Now I’m sure that everypony greets new guests with guns to the face in whatever town or settlement you visit, because once again that’s what I was dealing with. Only this time there was a colt at the other end of the large rifle. He was wearing makeshift combat armor fitted to fit his small frame. On each side of him another colt and filly also had rifles trained on my friends and I. They were standing atop a wall with a large gate made out of scrap metal.

Ignoring the three foals with rifles, Wingnut walked toward the gate, “There’s no need for that Scrapper, they’re friends.”

The Colt who’d spoken before looked down at him, “Wingnut? What in the hay are you doing back here?”

He rolled his eyes, “Bringing Honey back of course. She went off looking for me when I left. I’m just making sure she got home safe that’s all. Those ponies there helped us.”

“So, you thought you’d show these adults where our town is and endanger us. They could be slavers or worse for all you know Wingnut,” the colt said, “Three days gone and you’re already turning traitor on us? How fuckin stupid are you?”

I had enough of this, stepping forward I looked up at the colt and gave him my best stern look, “Hey, is that any way to treat anypony? Wingnut just wanted to make sure his friend got home safe, who cares if he brought us here, it’s not like we care where you live you little mutant.”

Wingnut looked over at me and whispered, “Quiet Shadow, you have no idea what’s going on here.”

Doing my best to keep quiet I whispered back, “I would, if you would’ve told me more about yourself before bringing me into this situation.”

While the colt and I argued, Scrapper yelled, “Both of you shut up. We can’t have the secret of our home getting out, so I have no choice, you’ll all have to die.”

To my surprise, Honeysuckle walked forward and said in a louder voice than I thought her little frame could muster, “Scrapper, Delta, and Soprano you should all be ashamed of yourselves. These adults helped us get away from a swarm of Cazadores, and the unicorn almost died doing it. Her and her friends could’ve just left us to die, but they didn’t, they risked their lives to save us. Now put those down and let us in, all of us.”

All three looked a little taken aback by the outburst, finally Scrapper spoke up, “Honeysuckle, you know the rules. We can’t let outsiders know about this place. It’s the only way we can stay safe.”

“And you know the rules about helping ponies who help us. I’m also sure you don’t wanna have to explain to my brother why his sister’s saviors were killed, and to top it off he’ll be really pissed when he finds out you killed the Courier Mare that Mr. New Pegasus and DJ Pon3 has been talking about,” she finished stomping a hoof and letting a huff out of her nostrils.

All three lowered their weapons a little, then looked around at one another. The filly looked ready to cry, same for the other colt, finally Scrapper put his rifle away, “Fine, have it your way, we’ll ask the Mayor and see what he wants to do with them. You two stay here and watch them while I go find him,” he finished, looking at the other two before walking away.

Aura grinned then patted Honeysuckle’s head, “Nice job squirt, didn’t know ya had that in ya.”

Looking back at the griffon she smiled, “They’re just doing their jobs. It’s how we stay safe. Though Scrapper shouldn’t ignore some rules to enforce others.”

“So why are there foals guarding this place?” Stardust asked looking up at the remaining filly and colt.

Wingnut sighed, “This is a town for foals who lost their parents, or were abandoned by them. We take them in and they grow up here until they’re ready to go out into the world.”

“What do you mean by ready to go out into the world, when is anypony ever ready to go out into the Wasteland? The Wasteland sucks noodles,” I asked a little baffled by the idea. It would be smarter to keep them around and make the town safer with older ponies to help protect them.

“Because adults are selfish and stupid. Foals share and look out for one another, but once they grow up they start only looking out for themselves. When we get our cutie marks, we’re sent out to find a new life,” Wingnut said solemnly with a heavy sigh.

“Is that what happened to you?” I asked, though I hadn’t noticed a cutie mark on him, but he’s also been wearing a large set of saddle bags that could’ve been covering it.

“Yeah,” he said pulling one bag aside and confirming my suspicions. He had a bolt and nut on his flanks, “Got it last week, found out I was really good at building new things or fixing old ones and one day poof there it was.”

Before he could say more, the gates opened up with a loud screech and a taller colt walked out. His coat was a light red almost pink like Honeysuckle’s, his mane was pretty much the same color. He grinned when he saw the filly and quickly pulled her into a tight embrace, “Honeysuckle, I’m so glad you’re safe. Do you know how worried I was when you disappeared in the middle of the night?”

She hugged him back tightly, “Sorry big brother. I went after Wingnut when he left.”

Setting her down the colt stood back up making himself presentable, I took in his clothes. He had an old business suit that was too big for him with a ratty top hat, on his lapel he had a button with the words “Mayor” on it. Clearing his throat, he said solemnly, “I take it you’re the ponies who made sure my sister got back here in once piece.”

“Yeah, my friends and I saw them held up in an old building. They were being attacked by Cazadores,” I said trying to ignore the fact that he was almost as tall as I was.

“You have my sincere thanks and same to you Wingnut, she’s my whole world. There’s not many ponies who would do such a thing for a couple of foals.”

“Yeah, I’m not one to just let kids die when I can help it,” Aura spoke up not looking at the Mayor.

“Well, thank you for what you did, though now we find ourselves in a bind. You see this town of ours is for foals only. We pride ourselves on our secrecy.”

“Sorry to break it to you kid, but apart from its location, there are rumors about this place all around this area,” Aura said, this time glaring over at the colt, “Sooner or later all secrets get out, no matter how hard you try. Like how Shrimp number two over there is a bed wetter.”

Wingnut quickly retorted, “Am not!”

“You have a point, but we do our best to try and keep it this way for as long as we can. We’ve been lucky that most of the fillies or colts who used to live here haven’t told anypony where we are. It was however, not a good idea for Wingnut to bring you here. I’ll be arguing with a few of the others for a while about how safe we are. Normally we’d kill you on sight and let that be that, but seeing how you saved Honeysuckle, that wouldn’t be a proper reward,” The Mayor said with a sigh.

I spoke up, “We’ll keep this place a secret don’t worry about that. Honestly, I’m kinda shocked that a town of fillies and colts has been able to survive like this. I wouldn’t want to endanger you by letting the location slip.”

The Mayor looked over his shoulder at Scrapper who was standing by the open gate glaring at us, “Tell me something. Are you really the Courier Mare Mr. New Pegasus talks about?”

I sighed before throwing my hooves up in the air, “Yes I am, but I don’t know why Dj-Pon3 seems to take a liking to me like he does. I’m nopony special, I’m just a stable pony who got lucky a couple times.”

He smiled at me, “Mr. New Pegasus and DJ-Pon3 don’t just talk about anypony like they do about you. They have to take a special liking to a pony or see something in them for them to talk about them the way they do about you, that being said, if they trust you then I’ll have to take a chance and do the same. So, since you saved my sister and got her home safe I’ll let you go, as long as you promise to keep the location of this place secret.”

I had to be hearing something wrong, he was going to just trust me because of what somepony on the radio said about me. He must be younger that he looks, mentally at least. Seeming to read my mind Aura spoke up, “So, you’re just going to trust all of us because of what DJ Pon3 and Mr. New Pegasus said about Shadow? You must be young to be that stupid.”

“Okay Aura, let’s not piss off the nice colts and fillies with the guns,” I said turning and glaring at her.

“Pfft, fine whatever, but I still think it’s stupid.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Aura on this one. Why are all you foals just going to let us go? That isn’t like what most Wastelanders would do,” Stardust added. Great all my friends wanted to piss off the trigger-happy foals, just how I wanted to end my day.

To my surprise the Mayor only smiled and shrugged, “I never said it was smart. For all I know this could turn around and bite me in the ass later, probably will, but I know how pissed Honey would be with me if I didn’t let you leave. If it’ll make you feel better though, how about we trade then. What can I do for you to keep our home a secret?”

I took a moment to think. All I could come up with were ways to screw them out of their hoarded candy they probably hid under their beds, “Honestly, we really don’t need anything, unless you know a faster way to get to New Pegasus.”

He looked up and stroked his chin, “Can’t help you there unfortunately. All I can tell you is that it’s not far from here. We trade with one of the outer settlements and it’s less than a day’s walk. I’m sure if you fly you’ll be there a lot quicker.”

Stardust spoke before I could, “I thought it looked familiar around here, it’s hard to tell when you’re walking. I’m used to the view from high up.”

Aura sneered at him, “You really are a feather brain aren’t you Dickface?”

“Hey, I didn’t hear you saying anything about how close we were. Plus, you have more feathers than I do and a brain the size of a walnut,” he shot back.

“Nuh-uh, and I was too busy making sure the foals got home safe to say anything about it.”

“Would you two please CUT IT OUT!” I really wasn’t in the mood for those two to start up one of their idiotic bickering sessions.

“Fine, whatever you say Boss,” Aura said rolling her eyes, “I guess the kids here can’t help us much then. So, no reason to worry about keeping secrets, unless they have anything valuable to give us.”

“We aren’t going to take things from these foals Aura,” I shot back at her with a glare.

The Mayor interjected, “We wouldn’t have much anyways, we keep only what we need to survive.”

“Oh, wait I know,” Honey said jumping up and down. Running over to Wingnut she dug in one of his saddle bags ignoring the young colt’s protests, then pulled something out and gave it to me, “How’s this for a fair trade, I found it a while back deep in the caves, Brother said it used to belong to one of the Ministry Mares.”

I looked down I saw a figurine of a beautiful and regal white unicorn mare with a purple mane. On its base was a plaque with a saying etched into it, ‘Be Unwavering’ it looked so life-like, as if she could suddenly jump off the little platform. Taking it with my magic I lifted it to look closer at the mare. I recognized her from my classes as Rarity, the head of the Ministry of Image. As I took hold of it with my magic I felt something overcome me and my body felt better, as if I hadn’t just been walking miles after fighting bugs and being poisoned. It was like I woke from a nice long nap, and was ready to go out again.

Smiling back at Honeysuckle I knelt down, “Thank you for that. Are you sure you want to part with something so beautiful?”

She nodded smiling back, “It’s okay, I can’t do anything with it and it just feels right giving her to you. She’s beautiful like you, so it’s a good match. I’m sure you’ll take good care of her.”

