Even though I had just heard the actual words spoken, my mind was still trying to play catch up. The way I can figure it, somehow Longbow found out that Myron was cooking up drugs here, bust down the door, a scuffle happened and the young colt got shot. I manage to make my way in with Carlotta before she says HE'S the one who hired her to protect ME. I've never even heard of this Moron, let alone understand why he cared about my well being, but I intend to find out!

"I don't pay you to stand there! Why not kill the steel bitch already and get me a health potion?!" Myron said as he winced from the bleeding wound, his words were filled with enough anger that it was worrisome. Carlotta was a Talon merc, and they were bad news if you were fighting them. Loyal to the contract holder until death, they would fight to their last without question, which meant that she would kill him if he directly asked. Not even as the pony she was hired to protect, or as her friend, could I ever persuade her not to. That didn't matter to me, I still had to try to stop her.

I struggled to my hooves quickly and charged flat out at Longbow, catching her off guard as I threw my full (and considerable) weight against her side, making her stumble sideways. While she was off balance I reared up and swung my forehooves down onto her back. She shifted slightly as she tried to recover, making me overshoot my left hoof strike, but I was surprised to find that the pipbuck's casing let out a resounding crack as it slammed down. My right hoof however, slammed painfully against her armor, making me yelp before I lost my balance and flopped onto her back.

"Backlash, what are you doing?!" Carlotta said through her bit as she tried to keep her battle rifles lined up.

"Hear me out, Longbow." I said as the unicorn stabilized herself. "This isn't your mission." She glared at me over her shoulder, the fires in her eyes nearly consuming her, but I could tell she wasn't lost yet. "I may not be able to order you around, but Strawberry Sorbet said you need to accompany me to the facility." I could see the fire in her eyes drain slowly as I spoke, my words clearly defusing the rage that had swelled. "Listen to me. Let's say you arrest him, are you going to wait for more rangers to show up or are we abandoning the mission to take him back?"

Her eyes went wide as she scrunched her muzzle up. "Well, we could..."

"Before you suggest it..." I cut her off as I pushed myself off her, keeping my right hoof high as it stung. "...we aren't taking him with us. My agreement wasn't to babysit somepony for you, he will just slow us down and I won't be held responsible if he gets away." I looked back at Carlotta as she kept her guns trained on the blue mare, her rigid expression softening as I backed off.

"You're not really a smart pony, are you?" Myron's voice stung deep in Longbow as I watched the fire in her vision flicker back to life. "You do realize that I'm the pony keeping Carlotta from killing you, right? One word from me and the both of you are nothing but cooling meat left out for the buzzards." He laughed lightly, trying to mask the pain he was in.

Carlotta stiffened in shock before looking to Myron with her cold stare. "My contract states I was hired to protect Backlash. I would refuse..."

The pale stallion waved his hoof at her casually. "Yeah yeah, I know the rules. I swear, my brilliant intellect is overlooked by everypony I have the unfortunate displeasure to meet." A grin slid across his muzzle slowly. "Besides, Mr. Backlash and I have business to conduct." He pulled himself shakily to his hooves, glaring towards Longbow as he walked unsteadily towards Carlotta. "Now quit standing around and give me a Celestia-damned health potion."

"Sure thing, boss." She frowned as she reached back into her saddle bags with a heavy sigh and pulled one of her jars of purple healing juices out (I had always wondered why they were purple. I mean, why not red or blue? Or any other color for that matter.) , flipping the cap off with a talon as she held it out to him. He bit down on the tip, chugging half of the tonic down greedily before he gasped for breath. The pale stallion turned to me as Carlotta grabbed the bottle from him, pouring the rest of it onto his bloody leg, letting the wound slowly knit itself closed.

"Anyway, getting down to the matter at hand. I assume you have no idea who you are talking to." He said as he winced slightly, his voice containing just the tiniest traces of anxiety. "...Or how I even know who you are."

I nodded and glanced over at Longbow as she huffed and sat down on a few empty boxes of cleaning supplies. "Yeah. I'm won..."

"You want to know why I have an interest in you, yes yes, I'll get to that." Myron cut me off suddenly as he twitched and got to his hooves, he appeared edgy, but that's probably because he's an addict. "I want us to be friends, and friends can discuss things... in private." He shook a forehoof lazily at Carlotta as he spoke. "Would you kindly escort our dear paladin out, Carlotta? Show her about the city for a bit. Tonight's a celebration! The three kings have each given their workforces the next two days off to help keep them content amid the rising tensions. So relax, have fun, get laid, and keep her the hell away from us!"

I watched as the brown griffin nodded and walked over behind Longbow. The armored mare got to her hooves and rolled her eyes as she trudged through the trash to outside, Carlotta doing her best to shut the cracked door on its splintered frame as she left. I raised my hoof slightly and went to speak, but the annoying runt was faster than I was again.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the Maredino family? Being a fairly well-traveled merchant, you must have known that they had run the New Pegasus drug trade out west." He strode around the messy room as he spoke, his words filled with pride, but only inflected on HAVE and HAD. The gears in my mind spun to life, letting me remember that they indeed ran the drug trade there. I tended to avoid any area they controlled because they charged a tariff on any trader not pushing their drugs. Wait, he's saying they DID run it, as in no longer?

"They don't run things anymore?" I must have sounded stupid because he sighed and looked annoyed again.

"At least you're following me. Anyway, long story short, a month ago they happened to book a ride on the same train to Appleloosa that I had convinced a local arms dealer to schedule an explosives shipment on. Oh, and I may or may not have sent a message to one of my 'close friends' in that backwater western town to tell some local loser druggie that if he took the repair handcar from Appleloosa station and ran it as fast as he could down the track, he could time travel to the future..." He struggled to keep his giddy voice calm and his face straight as he talked. Man, this colt was fucking psychotic.

"Anyway, the train derailed on the cart and BOOM! the whole arms cache went up! Ah, I wish I could have seen the crater they said it made, but I heard earlier on the radio that they just fixed the railway again. Anyway, now that I took over their operations in New Pegasus, I'm looking to expand east, and that's where you come in."

I sat down hard and wide eyed. Wow, So this kid is a whole new breed of fucked up AND the new head of the Las Pegasus drug trade? I'm surprised Longbow didn't just kill him on the spot!

"Yeah, I have that effect on ponies." He grinned as he sat in front of me. "Are you going to ask why I need you or are we just going to get right down to business?"

I thought for a moment as the gears in my head locked up. Something didn't make sense. "Who were you to the Maredinos? Why kill them?"

He stiffened up at the questions. I could see a tremor of rage ripple through his face for a moment. "Who was I? I was the reason they even had a business! I was the one who refined the Dash formula to be as potent as it was before the war! I was the one who mixed up the best batches pony kind has ever inhaled! Without me, those foals would still have been cooking up their toxic excuses for drugs!" He heaved heavily as he belted out his explanation.

I rubbed my hoof on my chin again in thought. I remembered that the Maredinos main drug to push was Dash, but I had a hard time believing that the colt sitting before me had mixed up some sort of super potent batch. Skyline had once told me that the reason people manufactured some of the drugs nowadays was because they lost effectiveness over time, but making drugs had to be hard. Since when were drugs so easy to make that even a foal could do it?

