The town's central office was in need of dusting, just as most of the buildings in town, though was the way it normally was like because everypony was too busy to clean up, such as a board looking secretary that was more interested in painting her hooves than doing any real work.

That secretary has an overly styled mane cut that looked like a beehive, and she also wore obnoxiously red horned glasses with a decorated strap that dangled around the back of her head.

"Hello Karat Gold. Is the Mayor free?" I asked with a smile, hoping she was not going to be a bitch today.

Karat slowly put her hoof polish down, then adjusted her glasses before looking over at me. "Oh, I'm sorry Star, the mayor didn't request for a private meeting today. If he needs help with stress relief, I'm sure he will send a message to your boss."

I took a deep breath to stay calm. It was only a few words, but after years of her bullshit, I really wanted to give her a black eye. It didn't help that she knew she could be a cunt to me, and I couldn't put her in her place.

"I'm sure he would, but that's not what I'm here for." I pointed my hoof back at Slowtrot and Harp. "I'm sure the mayor knows by now that the two stable ponies are awake by now. They're here to see if he can help them get settled in as they don't have anywhere to go yet."

She looked at the two, scrunching her nose a little at Harp, but smiling a bit at Slowtrot. I didn't get Karat's taste in stallions, but then again she had bad tastes in everything. If her husband wasn't such a spinless wuss, I'd feel bad for him.

"Alright, Hon. He should be wrapping up his meeting with Deputies Stop Clock and Willow about now." She then turned on the intercom on her desk. "Mayor Espresso, the two stable ponies from the free clinic are here to see you."

The intercom crackled before the voice if the stallion Espresso spoke through. "Ah good. Deputy Willow told me they’re up. Send them in, they can join us for some coffee."

Karat then pointed at the door behind her. It opened up after she pressed a button. "You can go on now."

My two companions trotted over to the door while I followed, only for Karat to clear her throat at me. "They can. Not you."

I rolled my eyes at her and pointed at the door myself. As a result, Bridget galloped in after the two.

"Oh no! My daughter just galloped in without permission! I guess I’ll just collect her then be on my way."

Not waiting for a response, I trotted off, but this time to find myself blocked by the tall, thin, and gray stallion called Stopped Clock. He looked down at me with his one good eye, the other having been clawed out by a griffin long ago.

"Not staying, Deputy Clock?" I asked.

He looked down at me and scowled. "Got to get back to my patrols. Make sure no raiders are up to anything outside of town. Speaking of which, Star, you've better been keeping your nose clean."

"Far cleaner than False Cap's uniform," I told him.

He nodded and trotted forward. I stepped aside to let him through. "Good, It's bad enough with whom you're already associated with. Give us a good enough reason, and we'll send you to the gallows for the good of the town."

"Oh come on deputy, I accidently set the town on fire once, and you give me the third degree for life!" I huffed back at him. "I get y’all are doing what's good for the town, but have you ever heard about too much of a good thing?"

"Ponies not being as vigilant as us is what led to the rise of the slaver lord Redeye and the suffering of so many for so long." He presented his revolver from under his duster. "So I'll repeat myself, keep your nose clean, or face cold hard justice."

"And may the goddesses be with you too," I said back at him as he trotted off.

I didn't doubt the validity of his threat. I was used to being around overly zealous ponies, and I didn't plan on breaking any of their laws. Not intentionally, at least.

"You are quite a well spoken young mare, Miss Harp," spoke Mayor Espresso, who was a brown and balding earth pony stallion who tried, and failed, to come over his bald spot with his cream white mane. Not far from him was Deputy Willow, looking as friendly as ever.

Harp sipped her coffee, holding the cup with her hooves, and not using her pipbuck spell to hold it like she did with her rifle.

"Well my family worked as administrators back home, so there were expectations for my siblings and I to be held to a higher standard." Harp took another sip, then smiled. "I got to say, this town is quite impressive. It must have been hard work to get it to this point."