“Well then, I accept your gift,” I looked back at her brother, “And we’ll keep this place secret. You have my word.”

“Thank you. And thanks again for getting Honeysuckle home safe.”

Aura interrupted from behind me, “Can we get going now? I really don’t feel like spending the whole night having this wishy-washy talk.”

“I agree, not that I mind this place, we still need to get to New Pegasus. It feels like we been traveling forever,” Stardust added, his wings twitching some.

Looking back at my friends I nodded then looked back at the Mayor, “What about Wingnut?”

He gave a melancholy look and sighed, “I wish I could let him stay, but we have laws for a reason. If I started making exceptions for Wingnut just because he’s Honey’s friend. I’d have others asking me to do the same for their friends. Sooner or later I’d either lose my position or I’d have a riot on my hooves.”

“Don’t worry about it Shadow, I’ll do what most of us do when we have to leave. I’ll go head to one of the towns around here and settle down,” Wingnut said, though the tone in his voice said otherwise.

“Listen. How about you come with us for a while. From what it sounds like, it’s not safe around here.”

He looked up at me, his eyes grew wide and hopeful, “Are you sure?”

“Hell, why not, I figure you can’t be any more annoying than the rest of my friends.”

“Hey! I heard that,” Aura shot back at me from the mouth of the cave.

With a laugh, I shook my head then rubbed the colt’s mane, “So whaddaya say? Wanna come with us?”

“Yeah sure,” he smiled then looked back at Honeysuckle who was doing her best not to cry, “Hey Honeysuckle, don’t come chasing after me again okay. One day you’ll be old enough to leave, but for now you have to stay here.”

“I don’t want you to go Wingnut, I’ll miss you too much,” She said, tears starting to run down her face.

“I know, but your brother needs you here and same for the younger fillies and colts. You know how much they look up to you. It’d be selfish of me to have you tag along, and it’d be selfish of you to leave them behind for one friend.”

She sniffed, “I know…you’re right, but it’s just not fair.”

“Maybe not, but that’s how life is,” he said as he turned starting to head toward my friends and me, “Goodbye.”

We left the cave and the small hidden town with only fillies and colts, and the sound of one small filly crying into her brother’s forelegs. It broke my heart to hear the sound. I wish I could’ve done more, but who am I to demand anything from anypony. I’m just a courier.

Once we left the cave and started back on the path, lights started to shine in the distance. At first, I thought that maybe we were getting close to one of the towns we were told about before. That was until I saw a large tower piercing the horizon. It was a large spire with a flat rounded top, a smaller tower poking out from there with three spikes jutting out. For a moment, I stopped just to take in the sight of it.

“What’s that?” I asked as Aura walked up next to me.

“That? It’s the Lucky Horseshoe. Back before the war, it was the most popular casino in New Pegasus. Rumor has it that the Ministry of Awesome built it as a Ministry Hub.”

“I heard that nopony’s been in there since the bombs fell. It’s said that one pony locked himself inside and now controls all of New Pegasus from that tower,” Wingnut said looking up at the spire.

I cocked my head, “Is he a ghoul or something?”

“Nopony knows really. New Pegasus itself has a team of security robots that keep law and order inside the walls, they only answer to a pony called Mr. Tops.”

“Mr. Tops?” I asked finding the name strange.

Aura commented before Stardust had a chance to answer, “It’s what they call him. Either he’s a computer program that’s running inside the Lucky Horseshoe or a ghoul who never leaves it. He’s been called Mr. Tops as long as New Pegasus has been around.”

“I haven’t seen anything so beautiful before in my life.”

Stardust spoke up this time, “Somehow New Pegasus escaped being hit by any of the missiles or bombs during the war. The city was left mostly intact after the war. It used to be a surface and cloud city back in the day. When the war ended and the Enclave took over the skies, they tried to take the city too. That’s when Mr. Tops first showed up. Using his robots and other defenses around the city, he kept them from taking over and since has declared the city a safe place for anypony who can make their way into it.”

I looked over at my friend a little shocked at his knowledge, “How do you know so much about it?”

He smiled at me, “It was the first place I ended up when I escaped my Stable, never got into the city itself, but the folks around Freedom told me the history of the place.”

Aura scoffed, “No wonder you’re such a freak Stardust, you lived in Freedom for a while.”

“What’s wrong with that? It’s a decent enough town,” he shot back.

“Do you two always have to do this?” I interjected giving them both a look.

“Sorry boss,” Aura said, “But seriously, how could anypony live in that dump? Between the three gangs trying to make the town their own, the so-called Freedom fighters who live in the old mission, and the NLR. The town is just full of too much drama.”

“It’s a whole lot better than where I came from,” Stardust said getting that far off look he always got when he mentioned his stable. I still need to have a long talk with him one of these days about that. He was hiding something, and I needed to know what it was.

Trying to change the subject I looked down at Wingnut, “It doesn’t look too far away.”

The Colt looked up at me, “It’s not. You see the three paths up ahead, where the road forks? Well the left goes to Appleton, the right leads to JetBlue Skyport, and the one in the middle leads to Freedom Town. That one is the only way to get into New Pegasus, the gate to get past the walls is on the other side of Freedom.”

“You sure know a lot about this place, don’t you?”

“I used to be part of the team that came here for trade, I have a few contacts in town too. The town’s folk are okay ponies, mostly keep to themselves, but they were always willing to help us out when we need it,” he said still not smiling. The damned colt could be a real downer sometimes.

I took a confident breath, “Well we’re finally here. Should we get going?”

Aura shrugged, “Sure, I’ll go wherever you need me to boss, you know that.”

I looked over at Stardust curiously, “Stardust, since you used to live here, do you know a place where we could stay?”

“In Freedom, the only place is the Garnet hotel. It’s a nasty place, but the price is fair, the twins who run the place take a little getting used to though,” he said starting to walk off down the center path.

“What about in New Pegasus?”

“No idea, I’ve never gotten past the gates.”

“Wait a minute, why haven’t you gotten past the gate into New Pegasus?”

Aura snickered, “Wait a sec, you mean to tell me you’ve been traveling with her this entire time and you didn’t tell her how to get into the city?”

“I forgot about it okay,” he shot back at Aura, then the two started into another argument that I didn’t understand.

Instead I looked down at Wingnut, in times like this, he seemed to be the only one who had a level head, “What does Aura mean about getting into the city?”

“You need a passport to enter New Pegasus, or you have to pay the entry fee of 2,000 caps. Sometimes someone who lives in the city can get you in, but that’s only if they have high standing with the higher-ups in the city. We never got in ourselves that’s why we only traded with the towns around New Pegasus.”

“So how the hell am I gonna get in?” I mean what the hell, I traveled all this way and I had to find a way to get into the city? What did I do to piss the Goddesses off so much that they’d throw up more barriers?

Aura broke away from her argument, “That shouldn’t be a problem, The Red Talon Company has a small building in New Pegasus. I can get us all in without much fuss.”

With the best of his shit-eating grins Stardust said, “I thought you weren’t a Talon anymore.”

“Shit, I forgot about that,” Aura said looking a little sad for a moment, then she perked up, “Hey two friends of mine run a shop in Freedom that could possibly get us all passports into the city.”

“Who’s that?” I asked with a glimmer of hope in the back of my mind.

“Match and Tariff, they run a shop right in town.”

“Wait a sec, you’re friends with those two numb nuts?” Stardust interjected.

“My…friend who made the energy spear was Tariff’s little sister. I got to know them both very well over the years. They aren’t bad ponies, well mostly not bad ponies,” Aura said, one of her wings moving back to lightly touch the energy spear she kept on her back.

Stardust looked genuinely pissed, “Yeah, they’ll cheat you out of every cap you got on ya’.”

Doing my best to stave off another argument I said, “That sounds like a good place to start.”

My friends both shut up and we kept walking. Soon we were in front of an old broken-down gate, one door looked like it had been blown off many years before. Above it, a sign was lit up that read ‘Welcome to Freedom Town’.

The town itself didn’t look like much, especially with its close proximity to New Pegasus, which butted right up against it. As we made our way through the front gate, it reminded me a little of Cartwheel. The main road lead down a little way past a few crumbling buildings then curved slightly leading deeper into the town itself. The difference was, Freedom had a lot more ponies wandering the streets, most of them were dirty and stank, but there were unicorns, earth ponies, and even a couple pegasi. I could swear that some of the pegasi had matching cutie marks. Some were talking with each other in small groups, a few walking deeper into town, some going into a couple of the buildings that looked like they were ready to collapse. Cartwheel was a little run-down, but the ponies were clean and friendly. The ponies here seemed to be friendly toward each other, but only with the small groups they were in. If another pony got too close, they would stop their conversation and stare the other pony down until they passed.

“I’m gonna go see if Match or Tariff are at the shop. If they are, I’ll come find you,” Aura said flapping into the air.

“Okay, but what should we do while you’re away?”

“Figure something out, Dickface knows the town too, maybe he can think of something. Don’t worry I’ll be able to find you, this place isn’t as big as it looks,” So, she flew off.

I looked over at Wingnut and Stardust, “Okay so now what?”

“We should head to the market and do a little trading. I need more ammo for my rifle and I’m sure you could use some yourself.”

I looked over at Wingnut who just shrugged, “I got nowhere else to go, so I figure I’ll just follow you two.”

“Sounds like a plan then. Where’s the market around here?”

To my surprise it was Wingnut who answered, “Depends on what you want and who you want to deal with. You got the Van Damn Merchant Company, they mostly trade in magical energy weapons, they also hire themselves out as mercenaries. The Garnet Twins run the hotel in town and mostly trade in booze, drugs, and sex. Outside the west gate you have the Caballeron Caravan Company, they would have the biggest selection of things to trade and stock up on and also probably the best prices.”

“I’m not a fan of that caravan company, the mare who runs it doesn’t take kindly to Pegasi,” Stardust complained.

“You don’t seem to be a big fan of anypony around here it seems like,” I said looking back at my winged friend.

“That’s not true, The Queens aren’t that bad. A little uh… different, but always willing to help a pony out in a jam.”

