I felt exposed, probably the most exposed I ever been in my life. I had given my radiation resistant stable suit to Willow Wisp to keep her from dying due to radiation. I didn't have to worry about it, being the half-ghoul that I am, but that didn't keep me from continually swearing in my head. The wind in the so called “No Mare's Land” was extreme, and without my stable suit or a full fur coat I felt the wind hitting my skin roughly. Not like it made a difference, the skin was dead really, you could probably peel parts of it off without effort. In other words, being a ghoul fucking sucks out here.

That doesn't even account for the amount of times I hear those scaredy cats in Friendship City or the Manehattan ruins say “Look out, it's going to kill you” or “You aren't welcomed around here, turn away before I shoot your fucking head off”. Yeah, seems like the whole wasteland hates me if I so much as take the thing off. Not that I mind, the things comfy and shields from the wind but it does get to the point where it smells like shit if I don’t was it. As for the retards that played be off as a monster, I gave them what they had coming. It was a clear message saying “don’t mess with Sharpshot”.

Of course, those things alone didn’t help me feel any better about the situation. I’m aware of the fact that cloths are considered optional outside of stables, but it just feels weird. I swear some of the ponies in the wasteland, even the mares, live to be creepy stalkers. Mostly the raiders, and I despised those sons of bitches, especially considering that they had no sense of self control when it came to certain things. It made me made, especially considering what they had done to Willow Wisp.

Now I want to quickly say that I am not the romantic type, and I never will be. I like Willow Wisp not in a “pretty looking mare who cares for other” kind of way. I wouldn’t be lying if I didn’t at least suspect she was the Bloody Angel, but after White Light caught me up to speed on everything that happened I didn’t care. It honestly made sense, considering that this Dread pony was an Earth pony. If somepony really did kill members of the Enclave no doubt it would be another pegasus. I had a kind of respect for that, Willow Wisp was strong even without a voice. I hurt a little to hear the truth, but whatever sadness I feel I never showed.

Not that I said anything to Willow Wisp about it, hell no pony has said anything about it since we separated. I didn’t mind, it helped me think of a plan and take notice of the fear in the alicorn that had called herself “Flame Dancer”. She was lying to us about losing her memories, I knew it. That being said, if I said anything I would be putting the others in danger, and considering that Zoey had hired me to protect Willow from this thing I wasn’t about to do that. Besides, she was leading us right where I wanted her to, the place Zoey had mentioned before I left.

Currently we are in a place in Las Pegasus called No Mare’s Land. This was place of impact of the Nebula one mega spell. It leveled the entire city, turning building into rubble and most ponies into pills of ash and bone. Anypony who did survive and become a ghoul had lost there mind, there was too much radiation for the brain to not cook alive. This was also the sight of a stable, Stable 33 Zoey had told me. That was my true destination, and I had the prize that this Alicorn was looking for.

Allow me to explain what’s going, the only reason I’m out here was because Zoey hired me to do a job. This stable 33 that she was talking about, the location of it was in No Mare’s Land and no normal pony could reach it. I don’t know how she found out I was a ghoul, but if she was offering me bits to do this work then I wasn’t going to complain. Only two things were necessary for me to get in, and they were both at my side, a bait and an alicorn. I hated the idea of using Willow Wisp for bait, with all the shit she has already gone through. However, no way they would take me knowing I could probably take out half the stable. Trust me, I have all the right to boast about doing something like that.

Zoey wanted to know what was happening, and why these alicorns were so important to Twister. She hated that son of a bitch more than I originally thought, but I liked that. She stayed back to try and make sure Dead Hooves and the Angle Hunter's stayed alive, which I hope she upheld. Then again I was definitely the most experienced of our little “brigade of outcast” as White Light had referred to us as before she and Stitch started making their way around No Mare’s Land. I had a better shot than most ponies out here do, and I knew how to buy enough time for others.

We had walking for about an hour before Flame Dancer stopped in front of a small cave. I knew this was the entrance, why else would Flame Dancer be acting so hesitant. I stopped Willow Wisp as I saw her starting to advance on the alicorn, giving her a head shake to keep Flame Dancer from noticing. With almost complete silence I lifted Flash Fire out from over my back, something that was definitely harder then I made it look. I held the gun up to Flame Dancers head, purposely poking the back of her head as her muscles visibly tensed.