Espresso chuckled, clearly flattered. "I won't deny that I've put in a lot of effort turning this town from some backwater stop, into a place ponies look forward to visiting. Getting the Lightbringer Festival to be held here took a lot of string pulling. It should help put us more on the map."

He then nodded over at Willow. "It's also thanks to Ashy Oaks and her deputies. Without them to keep everypony safe, there's no way we would have been able to open the quarries. Without the quarries, the town would never have a stable enough income to improve."

Willow scratched the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "Well Ashy figured that we needed a proper base. Can't just wander the wastes hunting slavers forever. Upholding justice in the area just came naturally to us, so we decided to change our goal. That's all."

I trotted over to Bridget who was looking at one of the mayor's books, trying her best to read well above her ability.

"Excuse me,” I interjected. “I’m just here to pick up my daughter."

The mayor just waved me off. "Yes, yes,” he agreed dismissively, then looked at Harp as he said to her “Now miss Harp, I could use an extra assistant. A bright young mare like yourself would be perfect for that role. It should also help you safely get used to life out here. With all those horror stories about stable ponies wandering the wastes, let's not have another one start here."

Harp pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I think that might work out well for me, yes. I accept."

"And me?" Slowtrot raised a hoof.

Espresso paused for a moment, as though he forgot he was even there. "Well can you read, write, or do math?"

Slowtrot raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Can't everypony?"

The mayor chuckled for a moment. "You'd be surprised how many ponies can't do any of that. I can introduce you to a few of our more valued residents. They've been asking for a pony who can help them with the more day to day tasks."

Picking Bridget up, she whined a little, but knew not to bother the mayor.

"Hey you two, if there's any problems you need help with, just ask for me at the free clinic, so don't be a stranger now." I waved at them as I trotted out, the two waving back.

Bridget waited until we were out of the building before speaking, mainly because she didn't like Karat almost as much as I did. "Are they going to be okay, Mamma?"

I ruffled her mane as I answered, "Of course, darling. They’re grown up ponies. They just needed a bit of help. That's all."

Making our way down the market street, I eyed the merchant stalls for any food because I needed to pick up something for dinner tonight. Luckily there seemed to be a lot of corn on the market, and several less than happy mercents sitting around with far lower than average prices. This was really lucky for me since money was still tight even with extra business going on. Being able to stalk up on food was a wait off my back.

Trotting up to one merchant, I put on my best friendly face. "I'll take two, no three dozen ears of corn." Tossing the merchant the caps, they gave me three bundles of corn. "So what's with all the corn?"

The merchant sighed. "A bitch of a farmer had a huge harvest this year, but told no pony. I bought my bundle thinking I could mark up the price, and as you can see, we all had the same damn idea. Bet the bitch laughed her way home.”

I shrugged and turned to head back to the free clinic.

I never ceased to find it funny how New Appleloosa tore down several ruins just to build this part of town, but lacked the coordination to keep all the wood the same when building, making a confused mosaic of brown on the walls and floor.

Still, this place was miles better than most places out in the wastes. Even the decaying beds, at least they only had a few loose springs. It was also sheer luck on my part that I found a mostly intact tarp to cover the hole in the roof, so it will now only leak a little when the rain storms finally come back around.

Inside I saw Jali performing a checkup on a mare friend of mine.

"Hay Star," Bronze Chain greeted weekly. She was a beautiful tan unicorn mare. She was covered in scars. Her long black mane parted only by her broken horn.

"What's up? Not feeling well?" I asked as I trotted over which allowed me to see her unicorn colt, Copper Wire, fiddling with some electronic device next to the bed.

She yawned. "Just haven't been sleeping all that well. Seeing if Jali will give me something to help."

"And I told her in no way am I giving sleeping pills to an alcoholic," Jali said sternly before taking her stepiscop off Bronze's chest. "Other than mild dehydration and a need to eat more, you’re fine. Now if you manage to keep yourself sober for a week, I'll consider giving you a mild sedative."

Bronze nodded and got off the bed. "I'll try."

