If there’s one thing you can’t have enough of in the Wasteland, that’s friends. And I don’t mean your generic, hey let’s hang out at the movies all day and prey on drunk hapless mares, kind of friends. I mean the real kind, the ones that come in handy because they’re good at doing something of one sort or another. For me, this sort of friend was embodied by certain merchants throughout New Pegasus with whom I made the extra effort to get on really good terms with. In exchange for bulk purchasing, roughing up competition, providing protection or even a Bounty or two, they supplied me everything I needed to stay afloat in the world. There was one merchant however whom I visited more than any of the others, mostly because he was almost guaranteed to have just about everything the others had and more. His name, was Cogsworth. A Saddle Arabian by ancestry though a native-born Equestrian of roughly nine generations or so. Despite being far removed from his native land, he still maintained the accent (if a bit less prominent than with a true native) and dressed somewhat in the traditional style. A long full bodied armored tunic and a decorative headpiece that covered his neck with a layer of ballistic fibers against getting shot from behind. A...modern take on an old classic.

Cogsworth was rather unusual in that got his name from his cutie mark, something Saddle Arabians didn’t seem to get naturally until a bunch of them had moved into the country a couple centuries before. His lucky ass tattoo was a bag of money with the symbol for the Syna (the reallllly old Arabian currency) which looked like it was in the shape of a steel cog. His true name was something rather unintelligible to those unfamiliar with their peculiar vowels and pronunciations, but the nickname ponies gave him from his cutie mark stuck and he seemed to prefer it over his real name. Like I told the others, if there was one thing that made this guy tick, it was Pre-War tech. Anything and everything made before the War was relevant to his interests and he would go to great lengths to obtain anything that struck his fancy. His merchant 'stall' was truly more of a 'hall' as he had taken ownership of an adjoining warehouse that had once been used to store records for the Equestrian Gaming Commission. Nowadays though. itwas crammed full of anything you could possibly want that was in any way associated with the Pre-War world including clothing, artwork, furniture and of course, technology. Didn’t matter if it ran off of magical energy, Crystalline Fusion, gunpowder, coal, oil or whatever the fuck else shit can run off of, he was bound to have it or at least be able to repair it. It was precisely these skills that we would have need of in order to help fulfill my promise to Chocolate. Cybernetic limbs were a pain in the ass to find and even more of a pain to create from scratch, but he was a damn good engineer; I had yet to see him fail at tackling and overpowering any technological problem I came across. Hell, I owed the continued existence of my PipBuck 2000 to him as well as the spell-matrix of my helmet that allowed me to interface with both it and my armor's subsystems with just a flick of my thoughts. If there was one guy I could trust to see me through this promise, he was the only one worth putting caps down for.

The group seemed to be excited about the prospect of finally seeing one of the big Pre-War cities for the first time. I hoped they weren’t expecting too much from it since the fair majority of the city was nothing more than a mangled shithole surrounding the walled off Stirrup of New Pegasus controlled by the enigmatic Mr. House. Where I lived, on the farthest southeastern edge of the city limits, it was mostly sandy from the centuries’ worth of sandstorms blowing in from the San-Palomino Desert whereas the inner city was mostly concrete rubble and cracked asphalt. One constant though permeated the whole city: all roads lead to the Stirrup and the casinos on it. Sure, you might have to skirt the Wall to get to the one way in and out, but the amount of signage alone would help you find your way there quickly. The Lucky 24 Casino, the illustrious symbol of New Pegasus with its tall white tower, dominated the skyline of the Stirrup and could be seen for literally miles around. Everypony including Chocolate gasped in awe upon first seeing it when we were still a good ten miles away from Little Hoof and my house. Overall, it was a rather pleasant reaction.

“W-wow! I-I’ve never seen s-something so tall and p-pretty!” Gold gasped as he looked the tower up and down with wide eyes.

“How did it survive the bombs?” Melody asked, looking at the other casinos poking up around the Lucky 24. “I thought Las Pegasus would’ve been a big old target.”