“What are you doing?” She asked, Willow Wisp backing away a bit. She didn’t know what I did.

“You can drop the act alicorn,” I told her. “Stable 33, that’s what in this cave isn’t? I assume it was no accident you were unconscious in the city streets. Now I could be completely wrong, but if you wish to prove me wrong you could show me what down there,” I tap the back of her head with Flash Fire while I took a pistol out and held it to her horn. “Trust me, nothing but the truth is getting you out of this, so unless you absolutely wish to die you better show me. Besides, surely you’re Overstallion has use of the Bloody Angle’s assistant and one of the most dangerous bounty hunters in the Wasteland."

I knew there was a danger in engaging her, which is why I had approached this the way I did. Simply putting a gun to her neck wouldn’t keep her telling me, but you put a gun to a unicorn’s horn and the threat becomes even more real. I’ve learn to do most things without the need of magic, but I still relied on it in many situations. You destroyed the horn of a unicorn or alicorn and the break down. We’re more fragile than both Pegasi and Earth Ponies, the only thing that keeps us in authority is our magic. That was why putting a gun to her horn was such an effective tactic.

She hesitantly started making her way down into the cave, slowly but carefully. I kept all my attention on her, only glancing back for a second to make sure Willow Wisp was following us. She kept her distance from me, which I had expected considering the current situation. When it started getting too dark to see I commanded the alicorn to use a light spell, which she used as I tapped the pistol against her horn. After a couple more minutes we finally came to the end of the cave, and I smiled as I saw what she had lead me to.

Usually at the end of a cave you would see a giant wall of solid rock, but this was clearly no giant rock wall. Instead I saw a gigantic metal door the size of a shed in front of me, clearly pony made. A giant metal gear stuck out from the rest of the door, which was the main entrance to the inside. There was a control panel next to it, with a speaker and a button covered in glass. I knew this all too well, and I looked to the alicorn angry.

“I’m… sorry,” She tried to apologize to me, but at this point she should have known it was useless.

“You fucking liar,” I hit her with the Flash Fire’s stock, knocking her to the ground her to the ground. I take her mane in my magic and pull it up, putting the pistol under her muzzle threateningly. “You better answer my questions okay, or else you're dead mare, got it?” She nodded her head as best she can. “First off, what exactly was your plan? You obviously knew we were coming and had some reason to come to us, so why?”

“I… saw her,” She answered me, pointing at Willow Wisp. “I saw her… earlier in the day… with a pony wearing power armor… and that raider zebra Twister likes,” She suddenly smiled as she continued to speak, the pressure on her neck making the words come slow but clear. “She sent you… didn’t she?”

“Why am I not surprised,” I muttered to myself, I had found it hard to believe Zoey’s story, but I trusted her enough to know she wouldn’t pull a gun on us. I shifted my attention quickly back to the alicorn as I continued questioning her. “So tell me, what about this place is so important to Twister? As far as I know it’s another stable in the middle of the wasteland."

“You want to know?” She asked continuing to smile. “Then how about I show you?”

I thought about my options real quickly, knowing that it would probably be best to get answers from the inside. Besides, the Overstallion would know better then anyone what was going on and I needed to know exactly what was going on. I lower my gun from her muzzle and pushed her up, she looked at me before walking over to the doors controls. I followed her, never putting my guns down as to make sure she didn’t try anything. She pressed a button on the controls and started speaking.

“This is 5-7-0 reporting in,” She said, “We have some visitors Overstallion, and I think you will want to meet them."

Not long after did I hear sirens come from the door, yellow lights glowed on the tops of the stable door. I couldn’t see it from the outside, but I knew there was a strange device on the inside latching onto the inside of the door. Slowly the giant gear on the outside started moving inwards as light started to shine through the cracks off the door. After the entire thing was detached from the doors frame it moved to the side and revealed the inside of the stable. What I saw didn’t shock me, in fact I knew exactly what to expect.

I looked in front of me to see at least three alicorns, all wearing normal stable suits with the number “33” printed onto the back and sleeves. The alicorn who was with us, who had referred to herself as “5-7-0” walked past us and into the stable. She came up to one of the other alicorns and hugged them, crying as she retold what I had done to her. The alicorn she talked to glared at me, but I didn’t give a damn about what she was thinking. Willow Wisp followed her inside, behind her and watched as a door at the left end of the room opened.