I trotted over and gave her a hug. "You know you can always stay over with me. I'm sure I can help you get some sleep," I said as I wiggled my eyebrows, hoping she would say yes. Mares were not really my thing, but Bronze and I had grown close over the years, and I did want her to move in with us.

Unfortunately, there was one really big issue with Bronze.

"I'd like that, but you know how Prism feels about me," she said just as my mother trotted in. Bronze looked away.

Prism just sighed. "I said I was sorry Bronze, but I did explicitly tell you to not bring alcohol into our home."

It was an agreement mom and I had made to keep booze and chems as far away from Bridget as possible. It was something Bronze was unable to do so far.

I chuckled as I remembered Prism shaking a scared and upside down Bronze. I then got a dirty look from the two of them.

"Sorry, sorry," I said as I backed away. "Anyways, Mom, can you look after Bridget for me? I’m going to take some of this corn to the gunrunners. Knowing them, they completely forgot to eat anything today." I then placed two bundles of the corn on a nearby bed. "Also we got corn for dinner."

Mom looked over and gave a concerned look. “Thanks, but isn't that a bit much?”

“Naw. The prices are low right now. If we had the caps for it, I’d have gotten more,” I explained. “Also left the two stable ponies with the mayor. Not sure about the stallion, but that… mirage mare… well she’s already got the mayor all greased up, so she will be fine.”

“It’s buttered up Star, not greased.” Prism said with a sigh.

I just shrugged. “Buttered, greased. Whatever. She’s still got the mayor all loose around her. I just hope they get normal work. I’d rather not see them take the late grave digger’s place.”

"Speaking of him, what happened to that creep?” Bronze asked.

“Dead, from what the deputies said. He got attacked by radroaches and fell into a grave he was digging outside the town's proper graveyard. They then jumped in and ate him alive,” I further explained.

A slight smile formed on Bronze face. “Good! He deserved it for how much he made our Cloudy worry."

“Can you not talk about such things with the foals around,” Mom said sternly. “Anyways, don’t you feel sorry for that stallion? He clearly had a rough life. More so than most.”

Bronze looked away, and I shrugged.

“Ya, at first, but there's a limit to everything, even to how much you can pity a pony. At some point enough is enough, and he long passed it.” I then looked around the bed to see Bridget watching Copper Wire take apart one of Jali’s burnt out tools. “Hey Honey, I gotta go. You stay here and be a good filly for grandma, okay?”

“But I want to see grandpa Hardballer too,” she whined.

I smiled. “You know how busy he normally is, but maybe you can join me tomorrow. Right now I’m just going to make sure he's been eating.”

“Alright Mama, but say high to Aunty Javelina. She gets lonely if you don’t,” Bridget encouraged.

Nodding, I ruffled her mane again. “Now play nice with Copper. I’ll be back when I’m done.” She looked up at me and smiled like a good girl.

Turning and trotting to the door, I had to dodged two foals running in. They were a tan pegasus colt named Roger Roger, and dark gray with light gray spot earth pony filly named Light Step. The filly ran past me to join Bridget, while the colt stopped to look at me first.

“Hey Star,” Roger Roger greeted. “Can we use the big radio the followers have in back?”

I looked up at Prism who shook her head.

“Sorry Roger,” I say back to Roger. “Mom says no.”

“Oh, okay.” He said with a frown before trotting off to the other foals to see what Copper was doing.

“Thought ya'd be here. Star.” Rusty Cleave spoke up as she trotted in. “The boss wanted me to tell you that there's a little extra job he would like you to do.”

She was a light green mare with bright red main, and had a thing for spikes, making her look too much like a raider, mostly because the mare was too dumb to not flant her raider heritage. Despite all her raiderish glory, she was a dancer through and through, with a stripper pole as a cutie-mark, and had surprisingly raised her daughter Light Step to be an adorable filly. She was also another close friend of mine.

“Well it better pay well if it’s off the clock,” I grumbled.

She shrugged. “Waterspout didn’t say nothing about pay ta me, but I doubt Head try and cheat ya. Also, thanks for looking out for Light last night. Didn’t think I’d get extra clients.”