“I agree, they were always kind to some of us when we came to town,” Wingnut added.

“Who are the Queens?” I asked wondering if I really wanted know.

“They’re a kind of gang around Freedom, only instead of making trouble for the locals, they help out and keep ponies around here safe. Or so they like to have most ponies believe,” Stardust said.

“Yeah when they aren’t trying to pick a fight with the NLR or charge citizens for fresh water at the well,” Wingnut threw in.

Okay, I was starting to lose track of the different factions in this town, and I haven’t even been here five minutes. Looking over at the two I finally had enough, throwing my hooves up in the air I said, “Enough, just tell me where we can trade shit.”

They both looked at me for a moment before Stardust finally said, “For what we need I’d say either Red Rider Convenience or we could get lucky with the Van Damns.”

“Good,” reaching into my saddle bags I gave our supply of caps and junk to Stardust, “You go take care of the trading. I’m gonna walk around and clear my head.”

“You sure about that Shadow? It’s not always a good idea to walk off by yourself around here.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need a little time to myself, the past couple of days have been too much and I’d like a moment to just breathe and not have to think. Plus, what could happen to me in a town like this?”

“Just, don’t wander too far or leave town, I don’t feel like having to go find you and save your ass again.”

“Ha-ha, you’re sooo funny,” I mocked, “Wingnut, go with Stardust and keep him out of trouble.”

The Colt blinked up at me then gave a cocky grin, “I’ll do my best, but he might be a lost cause.”

The Pegasus fluttered his wings turning to walk off with our gear, making little mocking noises as he did. Wingnut was following him, doing his best to hide his little snickers of delight at Stardust’s frustration. With a small smile, I made my way down the road and deeper into town.

***

I really wasn’t in the mood to go toward New Pegasus since I couldn’t go into the city. So, I went toward the other part of town. Most of the buildings around there have either collapsed or had the roof caved in. What I liked about it, was that it was quiet, the other townsfolk seemed to avoid the area for some reason. I made my way over to an overhang and sat under it. I looked down at my Pip-Buck and brought up the file Watcher unlocked before those nasty bugs attacked.

I saw the title of the one I wanted ‘For my Little Star’. For a moment, my hoof hovered over the button to play the audio file. Mom left it for me, but what if it wasn’t something good? After seeing that memory orb I wasn’t sure I wanted to know more about her. She’d hidden so much from me and I knew now that I didn’t know her as much as I thought I did.

Come on don’t be such a foal Shadow, you started this adventure to find out more and to get the truth. I clicked on the file and listened…

There was a soft crackle then the voice of my mother came out of my Pip-Buck, “Hello, this is Grimoire and this message is for the ears of my daughter and her only, if you aren’t her I suggest you shut this off now,” that was different. What could she do if someone apart from me was listening to the audio file?

A moment passed then Mom’s voice grew softer, “Shadow, my little star, I hope this message finds you well. If you’re listening to this, it means you figured out some way of unlocking the files on here or at least a couple of them. I know you have so many questions. I wish I could answer them for you in this recording, but even with everything I set up, I can’t risk telling you everything in one file. I hope that you find this when you’re older. I’m sure a filly wouldn’t do well with the information I have for you. First off, yes, I’m alive or at least I was when I made this recording, I hope I still am now when you’re listening to this. I’m sure you want to know why I left this Pip-Buck for you. That in itself is a long story, but I can tell you that it’s special, most of the Mk. II’s are, but this one is extra special. I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you this much. It holds files of mine that have a lot to do with a special project I was working on when I brought us to Stable 28. I wanted to bring them with me, but I couldn’t risk the Steel Rangers getting their hooves on them. I hid them away hoping that you’ll figure out how to unlock them so you can know more about what happened to you before we got the Stable.”

I frowned, wondering what she could’ve meant, “The files also have more information on them that a lot of ponies would kill to get ahold of. So, keep the Pip-Buck safe if you can. That’s if you managed to escape the stable, if you found this Pip-Buck and are still in Stable 28 then leave right away. The Overmare for some reason wants that Pip-Buck, honestly, I’m not sure why, but if she’s still leading the stable then you have to leave, Auntie will help you. She knows what to do if that Pip-Buck is found.”

“If you’re out of the stable and managed to make your way to Cartwheel, then you should be safe, at least for now. I have one thing I want you to do my little star, don’t come looking for me, what I have to do is much more important than my happiness or yours. I suggest you find a way to get to Manehattan, I have a friend that lives in Tenpony Tower, ask for Life Bloom. I hope you take my advice and go there, you’ll have a happy life if you do or at least as happy as anypony can be in the Wasteland. When you go there he’ll know how to get the files out of the Pip-Buck and you should be safe after that.”

“Please Shadow, do what I ask. A lot of your questions can be answered if you do this. I love you with all my heart and I hate that I have to do this. Be safe, be happy, and live your life. Also try and remember me for how I was when we lived in the stable, I was happiest then. Also, one last thing, don’t trust Aquila.”

With another click the recording ended. That, was it? All she had to say in so many words were to run away to the other side of Equestria and hide. Thanks a lot Mom, good advice. Too bad you hid this file so I couldn’t find it till I was already looking for you. What could I do though, she didn’t want me to look for her. She had her reason’s I’m sure, but this recording was years old and from the sound of it, whatever she had to do was dangerous. There’s a good chance she’s dead.

“Fuck it, I don’t care what you wanted me to do back then, I’m getting my answers,” I closed the audio file then looked over the other two files. Most of them didn’t make sense to me really, but part of Mom’s personal notes caught my eye.

First week in Stable 28, I made my first report to the Elder. She wants me to continue with my investigation and keep her updated.

The Overmare here is a very nice mare, she took my daughter and I after Vervain talked with her. She’s been doing well keeping herself undercover here in the stable, though I’m still going around and doing memory modification spells to make sure it stays that way. Hopefully by the end of next week everypony here will think she’s always been a Stable Pony.

As for Morning…I should really get used to calling her Shadow now. Shadow’s been improving, she still has no memory of what happened, but I think that’s a good thing. A Filly shouldn’t have to live with those kinds of memories. She’s been getting teased a little by some of the other foals, but a couple seem to like her. I’m sure in time the rest will come around.

She’s healing after the attack, but an odd thing happened. I’m not sure what caused it yet, but her mane and coat seemed to have reversed pigments. I really don’t know how else to explain it. Her coats turned black and her mane is a shiny silver, I’ve never seen anything like it before. The magical fluxes finally seemed to have settled down, but I can still feel something strong inside her. Honestly it worries me. I’m going to keep doing tests and see if I can figure out more. I’ll have to check my spell books and see if anything in them matches what I’m seeing.

I really had no idea what to do with this information. At least I have a little more insight on what Mom was going through when we first made it into the stable. I wonder who this Vervain was though, I’d never met another pony in the stable with that name before. Well it was just another question for her when I found her, if she’s still around that is.

Well enough of this self-pity, I really should find out where the gang was. Getting to my hooves and stretching I was about to start heading back to where I left the others when a shout echoed from around the corner.

I pulled out my pistol and took cover behind the corner of an alley and peeked around it. I saw a pony in a patched-up trenchcoat and a fedora holding a pistol to another pony’s head. The one with the gun to his head was on his haunches with his hooves behind his head and the one in the trenchcoat was saying something to him.

“You ran when I asked you about the Van Damns. Why?”

“Uh…I…uh...I was scared, y’know. I thought you might be some sorta thug or sumthin’.”

“A thug huh? What tipped you off? The trenchcoat and hat? What kind of thug wears clothes like this?”

“I dunno, an associated one. Y’know those mafia types.”

“If I was a mobster like those Triggerponies on the other side of the gate you’d be pumped full of lead with a submachine gun before you even realized it.”

“If you’re not one a dem, then what are you? Your face is all fucked up n’ shit.”

“You’re not from around here are you? I’m the local detective and what happened to my face is more of an occupational hazard. However, me being a synth makes it more manageable.”

“Oh shit! You’re from da Ministry!? I heard about dem goin’ around replacin’ ponies. Please don’t replace me! I’m nuttin’, a nobody!”

“You don’t listen very well do you? I just told you I’m a detective, I was only made by The Ministry. I don’t work for them, I’m just some of their left-over trash. Now, let’s get back on track. What do you know about the Van Damns? I know you work for them, I’ve been trailing you for two weeks now.”

“They sell energy weapons at competitive prices. I dunno what else to tell ya.”

“Yeah you do. You just don’t wanna be capped for talking. Listen, I was hired by the Queens to investigate the Van Damns so I’m pretty sure you’re screwed either way. Who knows? If you tell me what you know I could see about getting you protection from the Van Damns by the Queens, or I could just put you out of your misery right here.”

“Alright, fine, I’ll talk. Y’know those mysterious caravan raids that’ve been happenin’ recently? Dat’s how they’ve been gettin’ some of their more high-quality merch, not to mention whatevah caps they got.”

“Is there any way I could get evidence to prove these allegations of yours?”

“Nah, only way you’re gonna get somethin’ like dat is if ya catch em in the act.”

The Detective put away his gun, “Thanks for the information, I’ve already spoken with the Queens so all you’ve gotta do is go to The Queens’ School of Interpretation. They’ll keep you safe, now beat it before anyone sees us.”

I put away my gun and slipped away before I got caught snooping in somepony else’s business or worse, mistaken for one of the Van Damns gang or whatever they were.

What that detective said kinda stuck in my head a little. If only there was some way I could help, but I don’t wanna fuck up the investigation for the detective. Another thing that bugged me was what a synth is. Is synth short for synthetic, or is it the name of another group that operates in Freedom? “Ugh…why does everything have to be a mystery in the Wasteland? Why can’t things just be straight forward?” I said to myself annoyed with my own thoughts, “My brain hurts.”

Looking around I couldn’t believe how many different places were jammed in such a little town, not to mention that this place is kind of a dump. It kind of makes me wonder what it’s like in New Pegasus. It’s gotta be nicer than this if there’s an entry fee.

