"Happy Nightmare Night Eve Commonwealth! This is your spooooky DJ Traveling Miles hoping everybody out there survived our daily nightmare for another year and is in shape to celebrate the ancient holiday tomorrow! Just a reminder, I'll be out of town tomorrow for the festivities in Goodneighbor, sorry!

Don't you worry loyal listeners, I've got a great lineup of holiday songs and regular classics mixed in, all set to run while I'm gone, so Diamond City Radio won't be going anywhere! I gotta suggest anybody who can gets to the party in Goodneighbor though, from what I'm hearing Mayor Shamrock is really going all out this year!

Of course that may be to keep his town happy, we've also heard of a lot of tension between the groups making up Goodneighbor, so it's a bit of a powderkeg.... Makes for an exciting party though, doesn't it?! Besides, the Common Pony's Princess is still in town, trouble might follow her little retinue around, but things tend to work out in the end right?

Let's hope so, Goodneighbor isn't the only place getting riled up lately... We've got a lot of reports of Gunner activity to the south, something is working up the monsters of the Glowing Sea making a lot of trouble for them, so their eyes are looking northward greedily folks... University Point and Dreadnot are both getting a little antsy, upping their defenses and getting a little less friendly. Also from waaaay up north we're getting some worried letters from Haylem about strange goings on in that creepy part of the Commonwealth.

Finally as for the weather... all the coastal communities are freaking out a little. Seems like we're due for an extra touch of scary to go with the holiday, they're all warning of a lot of fog coming in just in time. They sounded a little worried, Fog Harbor doesn't send such big banks our way very often and something may be up on the tiny island, makes for a spooky Nightmare Night though! Maybe Goddess Luna is gracing us with her touch huh?"

The thick book I hid behind wasn't helping much to dissuade the stern stares I kept getting from Jade, trotting around the living room of the Princess Celestia Suite busily and trying to put off leaving for her clinic. She still wanted to work on finding a treatment for me, but every time she saw the cover of 'Martial Arts of the Zebras' she gave a displeased little whinny and found something to distract her.

Zed had given me the illustrated manual he had apparently recovered from the mountain of books in Moondancer's cottage, a pony made tome documenting what Equestria knew of the zebra's devastating combat skills during the war. It was informative, lots of pictures illustrating what it was describing helped a good deal, though I didn't expect to suddenly become a prize fighter.

There was indeed a short chapter on 'Doombunny Style', a drug fueled, Equestria influenced, later school established during the war, though it didn't explain the name or why Zed crossed himself when he heard it. He assured me he didn't use drugs to achieve his feats of skill, the zebra alchemy that had augmented him from his early years filled that role well enough and he was an expert at Fallen Caesar style among others as well. Surprisingly he was being pretty open about the whole thing, actually providing a little of his history for once.

The zebra made sure to relate all of this when Jade was out of the room of course, she kept watching him sitting on the couch nearby warily when she passed through. She wasn't finding much to use as an excuse however, Glitter was snuggled beside me, reading part of my collection of comics, Val was sprawled out on the rest of the couch, her paws kicking me gleefully as she counted all her caps won at the Combat Zone again, and her sister Magnolia was seated a... safe distance away, all perfectly innocent and boring.

Finally she gave an unsure huff, speaking in a distrustful, worried tone to all of us from the center of the cheery sun rug that dominated the sky blue floor. "I suppose I should return to my work... for a short while... if you will all behave yourselves while I am gone..."

All of us nodded rapidly, trying to reassure her and get those appraising blue eyes out of here. I hopped up and only stumbled the first step or two, recovering to trot over and nuzzle her. "We'll be fine! Honest Jade! Go ahead and keep working on it, we'll see you soon right?!"

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and she cocked an eyebrow, barely going along with me trying to guide her towards the door. "I know when you are planning mischief Fast... You did not lie, but you did not say you would behave... I am still most unhappy about this... fight... of yours... Managing your condition has gotten more difficult you know, you are in no shape for such foolishness and I am running through a great deal of my stores just keeping you in this condition. I do not think I will allow it! Y-Yes.. that would be best! You may not..."

"You're a great doctor Jade, I feel great honest! D-Don't worry so much, it'll be fine! W-We'll see tomorrow ok? No reason to make a decision out of hoof now, we'll figure it out before the fight, we've got more than a whole day! You go on down to your clinic and find a cure for me ok? Come back soon for lunch to check on us!"

She still didn't buy it, but didn't have a lot of choice either and chose to take comfort in my bargaining. Not to mention I wasn't completely above taking advantage of my condition, she might be the most resistant to whatever smell I was putting off, but she wasn't immune. She lost herself to it several times last night, now it was helpful in convincing her with that dreamy look crossing her eyes.

The big blue alicorn at the door shook her head to clear it and gave us all one last anxious look, ending on an unhappy whinny that at least led to a kiss goodbye. I shut the door behind her and slid to the floor against it, just pretending took a lot out of me...

I didn't really need her telling me I was getting worse, I could feel it even past all the drugs she kept sticking me with. Plus I made the mistake of giving my pip-buck's health screen a glance when I woke up... I wasn't aware the arcano-tech device could keep track of so many angry alerts and medical conditions, the way it positively screeched at me made me worry it was close to just giving up entirely, pip-bucks were not made to deal with this...

Once I caught my breath and was sure Jade wasn't going to pop her head back in for a surprise inspection, I nodded to the others and struggled back up. As soon as I gave the go ahead Val and Zed started pushing furniture around the room, clearing a wide open space in the middle around the sun rug. Glitter helped by tossing every pillow and cushion she could find around the perimeter, eventually forming a decent little practice ring with lots of padding nearby.

I had to pick my way carefully over the ring of cushions to stand in the center of our makeshift ring, watching Zed vault over the obstacle easily with a grumble. The lithe zebra had removed all his armor and paced in front of me in thought, finally speaking up calmly. "I have never seen you fight hoof to hoof Fast... I need to see what I have to work with, try to hit me."

"Er... oooook..." I definitely wasn't worried about hurting Zed, actually quite the opposite. I could hurt myself just trying, and he could hurt me in sooooo many ways...

"C'mon Daddy! You can do it!" Glitter cheered from the sidelines happily, her unwavering faith a little misplaced but very welcome.

Gulping to myself nervously, I reared up and swung my hooves out at Zed, unsurprised to see him absently dodging without concern. I tried spinning around for a weak buck and flailed uselessly a moment when he ducked aside, shooting his forelegs out to hold up my trembling hindlegs in position, gruffly tapping my forelegs into the proper stance before letting me go and waving me on to try again.

Unfortunately, that was the easiest it got... He kept having me attack him and kept right on catching me easily and nudging my limbs into the form illustrated in his book without breaking a sweat. After enough of that he moved up to casually flipping me aside into the pillows every time I tried lunging at him, grumbling and grousing over my mistakes and how to avoid them.

Eventually, after a particularly bad attempt that sent me flying across the room to land upside down in the cushions, Zed sighed and facehoofed to himself. "You are horrible Fast... Have you never even fought another pony as a foal? Had to fend off bullies or defend what is yours?"

"Ummm... not really... I grew up in the old world and then in a Stable ok! What bullies there were didn't really notice me, then when I... after I made friends with Grizz, they had a reason to leave me alone... It's not that bad right? If I have to fight a pegasus, at least I know about that! Mom attacked me on a regular basis and taught me all kinds of Shadowbolts fighting... stuff... I sorta know what a pegasus can do anyway! Besides, don't we get to use weapons?"

Val spared the frustrated zebra sighing to himself from answering, watching the show with a stale bucket of popcorn from the circus themed casino we were staying in shared with Glitter. "You gotta last two minutes boss, even then there's no 'lethal' weapons allowed. No knives, no blades, no guns, no fancy magic, just shoes and blunt weapons. Not that they ain't lethal too, just... slightly less so..."

