Chapter 9: Baltimare Stomp

I put my guns back and crawled back through the small hole and into the subway station. Rimfire and Starburst were looking at me with expressions of worry. They must have heard the gunshots.

“Alicorn,” I said before they could ask, the mint-als still rushing through my blood gave me a good idea that they’d want to know. Rimfire only looked confused, Starburst face turned to worry.

“What?” he asked.

“It was a blue alicorn, kind of looked like Luna in those pictures of her.”

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Rimfire said. She looked uneasy, I doubt she’d seen an alicorn, but she’d probably heard of them.

“Me too,” I told her. “I think I saw the Avacyn hotel, just a little east of here, actually.”

“Can we make it over land?” Starburst asked. I shook my head. “Damn, I did some looking around while you were topside. There’s a good amount of ghouls between us and an eastern passage.”

“Did you see how many?” This time he shook his head.

“Afraid not, but I’m sure it’s no less than twenty.”

“Why haven’t they attacked us?” I asked.

“We discussed that,” Rimfire spoke up. “They might have not noticed us, or something’s keeping them there.”

“I’ve never known a ghoul, well, a feral, to pass up a meal,” I said.

Starburst shrugged, “Who knows. I figure we can take them. We’ve got enough firepower to get ferals.”

He was right, of course. If ghouls were the only things in our way, we’d have to go through them. The three of us stepped off the platform and started following the tracks again. It didn’t take me long at all to see that Starburst was right. The cries and moans of ghouls grew louder and louder with each passing second. I let a sigh of frustration as a normal cloud came over my mind, the mint-als had run out.

The few times I’d taken chems left me shaking near the end. Hoping against all hope that I’d not become addicted. Most of the old ponies, who’d gotten there by being cautious, knew that addictions could kill. And there wasn’t anything saying that it had to be you, a junkie might kill you if he thought you had his fix. But I felt the same way I always did, so I figured I was safe, this time at least.

The ghouls hadn’t made any attempt at being stealthy when they came for us. A tidal wave of rotted, glowing flesh poured around a bend. I could see each head full of rotted, gnashing teeth. Their dead eyes reflected our lights with an eerie glow. I could see each pupil, tiny and focused.

I drew both revolvers and started in on them. Rimfire did the same with her rifle, Starburst with his machine guns. The ghouls didn’t stand a chance against us. Both guns kicking in my magic grip felt strange at first, yet I couldn’t help but feel like a dangerous pony.

“Nice,” I heard Rimfire say after the shooting subsided. I turned to see her looking at me. “I’d have never taken you for a shooter like that, Short.” I felt a little hot under my coat when she said that. She was right anyway.

“Yeah, I figured it was better than just using one.”

“Careful with that though,” Starburst said. “Don’t want you going Rambo on us.”

I chuckled. “I don’t think that’ll happen, guys.” Oddly enough that assured them and we moved on, picking our way through the fallen ghouls.

Another station wasn’t more than ten minutes walking from here. This one had another barrier erected on the stairway up. This time, however, there wasn’t a hole through which any of us could climb through. We had a trick up our sleeves for this. Between the three of us we had two sticks of dynamite.

I stuck the sticks relatively close together in the wall and tied the fuses into one. I used a lighter I found in my pack and set light to the fuse. I ran back, leapt off the platform, and joined Starburst and Rimfire behind an abandoned carriage. The sound of the fuse burning was barely audible back here.

“Why do you think this one was sealed so well?” I asked. “Think something’s out there?”

“No way,” Rimfire said. “They put these up to stop the blasts from getting through.”

“Not that it worked,” she added.

It didn’t matter much after that. A reverberating thump filled the air as the dynamite exploded in a golden-red plume that encapsulated the entire platform. I could feel the heat even from where we stood, but wasn’t that bad. The sound of rending metal was almost deafening. We waited a few seconds before poking our heads around the carriage.

The stairs and the barricade had suffered severe damage. Debris, some of it still flaming, littered the platform. Smoke was quickly filling the roof of the area, billowing to the outside as well. Some of it even flitted down into the tunnels. The stairway was dark leading up into wherever it lead. The hole was large enough for three ponies side by side to fit through, so Starburst was going to be fine.

The stairway led to an escalator, not running, which brought us up to some sort of atrium. The building had windows on three sides, most of them had been broken but a few stood. Along one side, occupying most of the wall, was a row of ticket counters. Each of them had their shutters down. There was no natural door to the streets, only a skybridge which lead to another building, this one looked like a skyscraper. It met the other building on the second floor. I looked up to see a great, glowing, red ‘A’ on the side of the building. Avacyn.

The three of us took down the bridge at a gallop, but stopped nearly three fourths of the way there when I heard a slight beep ahead of us. On the ground, under cracked tiles, I could see the familiar brown disk of a landmine. We backed away and the beeping stopped. The door in front of us opened and a pony in black riot gear stepped through. Strapped to its side was a riot shotgun with what looked to be a drum full of shells.

“Halt,” she said. I couldn’t tell the gender from with the armor on, but it sounded like a mare. “What do you want from Avacyn?”

“We just need some fixer, and maybe a doctor,” I told her. Her shotgun worried me in a place like this. There was only one way to run, and she’d have us if she wanted. She stood still for a moment.

“Alright,” she said. “Keep in mind that all violence in Avacyn will be met with severe punishment.” She turned to walk back through the door.

“Wait,” I said, “the mines?”

“They’re duds.”

As we walked past the dud-landmines, I stopped and picked one up. If it had fooled us, it could fool a raider. The door the mare had taken opened up into a large hallway that looked like it surrounded the building. Around the door, sandbags had been piled up to make a quick barricade. Other ponies in riot gear stood behind the barricade. A question popped into my head.

“If this is only reached by the subway, why is it so well guarded? The subway stairs were blocked up pretty well.”

“They were?” asked the mare. I heard genuine shock in her voice.

“Yeah,” I said. “Didn’t you check?”

She scuffed the ground sheepishly. “I don’t think so. We don’t really look for trouble.”

“Yeah, we can understand that,” Rimfire said.

“This is Avacyn, right?” Starburst asked. The mare nodded. “Can we see the doctor now? Pretty please?” I could hear agitation in his voice, carefully masked of course, so the mare probably didn’t notice his intent.

“Yes, of course. I’ll take you to him.” The mare turned to another pony, “take the watch in case anyone else shows up.” The other pony nodded and we followed the mare again. She took us to around a bend and into a smaller hallway, leading into the center of the building. “So how did you three get up if the stairs were blocked?”

“We blew up the barrier with dynamite,” Rimfire said.

The mare pulled up her face plate. She couldn’t have been more than 10. “Wow really? Dynamite is banned here! The Elder said so.”

“You’re awfully young,” I pointed out.

“The Elder says we have to be vigilant, even at a young age.” She stopped talking and lead us on. From the hallway we were brought into a large room with a fountain full of stagnant water in the center. Near the back were two defunct escalators. “This is the main room,” she said proudly. Proud of what I couldn’t say. “Between the escalators are where the Elder stays. He gets nice rooms.” I looked to where she indicated and I could see a fine wooden door, barely touched by age. A thick-set stallion stood to the side of it, clad with double shotguns on a battle-saddle.

“Upstairs is where you can find the trader and the doctor. The doctor is a nice mare who always has a lollipop for the good fillies,” the mare smiled.

“Hey, kid,” I asked, “what’s your name?”

“Oh, we don’t really have names, but I’ve been talking with the other backdoor guards, we got names for each other though.They call me Sugar, because I’m sweet, like sugar bombs.”

“You sure are something, aren’t you?” Rimfire asked. Sugar smiled. Her head perked up and she started to whimper a little.

“I gotta get back to my post!” she said quickly. “The Elder... isn’t nice to ponies who don’t watch for enemies. The doctor is up to the left, the trader to the right. They’re both really nice mares.” Sugar turned around and belted back towards the sky bridge.

“I don’t think Avacyn is all it’s cracked up to be,” I said to Rimfire and Starburst. They agreed.

“I’m sure it will be fine, however,” Starburst said, “if we can get some fixer, or even my addiction cured. Because this fuckin’ sucks.” If Starburst was swearing, I knew it was bad. I lead the other two up the escalator and to the left, like Sugar had said. The doctor’s office looked to have been made in the remains of two old room whose dividing wall had been cut out. Three beds had been put in with all the usual medial furnishings. On the wall were two medical kits, with various odds and ends lying around. The doctor, a mare, was busy wrapping a bandage around the bleeding foreleg of a filly. The filly was wincing as the doctor tightened the wrapping. She turned to us when we walked in, and I could see her jaw drop, but she collected herself nearly immediately. That didn’t stop her from stammering.

“W-what? Uh, what do you want?” she asked.

“I was wondering if we could get some fixer for our friend,” I said. I could hear Starburst laboring to breathe, and I knew it would be best for me to negotiate, as usual.

“Uhm, I’m not sure,” the mare said. She finished up with the bandage and sent the filly on her way. She was an earth pony with purple and dark-blue, curly hair. Her coat was tan, like some mare I’d seen in a picture before. Her cutie-mark was a red cross, not surprising.

“Is there a problem?” Rimfire asked.

“Kinda,” the doctor said. “Can’t remember the last time a stallion got let in here.”

“What?” I asked. The doctor walked past us and closed the door, locking it.

“I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now,” she said. She paced the room, muttering, “this isn’t good...” over and over.

“Okay,” I said slowly, trying to calm her. “I’m Short, this is Rimfire, and that’s Starburst. If you can just give us a little help, we’ll be on our way.”

She looked at me incredulously. “I’ll get killed if that happens.”

“What?” I asked, it was once again my turn to be surprised.

“Elder barely allows the stallions we have to live here. We’re told to shoot the ones that try to come in.” I decided to keep Sugar a little secret, hopefully she wouldn’t get in trouble because of us.

“I’d heard that this was a good place,” I told the doctor. “A place that was trying to save Baltimare.”

“Not anymore,” she said nervously. “Now we just look out after our own.”

“Do you think that’s right?” Rimfire asked.

“Fuck no,” the doctor said, her voice full of conviction. “I think we should help.”