“No problem Rusty.” I said as I rolled my eyes. “But did ya think to not work in the brothel? You tend to take on the more aggressive types, and I worry sometimes.”

“It’s good pay, Star, and how else am I going to get my little Light what she wants?” She explained without shame.

I decided to not argue. The mare was clearly set in her ways, and somehow was at least doing right by her daughter.

“Well,” I said, “Just don’t do it too often, Light Step is a sensitive little filly and hates it when her mom doesn't come home.”

Rusty sighed and nodded, so I then trotted out into the crowd.

Making my way to the train station, the crowds diminished as I crossed the tracks. I entered the less clean part of New Appaloosa.

It was not all that bad, yet, as I first had to pass through the secondary market where ponies hocked random junk and other things of mild value. There were also plenty of beggars, some with foals, hoping for a free cap or two, but doing nothing to change their situations. There were also the chem addicts keeping to the shadows as they waited for their supplier to give them their next fix. All of them were kept to this side of the tracks by the sheriff, effectively keeping the town “Clean” in the eyes of any visitors passing through. The mayor put in more of the town's funding to further keep these ponies out of sight using billboards and cheap apartments that obstructed the view of this side of town from the train.

“Hey Miss, want some Dash?” A sleazy stallion asked me. I quickly backed away as I gave him a glare.

“A cap, please Just one so I can feed my foal!” A mare cried out to me, the half dead foal I’d seen before in the hooves of two other mares. I’d do something about it, but there would just be more mares with more starved foals next week. If I didn't ignore it, then I'd likely go mad.

Passing that mess, I trotted through what quickly became the shanty part of town where ponies just built whatever homes they could haphazardly throw together. Their waste was thrown out in front into open trash piles. Here was where the quarry workers lived, though they spent more time breaking rocks than they did living here but, without them, this town would have stayed a small blip on the map.

There were also just a few ponies here, mainly the quarry workers, foles or spouses who were too weak to work in the quarry themselves. They minded their own business, so I minded mine.

Further past the shanty town, there was a wide empty space that separated the Gunrunners compound and the town. They had a deal with the locals. If no pony built too close to them, they didn’t have to bloody any noses.

As I trotted into the reception building, I passed a green mare in a well tailored duster. Her red mane was bundled up in a messy bun. I wouldn't have cared if it weren't for her rear legs being cybernetic. This was something quite rare but not unheard of. She did not pay me any mind as we passed.

At the desk was the oldest son of the compound's owner, a greasy red hippogriff.

“Sup Longslide,” I greeted. “Hungry for some corn, or will you be a cunt?”

He looked at me, and then at my bundle. “You know, if you weren’t the mother of my neice, I’d tell you to go and fuck off right now.” He placed two revolvers into a gun case. “And no, I had some cram this morning.”

"A cunt it is." I placed the bundle of corn onto the reception desk as I gave him a friendly smile. "So where's the old buzzard?"

Longslide pointed to a door on the side. "He's with Javelina inside the schematics room, so keep your voice down." He then turned his attention to several blue sheets of grid paper. They were covered in sketches of the vehicle he had made, but never got to work.

Trotting off, I entered the inner walls of the gunrunners facility that surrounded the factory and several smaller buildings. Along the way, I passed a griffin in a dirty jumpsuit. He ignored me as he puffed on a cigarette. The smell triggered a minor craving in me. I pushed the feeling down. The last thing I needed was Mom and Bridget smelling it and lecturing me about how bad smoking was.

In a corner of the compound was a fortified building where the gunrunners kept their gun schematics. The door was obviously locked. Knocking gently, I waited for a moment before the door clicked, then it opened a crack. The pail pink eye of Hardballer looked at me for a moment as I waved at him.

"What do you want, Star?" Hardballer said quietly as he slowly opened the door. The old and balding griffin looking at me with a sense of annoyance, a feather coming off his dusty red and pink plumage

I trotted in, being mindful to not make too much noise.