"No magic!? But... t-that's not fair! It's discrimination against unicorns!" I wailed back, agreeing to this fight was dumb enough, but I didn't know I couldn't even use magic!

The fiery griffon scratched her plumage and waffled a bit. "Well... no big kaboom magic like yer lightning boss, if that's what ya was countin' on... It's a bloodsport ok? Watchin' you horn heads come breezin' in with fancy magic is no fun. You can use telekinesis of course, an' spells that only affect you, but ya can't just blast that bitch ta cinders as soon as the bell rings, bad show... If ya make it to the two minute mark, ya can have a weapon you picked before the fight, but nothin' you use fits tha bill boss, sorry."

Glitter perked up curiously at her explanation while I joined Zed in his despondent groaning, this was getting to be a worse idea by the second... "You know a lotta stuff about that place Auntie Val! How come? I wanna go!"

"NO! Er... n-no sweetie, I'd rather you not go to that place... or see me get the snot bucked out of me... She's right though Val, it seemed like you knew that mare announcing last night too, did you fight there or just bet?"

For just a moment, Val looked ashamed and embarrassed, giving Glitter a noogie to get over it and nodding weakly. "Little of both boss... Goodneighbor's a great party town, but it's also a good way to get to the gutter in a hurry... Did a lot of betting, then did fighting to cover them bets I lost, wouldn't recommend either..."

With an absent push from one of her paws, I finally rolled back over and got back to my shaking hooves, wiping some of the sweat dripping off me away and sighing. "Well, I can't back out now. W-We'll figure something out... Lots of other stuff to do today though! Umm... lemme get cleaned up, then we can go down to the Sideshow Lounge and I can show you what I need Magnolia, thanks again for helping!"

The purple alicorn waved from her safe distance across the room with a smile. "Not at all Fast, thank you. Getting to sing in a big concert... it is scary, but exciting! I hope I do a good job and help open this place for you."

"Are you kidding, you'll be great Magnolia, nothing to worry about! You're one of the parts of this... plan... I'm most sure of!" I called back as I tottered off to the bathroom, already dreading taking my stained bandages off and getting a good look at myself. Tomorrow marked one week since Moondancer injected me with her potion, whatever it was going to turn me into, I was almost there...

Staring at my reflection again, I got to see how red I could turn firsthoof and really hate Moondancer's ideas for her potion...

The growths on my sides were all the way up to the size of full wings on a pegasus, squirming around uncomfortably under the pulsing, slimy skin at my sides. Staring at them in grim fascination, I realized if I thought really hard and twitched muscles in my back just the right way, they'd move around on their own...

I chose to take that as a good sign, the lumps were definitely bigger than the wings I had seen on Moondancer's genderless, pseudo-alicorns. My eyes were always red too, so no worries there... I held a hoof up and poked the end of my horn, marking how far I had to reach and eyeing my reflection closely, it was a little longer... Not all warped and twisted like the unicorn variety of her mutants, but I was sure it had gotten just a tiny bit longer.

What really annoyed me were all the side-effects that seemed geared around one thing, making a breeding stud to prove Moondancer could make male alicorns and to tempt all of Jade's sisters... This whole 'scent' thing was bad enough, I had no problem imagining the mad mare intentionally making her potion cause the effect. Some of the other changes it had been making I had absently noticed with Jade last night were even more personal than just making my horn longer though...

I also noted with a grumble that I wasn't any taller. With all the other changes I expected to have put on a few inches by now, look more like Jade and her sisters, who were modeled on the goddesses themselves. Instead I just looked like me, just with what I hoped were wings tacked on. Maybe slightly more muscle showed on my slender frame, but that could be just from nearly getting killed and running for my life all the time... A unicorn with wings, or a pegasus with a horn, but still just me.

Alicorns were supposed to be tall and regal right? Not short and scrawny... Though thinking back on it, Moondancer's own synth alicorn Angel looked like her, same thing, no taller, just her with wings added on. Maybe that was the ideal she was going for then? I supposed that wouldn't be too bad, not being significantly different at the end and all... I wouldn't have minded getting just a little taller though...

I wondered about the kindly synth alicorn I met, confusing since she looked almost exactly like the Confessor that had nearly ponynapped both me and Glitter just yesterday. But Angel was basically the opposite of the Confessor, she helped me escape and did everything she could for me.

The only clue I had about her was to follow the Rainbow Trail, but I had been in no shape to even attempt it. She and the mysterious Railroad raised a lot of uncomfortable questions about synths I had been putting off though. If I really did make it through all this, I'd have to deal with them sometime.

I still wasn't sure what Jade and Ivy were arguing about when it came to the rest of her sisters finding out about me either, but I realized them finding out was probably a bad idea. Even though I escaped, if this worked and I turned out how Moondancer wanted... I'd be walking proof she could do it, and if she could do it once, she could do it again...

If I hadn't got away, what would have happened if she just popped in with a male alicorn for them, one that apparently drove them crazy just by being in range? They would have done whatever she wanted... Even free, if the mares of Trinity Tower found out, who knows what the reaction would be? Maybe they'd seek out Moondancer and do as she asked for more, or maybe they'd just lock me away in their tower to mate with all of them constantly?

The latter made for a nice fantasy for a moment, but the practicalities ruined it. It wouldn't be with Jade and it wouldn't be for fun... and Moondancer would get the credit...

After rewrapping my chest in fresh bandages and fighting with my mane, (never cooperative to begin with, but now it kept trying to go all wavy-spiky in places..) I eventually came out of the steamy bathroom and shrugged into my armor and saddlebags, floating my hat up and tipping it to everyone waiting on me.

We made an interesting parade going through the casino in the morning hours, two small ponies, a zebra, a griffon and an alicorn, trotting along the mostly empty hallways and down to the Sideshow Lounge. I noticed Magnolia maintained her safe distance for the most part, but she kept moving up to sniff at the air behind me and then falling back again repeatedly.

When we made it to the backstage area past the guard waiting to let us in, I finally had to ask, it was getting cramped back here. "Umm... Magnolia... Please don't tell me that smell is getting stronger? Y-You keep acting weird..."

She flushed immediately, hiding behind the bangs of her long mane shyly and shaking her head. "N-No! Well... maybe a little... I am sorry Fast, I am trying to... build up a tolerance? Jade and Ivy are not affected as strongly, I am trying to do the same and ignore it, not get closer to act on it!"

We reached a small wooden door at the end of the short hallway bearing a corroded golden star with the name 'Rara' emblazoned on it. The pink barded guard informed us there was no key, but that didn't really pose much of an obstacle. Val leapt forward and set her claws to work, picking the lock and opening the sealed dressing room for the first time in 200 years.

Rara's dressing room was untouched, a perfectly preserved piece of the old world and the life of the pretty mare staring from the poster on the wall. I walked in alone slowly at first, unsure exactly what I needed in here, just trying to trick the computer running this place by making Magnolia's performance as accurate as possible.

The painted, theatre style poster showed a much younger Rara, hard to recognize under the veil and crazy outfit and identified as 'Countess Coloratura' for some reason, though mom did have several holotapes under that name in her collection. A number of rotting outfits a good deal more subdued than shown on the poster were hung on racks just inside the door, along with a well preserved sheer, dark dress on a mannequin nearby. A large makeup mirror was set up on a desk across the room as well, a terminal glowing mellowly waiting for me to crack it sat beside the mirror, opposite a bust holding a fancy hat and several necklaces.

I snagged the fancy dress and a couple of the pieces of jewellery as I sat at the small desk at patched my pip-buck to the terminal, Shamrock did say to take whatever I wanted... The small amethyst hair clip, thin gold and ruby necklace and simple sapphire earrings weren't a big theft, and they would look nice on Glitter, Val and Jade, so I felt comfortable taking them as part of my pay. Besides, as soon as Val followed me into the room she and Glitter started vacuuming up anything of value anyway...