“It was.” I replied, looking at the devastation surrounding the walled off Stirrup where the bombs actually had some effect. “But that tower had magical energy weapons built into it that shot down most of the warheads as they came flying in from the Empire. Saved most of the area from getting fucked up like the rest of Equestria. And that, fillies and gentlecolts, is why New Pegasus is perhaps the wealthiest location on the Continent.”

“Wow...never knew that!” Chocolate said with a nod of approval that rubbed against the collar of my duster. “I always thought they just rebuilt the place because...well, casinos! Who doesn’t like to gamble and drink and get laid while they lose all their money on a single game of Roulette?”

“I don’t.” I said flatly. “I don’t drink, gamble or pay for some whore to eat me out.”

“Well no wonder you’re such a prude!” She giggled, rubbing her muzzle against my right ear making an irritating scratching sound as her fur rubbed against the microphone. “You need to get laid little lady! Clear your head and relax a bit eh? I know I need it and it’s only been a day since I last had some. How about you eh? When’s the last time you got down and dirty with a mare? Or a stallion?”

“I’ve tried stallions before, they’re not really my thing.” I said with a sigh. “Every now and again I'll find myself in the mood for some dick but I just...I like my birds alright? You find a nice Griff who's good with his talons and...woo, what a time heh. But um...yeah, no. Not really one for stallions.”

“Oh? Well then what about a mare eh? How long since your last mare?” She asked again with a loud gleeful giggle.

I sighed and relented if not to just get her off my back about it. I'd already said plenty about my habits.

“A decade? I don’t remember to be honest.” I said quietly.

“Oh? Girl like you with your looks? I’d expect you to be drowning in the pussy!”

“You’d think that yeah, and I guess if I actually tried that’d be the case but it’s not.” I said with a bit more bitterness than I intended.

“What made ya stop? You talk a lot about mares but haven’t been with one in ten years? Somethin’s fishy. Heh, hope that’s not why. I’ve met a few Trout Snatches in my time...goddesses they taste awful but for some reason they seem to squeal the loudest which kinda makes up for it.”

I blushed hard and shook my head furiously saying, “No! No, no...Huckleberry always said I taste like a Spark Battery mixed with a hint of something fruity but no...the real reason why is I just...lost interest in it kind of. Like...not like I lost any interest in mares or in sex but just...after Hucks died I just never felt complete while doing it. It lost its true deep and sacred meaning to me.”

“Huckleberry…? Who’s that? Former lover?” She asked with surprising tenderness rather than the joking flirtatiousness I had come to expect from her.

“Mhm…” I hummed sadly, grateful once more for the helmet for hiding my face from showing the pain in my eyes. “She was my first and only true marefriend during the War. She served by my side in the Rangers...we intended to secretly marry and move into a tiny house in Trottingham once the War was over but…”

“The Zebras fucked us all in the ass with a cactus?” She asked with a small giggle as we passed one of the many towering cacti that littered the San-Palomino Desert.

“Y-yeah...more or less.” I responded with a small smile. I was never one to not laugh at a dirty joke or innuendo, even if in contextually poor taste.

“Heh...I’m sorry...I really am. I...I know how it feels to lose somepony that close to you too.” She said softly, her voice slightly remorseful.

“It’s alright.” I replied as we began our trek down a sandy slope leading towards the Little Hoof suburbs, my boots simply choosing to glide down the sand making travel faster and easier save for balance. “You didn’t know because I didn’t choose to tell you earlier.”

“True dat…” She hummed back, her forelegs clamping tightly around my neck as we slid. “God, you do this every time you come back home?”

“Eh, not usually!” I giggled as we reached the bottom, my momentum forcing me to hit the cracked dry desert ground at a gallop in order to slow down. “I don’t usually come this way. I usually come in from the south on E-15 rather than the E-90.”

“E-15 from the South? How?” She asked as I finally came to a stop to wait for Melody and Gold who were carefully stepping down the slope towards us. “Last I heard the fuckboys talking about it, bunch of Hellhounds and Cockatri were supposed to be in that area. Hell, not to mention there’s that fucking huge ass crater right in the fucking road.”