"Just saying hi, and letting you know that I dropped off some corn for all of you to eat tonight, twelve ears to be exact," I explain.

Off on the other side of the room was the scrawny young Javelina. She had a clean gray jumpsuit on and big fluffy earmuffs on her head. Javelina was quite focused on assembling a rifle. Every now and then she glanced at a schematic off to her side.

"Also Bridget wanted me to say hi,” I went on. “She didn't want Javelina to feel lonely."

Hardballer's expression softened a little. "She's a good little filly. Well, tell her that her aunt is fine. I've just been going over the basics with her all day."

"Business has been that slow?" I asked jokingly.

He shrugged. "Yes and no. We get enough orders from the Talons and the NCR to keep this place running, but because of that bitch of the sheriff, that's all the regular business we ever get. It also doesn't help that she's been blocking our ability to get new spark batteries for the workshop, so even if we do get more work, most of it is going to be done by claw."

I pointed to a tattered red flag on the wall which depicted a big eye on it. "Maybe you should not be so blatant about the dealing you had with that Redeye pony."

"Maybe Ashy should stop acting like a cunt about the past!" Hardballer grumbled.

“Anyways, the workers under my watch were well treated, and some even continued to work for us even after the NCR took over Fillydelphia." He explained, raising his voice a little.

He got an audible grunt from Javelina to tell him to quiet down.

I sighed. "Still, if you keep this up, I'm worried that Ashy will just shoot you one of these days. Bridget loves you, and I rather you stick around until she has foals of her own."

Hardballer gave a very small smile, making me worry he would crack his beak from doing something he almost never did. "Thanks, but even if I did hide all this away, it's not going to change her feelings. You can see it in her eyes. She's still stuck in the past as an angry and beaten slave, starving for retribution." He then looked back at Javelina. "Now if you would, Javelina needs to concentrate, otherwise she is going to get overstimulated."

I nodded then trotted back outside. "I'll bring Bridget around tomorrow, so make sure you eat regularly. You get even cranker if you don't eat."

He nodded in agreement then slowly closed the door.

Making my way out, I didn't bother Longslide as he tapped his grid paper with a chewed up pencil.

My next stop was not too far away. I just needed to skert along the edge of town. Before long I entered a well constructed building poked up from the edge of the slums. It was a two story high tavern. It had a tall billboard depicting a frilly dancing pegasus mare in front of a pole. Inscribed along the side in bold letters was "Ruffled Feathers". It stuck out like a clean patch of fur on a ghoul.

Out in front of the tavern was a mare in patchwork overalls who stepped away some garbage. "Hey Star. A bit early?" She asked

I shook my head. "Waterspout wants me to do something, so I'm here to get paid."

She nodded as she got out of my way. "Well just wipe your hooves before going inside. I just finished mopping and don't want to mop again."

Nodding, I entered, making sure to wipe the dust and mud off my hooves on a mat before going further inside.

The tavern was mostly empty of customers. Most of the patron's not working at this time were rarely coming to this side of town, so there was just a hoof full of wastlanders at the bar.

The cleaning crew, on the other hoof, were in full force. They were busy getting rid of any mess left the night before as they chatted among each other.

One mare, in full cleaning uniform, pretended to dance on the stripper pole in the middle of the tavern.

The owner of this establishment was behind the bar cleaning a glass, looking far fancier than he should for this side of town.

Waterspout looked over at me, motioning with his head for me to come over. Trotting over and sitting at the bar, he poured me some clear liquid into a glass and passed it to me. Sipping on it, I quickly became disappointed. "It's water!"

"And water is still not free yet, so don't complain Star." He said as he poured himself some water.

Waterspout was an older teal blue hippogriff. A real one, and not a hybrid like Longslide, Javelina, and Bridget were.

"And thanks for showing up," he said.

I gulped down the water. It was at least crisp and refreshing.

"So what's the job?" I asked. “And tell me it's something quick. I rather not miss dinner with my daughter."

He sipped on his glass of water. "No worry. I just need you to convince a pony to pay their tab. That's all."