“Then can’t you help Starburst?”

The doctor swallowed hard. “I can do better than fixer, but it’s going to take time.”

Starburst walked to the table and hoisted himself onto it. “How long?” he asked.

“Day or two,” she said.

“Will he be safe here?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Hell no,” she said. “But he might not be discovered if I put up the separators on one of the beds, tell anyone who asks he’s a filly with the measles.” She shooed him off the bed he’s sat on and off to one of the corner beds. He lay down and she started to bring the separator curtain around. We turned to leave. “By the way,” she said, “call me Stim.” We left Stims office and entered the hallway.

I decided it’d probably be best for Rimfire to do the trading, seeing as she was the mare here, and for me to go into hiding. I told her to check the trader for anything we might need, ammo, chems, or meds. I gave her the rest of the caps and we went our separate ways.

I made my way upstairs two flights of stairs. The lights of the building seemed to be in mostly fine condition. Whatever this place had for an emergency generator, it had been well worth the cost. The hallways were dark however, only every other light was on. I was on one of the sleeping floors, there were tons of rooms in a maze-like configuration. I figured that the rooms must extend over the hallway where the skybridge connected to on the hotel. I tried each door I came across, all of them were still locked.

Finally I decided enough was enough and put the Cloudsdale against one of locks and fired. Most of the blast was muffled, but I knew it’d be a dumb idea to assumed no one had heard it. The lock had a sizeable hole in it and I pushed the door open. The room wasn’t terrible for having been sitting for a very long time.

I shut the door behind me when I walked in and propped a chair against the knob, better safe than sorry. The suite wasn’t all that special. A small hallway with an door to a bathroom led into the single room with two twin beds. Opposite the beds was a long dresser with a radio on it. Behind the beds was a mirror the length of the wall. At the end of the room, next to the dresser was a door which looked like it connected to the next room over.

I freshened up in the bathroom before fiddling with the radio. DJ-Pon3 was on, but she didn’t have anything special to say. Apparently there wasn’t much for her to say at all now. There was only a brief mention of some trouble on Appleloosa. It sounded like that mare they’d been looking for. I turned the volume down as he switched to music, hopefully no one’d notice me here for a night or two.

A thought brought me to the sink in the bathroom. I turned the faucets and clean looking water came out. My PipBuck didn’t start ticking at radiation, so I assumed it was safe. I grabbed a cup that was only pretty dusty and got some water to drink. I sat back on the bed and thought.

“Why would this place be called so helpful if they don’t even let stallions in?” I asked aloud. I thought back to the Elder’s room. New management? That was possible, I thought. But why no Stallions? That didn’t add up. There were a few in Avacyn already. One of the guards at the skybridge and the one outside the Elder’s room. Come of thing of it, he hadn’t tried to stop us when Sugar had lead us in.

I heard a voice in the hallway. “I think it came from over here.” I lunged over and turned off the radio. I ducked back behind the bed, keeping out of sight from the door. There was a rattling at the door. “The locks been blown!” Someone pushed at the door, but the chair was holding it shut. The knocking stopped. A calm voice spoke up.

“I don’t think I have to tell you the trouble you’re in right now.” The voice was calm and collected. “You’re mare and your friend have been found and I will deal with them like I’m about to deal with you.” I poked my head around the corner and saw the barrel of a shotgun being forced through the hole. It was no riot gun, only looked like a single shot, but it'd hurt to get shot. I pulled myself back around the corner when the first shell exploded. Pellets bit into the walls and tips of the beds with a load roar. I heard the gun click as it was reloaded. I needed to do something quick. I scanned my PipBuck’s inventory for something, anything, and I struck gold. I pulled my Tec9 from my bag as another shell got shot. I checked the magazine of the gun, it was full.

When I heard the shotgun being reloaded I spun the gun around the corner and started spraying wildly. I didn’t know if the bullets would even go through the door or wall but I had hope. When it was dry I pulled it back and waited. No one made any sounds. I turned my head and checked the E.F.S. Three red lines stood about where the hallway would be. I peeked the corner and saw that a few of my shots had passed the door. Another shot blasted forth, this time a pellet grazed my ear. I went for broke and jolted over to the door at the back of the room.

The dresser provided enough cover from the shotgun should the shoot again.

“You idiots!” It wasn’t the same voice as last time, this one was angry. “Break the door down!” The barrel was removed from the door and I heard what sounded like someone battering the door with the butt of the gun. There wasn’t time to pick the lock, but I did need an element of surprise. The Cloudsdale seemed to be an apt lockpick in its own regard so I drew that with the Tec9. I played the barrel of the revolver on the lock and the Tec9 pointed towards the door. I pulled the trigger on the Tec9 first, filling the air with gunfire, then I used the Cloudsdale on the lock and ran through the now opened door. I shut the door as quietly as I could, but I wasn’t too quiet.

This room was the mirror opposite of the previous one. I ran to the front door and put my ear to it. The ponies outside had resumed battering the door. It’d give soon. I put the Tec9 back in my pack and took the Luna from its holster. I heard the other door give way before I put my hoof on the handle of my door.

“There’s no one here!” I heard one, a mare, yell before I opened the door. It swung open at me. I saw a stunned mare in riot gear standing in front of me. She didn’t even turn to me before I put two shots from Luna at her head, and from this range, I didn’t miss. To my left was a stallion, probably the one in charge. He’d turned to me and shot with his 9mm pistol. I took on in the leg, most of the force was stopped with my armor, but it bit into my flesh just a little. His gun looked old and not well cared for.

I shot him once with the Cloudsdale. He hadn’t been wearing much more than ‘walking-around’ clothes. Nothing that provided resistance to my pellets. The mare rushed out of the room, shotgun pointed at me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the shot, but all there was was a click. She hadn’t reloaded. I put one between her eyes with the Luna, the faceplate of her helmet not even coming close to stopping the bullet. I didn’t know what kind of riots that Baltimare had had, but they must have not used many guns.

I took the time to reload all my guns, even the Tec9. I was low on shells for the Cloudsdale, but I had about a box left for the Luna. Even the Tec9 had plenty for a few magazines. Sugar had said there was a trader in near Stim’s office, I could resupply there. And if the Elder of this place had taken Rimfire and Starburst, I had a feeling that paying would cost little more than a couple of my bullets. Before I left, I took a quick look at the 9mm the stallion had. It wasn’t as bad as I’d first thought, salvageable to even a novice. Rimfire would be able to fix it in minutes. I took it from his mouth and put it in my bag.

“Sorry, man,” I said to the corpse, “but this is bigger than the two of us.”

The mare at the trading post was all too happy to give me a few bullets for Luna, and even some meds. Now I had plenty of healing potions, a few sticks of med-x, and some buck. I said thanks before I left, and even threw in a sorry. She didn’t seem to buy it, but neither did I.

Standing on top of the escalator, I could see the guard with the double-shotguns surveying all of the lobby, but he wasn’t looking up. There was a ten foot drop to his head, and I took it. My body collided with his. Both of us went sprawling to the floor. I dropped my gun to the side and reached for his throat with my magic. He was an earth pony, and from his position, he couldn’t do anything besides try to buck me off. But the fall had taken too much out of him and he couldn’t even buck hard enough to move.

He spluttered with a wet cough once, twice, and then nothing. I got off the stallion’s body and looked at the door and tried the handle. It swung open to a large pool area. The water had been drained and in the middle was a sadomasochists dream. Chains, whips, and even more beyond the imagination. In the middle, bound and gagged, lay Rimfire. Around the gag in her mouth, no small amount of foam was bubbling from the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were tired and half shut. There was no other pony in sight. I grabbed my gun and ran to her side. she didn’t react to my presence at all.

“Rimfire? Rimfire!” I yelled right into her ear. She didn’t react at all. I heard the sound of hoofbeats behind me.

“A problem with the mare?” A smug male voice asked. It was the same that had been outside my room just a few minutes ago.

“Yeah,” I said without turning around, “and I assumed it’s your fault.”

“Why don’t you see who I’ve got here?” he asked. I turned to look. He was a unicorn, and gripped in a levitation field was a combat shotgun. Next to him, each disarmed and unarmored were Stim and Sugar. Both of them were borderline crying.

“What did you do to her?” I asked.

“Oh, it wasn’t me,” he said. It sounded like he was trying to contain a laugh. His voice grated against my ears like sandpaper. “The dear doctor here gave her a little truth serum she concocted herself. Isn’t that right doctor?” Stim said nothing. The stallion pushed the barrel of his gun under Sugar’s chin. “Isn’t it?”

“Y-yes,” Stim stammered.

“See?” He said. “None of us are clean.”

“Can you make her better?” I asked the doctor, ignoring the stallion. He’d get his in time. She nodded frantically. “Good.”

“Don’t forget my little girl here, boy,” the stallion said loudly. “You wouldn’t want her getting hurt would we?”

“You won’t even get the chance,” I said coldly. I’d played with my PipBuck and activating S.A.T.S wasn’t much more than a thought process. I used it and time slowed to a crawl. Each breath, each heartbeat, a lifetime to act. And I’d need all of it. My Luna was close to hand and I drew it. I saw his eyes start to widen, his pulse probably quickened. I took aim at his head.

He tried to pull the trigger on his shotgun, but he wasn’t fat enough, and it never would be. The bullet left my gun and he took it on the chin. Time came back to let his shotgun fly wildly to the side, a shot ringing off and going randomly. His head had followed the shotgun in its arc, and when he looked back at me, I gave it right to him.

When he fell I ran straight to Stim. “Get Rimfire!” I barked. She nodded and ran towards Rimfire. I changed my attention to Sugar, she was backing away from me.

“T-this is why he did it,” she said.

“Did what?” I asked.

“Got rid of the stallions. They’re violent.” She backed off from me, and when she realized I wasn’t following, she ran.

Stim had put Rimfire on a bed. Rimfire had several IV’s poking in her leg. The doctor was working nervously, organizing medical equipment around the room.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked.

“Um, yes, she’s going to be fine.”

“Why’d you do it?” I asked. Stim looked up from the supplies. She didn’t look healthy.