"I can see you straining that diminutive intellect of yours." He said as he wiped his slightly sweaty brow with his hoof. "Why not just ask your next uninteresting question?"

I stiffened up at his arrogance. "Why don't you just tell me?"

"That would be meta-gaming!" He gasped as if he were appalled. "The game master can't reveal anything unless the character asks."

I stared and blinked in confusion. "Ok... you lost me."

He facehooved and shook his head. "I swear I'm the only stallion intelligent enough to run a game of Wasteland in this shitty excuse of a country." My head started to hurt. For being as smart as he thought he was, he sure as hell was confusing! I'm not sure Pinkie Pie would even be able to follow that logic.

"SO...this is all just a game to you?" I said slowly.

"No... well... yes.." He stuttered and scrunched up his muzzle with an angry look. "It was just a reference so SHUT YOUR FAT MUZZLE FOR ONE SECOND!" He reared up to stamp his hooves angrily on the floor.

I tensed up without thinking and accidentally slipped into S.A.T.S.. As the pink interface gave me an 86% chance to hit with my hooves, I contemplated on just pulling out Heartstopper and shooting this smug colt in the face a few times. I'm pretty sure that would help relieve some of the stress that's been building up over the last few days. Alas, I just can't bring myself to kill a colt, no matter how twisted he seemed, it's just not the pony I am. Well, if anything, this would give me some time to deal with him not yelling at me.

That reminds me of something the old man used to tell me. He said every pony had a moral center they personified and lived by, he called it a virtue. It always seemed like an odd idea, I mean how could any pony be summed up as a single idea? I remember the stories he would tell about the ministry mares and how they each held an 'Element of Harmony', but they were special ponies. How could anypony in the desolate wastes personify something like laughter or generosity? I canceled S.A.T.S. and let out a sigh as Myron slammed down and glared angrily at me before pausing and studying my face.

"The way you shifted right there. Does that pipbuck of yours work?" He said as he trotted over and leaned down, looking it over. "Fascinating... It's one of THOSE models."

I smiled and held the pink computer up. "You've seen one before?"

"Well, not THIS model, but one of the models made for Rainbow Dash, or so I'm told. It had some sort of experimental inventory system that used extremely precise teleportation spells to manipulate items. So precise that it could even teleport combat stimulants and health potions directly into the bloodstream." He said as he grabbed the device with his hooves, twisting my leg uncomfortably as he looked it over. "That one is closely guarded in Las Pegasus by those enclave rejects that call themselves 'dashites' or whatever. It was in a lot worse condition than this one though. Fuck, I mean Carlotta said that you found it, but I expected it to be useless."

The mention of my Griffin friend shot me back to the topic at hand. "So why did you send her to protect me?"

The pale stallion smiled as he let go of the pipbuck and strode over to one of the machines with a dash vial inserted into it. Standing on his back legs, he hoofed a button on the face of the contraption as he held his other hoof under the vial. A small hiss emanated as the vial dropped from it's mounting into his waiting hoof.

"Because, I need somepony to run my shipments from here to Manehattan, and I need that pony to meet four requirements. First of all, they needed to have no affiliation with the Maredino's or any other supplier in the region." He paused and slipped the inhaler head onto the red cylinder before biting down on the tube to hold it in his mouth. He walked closer before he twisted his head and tossed the vial to my hooves. "Two, they can't be addicts, occasional use is fine, but I can't have them using up the shipment before it can be distributed."

He nodded down towards the small red inhaler for me to pick it up. "Third, I need them to be faster than the competition. When one of my informants got word to me that you had a working pre-war car, I knew you could complete runs in one tenth the time as any other team." I picked up the tiny metal tube in my hoof, noting that the whole thing felt cold and heavier than it should for it's size.

"So why not contract with Ditzy? Her skycar..." I looked back up at the short stallion with a look of confusion.

He cut me off yet again. I was really getting tired of him doing it. "That fucking zombie refused my offer. Flat out told me to buck off, I mean who says that? Anyway, that brings me around to requirement four! Loyalty. I need a pony who doesn't challenge my masterful plans and won't surprise me with a sudden but inevitable betrayal." He raised his hoof to his muzzle and poorly attempted to imitate shooting up the vial of dash. "I need you to prove your loyalty. Use the dash and I will administer a counter-agent to keep you from being addicted."

I dropped the vial on the ground at the suggestion. "Fuck that! I don't do drugs unless it is absolutely necessary for survival, least of all Dash." I sat and crossed my hooves. I just couldn't do it.

The problem was that a year or so after we started working in the field for the old man, Skyline and I had a close call with a gang outside of Baltimare. They came at me from all sides, but Sky swooped in to save the day like normal, everything was going pretty smoothly. As she turned to do a second pass, one of the gangs pistol rounds clipped my shoulder and I went down. I had never seen her so angry, wiping out half the ponies within moments. She had thought that I died and threw herself into them, causing the remaining members to scatter. When she came back to see me alive, I think that's what caused her addiction to start.

She wouldn't listen to reason and blamed herself for me getting shot. She was convinced she was too slow and thought that Dash would help her compensate. I didn't notice for a while, but the signs of an addict are pretty hard to miss. She would leave me in the middle of the night to fly off for hours when she thought I was asleep. One morning while she was sleeping, I went through her saddlebags and found that she was carrying several of the empty red vials. I confronted her when she woke up and we ended up arguing, but it wasn't until I took her remaining full vials did she break. She ended up trying to bite down on the bit of her battle saddle to kill me, forgetting that she hadn't put it on yet. I had watched as the revelation sunk deep, showing her just how far gone she was.

The next few hours were filled with tears and telling me over and over that she was sorry. She told me she wanted to stop, but didn't want to risk losing me in some gunfight. I destroyed the full vials after we had talked, but that's when things got pretty bad, the withdrawal hit her hard over the next following week and she was nearly uncontrollable. It wasn't until I locked her in the generator room at the garage for a few days that she recovered enough for us to get her to Dr. Fitz for a proper detox. I swore to her and the old man that I would never fall to the temptation of any drug.

"Listen, Moron. You can forget about me running your fucking shipments. I won't take your filth anywhere." I made my voice as stern as I could. Fuck this colt and his shit. I don't want to lose Carlotta, but I won't fucking sacrifice my morals to appease anypony.

The young stallion frowned and shifted slightly on his hooves. "You might not want to do that, I mean, I'm well informed from all around the wasteland, and it wouldn't take very many caps to get ponies to come out of the ruins for miles around to kill you and that sister of yours."

Fuck. Two times in one day I've had someone attempt to threaten me like this. I mean it wasn't new to threaten to use bounty hunters personally against Sky and I, but I couldn't just gun Myron down. For the bargain price of five thousand caps, he could get every hired gun out there to bear down on us in just a few days, and with how fast his information network seemed to run, I know that even if we ran we probably would never be safe.

"Tick, tock. I got shit to do, jackass, make your decision." He smiled his evil little smile as his determined look bore into my head. I don't think I really have any other choice at the moment, I still had to go and fix the stupid terminal near Filly and somehow find the mirror pond before 42 did. I'll have to fucking agree and figure out some way in the near future to sort this all out while still some way keeping all this from Sky.

"Fine." I said as I picked the vial up again, holding it in my hoof near my muzzle. Myron's smile grew wider than I thought possible.