As I was walking I suddenly came across the overwhelming smell of booze, and not in the good way. The smell was so strong I gagged a bit. I quickly deduced where the smell was coming from, it was one of the many homeless ponies sitting against a building holding a bottle of Wild Pegasus Whiskey in his right hoof while he slept off his intoxication. After that I just kept walking and thinking about what my friends might be doing right now and wondering if it was as boring as what I was doing. I guess watching that detective wasn’t so boring, but still, all I’ve been doing is walking around while staring at the ground.

“Halt! Please present entry credit or passport,” said a very large and very creepy looking robot from in front of me.

I stopped and took a second to look around and saw that there was more than one. Two more were on some sort of guard platforms above me and there were another two stationed at a gate in front of me.

“Please present entry credit or passport,” the robot said again.

“Sorry I don’t have either of those things. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” I quickly replied.

“Since you have neither of the required entry criteria, please step away from the gate or you will be terminated for attempted trespassing on the strip,” the robot said very plainly.

I stepped back like the robot said and proceeded to walk the other way. I get the reason for having posted guards, but why do they have to be those creepy robots? They didn’t look like the normal robots you’d see in the Wasteland, they had one wheel which balanced the whole robots body on it. The rest of the robot didn’t even look normal at all. The body itself was tall and had these industrial tube-looking arms that came out of the oversized top of the robot. In the center of the body was a screen that projected a black and white stallion’s face with one of those hats that police officers used to wear before the war. The creepiest part though was the manic smiles that the projected faces had.

I put the thought of what they looked like out of my head because I was already overthinking the strange design for some reason. After being almost terminated or whatever at the gate to New Pegasus I decided to go look for my friends, the only flaw in my plan is that I didn’t know where they were.

I know Aura was gonna talk to Match and Tariff, but Stardust and Wingnut were getting supplies at Goddesses know where. I guess I could just go find Aura, I’m sure the other two will show up eventually. I figured I’d just look around until I saw something that looked like the kind of shop Aura was in. Come to think of it, she never said who those two ponies were, only that they could help us. For now, I’ll just have to see if I get lucky and find Aura or the other two.

Walking down the broken-up road getting lost in my thoughts I saw a big rock. As I walked by I kicked it off the road, a moment later there was a loud shout from just off the road.

“Hey bitch what the fuck’s your problem!?”

Looking over I saw a maroon unicorn stallion, looking over at me. I thought I’d seen scary ponies before when I met Crackerjack back at the raider camp and Gator in his tiny kingdom of fiends. They had nothing on this guy. He was wearing black combat armor, his black mane was cut short and the parts of his body I could see were covered in scars. He was missing half of his left ear, and his eyes, those eyes had no kindness in them, only a promise of death. He also had one large rifle on his back, it had to be twice my length and looked expensive. On his armor, right over his flanks where his cutie mark would be, in red that matched his coat was a symbol of a dragon.

He made his way over to me, a small lump on his head, “I’m talking to you shorty. Why’d you go and throw a rock at me huh, are you looking to get shot!?”

I took a moment, trying to get my knees to stop shaking. Not wanting to look at him I looked down at my hooves and said quietly, “No, it was an accident.”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you if you’re looking down at your hooves and whispering. Speak up you stupid bitch,” he said getting right in my face.

“I said no, it was an accident, I wasn’t watching what I was doing.”

“Oh, so I’m supposed to just say ‘no big deal’ and just let you be huh?”

“I said I didn’t mean to. For fuck sake, it was an accident. The fuck’s your problem that you’ve gotta get so angry over something so small,” I said back, suddenly finding my fear gone and replaced with my much dumber side.

Out of nowhere his hoof came up and hit me across the face throwing me to the ground. A flash of anger pulsed inside, but instead of yelling, I started to laugh, “You hit like a filly, I’ve gotten worse hits from a radroach.”

Rage filled him and his eyes promised death as he picked me up in his magic. The next thing I knew I was flying through the air and slamming into the wall of one of the broken-down buildings. Pain filled my body, still I just giggled and did my best to get to my hooves, “Feel better yet or do you need to toss around another pony half your size?”

“You got a mouth on you dontcha. Listen here mini-bitch, I’m not somepony you wanna be messing with. You hear me? You’re only alive right now because I figured it was better to teach you a lesson rather than just shooting you.”

At this point I really should’ve just shut my mouth, buuut… “Or maybe you’re just too much of a pussy to do anything about it.”

His rifle was in my face a second later, a nasty grin on his face, “You’ve got ten seconds to run before I shoot a hole through ya.”

Sense returning and ignoring the pain in my body I bolted. I ran down the road and ducked behind a wall to another crumbling building. At least this way he wouldn’t be able to hit me, one thing I learned from Stardust was it’s hard to hit a target that’s hiding behind something, at least for a sniper. As I ducked behind the wall I could hear the stallion slowly counting down.

“Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one. Right foreleg, flesh only, no bone.”

What the fuck did he mean by…(BANG!) his rifle cracked, an instant later it felt like something punched me in the lower foreleg. Hitting the ground as my leg gave out I looked over at my now bloody hoof, a small hole going through the meat of my leg. On the other side of the wall I could hear him chuckling softly.

“Bullseye, now what should I shoot next, your ass, another leg, how about I go for a lung shot, those are always fun to watch. Nah then you’d die too fast, let’s do an ass shot,” His rifle cracked again and pain filled my rear as a bullet sliced through my flank.

I screamed and tried to move away, but my body refused to listen to me. How was he able to know where he was shooting me while I was hiding on the other side of this wall? I reached into my bags to pull out a healing potion. I almost had it to my lips when another shot rang out and the bottle shattered in my magic.

“Now now mini-bitch, no cheating. That’s not how this game is played.”

Stupidity overthrowing logic once again I decided to scream at him, “Who the fuck are you and what’s your deal!?”

“Ha! You don’t know who I am? Now there’s something I don’t hear every day. Here I thought everyone in these parts knew of my friends and I.”

“Kind of new to town,” I said trying to pull out another healing potion.

“Well then let me introduce myself, oh and if you even try and drink that I’ll blow your damn head off.”

The bottle stopped inches from my lips, “How can you tell what I’m doing?”

“My penetration scope can see all, good thing to have when you wanna hit things that like to hide. In my line of work that happens a lot, it’s the ultimate eye for a sniper. Now since I have you down and talking, you have me a little interested. Who are you and what brought you to this shithole,” he asked still on the other side of the building.

Figuring that keeping him talking might save my ass I decided to answer, “I’m Shadow Star, I’m just here looking for somepony to help me find a lost family member. Who might you be?”

A soft chuckle came from behind the wall, he sounded like he was moving away from me, a little to my left, “If you don’t know who I am, then you really aren’t from around here. I go by the name Wrath and you my little filly had the unfortunate luck to throw a rock at my head. You see, around here that’s a kind of disrespectful thing to do. I don’t like being disrespected, it angers me like you wouldn’t believe. Ponies who disrespect me, die.”

Doing my best to ignore the pain from the two bullet holes I started to summon my magic, “Can’t say I’ve heard of you, sorry. I’ll try and keep it in mind next time.”

“There won’t be a next time kid…” Wrath started to say.

In a flash, I teleported to the other side of the road, in the momentary confusion I downed my last healing potion then pulled out Ol’ Festus and activated S.A.T.S. I aimed three shots at his torso and fired figuring it was the best place to go for. To my surprise however, the bullets just ricocheted off his dark armor, leaving only tiny dents and scratches where they’d hit.

He smiled and turned his large rifle to face me, “I see you have a few tricks in that horn of yours, dontcha kid. Too bad you didn’t go for my head, you had a better chance of killing me. I guess luck is on my side today.”

Before he could fire, magic enveloped me and my horn teleported me right behind him, seemingly of its own accord. A grin pulled at my lips and I pointed the barrel of Ol’ Festus to his temple, “Oh, you mean like this?” deep down something felt wrong. It was like before when I lost control while fighting those griffons, my words and actions didn’t really feel like my own.

I started to pull the trigger, but wrath wasn’t going down that easily. Quick as a whip he bucked upwards to kick the gun away. The old rifle went off and instead of blowing his brains out the bullet bit into the part of his rear leg that was exposed through the armor. His large rifle came around, the barrel slamming into my face and throwing me back.

I lifted Ol’ Festus again ready to fire, but Wrath was faster. His rifle boomed and I felt something snap in my magical grip. Ol’ Festus blew apart, the bullet from Wrath blowing right through the wooden stock, breaking the trigger mechanism along with it. He smiled again, the end of his barrel pressing against my horn.

“Game over kid,” he said, the amusement I saw before was gone now. It was replaced with an overwhelming hatred and anger, “I’ll give you credit, you got me, it’s been years since anypony’s been able to make be bleed.”

“I’m going to politely disagree with you,” I smiled and activated the only other spell I knew. A shock wave blew out from my horn throwing the stallion back and into the brick wall that I’d been hiding behind only a moment before.

I made to run, but Wrath’s laughter kept me stuck in place. He got back to his hooves laughing maniacally, blood flowing down his face and neck, ”Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha,” What the fuck did it take to stop this stallion? I’d thrown my best spell against him and he looked like I’d hardly blew on him.

Suddenly his laughter stopped and again his rifle was up, “Fucking die bitch,” a shot rang out and Wrath’s rifle went flying out of his magic, “The fuck?”

For a second that shot almost made me lose control of my, well… everything. I thought I was about to die. When that moment passed and I saw the rifle laying on the ground a few feet away, I looked around and saw a whole group of the strangest-looking ponies I’d ever seen.

Most of them had manes done up in a similar style, trimmed and rolled up and facing forward a bit. They all wore leather jackets, the one in the front really was the only one who stood out more than the rest of her companions. She was a bit taller for one, and her own jacket had gems embedded into the collar and along the trim.

She had a long-barreled revolver in her muzzle and a grin on her face. Reaching up with a hoof she fixed a strand of her jet-black mane out of her eye then holstered her revolver, “Wrath honey, you should know better than tah go wavin’ that big gun of yours around here,” she had a slight accent to her voice that I didn’t recognize.

Wrath glared at her but he didn’t move, “This doesn’t concern you Queen.”

“Everything in Freedom Town concern’s me honey, and you should know that. Now what’s goin’ on here?” she said looking over at me.