“He told me to do it,” she said quickly.

“That means nothing. You didn’t have to.”

“And get thrown out? Or killed? I’m a doctor, Short.”

“Another question, how’d he know who Rimfire and Starburst were?” She swallowed hard on something. “That’s what I thought.”

“Look, Short. You don’t understand!”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” I felt angry, like I’d just been given a dose of Buck. I figured it was going to turn out bad for someone here.

“Please,” she pleaded.

“How’s Starburst?” I changed the topic.

“He’ll be better by tonight. He’s just resting now.”

“You going to stay?” I asked her. She raised an eyebrow at me. “Here, in Avacyn.”

“Where else could I go?” she responded in kind. “We’ve got over one hundred ponies here, all of them need my help.”

“I’ll be back,” I told her. I turned and left the doctor’s office and went downstairs into the atrium. Following that I walked back to where Sugar had been stationed. She didn’t meet my gaze when I walked up to the side of her. “Kid, you don’t understand,” I said.

“You killed him,” she said softly. The other guards made themselves scarce. No doubt she’d told them what had happened.

“Yes, I did. He wasn’t a good pony to my friends. I had to make it right,” I told her.

“Killing is right to you?” she asked, more accusing than anything else.

“Only when justified.” Did I just say that? I asked myself. I’m not a cold-blooded killer. But I had killed those ponies, and I hadn’t thought twice about it. Seemingly like I dream I’d done those things. I winced. “No... no...” She looked at me with confusion. “Killing’s not right, kid. But sometimes we have to do what’s wrong.”

“Why?” She was so young, so innocent.

“I don’t know.” But that wasn’t true, I did know, I just didn’t want to tell Sugar. Because it was them or us, and I wasn’t going to let it be us, that was my justification. “Sugar, where are your parents?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve ever met them.” She was starting to look at me now. I was trying my best to let her know I wasn’t about to go crazy. Even though I wasn’t sure I wasn’t about to go crazy.

“The three of us... we’re travellers. If you want y-” She cut me off.

“I can’t.” She sensed my confusion. For being young she wasn’t that oblivious. “It’s too dangerous out there.”

“Did anyone leave here yet? Families or just ponies?” I asked her. She nodded. “Then they’re going to tell everyone for miles about how some stranger ponies came in and started killing everyone. That will bring the looters, and they’re dangerous.”

“I just want to protect you,” I said.

“Why would you want to do that?” she asked.

“Because when I look at you, I see a mare who could become something someday, and maybe a strong mare like Rimfire would be good for you.”

“This hotel is all I’ve ever know,” Sugar said mournfully. “It’s my home.”

“We all feel that way when we first leave home.”

“When did you leave home?” she asked. I hadn’t thought about home for a long time. I could barely remember where it had been, but why I’d left was still clear in my head.

“My family and I stayed in an abandoned stable, we had it all to ourselves and thought it was safe. But one day when, I was 15 or something, some raiders came in. We tried to be civil, and by that I mean my dad. We invited them to dinner, and Dad started talking to them. When he talked, even the sky and the earth started to listen. I knew that I had to get out of there, I didn’t trust those ponies. So I ran while they listened to my dad talk.”

“What happened to your family.”

“Don’t know,” I admitted. I hadn’t been back there since, and I didn’t have any plan to either. I doubted I could even find my way back in. The stable was in a maze of caves I probably couldn’t navigate with a full box of mint-als.

“Do you wonder what happened to them?” She asked. I could feel myself going hollow on the inside. All of me was focusing on recollection of my family.

“Yeah, I wonder... I really do.” I let my hind legs fold and I sat on my rump. “If dad had any say the raiders probably handed over all their caps.” I chuckled a little.

“Is there any safe place out there?” That question was loaded with innocence. I had to think hard to get even one place.

“There’s a Steel Ranger bunker I know, but it’s a fortnight away on foot, kid.”

“Will you take me there?”

“Yeah, I’ll take you there.” I got up and turned to walk back to Stim.

“Why me?” she piped up from behind me. “I know you think I’m like your marefriend Rimfire. But why not everyone?” That I rightly couldn’t answer. Something about that kid was different. So I just kept on walking.

Rimfire was still knocked out on one of the beds. Starburst was stirring in his. I walked over to his side. He looked at me, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he’s been through a meat grinder, or at least he looked like he felt that way.

“Never stop chasing the purple dragon, Short. It’s worse when you stop.”

I gave a small smile. “I need you two to do a favor.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I need you to take a kid to the Steel Ranger bunker you’ve got.”

His eyes narrowed a few times before he answered. “Are you high now?” he asked finally.

I shook my head. “Afraid not. In a way I owe it to this kid, I gave her a rough day.”

“What in the hell happened while I was out?” he asked bewildered.

“Nothing much. Just... please.”

“Alright,” he conceded. “After Churchane we just swing back by here and pick her up?” This is where I knew I’d run into a little trouble. I put a hoof on his shoulder.

“I was hoping... you two could head out back to New Pegasus from here.”

“What!” he yelled. I was afraid Rimfire would be woken up, but she didn’t stir at all.

“Come on, Starburst. It’d take too long for us to get there and come back. I don’t think this place will stay safe for much more than a day. Look, I can get to Manehattan on hoof in three days.”

Starburst leaned up. “I’m pretty sure this is nonnegotiable, Short. We work as a team.” I stepped back from him.

“You’re right,” I said. “I was being rash. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” He lay back.

“Thanks.” Starburst let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry I dragged you two here. I didn’t think this place would be so... difficult.”

“None of us did.”

“Stim told me what you did, what happened in there.”

“Did she?” I asked carefully.

“Yeah. I won’t say what you did was wrong but... I didn’t see it coming.”

“You two were in danger, I couldn’t let that happen.”

Starburst’s mouth curled into a slight smile. “Nothing wrong with protecting friends I guess. It just seems like you’re getting better at running and gunning everyday.”

“That’s for sure,” I said. The guns had been feeling better and better when I held them. “Don’t know if that a good thing though.”

“Oh?”

“Maybe I’ve lost my game. I used to be able to talk my way around fights. I guess it just got easier to shoot through them instead.”

“As long as you know when to shoot and when to talk, you’re good. That’s what I’ll say about it.” Starburst closed his eyes.

“It’s getting late,” I said. “We’ll talk more in the morning.” He gave a slight nod and I walked out of the Doctor’s office.

I woke up to the sun in my eyes. From the corner of my eye I could see Starburst and Rimfire milling about the room. Sugar was laying contentedly on the other bed. I had slept with my bags next to me, hoping to make an early escape.

“Going somewhere?” Rimfire asked lazily.

“Nope,” I lied.

She smiled, catching my lie. It didn’t happen usually, but I was tired and my lying was rusty. “Okay.”

“Do you not trust us?” Starburst asked. His voice was calm and normal. He must be over mint-als completely.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said lying again. I wasn’t sure how they’d known, but they did.

“You were going to leave town without us,” Rimfire said coldly. I felt myself go cold with shame. In my mind the idea had seemed like a good one. Now it was just selfish.

I said nothing. Even Sugar was looking concerned now.

“What gives, Short?” Starburst asked.

“I don’t know. I just... couldn’t take it.”

“Take what!” Starburst asked.

“Seeing you two hurt!” I yelled angrily.

“Like we’ve never been hurt before,” Rimfire scoffed. She was careful not to put too much venom in her words, but it still hurt like it’d been a jab at me.

“I feel like it’s always on me. I made you come here, you both could have died because of me, again.”

“Do you think I followed you out of New Pegasus thinking ‘I’m sure it will be a walk in the park’?” Starburst asked. “No, I don’t think anyone would have been so naive.”

“Yeah, Short. Danger is a part of life,” Rimfire said. She glanced at Sugar quickly.

“You couldn’t have known,” Sugar spoke up. “Don’t beat yourself up.” For some reason even her words carried weight. Maybe she had grown up an awful lot in such a little while. Even she was able to drop the guilt.

“Short, you can always talk to us if you need it,” Rimfire said.

“I don’t need to talk,” I said. “I just need to do better.”

Rimfire laughed, a hearty belly laugh. “Oh that’s rich, Short. If I compared you to that shrimp I walked into New Pegasus I’d never know you were the same pony, except for the thick skull.” That got me to let out a small chuckle. Sometimes I was afraid I’d lost the real Rimfire somewhere in the desert, but sometimes the rugged mare I promised 200 caps shone through.

“I know it was shitty of me, guys. I’m sorry,” I said.

“Apology accepted,” Starburst said. Rimfire just smirked. Sugar beamed.

“So now what?” I asked.

“I figure we do what we started,” Starburst said. “Go to Manehattan, deal with Church in whatever manner necessary. Then head back to New Pegasus we go, skipping all the way.” The last few words she said with a grandiose voice.

“Sounds good,” I said. I turned to Sugar. “What do you think?”

“We’re not going to the bunker?” she asked.

“Not yet at least, kiddo,” Rimfire said.

Sugar showed determination in her eyes. “Then I’ll just have to come with you.”

“It’ll be dangerous,” I told her.

She waved me off. “You said it’d be dangerous here too. Danger seems to be everywhere if I asked you.” She hopped onto her hooves and stood tall. “Why not be with the ponies who can see danger’s coming?”

“You got spunk, kid. Maybe Short was right about you,” Starburst said. Sugar smiled at him. I doubt she’d had very many ponies compliment her in her life.

“One thing bothers me,” Rimfire said. “Is your name, Sugar. It’s just a little, blah”

“Hey,” Sugar muttered.

“You got anything better?” I asked Rimfire.

Rimfire gave a sly smile. “Yeah,I got something in mind.” She took a little while to let suspense build. “How about... Bolt?”

Starburst suppressed a chortle. “Bolt?” he asked. “Where’d you get that from?” Even Sugar looked a little confused.

“No, see,” Rimfire began to defend herself, “She’s small and fast. She can bolt around!” When she saw we weren’t buying it, she continued, “Maybe if I knew what we cutie mark was.”

“Yeah,” I said to Sugar, “What is your cutie mark?”