"So you finally came around, huh? I knew you would..." The smug stallion started.

Fuck that, it's my turn to interrupt. "But only on one condition." My voice boomed over his, causing him to lock up momentarily. Oh Celestia it was worth it just to see that look on his face. "You will postpone starting my runs until I can sort out the jobs I already have. My ability to run your shit will do you no good if everypony thinks I don't hold up to my word."

He looked down for a moment and clenched his jaw. "I will agree to postpone starting the shipments."

I grunted and nodded. "Then I'll..."

He cut me off with his own raised voice. "But I have my own conditions..."

THE FUCKING HELL, CELESTIA!? JUST GIVE ME THE STRENGTH TO KILL HIM! PLEASE! I ASK YOU FOR NOTHING ELSE! I thought as I struggled to contain my anger, looking into his green eyes and trying to melt his brain with my condensed hatred.

"In waiting so long, my competitors will have a leg up on me. If you want the extra time, I'll need you to... 'disrupt' their operations. I would arrange it myself, but as you see, I have a bit of a staffing problem at the moment. Kill one of the three Kings and we have a deal."

I didn't like this one bit. My body ached and told me to rest as the bruises and strained muscles struggled to keep me standing. My brain hammered at my skull for sleep as my conscience screamed to just walk away. I leaned forward and went to use the drug before Myron slapped it out of my grip.

"Hold up, I have a brilliant idea. I want to see if your pipbuck has the same ability as Rainbow's supposedly did." He picked up the vial and tossed it into on of my saddle bags. "Ok, now remember, once it wears off in a few minutes, you need to sleep. You've got a big day ahead and I need you at the top of your game. Come see me in the morning and I'll administer the antidote."

"How do I know it will even work?" I said uneasily as I eyed the red tube.

"Because I fucking designed it to work. I lost a lot of good slaves testing the various formulas, but I did eventually get the chemical balance that didn't cause heart failure. In any case, your tiny brain will just have to trust that my superior intellect will have gotten this dose correct as well." He calmly spoke through a wide smile.

I cringed as he even spoke the word 'trust', making my mind shoot back to the thought about the ministry mares. Applejack had been the bearer of the Element of Honesty and was known throughout old Equestria for never letting anypony down. Oh how I prayed that she could come back to life and buck Myron back into the deceitful shadows he crawled from. Although as much as I wanted it, a boulder would never turn into a pile of caps and I'd have to get on with real life here in the wastes.

I slid into S.A.T.S. with relative ease, deselecting the targeting system to bring up the inventory. I paused as I looked over the weapons tab, glancing at the only two guns I had. I sadly passed them up as I looked through the other tabs before finally reading the bright pink, four lettered name that floated in my vision. I selected it, praying to Luna from the back of my mind that this model didn't have the same functionality.

I was distressed to see the option to use it pop up quickly. Of course I knew it had to be able to do it, why would the spell only be limited to equipping weapons? Whatever, no going back now. My thoughts commanded the system to use the vial and the item popped off the inventory screen as I felt a sharp sensation in my chest. A small notification appearing in the top right corner of my vision stated that I had used the drug.

I closed my inventory with another thought and the spell switched back to the targeting screen, resisting the thought to buck the smug stallion in front of me in the muzzle. I deactivated S.A.T.S. and watched as the pink outline disappeared, waiting for normal time to resume as it always had, only it was taking much longer than usual. Fuck. I knew that dash made ponies act quicker than normal, but I had never considered that the user was actually perceiving time as moving slower. Which fucking meant that I was perceiving leaving the slowness of S.A.T.S. at an even slower rate.

Other than the piercing boredom of waiting for time to reorient itself, I felt good. My weak muscles were solid under me, I could feel exactly how I was standing, even the slightest shift in weight and I could feel the muscles stretch and tug. As time resumed to about a quarter of it's normal speed, it stopped accelerating. I looked up to see Myron tossing a coffee mug towards me, the smooth white cup was rotating slowly through the air as I watched it. I easily stepped aside as it flung past my muzzle, making me smile. I feel great AND I'm fast? Great Celestia's tiara this drug is fucking awesome! I am untouchable with this shit!

I turned and trotted my way to the door, watching it in amazement as I hoofed it open, disturbing the bright dust motes that floated in the artificial light casting down from outside. I gasped slowly as I watched the fluffy particulates dance through the air, being drawn around by the subtle air current. The bright lights started to sting my eyes as I looked around, reaching my hoof up to shield myself from the light. Ok, so downside one, light gets to be annoying, I can't do anything about that...or can I? I am untouchable because this drug makes me move fast, right? Well I bet I could outrun even the light! I am such a smart pony!

As I took off towards the corner, I beamed a smile over to Ripcord as he sat in his office. The olive pegasus was slowly looking up over an old book he was reading as I observed him blow a ring of smoke from his muzzle, the wispy smoke dissipating into nothingness before he took another drag off of his cigarette. As I got to the edge of the motel building, I sprung forward, galloping down the street as fast as I could. I squinted in the near blinding light, not disheartened in the least I couldn't escape it's all encompassing rays. How could I waste the time to feel bad when everything felt so good!?

The street party was still in full swing as I could hear the slow beat of a set of bongo drums playing along side the long notes of the fiddle emanating from the center of town. I wasn't sure where I was going to run now or how long this would last, but I wanted to make the most of it when I could! I spotted odd, inky forms floating under everypony as they danced, hiding from the bright light close to the ground.

I took off towards the weird shapes, realizing as I approached that I was watching the shadows from everypony form and shift as they danced. Huzzah! I had found refuge from the evil light! I beamed a smile as I twisted and wound my way under the crowd, looking around as I slid through the shadows of the assorted ponies. I stopped as I found myself near the bonfire that had been started not long before we arrived, the ribbons of flames looked almost alive as they waved in the wind like the blades of grass from my dreams.

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it, the soft dirt and warm breeze against my coat, the warmth of the sun as it shone down in all of Celestia's brilliance. I opened my eyes again as I looked up, hoping to see the blue skies and balloon shaped clouds. I was instead met with the ridiculously bright lights on the tower next to me, causing me to turn and rub my eye with my forehoof, the after glare taking forever to fade.

As I regained most of my full vision, I looked up the road to the bridge, following as I saw a red pegasus swing down into the Red Lantern's parking lot. That's odd. Sky wasn't supposed to meet us here, why would she just show up? I tucked that thought away and took off through the crowd again, deftly making my way between the celebrating ponies to go talk to her.

Time shifted slowly again as the drug started to wear off, speeding up at a gradual pace. By the time I reached the parking lot, it was pretty much going at it's normal, uninteresting rate again. I walked around the corner as I thought to myself that Dash could be the edge I would need to fight 42 and win, hell, it could help out in any sort of combat! I wanted, no, NEEDED more Dash. Skyline smiled as she pulled off the tight hug Ripcord gave her, turning to me before looking down at my bandaged chest, her eyes softening a bit.

"You ok there, Backlash?" She walked up slowly and put her hoof on my shoulder. "Do you want me to take a look at it?"

I yawned heavily, my legs wobbling a bit, making me sit for a moment before getting back to my hooves. "No, I'll be fine. I'm just kind of exhausted." As I spoke, her expression shifted to one of curiosity, leaning in close and looking into my eyes.