The terminal wasn't too difficult, a treasure trove of the info I wanted was behind the simple security too. Performance plans for the Grand Opening Gala, song lists, copies of all music, the works. I quickly copied it all and poked around in the correspondence and audio files contained in the machine too, a couple of which jumped out at me while I waited for all the data to transfer.

Equestria-Net Email 403349302
From: Ministry of Wartime Technology, Ministry Walk, Canterlot
Subject: Congrats!

Well hey there Rara! Mighty fine hearin' from ya'll again an o' course I'll give ya a review fer your show, best durn singer I ever heard! Really glad to hear yer doin' better hon, finally some good news on this blasted contraption. Mah sister's company, er... mah sister an' her friends actually... wanted ta send ya one of their fancy hoof computers ta use instead o' some terminal. Decorated it up nice and purty so send em a line an tell em you like it gal! Gotta get together the next time Ah'm in Trotson an see yer comeback show, terrible ya need a comeback, but Ah tried ta warn ya bout that snake in the grass Svengallop!

Sorry... old argument Ah know, just the way he used you up, weaseled his way inta workin' fer that school after... ya'll could'a died from that stuff he was gettin' fer ya! Just so's ya could keep on singin' fer him an' linin' his pockets! Ah hate every time ah gotta deal with him for the Ministry, got his hoof in so many pies it ain't funny and Ah just wanna buck him in the face every time our paths cross... an' cause o' this damn war I cain't tell him ta buck off! When all this is over though, he's gotta reckonin' a comin'...

Ya'll take care o' yourself Rara, dunno when Ah'll get out that way, but we'll get together then! Knock em dead at that there casino of Pinkie's, ya'll just be careful. The buck she's got runnin' that place is as crazy as she is, weird enough makin' some casino outta her hub there, but at least you benefit from it.

Equestria-Net Email 4038402234 (Saved Draft)
From: Ministry of Moral Hub, Trotson
Subject: Tell me about it

Hey AJ! Great hearing from you too, thanks again soooo much for the review! Having one of the famous Ministry Mares give an endorsement goes a long way! I'll get ahold of your sis and thank her for the lovely gift, already using it to store my music and notes for new songs, sure is convenient, though they should have made it easier to take off...

Don't get me started on Svengallop, that jerk actually came to see me if you can believe it! Trying to go right back to his old tricks, telling me what a star he could make me into, things he could do now with his new job... AJ, I might be a little jaded when it comes to him... but I think he's going a little crazy... didn't seem quite right ya'know? Be carefull... Fool even invited me to his house to try to convince me there, don't worry though, I told him off for both of us.

What he did at that veterans benefit was unforgivable... Your brother... I'd never have anything to do with him again!

Log Entry #45

Trapped! This is horrible, we're trapped in here! The bombs went off, they actually did it... it was horrible, somehow the defenses of this place spared us, only a skeleton crew getting ready for the opening... W-We all had to watch all those poor ponies outside get cooked alive... trying to get in and... I can't... how did this happen!?! Now we realize we just had our time extended, this place can't save us, it's no Stable... the radiation... The Crusader's gift let me know ahead of the alarms, it's going to kill us slowly and there's no way out...

Said I'd never touch it again... went through all that and came out the other side... but now? I already went to the infirmary... took all they had... Is it wrong I was glad I was the first to think of it? Others had taken all the radiation drugs already, not like I'm taking those away... or that they'll do any good... No, I'm going to lay down for awhile, sing for fun...

Equestriaaa the land I love... A land of harmonyyyyy...

"Daddy? Is this who's on the posters?" Glitter's soft question drew my attention from the screen to see what she had found, though I was afraid I had a good idea...

A small partition hid a simple bed in the corner, somewhere to rest between shows probably, I couldn't see a big star being forced to stay here as her room in this fancy place. The bones of a pony were stretched out on the dusty mattress, a great number of empty and full vials of Med-X were scattered around her, several on the bed right beside the bleached bones of her legs.

A beautifully decorated pip-buck was still around one foreleg, a dark blue nearing black with pale blue highlights and bejeweled music notes of all different colors. Moving reverently, I floated the arcano-tech device off her leg and floated a tattered blanked over to cover the remains sadly. The mention of Svengallop was what tolled in my head, but this was an actual friend of Ministry Mare Applejack, and she died in this sad little room...

A picture was on the bedtable, showing an much younger Rara and Applejack together and smiling at some kind of camp, nearby a tattered old hat and red neckerchief seen in the picture sat together, grabbing my attention. I floated all of them up and to my bags, stopping to undo the clip on the tiny neckerchief and wrap it around Glitter's neck, it fit and looked just right with her pink dress and it... it belonged on a little filly like her.

Going over the pip-buck turned up everything on the terminal and then some, there really were notes on unfinished songs in here. Of most interest was a new map marker, labeled simply 'Svengallop's House', far to the north and on the coast. Moondancer's cottage hadn't provided a lot, but the home of an Institute head was worth investigating.

It took a minute to root around and find my pip-buck technician's key, fumbling with the orange handled hunk of metal unlocked the decorated pip-buck and I paused a moment, stumped on what to do. I knew who I wanted to have this, but putting it on...

"Er... Magnolia, I'd like you to have this if you want, it belonged to the singer and has all her music, even stuff she hadn't finished. I wanted to give you three pip-bucks anyway if you wanted them... this one is just special. I uh... h-have to get close to put it on..."

The purple alicorn gave an unsure smile at the small device, gulping nervously but nodding her head. "O-Of course Fast, what a wonderful gift. Go ahead, I am g-getting used to it... er.... I will hold my breath!"

She took in a deep breath and held it, her cheeks puffed out comically as I approached her outstretched hoof. I tried to hurry and focus on the boot up sequence once it adjusted its fit up and latched on to her hoof, it acted just as Jade's had at first, complaining about the strange pony biology it wasn't programmed with, eventually displaying a cartoon alicorn on the screen.

I was focused enough on the tiny screen, I didn't notice Magnolia finally taking a breath until her head came down heavily and flattened my hat, making me jump in surprise and move to get away. Unfortunately her free foreleg shot out and wrapped around me, keeping me in place as she curled around me.

She sighed luxuriantly, but seemed to be holding on to some control, merely resting her head heavily atop mine and speaking dreamily as I tried to finish up. "Oh... I am sorry Fast... I will stop... in just a moment... Mmmm... if only Miles smelled like this..."

"A-All done Magnolia! You... you c-can lemme go now..."

Val was hooting laughter at my predicament, increasing my embarrassment with Glitter watching the whole thing with a curious tilt to her head. Zed thankfully tapped the big filly's shoulder and broke her attention, getting her to shake her head and let go sheepishly. "Sorry!! I'm so sorry Fast! Y-You really can't let the others find out... that is very intoxicating... they would..."

"I-I'm starting to figure that out Magnolia... It's ok, really. I er.... I don't mind as much if it's you guys, you and Peri and Ivy are friends so it's not so bad. I'm getting the idea I might not be able to be around the rest of you anymore though... Almost time to move on I guess. Don't worry about it! That should give you all her songs to work with there, so you'll be a great replacement act!"

Praise of her singing put her on firmer ground and she beamed back. I smiled in return a little sadly, I wasn't one for getting close to most anyway, but being unable to do so with some of the few ponies I felt comfortable allowing in my personal space was annoying.

Promising myself I'd talk to Shamrock and have Rara's remains given a proper rest, I let Val and Glitter finish their scavenging and led the way out, aware of the tiny cameras watching from the ceiling. The computer running the hub had to think the Grand Opening Gala was happening, this was one more step on that path.

