I scratched off as much of the coagulating blood as I could but the smell and maroon tint remained. My efforts were taking place downwind from the others as they worked. Nibble fitted the caravan with a detached backseat for me and promised it would be a Celestia forsaken seat. Clover cleaned my battle saddle while Gale removed a few bags from one of the coolers. He tossed one to Mangle, she tore it open and devoured the contents like a starved animal. Gale offered a bag to the others but only Clover took one.

Gale made his way over to me. “Do you eat meat, these are getting old so we’re tossing away what we don’t eat now.”

I had eaten meat before, living in the waste didn't give you the luxury of eating what your body thought was best. The wasteland also taught you to never waste food.

“I'll have some,” I replied. Trying to maintain his distance Gale tossed a bag over. Inside were dark ribbons of shredded meat dried with salt. “Don’t you want any?” I asked after my first mouthful.

“Oh no, I'm a strict vegetarian.”

Gale noticed my confusion and bared his sharp teeth. “Wondering about these?” I’m more interested about the dragon but Gale only tortured me with silence on that subject, so might as well take what I can get. When I nodded Gale continued, “They’re just for show. It's an initiation ritual into the gang I was in. We had a unicorn who knew a bone molding spell. Hurt quite wonderfully.”

“You were a raider?”

“Not really, the Jackals preyed on the weak and only did what they needed to survive. Not that crazy chop ponies up and use them as decoration stuff.”

“What happened?”

“I met her,” Gale turned to Mangle, she had passed out with her face buried in the bag of meat. “Wasn’t much point to a doctor in a group that never risked injury, nor was it any fun for me.” Gale’s gaze drifted to the sky. “You should have seen her, captured by raiders, thrown into the fighting ring. She thought it was a reward. She fought till her body was ragged but still wanted to continue. It’s how she earned her name, Mangle. They were about to put her down after a particularly gruesome win but I bought her.”

“Wait, she’s your slave?” I gasped. Gale laughed and turned his attention back to me.

“As if she would care about such legalities, hell, after I patched her up she almost killed me. Eventually we came to an agreement and we've been traveling together ever since.”

“Mangle said she was from a Stable,” I said trying to confirm it with Gale.

“Oh, you two had a little chat?”

“Very little.”

Gale chuckled. “Sounds about right, I’m afraid you're going to have to ask her about such things, unlike you I’m not desperate for stories.”

I scratched at the back of my neck. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“If you meant to hide it you’ve done a terrible job.” Gale’s smile turned devilish. “I’m going to make you work for that dragon story.”

“Ardent!” Clover called out. “Your battle saddle is ready... and your ride.” Nibble stepped out of the way to reveal a flimsy scrap of sheet metal tied to the caravan with a piece of rope. This isn’t going to be comfortable.

“Finally,” Nibble said as Furlong came into view.

I loosened my grip on the scrap metal enough to peak a view. The town was composed of cube homes perfectly spaced out in a grid. Instead of being built out of scrap metal or rotting wood, the homes had been built with a light colored rock making the whole town look clean and approachable, aside from a rotting factory nearly spanning the length of the town.

Clover made an abrupt turn and I grasped my sheet metal as the rope went slack for a moment before being yanked taunt, a move I had quickly learned since failure to do so sent me flying. I wondered if Clover was just being an ass but the sound of gunfire emanating from Furlong brought up different questions. Raiders in sickly green barding stormed one side of the town while the citizens evacuated into a fortified domed building in the center. The ponies defending the town all used the same mouth held weapon, a slender silver gun that shot out bolts of silver lighting. On approach, I could see the bolts strike the raiders but the lightning did nothing more than cause them to pause for a moment.

“Are those…” Gale squinted.

“Pandora’s Children,” Clover growled. He turned the caravan and bee lined for the enemy's back line. “Time we finally get started on eliminating them.”

I attempted to clean out my ears because there was no way I heard that right. Pandora’s Children is the largest raider gang in Equestria. A dragon is one thing, literally one thing, but a small group can't take on an army. He must mean just the ones attacking now.