"Did you take a Med-X for it or something? Your pupils are dilated." Her voice held more than just a curious note now, but my brain refused to try to figure out why. I guess with being so tired I was just losing focus, it had been a long day and I was looking forward to a good amount of sleep. I yawned again, this time losing my balance and falling sideways. Sky stepped forward as I barely caught myself.

"No, I didn't and I'm fine. I just need to get to bed." I grumbled out the words as I stumbled towards the room we'd rented, making it all of five feet before I tripped on my bad hoof and fell on my face, my still sore chest was throbbing in pain as I struggled to get back up. As I did, I was interrupted by Sky as she pressed herself against me so I could lean on her, helping me walk to the room.

"I know you're lying to me, Backlash, but with as tired as you seem, the truth can wait until morning." I heard her say fuzzily as Ripcord opened our door for us, once again letting me view the most beautiful sight in all of Equestria, the single lusciously soft, queen-sized mattress I had spent many a night on before. I could hear it calling to me, beckoning me to just grab hold of it's amazing softness and never leave. I reached out for it with both my hooves, frowning as the bed seemed to fly away from my vision. Oh wait, that's because without my front hooves on the floor, gravity could take over and help welcome me to the amazing world of sleep.

I opened my eyes as I laid on the metallic floor of the skycar, shivering from the cold night air as I looked up and out of the broken windows to see it was still dark outside. I sat up and swung my gaze around the interior, confused as to where my friends were.

"Oh, no." I said as I cringed in terror. "no, no, no, no, no!" I scrambled to my hooves and ran for the latched door, wrapping my forlegs around the handle while pressing my weight against the cold hatch to try to hold it shut. I knew what was coming, I didn't want them to get me! I didn't want to be cast out into the darkness again!

A sudden slam of a hoof against the door startled me, shortly joined by numerous others as I screamed. The door jerked and bounced as I struggled to hold it closed against the onslaught of vengeful dead ponies. I could feel my grasp on the door weakening, my rear hooves slipping on the smooth floor. I was losing the fight. I called out for Sky as the dead ponies slammed the door open, flinging me away onto the cold floor.

I was tugged backwards as they got a hold of my legs, slowly pulling me towards the open door. I tried to dig my fore hooves down and buck my legs, but their strength was just too much. I watched in horror as they drug me from the skycar, feeling all my strength leave my body as I was drug over the old rooftop. The few dead unicorns in the group floated me up into the view of the group as I was dangled over the black abyss. A pair of lifeless pink eyes gazed up at me from the front of them, the large-framed, purple mare stepping forward to the ledge, her muzzle only inches from mine. Her voice was cold and emotionless as she spoke.

The magic holding me up ceased as I screamed one last time, tumbling away from the rooftop and disappearing into the misty darkness below as I felt it consume my very being.

I shook awoke in a cold sweat, wildly ruffling the covers of the queen bed in our motel room. My heart ached as it raced in my chest, my eyes burned as they adjusted the light in the room, and my nose most likely hurt from stupidly falling on it. I tried to catch my breath as I slid over and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Just another Luna-damned nightmare..." I mumbled under my breath.

I assumed it was day outside, seeing as there was less light coming through the windows now. I looked around the room to see Skyline sitting at the kitchen table with a couple of snack cakes next to Longbow. Carlotta was missing, but I assumed she was over with Myron or out flying around.

The two girls had stopped to look back at me, Skyline's face radiating both her displeasure and conveying great worry. I forced a slight smile as I slid off the edge of the bed and walked to the nearby chair my gear was on. I hoisted on my saddlebags and flak vest, noting that the bandages on my chest were gone, and that only a bullet-shaped, fleshy dimple was all that remained in my tan coat.

"I am so disappointed in you." Skyline said as she slowly hovered her way over to me. "Fucking Dash? After all these years without so much as a relapse, and this is how you repay me?" She painfully smacked my head with her hoof and landed next to me. "You know how hard it was for me to kick that shit. Why the fuck would you even start?!"

"Look... I can explain." I rubbed my hoof on the back of my head as I looked at the floor. "I didn't have any other choice!"

"Oh? You didn't, did you?" She yelled as she stomped on the floor. "So somepony literally held you down and dosed you up?" She prodded me with her hoof and leaned in close. "Tell me then. Was it worth it? You like getting FUCKING HIGH?"

Both of us were torn from each other's gazes as Carlotta swung open the front door and stepped inside, closely followed by Myron who held a small green syringe in his muzzle. Carlotta smiled as Sky walked over to her slowly. The small pale stallion approached me with a grin and twisted his neck back before jamming the needle painfully into my leg, letting the anti-addiction concoction run through my veins. I sighed sadly as the full extent of how bad I just fucked up hit me, I wondered if there would be any promises I had made left unbroken by the end of this journey.

"Hey, hun, miss me?" Carlotta cooed happily while she leaned in for a kiss. Sky reached back and slapped her across her beak before storming outside and taking to the air. The stunned griffon looked back at the door with guilty eyes before turning back towards me, frowning softly.

"Now that you're all better, get off your lazy flanks and finish your job." Myron said as he turned and looked back at Longbow, blowing her a kiss as she glared from the kitchen table. "One last thing. Carlotta will need to stay with me because too many ponies here know she works for me. I'll leave you idiots to do the hard work, and do make it quick, my drug empire is on a tight schedule."

As quickly as the whirlwind of activity had started, Myron and Carlotta were gone, leaving Longbow and I sitting in silence. I leaned forward and bit down on the antidote tube, pulling it out of my leg and spitting it onto the floor, trying to think of a way to explain everything to Sky. That is of course assuming she wasn't flying back to the garage right now, which would suck because I don't think I can do this job without her. Longbow stood up and walked over to me, swinging her head to get her long mane out of her face as her piercing glare shot into me.

"You going to yell at me for yesterday?" I asked with pleading eyes. I wanted her to yell at me, to storm off and go back to her own life. If she left, it would at least be the final nail in the Backlash-sized coffin of attempted friendships. I watched as she lined her twin sniper rifles up with my side.

"As unhappy as you made me yesterday, I have a single question for you." Her voice was calculating and genuine. "Did you mean what you said, that you had no other choice?"

"If I said no, he would have put out a bounty on Sky and myself. I don't want to put Skyline in the line of fire or give her any position where she thinks she needs to sacrifice her well-being for my own." I looked her straight in the eye, watching as she thought over my response carefully.

"Why not just kill Myron?" She asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

I shook my head slowly. "You want me to kill him? He may be an evil little bastard, but he's barely older than a colt. No, you can kill him, I won't sink that low." I did want to kill him though, every fiber of my being was telling me I should, but I just couldn't.

"I'd like to think that ponies can change, and didn't he at least deserve that chance? Doesn't everypony?" Am I asking that because that's what I truly believe? Or is it because I know that I'm not the best pony I could be. Do I deserve a second chance? What about 42, shouldn't she get one as well?

I watched as the the heavily armed mare in front of me relaxed, sitting back on her hooves slowly. "I kill ponies only if they don't leave me any other action, but stallions like him don't change. At the end of our mission to the facility, I will take him in to face his crimes with or without your help. He might die as punishment, but that is not my call to make."

