Rainbow Dash looked over the rocky sandstone ledge. Seeing much was almost impossible in the perpetual darkness- -something that had come to annoy her terribly, despite its usefulness for hiding- -but she could see the hole in the rocks that led to where Five was tracking the signal of that filthy pervert unicorn. The hole in the rocks was large, but nearly unnoticeable because it was simply an opening between two large rocks. Rainbow Dash would not have believed that it was where the enemy was hiding were it not for the two heavily armored guards standing outside.

One of them looked up to the rocks above, and Rainbow Dash ducked down next to Five, who was performing some kind of delicate operation with a large black mushroom and her ammunition.

“Okay,” said Rainbow Dash, whispering even though they were close to eighty feet away from the pair. “There’s two. I say you act as the distraction, and then I go in and knock them out.”

“Both of them?” said Five, sounding infuriatingly bored. “What is this, a Daring Do novel?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Wait…you read Daring Do?!”

“No. I find it trite, simplistic, unrealistic, and actually rather racist against the ahuizotl. But it had been written for four centuries, so there is no way I could not be aware of such contrivances.”

“Four centuries…is A.K Yearling immortal or something?”

“Of course not. Well, probably not. There’s been more than one writer, obviously. Needless to say, what works in books does not operate well in the real world.” She clicked her clip into her rifle and shifted the barrel, extending it. That, in some ways, explained how she was able to fit it under her wings so well. Before Rainbow Dash knew what was happening, Five perched the gun on the rocks and fired exactly two shots. “Things in real life are so much easier.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “You- -you didn’t just- -” She looked over the edge of the rocks and saw the two ponies below slumped over, lying in pools of something dark that was rapidly expanding beneath each of them.

She spread her wings and soured down to them. Her heart was beating fast- -far too fast. She had expected an adventure leading to a heroic rescue, with hoof-fights and traps and possibly magic. She had not taken Five’s warning seriously because her mind could not comprehend what she had meant: death. Rainbow Dash suddenly realized that Five never meant to leave any survivors.

The ponies below were not moving. Rainbow Dash took careful inventory of what had happened to them; each had a small circular wound in their neck where their armor was weakest. They had never seen it coming.

“What did you do?” she cried as Five descended behind her. “Are they…are they…?”

“I find it strange,” said Five. “I mention biological weapons, and you accept it. So strange. You did not ask if they were still active, or what they were.”

Rainbow Dash had no idea what Five was babbling about- -or how she could be so calm. “What? What are you?” Rainbow Dash backed away slowly. “You’re…you’re insane!”

“I assure you. I am not,” said Five. “But the answer to the question you did not ask: it was the mushrooms.”

“Mush…mushrooms?”

“That is what was used to kill the bison. Mushrooms. They’re parasitic as hyphae, hepatotoxic when fruiting, and have neurotoxic spores.”

One of the ponies twitched and tried to rise. Something within him gurgled, and he fell to the ground again. Rainbow Dash could hear him crying beneath his helmet.

“Wait…you didn’t kill them?”

“Well, not yet. This isn’t an AP rifle. The bullets just barely went through. So, obviously, I poisoned them.”

“Will they…be okay?”

“Oh, no. They will be blind, and in a lot of pain for a few…well, weeks to years.” She pointed to the one who had not risen. “Also, I may have severed that one’s vocal chords…just a little bit, though.”

“Should we try to help him?”

“I’m not a doctor. Well…yes. No.” She proceeded toward the crevice in the rocks, and Rainbow Dash realized that there was a heavily rusted bunker door several feet back. Whatever it was connected to had been covered in rocks years ago. “Shall we go in?”

“No,” said Rainbow Dash, blocking Five’s path. “Before we do- -you have to promise me you won’t kill anypony!”

“Denied,” said Five.

“Then I won’t let you through!”

“Should I perhaps kill you?”

“Go ahead and try!”