“Well isn’t this a treat,” An alicorn stallion stepped into the room and made their way to me. I simply stood there as he examined the two of us. “I sent somepony to obtain some new subjects and she finds not one but two of the most dangerous ponies in the wasteland. Of course one of you look like you need a little help in the social aspect of things."

“I take pride in being the pony I am,” I told the alicorn, “If you have a problem with it you’ve started a conversation with the wrong pony."

“Trust me, I”m well aware that I can’t change somepony like you,” He replied, as he held out his hoof. “I’m the Overstallion of stable 33, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” I didn’t take the hoof, knowing that there was something this alicorn was hiding from me. “Okay, guess a handshake is out of the question. Please mister Sharpshot and Bloody Angle, with what pleasure do I owe your visit to."

“An assignment if you really want to know,” I explained. “Twisters good friend Zoey sent me here, said there was something she wanted to know about this place."

A frown suddenly formed on the Overstallion’s face, and he turned around as he thought. “I sure wish we would have meet under more friendly circumstances but it seems you’re friend has sent you here for no reason,” I explained, “I will admit that we do have a bit of an arrangement set up with Twister, but Zoey should already know what we are doing,” He whispered something into one of the other alicorns ears before turning back to the two of us. “I would like to speak with you in private mister Sharpshot, if your friend here would please follow 8-2-1 here while we discuss in my office."

I felt a suddenly feeling of betrayal, one that I had not seen coming from the very beginning. Damn it Zoey, did she really know about what this place was about all along? And now I’ve walked myself and Willow Wisp into a trap without any idea what was going to happen. Willow Wisp’s fur was brushing against my side, she was scared. She knew just as much as I that Zoey was using us for Twisters own game. I didn’t freak out however, instead I played along, kneeling down to Willow Wisp.

“I need you to listen to me,” I told her calmly. “I know you don’t want to hurt any more ponies, but I need you to find out whatever these son’s of bitches are up to while I talk to the Overstallion. If they try and do anything to you, fuck them up. Hear me?” She nodded her head and I stood up, walking up to the Overstallion. “You better make sure she stays safe."

“Of course,” He nodded his head as the alicorn he had talked to showed Willow Wisp down a hallway on the left side of the stable’s entrance. As they left the Overstallion showed me to where his office was, which was actually directly above the stables entrance. After a slow walk we came to his office, and he took his seat behind a desk at the far end. “Please rest, I assure everything is going to be fine."

I sat down on the opposite side of the desk and got right to my questions. “I hope you wouldn’t mind me asking, but I does seem rather suspicious that everypony in here is an alicorn. I heard about what taint can do but this is clearly no social experiment conducted by stable teck. So exactly what is going on?”

He smiled at me as an alicorn walked into the room completely silent, almost as if she was unaware of my presence. She placed two drinks down on the table, the Overstallion giving her a nod of gratitude as she left as silently as she came. The first thought that crossed my mind was how oddly silent she was, the next was the realization we had never asked for anything to drink. I looked down to the two drinks and saw that both of them had a small amount of rainbow glow in them, just barely thick enough for me to see it. The Overstallion took his and drank it straight down, having noticed how I hadn’t pick up the drink.

“You got a clever eye,” He complemented. “We don’t get very many visitors, but your are one of only two to not fall for that trick. You’ve already meet the other one, Silver Bullet, or 5-7-0 as her protocol name is,” He floated the second glass away from us and near the edge of the desk. “Since I now know you aren’t dumb enough to fall for such a trick I will gladly share with you what we are doing. You are correct! This is no social experiment of any kind, not that I expect them to considering the horrors they have made out of taint. However, it is our goddess’ ambition that has driven us here to do some... experimentation."

I should have known the goddess was somehow involved in this, why else would there be alicorns. Still, he had given me another question, one I’m sure he was hoping to ask. “What kind of Experimentation are you talking about? Does this have anything to do with Misty Moon apartment?”