I relaxed a bit as well, happy to see we had some sort of common ground between us. "Believe me, I would enjoy nothing more than to see him carried off by the rangers, but right now I don't need to have an army of bounty hunters after me. With her having seen how 42 does things, I need Carlotta on my side, she is an invaluable part of helping to stop the wasteland from being overrun." My stomach grumbled loudly and reminded me that I hadn't eaten anything today, nor was I sure if I did yesterday either.

The blue aura from Longbow's horn enveloped one of the snack cakes still on the table, she floated it over to me with a confused look on her face. "Forty Two? What's that?"

I grabbed the round cake from the air and sighed, forgetting she had no idea that was 'the pink mare' from the reports. "That's her name, 42 is the mare who stole my car. She was who you thought you were arresting yesterday."

"So you are trying to stop her? Why?" She obviously didn't believe me, but it was understandable. "That doesn't make sense, what's in it for you? Were you from ponyville?" Her words stung as they sunk in. "Did you know someone there she murdered?" My thoughts drifted to Pallet, making my heart sink further.

"Because I'm responsible." I said softly. "I set her free from her prison, and I'm the one who has to deal with what she's done, with what I've allowed her to do." I tossed the small snack onto the bed, I didn't really feel like eating now.

"Redemption." Longbow said quietly, the words carried the strength of her resolve on them. "You want redemption for the deaths you caused." I shook my head and felt my ear twitch, I could hear the breeze outside the door shift slightly.

That wasn't it. I don't want to be redeemed. Redemption to me was like paying back a debt you owed to somepony. Yes you did make up for the money you spent, but at that point the debt was gone, forgotten as if it had never occurred in the first place. I don't want the ponies that 42 had killed forgotten, and you can never repay a debt of lives.

"I just need to do it. Every bit of the pony I am calls out for me to stop her, but for that to happen, I need all my friends' help." I kicked the empty syringe with my hoof, watching as it rolled across the carpet. "I just wish that I could do that without being such a disappointment to Sky. I don't mean to keep putting her in these situations, but I'm just too dumb to see that I keep hurting her with my choices."

I twisted around as the front door creaked open slowly, Skyline pushing her way inside, she had a sullen look on her face. I assume it was because she had been listening through the door. "You've never been a disappointment, Backlash. I may not have liked what you did last night, but I was only angry because I thought that maybe I caused it. That somehow you thought that the drug could somehow make you better, like I did back then." She trotted over and threw herself around me into a hug. "I knew you probably did have a good explanation, but I let my temper get the best of me and acted hastily, and for that I'm sorry." I smiled and hugged her back.

"So, what do we do now?" Longbow asked while getting back to her hooves. "What job was he talking about and why would it matter if your griffin friend had to stay back?" Skyline pushed off me and hovered in the air with a confused look.

"Wait, why isn't Carlotta with us?"

After sitting down and running through the entirety of yesterday's Myron-themed events, (and finally eating a whole box of snack cakes to keep my stomach from rebelling further) both Sky and Longbow were onboard for taking down one of the kings. I had assumed that Longbow would have been happy with the task, but she went so far past it as she looked like I had just made her the happiest mare in the world. Now, it was time for the hard part, thinking of the who's and the how's.

"I vote we take down White Bishop." The heavily armed mare said with gobs of glee in her words.

"I thought you said you didn't kill ponies willingly..." I said boredly as I propped my head above the table with my hooves. Contrary to what I thought, trying to figure the specifics for assassinating a drug lord was a bit tougher than I originally imagined. I looked over at Sky who was laying against one hoof while using the other to push a pencil into the tabletop, Her gaze was one of boredom far worse than my own.

"Well, I don't normally, but even the Steel Rangers have a standing order to kill him on sight." She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hoof while she stared blankly at the wall. "He's escaped custody once before because he has many more connections to gangs in the wastes that we had first thought. Not to mention, that overweight bastard is the biggest of the three."

Wait, what? Did she just say he was fat? It was an odd choice of words as nopony has seen White Bishop in the flesh. Maybe it was just a rumor she had heard, or how she envisioned him, but for all anypony knows, he could just be some decrepit old mare running the operations. Even though her voice seemed to be off, and aside from the odd comment, she had another good point. He was the biggest player in the Pool, being the source for most of the production of new Mint-als, Dash, stampede and Rage for Manehattan, Baltimare, AND fillydelphia.

Skyline shot back her response before she snapped the pencil in half. "True, but he's also going to be the hardest to take down. What about the Stalliatore twins? they only employ like, 20 ponies. Plus Nickel Slot always wanders the floor while finding Jackpot upstairs would be the only real problem."

"No, they are the most well armed. Too well armed in fact." Longbow sighed and floated the sparkle-cola she was sipping off of the the last few minutes up to her lips, taking a quick drink. "None of the local rangers know where it's coming from, but they have a ton of quality magical weapons." She eyed me over quickly. "We originally thought that they had an arms merchant dealing to them, but I don't think that would account for how much they have."

"What about Pepp..." I started to say, watching from the corner of my eye as Sky's mane stood on end.

"No! She is out of the question." Sky said as she cut me off. "Besides, Peppermint only sells booze and rents out escorts, she can hardly be considered one of the kings at all!"

I stood up and looked over at her. "Yes, but her stills are some of the biggest left in the wasteland! If her supply were to be lost, most of the alcoholics would have to turn to drugs to compensate."

Sky harrumphed and crossed her hooves as she floated into the air. "Then I'll have to agree with Mrs steel flank over there and vote for White Bishop."

I grumbled and facehooved. "Fine. We'll go for Bishop." I could practically feel the joy radiating off of Longbow. "Now, any ideas of how to even get to him?"

The peppy paladin's eyes lit up. "Well, he runs fights in the basement level of his tower every night as you know. He tends to send a small group of cleaning ponies to clear the bar floor safes to take back upstairs and..."

I pressed my hoof over her muzzle to quiet her. "Woah woah. How do you know so much about what goes on there?"

She pushed my hoof away and shifted uneasily on her hooves, looking over my shoulder at Sky. "Oh, the rangers keep tabs on his day to day operations and such." Her voice fluctuated slightly as her face flushed. Even with a believable enough explanation like that, It was plain she was lying to me.

"No. Tell me the truth." I said with a stomp of my hoof.

"Backlash, normally I would trust you to push for the truth, but does it matter where the info came from if it's good?" Skyline put her hoof on my shoulder. "Just listen to what she has to say, we need every advantage we can get." I grumbled and sat down hard. I knew she was hiding something, and I just didn't want it to come and bite us in the flank later.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we could wait until everypony leaves to see the fight, slipping upstairs as the cleaners come down to empty the current winnings. After we slip in, it's 30 feet to the stairs, then eight floors to the top where He lives and keeps his caps." Great, more stairs, I'm loving this job already.

"How many guards are we looking at?" Sky asked hesitantly.

"Well, somewhere between forty or fifty?" She scrunched her muzzle and shrugged. "With the growing tension, who knows, he could have employed more."

"Funarific... so it's a gamble." I hated gambling. That was mostly because I was extremely bad at it, but seeing as it was the best plan we had, I agreed. "So then, what do we do about our gear? I can get the party cannon in, but Sky would have her saddle confiscated and you probably wouldn't make it inside the door wearing your armor."