Five sighed, and lowered her rifle. “Tell me, Ms. Dash. If the situation came down to one where you had to choose between the life of one of those hapless mares and one of the barbarians, what would be your course of action?”

“I wouldn’t let it come down to that,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I do not have that option. However…I do not actually like to kill. It is just so…boring. Now, if you are willing to witness some things…worse…I can try to avoid killing them.”

“As long as they don’t die.”

Five smiled, revealing her fangs- -and the fact that all of her teeth were oddly pointed. “Some might. A few have to. Now move.”

Rainbow Dash had no choice but to step aside- -and immediately knew that she had made a terrible mistake.

Promising Future was thrown to the concrete floor with enough force to knock out her breath. She felt an overwhelming urge to cry out- -but refused to do so. As soon as she had been thrown in the makeshift cages with the others, she had vowed that she would stay strong- -if only for the sake of all those mares and fillies around her who could not be.

For some reason, though, she had been separated from the others. They had been placed in low-ceilinged cells for “warehousing”, but for some reason, she had been taken away from them. That terrified her- -but she did not let the earth pony and Pegasus who took her away know. She had instead been looking for a way to escape, though none had presented itself.

She did not know where she was. The gang had not bothered to cover her cage- -they had let her see the way to their bunker or fallout shelter or whatever it was, because they knew- -and she knew, on some level- -that she would not ever have a chance to lead anypony back to it.

Promising Future gathered up her torn barmaid costume and looked into the stinking darkness of the room she had been placed in. As she did, the dirty fluorescent lights overhead hummed and flickered. The room was immediately filled with light- -and she realized that she was not alone.

“You,” she said, her eyes narrowing.

“Yes, me!” cried Flesh, standing up from where he was sitting- -something, Promising Future realized, that was not a chair, but rather a mare covered in straps and riding gear that Flesh was riding side-saddle. The mare’s mouth was sealed with black straps, but she was not crying- -rather, her eyes looked long dead and empty.

“We don’t have time for this,” said another pony in the room. Unlike Flesh, he was not somepony that Promising Future recognized. He was thin and sickly, with a cutie mark of a cracking whip. As he moved across the floor, Promising Future saw that he had a terrible limp- -and that the knee on his front left leg was surrounded by a metal support bracket and covered in bandages.

“Oh, come now, Whipcracker,” said Flesh. “Need more pain pills, do we? No…” He turned toward Promising Future. “After a hard day’s work, there should always be some time for fun.”

Promising Future’s eyes suddenly darted around the room. There were several other ponies- -Flesh, Whipcracker, as well as the Pegasus who had led her in and the dead-eyed mare. Three of them were about to do something terrible to her, and she knew that- -and she doubted that she could rely on the mare for help. Deep in her soul, she realized that that was soon to be her fate.

“No,” said Flesh, harshly, grabbing Promising Future’s head in his magic. “Look at me. I am the one who owns you now.”

“Nopony owns me.”

“Feisty,” said the Pegaus, and Flesh glared at him, causing him to recoil.
“Only. I. Get. To. Talk,” said Flesh. He smiled. “And our guest, of course.” He turned back Promising Future, still smiling. “Do you know who I am?”

“Your name is Flesh,” she said.

“Very good. But that is Master Flesh to you. Or just Master.” He stepped back and bowed with excessive feigned grace. There was nothing at all graceful about him, and he smelled like mushroom beer and expensive cologne. A smell that Promising Future would now forever hate. “I am the mayor, owner, and sole proprietor of your town.”

“No you aren’t.”

“Silly little mare. Of course I am. By right of conquest. I was also voted in by my…associates.”

“You’re not going to get away with this. My father will- -” She felt her mouth snapped closed with magic.

“Your father is a burnt out husk. They all are. Not one of them can take us on. We made sure of that.” He turned back to Promising Future and stared into her eyes. “But please, dear, be honest with yourself.” He walked around her, pulling at one of her wings, forcing it to extend and running his hoof through her down. “Look at these wings, at this color- -you are definitely the most beautiful Pegasus I’ve ever caught.”