“Idiots are using Flim Flam guns,” Nibble groaned seeing the bolts of silver.

“Looks like we’re doing all the work then,” Clover called back.

A member of Pandora’s Children emerged from one of the cube like houses carrying a mess of clothes and other stolen goods. She began to load them into a wagon completely oblivious to our arrival as she rifled through some of the pockets. Clover steered Melody past her before turning sharply and pulling on the reins. The raider was crushed between the wagon and the caravan with a meaty crunch. I would have been more impressed with the maneuver, but being dragged along meant I was sent flying through the air.

I rolled on the ground half a dozen times before stopping. The dust I kicked up clung to my blood covered coat, almost making me brown again. I struggled to stand as my eyes tried to determine which way was up. Clover barked orders to the others and they scattered onto the battlefield, except Mangle who was still somehow sleeping. Gale covered her with a blanket before heading out.

Clover flew over me getting a look at the town from an aerial perspective before swooping down to give me my orders, “Ardent, stay on the outskirts of town and make your way to the roof of the third building you come across, kill any Pandora’s Children that get in your way. Understood?”

“Understood.” I broke off and scoped out the first alley. As I passed I could see Clover in the air and hints of Nibble as she snuck through the center of town. My EFS was full of red marks but I couldn't tell how close the enemies were. The second alley I crossed had a raider at the far end. I noticed a shimmer in the air much like Gale’s magical aura. It waved around the raider’s neck and continued somewhere out of sight. A saw blade flew through the air following the path of magic aura and decapitated the raider. I started to piece together how Gale’s aim spell might work.

With the raider dead I continued my route. The closer I got to the center of town the more the air filled with a chalky dust that made the air taste like dirt. It was coming off the houses, each time a bullet hit them a plume of dust would be kicked up that showered the area. Moving past the houses I noticed there were no creases from bricks just perfectly flat stone, my guess is they were built by a unicorn.

I reached the third building and creaked open the wooden planks that passed for a door. The inside was empty but fresh hoof prints led a path across the living room. I followed them, heading up stairs until stopping at a hatch to the roof. I placed my hoof on the metal handle but paused when the crack of a gunshots rang out close enough for me to feel. I took a deep breath, readied myself, and flung the hatch open.

A unicorn with a tar colored mane in green armor leaned over the rooftop. He carefully tracked something on the ground with a sniper held in his magical aura. I hesitated. He’s going to be the first pony I ever kill, and unlike the necromancer, I'm going to see him die.

I failed to enter SATS, instead all I could do was take in characteristics of the pony I was about to murder. The green paint stained his coat where his tattered armor failed to cover, making him look more protected than he actually was. He avoided putting weight on his back left leg which was slightly crooked, he may have broken it before and failed to find proper medical treatment. I began to build a story for the raider, of how tough his life must have been, about how he ended up here working for Pandora’s Children. What if he was being forced to help them? What if he doesn't want to be doing this? I took a step backwards as I lost my nerve.

The raider fired and a child cried out in pain. My shock only lasted a moment before I focused all my rising anger on the raider. All my hesitations evaporated into a burning resolve to follow Clover’s last order. Kill any Pandora’s Children that get in my way. I entered SATS and queued all my shots into the back of his head.

My rifles fired and time slowed to a point matching when I focus on my vision during my trance. Two bullets crashed into the back of the raider’s head. They sank into his flesh and shattered his skull. A mess of blood, flesh, and brain splattered out as his body went limp and fell over the side of the house. I could hear the thump as he landed. I ran over and glanced down to see blood shot eyes stare back at me. I felt no remorse as I tried to retrace where he was aiming.

Just a block away from the domed building a turquoise unicorn buck, with a cutie mark of a measuring stick, limped towards safety. A small gash bled on a leg, the bullet had just grazed him. A unicorn mare, I assumed was his mother given the matching color, raced out and grabbed her son in a magic before bringing him inside the town hall.

