. Everything creaked and groaned as we trotted along. Ponies slept wherever and huddled together near burning barrel fires. As for the housing, that too was scrap. Most places were missing doors and were barely big enough for two ponies. But some had what I assumed were families of six plus squished in.

I was cautious about placing my hooves on the wood and metal floors. The fact that I could clearly see through them with the rust and number of holes was off-putting. I thought of how many must have died to build this post-apocalypse slum and how much more died because of it now. I came to an abrupt halt as I heard a screaming echo from nearby. Then I saw it down an alleyway, some ponies huddled around a barrel fire.

Although they weren't staring at the fire like the last. No, they were staring at the pony sized hole in the floor where their buddy must have been sitting. At that moment I was very grateful to have wings, even if they were the cause of which I was discriminated against.

I looked ahead to see Armored Wall had paid no mind to the unfortunate pony and kept walking. I quickly and carefully ran to him, to catch up.

"What is this place?"

He groaned and shushed me when I asked, clearly suffering from a hangover. "No talking."

We eventually got to a little hanging shack on the edge of the slums. It appeared to be much larger than a lot of the other homes down here. It was made out of sheet metal with no holes and even had a door. He unlocked the door and we trotted in. There was a table, a turned off radio, a carpet, a few shelves and a mattress all in this large room. The floor didn't creak or groan as it appeared to be much more sturdy than the rest of the slums.

Armored Wall proceeded to pass out drunk onto the only mattress in the house. So I was left there with nothing to do. Not wanting to be rude, I took a seat at the table and got comfy. I was starting to get a little worried about Sharp, but she was a big girl, so I was sure she was fine. Either way, I decided to get some rest. Despite the fact that thanks to all the times I've passed out, I was probably rested up enough.

The sound of someone at the door awoke me from my uneventful slumber. I groaned and sat up, wiping some drool off my face and stretching my wings. It was then that I recalled that I went to sleep in a stranger’s home. I looked over to the bed to see it was empty.

"Huh. Interesting." Armored Wall was staring at me and my wings as he had just finished brushing his teeth. He picked up a lollipop from the counter and put it in his mouth.

Before I could retort, whoever was at the door decided to knock again. I, however, was preoccupied, slipping my wings back down under my jacket. I stood up and was going to make my way over to the door when Armored Wall whistled and commanded me to sit.

I don't know why but for some reason I complied and sat back down. He then trotted over to the door and opened an eye slit, peering through.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"Is my brother in there? Wearing a jacket." I knew it was Sharp right away.

I chose not to say anything, wanting to know how Armored Wall would react. To my surprise, he unlocked and opened the door.

"Hey, sis."

"Hey Star." Sharp trotted in as Armored Wall Closed the door behind her. Everypony took a seat at the table.

"So I take it you two are here for some kind of revenge?" Armored Wall asked as he made himself comfortable. His voice sounded tired and even his body movements seemed kinda slow.

"Yea, pretty much."

Armored Wall sighed as it seemed like he knew this was coming. "So him I understand, being a Pegasus and all. What about you little girl?"

"How did he know about your wings? What have you told him?" Sharp asked, glaring at me.

"Nothing, he saw them when I woke up. But how did you know we wanted revenge?"

Armored Wall chuckled a little. "The chief of security for Blood Rose gets fired. I know I've made a lot of enemies in my line of work. If I had to guess, I'd say escaped Blood Skull Pegasus and his big sister."

"No, actually Star and I are~"

"I'm the older brother! By four years!" I interjected, interrupting Sharp.

"But you look so small, even for a Pegasus," Armored Wall replied.

"That's beside the point," I said as I crossed my hooves in frustration.

"So you're not a Blood Skull Pegasus?"

"No, I don't even know what that is?"

"Oh, well would you like me to explain?"

Sharp sighed heavily as she shook her head in annoyance. "He won't pay attention until you do."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"A Blood Skull Pegasus is a Pegasus slave that the Blood Skull clan has bought for the sole purpose of flight of transport, either for the leader or for the Ninety Nine. These Pegasi are trained and beaten to do as they’re told. They have their wings and faces dyed red to mark them as clan property. A while ago one of these Pegasi escaped and being as it was part of my job to prevent that, I assumed you were that Pegasus and that you had come for revenge."

"We're getting off topic. We need your help."

"We want to kill Blood Rose."

Armored Wall didn't even flinch. He just rolled his lollipop around his mouth a bit before speaking. "A lot of parents want revenge against Blood Rose for what he did to their kids. A lot of kids want revenge for what he did to their parents. I don't think there is anyone in this frozen hell who could actually pull it off. Then again, I was the main reason for them not being able to."

"So you'll help us?" I asked optimistically.

"No," he replied as he laid his head on the table.

"No?" Sharp said, questioningly.

"Why not?!"

Armored Wall looked over to me with his tired eyes. "Prove to me you are worth helping, then I'll help you." He then closed his eyes and fell asleep before we could even reply. I groaned quietly. Sharp got up and tapped my shoulder to follow. We left the small house and closed the door behind us.