“Do I need to be here for this?” asked Whipcracker.

“Shut it,” said Flesh. He returned his attention to Promising Future. “Honestly, some ponies. I’m trying to have a conversation with this lovely lady. Where was I? Oh, yes. You see, you know you want this.”

Promising Future struggled, trying to escape, but she could not escape the gelatinous magic that surrounded her.

“No, not like that,” said Flesh, chuckling. “Not yet. But isn’t this what you wanted? You told me once…before you know I was, well, me. You wanted nothing more than to get out of that town, to move up in life. Well, look at you now! With wings like that, I’m sure you’re buyer will be wealthy. You’ll be going on a one-way trip to high-society!” he waved his hoof in front of her, holding his head next to hers, as if they were looking together into the future. “Maybe you can even send back some of his money, so that I don’t have to do this to the next crop of mares…because it does get tiring when the vast majority of them are…frankly, uggos.”

Promising Future felt her jaw being released. “You know this isn’t right?”

“What, trying to appeal to my morality?” He laughed heartily, something that rapidly decayed into angry shouts. “I don’t have any! I can’t afford to! Not out here…” He looked down at her. “But before we box you up and send you off, well…”

“What?”

Flesh stepped back, and drew out a small knife. He licked it, wetting the blade, and then suddenly shoved it into the saddled mare’s shoulder.

“No!” cried Promising Future. The mare who had been stabbed only winced at the pain. “Why did you- -”

“To show you what happens if you disobey your Master,” said Flesh, grinning as he twisted the knife. “Now,” he said, facing Promising Future and leaning over her, smiling. “I’m afraid that in all that work in Appleloosa, I think my beautiful horn has become dirty.”

The Pegasus snickered, and Whipcracker looked uncomfortable.

“So what?”

“So clean it.” His eyes flashed back to the mare. “Or perhaps the next one goes in her flank…”

“No,” said Promising Future. “No.” She clenched her teeth. “Do you have a…washcloth…Master?”

He laughed heartily. “Washcloth…oh, that’s rich….”

Before she could react, he pushed forward, shoving his horn into her mouth. She felt the bony protrusion scraping across her teeth and tongue, and she closed her eyes as it pushed against the roof of her mouth. It did not have any particular taste- -but she still felt herself crying.

It pushed harder on the roof of her mouth, nearly lifting her up, and she felt like she was about to gag. Flesh was only laughing, and Promising Future felt his magic holding her in place.

Then she heard a click, and saw a flash of light through her eyelids. She felt herself fall backward, landing on her back, the horn still in her mouth. She tensed, her mind creating all sorts of images of what was about to happen next.

Then she heard the screaming, and opened her eyes. Her mind skipped for a moment, not able to comprehend how she was facing the ceiling with a horn in her mouth, but not seeing the unicorn it was attached to. She should have had her face buried in his dirty mane, but somehow, he was gone.

She sat up, and saw him writhing in agony on the floor before her. The world seemed to move in slow motion as she realized that his horn was in her mouth- -but he was separate, a charred and slightly glowing stump on his forehead pouring out magic into the air like liquid smoke.

“Horn shot!” said a voice to her right. She turned to see a blue-haired bat pony with a rifle, smiling widely. “Look at that Dash! I never get a good horn shot!”

The blue cyborg Pegasus appeared beside her, although from Promising Future’s perspective, the Pegasus seemed almost gray from nausea, as though she had seen things that had affected her deeply.

The Pegasus guard immediately rushed for an attack, and the bat raised one of her metal-clad hooves. There was a flash of light as something was projected around a spur of metal, and she thrust as the Pegasus came in contact with her. He screamed as she twisted the energy blade, and there was a sickening thump as one of his wings fell to the floor.

The Pegaus fell with it, screaming and weeping. He tried to stand several times, but with one wing missing, he was not balanced and simply fell over.