The buzz of activity as soon as we exited the casino surprised me this early and I stopped and goggled at the streets of Goodneighbor. I wondered how much of this was normal and how much was because of my requirements for Shamrock, there were a great number of tired, hung over looking ponies working feverishly out here.

A large stage being built of junk around one of the exits of the Wing Ding Circus stopped Magnolia in her tracks, staring at where she was expected to perform with a nervous gulp. The singing alicorn had played at small bars and for limited crowds before, never anything this big. I couldn't imagine going up and performing period, let alone up on that stage...

"I-It'll be fine Magnolia, you'll be great! Er... let's go see your sisters, I'm sure they'll say the same!" I tried to encourage her and lead the way to the Friendly Foals Orphanage, now under the control of Ivy.

On the way, Val returned to her new favorite subject, how I was going to break the bank of the King's casino. Specifically her continuing lessons on the game of poker. "Alright boss, what's tha highest card again?"

"Ace... then Princess, then Knight, then Jester... then numbers..." I groaned back, I had all the rules copied to my pip-buck, but she kept right on grilling me, using all the freebie decks of cards scattered around our Suite to practice.

"Quit yer whinin' boss! No fair you gotta do it, you don't know nothin' bout playin' cards! Name all the suits again!" She shot back, still pouting she wasn't going to be the one to win all the caps.

"Sigh... Sun, Moon, Heart, Star... If you could hear Ivy and the others, you could play Val. I don't need to know how to play that well anyway, we're cheating remember... N-Not that you should cheat most of the time Glitter! This is just an exception..."

Part of me thought this was a horrible example for the little filly at my side and tried to address it, but she clearly didn't see any problem. The world I came from said cheating was wrong, the one she came from and I was a part of now said you did whatever you had to, cheating at cards was actually pretty tame out here... Still, I held on to the old world I was born in, I could at least try to pass some of that on and cheating was wrong... mostly...

Glitter shrugged and ran ahead to visit all the foals running around the orphanage, all decidedly cleaner I noticed on the way. Ivy sat serenely on the stoop, watching her charges playing in the small yard and waving at our approach. Peri was in the midst of all the fillies and colts, gleefully playing with the big mare who looked to enjoy being a piece of playground equipment for them to climb and dangle off of.

Glitter dumped her stuffed pack out in front of the herd of Filchers happily, sharing all the Nightmare Night costumes she had purchased. She offered them to Ivy, Peri and Magnolia first, but other than a few accessories they didn't really fit, the foals had no such problems though and dove in excitedly.

"Good morning Fast, Val, Zed... Are you feeling well today? You do not have to work on repairs here you know, Mayor Shamrock has already said he will send his second best repair-pony here, a Mr. Fantastic? So do not strain yourself on our account, things are already much improved!" Ivy called down as we reached the candy cane fence and I passed the gate.

The thought of Light Fantastic coming here to fix things... ugh, that was worse than the inexperienced Wicket... I had to rely on that self centered pony enough getting ready to open the M.O.M. hub, distracting him here was a bad idea. I doubted he could keep more than one thing straight when it came to repairs.

"That's ok Ivy, I like fixing things. Besides, gives me a chance to teach my bestest buddy there a few tricks of the trade so he can handle this himself better... isn't that right Wicket?"

The surly colt hiding behind Ivy ducked back inside, grumbling from behind the big green alicorn. "Don't need yer help wanker! Boiler's fixed, that was the hard part!"

"Wicket... That is rude, Fast wants to help and teach you something. One should always be willing to learn something new from somepony willing to teach. Apologize..." Ivy looked back and spoke softly, but the buried steel in her voice brooked no arguments from the colt.

They must have gotten the pecking order cleared up overnight, Wicket slunk out from behind her with his ears flat and a scowl on his face, but did as told. I was actually concerned he'd physically choke on the apology, finally managing to sputter out a petulant, quiet, "Soooorry..." from where he pouted.

Ivy patted his head kindly and nodded, releasing him to go thunking his way back into the orphanage on his cast. Ivy and Peri followed all of us inside as I looked around for where to start, Shamrock had done as he said, there were warm blankets and better beds in here now at least. Choosing to at least try with Wicket, I stumbled after him towards a dangerously unserviced spark regulator under flickering lights, floating out my tools to get to work.

Trying to teach Wicket where he had made his mistakes with the boiler was an infuriating process, he watched if I wasn't paying attention to him, but wouldn't listen very well if I tried to lecture. Eventually he started getting interested despite himself, actually listening and beginning to ask questions once all the lights were working right and the clattering refrigerator was serviced. I couldn't fix everything in here, but I could manage the worst problems and hopefully Wicket would be fine with the rest. He really wasn't all that bad of a repair-pony, he just lacked education.... and had a very bad attitude...

"Oy... you gonna kill that synth bitch that was with G-Granny yesterday Mr.?" His sudden question made me bang my head in the cramped cabinet under the kitchen sink and duck out wincing.

"Ow... I dunno Wicket, if I see her again then probably... Not all synths are bad though, I think... That one is though, so yes, I probably will kill her."

His face grew dark and his brown eyes narrowed, looking down angrily and huffing a reply. "Good! They all oughta be scrapped! S-She pretended!! For years, pretended ta care an... it was all a lie! Those things are evil, through an' through!"

This brought up a lot of the questions I had been mulling over after meeting Angel and hearing of the Railroad. Granny Hat was a bad synth alright, one that disguised itself perfectly and did its job, obeyed the Confessor and was cold and cruel once the cat was out of the bag. But there were other synths apparently... not all were mindless slaves to the Institute...

"One saved me once Wicket, said some of them were... alive, thought and felt like normal ponies. I don't know if the Confessor is like that or not, but I'll probably kill her either way. Because she is evil, not because she's a synth. Other synths though... that's getting to be a difficult question.

It's not good to hate based on what somebody is I think, even if they're a synth. I love an alicorn and they were considered monsters once right? Hating the zebras led to the war, some places hate ghouls and that's not fair either, it's not right for griffons, or foals either or... or anypony I think. Granny Hat was just one of them, try not to let her taint all of them for you ok?"

He looked pretty unconvinced, but at least he didn't argue. Settling for grumbling to himself darkly, though he perked up when the sink drained of its brackish water. I took advantage of the victory to go rest, talking with Ivy and Peri about my plans for the King's casino tonight that involved the two of them along with Val and Zed.

Our plotting was interrupted by a commotion outside, Glitter barrelling in from the yard with the others marked it as interesting enough to go take a look as she was pleading, dragging me along to see. Her face pointed to the sky as soon as we were out, scanning the patchy blue before squealing with joy. "There it is daddy! Look!"

Following her pointing hoof, I spotted a blue wagon flying through the air above Goodneighbor, circling and swooping crazily as it came in for a landing. Ivy stood beside me staring up at it, squinting her eyes for a moment before I heard her voice in my head. (This way sister, come here...)

Sister? Looking carefully I saw it was a purple pony hitched to the wagon zooming our way now, there was a symbol painted on the wagon's sides too I couldn't quite make out, crossed somethings? My curiosity was short lived, Ivy acted as a landing beacon and the presumably alicorn driver skidded to a halt in the street in front of us, the battered old wagon bouncing and shuddering to a halt.

The postal hat on the large purple mare strapped to the wagon helped me identify her quickly, Starling, the one working at the Red Rocket courier service here in town... She had picked up a blue postal jacket that amazingly fit from somewhere and had a carrier bag slung across her, blinking over to Ivy gratefully and spotting me with a happy gasp.

"Thank you sister! Landing with this thing is hard! Hello Fast! I delivered your letters! They were coming anyway, so I got to pull the cart! Are you all alright back there?" She chattered happily, only belatedly realizing her passengers hadn't fared so well.