I had a moment of relief that my delay didn't kill a child. The crack of a gun firing rang in my ear as a bullet embedded itself deep into my leather barding, crushing my ribs and forcing the air out of me.

I had somehow failed to notice the other raider on the roof, a shaved mare who stared me down with crazed anger. She held a rusty revolver in her mouth. She stomped closer and pressed the burning hot barrel of her gun to my head.

I flinched away from the searing pain and slipped on a small piece of brain. The raider fired just as I fell out of the way, the proximity of the shot caused all noise to be replaced by a constant ringing.

Before the raider could realize she missed I bucked at her face. My back hooves connected and sent the gun in her mouth over the roof. I rolled away and forced in a deep breath. I got up only to see the mare had produced a knife with enough rust to match her gun. She lunged at me.

In a panic I fired without the aid of SATS. At this range it was hard for even me to miss, but I did, twice. The third shot found a place in the mare’s chest as she swiped at me, the knife cut into my cheek as she dropped. I put my hoof up to my face as blood trickled out. I kicked the mare over and could see the last of her life disappear as blood rushed out of her chest and mouth. Sure is a lot easier to kill them when they're trying to kill you back.

I brought up the inventory screen on my Pip-Buck. I didn’t have any medical bandages, just two healing potions. A bit extreme for a cut cheek and bruised side. I turned my attention to the battlefield below me.

Pandora's Children definitely noticed Elpis' presence. A stone colored mare with an eyepatch rallied the others to turn and face the real threat. She wore black barding and had a battle saddle with dual combat shotguns. She looked like she would be a pain in the ass to take down.

Clover swooped out of the air and targeted her, but it was like the raider could feel the bloodlust. Despite the advantage of Clover being airborne and staying in her blind side she rolled out of the way just in time to dodge the laser rifle. She fired back with her shotguns but Clover quickly escaped their effective range.

The rest of Pandora’s Children heeded their leader’s orders and turned to lock onto the only one of us standing in the open, Nibble. She turned tail and hoofed it into the house next to her, chased by nearly a dozen raiders. I entered SATS and picked off two of her pursuers. They fell out of the crowd, either dead or mortally injured. My mind didn’t bother to note I had just doubled my kill count because I was terrified watching the rest of the raiders dogpile into the house after Nibble. I could only listen to the sound of gunshots and watch as the house became perforated with bullet holes.

I had momentary relief when the hatch on the roof flung open and Nibble’s flank came into view. She took slow steps back as she unloaded her pistol down the stairs. When she stopped to reload three raiders tried to simultaneously get to the roof and clogged the passage. They fired wildly and managed to land a shot on Nibble’s pistol, sending it flying out of view.

“Oh shit,” I muttered as I could only watch. SATS was still charging and any shot I took had an equal chance of hitting Nibble.

For a moment I thought one of them shot her, but the bullet had just missed her head and ripped through her mane. She stared at the fallen strands of hair in disbelief before her eyes narrowed on the three raiders. Her purple aura wrapped around them but the color of her magic started to shift into a darker hue.

“What're you assholes doing up here,” a male voice said from behind me, “and what’s that smell?” I spun to see a dark blue unicorn in green armor coming up the stairs. I entered SATS and aimed my only shot at his head. It grazed his cheek at put a hole into the house. Under the control of SATS I reloaded the battle saddle. Oh, the spell can reload for me. By the time I finished reloading the unicorn had ducked out of view.

I crouched hoping the raider would stay away until SATS recharged. Glancing back I saw the three raiders had finally broken through the hatch, but they struggled as if they were still crammed together. That is until the grenade Nibble tossed under them exploded and showered the area in gore.

I focused back just in time to see a circular disc of metal levitating through the hatch. A red light in the center blinked as it let out obnoxious beeps. My eyes went wide as I remembered a chapter from the Big Book of Boom, “Mines, the only explosive to annoy you before blowing you to bits.”