He let out a sigh as I mentioned the apartment complex, “I see you’ve already discovered part of our little project,” He said, my heart skipped a beat as I realized something. “That was… a mistake. A big mistake and one that I don’t want to remember. We wanted to see if simply stabilizing taint would allow us to change the form of a pony into an alicorn, as it has done in the past. Our results were... less than satisfying. Most of the ponies there turned into these strange creatures with red eyes, and we learned that it required not only stability but quantity."

“You drink too much you turn into an abomination,” I said, believing I knew what he was saying. “You drink too little and it simply extends your life. You wanted to find out how the goddess manage to turn into an alicorn, which means you are looking for the right amount of taint to inject into a pony's body,” A flip switch in my brain as a realized something. “The goddess is trying to turn ponies into alicorns?”

"That is correct,” the Overstallion replied. “Good to see were on the right track. You see, we’ve been trying to rise our numbers as of recently so we can have more control of the Wasteland. However, natural formed alicorns tend to be a little, how should I say it, messed up. Not exactly the nicest of terms to use, but most of them seem to have deformation or disability. We want to know how we can stop that."

I felt rage built in me. “You alicorns weren’t even suppose to exist in the first place,” I said, trying to remain somewhat under control. “How is this work helping the wasteland in any way? Last I check most of you were murderers and cannibalists, and you want to make more of those things?”

He frowned at my burst of rage. “I assure you our only goal is to help those we think should be allowed to survive in our new world. The thing is we’ve succeeded,” He suddenly took the second drink in his hoof and started drink. I kept myself from grabbing Flash Fire, which I was surprised they hadn’t taken. “Silver Bullet managed to be our first alicorn that didn’t come out acting like a complete slave. We’ve already sent the findings to our Goddess, did you know that we have hive minds like changelings."

“What does any of this fucking psychotic shit has to do with Twister?” I asked, still being left half satisfied by my first question.

“Oh, it was him and his two bodyguards that managed to help us break through,” The Overstallion said in a mischievous voice. It was at that moment I realized I had made a horrible mistake earlier. The alicorn stood and walked to my side “Listen, mister Sharpshot, as much as I admire your skill in this day in age there is no use for the ponies of the old world to exist. Alicorns are the future, together in unity under the goddess. Twister has offered us the ability to create a world where only we and the Enclave survive. I’m sure you would agree with me when I say that none of this would be the way it wa-”

The sound of sirens suddenly erupted in the room, interrupting the Overstallion in the middle of his talk. I didn’t need to hear the rest of what he said to know what this place was for, and why Twister has a connection to it. Not just that, but I realized who I left to keep an eye on Dead Hooves. Without another word I took out Flash Fire and rammed the barrel hard into the Overstallion’s neck, pinning him against the wall. Despite the obvious pain he was in he held a sinister smile on his face.

“What the hell are you doing to Willow Wisp!?” I yelled burning with rage, knowing that I had made a mistake leaving her with the stables occupants.

“You ponies are all the same,” He replied, “So stupid you don’t realize you had fallen straight into a trap. If I’m correct I say you have about fifteen minutes before her mind is connected to the other alicorns. Hate to say it, but looks like this will be the first job you ever failed,” I heard the sound of a shotgun behind me and turned around to see that Silver Bullet, the alicorn who lead us here, was holding a standard combat shotgun to my face. I slowly backed away from the Overstallion. “Perfect timing Silver Bullet, now do a favor and help me-”

Silver Bullet, completely out of nowhere, fired a shotgun shell into the Overstallion. His head evaporated as the shell hit, leaving nothing but a small amount of his spine that was part of his neck. I felt the unusual feeling of blood on my body, some splattered onto my goggles, once again making me happy that I didn’t have Stitch remove them. The front half of both my body and Silver Bullet’s was covered in blood. I looked to her with shock, the shotgun I thought had been for me.

“Get your friend out,” She said in a much colder voice then when we first met. “Security is after me and not you. I’ll meet you outside the stable if I’m still alive, if you don’t seem me then leave immediately,” She tossed a pair of keys to me. “That will open the pod that’s turning her into an alicorn. It’s too do anything to turn her back, but if you listen to what I’m about to tell you then everything will be okay. You’ll need the Hive-mind if you wish to know the moves of Twister and any of the other alicorns. There’s a meter on the control panel, when that reaches green pull the lever immediately. She will be an alicorn, but she will be the same pony you knew before."