“This nut case started attacking me when I accidently kicked a rock at him.”

Wrath growled but kept quiet, the mare looked over at him then back at me, “Any reason why you did?”

“I was in a mood and wasn’t looking where I was kicking it, I wasn’t trying to hit anypony,” I figured honesty was the best course of action, this mare looked like she was in charge around here and I really didn’t feel like pissing her off.

“You’re full of shit you little bitch, I swear I’ll gut you for that,” As Wrath spoke five guns were un-holstered and pointed at him. He barely seemed to care, he just glanced over at them, “Do that and you’ll have the rest of the Sins coming down on you, do you really wanna risk that Queen?”

“You know the rules of Freedom Town Wrath, your group doesn’t operate inside our walls, so you can’t just go around killin’ whoever ya want. I suggest you pick up that rifle and get outta here before we make your stay in Freedom, your final one honey,” she said with authority.

In a flash Wrath’s horn glowed and his riffle was up and pointed right at the mare, “I have a counter proposal for you Queen, how about I just shoot you here and now then this little cunt next, and I still get to leave here unharmed.”

I had no idea what I’d just walked into, from where I’m standing Wrath looked horribly outgunned, yet he still seemed confident that he’d get out of this. All I wanted to do was just teleport out of here or have one of my friends come crashing in to save the day.

As I watched the two, something seemed to shift in the shadows just behind Wrath. Wrath didn’t seem to notice it as he spoke, “You know what? Fuck it, I’m sick of you Queens thinking you can tell everypony around here what they can and can’t do.”

“Kill him,” the mare ordered as Wrath pulled the trigger with his magic.

Wrath’s large rifle roared and the other pony’s guns went off. The second it started, a shadow pulled away from the dark alley shooting toward Wrath, it flipped under his rifle as it fired knocking the barrel up, making the shot miss. As it did, something fell from the sky and landed in front of Wrath and the shadow kicked up a large dust cloud.

When it all ended and I could see through the cloud of dust that both sides were still standing. Between Wrath and the group of ponies stood a Pegasus, his body seemed to be covered in a black casing that looked like it was one with his hide, protecting his body from the bullets the group of ponies fired. Where the shadowy form was before, now stood a hansom unicorn stallion with a golden coat and a black mane. Shadows seemed to be dripping off him like water, fading away as they hit the ground.

Wrath looked even angrier as he looked at the golden stallion yelling, “I was fine, you didn’t have to interfere Pride!”

The golden pony err… Pride I guess, rounded on Wrath and glared him down. When the red pony finally looked away, Pride spoke, “If I hadn’t interfered you would’ve been killed or at the very least ruined any chance of us being able to come into Freedom or New Pegasus again. Now shut up and let the adults talk, if I hear one sound out of you that I didn’t ask for, you’ll regret it.”

“Yes sir,” Wrath said looking down at his hooves.

Pride looked back at the mare and spoke politely, “My apologies Queen, Wrath can’t help himself sometimes when he gets worked up. I hope his actions here today doesn’t hurt the trust that we’ve built up. I promise you his actions don’t reflect the Sins or the Enclave.”

“Pride honey, we found him tryin’ tah kill a newcomer, we stepped-in tah stop him. We don’t allow that kind of thing here in town, not from outsiders.”

He looked over toward me, his eyes I saw were a beautiful icy blue, “Did you give Wrath any reason to attack you miss?”

A little flustered I replied, “No, well not really. I kinda kicked a rock at him, but I didn’t mean to. He just flipped the fuck out after that.”

He looked back at Wrath, “Really? Over a rock, Wrath?”

“The bitch deserved it,” he said looking back up.

Pride looked over to the Pegasus, “Greed, get him out of here and remind him why we don’t just go around shooting up random citizens.”

“Sounds like fun, sure thing boss,” whatever was covering his face and hooves shimmered away as a talisman pulsed on his chest, revealing a dark blue coat, an ivory mane and goatee. He had a wide grin on his face that instead of making me think of him being happy, he just looked crazy.

He walked over to Wrath and bucked him in the face knocking him out cold. After he was done he looked over toward me and his smile grew, “Aren’t you a pretty thing. Name’s Greed. What can I call you hot stuff?”

Blushing and utterly confused I backed up a bit, “I’m uh… Shadow Star…”

“Greed, now’s not the time to be flirting with fillies, get Wrath out of here,” Pride said, his eyes still on the other mare.

“Sure thing boss,” Greed said looking over at me once more then blowing me a kiss, and succeeding in making me blush harder. Dammit, it was so fucking creepy. Yet charming at the same time, “See you again I hope, Shadow Star.”

I shivered as he flew away, “What in the Goddesses name is going on?”

Ignoring my outburst Pride bowed his head a little toward Queen, “Queen, you have my utmost apologies again for what happened. I’ll make sure to stop by later and pay whatever compensation is fair.”

“I look forward to it honey,” she said with a small smile, “I do have a question though. Why’re the Sins in my town?”

“We’re hunting for a Pegasus who came down here a few months back and failed to report back.”

“Um… hello? Am I a radroach over here or something?” I said waving my hooves in the air, jumping up and down like an immature foal.

One of the group broke away and came up to me, “The Queen will get to ya in a minute.”

Oh I see, so I have to just sit here and wait to find out why I was attacked like I was and what was going on because the other two ponies wanted to chat. What the fuck?

“Hmm, funny. It ain’t like the Enclave to send your team down for one Dashite. What’s really goin’ on here Pride?”

Pride changed his demeanor a little, “That is need to know information only, all you need to know is he’s dangerous and we’re looking for him. Speaking of which you haven’t seen a gray Pegasus with a blue mane, blue wings, and pink eyes around have you? I’ve heard he’s been spotted not far from here.”

The mare took a second or two to answer, “Can’t say that I have, least not in a couple months. Last pony I knew that fit that description was a friend of mine, Stardust. He was headin’ toward Vanhoover last time I saw him. I can’t tell ya more than that though.”

Pride looked a little irritated, “Damn. If you see him be sure to let me know. I’d hate to see something…bad, happen to you.”

“I’ll be sure tah do that honey, now please leave my town. I’ve had enough of your group’s bullshit tah last me a month.”

“As you wish,” his body seemed to melt into shadows and he was gone.

When Pride was gone, the mare looked over at me, “You’re one lucky mare ya know that. Most ponies who run into a Sin don’t live tah talk about it, especially one who’s always pissed off like Wrath. What’s your name darlin’?”

“Um…Shadow Star.”

She walked over to me and gave me the biggest smile I’d ever seen, “Howdy Shadow Star, I’m The Queen, leader of this gang ya see here which is also called The Queens. Don’t ask me my real name, cause I don’t rightly remember.”

“It’s nice to meet you, I guess. But why did you help me back there?”

She laughed, “Ha. Why did I help ya? Because, it’s what we do ‘round here. The Queens run Freedom and keep the ponies who live here safe. Also, I saw that duster ya have on and recognized it. I haven’t seen a courier from Equestrian Express around here for a few years. How’s the old bastard doin’ anyway?”

(Does everypony know Box Tape?) Deciding I liked this mare I gave her a smile, “Full of piss and vinegar last time I saw him. He hired me as a courier before I left Cartwheel. I had business around here so he figured it would be a good idea to have somepony working this area for him.”

She laughed again, it was a nice sound to hear, she sounded so full of life when she laughed, “That old pony will be fullah that and more until his final day. From what I’ve been hearin’ about this Mysterious Courier Mare on the radio, you’ve been doin’ a lot more than just deliverin’ packages.”

(Sigh) “Please don’t believe everything DJ-Pon3 and that Mr. New Pegasus character have been saying on the radio. I’m just a mare who got lucky a couple times. That’s it.”

She laughed even harder at that, “Ha-ha-ha. Well hot damn, I wouldn’t take everything DJ-Pon3 said tah heart all the time anyway. He always likes tah pump up somepony he sees as heroic all the time. It’s Mr. New Pegasus who’s been talkin’ ya up as well that has me wondering more aboutcha. That’s if you’re the same Courier Mare.”

Great. At this pace, I was gonna have a whole fan club of radio ponies talking me up to all of the Wasteland, “Who’s this Mr. New Pegasus anyway? I keep hearing about him.”

“He’s like the west coast version of DJ-Pon3, his station is in the middle of New Pegasus itself and he isn’t scared tah tell anypony round here the truth. He’s taking a likin’ to ya too. Just give his station a listen sometime, I’m sure you’ll hear more about it.”

I really didn’t need to hear more broadcasts about what I’ve accomplished so far in the Wasteland, so I just shook my head, “Thanks, but no thanks. Thank you too by the way for helping me back there, I’ve never seen a pony like them before. What did you call them again?”

Her smile faded at my question and she sighed looking about at her gang, “Head back home everypony, I’ll catch up.”

“Yes Queen,” they all said before heading off leaving me alone with the tall Mare, “They’re called The Seven Sins of Equinity, or Sins for short. They aren’t well known throughout most of the Wasteland, but around New Pegasus we know them well. They’re all former Soldiers of the Enclave, or criminals. They were all recruited ‘cause of their special powers or tools and crimes against the Enclave. Instead of bein’ branded as traitors and gettin’ banished or executed, their talents were put tah better use, servin’ the Enclave. Ya saw a little of what they can do already. Wrath’s a sniper, and one of the best I’ve ever seen, his scope can see through most things and his high-powered rifle can hit its mark, even behind a brick wall. Greed was the Pegasus ya saw, he says that nothin’ can break through his armor, and so far as I know, nothin’ has. The last one ya saw, the unicorn, is Pride, the leader of the Sins. I dunno know much about him, but his shadow magic is extremely deadly. Luckily Pride is a smart pony and he knows that Freedom and New Pegasus are protected by the gangs around here and Mr. Tops. Unless he has orders tah kill ya and has run it by us and Mr. Tops, he won’t let his ponies murder anypony here,” she explained.

It was a lot to take in, but I was able to latch onto a few things she was telling me, “So, they’re bad news and I should make sure to avoid them.”