“Common, I’m an ultimate badass remember? Besides, a little radiation never hurt nopony.” I replied with a giggle.

“Maybe for your pretty ass but not mine.” She replied, tapping my duster and armor with her hoof. “What, this thing super insulated against Rads or something?”

“Well, it is insulated against Rads naturally, whole underbarding alone is a proprietary tri-weave of Kevyarn, lead-tungsten nanowire and microfilament crystal strands. Hard pieces cover over 90% of the rest of my body and are a mix of Celestium Steel and lead-tungsten giving a significant level of defense.”

“So...nerdgasm aside, you just waltz right on through like nothing? Right…” She mumbled. “I can see how you’d get past those fuckers living in the Crater, but not the Rads. What’s your secret? Rad-X underwear?”

I chuckled at the idea as it too wasn’t a bad one but I finally relented my secret. There really was little harm in telling her of all ponies as she had the least amount of reasons to want to fuck me over. Or...so I hoped. You could never be too trusting in the Wastes...

“I’m immune to it.” I said simply. “No fuss, no muss.”

“Bullshit!” She laughed, causing Gold and Melody to look back at us as we began walking again towards Little Hoof.

“Nope.” I said flatly, unwilling to banter words about to try and get my point across. “I’m totally fucking immune, even ask Gold. That’s how I met him was actually, we met while I was making my way through the Crater. We stayed there for a few hours the two of us and I did just fucking fine. Didn’t need any RadAway or Rad-X, haven't ever since I mutated.”

“Well damn!” She exclaimed in approval, her hooves tracing my chest in little circles. “So you could fuck a Glowing One and be fine? Dammmnn! Lucky!”

Instead of thinking about the tactical advantages of being immortal and immunity to further mutations by Rads like any soldier (or hell a normal person) would, the first thing she thinks about is fucking a radioactive Ghoul. I had to give it to her though. I usually analyzed strangers and situations from a tactical perspective and how I could use the terrain or their own weapons against them. If I had to include how hot they were, it would be one of the last items on the list if not the last. But her? Sex and attractiveness was at the forefront of every thought with this mare. In some ways...I wished I had that level of dirtiness in my mind. Then again...I did at one point have that same kind of mindset but that was before my old life ended in Balefire and radiation. Now, I was a killer first, a tactician second, a craftsmare third, a merchant fourth and a horny little fucker fifth. It was a list that kept me alive and happy for the most part. Still...I could use a little more dirt in my already shit filled head. A little extra kinkiness never hurt nopony and M.O.M couldn't say no anymore.

The final stretch to Little Hoof passed quicker than I expected and Melody possessed surprising stamina for being such a scrawny little thing only just beginning a full recovery. I was expecting to have to carry her as well as Chocolate the last few miles or so but she refused to give up. We had to stop periodically to let her and Gold take a breather (and steal a swig from my canteen refilled with lemonade) but overall, we covered a lot more ground than I was expecting us to. When the charred and lifeless husks of bombed out buildings began to envelop us is when we finally got to see the first signs of civilization since leaving New Appleloosa two days prior. It was ‘civilization’ at a stretch though.

Huddling in the buildings that still had roofs or at least partial roofs were the poor citizens of Freeside, the impromptu ‘city’ of the poor of the Wasteland that sprung up around the Stirrup trying to leech the comparatively insane wealth of the casinos into their desperate hooves. Freeside itself wasn’t all that bad. I would not have stuck around for so long if I had felt otherwise like I had with Manehatten all those years ago. It treated me well and I gave back to it in my own way. In all honesty however, for those not so lucky as to be me, the key to living in the area was three-fold.