“Not so fast,” I said closing the stable door as she tried to exit. “Why are you trying to help me? You were going to do that to us anyway, so why help if it’s what your goddess wants?”

“I… don’t know,” She said, clearly uncertain. “I never felt this way about working for the Goddess before. Something just told me to help you, something I can’t quite explain. Your friend is in danger of become a monster, they left her and I had to hunt down the keys and kill the main technician to get them. Please don’t make me waste it,” She manually opened the door, looking back to me one last time. “Besides, I’m not the one who brought you here. You put your trust in the wrong zebra."

With that she left, and for only a couple of seconds I stood there silently as the alarms continued to sound in the air. I didn’t need to think that long to know what was the most pressing matter, I had a soon-to-be alicorn to save. I put the keys rushingly into a saddlebag and rushed out of the Overstallions office. I kept Flash Fire at the ready, just because the alarms were set off because of Silver Bullet doesn’t mean she was the only pony they would kill. These alicorns would shoot me the minute they saw me, I knew it in someway or another.

I made my way down the hallways of the stable watching as alicorns rushed through, not seeing me as they did. I finally came to a strange room full of weird pod like things, this must have been the place Silver Bullet told me to go to. This was the first time since my last day in stable 15 I felt scared, I was glad that no one else was around to see me like this. I could see ponies inside them, all alicorns floating in some weird liquid. A shiver went down my spine, this is where they were holding Willow Wisp, I knew it.

I didn’t take long for that thought to be answered, as I heard the cracking of glass farther down the room. Quickly making my way to where the sound had come from I stood in shock at what I saw. It was indeed Willow Wisp, the blood on her fur was forever stained onto it, making her easy to make out. That wasn’t the part that had shocked me, it was how much she had changed. Two syringe pierced her front hooves, attached two tubes filled with that rainbow liquid. At first glance she seemed like the same pony, but then I spotted the horn on the top of her head. It wasn’t very big, but the tip of the horn was pointier than both mine or Dead Hooves. Not only that, but she seemed to actually be taller (guess it must have been an alicorn thing after all). Not as tall as Celestia during my unfortunate incident in Canterlot, but taller than me by probably two or three inches. A crack was formed in the pod she was contained in, she was trying to break out.

She stopped as she saw me, banging on the door mouthing words that I could only assume said “Get me out of here”. I looked to the right of the pod to see a control panel, looking to see that the arrow had just barely made it into the green. I wasn’t willing to take chances, considering that not only was this Willows life at stake but that I had a bad track record when it came to machines. Trust me, it was a miracle White Light managed to fix the Raptors engine after had bad I had messed it up. In the end I decided to wait until the arrow was in the middle of the green area, which would be a bit. I Looked back to Willow Wisp and soon realized that her wings had grown as well, she was flapping them wildly as she kept trying to kick the pod apart. They had to curve in order to fully extend, being wider than the pod itself.

“Willow listen to me,” She stopped as I yelled over the alarm. “I can get you out but you need to wait a little bit. Those monsters back in the apartment building had been created by taint, and if we don’t have a safe level of that liquid inside of you then you will become one as well. Trust me on this one."

I suddenly felt a bullet go straight into my flank, and I clutched my teeth as I looked to see two alicorns approach me. “Don’t think you're getting out of this one ghoul,” They said. “Like a weak thing like you could beat us."

I let out a short laugh at this, the pain was nothing new to me. These two have obviously never heard about what I was capable of. With that in mind, I watched as they both started firing at me. I quickly teleported out of the way, which only meant moving two inches to the left, and aiming down the sights of Flash Fire. I slowed my breathing only for a second as I got my sights at on of the alicorn's head, pulling the trigger only moments later. The bullet went straight through his skull, and the bullet ignited him in flames on impact. His buddy stopped firing at the sight of this, back peddling a bit at the sight. He looked at me with fear, realizing exactly where he and his now dead friend were wrong.

“Who's the weak one now you retarded motherfucker,” I said insultingly, not caring at all about what I was saying. “If you want to end like your idiot friend I’d be glad to put a bullet into your head as well, you have a tenth of a chance of surviving in case you are wondering,” At this he bolted out of the room scared, I laughed at the sight. “That’s right, you better run. No alicorn fucks with me, got that, none,” As I finished I made my way back to the control panel before letting out on last insult to the alicorn. “Idiot, should have faced me like the stallion he was."