Skyline rubbed her hoof on her chin as she floated over towards Longbow, looking her over slowly. "You seem about my size. You can wear one of my dresses."

I turned slowly and looked up at the floating pegasus. "Sky... what are you talking about, I thought you hated wearing dresses." I flailed my hooves lightly in the air. "Why in Celestia's name would you bring them with you?"

"Oh, well when I figured that you would be stopping here, I couldn't waste the opportunity to flaunt myself in front of Peppermint, could I?" She smiled and twirled in the air. "I just couldn't decide which dress to flaunt in! The violet satin is my favorite, but the golden lace matches my mane better." She pouted her lips sadly and sank to the floor.

"Oh, I think you would look better in the gold, while the violet would go better with my coat." Longbow said slowly as she trotted over and opened the pegasus's saddle bags, making Sky's face brighten as she smiled giddily. Celestia-damned mares and their confounding fashions, I mean everytime I tell Sky what I think about her dresses, I get beat over the head with something heavy. (Also, I can understand the utility purposes of barding and armor, but why the hell did ponies even wear plain clothes?) I was ripped from my thoughts as Sky hovered over and leaned in close.

"Backlash, would you be a dear and let us mares do a little beautification? We will come and get you when we are ready to go." Skyline shoved me toward the door as Longbow's armor emitted light hisses, each section detaching and opening up. I opened the door quickly before I was pushed out of it, walking straight into Carlotta's armored chest.

"Hey! Steel flank! Do you think we'll have time for a shower?" Sky called back as she turned and looked up at Carlotta with her biggest smile. "Hey, hun, gotta go!" She spun around and hooked around the door with her rear hoof. "This is going to be SO AWESOME!" She kicked the door shut with a slam, leaving Carlotta and I silently pressed together.

"But...what about backup weapons?" My muffled voice sounded odd in the tough griffins armor, making her push me back a step.

"What was that all about?" Carlotta said as she stared at the door with a slightly worried expression. "Please don't tell me she wants to sleep with the metal bitch for revenge."

I groaned and facehooved. "Woah, woah, woah. First of all, No. Second of all, who she sleeps with is her choice. Lastly... Ew. I don't want to think about that!" Great, now I couldn't get the thought of my sister and Longbow in bed together out of my head. "Dear Celestia almighty, why did you have to put that image in my head." I walked past her over towards the managers office, hoping that Ripcord was in. That way I could have a NORMAL conversation that didn't involve my sister's sex habits. I found him sleeping in the same chair he was in last night with his book over his face as he snored loudly.

"Hey, Rip, you want to hang out for a bit?" I leaned up against his windowsill, waiting for a response. I raised my voice. "Oh, Rip...wakey, wakey!"

He grumbled and scratched at the dark brand on his flank before continuing his loud snoring. Ok, I know that it wasn't that important that I wake him up, but I had a great idea and he was just asking for it. I walked over to the Marauder and opened the driver side door, sliding onto the front seat softly as I shifted the gear to neutral. Carlotta hovered above me as I kept a fore hoof on the wheel and walked the vehicle slowly up towards the small office, hoofing the break to stop the car when the hood was alongside the open window.

"Oh shit, are you serious? This is too good..." Carlotta snickered from above. "Since when did you get so evil?"

I got back into the car and popped my head out the window, smiling up to the griffin. "Oh, I've always been this way. Sky and I have to do SOMETHING to help keep us light on our hooves when we are out on a trip." I softly put my hoof on the center of the steering column. "I did try to wake him the easy way..." I pushed my hoof down, blaring the thunderous horn up through his window for a few seconds.

I watched as he shot up in a panic and flew about his room quickly before diving out through the open window. He hit the hood of the car and flipped off it with a roll to land square on his hooves. He panted heavily around the grip of his combat knife as he glowered at me. There was a long pause before I couldn't contain myself anymore and burst out into laughter, Ripcord's face dropping to an exasperated expression as he relaxed and dropped his blade made the laugh just that much harder.

A loud slam on the roof startled me from my jubilance, making me lean my head out to look. Carlotta was struggling to breathe as she laughed on the roof, making me giggle again. I looked back over to the olive green pegasis as he stared wide eyed at the hood of the Marauder. There was a silver gouge running across the length of the hood from where he slashed at it with his knife sometime during his escape from his office.

"Don't worry Rip." I said quickly. "I think you killed it!" I gasped and laughed again, watching as he grinned and joined in. I noticed that a small group of ponies were peeking around the corner at us, probably wondering how the loud noise had driven the three of us mad. I didn't care, this was the most fun I'd had that I can remember in the last few days. Well, minus beating out Strawberry Sorbet yesterday, and minus showing up Peppermint. I really should count how great I felt on the Dash yesterday. Although I greatly wanted to admit that it had been amazing, that was more... artificial fun.

After a few minutes, the three of us caught our breaths and we each opened one of the beers I didn't have the chance to drink yesterday. That reminds me, I still owed the last one to Dipstick.

"So! Now that we have a few minutes to chat, what astonishing excursions have you been on since you last found yourself in these parts?" The smoke from Rip's cigarette smoke drifted up and changed color as the sun set over the low hills toward the river, turning the plume to an off yellow as it rose higher. "Maybe regale me with the tale of how you met your fine griffin associate!"

"Oh, well, not much to tell about where I've been." That was an outright lie of course, but I didn't want to explain everything about 42 yet again, once per day was already too many times for me to even remember she was still out there. "But Carlotta here couldn't have shown up at a better time. I had thought someone was following us through the city and..." She clamped my muzzle shut with her talon. Ok, I was getting INCREDIBLY tired of being cut off all the time.

"Yawn. You suck at telling stories." She took a drink from her beer before continuing. "So, I had tailed Backlash and his friends for a few days before they finally caught on, and... and..." Her story drifted off as her gaze froze behind me. "wow." Carlotta over as she stuttered. "Just... wow."

I turned around to see Skyline step out of the doorway in her gold lace dress. Her hair was put up in a twist, making it look like a white and yellow pinwheel. She was shaking her hips as she walked out before turning in place for Carlotta, giving her the most seductive grin I had ever seen her give.

"If you'll excuse me, boys..." The griffin downed the rest of her beer with a few long chugs, straightened up and walked lightly around the marauder, basicly dripping affection as she stared at the dressed up pegasus. I watched in silence as Sky backed her way inside, beckoning Carlotta in after her. As soon as they disappeared in, I watched as Longbow strode out and shut the door behind the other two with her magic.

I couldn't move as I looked at the unicorn in front of me. The flowing, violet dress seemed to shine in the early evening light, the wing slits let the dress sag slightly, showing off her curves in a tasteful, yet suggestive way. There have only been a few times in my life I've ever found myself thinking of other ponies this way, but that dress in this light and with the way her hair was let down straight, she was the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever beheld.

"Well! It seems that I have become the party's third wheel! I will leave you and the mare to enjoy your evening, what say you continue your fabulous story tomorrow?" Rip said with an awkwardly happy tone to his voice. Honestly, with how stunning Longbow looked, I was surprised I could hear any of his words at all. "Well alright! Many thanks for the refreshing drink and have a delightful evening, Backlash." He trotted into his office through the front door and closed it, leaving me standing still in the parking lot as I looked over the blue unicorn.