I turned and jumped over the ledge as the mine exploded. The house provided little protection as a portion of the roof was obliterated in a cloud of white dust. My leg let out a loud crack as I landed and with a stifled yelp I collapsed to the ground. Okay time for a potion. I lifted out one of the healing potions and drank the tangy red liquid that had saved me so many times already. The effects were almost instant, and all the pains and aches disappeared.

Before I had a chance to enjoy my pain free moment a caravan, pulled by two rabid dogs, barreled towards me at full speed. I lept out of the way and barely avoided being crushed. The eyepatch raider in black took a moment to glare back at me before whipping the reins and taking off. Are they retreating?

I glanced up and saw the blue unicorn edging into sight as he examined the destruction he caused. Big mistake. SATS had charged up enough for a shot and I let the spell take over. My bullets dug their way into the unicorn’s eye and burst out the back of his head. His body tumbled off the roof and landed next to the other raider I killed. That already makes five.

I watched as the blood of the blue unicorn combined with the blood of the sniper raider I had shot in the back of the head. The crimson started to expand and I found myself staring into it. I don’t feel anything.

“Ardent,” somepony called out, but their voice failed to reach me as I lost myself in the growing pool of blood. It crept along the ground and inch by inch it got closer to my hooves. Is that normal?

“Ardent!” a voice next to me yelled. In a panic I pulled away from the blood and turned while entering SATS. Nibble’s head lit up with the targeting spell with a high chance to hit. I exited the spell hoping she couldn’t tell I had just targeted her.

“You okay? You were... in a daze,” she said.

“Yeah,” I replied. I took a moment to look around, raider corpses littered the streets along with a few unfortunate Furlong residents. It appeared the fight was over. With the end of gunfire ponies emerged from the city hall. Clover approached the citizens of Furlong.

“My sincerest thanks to you strangers! I am Alcalde, Mayor of Furlong,” a tubby plum colored earth pony said meeting Clover halfway.

“I am Jaded Clover, Leader of Elpis,” Clover greeted.

The mayor took a step back along with half the town. “E-Elpis you say.”

Clover closed the gap and wrapped a hoof around Alcalde. “Mayor, I am so pleased to hear you will be throwing a party for us since we saved your town. Complimentary of course, along with a night's stay at your finest inn.”

“I-I am… I mean of course I am!” The mayor said regaining composure, “Is there anything else I planned to do for you?”

“A bath for that one.” Clover pointed at me. “We can discuss the rest later. Until then, who is ready to celebrate the defeat of Pandora’s children!” Clover yelled to the rest of the ponies, ridding them of fear and replacing it with excitement. How does he do that?

“So mayor, do you have any ponies who are good in a lab?” was the last thing I heard Clover ask before getting dragged away to the bathhouse.

My bath consisted of being harshly scrubbed with soaps and dunked in irradiated water. My Pip-Buck let me know about the latter with loud clicks, not that I expected anything different, using clean water would be a waste.

As I left the bathhouse free of stench and blood, Furlong residents gathered the bodies of the fallen. Two piles formed, citizens to bury and raiders to burn. I caught sight of the blue unicorn I had killed. I felt no remorse for the possible child killer, but I killed so many ponies. Shouldn’t I feel bad, or sad, or something. I turned away frustrated I never asked Shot Chaser how he felt after his first kill. It was a question I always wanted to ask but I found it impossible to bring up.

I let old habits take over as I entered my trance and focused everything on my hearing. At a tortoise's pace I moved through town and listened into conversations. Many town folk were ranting about a redheaded mare who convinced the town to use Flim and Flam’s weapons.

My attention moved onto a mare discussing something different. “I'm getting out of here. This town is too close to Pandora's stronghold. I'm thinking New Appaloosa. Anypony who wants to come can, as long as you have a few caps to chip in. I want to head out by tomorrow morning so be quick.”

Somepony got in front of me and waved a hoof in my face but in my trance my reactions were more than delayed. I continued to walk until they placed a hoof on my chest, but when I still failed to react they gave me a shove. My senses returned to normal.