I looked down at the gauge to see it was about halfway in the green, and decided it was safe to open the pod. I took the lever in my magic and pulled it up as quickly as possible, watching the pod to see the all the liquid in the tube starting to disappear as it stopped flowing. After another second the pod opened up, and Willow shakily walked out before collapsing. She was coughing up small amounts of taint, even though you couldn’t hear her due so. Seems like the only thing that it didn’t somewhat change was the fact she was mute. She slowly stood up, looking at herself terrified. I could tell that there was a lot going through her head, a lot of things that she wished she’d never had to think about. It was at that moment I realized she no longer was wearing the stable suit, or rather that it wasn’t with her at all.

I made my way to her as she seemed to be struggling to walk, as if the taint had messed with her brain in someway. I lifted her onto my back, surprised at how heavy she was now that she was an alicorn. I could still take the pressure it was putting on me, but this was going to kill my back in the long run. I didn’t care about my stable suit, it wasn’t as important as getting the hell out of here before. She looked at me with a face I didn’t usually see, or at least directed at me. She rubbed her head against my neck, and I had to bit my lip in order to keep myself from blushing or smiling.

“Don’t get use to this,” I told her as she looked at me with a smile, something I also didn’t have directed at me. “As soon as you can walk again your getting off my back, got it?”

She nodded, despite the events that had just happened she seemed overwhelming okay. Of course, she probably didn’t want to be seen as weak, which was perfectly fine with me. With that covered I made my way back through the stable, looking out for alicorns to make sure I didn’t have to do any fighting. Usually I would have killed as many of these idiots as possible, but considering Willow Wisp was laying on Flash Fire at the moment I had no choice but to sneak my way through the stable. After what seemed like an hour I finally made it back to the stable door, sighing with relief as I saw the exit. It was then I saw Silver Bullet running to the door as well, motioning me to keep going as she started closing the stable door.

I didn’t stop as I made my way out and to the end of the cave. As I reached the surface I let out a sigh of relief. I looked back to Willow Wisp, who I knew would be safe from the radiation now that she is an alicorn. Before I could get very far from the cave I heard the sounds of hooves running towards me. I looked back to see Silver Bullet running towards us, and I turned to face her. She looked behind, most likely checking to see if she had been followed before turning back to me.

“I think it’s time for me to explain why I’m helping you out,” She said, making me glad I didn’t have to threaten her. “The Overstallion probably told you this but my name is Silver Bullet, one of the last residents in stable 33. The alicorns took over it three years ago as part of some plan, and offered us the chance to live as long as we promised to help them in their plan. Most of the ponies in the stable didn’t want to help them, saying they would rather die than work for ‘false gods’, and they were killed."

“I don’t care about what your fucking deal is with the goddess,” I replied not wishing to hear her entire story. “Just tell me what this plan is and why it made you change your opinion."

“Oh, alright,” She said scared, her attitude swung so fast it shocked me. “I… well found out what the plan was… at least I think so. Not long after the Overstallion brought you to his office, I found this,” She shakily handed me a graph, or an elevation chart I realized as I looked at it closer. Silver Bullet pointed a hoof at a dot on the map, her attitude again changing to sound more serious “There’s something here that they want, I don’t know what but I believe it has to do with this plan of Twisters to create a world of only the Enclave and alicorns."

“Well that explains why they were doing experimentation to turn normal ponies into one of them,” I folded the map up and put it into my saddlebag before looking back to Silver Bullet. “You're coming with me and are going to explain everything you know about their plan once we meet up with everypony else, got it. I can’t read the map but if they escaped the Angle Hunter base then no doubt they are taking the Raptor to Ponyville like Zoey said,” Saying her name made the anger in my body build back up. “When I see that zebra again I’m going to give a piece of my mind."

“Then we better get moving before they open that stable door up,” Silver Bullet replied. “I’m still connected to the hive-mind remember, and they have been order by some other alicorn to hunt you and me down."

“Let's get moving then, I want to be as far from this place as possible once that door is open,” I said, Silver Bullet nodding in agreement.

Author's Notes:

Please like, comment, and follow to show your support for this story.