"Y... you look absolutely stunning..." I stuttered out, causing her to to blush brightly.

"Thanks." She replied shyly, tilting her head down and away, letting her striped hair cover her face partially. "There isn't much call to dress up at the base. The only time I ever did was as a filly for Hearts and Hooves day."

I slowly trotted over to her and smiled. "You should do it more often. Why hide under that armor when you look this beautiful?" She gasped softly and looked over to me, still keeping her head down. I reached over and lifted her chin with my hoof, turning her muzzle towards me. I could see as she froze up in shock at my touch, letting me lean forward and kiss her on the cheek. It was both odd and amazing, with her armor on I had barely noticed her, but it was like now I could see who she truly was, and I'm not ashamed to say that I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

As I backed up slowly, she touched her hoof to her cheek and looked up at me with a soft gaze. "Nopony has ever..." She smiled again and got teary eyed. "Nopony has ever told me I was beautiful. Not even my mother." She laughed lightly as a tear rolled down her cheek. She looked up slowly before jumping up and hugging me without warning. It was the second most awkward hug I'd ever had, but for once, I didn't mind. She stepped back and wiped the tears off her cheeks. "Thank you for that." Her blush showed lightly through her blue coat.

I sat down and reached back into my saddlebag, pulling out the last beer I was saving for Dipstick. I offered it to her with a soft smile, happy when she nodded and floated it out of my hoof. I cantered back over to where I was talking a minute ago and grabbed my still half full beer, taking a sip as I trotted back over. The soft pop of the cap as her magic pried her bottle open was all I had time to register before she put the bottle to her lips and tilted it up, eagerly draining the bottle in only a few moments.

I swear I could have felt my jaw on the ground as she pulled the empty bottle off her lips and levitated it into one of the nearby trash cans. She let out a low belch and blinked a few times before nervously grinning at me, turning her head slightly to cover he view with her hair.

"That... was... AWESOME!" I yelled as I beamed a smile at her. Not only was she fucking Celestia tier beautiful when out of her armor, but she knew how to have a good time! "Finally, another mare who know's how to relax! You are a one in a million kind of pony, Longbow."

"You don't mind that I don't act like a mare?" Longbow cringed and kept her nervous smile. "Well, I did learn a lot about drinking when I was off duty, being the only mare in my squad."

The door to the motel room we rented opened up slowly, Skyline stepping out into the evening breeze as we looked over. She used a hoof to straighten her dress a bit as a strand of her mane drooped from the side of the bun. Carlotta closed the door as she came through, turning and smacking Sky on her flank lightly with a giggle. Sky jumped and giggled before blowing a kiss to the griffin as she walked towards us, slipping a small purse under one of her wings.

"Are we all ready to go?" She said before biting and dragging my beer from my hooves. I couldn't voice my despair for the loss of my alcoholic drink fast enough as she tilted it up and downed the rest of it with the same ease as Longbow. She swung her head and tossed the bottle aside, watching it fly through the air before a blue aura enveloped it and carried it off into the trash. Sky shrugged and looked at longbow unimpressed at that before turning her sharp gaze towards me.

"You're going like that? It's like you didn't even try to look nice!" She smacked me with her hoof, making me cringe. She walked up next to me and pushed my saddlebags off with her hooves, biting the neckline of the flak vest and tugging on it. "Cmm' ohn! Shtrep eht osh."

I groaned and shoved her away, getting a loud sigh in return. "I'm not leaving the vest here, how many times has it saved me now?"

"Uhg, You have a point." She rolled her eyes and pulled the party cannon from my bags before trotting over and tossing the cloth sacks through Ripcords office window. I was happy to feel the light suction again as I reached over and grabbed the large pink tube, but saddened to notice that the Pipbuck read it was already under half durability. I estimated it had four, maybe five more shots in it before it probably wouldn't work anymore. I desperately wished I knew how to fix this thing before I ran into 42 again, I'm fairly sure it was the only weapon I'd be able to hit her with.

I hoofed the bright tube onto my back, feeling it stick before nodding to Sky and Longbow. "I think we're good to go."

"I thought you said you could sneak your weapon in..." Longbow said as she eyed me curiously.

"Aha, but I can. Just wait until we get there and you'll see what I mean." I smiled and started walking, leading the two mares into town. As we turned the corner, the blinding flood lights flickered to life, filling the darkening streets with light yet again. I noticed as I surveyed along the wide street that it was just as busy as last night, a few ponies were trying to get the bonfire started as the fiddle pony tuned her instrument. We walked through to cool breeze towards the farthest tower in silence, bunching up as we reached the front of the makeshift club.

A set of heavy, double doors had been bolted onto the shell of the tower as a makeshift entrance, A neon sign sat buzzing loudly above them, touting large, blue letters that read 'Big Blind'. There was a pair of fairly tough looking unicorns who stood in suits and sunglasses in front of the doors, checking ponies for weapons as they went in. I took a deep breath and walked up with a smile.

"Good evening, Sirs, care to let my mare friends and I in?" I tried to stay as relaxed as possible, cringing slightly as the closest on leaned and looked over his glasses.

"What's with the bucket?" He asked as he looked it over.

"I feel like tonight is going to be my lucky night at the slot machines!" I enthusiastically responded and continued to smile. Please don't question it... Please don't question it... Please don't question it...

The other Unicorn stepped back from Longbow and sky before nodding. "Alright, get on in there, you're holding up the line." The guard in front of me said sharply as he nodded for us to enter.

"Thanks! Have a good night!" I called out as I hoofed open the doors, holding it open long enough for Sky and Longbow to trot though before I slipped inside behind them. I looked over the layout of the first floor, noting that it hadn't changed much since I had last been in here, but it was hard to really get a good look seeing as the place was nearly packed full of ponies.

From what I remember, the first floor consisted mostly of small gambling tables that were surrounded by slot machines along half the back wall. The stairs were set next to each other at the end of the gambling section, one set going up to the pool hall and in turn, the upper floors, the other set went down to the boxing arena. The large stage that sat near the stairs and against the back wall was where a small band was playing upbeat, fast-paced polka, the floor in front of it was completely taken up by dancing ponies. To the left of us was the bar, where a crowd of ponies were busy telling drunken stories and celebrating their night off. As I scanned over the group, I spotted a familiar black pegasus sitting sadly by himself in the corner.

I leaned over to Longbow and whispered in her ear suggestively. "I told you I could get my cannon in..." (If you know what I mean! Awww yeah! I amaze even myself sometimes. I'd totally brohoof you if you weren't reading this on a terminal screen... or potentially not a fan of that kind of humor... or not a fan of stallions in general... Back to my adventure!)

"Yeah yeah..." She smirked and nodded. "Just relax and mingle, we have some time until they start seating for the fight." She put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Let's split up, that way it looks less suspicious when we all stay up here during the fight."

"Sounds good to me!" Sky proclaimed as she swung her purse onto the tip of her wing. "I'm off to go win me a few hands of blackjack!" She turned and walked into the sea of ponies crowding around the card tables, disappearing almost immediately.

"So would you like to..." I started to speak as I turned back to ask Longbow, only to find she had already disappeared. "dance...... that's a no I'm guessing. Great work, Backlash." I sighed softly and turned over to the bar, heading over to the lonely black stallion in the corner. "Hey buddy! Sorry about last night."