“Hello!?” Nibble yelled.

“Sorry,” I said as my mind caught up. “What’s up?”

“Your eyes were all glossy again. What's that about?”

“Just daydreaming.”

She stared me down for a bit but moved on with a sigh. “Clover wants us to check something out.”

I nodded and let her lead the way. I glanced to the mare I had been listening to. She was helping others load their belongings into her wagon. She had almost a dozen ponies clambering to get a ride.

Nibble was staring back at me with a frown.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said turning forward.

Nibble lead the way across town until we stopped at the main entrance of the rotting factory spanning one side of the town. The place created a gloomy atmosphere as is cast a massive shadow over the brighter homes of Furlong. The words “Flim Flam Industries Financial Hub” hung above the door. Flim Flam Industries… is that what FFI stood for? Would save me the trouble of asking. Nibble tapped the door causing it to fall off its hinges and part of the wall to crumble.

“Be careful, everything built by Flim and Flam is shoddy as hell,” Nibble said carefully stepping over the door. “I'm surprised this building is still standing.”

Silver Flim Flam weapons were scattered throughout the building.

“So who are Flim and Flam, what makes their weapons so terrible?” I asked.

“I figure some assholes who scammed a lot of ponies before the war.” Nibble reached down and picked up one of the guns in her mouth. My eyes widened as she turned and aimed at me.

A bolt of silver lightning hit me right in the chest and a tingling sensation raced through me. My muscles tensed up and I was unable to move for a moment. Nibble shot me two more times before the gun stopped firing despite her biting down. She spit it out and it shattered as it hit the ground.

“I see your point,” I said, not sure if she meant to demonstrate or just felt like taking a few shots at me over the Celestia thing. “What are we here for then?” I asked.

“The mayor said there’s a locked computer in the back. Naturally, Clover ordered me to deal with it,” she explained moving deeper into the building.

We passed countless desks all of which were covered in rotting papers. Signs attached to the ceiling with wire specified what district each area worked on. Manehattan, Canterlot, Tall Tail Town, they had locations all over Equestria.

I bit my lip as I watched Nibble’s messy amber mane bounce around as she walked. If there was ever a time to start an argument it would be now. No chance to cause a scene and I hated having the only nice pony in Elpis mad at me.

“Nibble,” I said seriously.

She tensed up, her ears and head lowered. “It happened like this last time too,” she began. “He told me about how he wanted us to escape together.”

“He?” I asked not quite sure what she was talking about.

“Wild Step, the first pony I recommended to join Elpis. He wanted to join us so bad and I wanted somepony to talk to, not like Gale with his stupid mind games, just somepony normal. I’m so selfish. I never considered how he would react to seeing a raider hideout, how scared he got after being injured, how much he would miss his family.”

I’m seeing a few similarities.

“I stayed of course, but once Clover found out… Did you know once Pip-Bucks are put on they're almost impossible to get off without special tools?” Nibble gave a sad laugh that turned into a sob. “‘Either you convince him to come back or you return with my Pip-Buck.’ Those were Clover’s orders, right after he took away the tools I needed to safely remove a Pip-Buck.”

Clover’s warning flashed in my mind, “The only way you leave Elpis is death. As one of us or from one of us. Remember that if you think about leaving... You're not my responsibility.” My heart sank as realization hit. If I were to escape it would be Nibble who would have to kill me.

“Nibble, I never planned on running,” I tried to explain.

She turned to face me. Her eyes were red, tears streaking her cheek. “You don't have to lie. I saw you listening to that mare. You've been through more than Wild Step, you never got to say goodbye to your father, you've killed, and I've been been horrible to you over something so dumb.” Nibble wiped away her tears. “Ardent, Clover never gave those tools back to me, so please, make sure he can't send me after you.”

“How would I-” My heart skipped a beat as I realized what she possible implied. She all but confirmed when she closed her eyes and waited. She wants me to kill her. I was speechless. I never realized just how much Nibble had been blaming herself for all the things happening to me. She must think I resent her for all the horrible things that have happened.