Finishing off my glass of water, I groaned. "Seriously, Waterspout, I got the deputies watching me like a hawk since the gravedigger died, all because I'm the last one to see him alive."

Waterspout put his glass down. "I'm not telling you to beat the shit out of him, just to talk to him. Remind him that if he wants to drink here, he needs to pay up. If he pays, then you get a cut. Sounds good?"

I pushed my used glass to him. "Alright, I'll do it. I'll talk with this stallion."

He smiled and took the glass.

"So who's this stallion?" I asked.

Still smiling, Waterspout passed me a slip of paper that had directions. "You should know him, Pothole. He’s the stallion who likes our cubby mares and has a big hoof fetish."

"You mean the one who likes being stepped on?" I said cringing. "Sometimes I really hate the ponies in this town."

"Hate it or not, they pay us the caps we need to live here." He said as he trotted off to tend to a customer who just finished their drink.

I got away from the bar, making my way out of the tavern. I patted the note in the pocket of my saddlebag to make sure it was still there

Navigating to the outskirts wasn't too hard, but required more guesswork than I liked to. I found the right ally of scraped busses turned pony homes. This ally had quite a few ponies hanging around. Many of them a mix of drunk or high, but overall just not doing anything. Some of them eyed me with a hungry glare. The ones who knew better looked away and minded their own business.

"I'm looking for Pothole. Heard he's around," I called out.

Several more ponies looked away. Some chuckled. One scrawny dark gray earth pony stallion looked me in the eyes. It lasted for a moment before he stumbled up, knocking over a mostly empty bottle of booze.

"Wh...who'sh asking?" he slurred, stumbling closer.

I trotted up to him. I noticed the smell of cheap booze was thick on him and had an odd chemical smell to it.

"Alright, Pothole. You seriously need to pay your tab back at Ruffled Feathers. Waterspout is getting a bit impatient about it," I explained politely.

He raised an eyebrow at me and chuckled. "Ah yes, the tab. Tell ‘em I ain't got ta caps. He's just gonna have ta eat ya loss."

Sighing, I got a bit firmer in tone. "By impatient, I mean he told me to get you to pay, and that's cutting into my time. Time I would rather not spend here."

Pothole chuckled louder, poking me in the chest with his hoof. "And what if I say no? Ya ain't gonna do shit. Not with ta deputies still up ya ass."

He then got in my face. His putrid breath assaulting my nose. "Now fuck off like a good whore."

He stared me down. I unflinching matched his gaze. It had become a simple thing. Just as a part of me as breathing was, there was a dark magic in my eyes. All I had to do was considerate a little on it, and I had Pothole trapped in my gaze, paralized. Then I trinkle in thought of what I wanted to do to him to put worry on his face. To him, what I was imagining was what he was seeing and experiencing. It lasted for only a moment, nothing extreme, but in his inebriated state it must have been hallucination something quite frightening. Letting him go, Pothole stumbled back and pissed himself, garnering laughter from the ponies watching.

I took a step forward. He flinched.

"If ya have the fucking caps to get plastered, ya have the fucking caps to pay your goddesses damn tab, so get ta dick out of your ass and take care of it. Do you understand?" I chastised the drunk.

"Y… yes. I'll do it," he stammered. "But t...tell Waterspout t..to give me a week. Caps been tight."

"Tight? Ain't ya working for the quarry?" I annoyingly asked.

"Up until recently," another stallion spoke up from his window. "The east quarry got a contract with the NCR, and now the cunts are using prison labor from the NCR Correctional Facility to break rocks. The other quarries have lowered wages to fit in more workers, so everypony is hurting."

This time I raised an eyebrow. "Right. I heard something about that, but then how ya getting all this booze and chems?"

The stallion then tipped a dirty bottle at me. "A new merchant caravan came in from out west over a week ago, Blue Skies, they’re called. They sell this shit cheap. It's shit, but cheap booze is cheap booze."