A green hoof managed to reach up and grab the side of the wagon, dragging a dizzy looking Preston Gardens behind it to hang off the side and look up weakly. "We're alive... barely... You alright back there you two?"

A snowy white pegasus dressed in a Minutemare uniform lurched up over the far side, quietly sick before groaning out a reply. "Noooo... n-next time just let me pull it sir..."

"Oh dear... a little help please..." A struggling pile of cloth in the back asked quietly, with Preston's help the wispy orange mane of Sassy Saddles popped up, a shimmery pink dress stuck on her horn.

"Sassy!" Glitter squealed happily and dove into the cart, giving the old ghoul a squishy hug while I looked on curiously.

Starling at least cleared up a little of my confusion while the others dizzily tried to get out of the blue wooden cart bearing the Minutemare's sigil. "Thank you for the advice and the letter Fast! Miss Sassy has been very nice, she gave me a jacket see! It fits! I told her my sisters would like her clothing, so she asked to come too!"

"Umm.. That's great Starling, thanks for helping them get here safe. You ok Sassy?"

The ghoul seamstress finally managed to extricate herself from all her wares and the filly hanging off her, stumbling out of the wagon and primping her mane back into place with a smile. "Fine! V-Very invigorating! Starling here told me of her sisters and their recent changes along with your letter. She so liked all the clothes I've been working on for the Princess, she was very excited by me getting out and stretching my legs a bit. Are you taking care of my costume Fast? Wait... why is that... let me see something..."

She was staring at my sides awful hard... making me nervous when she trotted over and started carefully inspecting her creation, quickly focusing on the new flaps with a suspicious stare. "Why are these here? I wove the alteration into the costume, but it shouldn't appear unless needed... is it malfunctioning Fast? Noticed any problems?"

A nervous sweat sprang up at her attention, forcing me to drag her aside and speak quietly. "It's fine! A-All good Sassy, really! Surprising to see flaps for a pegasus in it, the Shroud was a unicorn right?"

That distracted her enough, drawing an annoyed huff in answer. "Oh that, those silly tv people insisted it fit a pegasus stand in when needed. They made me sign a... non disclosure agreement? Not that it matters now, they're all long gone, I had nearly forgotten. Said some nonsense about it being a secret for the season finale, the Shrouded Stallion being an alicorn, how amusing hmm?"

"Heh heh... y-yeah... really funny, what a twist..." I groaned, both at how close she was coming to the truth and at the spoilers... I really wished I got to see that show now... It would have made a great surprise, the Shroud being an alicorn, it would explain how he got up to all those tall buildings and such to brood from...

"So this is Goodneighbor? It is very rowdy looking now, is it true a ghoul like me runs this place?" How interesting, I saw it before the war... but it hadn't really opened you know." Sassy stared around the busy streets in wonder, taking in all the activity.

"Yeah, I'm trying to do something about that Sassy. Actually.... I have something I could use your help with, if you don't get too busy selling to all the alicorns. Can you make this dress fit my friend Magnolia here? She's putting on a big show and should dress the part..."

I floated the ancient dress from Rara's dressing room out and over to Sassy, as always the chance to examine some bit of high fashion got her attention and she peered at it closely, murmuring to herself quietly. "Oh my... excellent stitching... wonderful cut... aha, as I thought, a Coco Pommel original! Yes of course Fast, I'd be happy to alter this for your friend. You'll look lovely dear! I'll just need to borrow you for a bit!"

Magnolia looked a little wary of the excited ghoul dragging her to the orphanage we had just vacated, but I tried to wave her on encouragingly. She was in good hooves and actually wearing the real dress Rara intended for her opening act would help fool the computer nicely.

Taking a look at the variety of wares she had brought, I was glad I caught her as soon as she got here, she was going to be busy with all of Jade's sisters as soon as they found out she had so many clothes in their sizes. She even had Nightmare Night costumes, she must have been inspired by the holiday and hoping Jade would come back in time to wear one.

Preston righted his jaunty hat and jumped out, giving me a hoofbump and a smile. "Hello there Fast! Got your letter, glad to see you're back, the Princess was awful worried about you. Sure you're alright? You don't look so great..."

"Don't worry about it Preston, I'm fine. So are the Minutemares doing ok? I saw all your recruits outside the library, thanks for being there for her and trying to find me. Really look like your getting pretty big, even a pegasus member now huh?" I pointed to the puking mare still hanging off the side, the ride with Starling couldn't have been that bad, could it?

Preston leaned up to clap his winged recruit on the back heartily, chuckling a reserved answer. "Yup, Cloud Spinner here is straight from Diamond City, I think you're right private, from now on you handle the driving... Actually came to talk to you about how well we're doing Fast, besides just because you wrote for help. Sanctuary's actually getting cramped with all of us Minutemares and it's not supposed to be a military town, we need a real base again, a fortress that's not so close to the edge that will improve how well we can help the ponies of the Commonwealth..."

"I take it you have somewhere in mind?" I asked knowingly, every time Preston started a conversation like this, it usually ended up with some new 'Mission' listed in my pip-buck.

This time he managed to pique my curiosity though, answering with a enigmatic grin. "Well... Every Princess needs their castle, right?"

Stepping hoof inside the King's Gambit was pretty nerve wracking, even with Val at my side. The black and white barded guards all scowled at me on the way to the opulent lobby of matching marble, once I was in the doors I ignored their stares in favor of the well preserved casino.

A large faux gold statue atop a rusting fountain of a rearing, portly stallion with a pompadour mane, wearing a suit and short cape similar to all the Kings, stood proudly in the lobby. A short inspection of the plaque attached read simply 'Gladmane, King of New Pegasus'. Well, that must be where they got the name and their fashion sense...

The place wasn't that busy for late afternoon / early evening, though it held all the same kinds of games and tables for gambling that the Wing Ding Circus had, it was a smaller, shabbier version of the M.O.M. hub casino across the street. A crumbling edifice of stained marble and corroding, fake gold. Val nudged me the right way excitedly, making sure to clear a wide path through the crowd on our way to the least occupied poker table.

Once I was seated at the tattered green felt of the semi-circular table, Val flew off to exchange her winnings from the Combat Zone into chips. I drummed my hooves at the table waiting, looking up to the bored looking dealer and my only opposing player, a pale mare in a grey, hooded cloak, a small pile of chips and a mostly drained whiskey bottle before her.

I felt bad enough about this, I didn't want to take caps from some other player, just the casino. Shuffling anxiously to myself, I leaned over and tried to whisper to the mare beside me. "Umm... m-maybe you want to go to a different table? I'm er... I'm going to be winning every time... soooo... I don't want to take your caps too..."

The hood swung my way drunkenly, a wide grin and unsteady eyes as red as my own stared back. "Is'at so! Well thanks for the warning short stuff, I'll try my luck a few more times though, been losing just fine on my own before you got here, I think I can manage."

"Oooook... don't say I didn't warn you..."

Val returned and set a mountain of black and white chips marked with a crown on the table in front of me, rubbing her claws together eagerly as I waited for my cards.

(Can you hear me Fast? I am behind this dealer pony you spoke of, do you want to know his cards now? They have interesting pictures...) Peri's mental voice rang in my head clearly, causing me to jump nervously and topple a few stacks of chips.

(Ack! Y-Yes Peri, I hear you. Wait until I'm playing, then tell me what everypony has ok?) I rearranged my chips and did as Val instructed, floating a few over for the minimum bet and receiving my cards. I made sure Jade was visibly away from the casino, they had to know what she could do and I didn't want her involved in this anyway, Peri had no moral qualms whatsoever.