“In a nutshell, yeah. I’m sure ya won’t have tah worry though. Unless ya pissed off the Enclave bad enough, they won’t be a problem for ya. Well come tah think of it, Wrath might be, but I’m sure Pride will keep him in line. A little pony like you isn’t worth it.”

“What about Stardust? Pride said something about hunting him down.”

She looked at me a little shocked, “You know Stardust Night?”

“Yeah, he’s my friend, we’ve been traveling together along with a couple others.”

“Well I’ll be, so that cloud kicker managed to make a friend. Stardust will have tah tell ya more about why the Sins are looking for him. All I know is he’s always been a pony on the run, but he’s a good stallion. I can’t think of any reason they’d be lookin’ for him,” she said with a smile.

“Is he in danger?”

“Not yet, Pride won’t be stupid enough to attack him in town, not until he knows he can get away with it. So, for now he’ll be safe, but it’d be better if he came and met with me before leavin’ town.”

“Why?” I asked in confusion.

“I haven’t seen him in a while, and I might be able tah help him with his Sins problem. Though knowing that feather brained idjit he’ll refuse to take the help I have tah offer.”

“If I find him I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.”

She smiled at me again, “You do that darlin’, and make sure ya stop by our place as well. I might have a job for ya later if you’re up tah makin’ some extra caps, ya seem like a tough mare.”

“What makes you think that?” I mean really? Look at me. Was she nuts?

“You held your own for a little while against Wrath. That takes a tough pony tah do. Most would’ve died in seconds. I could use a pony like you.”

“If I find myself in need of more caps then I’ll come talk to you about it, but for now caps isn’t the first thing on my mind.”

Her head tilted to the side a little, “Oh? What is?”

“I’m trying to find a friend of mine, she said she’d be going to a shop run by two ponies called Match and Tariff. I really don’t know my way around.”

“Shoot, that’s an easy one. Just head south from here toward our headquarters, turn right, and it’s the third building down on your left,” The Queen said pointing a hoof toward a large building with bright neon lights all around the front of it, and the words ‘The Queen’s School of Interpretation’ lit up.

I stared at it in awe, “Huh. Well that’s hard to miss.”

“I like things tah be flashy and extravagant.”

“I’ll say,” I said noticing all the ponies around the place wearing leather jackets.

“Remember Shadow Star, tell Stardust I need to speak with him, and stay outta trouble,” The Queen said walking away toward her home. If that flashy building WAS her home that is.

Once the mare was gone I started to limp my way down the road, past The Queen’s School of Interpretation. As I walked by the doors I could hear loud music coming from within. I smiled a little and would’ve gone in to see what kind of show was going on inside, but I had to find Aura. Following the directions, The Queen had given me, I soon found myself in front of a shop, a sign over the door read ‘Match and Tariff’s’ and on the door, was another sign that read ‘No Refunds’.

“Okay now I feel stupid, I swear I passed this place at least once. Oh well, guess I’ll head inside and see if Aura’s still here,” I said to myself. I pulled the door open, and something flew through the opening missing my head by inches and shattering against the brick wall on the other side of the street. This was followed by two yelling voices, one I knew, the other I didn’t. The former was none other than Aura, when I looked inside I saw the latter was a white earth pony stallion, with a messy red mane and goatee.

“When will you get it through your thick head bird brain!? I won’t sell you anything!” the Stallion exclaimed, his deep voice cracking as he screamed at her. Either he really hated griffons, or him and Aura had history, and not a good one.

“And how many times do I have to tell you that I don’t give a shit? This isn’t for me, it’s for my boss! She needs this to get into the city, and nopony is better at making fake passports than you are! Can’t you just fuckin’ drop the bullshit and do your damn job.”

Walking in slowly, and doing my best not to get hit by flying merchandise. I moved around the two and made my way over to the only other pony in the room. He was a tall stallion who was watching the brutal exchange, as I moved closer he glanced over at me, his dark blue head lifting a little. It took a moment for him to realize I was really there, because after a moment he shook the dark mane out of his eyes and gave me the biggest smile I’d ever seen on a pony.

“Hello and welcome to Match and Tariff’s, I’m sorry about the disturbance over there. I’m Match Book the arms dealer here. How can I help you today?” he said moving around and putting himself between the fight and me, trying and failing to block out the fight.

“Yeah, I’m actually here to find my friend,” I said pointing a hoof at Aura.

“Oh, you must be Aura’s new contractor. Well then if I were you I’d tell her to leave. If those two keep this up, I’m afraid it’ll get bloody soon,” he said looking over his shoulder at the two.

“I doubt I could do anything, Aura may be under contract with me, but she isn’t so good at listening when she’s this worked up. If you want her gone why don’t you just kick her out? What’s their deal anyway?”

A sigh came from his large frame and he seemed to deflate a little, his shoulders slumping, and his smile vanished, “Those two go way back, they used to be good friends. That was until Tariff’s sister passed away. He blames her for it, and she can’t seem to understand why.”

“Tariff’s sister? Was Aura protecting her or something? What happened?” I asked looking over at my friend. Now that I looked closer I could see tears in the griffon’s eyes.

“It’s a long story and if Aura hasn’t told you about it, then it isn’t my business. If you want answers you’ll have to get them from her.”

Aura continued to yell at Tariff as she threw more merchandise, “Why the fuck can’t you just forget about what happened and stop blaming me Tariff? Do you think that I had anything to do with what happened to Tripwire?”

“If she hadn’t been hanging around you, instead of doing what she was supposed to do, then she wouldn’t have been put in the situation that she was. So yes Aura, I do blame you. My sister’s dead because you wouldn’t back off,” Tariff yelled back.

“Back off? What the fuck do you know, you didn’t even know her. You think you did, but you have no idea. I didn’t make her do anything, she was the one who chose her path in life. And yes, she died when I should’ve protected her. I have to live with that every day. Every time I use this spear she made for me, I think about the night she died. You forget that I lost her too,” Aura was openly crying now, something that was unusual to see from the strong griffon’s face. I couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn’t watch my friend going through so much pain.

Stepping between the two of them, and ducking under a box of 10MM ammo, I threw up my hooves, “Enough!”

Suddenly both of them stopped their yelling and looked at me. Aura looking as if she just now noticed I was there. She sniffed and looked away, “Sorry Shadow, I didn’t want you to see this.”

“It’s okay Aura, why don’t you go wait outside. I can take care of things here.”

She sniffed again, glared over at Tariff, then hung her head, “I guess that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah get out and don’t come back,” Tariff snapped.

Aura looked like she was ready to turn around and start the fight back up again, but for once, I was faster than the griffon, “You need to shut that hole in your face Tariff! You aren’t helping matters here, I don’t care what your problem is with Aura! You just need to shut the fuck up.”

He was taken aback by my outburst, “Who the fuck are you to tell me how to act in my own shop?”

Okay, I’ve had enough of this shit, time to pull out the big guns. Glaring at him I turned a little and showed him my duster with the big green letters on the back reading ‘Equestrian Express’. “I’m a courier for Box Tape in Cartwheel, my job sends me all over the place and it’s not hard for me to talk with other ponies and traders about the way your establishment treats ponies when they first walk into the door. I mean when I first walked in I was almost hit in the head by flying pottery, and other odds and ends you have around and greeted with shouting and threats. Not a good reputation to be spreading around. Who knows? Maybe it’ll work out for you, you could even have a nice greeting when ponies walk in like: welcome to Match and Tariff’s, get your shit and get out.”

Tariff to my utter surprise just glared at me, “I’m not scared of you or what you tell other ponies, Equestrian Express died out a long time ago. The words of its only Courier don’t mean shit.”

Only courier? What did he mean by that? Box Tape never said anything about that to me, from what he DID say, he had other ponies working for him, just none that he could send toward New Pegasus. Before I could say this however Match walked up to Tariff.

“Tariff, you should listen to her. Doesn’t she match the description of that Courier Mare from the radio? If she is, she really could make life hell for us.”

He looked ready to explode again, then he sighed and all the anger seemed to drain away with it, “I guess you’re right, but I still won’t do anything for that fuckin’ griffon, she’s not welcome here. I’ll be fine with helping you, but I can’t even stand to look at Aura without wanting to blow her brains out.”

Looking back toward my friend I saw she was sitting just outside the door, her shoulders shaking a little as small sobs racked her body, “Fine, I can live with that, I’LL deal with you instead. Aura came here to see about getting us passports to get into the city. Can you help us with that?”

It took a minute for Tariff to answer, “I can, it wouldn’t take long either, just depends on what you need and how much you’re willing to spend.”

“I…really don’t have that many caps on me at the moment, but my friend does. He’s out trading in some of our supplies.”

“If you need to get into New Pegasus you’ll need a passport that will fool the securiponies at the gate, something like that will run you around three hundred caps,” Tariff said looking over a couple notes he had laying on his desk.

“That’s not too bad, I’m sure we should have enough for that. Can you make enough for my three friends and I?”

“That’s three hundred a pony, you won’t need one for Aura. Contracted bodyguards can follow their contractor in without one, and a Talon can go in whenever they want.”

Nine hundred caps? I wasn’t sure if we could get that much, not right away. Pulling up my Pip-Buck I checked my inventory, sure enough I wasn’t even close to having enough Caps. Course Stardust had most of my caps.

“Uh…I don’t suppose you can give me a little bit of a discount could you?”

Match spoke up this time, “It’s a fair price for something like that, and Tariff’s Passports are guaranteed to get you past the gate.”

(Sigh) “I guess I’ll have to find another way to get into the city.”

Tariff looked like he was about to say something else. Before he could, the door to the shop opened again and Stardust walked in, “Hey Tariff what gives? I could’ve sworn you were selling your Passports for two-fifty last time I saw you. Did you jack up the price because you’re in a sour mood?”

Match and Tariff looked shocked as the Pegasus walked into their shop followed closely by Wingnut. Tariff’s face lit up and he beamed at my friend, “Stardust old buddy old pal. Is that really you? It’s been ages since I saw you last. When did you fly back into town?”