"Can't we just request a meeting with Blood Rose, shoot him in the face and fly away?" I asked, getting annoyed with all these sub-tasks.

"I could list a dozen reasons why that wouldn't work. What we need is something that'll warrant Blood Rose meeting us, or at least letting us in the door. Like a tank."

"Hmm, I'm good at fixing things, but I think a tank is a bit out of my skill level."

"What we need is power armor."

"What's power armor?" Sharp gave me a genuine look of concern.

"Seriously? Dad taught us about amazing post-war technology and you didn't pay attention?"

"…I often slept through those classes, sometimes I'd just paint eyes on my eyelids."

Sharp groaned in annoyance and started trotting. "Hey, sis, where were you last night?" remembering she only found me in the morning, afraid she spent a night with Mr. Luck. My mind tried to go to a bad thought of Mr. Luck getting lucky but I eminently shut that down.

"Oh, well I chatted with the zebra for a bit. He told me he had a business meeting with Blood Rose, offered me a well-paid job after all this. Also told me if we wanted a meeting with Blood Rose in person, then we'd need to show up with something that would impress him. After that, he went off to his meeting and he gave me the keys to his apartment at a high-class hotel. I took a warm shower and came looking for you in the morning."

"Oh, what about the room?" I asked, a little envious of the idea of a warm shower.

"He rented it for the week, but left right after his meeting was done."

I followed behind, I was still curious about what power armor was? Was it armor with weird rare effects? Did it give you superpowers? I thought about what power I would want. Maybe the power to stretch like rubber or the ability to eat and spit fire like a dragon!

"No, power armor does not give you superpowers and I'm not telling you what it is."

With the mood killed we just walked in silence, eventually getting back to the bar. which oddly enough was empty, except for the bartender. We did our best to avoid Blim, Blom, maybe Blam. Whatever his name was. We got back into the elevator and as usual, the robot asked what floor.

"Top floor, one hundred caps. Second floor seventy-five caps."

I scrunched up my face. "What?"

"Oh for the love~" Sharp was cut off by that ever so annoying candy cane maned stallion.

"Got a problem folks?" He asked in his cheerful and up toned voice. The turrets above him now pointing at us.

"We want to go back to the top floor."

"Ah, yes well that'll just be a simple fee of one hundred caps, each." I looked over to Sharp, who was clearly annoyed. She shook her head as we didn't have enough. "Well, I could always interest you in a drink instead. Just two caps for an unfiltered glass of water. Ten caps for a filtered glass. Medicine varies depending on what you want. I got RadAway for twenty, Happy for fifteen and~"

"Stop!" Sharp yelled, to the owner's annoyance. "Isn't there another way?"

"Why of course, you can do grunt work for the underworld caravan service. In which you must perform a run from Iron Gem to the city of Metallicus and back. If you survive then you are free and allowed on an upper floor. But I couldn't possibly list all its dangers, it would take far too long."

"May we talk in private?" she asked, stepping out of the elevator.

Blim, or whoever he was cleared his throat. "Right this way ma’am." The two trotted around the corner, out of earshot.

They eventually trotted back over to me, I was still waiting in the elevator. "You young lady have a deal. You may use the elevator at a discounted fee. In exchange for three RadAway packets upon your next venture to this humble establishment. But I will need something to hold until the transaction is complete. How about that pip-buck?"

"Do you have the tools to take it off?" Sharp lifted her hoof and examined it.

'No, but I have a bone saw out back," the bartender said, a greedy smile on his face as he stared at the pip-buck.

"No! Take my brother's jacket, it's got a built-in repair gem." Sharp gestured to me.

"No!" I yelled, warranting a look from Sharp and the pony.

"You'll get it back, Star."

"The jacket stays, then I stay," I said firmly as a trotted out of the elevator and sat next to, umm, Blom? Stupid similar names.

Sharp facehoofed and proceeded to hand over some caps before the elevator started moving. He leaned over and opened his mouth. "So you~"

"No! No more talking!" I yelled as I sat next to umm. "What was your name again?"

"Blom."

"Can you tell me about the caravan service, just what it entails."

"Ah yes I can. You see for those who can't pay the fee, they can always go to the central caravans and become a puller for the Underworld. If they complete a run there and back or from here to Metallicus and anywhere in the north where the caravans need to go. Then they are free to go and even get compensated for their troubles. It's quite lucrative and cheap for the Diamond Clan who own everything in Underworld. They are known for moving caravans filled with goods all over the Crystal Empire through tunnels. The problem lies with actually getting to Metallicus, a lot of spooky and dangerous monsters in the darkness of Underworld." He prompted to wave his hooves and cooed at me to try and add creepiness. But I just kept a straight face, not scared of whatever was lurking in the abyss. Although I would still happily stay out of it.

Blom eventually trotted back over to the bar and instructed me to sit next to it as he turned the radio on. It cracked as it lit up and seemed to be an accurate representation of the slums. Held together with rust and victims of greed. Luckily for me, the radio was in the middle of a song. Unfortunately Kindly and that other radio jockey seemed to share most of their songs. This song was an awfully slow one that seemed to fit the mood perfectly, boring.