I shook my head and turned my attention back to Pothole who was already crawling away. "I'll tell Waterspout ya will pay in a week, so don't go making me look like a fool, or ya will owe me more than just a bunch of caps."

He nodded as he retreated into his rusty shithole excuse of a home.

Satisfied, I returned to the Ruffled Feathers to let Waterspout know on the agreed payment time. The boss was hoping to see the caps sooner, but a week's wait was good enough. Free from any more obligations until I had to return later tonight for work, I made my way back to the town's free clinic.

On one end of the clinic were four foals were playing with whatever Copper Wire had made from the dismantled electronics. Their mothers were nowhere to be seen. Prism was on the other end, re-applying bandages to a burnt ghoul. He still tight lipped to whoever set him on fire, not that it was any of my business.

A nearby radio played a sorrowful song in much the same way as Sweetie Belle. It backed up with an old world brass band. The singer was a pony I knew well, but had not seen in a long time.

I listened intently to the song. It expertly finished in a way that made me want to hear more. If I could, I'd take over the radio airways to play more of it. More ponies needed to know her greatness.

The music crackled to a stop. The deep voice of DJ Pon3 annoyingly took over.

"Good evening Equestria. That was Victoria Rosary singing, ‘Somewhere Over the Sea’, and I speak for everypony when I say that her voice gives me goosebumps with how much it sounds like Sweetie Bell."

“Now, if you are interested in seeing her live, she will be performing at New Appaloosa for the Lightbringer Festival. They will be selling tickets for the event, so don't expect to see her for free unless you bring a good set of binoculars."

“Now for the news…"

I turned off the radio and sighed.

"You do know I don't approve, right?" Prism said as she trotted over, concern on her face.

"You have told me this plenty of times now," I answered.

"Because I worry. I really do." She said as she then turned the radio back on, keeping the volume low.

"Nothing good will come with you two meeting," my mother insists.

I rolled my eyes. "She's a pop idol, Mom. From what I heard, she's too busy to do much of anything but her job."

Prism looked away and sighed. "I don't know, Star. I spend the first few years worrying about her showing up to take you back. That blood drenched and devious young mare, with what she did to you, giving you those eyes. I can't see anything else than a villain from the old stories."

"And you're wrong!" I quietly snapped at her. "Before you came, she was the one who protected me. She made me strong!"

"Let’s not do this here, Star." Prism objected as she turned up the radio's volume. "If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, but please just be careful if you do see her. My heart won't be able to handle losing you or Bridget."

Her words cooled me off a little. "Sorry Mom, and you're right. Somepony like her has bigger dreams than a pop idol. Anyways, she's likely going to be too busy to make time for a pony like me, and we’re too poor to waste caps on a concert."

Prism lightly chuckled and smiled. "Well I got to finish helping our patient over there, so could you keep an eye on the foals for me?"

I nodded then I trotted over to the foals. Bridget was more than happy to see me return.

Tagged Skills:

-Explosives- 31
-Guns- 35
-Melee Weapons- 33

Trait: Kamikaze - Star Charter acts fast and recklessly when in conflict, often the first to attack, even when taken by surprise. Because of her reckless nature, she rarely gets out unscratched, having -2 damage threshold.

Trait: Hot Blooded - Star has a +15% damage increase but a -2 to Perception and Agility when health is below 50%

Unique trait: Evil Eye’s Corruption - Star possesses the evil eye, which gives her a terrifying presses ability that paralized whoever she makes eye contact when active. This ability causes -1 HP damage to Star per second along with a bleeding eye effect that does -2 to her charisma for an hour. This trait also gives her a passive regeneration of +1 HP every four seconds, but this healing is taken from her hunger stats, and if hunger falls below %25, Star will fall into a feral like state and seek out any source of food to eat, be it snack cakes, or another pony. Unique dialogue options open to her.

Developed Perk: Canterlot Gourmay - her discerning palette allows you to gain more health benefits from food and drink and resist substance addiction.

Developed Perk: Foal at Heart - Opens up dialog options with young fouls and other young creatures.