“I don’t have one,” Sugar muttered.

“Not yet!” she added quickly.

“Well I don’t see why Bolt doesn’t fit this fine filly,” Rimfire said.

“Well it’s her choice,” I said. I looked at Sugar. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I guess...” she said. “We could try Bolt...” All four of us smiled in some manner, as if we’d forgotten what we’d been talking about. I got off the bed and put on my pack.“How do we get to Manehattan from here?” I asked.

“The train tracks should lead us right there,” Rimfire said. “I figure that’s what Crane would have used if he could for his trains. The tracks should, and I mean should, bring us straight to the bridge that connects Manehattan to the Mainland.”

“That’s great,” I said, “But how do we get to the right tracks?”

“If we take the tracks north of the city,” She said, “I bet we can find our way from there. Worst case scenario we just walk the coast up. It’s not like Manehattan isn’t just straight north of us.” She had a few good points.

“Bolt, do you know how to get north of here the quickest?” I asked the filly. She rubbed her chin a little.

“Well, I haven’t left Avacyn in a long time,” she said. “I really don’t know,” she said finally.

“We could continue in the subways,” said Starburst. “If we wait until we hit a larger intersection there might be a map that’s intact.” That was the plan, as much of one as it was. The four of us left the hotel through the skybridge and descended into the subsystem. Bolt’s eyes widened as she saw the dank, dark underground. She stood close to Rimfire as if looking for protection. I could see that Rimfire was a little annoyed, but she didn’t push Bolt away.

The tunnels were the same as they had been. Charred husks of old carriages lined the tunnels. More and more appeared as we went further east, towards the center of the city. We’d been going for nigh on an hour before we stopped. We’d passed a few stations, none of which branched off in any other direction. One had a map that was mostly burned off. It looked like there was a big junction coming up, but it wasn’t clear. Most of the map was ashes in the air, but we held out hope.

“Any ponies come into Avacyn talking about the outside, Bolt?” Starburst asked the filly.

“Umh,” she said, thinking quickly. “They didn’t really say a lot. Usually they just looked dusty and unhappy. No one ever came by our entrance though, so I just heard about it from the others if they came by or something.”

“Were there a lot of kids like you?” I asked. She looked at me confused. “With no, uhm, parents?” Her ears flattened and she looked down.

“One or two,” she said slowly.

“Bolt, I’m sorry I asked,” I said, flustered quite a bit.

“It’s fine, Short,” she told me. “I’ve had quite a few years to get over it.” I felt a small wave of relief wash over me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to know Bolt. Sometimes she was just a foal, but sometimes she seemed wizened. Maybe that’s just what the Wasteland did. It made you grow up quick.

We’d been walking for nigh on five hours before we saw anything worthwhile that wasn’t a ghoul, small station, or the burnt wreckage of another train car. What hit us first was the overpowering scent of junk whiskey, the kind you could only find in some bars when there wasn’t any other option left. I was in front of the group, with Starburst trailing behind me with Bolt and Rimfire sticking together behind him, so I Was the first to see broad daylight in front of us, or at least what passes for it with the clouded skies.

It looked like it had been an old, long station, but it had been transformed into a town. Buildings that might as well have been called new lined the platforms, each of them with a style I knew only from books. It seemed to be a recreation of an old western town. The kind that had been written about back West, but probably never existed. Starburst and the rest stopped in their tracks with me, each of us looking at the one street town ahead of us. There were a few ponies on the boardwalk that lined the ‘street’ in front of all the buildings. When they saw us standing they rushed into the houses and closed the shutters. A creaky, wooden double door was left swinging in the hurry.

We walked cautiously up the street. A pony in a trailing brown coat and black, wide-brimmed hat seemed to step out of nowhere. Beneath his coat I could see the bulge of guns, but I couldn’t for the life of me make out what kind of guns. He had a deep-red mane and blackish-gray coat. His right eye had a deep scar on the cheek. He looked at us with barred eyes. I noticed he was smoking a cigarette almost to the nub.

“You lookin’ to fight?” He asked. His voice was like scraping gravel. “Ye’ came ta’ the right place.”

“We’re just looking for directions,” I said calmly. I couldn’t tell whether I wanted to shoot him or not, but it’d probably be best not to kill in cold blood in front of Bolt. I also didn’t see whether or not this stallion was a unicorn or not, his hat would have been hiding the horn if he had one.

“Is that so?” he asked. I could tell he wasn’t looking for an answer, not this time. I did my best to recall what those Western books I’d read about said, but it’d been at least ten years since I’d put it down thinking it was too fantastic sounding, and not in a good way. But here this town stood. They did say anything could happen out here. “We’ve had a lot of raiders out here, quite a few ponies hung and buried out on Boot Hill.”

The part of his coat near his hip rose with a slight glow, and I knew he was a unicorn. That part didn’t bother me, not yet at least. What was troubling me was what was underneath his coat. Tied around his waist were the makings of 3 gun belts, each with a holstered revolver, and every loop on the belt filled with a bullet. I knew this stallion meant business.

“Come on,” Starburst said. “This is madness!”

“Camel hasn’t taken kindly to strangers, at least not the ones we’ve seen,” The stallion spoke.

“We’re not like the others,” I told him. The stallion stared at me for a long time. Frankly he had me worried for my life and the others. I had never met a pony like this before. He was dangerous.

Finally he made a move, and his coat dropped back over his guns. He stood normally, getting out of his shooting stance and trotted up to us. A few of the ponies in the buildings began to open windows and peer out cracks in the doors. I saw at least three pairs of eyes poking out of what looked to be the saloon. The stallion spit out his cigarette and stamped it into the ground.

“You got a lot of guts, kid,” he said to me. “Most ponies drew when they saw my guns, but they weren’t fast enough for me, not by a mile.”

“Were they all bandits?” Rimfire asked. I heard a little venom in her voice. If the stallion noticed he didn’t seem to mind.

“Don’t quite matter,” he said. “They drew, I shot.”

“They probably only drew their guns because you threatened them!” she cried. I’d never known Rimfire to get so hot over social injustices, but maybe she was putting on a show for Bolt.

“We don’t much cater to folks who draw their guns too quick ‘round these parts,” The stallion said. “By the ways, m’ name’s Holiday.” If I’d had a drink, I’d have spit it out. These ponies were nuts, or drinking too much of that junk whiskey.

“Oh please!” I shouted. “Are you all making a western attraction here? Because I got to tell you guys, it’s a bit late.” Holiday grimaced.

“Those cowboys knew how t’ live, kid,” Holiday said. “I reckon we’re the safest town of ‘em all.”

Before Rimfire could retort he said, “We’re just lookin’ after us ‘n our own. Now if you want directions, fine. There’s good ponies all over who’d tell ya what ya need t’ know. But don’t tell us how t’ live our lives.”

I turned to the rest of my group.

“You all need to find us a way north to Manehattan. I want to talk to Holiday a bit more.” The three of them nodded and split up. This time Bolt walked along with Starburst. I thought I caught the hint of a frown on Rimfire when she saw Bolt walk away, but she didn’t say anything about it. I followed Holiday. He walked me towards a small, wooden shanty with a half open window. The window frame looked like it had been salvaged, no glass, just a wooden pane.

The inside of the tiny building wasn’t much better. In the back was a cell barely big enough to hold a pony in. Inside looked like two raiders who’d been there for a long time. They weren’t moving. Opposite the cell was an older wooden desk that looked like someone had spent a long time trying to make nice. The air had a stench of wood polish still hanging in it. Opposite the desk, nearer to the door, was a locked gun cabinet that held plenty of six-shooters, a few lever-guns, and a carbine. Boxes of bullets littered the floor inside the cabinet. It looked like quite the collection. Holiday sat himself behind the desk and put his forehooves together while staring at me.

“Yeah?” He asked after a short while.

“How did all this… happen?” I asked. I didn’t feel like bringing up anything from on the street. It felt like it would have been a sore topic.

“You know Stables, boy?” he asked. I nodded.

“Grew up in one,” I said. He took a small packet out from the desk and started to fiddle with it without talking back to me. I craned my neck to get a better view.

He saw me looking and said, “Tobacco. Gotta be careful with this stuff nowadays, damn hard to grow with all this balefire shit around.”

“Where can you grow around here?” I asked without thinking. I mentally kicked myself; we’d gone off topic already.

“Up north,” he said. I felt my heart skip a beat. They obviously knew a path if they grew up there. “Creek country.”

“How do we get the-“ I started to ask but he cut me off.

“I wasn’t quite sure what Stable we was, but all I know is we had a lot of books. More books than a hundred ponies can read, I reckon.” It struck me that his accent slipped here and there. I chuckled. He ignored it. “Well there wasn’t no PipBucks or nuthin’ so we just read all day. Turns out there’d been a shipping accident, and all we’d gotten was Westerns.”

“If you thought there was a western craze before, you don’t know nothin’ from what happened in that Stable. Didn’t take more than twenty years to rename the Overseer to Sheriff, I hear tell. After that it’s just histry’.”

“But how did you make this town?” I asked him. He’d finished with the tobacco and had rolled it into a small, crumpled cigarette. He popped one end into his mouth and went scrounging for what I assumed would be a match. He didn’t say anything until he found it. Holiday took a long drag before he started talking again.

“Well maybe… I can’t hardly remember, but some years ago we got out of the stable, and we were scared, kid.” His eyes unfocused off me, remembering. “There was bandits, mutie-animals, and a whole mess of trouble. We didn’t know anything that wasn’t from those books, you see.”

He tapped the growing pillar of ash into a dirty ashtray. “So we did th’ only thing we’s could think of. We found some guns, and made a town.”

“The only thing you knew was to make a town?” I asked incredulously. He nodded.

“Kid, you got no idea. It was dark times. First thing that went up was the saloon, then th’ hotel.”

“You built a hotel?” He was taken aback. “There’s one a couple miles away, lights and everything still working!”

He raised his eyebrows. “Is there?” I nodded. “Well shit. Our Stable door ain’t more than 500 yards from here.” My ears perked and he let out a small laugh. “Sorry, kid, nothing left but the bolts on the walls.” He stood up from the chair and walked around the table, just looking me up and down. Smoke billowed from his nostril intermittently.