“Funny thing,” said the bat, still smiling. “You can’t live with just one. Can’t walk. Dash, take note of this! Look! He’s going to have to have the other amputated!”

“You…insane…” muttered the blue Pegasus.

The bat’s eyes suddenly turned to Promising Future, and they narrowed in anger.

“No,” she said, crossing the room. “That is mine!” She reached into Promising Future’s mouth with a pair of metal claws and pulled out Flesh’s horn. She examined it for a moment. “Not all of it,” she muttered. She placed the horn in the corner of her mouth like a cigarette, and then picked up Flesh, who was still badly disoriented from having his horn severed.

One of the bat’s metal gauntlets shifted, producing sevreal fingers that merged and converted into a single large plier.

“I need the root too,” she said. She grabbed the stump on Flesh’s head, and he screamed in pain- -and then the claw started to revolve.

There was a sickening crack, and then the bat tore out the remainder of the horn from Flesh’s head, holding up the bloody root like a trophy. Flesh, meanwhile, collapsed into a scream that seemed as though it would never end as the magic accumulated in his body poured out through the hole in his forehead. Promising Future did not know how, or even why, but the magic seemed to curve in the air in broad arcs and direct itself toward the bat pony- -impacting directly around her head, where Promising Future could see that the bat had a line of numerous small blue horns just beneath her mane.

“You see,” said the bat pony, admiring the horn. “Unicorn-horn ammunition has unusual effects on magic users. It is definitely not cerorite, but sometimes, if they use shields spells, it makes them explode. Or goes right through…oh, the looks on their faces.”

Before she could finish, the earth pony with the bad knee screamed in rage and terror and attacked the blue Pegasus, pushing her back and extending a hoof-blade. “No! Don’t hurt me or the Blue- - ” He screamed again, this time in pain as he was thrown backward, clutching his face. A deep gash had appeared across it and was pouring blood. Promising Future felt nauseous when she realized that some of the fluid dripping from his face was not blood at all, but rather the fluid from inside his left eye.

The Pegasus looked terrified and confused. Her eyes flicked to her wing, where several long golden feathers were covered in blood.

“Rainbow Dash,” said the bat pony. “You didn’t tell me you were using wing blades. If I had known that, you could have- -”

“Look out!” cried Promising Future.

It was too late. While the bat and Pegasus had been distracted by Whipcracker, Flesh had moved, crawling across the floor. He had picked up a large and blood-stained hammer, clumsily at first because he was not used to using his hoofs- -and now slammed it against the side of the bat pony’s face.

There was a cracking sound as her skull shattered. The entire right side of it just seemed to collapse, as though it were made of paper. It was almost comical the way her cheekbones and jaw just gave way, like a cartoon character flattening

“Ha!” screamed Flesh. “That’s what you get for taking my horn!”

“Five!” cried the blue mare, the destruction of her friend’s head waking her from her momentary trance.

Five did not fall, though. Her head had been driven to the left by the force of the hammer, and she held it there for a moment. Then she gave a ragged, blood filled sigh and lifted it. Promising Future nearly vomited at the sight. Five’s face had been crushed; half of it was flat and the flesh torn away. Half of her jaw hung limply, one of its joints having been pulverized, exposing her teeth and toungue. Her right eye socket had also be crushed and the eye within it destroyed, the eye-fluid within leaking down into her bleeding muzzle. Yet, despite the damage, Five did not cry out.

Flesh saw this, and rage flared in his eyes.

“How dare you not be in- -” He brought down the hammer again. “- -pain!” He slammed her again, and then again and again, each time breaking her body worse, shattering her face until there was nothing even recognizable as a pony, breaking both her front legs, bringing it down on her torso.

“Stop!” cried the blue Pegasus. She flew forward over the now weeping and inactive Whipcracker. As she did, she fell into a roll- -one so graceful that Promising Future momentarily forgot about the ruined- -but still somehow standing- -bat pony taking a sledge-hammer beating.