One: be nice to everyone, especially the elderly because they held sway with many others, most out of direct sight. Being courteous does you a lot more service than being a cunt ever would with these people. Number two was to dress and act as tough as a Dragon at all times when walking down the streets, especially in the alleys. Even though you have a good relationship with people, there are always assholes who are looking to mug you for a quick cap. And finally, the third key to living in Freeside was to know the fine line between being a friendly, generous neighbor and being a rock solid defender of your own turf. Like with key two, there were always the assholes out there who would love to take advantage of you if you’re known as a helpful, somewhat wealthy person. You had to be ready and able to tear their shit up if they started grabbing for yours.

I was one of the very few who called the part of Freeside I lived in by its Pre-War name of Little Hoof but I was well known there regardless. To the ponies, Griffins and other assorted species of The Pile (named after the marketplace that stood within a massive pile of rubble), I was known as Crete by the adults and ‘The Ranger’ by the kids. I normally didn’t converse too much with my neighbors, mostly because I was usually away on business but I did my best to maintain good relations with all of them so I could live in relative peace. I would handle the bigger jobs like fighting off Raiders who liked to pop into the area and they would keep an eye out for unsavory characters approaching my house. It was a simple but effective arrangement and it won me a decent bit of local support. I was a known killer of course, but I was a welcomed one for my willingness to keep my business out of town and point my barrels at invaders.

“Yo Crete!” Called out one of my neighbors, a stallion who went by the name of Mr. Holes. A name that went well with his services that were digging holes of any shape and size for any occasion long as the 'aluminum was good' as he referred to caps. “Glad to have you back! Who’re the friends?”

I approached him and nodded to the companions I had grown rather fond of over our last week of experiences together. I was proud of the company I was keeping.

“Some ex-slaves I rescued from Old Appleloosa. I uh...just couldn't do nothing when I saw the place for myself.” I responded, looking towards Gold and Melody who waved at him welcomingly.

“Shit, so you’re the one who fucked the OA up? Damn girl! I mean, it makes sense but damn!” He exclaimed in response, whistling in approval and looking towards his enchanted shovel that he used for work. “I’d be drowning in business if I were there to see it! Been awhile since I got paid to dig somethin' like a mass grave.”

It had only been four days since it had happened but I was almost shocked he knew about it already. The train from New to Old Appleloosa took eight hours alone and we had left town before it had returned so I was very confused as to how word had spread so quickly. If he knew already then who the fuck else knew? I hoped to hell Green hadn’t yet...I just wanted to move out silently and slip away to somewhere else before he came down on my head looking for his 85k in caps.

“H-how did you find out about it…?” I asked, the fear obvious enough in my voice to give him pause as well.

“Buncha traders were passing through the markets talking about how Old Appleloosa was a bloodbath when they made a stop there to trade. Said forty something ponies looked like they had been attacked by a Dragon by the way they were all torn up and shit. Why?” He asked, looking at me warily. “You got assholes on your tail we should know about Crete? We ain't gotta worry about the NER coming after ya for 'back taxes' do we?”

“No, you know I’m not stupid enough to fuck around like that but…” I sighed. I had to tell him the truth. Maybe it would buy me some extra time if I could cash in some favors with my neighbors and get them to keep an eye out for Green or his minions so I’d have some extra warning time to prepare.

“I fucked Green Peace over a bit.” I admitted in a hushed tone that only he and unfortunately Chocolate too could hear. “He wanted me to go to OA to pick up some stolen drugs and caps and I ended up slaughtering the town and freeing the slaves. Don't you dare bother asking me why because I couldn't give you a short answer even if I fucking tried. I gave them all of Green’s caps to help get them on their hooves and escape and once Green finds out you, know he’s going to come down on me like a goddamn hammer. Whole Syndicate network is going to light up across the Westcoast with my name in flashing letters next to that fucking Garand fucker I saw on the Board before I left. Big big money will be on the line then and for everyone's safety I have to bounce.”