“I didn’t catch ye’r names,” he said slowly. This time his voice was filled with a bit of anger and he was all serious.

“I didn’t give them.” He just narrowed his eyes and kept staring. There was nothing between us but the air. I saw his eyes flicker to my Cloudsdale briefly before continuing its slow circuit.

“You ever dueled, kid? I reckon they don’t do it out there, but we do it here.” This again, I thought.

“I can’t say that I have.” He smirked.

Holiday moved so fast it was like he’d been using S.A.T.S. I saw his coat move and I reached for the Luna, I had an idea he wouldn’t know it was there. I’d only gotten it halfway out of the leather when I saw a gun barrel floating lazily, pointing at me.

“Not fast enough,” he said. Holiday smiled and put his gun back with a great, big laugh. “Man you got a lot to work on.” He might have expected me to be afraid, but I wasn’t. I was in awe.

“Can you teach me to do that?” I asked suddenly. His smile froze a second, almost dropping the cigarette.

“You want something? You got ta’ trade fer’ it,” he said. “And I don’t even know yer’ name.”

“My name’s Short Change, but you can call me Short, everyone else does.”

“Short, eh? Not bad, I like it.” His cigarette was down to the nub and he snuffed it in the ashtray. He licked his mouth mournfully. “Alright. I’ll teach ya some tricks.”

“But I do need a favor,” he added.

“Anything.”

He lowered one brow. “Anything eh? Well I figure I just need ya’ll to get me something quick. You see we ain’t been able to hit the farm down near the creek recently. We’re running low on food, more importantly, tobacco. That’s where you come in.”

“You need us to make a run to the north to get you some of your food, got it.”

“I figure one of my deputies can take you to the storm tunnel, that’s where all the sewers end, and you can figure it out from there.”

“When do we go?” I asked. He chuckled again.

“Tomorrow, you got some tricks to learn,” he said. And then he showed me.

I never thought that I’d be worth something with a gun, but when I took a hotel room with my friends that night, I actually felt like a cowboy. I wasn’t nearly as good as Holiday, but I’d done better than I had before. And a few times when I had the drop on him, I drew a mite faster, but it was rare.

There’d never been a time in my travels where I’d truly compared myself to what I had been, or what I ever thought I could be, but I did that night. I was sure that no one I knew would have ever seen me come out this way, turning into some sort of gunslinger. Not that there was anything wrong with being such a thing, but I’d been raised to talk problems out, not just go guns blazing. I knew my dad would have been embarrassed to hear about me now to some extent, and the shame burned.

Rimfire and Starburst pulled me out of my thinking. They’d found a way north, I said I had too.

“What?” Rimfire asked. “Holiday told you, then.” I nodded.

“It was for a small price,” I said, not telling about the little training I’d done. “We just have to get them some things from the little farm they have outside the tunnels.”

“Is that all?” Bold asked.

“Probably not,” Starburst said. “But what choice do we have now?” No one brought up the fact we could have cut and run, but no one needed to say it. We wouldn’t have done it anyway. The way I figured was that if we helped ponies, they’d be more predispositioned to help other ponies should the time come. There wasn’t time to just look after our own anymore. We went to sleep pretty quickly after that, there wasn’t much to say.

I laid back in a bed I was sharing with Starburst and shut my eyes. Even though there wasn’t a lot to say, there was a lot to think about. Strangely, I found myself drifting off to sleep with dreams of my father and mother.

First thing I noticed in the morning was a large weight on my gut and chest, I slept on my back most nights. I cracked my eyes open to see Bolt curled up on me. Rimfire was gone from her bed, armor and all. Starburst was stirring as I carefully pushed Bolt onto him. She didn’t like it either and it woke her up quickly.

I got out of bed and got suited up. I knew those two would take a fair bit of time, at least Starburst would. Power armor wasn’t easy to put on quickly and Bolt would try to help, adding another five minutes at the least. So I decided to go downstairs.

Holiday had given us a room at the ‘first saloon we put up’. The owner looked happy to have business that wasn’t completely dirty and offered us breakfast in the morning. Downstairs of the saloon was built simply. A bar that had been worked at until it was nearly smooth occupied most of one of the walls. The rest of the area was dedicated to a mish-mash of tables and chairs scavenged from all over. The bartender and owner, a mare, was busy talking to Rimfire when I came down the rickety stairs. Both of them looked to be discussing the finer points of alcohol. The owner had a light, cream coat with a murky brown mane. She was wearing a little white and salmon dress which hid her cutie mark from view.

She looked up at me as my hoof hit the last step down and she smiled. She went beneath the bar quickly but pulled out two boxes of sugar bombs and pushed them towards us with her nose. I walked to the bar and sat down. She was still smiling when I looked back to her. It didn’t feel or look like a malicious smile, but I was never comfortable with mares just smiling at me. If I had talked to them first, sure, smiling was alright. Rimfire and I picked our boxes and started to eat. I didn’t normally take to Sugar Bombs. The texture of which I found to be usually sugar-coated mush. The taste wasn’t to die for either, unless you were just a foal. But I wasn’t going to be one to complain about free food. I saw that Rimfire was enjoying hers, which was nice at least.

“So how was the stay, mister?” the barkeeper asked.

“It was just fine,” I told her between mouthfuls. She kept beaming at me. I hoped Rimfire was getting as awkward as I was, but she had never been one for noticing social cues.

“Good ta’ hear.” She must have found something else to do because she walked out a door behind the bar. Rimfire and I exchanged glances. I turned away from her only when the heard the heavy knocks on the roof above us. Starburst must be coming down with Bolt, I thought.

When they had come down and were seated at the bar the mare came back into the saloon proper. She had a medium-length wooden box held tightly in her mouth. She placed it on the bar in front of us, me especially. Bolt had sat next to me with Starburst on the side of Rimfire. All of us were eating Sugar Bombs from the two boxes the mare had given us. The barkeeper kept on grinning as she undid the clasps on the box with little difficulty and opened it. Inside, which looked like a fine velvet, was two of the nicest knives I’d ever seen, and they were surely fighting knifes. The blades on both knives were seven inches with three inch hilts. The blades were a dark-grey color with black leather hilts. I saw her face looking at our expressions off to the side of the lid.

“You like them?” she asked.

“They’re great,” I said. “How did you get them?”

She put on a smug expression. “It just so happens my mom was the last Tinker in the Stable.” When she saw our confusion she continued. “We called whoever was good at making things a Tinker, and he was one of the best. He made this knives.”

“You’re trading them to us?” Rimfire asked shrewdly.

The mare shook her head. “Naw, but I’ll give them to you guys.”

“Why?” Starburst asked. “Is it because we’re helping Holiday?” She nodded.

“There can be a lot of bad ponies in the northern tunnels, and it’s easier to sneak by if you use a knife and not a gun.” She had a point. I couldn’t count all the times I may have been a little overzealous with a gun.

“These knives look priceless,” I told her. Rimfire agreed. “We can’t just take them.”

“Then you can have just one, Short. For being such a cutie.” I turned away from the others as I felt my face get flushed. I knew turning back to the barkeep would just make it worse.

“That’s uhm, very kind of you,” I said honestly. Seeing such acts in the wasteland made me think that sometimes it would get better in the long run. I never liked thinking such things though, it made the present a little more dreary.

“Maybe you could repay the kindness next time you're in town,” she said, her voice becoming a little more sensuous. The shock stopped my blushing and I looked back up at her.

“Sure,” I assured her. “I’d love to do something like that.” I wasn’t sure why I’d said that. I had an idea what she’d meant, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that quite yet. I’d been with a mare or two, but mostly I liked to just flirt with them when I could. I had no problem with this mare either, aside from the fact I didn’t exactly know her name. She was pretty, probably smart, a good talker as far as I knew, the whole package. But there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to lock myself down to this town. Even so she looked happier when I said that. I took the blade closest to me out of the case and slipped it through an empty loop in the gunbelt around my waist. I’d never be able to draw it fast with my mouth should I need to, it’d have to be around my foreleg for that to happen. I didn’t trust magic all the time, it was easy to see when a unicorn was using magic do to the glow. I turned to face Rimfire and Starburst, Bolt was to the other side.

“Let’s get going,” I told the two in front of me. “We’ve got an hour to go before we see the farm and whatever’s there.” And we set off, saying goodbye to the mare who owned the saloon. She wished us the best of luck, but I had a feeling she was mostly directing it at me. Holiday met us in the middle of the town.

“Just take that tunnel out of Camel,” he said, pointing towards the tunnel opposite the one we’d taken in. I was about to ask what Camel was when it hit me that it was probably the town’s name. Man, I need to get more names, I thought. I must be losing my touch with other ponies. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that if I’d talked to Holiday a week ago, I’d have the town eating out of my hoof. But I guessed that the wasteland took something out of you. I knew what I’d lost, but I’d gained some things, namely other skills and most importantly friends.

Holiday continued telling us the path towards the way out of the city. A few lefts, a couple rights, but mostly straights, would lead us out and bring us right in front of the farm. The train tracks would be in sight from there. All in all, if everything turned out well, we’d be on our way by noon.

“If the farm’s so close,” Bolt asked, “why couldn’t you just send a few guys yourself?”

Holiday grunted. “Because, well, it wasn’t that much of a trouble to tell you the truth. Sometimes the crops aren’t growing fast enough so they come late, it happens. I was figuring in heading out there when you all walked into town actually.” He grinned. “I didn’t go in case I had to take care of some troublesome newcomers, as I often do.”

“Anything we should be on the lookout for?” I asked him.

He rubbed his chin and thought for a second. “Well we haven’t curried much favor with the ponies around us, not that there are much until you pass Blood Gorge. We pretty much cleared up t’ there.” Seemingly finished, we passed him to walk down the tunnels. He turned to us as we walked. “Try to not step into the creeks. The poison will kill ya’.”