Stardust walked up to the other two stallions and bumped hooves with them both then smiled his goofy smile, “Just got in, I’ve been traveling with Shadow Star right there. I helped her with a raider camp back by Cartwheel and we’ve been traveling together ever since. Now what’s this hike of your prices all about?”

Tariff sighed and shook his head, “Hard times my friend. With caravans getting raided more and more, and The NLR having their little war with that group of Zebras making things worse for traders, I have to mark my prices up somewhere.”

Stardust ran a hoof through his blue mane, “I understand, but what about for a friend? You still owe me for that time I saved your ass,” I guess he does a lot of ass saving.

“Fuck, I thought we were good?”

“Nope, far from it,” Stardust said with a smile I knew all too well by now, “Tell ya what though. If you bring down the price to, oh I don’t know… one hundred caps per passport, for Shadow, the colt, and myself, I’ll call us even.”

“Are you fucking insane!? I can’t do three passports for one hundred caps each,” Tariff said angrily.

“Sure you can, I know you’re not hurting for caps, either of you. Give me one good reason why you can’t.”

“Because it’s dangerous, if I was ever caught making these, Mr. Tops would have my head.”

“And how do you think he’ll ever find out it was you who made them? Also, the price doesn’t change the risk you’re taking by making them.”

“Stardust, I swear to Celestia, you’re going to get me killed one of these days,” he said in a huff, “Fine, but only because I owe you. But we’re square after this, you got me?”

“Sure thing,” Stardust said reaching back into his pack and dropping a bag of Caps onto the counter, “There ya go, three hundred caps.”

“Of course you had the caps ready,” Tariff said with a sigh, “They’ll be ready in an hour.”

“Thanks bro,” Stardust said with a smile, then turned to me, “You doing okay Shadow?”

“I’d say I’ve had better days, but I’m sure that would be a lie. How did you get him to drop the price like that?” I asked as we walked out of the shop.

“If you ever get a chance to meet his wife you’ll understand,” he winked.

Deciding not to push the subject, I walked over to Aura, who was still sitting just outside the shop looking down at her talons. I looked back at Stardust, “Hey can you give us a minute?”

“Sure thing, I’ll head back into Match and Tariff’s and see if Match has any .308 ammo for my rifle, and I’m sure you’re running low on .357 for Ol’ Festus.”

“Yeah, I kinda broke it,” I said showing him the rifle.

“How the fuck did you manage to break this? You were only gone for an hour,” Stardust asked taking the rifle from me and looking it over.

“Long story, I’ll tell you later.”

Wingnut walked up and took Ol’ Festus from Stardust and looked it over as well, “Looks like you destroyed the trigger mechanism and a good part of the stock. I’m sure if I can find a few parts from some old repeaters like this one, we could fix it.”

“You got a good eye kid,” Stardust said in amazement, “Let’s go see what we can find.”

“I have a name y’know,” Wingnut protested as the two of them turned to walk back into the shop.

After they walked off I turned and sat down next to Aura, who still hadn’t moved an inch since she walked out of the shop, “Hey, I’m sorry for what happened in there. He shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

She sniffed then looked over at me, “He had every right to, I should’ve known better than to try and see if he’d help us out. I’m a fuckin’ idiot.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am. I thought after some time went by he would’ve forgiven me, or at least gotten over Tripwire’s death. I should’ve known better.”

I really hate self-pity, I mean yeah, I’ve been known to wallow in my own failings in the past, but this was just sad, “Aura, you have to stop blaming yourself for something that happened so long ago. Yeah, maybe you should’ve known better than to expect Tariff to have forgiven you, but at least you still tried to talk to him. Don’t beat yourself up so much.”

“You don’t understand Shadow, it’s my fault his sister died. If I would’ve just told Trip to stay home that day, she would’ve lived.”

“You don’t know that, she could’ve stayed home, sure, but that doesn’t mean she would’ve been okay. Something else could have happened to her. Everyone has their time to go and nothing can change that. I know it’s sad, but that’s the way the world works,” I reached out and put a hoof on her shoulder.

Aura stood and started to walked away, I followed, but she turned around tears falling again as she yelled, “Can’t you just leave me be Shadow!? I wanna be alone for a while!”

“No I can’t, you’re my friend and I won’t let you just wonder off in the state you’re in.”

“Why not!? Everyone else does! Why the fuck do you care so much huh!?”

She was lashing out, I could tell. She was hurting deep down. I’m not sure what happened with this friend of hers, but she needed to get this out of her system, if yelling at me helped, then I’d let her.

“I care, because you’re my friend Aura, like it or not. I care because you’re not just a griffon who decided to follow me around to pay back some crazy life debt, and you’re not just some mercenary that I contracted with. I care because I can’t stand to see you hurting like you are. Why can’t you just swallow your damned pride and see that?”

“I can see it okay, but when others get close to me, they end up getting hurt. I don’t wanna hurt you too Shadow,” she was crying hard now, I was shocked, it was a side of Aura I hadn’t seen before. It seemed as if she couldn’t hide the emotions that were getting bottled up inside, and they were now bursting though her like a flood.

“Aura, you’re not gonna hurt me, I trust you with my life.”

“Well you shouldn’t okay!”

“Why not? Is it because one time you failed at a job and a pony died under your watch?”

“Exactly! How can you trust me after finding that out? I’m a griffon, I failed to fulfill my contract and Tripwire died because of it.”

I had enough by this point and I finally yelled back at her, “So what!? Yeah it sucks that a client of yours died, but from what I’ve read about griffons in The Wasteland Survival Guide, that happens from time to time, and the griffons don’t get this worked up over it. So why are you so upset over the loss of one client? You can’t tell me that she was the first one you lost, why are you so upset over it or whatever Tariff has to say about it?”

“Because, she was my best friend that’s why! She was even more than that, I gave up a lot in my life to keep her safe and to be close to her. When I had to go off on other missions she wanted to come with and help me out. She was tired of staying around this fucking town. She wanted adventure in her life and I was more than happy to help her. I told her she should leave Freedom Town and head out with me. On the day she died, do you know where I was? I was overlooking a camp of raiders, I told her to stay behind at our camp. While I was gone a small group of them found it. They captured her, raped her multiple times, stabbed her nearly to death, then left her to die slowly. When I got back she was almost gone, I didn’t have enough time to save her, and she died in my talons.”

She was sobbing even harder now, her entire body shaking from the outburst of emotions. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I did understand what she was going though. It wasn’t much different from when I thought my mother died. I didn’t play any part in her supposed death, but a young filly has a way of blaming herself. Aura was doing that now, it wasn’t her fault Tripwire died, but she saw it differently than I did.

I walked closer to her and wrapped my forelegs around her feathery neck and pulled her into a tight hug. She sobbed into my shoulder, letting it all out as I slowly rubbed the back of her neck. I remembered Auntie doing the same to me after my mother disappeared. Later when I asked her why she did that her answer was simple, “Sometimes words can’t fix things, but a hug can go a long way.”

When a few minutes passed Aura finally pulled her head up (Leaving my shoulder soaking wet with her tears) and sniffed once, “I’m sorry you saw that…I don’t let anyone see me get emotional like that often. I’d threaten to skin you alive if you told anyone, but that would be impolite considering you were so cool about it.”

“Everyone needs to cry now and then, oddly enough, it’s a little refreshing. If you just bottle up your emotions all the time, you’ll end up exploding like a bomb.”

She smiled a little, then sighed, “You remind me of her you know that?”

“Who, Tripwire?”

“Yeah, she liked to tell me I was being stupid all the time for not talking about my feelings. When I would start to hide my emotions, she would always find a way to get me to talk. You have that same gift, I’m not sure why, but when I’m around you, I feel… I dunno… safe I guess.”

Blushing a little I turned my head away, “Well I don’t know if it’s a gift or anything. Auntie used to tell me all the time, that I shouldn’t hide who I am, don’t let other ponies change who you are, and to always show my emotions.”

“She sounds like a smart pony.”

“She is, and a very good mare.”

I guess my hug did more for Aura than I thought it would, she was starting to sound more like herself, only a little happier. She moved closer to me and sat down on the sidewalk resting herself against the building, “Do you ever miss it?”

“Miss what?”

“Y’know, being in your Stable.”

I hadn’t really thought much about Stable 28 since I left. I hadn’t even given much thought to my friends, who I’d left behind. I wonder what they were doing now, was Balefire able to escape suspicion from the Overmare? How was Milkshake doing, was Auntie okay? I hadn’t even seen Milkshake after what happened down in the catacombs. What kind of friend am I to just leave like I did? I know that time wasn’t on my side when I escaped the clinic, but I could’ve done something.

Doing my best not to tear up I looked over at Aura and did my best to smile, “Sometimes I guess, my life wasn’t so bad there, I had two really good friends that cared for me. When I escaped, my friend Balefire was the one who got me out, and Auntie told me where to go. I’m not sure if I really miss the stable. I miss my friends more than anything. The ponies in my stable weren’t that nice to me, I was the odd pony out, but Auntie, Balefire, and Milkshake were always good to me. They didn’t see me as different, they just saw me as their friend.”

Aura laughed a little and punched my foreleg, “I can understand what you mean. My family wasn’t easy to grow up with. I’m the youngest of five, and I was always the odd one of the family. Mom and I never got along well, she always wanted me to be more like her. You should’ve seen her face when I told her I wasn’t interested one bit in being with any of the males. She lost it when she found that out, started telling me that I had a responsibly to our clan and family.”

Did I just hear her right? I know I hadn’t been traveling with her for very long, but she just came out and told me she like girls. Damn I have horrible gaydar. I don’t think I could ever do that with someone. Maybe it was just growing up in a place where you were forbidden to have feelings for another of the same sex. For the good of the stable, the Overmare would say. I’d heard rumors about mares or stallions that would fool around, but never any solid proof. Maybe if I was more like Aura, I could’ve told Milkshake how I felt. I’m sure that would have gone over well, she would’ve probably bucked me in the face.

Realizing that Aura was staring at me, I blushed and laughed a little, “How did you handle that? I’m not sure I could have out right told my mom something like that.”

Aura gave me a knowing smile then laughed, “Ha, I didn’t tell her anything, she caught me when I was younger fooling around with one of my sister’s friends.”