"Hey, what's power armor?" I asked Blom, not sure of his answer.

"Tell ya for a cap," he said, checking his wall of booze.

I rolled my eyes and rested my head on the counter. I would have slept again, but a rumble woke me up. Blom looked over to me with a raised eyebrow. It was my stomach, I was hungry. The last thing I ate was a can of local anti-radiation something, I never got the name.

I rummaged around in my pocket and pulled out three nine star crystal pop caps. "What can I get for these?"

Blom trotted over and examined the caps. "Hmm, half a sandwich."

I was about to argue when my stomach answered with a growl. I simply nodded in defeat. Blom pulled out a whole sandwich and pulled it cleanly in half with his magic, before proceeding to eat it. I followed suit and ate the sandwich happily, even though it was a little dry.

The song finally ended after what felt like an eternity. I was hoping it would go straight to another song, but instead, the least confident DJ decided to speak. "I, um, I have something important to tell you. News, I, umm, where is it? Ah yes, um, I found, yes the message. Blood Skull wishes to announce a message about, umm, about the panic at his, his place. Although with the reason, reasoning f~for the mobilization of the Ninety Nine. It~ i-it was an, umm, security drill. Yes, umm, in light of that, the chief of security has been fired. T~there is expected t~ to be heightened security until a new chief of security is selected. So please just, umm, go about as normal." There was a click and static before the radio started to play another song.

The happy and upbeat song, Undecided, filled the air. I didn't mind that song, despite having heard it a dozen times in my life. The sound of the elevator ding interrupted the start and Blom and myself got up to check the elevator. Sharp finally came back. She had three bags of Rad-Away in her magic as she stood on the elevator. We stood opposite her as the doors opened and she floated the three bags over to Blom. He took them in his magic and I began to walk towards the elevator.

But before I could, he gestured for me to stop with his hoof. "Change of plans," Blom said as the two elevator turrets turned to us, one focused on Sharp and the other on me.

"I brought you the RadAway. What more do you want?"

"Your brother. He's that wanted Pegasus who caused a fuss in Slave Town. He's worth a lot more than three packs of RadAway."

I thought of our options, but with turrets over our heads, that was kind of hard. I looked to Sharp, a little worried that I'd go back into slavery. Sharp looked annoyed, but she was also thinking of a plan. She had to be?

"So you plan to turn in my brother for the one thousand cap reward?"

Blom chuckled a little. "Yes, yes I do."

"What if I could offer you something much more valuable?"

"Not interested." Blom's horn glowed and the elevator-robot beeped.

"Joke program activated; A neutron buys a drink at the bar, he asks, "how much?" and the barkeep says, "for you, no charge." No laughter, not funny.

"What's a neutron?" I asked, confused by the science joke.

"Stupid thing is buggy, activate the D."

There was a click, suddenly the floor of the elevator dropped open. "Sharp!"

Before she even started to fall, Sharp veiled herself in her magic. She floated above the gaping hole into the abyss. But it was clear to see that this feat was not easy for her to do or maintain. I was about to rush to her when a burst of turret fire in front of me halted me.

"Let her go!" I demanded.

"Oh my, very impressive. Hmm, tell ya what. You got as long as you can hold yourself to pitch your sale to me. A minute or two by the looks of you."

Sharp groaned as she struggled to keep afloat, not being able to move to safety under threat of being shot. "I know about your business. The part where you sell illegal goods to those in Iron Gem. Agh… I took a peek inside your terminal."

"Hmm, I must say, you're not really helping your case." Blom proceeded to point his gun at Sharp.

"I, mhh, we can get you a lot more caps than his bounty. Power armor." Sharp began to bob a bit.

"Power armor is worth seven hundred plus caps. Not exactly one thousand on the bounty. Besides, I doubt you actually have power armor."

"Agh… I know, but that’s not where all the extra caps are going to come in. Mr. Luck of the Iron Fist clan offered me a position in his ranks. Offered to pay me three thousand caps up front and five hundred a month with commission. But I have to get a meeting with Blood Rose first." Sharp’s magic began to waver, she couldn't hold on much longer.

"I'll need to check to see if your story pans out." Blom chuckled to himself before the elevator floor swung closed. The robot was still there, probably welded to the floor panel.

With a groan, Sharp dissipated her magic field and fell onto the floor of the elevator. Blom gestured for me to go to her and I did. She was sweating and panting as she rested there. I gave Blom an angry look, but he still had us at gunpoint so there wasn't anything I could do.

"If your story checks out and you really could be one of Mr. Luck’s ponies, then we'll be able to do some great business together."

Author's Notes:

Last update: 19/7/17

Hey there, Thanks for reading, Sorry it took soo long to get out, just life and stuff.

https://www.fimfiction.net/user/EverfreePony https://www.fimfiction.net/user/230688/Fair+Play and https://www.fimfiction.net/user/Noble+Balance Did a awesome job to make this readable, you guys are the best XD