The land in front of us stretched on forever, only on the horizon did great cliffs that stretched into the air appear. Most of them didn’t even come close to reaching the clouds, but I could see a few with a hint of snow still at the top. The lands before the mountains and hills were rotten with creeks and grass grew, just slightly, near the river beds. The rest of the ground looked like it was made up of decent soil, not the gritty, sandy stuff that was all over the West. We’d stayed in the tunnel. Extending for five feet on either side of the entrance, small walls had been constructed out of sandbags, giving just a bit of cover if there was a fight. The four of us walked as far as the sandbags before Rimfire and Starburst decided to see if they could see anything in ambush.

“See anything?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down in case there were ponies out there. Starburst shook his head, he was on the right side, towards the coast. Rimfire nodded.

“I see some sort of watch tower a hundred yards out,” she said, looking through some binoculars. She turned to me, her mouth open to say something. I heard a loud crack and I ducked instinctively. I looked up to see Rimfire fall down, a bullet cracked the ground behind her, but I was sure she’d been hit. Starburst ducked behind his barrier and I pulled Bolt close. She wriggled in my grasp. Another crack, this one hit the sandbags behind Rimfire.

I looked up to see how she was doing. She was face down on one of the tracks. A long furrow had been cut into her scalp from ear to eye. She would have been dead if she hadn’t turned. I said a quick word of thanks to Celestia. Not that I Was sure she’d helped in some way, but it was a spur of the moment thing. There didn’t seem to be anymore shots, but Rimfire still wasn’t moving. I looked towards Starburst, he was looking right back at me.

“We need to move,” I mouthed towards him. No telling where the shooter had been, or if there were more than one. He nodded and motioned with a hoof towards me. “Be careful.” He didn’t even acknowledge me when he charged away from those sandbags. A shot rang out when he ran, but it didn’t even touch him. I looked at Rimfire and she was starting to stir. I put my magic around her and started to tug. A fourth blast came and the bullet took her right in a hind leg. She let out a yelp and gritted her teeth. I pulled her next to me and Bolt wrapped herself around Rimfire’s torso. I pulled a healing potion out of my bag and put it next to Rimfire’s head, then I looked at her leg.

I was always uncertain when it came to bullets and healing potions. Surely it would be terrible not to give it to her, but the bullet might be healed in the wound, and it would fester. I pulled at the wound with my hooves, trying to get sight on the bullet or fragment that was in there. Her breathing became ragged but she just kept her teeth barred and eyes shut tight. I finally saw what looked like a piece of blackened metal laying next to her bone. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty but I just grabbed it with my magic and pulled it.

Rimfire was one of the strongest mares I knew and even she screamed as I pulled the remnant out. I threw it to the side and poured the potion into her mouth. She swallowed and I ducked behind the sandbags on the left. A bullet ripped into the sandbags and I knew getting to the tower would be impossible, if the shooter was even there. I’d gotten over the possibility of there being more than one. Hopefully I checked my E.F.S, but nothing came up. It had been useless before, so I figured it would be again. I needed something that would cover my approach.

I didn’t have to look further than Bolt. One of her saddlebags said RIOT on it in big, yellow letters. I called her over, making sure she’s stay against the wall, where the shooter couldn’t see her. She came right by and I opened her bag and rooted through it. Just as I’d hoped there were two smoke grenades in it, and another one, labelled tear gas, I left in the bag.

I gripped one of the canisters with my magic, leaving the other next to me. Bolt crawled back to Rimfire as I pulled the pin and tossed the can behind me. There was a small crack and a hiss as the white cloud of gas escaped. I pulled the second pin and threw the can further than before. As soon as I heard the hiss I leapt over the barrier and charged towards the tower. The shooter took two shots into the smoke. One went wild, the other nicked my armor but only superficial damage from the looks of it.

I emerged from the clouds, smoke still clinging gently to my body. The tower was ten yards away. It was made of roughly cut wood and stripped metal bound together with ropes. The top of the tower was ten feet up and only accessible with a ladder, but a not too small hill next to it looked tall enough that if a pony had a good run, he could jump onto the platform on top of the tower. The sniper had been ready for me, and he fired. But I hadn’t run in a straight line, so I was five feet away from where he’d expected me. He whipped his gun to me and fired with no delay.

That’s where his mistake lay. He hadn’t taken the time to really get a sight on me, so when he fired, he was low and to the right. I ducked out of the way and made it below the platform where he couldn’t see me without exposing his head. He didn’t. I took Luna from the holster and aimed it up at the platform. I’d had the idea to go up there and deal with him, but I also knew it wasn’t necessary. It made sense to me that he wouldn’t try to move that much, the smoke was clearing and he would be able to see into the tunnel soon.

I fired two shots into the platform above, hoping that the rounds would go through the floor, and then I waited. The smoke between the tunnel and me cleared and I could see Starburst watching from where the shooter may not have been able to get him. A few drops of blood fell onto the ground. Still I waited.

The sun was high in the sky before I made a move. I inched out from below the platform, gun raised, looking for the shooter. I saw her almost instantly. Hey eyes were glossed over, dead. The rifle had fallen so that it looked like it was steadied, but I had no idea how long she’d been dead. Using my magic I grabbed the rifle she’d been using and I pulled it closer to get a better look at it. It was a high caliber rifle with a large scope. I couldn’t make head or tail of the model but I figured Rimfire or Starburst would know more. The gun was a matte-green plastic with a black, metal barrel and trigger assembly. The magazine was zebra-striped. It had a strap so I slipped it over my back, but first I folded the stand it came with. I waved to Starburst and he came running over.

“How’s Rimfire?” I asked when he came closer.

“She’s alright. How’s it look over here?” I shrugged. In the rush of the sniper I hadn’t give the place a proper look. I walked to the top of the hill and looked at the landscape. Closer to the northwest the mountains died down and became flat plains with small hills jutting here and there. In front of me I could see tilled ground with a wall made of cinder blocks, bricks, and wood along two sides of the field, the north and west. The tower had been on the southeast side overlooking all approaches. In the corner of the wall I saw two wooden crates that looked like they were sealed. There were no bodies around, and no blood as far as I could tell.

“They were taken,” I said to Starburst. He nodded in agreement. We walked towards the crates, careful in case someone had left explosives.

“But why? Normal slavers?”

“Could be,” I said. I wondered if slavers would be interested in a town like this and not the food they’d stored in the crates. We reached the crates and I picked them up in a magical glow. They strained me, but I’d be able to get them back to town with no trouble. We passed the hill, the tower. A loud bang came crashing from the subway tunnel and we started to run. There we saw Rimfire, Bolt, with a smoking barrel of her shotgun, and a bloody mess against the wall.

“What happened?” I asked. I had a good idea what had happened even without an explanation.

“That pony came in while you two were out having fun with that sniper,” Rimfire said, walking closer to Bolt. “Bolt shot him.”

“Good on you,” I said to Bolt. She looked a little nervous. I had a feeling she’d never shot anyone before. “Hey,” I told her, “he was dangerous. You did great.”

Rimfire agreed with me. “You were very brave, Bolt,” she said. Bolt looked a little more receptive after that but she didn’t look at any of us straight.

“You alright?” Starburst asked her. She didn’t shake her head, but he knew what she was hiding. “You didn’t do a bad thing. Sometimes this is what you have to do if you want to protect your friends.”

“Okay,” she said meekly. I wasn’t sure the foal had gotten the message, but she might have. She was pretty bright as far as I could tell.

“I was only trying to protect us,” she said, although defensively. We dropped the topic and walked back to Camel. Holiday was there to meet us on the outskirts of town. He eyed the boxes appreciatively.

“Thank ya’ kindly, kid.” I felt his magic reach for the crates, and I dropped them on the ground. One of them cracked opened. A brown, lumpy potato, still with eyes, popped out and rolled on the ground. Holiday scowled but he picked up the two crates anyways.

“They were taken,” I said.

“Who?” he asked.

“Your workers.”

“Might as well have been buffalo,” he said nonchalantly.

“You don’t care?” Bolt asked.

“I care. If’n you’re mistaking my calm for someone who doesn’t care, that’s ye’r own fault. I’m mad as a dog right now. But the way I see’s it I can’t rightly do much, can I?” He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to put this stuff to good use. Many thanks.” Holiday turned around and walked the crates towards a nondescript building. The four of us circled up.

“Well now what?” Starburst asked. “I’m going to get the feeling we aren’t welcome right now.”

I thought back to the barmare. “We could stay another night.” The others other caught my train of thought before it even left the station.

“No,” Bolt said.

“You’re too young to understand,” I said jokingly.

“I’m not that young!” she yelled out. A few townsfolk looked up at us but quickly went back to their own business.

“We’re not going to delay ourselves because you’re in love, Short,” Rimfire said. “Maybe we can stop on the way back.” I shook my head.

“Probably won’t need to,” I said. “We just need to worry about getting to New Pegasus after.”

“Do we need to stock up?” Starburst asked. “I don’t know if you guys do or not, but I can’t think of a single town between us and Manehattan. That and we’ll need bullets, plenty of bullets for when we get there.”

“Oh,” I said, thinking about the gun I’d found. I pulled it off my back and placed it between us. “Anyone good at using one of these?” Rimfire picked it up with her magic and inspected it, taking off a few of the parts and putting them back on, checking the bolt and magazine.

“I’ve used one... once,” she said. She studied the magazine again. “I don’t think these are normal bullets, Short. They look a little homemade. Were there any other bullets?”

“Didn’t check,” I told her truthfully. “The body was too high up for me to see clearly.” Rimfire wasn’t impressed.

“Well, there are only 3 shots left in the magazine so unless there were others, it’s pretty much useless.” She leaned the gun against the tunnel wall.

“So we won’t even sell it?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Would you give me caps for a gun that barely had any bullets left?”

“Oh,” I said dismissively. I turned to walk down the tunnel we had just came through when Starburst stopped me. He had a small magazine in his outstretched hoof.

“Here,” he said. I took the magazine and looked at it. The cover read ‘Guns and Ammo: Wild West Edition’. “I figured since you seemed to like guns so much... I saw it in one of the stores here and I bought it for you.” I flipped through the pages. Most of it seemed to be basic gun handling, but there were a few interesting articles I wanted to check out from the looks of it.