Blushing even harder I couldn’t help asking, “What did you do then?”

“Kept doing what I was doing giving my mom the most pleasant smile I could.”

“Bull-shit!” I exclaimed my eyes going wide.

“It’s true, she grabbed me and pulled me home yelling at me the whole time.”

“Damn, you do have a crazy life,” I said looking up at the cloudy sky. “Aura, how did you get kicked out of the Red Talons?”

The smile on her face fell and she looked away, “That’s a story I’m not ready to talk about yet. Maybe one day I’ll tell you, but it still hurts too much.”

“I understand, but I’d really like to hear what happened.”

“Let’s change the subject. So, this Balefire friend of yours back in 28, was he like your buckfriend or something.”

I started laughing uncontrollably, rolling onto my sides. When I could finally breathe again I said, “Only in his wildest dreams.”

“What, is he fat or something, or was he just really ugly, or both?”

“No, he’s a good-looking stallion, but it would be really weird. He’s more like my older brother than a lover. He’s also the Overmare’s son, if we would’ve ever started dating or even playing around like that, she would have killed me. I mean REALLY killed me, and wouldn’t have had a second thought about it.”

“So, he liked you, but you didn’t like him the same way?”

“Something like that yeah. I mean he really had a thing for me, I first noticed it a couple years ago, when he started to openly flirt with me. Last year he even tried to get romantically involved with me at his birthday party.”

She raised a brow at me, “Really? What happened?”

“He wanted to give me some kind of surprise, I thought it was a little odd since it was HIS birthday and not mine. I decided to find out what it was, so I followed him to his room. He cornered me and started telling me how he felt about me and that he wanted nothing more than to be with me. Then out of nowhere he up and kisses me. No warning or anything, just a full-on kiss to the lips. For maybe half a second it was kinda nice, then I started feeling really awkward and I ended up pulling away, then I kicked him in the nads and left,” I said looking back at the sky again.

“Damn, I’m sure that was really hard on your friendship after that.”

“A little, it took a month for me to forgive him and when I finally did he told me he was sorry. He said he didn’t mean any of it and wouldn’t ever let anything like that happen again. I felt so bad for kicking him where I did that we both just chose to forget about that night. Sadly, that didn’t stop him from flirting or giving off hints that he wanted to go on a date with me.”

“You think that had something to do with him helping you escape the Stable?”

“Maybe, but I really think he didn’t want to see something bad happen to his friend. He’s a good and loyal pony who cares more about the ponies around him than about himself. Plus, the Overmare was going to have the stable’s mentally unstable doctor cut off my foreleg.”

“That’s what Tripwire was like, she was always more worried about her friends than herself.”

I gave her another smile, “Friends like that are hard to come by.”

“That they are, and if I’ve learned anything about friends like that in the Wasteland. You have to hold on to that friendship, because you never know when something bad will happen,” Aura said with melancholy, she was starting to look depressed again.

I nudged her in the side, “You know what? I like it when you talk like this, it’s nice to see you open up a little.”

“Don’t get used to it, you just happened to catch me at a time when I’m feeling low. I don’t normally like to talk about myself, it’s not what a griffon does.”

“Pfft, and you think you’re anything like a normal griffon,” I teased.

“Hey! I may be an oddball, but I have standards.”

“Whatever you say Aura.”

She nudged me back, “Thanks Shadow.”

“For what?”

“For defending me back there and for talking to me. It’s nice to know someone cares,” she said with a smile.

“You’re my friend Aura, enough said.”

After that we just sat there watching as ponies walked by. Thinking about it, this was the first time I’d been able to relax since I left Cartwheel. It was nice to be able to just sit back and not worry about things, even if it was only for a little while.

I was just about to shut my eyes and try and get a nap in when somepony tapped me with their hoof. Opening my eyes expecting to find Stardust or Wingnut looking down at me, I was surprised to see a colt, and it wasn’t Wingnut. This colt wasn’t even a pony, he was a young zebra. I’d never met a zebra before, and found it a little weird to see one.

He gave me a small smile, “Miss Pony.”

“Um…yes?”

“My family lives around here, but we don’t have many caps. You look like somepony who uses guns. Would you like to by this gun I found?” he said pulling out what looked to me like some kind of toy pistol. It was cone shaped with a ridiculous looking fin on the top of it and a screen on the back.

“I…uh don’t think I need any more guns…” I started, but Aura interrupted me.

“How much kid?”

“One million caps,” he said, as serious as could be.

My jaw almost hit the ground and I looked back at Aura, “Why are you even asking how much it is? It’s a piece of junk toy.”

“And he’s a Zebra colt living in a town of ponies, he’s probably homeless and needs the caps, but I’d say one million is a little much. See if you can help him out, it’s the right thing to do.”

Looking back at the colt I smiled a little and pulled out some caps, “I’m sorry, I don’t have that much. Why do you think it’s worth so much?”

“I found this outside near the old power plant when I was helping father. It’s the most powerful gun in the Wasteland,” he was so cute when he acted so serious that I found my heart melting and my smile growing.

“I don’t have that much, but if it helps I do have fifty caps left, would that be enough to by your gun?”

His eyes widened and he smiled wider, “That would be fine, but you have to promise me that you won’t lose the gun or sell it to anyone.”

“I promise,” I said smiling wider as his face lit up with joy.

“Thank you miss pony,” he said taking the caps and giving me the toy, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Shadow Star, this here is my friend Aura.”

“Thank you again Miss Shadow Star and Miss Aura,” he said running off with his small bag of caps.

“What do I do with this thing?” I asked looking over the odd-looking thing.

“Put it in your saddle bags. You made the kid a promise and you should always keep your promises,” Aura said leaning back against the wall.

Looking over the gun one more time, I noticed it felt like a real gun, only it didn’t have a place for ammo. I pulled the trigger once and all it did was click. Shrugging I levitated it into my saddle bags. My Pip-Buck dinged. Looking at it I saw that it put it down under weapons in my inventory, labeling it as Solar Flare’s Range Finder. Weird name for a piece of junk, but Aura was right, I made a promise and I’d keep it, even if it was a useless piece of junk.

“You really have a soft spot for foals don’t you Aura,” I said once I was finished with my Pip-Buck.

“Kids are the future, and I hate seeing them in pain or in need,” she said simply.

Before I could respond the door to Match and Tariff’s opened, Stardust and Wingnut walking out. Wingnut was saying, “I still don’t know why you had to get more stuff for your rifle, isn’t that thing already awesome?”

“Any rifle with a scope is awesome half-pint, but this one needs a little tweaking. It was made for an earth pony to use from a sniper’s nest. I don’t always have the pleasure of being able to just stay in one place and pick off my enemies. Most of the time I’m flying around having to pick my targets quickly. I need to get this set up just right so I can use it better while in flight,” Stardust said as they headed toward us.

“Hey you two, how did everything go in there?” I asked as they walked up to us.

“He spent some of our caps on stuff for his rifle,” Wingnut said angrily, “He could’ve used those caps to get us more healing potions or extra ammo.”

“Really Stardust? Why didn’t you talk to us first before deciding to spend our limited number of caps on stuff for your Rifle?”

“Because he’s a cloud kicker, they only think about themselves,” Aura said still leaning against the wall with her eyes closed.

Ignoring her, Stardust looked over at me, “I need a rifle that I can fire while flying. My old rifle was perfect for that, but somepony decided we should go see the Steel Rangers, who took my old rifle and forgot to give it back. I’ll admit, this new rifle is superior in almost every way to my old one, but it’s still not perfect for a flyer. I’m gonna fix that.”

“Fine, how many caps do we have left?”

“About a thousand, a lot of the junk we picked up was worth more than I thought it would be, and with talking Tariff down in price, we saved a lot there too,” he said tossing me a bag of caps, “I’ll let you hold onto them for now, since that Pip-Buck of yours will help keep them counted and organized.”

Putting the caps away in my saddle bags I asked, “Did Tariff finish the passports?”

“Yep, got them right here,” he said pulling them out and handing one to Wingnut and myself. It didn’t look like much, just a piece of paper that was laminated with a barcode on it and our names.

“You sure this’ll work?” I asked looking skeptically at it.

“Tariff may be an ass, but he knows what he’s doing with making passports,” Aura said getting up and stretching.

“And are you sure you’ll be able to get in too Aura?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah, just tell them I’m your bodyguard and I’m under contract.”

Stardust started to tap his forehoof on the ground, “Yeah, yeah, can we get going now? This has taken too long as it is, and I really want to get into the Strip so we can continue on this foolhardy quest of yours.”

“Sure, I think it’s about time we find out where my mom is.”

All four of us walked toward the gates to New Pegasus. Stardust leading the way since he knew the city better than me, and Aura wasn’t the type to lead anypony anywhere. As we approached the gates one of the robots rolled up to us, its guns humming slightly.

“Present entry fee or passport.”

“Got them right here,” Stardust said holding out his own passport and flicking his wings for us to do the same.

We did and the robot scanned over all three quickly, “Very good Thank you for visiting New Pegasus, Shadow Star, Stardust Night, and Wingnut.”

The large gate started to open and we made our way toward it. I barely got past the first guard when it rolled over and stopped Aura. Looking back, I asked, “What’s the problem?”

“Only those with the Entry Fee or Passport can enter New Pegasus,” it said still blocking Aura’s path.

“I’m her bodyguard,” Aura said promptly.

“Do you have proper documentation proving she is your bodyguard?” the robot asked looking back at me.

Pulling out Aura’s contract I showed it to the Robot, “She’s with me, wherever I go, she goes. She’s my bodyguard and she is under contract.”

The robot took a little longer to look over the paper. Finally, it rolled out of the way, “Very good Aura Bloodtalon, please be sure to stay with your contractor and don’t wonder off.”

“Yeah I know the rules,” she said walking past the robot with a wave of her talon.

With that finished we walked through the gate, and entered New Pegasus…

Enhanced Senses: What was that noise? Who knows? Well... you do! You’ve gained +2 to overall perception.

Next Chapter: Chapter 15: Luck Be A Lady Estimated time remaining: 84 Hours, 46 Minutes