Ivy was outside somewhere, close enough to let me listen in on Peri who had come in invisibly behind us. Cheating was wrong, but this was pretty high class cheating at least... With the unseen blue alicorn roaming around, I'd know what all the other players had and couldn't lose. The first set of cards the dealer sent out rapidly filled me with hopefully relief, the image of Luna, Princess of Moons at the head of two pair, aces and eights.

After getting a report from Peri, I shoved a heaping pile of caps out to the center of the table as a raise, shutting out the drunken mare beside me and waiting on the panicked dealer. His pair of twos wasn't going to help him but he was forced to match the bet, doubling my funds in one shot.

I tried to keep the odd mare next to me out of the game, raising beyond her ability to play if I could win, letting her take more of the casino's caps if I had a poor deal. A stern, older, brown earth pony stallion in a more subdued version of the King's normal apparel had appeared nearby and was watching carefully, some kind of higher up already alerted to an increasing run of bad luck for his gang. Well, let him look, good luck finding an invisible alicorn.

"Alright, I gotta know now, how're you doing that? Got cards stuffed up the sleeves of that crazy outfit or something?" The pale mare at the table huffed at another game down, floating her bottle of Wild Pegasus over cheerfully.

Wait floating? I couldn't help staring for a second, I thought she was an earth pony... I hadn't really paid attention to her while playing, so I never noticed to hidden glow under her hood. I knew my eyes kept going up there as I answered, but couldn't help it, where was her horn? "I told you I was going to win every time... I'm umm... r-really lucky today..."

She apparently noticed where my eyes kept flicking up to, a pink blush lit her cheeks and she snorted. "Yeah, yeah, it's not small, it's compact!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to stare... I didn't realize you were... I mean... I-It's cute! I... I'll just stop talking now..." I stammered and felt my face heat up, now that I was looking I managed to spot the small horn under that hood, nearly hidden by a silky black and red striped mane. She really was pretty, a little older than me and her eyes looked positively ancient, but a pretty filly hiding under all that.

She fluttered her eyelashes at the compliment at least, anteing up absently and leaning back to take another swig from her brown bottle before answering. "Cute is good, though dead sexy's better! Nice save Mr. Shroud! I'm guessing you're that buck from the radio by the getup, quite the hero to be slumming it down here. So what's a place like this doing in a pony like you?"

Another mental report by Peri told me what I needed to know and I shoved another pile of caps to the table, returning to my pleasant conversation. "It's complicated... I don't like the gang that runs this place, so I'm taking their money... Ok, maybe not that complicated..."

She tittered drunken laughter at that, putting me at ease with the strange mare that waggled her bottle over my way. "Better than killing them all I guess, or dropping a building on this one. Sure you ought'a be down here though? They don't look to like you either, and you don't look so hot."

Both of those things were true, we were attracting an increasing crowd of guards and pit bosses, glaring as I kept winning game after game. I felt bad for the poor dealer now too, he was sweating bullets under all the stares. Even his best cheating wasn't enough though, mine was better...

I accepted the bottle gratefully, taking a swig and pulling away in surprise when she suddenly hopped a seat over to sit beside me, that made it easier to whisper anyway. "I'm... just sick... N-Not exactly sure I'll be ok, trying to leave something behind if the worst happens... f-for my daughter, and everypony else..."

Val punched me from behind for daring to slip back towards pessimism, willing to play the bodyguard and leave me to talk, but clearly listening closely. It made a good reason for taking every cap out of this place I could though, I was trying to leave something behind, the caps were just a step on that path though. The griffon's claws had unfortunately thumped right into one of my 'wings', causing it to start seeping gunk into the bandages uncomfortably.

I tried to shift and check the wide cloth strip around my middle unobtrusively, nearly startled off my seat by the strange hooded mare leaning right in and taking a good look, her stripy mane and... compact horn right under my chin. Whoever she was, she had sharp eyes to spot the swatch of silk under my coat.

She took a long, appraising look over my yelp of protest, finally nodding to herself and sitting back up, scootching a bit closer to my discomfort, she was an awful friendly filly. "Taint... been there, done that, got the T-Shirt. It'll be ok... er... there are ways you know, to survive it... There's that spell that..."

"It won't work, I think one way or another, I'm going to be something else before long..." There was some comfort talking to a stranger about all this, hell she probably wouldn't even remember the conversation considering her alcohol intake.

It made a nice distraction from the growing chorus of angry Kings staring at me, my mound of chips had grown into a mountain. The silver stallion I saw laughing with Bullet Bishop last night had now arrived, whispering to the dealer each time I shoved all the caps on the table, giving him the go ahead to play.

The hooded mare nodded sagely, bobbing her bottle up for another long drink and shoving it in my muzzle, wrapping a foreleg around my shoulders and leaning close in a somber answer. "Being something else can be hard... make you feel like you're not a pony anymore... Don't worry bout it though, what makes a pony is inside, not outside."

"Thanks... dunno why I'm telling you any of this... but you're nice to talk to, it helps." She might seem tipsy, but that had the ring of hard won truth to it.

The idea was something to take solace in too, Jade and her kind were ponies, so were ghouls for that matter, maybe even synths were from what I had been told. The grinning mare beside me was an unusual font of wisdom, nudging me playfully and sticking a hoof to her puffed out chest.

"Yup that's me, I've considered opening the wasteland's first psychiatrist's office actually! You know, hang a shingle, start dealing with all the ways everybody else is fucked up, take up gardening. Been scouting out the Commonwealth for an office, I've heard downtown Trotson has lovely views, the schools and neighborhood just aren't up to snuff so far though, and don't get me started on the tax rate!"

"Not to mention the deadly killer robots, insane technology, mutant alicorns and a shadowy conspiracy of synthetic ponies and brains in jars..." I tried to joke back, glad to see merriment in her red eyes as she waved all that off.

"Oh that's nothing! Nothing to get bothered about, some places I've been were muuuuch worse, just enough to keep things lively here. That's better, you're cute when you loosen up! Big damn hero like the Shrouded Stallion can't let a little mutation keep him down right!? I know he's supposed be all broody in the comics, but no reason to take the cosplay that far huh? Making me rethink my bet on the big fight though, sure you're up to it cutie?"

Oh please don't tell me this smell surrounding me worked on all mares... It was hard to tell, she seemed like a pretty flirtatious filly anyway, wiggling around in her seat playfully to cheer me up in a practically lewd manner, forcing me to laugh.

The mountain of caps grew again and I chucked an answer back, "I'll be fine, thanks. Sorta have to win one way or the other, so I still think it's a good bet. Though I still haven't figured out a weapon, I use a knife normally and I can't there... or my magic... ok maybe it's not the best bet... Have to make up for taking your caps here though don't I?"

The friendly mare scooted closer again, a stripy tail flicking out from her robe while she offered advice like a wise hermit. "A baton, that's what you need. Good old fashioned security baton is just the ticket, not too long, great at crackin' heads, usually non-lethal... in the neighborhood anyway. Yup, can't go wrong with a baton!"

"Oh, yeah... that's pretty good thanks!" That made me feel a little better about the fight, a baton like she described was about as long as Best Served, it'd be something close to what I was used to anyway.

She gave a wide smile, leaning over woozily against my chest and sticking her muzzle right in front of mine, making me gulp nervously at her lidded red eyes shadowed by her hood. "That's the spirit! You put up a good fight, come out on top and look me up hmm? Call it the purse for the fight, I know a mare just your height, always wondered about a stallion!"

"T-That's ok! I h-have a special somepony already so..."

My squeaky reply did nothing to dissuade her, she arched one eyebrow in confusion and shrugged. "So? Bring her along! or him, whatever! Hey don't worry about whatever's under there, trust me, I've seen worse... It's the pony inside that counts right?"

Her seductive reassurance was thankfully interrupted by Bishop's second in command, tromping over after I won again and slamming his hooves on the table, making my teetering pile of chips wobble. "No more bets! You're done, cash out and get going!"