“Nothing for me?” Rimfire asked jokingly.

“Sorry, Rimfire. They didn’t have anything like that. This is a wholesome town.” She blushed a little.

“What did he mean?” Bolt asked, seeing Rimfire’s face heat up.

“Nothing Bolt,” I told her. That just made her more curious.

“Come on, Short. I’m part of the team,” she said. Her voice got more high pitched and squeaked when she became upset.

“Yes, you are,” Starburst said. “We were just talking about books on... bigger guns?”

“Yeah, Rimfire likes it when they are bigger,” I said abruptly.

“Well that just throws you out then, Short,” she said dryly. My feelings were hurt, but not that much.

“I thought I saw that barmare eying my gun,” I said.

“I saw it too!” Bolt piped up.

“Did you?” I asked. Bolt nodded.

“I thought she was just going to reach for the holster myself!” Starburst covered his face with his hoof, trying not to laugh at the foal. Bolt noticed.

“Hey,” she grumbled. It was all we could do not to start laughing at her. Trying to get myself straight I turned down the tunnel again and started to walk. Sensing relief, Starburst and Rimfire followed suit. Bolt came running along, asking what was so funny.

While we walked I perused the book, trying to get everything I could out of it. It had makes and models of nearly every revolver or lever-gun made or just thought of. I noted that the estimated production date of quite a few guns were after the war. How hopeful they’d been. One article in particular interested me. Its title, ‘Western guns biased against non-unicorns’ made me curious. Through my travels I’d noticed that there seemed to be a lot more unicorns than earth ponies. The article stated that non-unicorns couldn’t work the actions of guns nearly as well as a unicorn, and that they shouldn’t even attempt to use a lever-gun. That, in my mind, was reasonable.

Holiday had told me one thing, he’d never lost a fair duel to an earth pony. That they just couldn’t draw fast enough. And to get their mouth that far down they had to look away from the other pony, which was a deadly mistake.

By the time we reached the sandbag walls the sun was starting to set. We took our chances and didn’t camp at the tunnel. Instead we went right out of the tunnel and looked for the tracks. Most likely we would have been fine just going north from Camel but it was risky going up into the mountains with no path.

After an hour spent scrambling under the shadows of Baltimare we found the tracks. They looked fine, except for without any maintenance workers left the salty sea air had begun to rust the tracks. In a few places the wooden trusses had been taken out or broken off. The four of us took off along those tracks hoping to see Manehattan before night-fell. The only thing we managed to see though were raiders.

We lay inside a narrow ditch atop the crest of a small crater that had been made by a bomb a long time ago. We’d only known the raiders were ahead because they had fires and the black smoke was highlighted across the dim, grey sky. So we’d snuck up and made a plan. It would have been an awful plan to rest anywhere with raiders like these around, so we had to dispatch them. The only question was how.

The raider camp had three campfires in a triangle around a center tent. The tent was a dusty, military green with foilage camo on top. There were four ponies sitting around the fires with who knows how many in the tent. I was worried about just shooting into the camp. There was no telling how far the echoes of gunshots could spread. Rimfire had no such qualms, she just set her rifle up to fire down at them. Only she and I could shoot without revealing ourselves, and only when we laid our weapons down. Bolt and Starburst had to use saddle mounted guns, which meant they’d have to stand up out of the gulch. Rimfire and I exchanged glances. She was ready to go. I hoped my eyes told her that I wasn’t sure but she just rolled her eyes at me. Gritting myself I drew Luna and placed her butt down on the ground. I set my sights for the closest raider.

It was a stallion, whatever color his mane had been was gone from the dried blood and mud that caked it. His coat was no better off. I saw his head scanning the horizon. His gaze sweeping, and soon he’d see the firelight barely glinting off of the polished silver. Well I saw his eyes catch it, and I fired. Rimfire heard the blast and followed up. Her gun belched fire and lead down into the tent. The three other guards got up and began to draw with magic or not. Only one was an earth pony so I shot him twice in the chest so fast it only sounded like I fired once. The two unicorns dropped their guns, turned tail and ran. I just let them go. Rimfire had emptied her magazine and was getting another one when the tent burst into flames.

Two ponies ran out screaming and crying, their bodies engulfed it hot, clinging fire. I turned to the side and moved myself in front of Bolt so she couldn’t see. No pony should have to witness that. Rimfire and Starburst overtook the hill and rand sideways down into the crater. They checked the two bodies for life and maybe bullets. The burning ponies had fallen where they’d stood and were silent. Rimfire began to kick dirt over them, hoping to extinguish the inferno. I only let Bolt up when the bodies were out. Her eyes dilated at the sight of the tent on fire, and I couldn’t blame her. The fire was big enough that even though it was inside the crater the flames flew high into the air.

“We have to move!” I called to Starburst and Rimfire.

“Which way?” she called back. Starburst was silent, or just too quiet over the roar of the blaze.

“Keep on the tracks!” I cried again. I led Bolt around the pit, hoping Starburst and Rimfire would keep up. On the other side of the pit, where the tracks met up, I saw the two of them coughing and we rushed to their side. I offered Starburst my canteen, Bolt did the same for Rimfire. They both drank heartily.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Napalm,” Starburst said. “They must have taken it from an arms dump or something.” He wheezed and I offered the canteen again. He waved it off and focused on breathing.

“Then we should get out of here. If they just had napalm lying about they could have any sort of weapon about.” No one could deny that fact. There were many things worse than napalm used during the war, and we didn’t want anything to do with them.

So we walked the night, all except Bolt that is. She tried for a couple hours but she was just too young to have enough energy. We took turns carrying her on our backs. Starburst had the easier job so he did most of the lifting. Just as dawn was peaking through any small gap in the clouds, we could make out Manehattan.

We were exhausted beyond belief. The mountainous area we found ourselves in didn’t do anything for our aching hooves. The train tracks were surrounded by steep climbs into slight forests. I veered off to the left, where it was only a small climb to a particularly thick set of trees. I wasn’t sure if the others followed but it mattered little in my sleep-deprived brain. I forced myself through the thicket, into the trees, and slept.

I awoke a long time later to see a particularly fierce-looking Bolt standing guard. Rimfire and Starburst were both dozing off to my side. I sat up and pulled some of the sugar bombs I’d kept from Camel out of my bag. I pulled half of them out with magic and passed the box to Bolt, she looked famished. Her eyes warmed and she took the box happily. We sat there eating before we spoke.

“How long were we out?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Not sure. You were all asleep when I woke up so I just started watching, making sure no one got hurt.”

“That’s really great, Bolt,” I said. She was happy, both for the compliment and the cereal. No wonder she’d had her old name, she ate those things like no one’s business. I’d wished for some meat or something, even some vegetables. But beggars can’t be choosers.

“Are they going to wake up soon?” she asked, gesturing to the others.

“Probably. It was a long ways, Bolt. It takes a lot out of you when all you’ve eaten is this cereal.” I finished my sugar bombs and lay back against one of the trees. I heard a small buzzing, and a vibration on my hoof. I looked at my PipBuck, it was vibrating like it never had before. I pulled it up and looked at the screen. On it had a small pop-up with ‘radio trans.’ I hit the accept key and I saw the face of Elder Soap looking back at me. I could make out her voice among the static.

“Hello, Short. Is Starburst around?” she asked. I had a few questions myself, and I let her know. “I need to talk with Starburst,” she insisted. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the sleeping Steel Ranger. He wasn’t pleased to be woken up, but when he heard Soap’s voice he was up quick as a whip. He sat up next to me so we could both see the screen. Bolt was watching up nervously.

“Yes, Elder Soap?” he asked.

“Paladin Starburst, the Event has occurred. Please standby for orders.” The transmission was cut and the screen went back to telling me my health, malnourished.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“Ranger business,” he said calmly.

“Don’t give me that,” I said. “There would have been no reason to call me on my PipBuck unless she couldn’t get you on your comm system.” He looked away.

“The Event is bad, okay? That’s all I can say.”

“Did something happen to your base?” Bolt asked. She had siddled up to him without us seeing.

Starburst grunted. “Yes, Bolt. Something bad happened.”

“What?” I asked, worried for Bolt more than the Rangers.

“Enclave,” was all he said.

“What?” I blurted out loudly. “Enclave in New Pegasus? That can’t be!”

“Keep your voice down,” Rimfire said. She was sitting up now. Starburst paid her no mind.

“I won’t know anything else until she calls back. Until then, there’s nothing we can do but continue on, and double time it back to New Pegasus afterwards.”

Grumbling, I packed up whatever had fallen out of my packs and stood. Rimfire was the last to get up, stretching her muscles and more. I had a good feeling that we’d get to Manehattan proper in three, maybe four hours. One thing I was truly worried about was getting across the water. There were only a few good bridges left into the city. There were a few train tunnels, but I hada feeling a lot of them would be flooded.

Everything I’d heard about the bridges was correct. They were hundreds of yards long, the metal that made them was rusted nearly clean through. The carriages that had been left during the bombing sat where their drivers had died. In some places, where the weight had been too high, carriages had fallen through the bridge making gaping holes. I couldn’t see any poines though, which was a welcome relief.

I walked first, with Rimfire and Bolt side by side behind me. Starburst was in back by a decent margin. His armor was heavy and there wasn’t anything any of us could do about that. Step by step we traversed the bridge. A few times there was a tiny amount of hesitance when the bridge settled under some weight. Where the weight came from we had no idea. When the end of the bridge came in sight, I saw something that wasn’t nice. A wall had been erected of crushed and crumpled carriages. They took up the entire width of the bridge, only a five foot space was left clear. On the tops of the wall on either side were ponies with heavy machine guns. They didn't look friendly. Starburst and I walked up to the wall, Rimfire and Bolt staying back a little.

“Stop,” one of the ponies ordered. “Pay the toll.”

“What’s the toll?” I asked.

“2000 caps each,” the same pony said.

“We don’t have that,” I said, “but we figure to come on in otherwise.” The ponies on the wall grinned. I doubt they thought I was anything to worry about. Tow of them had their guns aimed lazily on Starburst, they weren’t even holding the guns right. They were leaning of them at best. I had a good feeling that the bullets wouldn’t do anything to his armor. And if they did, they wouldn’t be shooting for long if we had our way.