He blinked a few times with a dumbfounded expression as he tried to digest my revelation. Everypony in Freeside knew about Green Peace. He was just as big a name on the Westcoast as Mr. House or New Pegasus and controlled most of the gangs in the area working everything from the back alley hustle to arranging the import of Chems to the Stirrup at a hefty mark-up. All gangs that was save for the Queens, who remained independent thanks to their numbers and their charismatic leader who naturally went by the name of The Queen. To have Green Peace on your ass was almost a guaranteed death sentence as his influence, caps and power seemed to have few limits. Thankfully for me though...I knew almost every single Hitmare he’d hire to kill me and knew their tactics over years of observation. If I were to be hunted, I was going to be one hell of an elusive target and in the event I was caught, I’d fight back with everything I had. With such large weapons though, I had more bite than my bark if anything else.

“Well shit…” He finally sighed, looking at the other ponies meandering down the broken streets hiding in the shade of buildings from the heat of the sun. “He’s probably heard about the hit on OA by now. I mean, if I know then he does for sure. As for your little fandango with the caps...you might have a few days. I’ll let the others know. Don’t worry Crete, we’ll have your back. We owe you for that shitshow with Cook Cook last month anyway. After this, we can call us all even and you can slip off and to...well, wherever the hell it is you plan on going from here.”

I smiled and thanked him sincerely for his willingness to help making sure he knew I only wanted him and the others to act only as scouts and not as bodyguards. The last thing I needed was for anypony to die for me when they didn’t even have anything to do with my fuck ups.

"Oh trust me..." He sighed, checking the beeping radio on his hip. "We aren't interested in dying over your shit with Green, Crete. Now excuse me, I gotta take this work call so I can feed my family for the week."

From there, we made our way off the main street and into the labyrinth of buildings in varying states of fucked. I had chosen my home with some care making sure it was tricky to pinpoint exactly being in the midst of an unmapped sprawl of lean-tos and sheet metal shacks intermixed with Pre-War buildings. Eventually though, we made it to my home nestled on the ground floor of an old apartment building, the door recessed and behind a shabby looking screen door that helped to disguise its real scope. Embedded in an old mailbox to the left of the doorway was an old retinal scanner that Cogs and I had stripped from an R&D building associated with StableTec. One quick peek into the scanner and the titanium alloy door retracted its eight bolts from the reinforced concrete frame, swinging outwards to grant us entry. Gold stared in wonder at the thickness of the door while the rest of us crammed ourselves into the small interior of my one bedroom apartment. The space was already crammed full of weapons, some clothing and armor, my reloading/maintenance bench and of course my small padded cot in the corner. With a kitchenette, working fridge and a decent hot plate, it had been my home for over five decades now...it was odd that I hadn't noticed just how damn small the place was.

“You live here?” Melody gasped softly, staring around with wide eyes as if she were looking at one of the luxury rooms at Tenpony Tower.

“Yep!” I chuckled, setting Chocolate down on my cot and poking through my possessions taking a quick mental inventory of everything I owned. “Lived here for a good fifty years now, though the door and the scanner were only installed about six years ago after I got robbed.”

“O-oh? W-who would r-rob you?” Gold asked as he poked his head out of the bathroom since that was the only area he could fit in comfortably.

“Loads of ponies to be honest.” I sighed as I started loading up a large duffle bag with boxes of ammunition I had reloaded myself. “I’ve got well over six-hundred thousand caps worth of pristine Pre-War weapons and ammo in here. Even if you didn’t sell them, they’d still be better weapons than anything you’d find in the Wastes save for the stuff the Gun Runners are churning out. Those guns are actually reallllllly high quality to be honest but I like thinking mine are better. They'd kill to just study my AMR let alone get their hooves on the schematics.”