There was a glint of gold, and a scream from Flesh- -not of pain, but of rage. The hammer he had been holding slipped out of his remaining hoof as the hammer flew across the room, clanging against the metal wall and falling to the floor.

“Five,” said the blue mare, “ are you…no, we need to get you to a doctor right…”

Blue sparks suddenly poured out of Five’s body, and Promising Future held her breath. She did not know what was happening, but she knew magic when she saw it. She watched as the blue energy crossed the damage, pulped flesh on the bat pony’s body and as the pieces began to surge forward, reconnecting and rebuilding themselves.

Five lifted her broken neck as it snapped back into place, and stepped forward on a leg that was no longer broken. With one of her hoofs, she pushed her jaw back into place while her cheekbone popped back into place and her eye returned to its normal location. For just a moment, Promising Future saw its narrowed pupil as a tiny triangle before it widened into its normal round shape.

“You know,” she said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “That rather hurt.”

“What…what are you?” said Flesh, stepping backward, trying to staunch the bleeding of his mostly severed front foreleg. “Who are you?”

“I have no name,” said the bat, stepping forward. She no longer seemed to be enjoying herself. “There was nopony around to give me one when I was born. As to what…I am the daughter of Princess Luna and Choggoth Oblivion. And your horn have become my property!”

“Go to Tartarus!”

“I actually do, periodically,” said Five, once again smiling. She raised her rifle and pointed it at Flesh’s head. “Maybe you will too.”

“No! Stop!” cried the blue Pegasus, flying across the room and interposing herself between Five and Flesh. “You can’t!”

“Yes I can. He is not wearing armor. One shot is all that is needed.”

“That’s not what I mean! You can’t kill him! It isn’t right!”

“Nothing is right. Nothing is wrong. Move, Rainbow Dash.

Five pointed with her wing at Promising Future. “I am not claiming justification, but did you see what he did to her?”

“Yeah, and you cut his horn off! Isn’t that good enough for you?”

“Well, it was. Then he beat me to death with a hammer.”

“You’re not dead!”

“I don’t care. If only her were stallion enough to do the job properly.” Her eyes turned to Promising Future. “You,” she said. “You were the only one truly wronged this day. Perhaps you shall choose his fate?”

Promising Future opened her mouth, but no words came out. She had lived a relatively simple life, if a harsh one- -but what she had just experienced was far beyond what she had ever wanted to see. She could still feel Flesh’s Horn in her mouth, even though Five had taken it- -but she also saw the three ponies on the ground around her. One half-blinded, one sobbing as he hugged his severed wing, and one with no horn, no magic, and one leg mostly gone, glaring at her but almost seeming to plead.

Then her eyes turned toward the other mare. The one who had not moved since the commotion started, who had just been staring off into space blankly. At that point, she felt her lips forming the world “yes”. She knew it had to be done, to end this madness and torment. He deserved it.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. She hardly felt herself saying it, but she felt a profound wave of relief. “No. He’s done. He won’t cause us any problems anymore. Just…just let him go.”

Five frowned. “You’re no fun.”

Her eyes flashed green, and Flesh suddenly drew his side arm with his remaining hoof, something he somehow did perfectly even though he almost surely had no idea how to use them without magic. Instead of pointing it at any of the other ponies, however, he directed the end of the barrel toward his own chin.

“No!” he cried, suddenly terrified, tears streaming down his face. “No, please, stop!”

There was a loud crack, a flash of light, and a fizzling sound as his brain was instantly melted and bubbled through the hole in his forehead where his horn had once been. Promising Future could hold it in no longer; she turned to her side and vomited.

“No!” cried the blue Pegasus, picking up the limp remnants of Flesh. He was clearly quite dead, though, and his eyes stared blankly at them all. A smell of badly cooking meat and voided bowels filled the air, and only accelerated Promising Future’s heaving. “You said you would let her decide! She didn’t decide this!”

“She chose the wrong answer,” said Five, shrugging.

“Please…please don’t hurt me,” muttered Whipcracker, pulling himself into a corner.