"Aw, Bishop said I could come in and play as much as I wanted, wassa matter?" I grinned up to the silver stallion, enjoying his agitation and hoping to escalate this.

"The problem is you haven't lost a single game, not one! If we allow the next bet... you'll break the bank... None of our other customers will be able to gamble, you don't want to cut your new friend off do you?" He sneered back through gritted teeth, pointing to the mare beside me hopefully.

"Oh don't mind me! This is getting good now, I want to see if he can do it! Besides, I'm just passing through, I came here 'cause of the decor" She giggled and wobbled on her seat pointing to her black and white colors and waving to the gaudy, monochrome room, taking another drink and passing the bottle back over.

The warm fuzziness of alcohol was nice, though it was getting a tad hard to hear Peri in my head... Shaking it off and focusing on her voice to bring the volume back up, I turned a drunken smile on the angry stallion and slurred back. "She'll be fine, there's a nice casino right across the street, I'll gets her a room with some of your caps. There's other stuff yous can bet with right? Hows about the stake in the Combat Zone hmm? Throw that on the pile and I'll only bet half my chips since you're scared..."

Bishop's second glared daggers at me, eventually stamping his hooves and storming off, hoofing a nearby intercom and tensely whispering into it. When he came back he pushed the dealer out of the way, quickly pulling a notepad from his jacket and scribbling out a note by mouth, an I.O.U. for the stake in the Combat Zone... growling "Last game..." as he slammed it to the table.

My friendly companion stayed out of this game as everyone in the casino came to watch the show. There was no ante this time, no raising of bets, everything was on the table from the start which made this harder, I couldn't just back out if I got a bad set of cards... Worse yet was Peri's slightly agitated voice calling out. (There are many ponies here now Fast... it is getting hard to not be noticed, not much room in here...)

(Just one more round Peri! You can do it!) I answered hopefully, looking over the cards I had been dealt with the pushy mare sticking her nose in now that she wasn't playing, wincing with a hiss when she saw the cards. The Princess of Hearts, a pink alicorn with a purple and yellow striped mane I was unfamiliar with, followed by her Knight, a pale stallion with a blue mane in gleaming gold armor. After that was nothing... seven of stars, two of suns and an eight of moons...

"Ouch... that sucks, so what's he got?" She whispered curiously, forcing me to hold on to my seat. She saw through me pretty easily, puffing a red lock of her mane out of her eyes and rolling them. "C'mon, you know right? I won't tell anypony, quit trying to be all shady, it doesn't suit you, so what's he got?"

(A 3 with a sun... a 3 with a moon... a 5 with a heart... and pictures of Celestia and Luna...)

Er.. two princesses, a pair of threes and a five... I repeated Peri's report nervously, grabbing at my cards as she immediately floated all but the princess and knight I held up a hair.

"Take three, trust me..." She whispered back, fully absorbed in the game and giving the new dealer an intimidating stare.

I floated the three she indicated to the table and got three new cards in return, amazingly I got a 10 and a Jester of hearts out of that... though the third was a useless jester of stars, an image of Pinkie Pie in a frilly, jingly jesters outfit almost seemed to mock me.

The silver dealer took a single card, (A 3 with a star) and held with a smug look, a full house... meaning I needed either a... straight flush? or was it royal flush? I remembered that one from when Val drilled it in to me, royal flush stuck with my mind always occupied with a princess at least. So I had one more draw to get either an 9 of hearts, or the Ace of hearts...

My neighbor nearly sent me tumbling off the chair again, leaning up to kiss my burning cheek and tug the single card up. "For luck! I'm practically blessed by chaos, don't worry! Nothing ventured nothing gained right? Take the cards the dealer gives ya."

I shakily floated the single card up and exchanged it for another face down on the table, staring at the small rectangle and finally getting an idea of the allure of this game. Without the cheating, it probably had a lot of depth, the sheer unknown of staring at that last card was definitely exciting...

A pale hoof decided for me, laying my cards out on the table below the face down final card with a smirk. With that mischievous smile watching me expectantly, I had nothing to do but flip the final card with my eyes closed, offering a prayer to the Goddesses. The sudden gasp I heard from the crowd made me hopeful, but I still cautiously opened an eye to peek at what the dealer had dealt.

A shadowy profile of a pony with a curved horn and a fiery, wavy mane darkened the large pink heart staring back at me, the Ace of Hearts...

I had an instant to take it in, then the casino erupted in cheers. The dark grey maned dealer looked to turn a few shades paler, staring at the Royal Flush and weakly laying his Full House down with a grimace. Val's dark claws gripping my shoulders started shaking me forcefully, the griffon dancing and hooting with glee as I floated the mountain of chips over for her to start scooping up.

Before she got to all of them, I grabbed a healthy pile in my magic and floated it over to my flirty companion, tipping my hat to her gratefully. "T-Thanks... thanks a lot! I was scared there a second, you're really good at cards Miss....?"

A warm, sad smile crossed her face her answer soft and hard to hear amidst the noise of the crowd still going crazy until it perked back up. "Fish... Go Fish, so of course I'm good at cards, obviously! Glad I could help cutie, thanks for all this... you... you don't have to do this... I get by fine you know."

"I'm sure you do Miss Fish, I want to. I'm Fast Times, I'd have been in real trouble there if you weren't here, lucky for me huh? Take it, please and take me up on staying next door too, it's much nicer, and friendlier, and safer..." I didn't understand her reluctance, but I could at least figure out the note of loneliness in her voice. She seemed like Val in a way, the smiling, flirty, joking mask hiding something painful.

I liked her though, she was a little goofy, but jumped right in to help when she had no reason. I insisted she take the pile of chips over Val's vocal complaints, shoving it all over and threatening to get more if she didn't take it. My griffon friend's immediate pleading made her take it with a rueful chuckle. "Alright, alright, twist my leg, make me take your caps! And to think I heard the Commonwealth was a nice, unfriendly place nopony ever went to I could hide in, surrounded by brutal assholes and fresh sea air, just had to ruin it didn't you? Guess I'll take you up on the room once my night here is up, handsome buck offering a bed to sleep on, what's a girl to think hmm?"

This time when she leaned even further forward fluttering her eyelashes, she pushed me past the tipping point and I crashed to the floor, giving me a wonderful view of her shapely flanks. (Huh... were they blank? Or was her mark just as small as her horn?) Tearing my eyes away, I hurriedly stumbled back up nervously, turning red under her smirking notice of where I had looked. "N-Nothing! Just being polite! R-Really... it was very nice meeting you Miss Fish, y-you're really pretty but I do have a mare I love already..."

She blinked in surprise and burst out laughing, wiping tears away and trying to apologize while I pouted and turned redder, finally regaining control enough to wheeze out an answer. "S-S-Sorry! You just... just reminded me of a dear friend... You're a regular foal in the woods aren't you? You turn just as adorably red over nothing, I can tell that! Oh I'd love the time to mess around with your head, you drop by anytime, bring your mare and we'll have a little fun! Take care Fast!"

Retreating from the giggling, flirtatious filly with relief, I had to chuckle to myself at the funny mare. It must be fun being that unabashed and liberated when it came to fooling around like that, in that regard she had to be my opposite number. She seemed ready for anything, with anypony, at any time, mare or buck. While I was increasingly having to resist temptation to stick with the morals I had been taught from the old world. Though if I was going to give in with anypony, Miss Fish sounded like she'd be a fun choice...

I winked at Val dragging her huge bags of chips away from the table, coughing and speaking up loudly to nopony in particular. "Well Val, you go cash out and we'll get out of here. I gotta hit the bathroom so I'll be right back!"

She made a dissatisfied face at splitting up, but this was part of the plan too and I had Peri with me. Time to go be sneaky and meet Zed on the roof...