The pony started to speak again when I drew iron. His eyes widened as he kept on the task of talking. Starburst must have been watching me closely, because he started shooting as soon as I did. My first shot took the pony next to the talker. The fore of the bullet threw him back behind the wall. The talker was still stunned when I turned on him. He’d probably never had a pony turn guns on him like this. He threw his hooves up so I just turned to see how Starburst was doing. He’s gotten both of his. He gave me a knowing glance, ‘you think you’re the only one who can shoot?’

“H-hey I didn’t mean any harm,” the last pony standing said. I turned my gun back to him.

“I’m pretty sure you did. But I’m not one to just kill a pony who gave up. I figure if you can swim back to mainland we won’t kill you.” He looked at me terrified.

“Are you serious?” he said, practically screaming.

“Fuck no,” I said. “Get out of here and I swear if I see you again-” He was gone before I Even finished the sentence. Bolt and Rimfire joined up with us and we strode between the gap in the walls. On the other side, the pony who I’d shot off was clutching his gun and hollering loudly. He glanced at me, sorrow in his eyes.

“N-no,” he blubbered. Many ponies in a position of power don’t think it’s going to be them that gets shot, but everyone gets their ticket punched sooner or later. Bolt rushed up to him with a healing potion held tightly in her mouth. She put it on the pony’s chest and ran back behind us.

Where’d she get that potion, I wondered. The pony took the potion cautiously and downed it. He laid back as it took effect.

“Where’s the caps?” I asked. He said nothing so I shucked my gun again and pointed it menacingly. I had no intention of shooting him, but I figured he didn’t know that. He pointed behind me and I saw a large lockbox had been tied to a bench. I walked over to it and it popped open easily. A miniscule pile of caps greeted me. When I took them all my PipBuck said I’d only gotten 135 caps. “Where’s the rest?”

“That’s all there is,” his voice was full of fear and tiredness.

“You’re charging 2000 caps a pony and that’s all you have?” Starburst asked. He’d seen the pile too.

“No one ever paid 2000. Most of them just gave ten or whatever they had.” His voice was wavering and weak. He eyed the empty potion greedily. I must have hurt him more that I’d thought. It’d been a long time since I’d seen something take more than one potion. Either that or I just didn’t remember seeing it, which was likely. A small trickle of blood ran down his cheek, following the curve of his neck and dripping down onto the concrete.

“Where can we find Church?” Starburst asked. His mind was in the right place.

“Who?” the fallen pony asked.

“Churchane,” I explained, “he’s a drug maker and dealer. He’s supposed to be situated in Manehattan.”

“I’ve only heard of one pony even kind of like that, but good luck getting there,” he said.

“Why?” Rimfire asked. He thought carefully about his next answer.

“They don’t let earth ponies in, or mares,” he said, looking at everyone but me.

“Why not?” Bolt asked.

“Don’t know,” he said. “Never heard of one getting let into the Church.”

“The Church?” I asked.

“That’s what the Church is, I figured that’s where your Churchane would be.”

“How do we get there?”

“You’ll find it that way, across the city on the harbor side. It’s right next to the water, overlooking it. I doubt you’ll miss it.” He pointed directly east of us.

“Anything else we should know?” Rimfire asked.

“That you’ve practically killed me,” he said flatly.

“What do you mean?” she asked angrily. “We gave you a potion, that does its work and you’re fine.”

“Maybe... maybe not. All I know is I can’t move my hind legs.” I felt a chill down my spine. I’d crippled this pony, and he was right. He would die one way or the other. There wasn’t a doctor I knew that could heal a broken spine, and no one would want a pony like this with them. I closed my eyes in regret.

“You seem too calm for this situation,” Starburst said.

“Yeah, I know. It’s probably shock.” He looked up right in the eye. “Don’t you want to finish me off?”

“What?” I sputtered. His expression didn’t change from a solid coolness.

“You seemed to gung-ho to kill us when we had guns on you, and even when you walked around the wall you looked hungry for blood. I saw it in your eyes.”

“I’m not a cold-blooded killer,” I said, trying to defend myself. “I didn’t see any other way.”

“Some ponies are talkers, I guess not you.”

“You don’t know who I am!” I yelled. The others looked taken aback, Rimfire especially. The pony on the ground wasn’t.

“I think I’m seeing it more and more. You’re like the rest of them, killers.” I’d had enough of him, and I meant to show him. I felt around for my revolver, which I’d put away. Yet Rimfire’s glance caught my eye, she was upset, worried, or something in between. I felt the cold grip of Luna and waited.

No one was moving or talking at all, and it was all on me to make the next move. I was pretty sure that it was an unspoken consensus. My breathing, I noticed for the first time, had become heavy. I slowed it down, calming myself. ’It would almost be mercy to put him down,’ I thought. He’d never make it far, and the things he’s said made me almost happy to oblige his desire.

Something about him though, made me stop and think. I was pretty sure he didn’t have anything to hide or any reason to deceive us aside from the fact that I’d shot him. But even so, something about the 135 caps seemed a little off, but nothing added up to anything that was worthwhile. Getting from 2000 to just letting anyone in with ten caps or so was bizarre. I needed to bluff now more than ever, he wasn’t letting up.

“You’re a liar,” I said. He looked up at me, his face had fallen into a glazed stupor.

“Am I?” he asked.

“Yup. Now tell the truth so we can go,” I said.

“Why should I?” I’d prepared for that question.

“You think I’d shoot you, just to end your suffering? Maybe I’m not so kind, like you said. Maybe I’m a cold-blooded killer. I’ve heard that drowning is peaceful, with that river down there you could see for yourself.” He looked a little green around the gills. “There’s nothing quicker than hanging, a friend a ways back told me that. Except for the time it takes to tie the rope and all that around the ponies neck. I figure that would make it seem like a long time.”

“If you tell me what I wanted to know in the first place, I think we can come to an understanding,” I finished.

“Look man,” he said, a tinge of nervousness to him, “you came to us, you shot at us. We didn’t do anything to you.”

“But you wanted to,” I said. I started to draw my gun, slowly, for show. His eye caught the glow the movement and he leapt up like his tail was on fire. I swung my gun around, quicker, and my heart dropped. He’d grabbed Bolt and had himself around her neck. Bolt was choking, and going blue fast. “Let her go,” I said. He shook his head.

“You’re a killer, that’s all you’ll ever be,” he said solemnly. Bolt let out small squeaks of air.

I nodded. “Then that makes you a liar.” My gun belched fire and clicked onto an empty cylinder. The first tore through his jaw, between the teeth, and out the back. He gargled blood for a couple seconds before falling flat, his grip on Bolt loosened and she sprang to Rimfire’s side.

I popped the cylinders out and started to reload, taking care to do the job right. I hadn’t remembered leaving an empty round in, and inspection showed that the cylinder hadn’t been used. I said the same to Rimfire.

“Short,” she said, and stopped. I looked at her. She was looking at me like I was crazy.

“What?” I asked.

“I’ve got mixed emotions here, Short,” she said. “One, how did you know he was lying? Two, what the fuck was all that?”

“It was a guess that he was lying,” I said truthfully. “I didn’t even think that he would have lied about the back legs though.” I had to think about the next part. It wouldn’t be lying to say that I had surprised myself, with both the shooting and the talking. “I think I’m changing,” I said.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little change,” Starburst said. “But you were threatening a pony who we thought couldn’t walk... on a guess. That’s not us.”

“Is that not who we are?” I asked, growing angry. “I thought we were ponies who were trying to survive.”

“I thought you did more than survive,” Rimfire said. “You tried to help ponies. I remember when you tried to help, at the risk of your own life.”

“Isn’t that what I’m doing now?” I was mad now, and they could tell. I was hoping they’d just stay silent, and accept what I’d said. It didn’t look like they were about to so I continued. “We’re going to deal with Churchane to help all the ponies who he’s trapped in the drug world.”

“Do we even know that he does that?” Rimfire pointed out. “All we know is that he tricked you into smuggling something into New Pegasus and that he’s smart.”

“He tried to have us killed, Rimfire,” I said. Was I the only one who understood the danger? The true goals?

“You took thousands of caps from him, Short. If he knew that from New Pegasus in a day or two, no doubt he knows we’re coming, or that we’re already here.” She had a point, and that just made it worse. I hit myself mentally for not thinking of it before. I had to think before I spoke again.

“I’m just trying to keep you all safe,” I said finally.

“Why?” Starburst asked.

“Because I couldn’t do it before and almost got Rimfire killed. If I have to become a bad pony just to get everyone safe, then I’ll do it.”

“Do you think we can’t protect ourselves?” Rimfire asked.

“You didn’t have to come with me,” I said gravely. “I made you come.”

“You didn’t make us do anything,” Rimfire said. She walked to stand close next to me. “I chose to come with you out of Balefire Point.”

“I came with you out of the bunker,” Starburst said.

“I know it doesn’t mean much,” Bolt spoke up. “But I came out of Avacyn too.”

“Well all made a choice, Short, that comes hell or highwater we’d go with you because, frankly, the other options weren’t that palatable.”

“Why do you feel it’s your responsibility for our safety?” Bolt asked.

“When Rimfire and I were travelling alone, I took her into somewhere I didn’t have to go, and she nearly died. The next day I got another friend killed. I’m a walking disaster.” Rimfire looked hurt, almost as though she were about to cry.

“Are you still beating yourself up over that?” I nodded. “Listen, Short. I know I was a bit harsh when I said that, not that it wasn’t true. But you were a lot different then. And frankly, I felt like I was responsible for you.” That didn’t make me feel much better.

“I’m sorry to say this, but Short, you need to move on,” Starburst said. And when he said that, I knew he was right, but there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell it would be easy.

End of Chapter 9

Level up!

Guns 80, Medicine 40

Perk Gained: Center of Mass(You don't fool around with fancy trick shots. Straight to the midsection and down they go. You do an additional 15% damage with attacks targeting the torso.)