“Why bother?” said Five, picking up one of Flesh’s side-arms and immediately disassembling it, pulling out the power crystal and some of the electronics. “But you, Pegasus. Leave that wing. It’s mine.”

“No…it’s- -it’s my wing!”

Five turned her attention toward the saddled mare. “You,” she said. “Hey you!”

“Leave her alone,” said Promising Future. “She doesn’t have anything to do with this!”

Five seemed to ignore her. “Come on, you. Wake up.”

“Stop it,” said the blue Pegasus. “Can’t you see some bad stuff happened to her?”

“Clearly,” said Five. “Her primary mind is completely shot…but that never really mattered, did it?”

The mare suddenly turned toward Five. Her eyes were still blank, but they had narrowed.

“Oh, yes,” said Five. “I can tell. You’re not really a pony at all. You are Incurse.”

The mare expertly slid off her own bridle and bit. “How can you see me?” she said, her voice hoarse and cold but strangely unaffected by her apparent situation.

“I just can,” said Five, defensively. “Weird choice, though.”

“I think it suits me. Although my host is…depleted. Perhaps I shall take a full-time position.”

“This one,” said Five, pointing at Promising Future. “And the others. Can you get them back to Appleoosa?”

The mare stared blankly, then nodded.

“Good. As for myself and Dash, much looting shall be done this day. Isn’t that right, Ms. Dash?”

All Rainbow Dash could do was wait in the corner of the room as Five poured through the cabinets, searching for supplies. She felt weak, and she was shaking. Her wings were covered in pony blood, and she could not bear to look at them. The blood stank horribly, and she knew that it would never come out.

The things she had seen had been burned into her mind. Badly beaten mares in filthy cages, piles of bones on display like trophies- -those were not things than ponies were ever meant to see. What was worse, though, was Five. She moved through ponies like a plague, destroying. She had killed several ponies without hesitation or remorse, but she had also done so much worse.

The worst, in her opinion, was the Pegasus whose wing she had taken. Just the thought of it made Rainbow Dash shake with fear, the idea that something that important could be removed so simply. She knew that the her reaction would be the same as of that poor stallion, holding onto the wing until it was finally wrested away.

“Not much in the way of food,” said Five. “At least not hear. A good set of power crystals, though. I will also need to get the chaingun ammo from the pair in the front. Most of this, though, is low quality. Perhaps some armor oil…”

“How could you?” said Rainbow Dash.

Five looked up. She seemed once again as disinterested as ever. She was standing in a room with Rainbow Dash, a now unconscious one-winged Pegasus, and a corpse, but treated it as though she were simply in a grocery store. “Guns, some level of magic, a lack of morality?” she guessed.

“This…why?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“My actions largely lack reasons,” admitted Five.

“How can you say that?” whispered Rainbow Dash, glaring at Five. “How can you say that?!”

“I believe I just did.”

“All these ponies, everything that you just did! And it was for no reason?”

“Says the one who cut off a leg and half-blinded a pony? I still need to check on those blades. But…” Five sighed, and she set down the container that she was using to collect scraps. “I have a voice in my head,” she said. “Well, you can think of it like a voice. ‘Order, Order, Order’, that is all it ever says. Every second of every day. Compelling me to bring order to the world, to fight the forces of evil and chaos.”

“You call this order?” spat Rainbow Dash.

“I hate that voice,” said Five. “I hate it more than anything! It’s not my voice! So I defy it! Chaos, destruction, pain, I spread them because I am not Anhelios! I take what they love, because I can never love anything. The voice just screams louder, and I laugh at it- -at my own pain! Because this is me!” She glared into Rainbow Dash’s eyes, not with anger, but with the desire to be understood. “You wouldn’t know,” she said. “There is no way you could. To be born with your cutie mark, with a fate that was locked the instant Cavern Melody returned from the void, for five generations…”

She trailed off, and neither of them spoke as Five continued to strip the scrap from ponies she had slain and wounded.