Melody giggled softly and began poking through the second of the two bookshelves I had managed to cram into my room. I didn’t mind too much since the only thing there were some Pre-War books, magazines and all the weapons manuals I had found in decent condition during my travels. All my breakable mementos were on the windowsill overlooking my bed so I didn’t mind if she poked around my books. While she busied herself on that, I gathered up my bullet molds that I used to craft my own rounds and took stock. The only molds I had in my possession were for 10mm, .45-70, .45, .223 and .308 rounds and just a single mold for the 25mm. Based off the jagged side with exposed metal grains, I assumed it used to be part of a larger mold, more than likely one meant for 5-10 rounds at a time. It was...tedious to say the least to be only able to work on one round at a time. But, it meant I could be very exact in my powder charge and take extra time with the casting process for more complicated rounds like the Dragons Spit or APEI. In short, all my 25mm ammo was match-grade and performed with almost exactly the same level of efficacy and velocity. An absolute necessity when the target breaks the 3-600 yard easy zone and you still gotta get a shot on them without startling them with a miss.

The secret to crafting normal bullets was simple. The Gun Runners and a few well-off weapon suppliers carried small, portable crucibles for melting down scrap lead for casting. Just a Spark Battery was all you needed from there to power the little arcane flame inside and from there all you had to do was toss your lead into the melting pot. Wait about five-to-ten minutes for the lead to turn into metal soup and then use the attached trough to pour it into your molds which too could be attached at the end by either hooks or magnetics. Wait another half hour for the lead to set and boom, you’ve got fresh new bullets. Full Metal Jacket bullets require just an extra step to make and that’s just buying the hollow copper jackets and pouring the lead directly into them. FMJs (full metal jacketed rounds) were only marginally harder to produce since the Runners also sold pre-cast copper jackets for a variety of calibers by the hundreds.

Thankfully most molds came with steel inserts that held the jackets in place making it significantly easier to just pour and go. Now, my specialty rounds like the high explosive, incendiary and armor piercing? Those were a bit trickier but vastly more rewarding to create, the secrets of which I learned from a few sources. Looting old schematics from an Ironshod factory was the way of the future while the past saw some illegal training I obtained from Ironshod workers themselves during the War. How I came across the latter...let’s just say back then I was a bit more willing to give myself to stallions in exchange for information and training. Huckleberry was naturally annoyed when I told her but forgave me quickly after I started supplying her with Armor Piercing Incendiary rounds for her .338 Luna Magnus. Rounds like that were uncommon and unless you begged for a requisition form, best anypony had who wasn't a Steel Ranger, Shadowbolt or used something chambered in .50 or above was at best FMJs.

The penetrators for my AP rounds came from small tungsten carbide darts I obtained from Cogsworth who broke down old Sky Chariots that were beyond repair. Aside from the steel walls and occasional aluminum parts, these things were primarily composed of tungsten carbide in their main chassis as most attacks on them came from below. The high-explosive compound was a mixture of finely ground gun powder, alcohol and a minute quantity of a Spark Pack’s inner crystals. As the crystals are super-charged and are left in a near critical state, suspension in the alcohol/dynamite putty keeps them from achieving critical mass until impact with a target. The resulting explosion is larger than any clandestine explosive charge that could be stuffed into the 25mm projectile. The incendiary compound was either made from a hydrogen based accelerant commonly found in Incinerator fuel packs (which is less effective given the small quantity) or from Dragon’s Spit. A putty made of Dragon saliva (incredibly flammable if exposed to the right temperature of flame) and a small glob of C-4. The problem with Dragon’s Spit though was not in efficacy as it burned better than the napalm used in the military. No the problem was availability of supplies. Unless you wanted to find a Dragon willing to spit into a giant jar for you, the only place to get that kind of substance was the Dark Market.

The Dark Market...Goddesses I loved that place just as much as I despised it. A long-standing proprietor of all things sinister and evil, they existed and thrived even before the War dealing out all manner of exotic drugs, spells, technologies and most prominently everything and anything from the Zebra Empire. Potions, talismans, relics from the forbidden realms of Voodoo, Necromancy and other Black Magics...it could all be found there. Nowadays, given that nothing was exactly ‘off limits’ in the Wastes the Dark Market dealt mostly in moral ambiguity. By that I mean that they bought and sold items that were incredibly difficult to produce and required questionable morals to obtain. Black Magics and the like were still naturally for sale but alongside it also came ingredients for making these vile concoctions yourself. It was the only place you could buy different kinds of blood by the gallon and get other such weird Voodoo ingredients plus the books or scrolls needed to tell you how to prepare them. I only went for Dragon’s Spit (which was gathered from Feral Dragons they kept caged in the Market) but I always pondered over getting one of those potion books if not just for something interesting to read. I had just never seemed to have found the time sadly.