“What are you waiting for!” She cried out keeping her eyes clenched shut. “I won’t fight back like I did with Wild, so hurry up!”

I stepped forward and Nibble winced. She truly thought I hated her, that I would hurt her. I couldn’t handle her thinking that way for another moment. I lunged forward and wrapped her in a hug.

She gasped, “But, why?”

“Because this adventure has been the most exciting thing to ever happen to me. Despite all the bad things, you help me live what I dreamed about for years. Nibble I want to be here, I enjoy being a part of Elpis.” I nuzzled her till she stopped crying. I wiped away some of my own tears before breaking the embrace. “You know, Shot Chaser isn’t my father,” I said trying to lighten the mood.

She half laughed half sniffled. “Oh. Well now I don’t feel bad at all.” It took a moment for Nibble to compose herself. “You won’t always enjoy what Elpis is.” She shook away the thought and gave me another quick hug. “Let’s get going.”

We reached a back desk with the title “Head Accountant” engraved on it. An active computer gleamed on the desk. Nibble typed on the keyboard and got into the files.

“The locked one is in the manager's office,” Nibble said pointing at a solitary office door with no walls around it. “I am going to try to get into it. Could you look through this one just in case there is anything useful?”

“Sure.” I swapped places with her and began to read.

Entry 1
I, Subsidiary, have been selected to be the Head Accountant of the Flim Flam Industries financial hub. I will have one pony above me, Hasty Turnover, and he is strictly for employee management. Making me the mare picked above everypony else!!! I was a little worried when I heard the company was headed by Flim and Flam but they seemed to have turned over a new leaf after entering an arrangement with Princess Luna.

Entry 4
So not even a week in and and I noticed something strange. We are paying an insane amount of bits for construction but if they are built like this one… Corners were cut so they could be made quickly, I get that, there’s a war going on after all. The transactions make sense but there’s a large amount of material unaccounted for. It clearly wasn’t used to make our building. I will bring this to Hasty first thing tomorrow morning.

Entry 11
An hour before I left I found the same issue with weapons. I can see how much we buy our weapons for, yet there is a large sum going to materials which is unaccounted for. Could Flim and Flam be buying extra materials and selling them on the side? I know they have a bad history, but under the direct charge of Luna I can’t image they would be so foalish. I have a meeting with Hasty Turnover tomorrow and I plan on bringing these both to his attention.

Entry 12
I can’t believe this! I brought up my concerns with Hasty and he said that everything looked fine and to move on. When I pressed the issue he basically threatened my job! He must be in on this as well! I can’t continue this work if it means I have to lie to myself or worse yet, Princess Luna.

Entry 26
I have come up with a plan. I am going to the other Flim Flam Industry hubs to gather more info on this. If I find even a shred of evidence I am taking this straight to Luna. I’ll make up some accounting mumbo jumbo about needing to visit the other hubs and Hasty shouldn’t be the wiser. Hell, he doesn’t know the difference between a debit and a credit.

I found myself sharing Subsidiary’s frustration. How could anypony betray Luna in a time of war?!

“Finally!” Nibble shouted. She hopped up and down while clapping. “This thing was a pain in my flank.” I trotted over to her as she dived into the computer files. She mumbled as she read through the text. “Find anything interesting?” Nibble asked.

“Just that Flim and Flam were flim flamming Princess Luna out of bits,” I said harshly.

“Or maybe they weren’t,” Nibble said hitting a command. The floor in front of us shook as a hatch flipped open showing stairs leading down. Another hidden staircase? Was this mandatory back then?

I looked to Nibble. “What are the chances of a dragon?” I asked sarcastically.

She laughed. “Almost none. From what I read it’s a research and development lab. So let's hope they weren’t researching dragon eggs.” The laughter stopped. Nibble and I shared a look. “Let’s go get Clover and the others.”

“Agreed.”

Footnote: Level up New Perk: Toughness. +10% DR permanently.