A bit of subtle sidling away near the darker corners of the King's Gambit gave Peri an opportunity to cloak me in her invisibility, if I was inside I wanted to take a look around at least, see what they had been up to. Now unseen, I led the way to the stairs, dodging around numerous King's members on the way and peeking in rooms idly.

I tried keeping safely ahead of Peri, working my way past the series of rooms tucked away back here, lots of living space for the gang it looked like. No sign of crackling Institute teleporters or big shipments of energy weapons though... Bishop's voice made me stop in my tracks and nearly topple the big invisible mare on my heels.

"Kill him you hear me! You get in the ring with that little shit and you kill him!! Take another!" Creeping forward and peeking in the door let me get a look at Bullet Bishop, in the middle of tantrum by his greasy mane falling in his eyes and the crazed look in them.

The amber pegasus mare from the Combat Zone, Rowdy Rouser, was in the small room with him. So focused on the strange harness hidden in her wing she wasn't able to dodge away from the weird injector he jabbed in her flank. She yelped angrily and pulled away from her boss, nervously standing up for herself. "S-Stop it with that Bishop! That's enough, I already feel weird enough, I don't wanna end up like Rock. I can take that little buck as is no problem!"

"Shut up! You'll take it if I say so, count yourself lucky bitch! That brat Svengallop's crew told me they're having supply problems with this stuff, it was hard to get ahold of. You are going to tear that shit to pieces you understand!" Bishop screamed and shook in fury, I reeeeally hoped losing all those caps was the reason...

My curiosity was getting the better of me, weird drugs and the Svengallop too much to resist. The drug injector he casually tossed aside was very strange too, a large, round central housing with several different colored vials jutting from it, he had pushed each down before stabbing her with it, you had to mix it before using it? I'd never seen a drug like that before...

I couldn't snatch one of the full injectors in my magic without giving us away with the glow, forcing me to slink in and carefully reach up for one on the dresser near the door. I had it in my teeth when a lot of warm glommed on to me, an insistent nuzzling at my neck accompanied by heavy breathing.

"Peri! Not now!!" I squeaked in surprise, rattling the dresser and attracting the attention of Bishop. This was the absolute worst time for her to get a good snootful of me... Crap, she stumbled over me, it was my fault no less... wonderful...

Bishop glared warily at the empty door, trotting over and looking all around for the disturbance. At least Peri dragged me back into the hall, quickly dodging out of the way of the on guard stallion and ducking into a partially open door, ending up in a very cramped janitor's closet with a lot of alicorn all around me.

"Peri!! Stop! Get ahold of yourself please! L-Let's just get outta here and..."

The blue alicorn reappeared in the dim closet, speaking sleepily, her blond mane falling from under her hat. The sound of hooves and marks of red on E.F.S. from outside making me even more nervous than just the sultry mare pinning me in place, nuzzling and kissing enthusiastically at my neck. "That is nice isn't it... hold still Fast..."

I had to shove her muzzle up and hold her head in place, staring right in those cloudy golden eyes sparkling with little hearts... "Peri! That's enough! No fooling around, I need your help here please!"

'Help' seemed to get through, her brow furrowed in absent annoyance as her nostrils kept flaring, why in a closet... why of all places did she have to find a closet... I had to be filling the small space with this annoying stink. "Help... need my help? Awww... I want to help... in just a minute..."

Her hooves tickling at me made me bite my tongue to stifle a severely inadvisable giggle, wrenching her head back up and trying again. "C'mon Peri! Leaving now, playing around later! This is reeeeeally not the time and definitely the worst place!"

She pouted a moment, though her eyes cleared a little in the act, looking up in thought before snapping down on me again. "Later?... Promise?"

"W-What!? Alright whatever! Fooling around later, just leaving now right!?" I pleaded with the intoxicated filly, finally wrangling a reluctant nod out of her and vanishing again, just ahead of the door being flung open.

"Radroaches..." The copper guard stallion peered at us in the closet and moved away, unconvinced but believing his lying eyes thankfully.

My heart was trip hammering away in my chest and I struggled to squirm my way around the invisible Peri, still worried about some of the noises she was making as I felt my way past her and poked my head out the door. All clear... I gratefully vacated the closet, listening to my unseen companion exit behind me and keeping a safe distance again.

"I don't see what the big deal is... that was nice... Why would sisters Jade and Ivy be so worked up and fighting? You promised, that wasn't hard..." she whispered from behind me when I hit the door marked 'Stairs', her voice sounded clear and awake again, or as much as Peri's ever got anyway...

The mention of the fight I had suspected between those two concerned me and I was a little worried what exactly I promised, hoping she'd forget or overlook the blanket agreement to get out of there. All that would have to wait however, several flights of stairs separated us from the roof and I had already blown through a lot of what my heart was willing to put up with.

By the time we hit the top, I had been spared crawling by Peri simply picking me up in her magic and trotting up the stairs easily, kindly reappearing since we hadn't run into anypony since the third floor and keeping her distance. I took a minute to pant and lean against the heavy steel door out, how was I supposed to fight like this tomorrow? Especially if the King's fighters were somehow cheating?

Taking another look at the strange injector my pip-buck had labeled as 'X-Cell', I shrugged numbly, if they could use drugs then I could too I supposed, that might be enough to get me through... Jade would want to see this and I was pretty curious myself, but there was no shortage of pre-war combat drugs lying about, Buck, Rampage, Stampede... and my old favorite Dash...

Once I caught my breath, I nodded to the alicorn waiting patiently on the landing with me and opened the door a crack, peeking out and hoping things went smoothly. One panicked guard on the castle styled building's roof turned to the door, but he may have been heading that way anyway... A shadowy blur rolled up behind him and he froze, falling to the roof heavily.

"Zed?" I whispered out to the dark, sweet Celestia that zebra was sneaky...

"That was the last one, come on out and tinker with your boxes quickly, before more come..." The zebra's deep voice called back, a stripy bit of darkness approaching out of the gloom and pointing to a large array of a dozen 'Spell in a Boxes' that Val and Ivy landed beside in a gust.

Looking at all the scattered guards that were patrolling up here, I couldn't help wondering if they were really all just paralyzed and unconscious, but chose to trust Zed. I floated out my tools and scrambled under the brightly decorated, weathered boxes, working quickly and noting with satisfaction when one of the far too numerous parts of my plan was crossed off my pip-buck;

Mission Updated: Strike Up the Band

Objectives----
---Trigger the Grand Opening Gala

----Repair all 'Spell in a Box' arrays

Between this and crossing off 'reduce the King's wealth' from the related mission, this had been a fairly productive night. That only left half a million things that all had to go just right tomorrow to accomplish my goal, then the uncomfortable question of what to do with the M.O.M. hub once it was opened that I still wasn't quite sure about... But yes, things were going swimmingly...

New Perk Added!------------------------

Tough Hide (Rank 1)-----------------
---Getting tossed around by a master of zebra martial arts proves you can take a beating if nothing else! The brutal experiences of the Equestrian Wasteland have hardened you. You gain +3 to Damage Threshold for each level of this perk you take.

Quest Perks Added!--------------------

Camp Friendship Neckerchief----------
---You might not be much of an outdoors pony, but finding Rara's camp neckerchief has granted a small taste of the long ago camp! You gain +10 to the survival skill!

Kissed by Discord---------
---Do you really want to know?

Author's Notes:

Realized I should put a note here with the cameo and all, so here goes. It's none to subtle or anything, but that is meant to be an homage to Somber and PH, the author who really seated the hook on FOE stories after getting through the original and still wanting more, leading to discovering all the stories here in the process. Tried to stick to the character as well as I could manage, and it's meant only with the best of intentions. If the author has any problems with it, I'll happily scrub the chapter, just greatly enjoyed PH and wanted an innocuous shout out.