“W-what is this?!” I heard Melody gasp rousing me from my internal musings.

“What?” I asked quickly, clawing through my memory for anything on those shelves that could potentially make me look bad or just awkward to her. Like my vibrator…

She floated a piece of yellowing paper gently over to me and I was genuinely surprised to see that it was a page of sheet music, something I had never paused to collect in my life far as I knew. It was a bit faded but still in relatively good condition and my mind tried to stumble through the black notes filling the bars with what little of my formal musical training that was left in my memory. It certainly wasn’t music for a bass guitar, that much I knew since I was certain I’d recognize the beats of my old instrument anywhere on paper. I couldn’t find any indication as to what instrument it went to since the only markings that weren't musical notes was a bit in the top right corner saying, ‘Page 6 of 20’. It was a long song whatever it was but aside from that, I had no clue.

“It’s sheet music.” I said simply, looking back at her with slight confusion. “I couldn’t tell you for what instrument but it’s definitely not the bass guitar. That much I can tell you.”

“You play the bass?” She asked softly, looking up at me with muted awe and more than a little surprise.

“I did growing up through middle and high school in band class.” I responded, smiling at happy memories of playing alongside my bandmates at school rallies and being the only school that allowed the measly old bass a chance to do a solo just like everypony else got to do.

“Wowie…” She hummed to herself before taking the page back and humming after a few moments of staring at the paper.

“For somepony who didn’t know what sheet music was, you certainly have a knack for picking up on notes.” I said with a soft chuckle as she continued to hum at a slow pace along with what I assumed to be the music on the page, her voice soft and nigh on angelic.

“T-this sounds like it belongs on a cello…” Melody mumbled after she finished the page before looking up at me and saying, “I've only ever heard of the instrument but...there's something inside me just screaming this is for a cello. C-can I…?”

“Can you what?” I asked, dumping my extra lead and empty casings into another bag. “Can you keep it? Sure, I don’t see why not. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to have any use for it since I definitely can’t play the cello. Hell, I doubt I could even play a single chord on the bass anymore. It’s been what...two hundred and...ten years since I last played? Something around that number or something...I dunno.”

Her eyes welled up with tears and she rushed forward to hug me, squeezing with all her wee little strength and sobbing out her gratitude for such a wonderful gift. Whatever stalwart resolve I had crumbled at her touch and I enveloped her in my embrace being careful not to crush her against my armor. It was a small thing to me to give away (I didn’t even know I had it) but it meant everything to her which meant I had to find the other nineteen pages of whatever the fuck song it was. It was probably a folly to try and find them but fuck it. Not like I had any plans anymore, not after burning the only bridge I had been standing on for five decades now.

“You’re welcome, Melody.” I said softly before pulling away enough to look her in the eyes. “And I promise you we’ll find the rest of those pages no matter the cost.”

She gasped like she had been struck in the gut and whispered, “R-really…?”

“I promise.” I said firmly with a smile. “Even if it takes ten years or even fifty we’ll find all of them.”

She looked down as I stood up and whispered, “I don’t want to wait till I’m an old mare...but if that’s what it takes then okay. I can...I can wait that long.”

I chuckled softly at her determination and finished packing up the rest of my gear before pushing Gold out of the bathroom and kneeling in front of the toilet.

“If you’re gonna randomly puke, at least give us time to turn our heads, sweet fucking Celestia…” Chocolate grumbled as she looked away and covered her ears.

“I’m not throwing up, I’m just looking for the little switch that opens up the secret compartment that holds my extra caps…” I sighed as I reached behind the mostly white toilet bowl and pushed a small lever hidden behind the S-bend.

The back wall opened and the toilet slid into the depression exposing a hole with a ladder leading down ten feet to a very small cave that housed my safe with all my money. As I began to climb down, Gold said, “Y-you hid y-your money under a f-fucking toilet?!”

“Hey, the last place ponies would look for money is under the Shit-Express here, alright? Ithought it made sense at least.” I mumbled back as I slid down the ladder and crawled through the low, rocky entranceway to my safe, a large relic from none other than StableTec who were supposedly the be-all experts on keeping things secure.

“Who even made this hole?” Melody called down as I fiddled with the locks and opened the safe showing bag after bag of caps I had acquired over years of killing countless people.

“That guy I talked to when we first came into town actually!” I called back. “He digs all kinds of holes and he was more than happy to help me make this one here including the cave!”

“Huh...wowie.” She replied as I climbed out of the hole and shut it for the last time.

“Yep. Cogsworth helped set up the trap door and it’s worked for me ever since. Actually, this was one of the first things Mr. Holes dug after getting his cutie mark. His most recent work is much more smooth and refined compared to this but I decided against having it re-dug since I like the rough look of it.” I said as I squeezed my way out of the bathroom and back into my bedroom that was sadly looking quite bare with its empty weapon racks and the walls devoid of their usual trophies. It was almost unbelievable that I was finally leaving this place behind...

Now that I had my cash secured there wasn’t much left to pack up. I quickly realized I had more bags of stuff than I had ponies or room to carry them with and we would look incredibly conspicuous to any of Green’s little spies if I walked out with all of them floating alongside me at once. The only options were to either make several trips during the day or make a quick get away during the night with everything at once. The only problem with the latter one was the fact that Green could come crashing down on us at any moment and every minute delayed getting out was another minute closer to his inevitable retribution. As far as stashing my stuff away (pending getting a new place) was concerned, I would have to entrust it to someone I knew wouldn’t go off and keep it or worse yet, sell it. My neighbors may be supportive of me...but that didn’t mean they were all trustworthy. Honestly...the only person who seemed like the best option was once again Cogsworth. Unlike other ponies, he had yet to fail me and as far as I knew had not once lied to me about anything be it his products’ condition or his opinions on shit in stock in his warehouse.

“You’ve got a lotta shit hun.” Chocolate said, speaking the painfully heavy obvious. “How ya gonna haul it all?”

“We’ll all carry as much as we can in our first trip and pretend it's our goods going to the market. We’ll drop it off with Cogsworth since we’re going to him anyway and then I’ll come back and pick it up after I’ve found a new place to live, preferably someplace bigger than this so I can room guests better.” I replied, slinging her onto my back once more and then strapping a pair of duffle bags to my sides which further hampered my movement but, seeing as we were relatively safe in Freeside, I wasn’t too concerned by it.

“Oh? What kind of guests are you planning on having?” Melody asked as she smartly took the lightest bag that had what few clothes I owned inside and suspended it in her red violet magic beside her.

“Well…” I said shyly, looking at her and Gold with a small hesitant smile. “You both are welcome to stay with me. If you’d like that is, heh. I mean...if you want to take off and go your separate ways, that’s cool too. I just...I realized I really missed having ponies to talk to living nearby. It’s...um...it's comforting to not be alone for once.”

They looked at each other for a few moments before nodding and grinning at me, Melody saying, “We’d love to! Besides, where else am I gonna find a kick ass bodyguard like you eh?”

Kick ass bodyguard eh? Well...it wasn’t ‘mom’ but I suppose it could work. I just hoped she would come to see me as more than just a kick ass mare and maybe accept me as her new mom since I had already unofficially and internally adopted her as my daughter. Maybe it was just another pipe dream hoping for something like that... But hey! She wanted to stay with me so that’s a win right? Had to start somewhere and attaining badass status by her standards wasn’t too shabby at all in my book. Not the easiest hoof I had ever been dealt but one I could definitely make the most of if I were careful.

Next Chapter: Chapter Sixteen: Operation: Onyx Estimated time remaining: 25 Hours, 17 Minutes