Dipstick looked up with sad eyes and smiled wide, the enthusiasm of seeing me quickly fading, making him force his smile "Naw, t'ain't nuthin'. Jus' tryin' ta relax a spell 'fore ah git on home."

"I'm going to get a beer, you still up for that one I owe you?" I smiled and noticed that he looked like he had been crying earlier in the night.

"Ta be honest, ah could go fer somethin' a mite stronger, if'n yah don't mind that is." He was trying to hide the pain in his words.

"Yeah sure, I'll be right back." I said as I trotted over to the bar. I tapped my hoof on the bartop and was happy when the unicorn stallion behind walked over. "Can I get a bottle of Wild Pegasus and two glasses for my pegasus friend over there?" I reached in my vest pocket and pulled out a small pile of caps. The bartender nodded and promptly levitated the bottle and glasses over to Dipsticks table while scooping up my caps. I turned and trotted back to the table, sitting down as the bottle and the pair of glasses set down. "What's troubling you, Dipstick?"

He looked up at me, trying to gather the courage to speak, finally letting out a sigh. "Tumble up'n left me today." He took the bottle in his hooves and pulled the cork out with his teeth before he poured himself a glass of the hard liquor. "She took the twins an' went out a few hours ago, headin' fer Tenpony."

I shook my head slowly and poured myself a small shot into the clear glass. "You two have been together for what, the last seven years?" He nodded and lifted his glass, drinking it down slowly. I took the glass in my hooves and hoisted it up quickly, letting the burning sensation drift down my throat before I set the glass down. "She say why she left?"

He sniffed and set the glass down. "She said it's 'cause she didn't figure it was safe here no more. That the Kings were goin' tah fight it out n' all out war." He grabbed the bottle and poured himself another full glass. "What if'n tha' t'ain't it t'all? What if'n it's cause ah didn't make her happy no more?" He tipped the glass up and drank it down slowly again, choking slightly as he started to cry a bit.

"Hey, you're a great stallion and she knows it. If she said it's not safe, then that's why." I said as I laid my hoof on his foreleg. "Why don't you go with her? You know, take a few days off and at least make sure she get's there alright."

"Maybe yer right." He started as he went to pour another glass. "Ya'll think it's that ahm jus' needin' tah buck up an' show 'er ah still care?" He set the half-empty bottle down as he looked at it.

"I think that if anything, she'll love just to have you next to her again." I said before corking up the bottle. He smiled a genuine smile and chuckled, sniffling before he wiped his cheeks clean.

"Thank yah, Backlash. Ahm thinkin' ahl go an' tell mah boss ahm usin' mah vacation days. Ah still got all seven ah've saved from the last few years." Dipstick got up and fluttered his wings slightly. "Ah needed a good kick'n th' flank ta get me goin' again. Yer a helluva friend." He trotted towards the exit with a smile.

"Give the missus my regards!" I called out to him over the music, unsure if he heard it at all as he left the club. I shrugged and looked back at the half empty bottle sitting on the table, thinking for a moment that it would be a really bad idea to drink any more and that I was surprised I could manage to keep any alcohol down after... and there I go remembering shit again. I stepped back from the table with a frown and looked over as a well dressed unicorn stallion got onto the end of the bartop, causing the nearby crowds to hush to a low whisper.

"Good evening, everypony! If I can have your attention for just a moment. Seating for tonight's fight will open up momentarily, so if you will please place your bets and head downstairs, we can get the fight started promptly!" He used his magic to amplify his voice, bellowing out the message before hopping down off the bar and disappearing amongst the shifting masses.

It was time to move. I wound my way towards the stairs, pushing past ponies who were eager to lay their hard earned money on the line on the chance that one pony would beat the hell out of another. Boxing never made sense to me, why watch a fight where two ponies who didn't even know each other, bucked and punched each other to submission for money? The wasteland was like that every day now, there was just no referee to tell them to stop when one side went down. Where was the appeal of watching it happen to somepony else anyway?

I looked up and saw Skyline poke her head over the railing from the second floor. I broke off from the flow heading towards the ring and trotted up the set of stairs against the thinning stream of ponies moving down . Once up top, I looking around at the few empty pool tables as slot machines, noting only a few ponies had stayed behind. The most out of place pony was an old stallion who was meticulously putting a token into a broken machine, pulling the lever, and then 'winning' his one token back. He sat and continued to repeat the process with a smile on his face as Sky and I waited for Longbow. After maybe a minute, Sky groaned loudly.

"Where the hell is she?" Sky whispered and tapped her hoof on the green carpet that lined the upper floor. A door opened up next to the old gambling stallion and out spilled a set of six armed, suited ponies, each one with a pistol in their mouth or floated next to them by their magic. They trotted over and spread out around Sky and I as we could do nothing but just stare at them. A slow clapping came from beside us as a pony who I noticed was sitting in the corner earlier leaned forward. He laughed as he got to his hooves, his brown eyes peered across the floor to us filled with satisfaction.

"Ya know why I'm Mr. Bishops number one assistant?" The bright pink stallion walked over with a bounce in his step, his bright yellow mane poked out from under the grey fedora he wore. "It's 'cause I look for the normal looking ponies." He stopped and turned to one of the suited unicorn guard ponies. "I read a book from before the war once. Get this, it was on criminal profiling. Ya know what it said?"

The guard pony shook his head, keeping his gun trained on Sky and I. "No boss, what'd it say?"

The pink stallion tipped his fedora back and looked over, his eyes sweeping over the Sky and I. "It said that dangerous ponies always go OUT of their way to look normal." He grinned and looked at me. "An' look at ya! You are the shining example of a normal pony!" He poked me in my side before swinging his hoof around towards Sky. "Oh but YOU! Doll, what are ya doing in a joint like this! You are anything BUT normal." He brushed his hoof through her mane slowly as I watched Sky tense up, swinging hard with an uppercut to catch him square in the jaw.

The pink stallion dropped to the floor like a sack of flour as two of the guards behind her took a step closer, pushing their guns to the back of her head.

"You'll be sorry ya did that, bitch!" He grunted as he pushed off the floor and landed a heavy punch against Sky's ribs.

"You leave her the hell alone or I'll fucking kill you!" I yelled as Sky gasped and coughed, kneeling on the floor. I felt the two guns pressed against the side of my head as my anger receded.

"Oh, I'm not the one who's fucked." He smirked and wiped the blood from his muzzle with a hoof. "Take 'em to see Bishop. Also, tell him we're still lookin for the one broad. The fucking cunt has to be down here somewhere." And for the second time in two days, I found myself in magical manacles and tossed onto the back of a pony.

I swear I wasn't trying to make this a regular thing. They had tossed a sack over my head and hauled us off to an elevator, at least having the courtesy this time to not smash my head into the door frames. The elevator ride was slow and uncomfortable, mostly because the elevator seemed to be made of a metal mesh, allowing me to hear every ounce of strain the steel was under, sounding as if it were trying to rip itself apart with every foot we climbed.

"Sky, let me do the talking when we are up there." I said as I tried to beat out the horrendous noise.

One of the guards hit me in the head. Hard. "Shut your muzzle!"

It felt like minutes had passed as the rickety car rose up to the top level, stopping with a sudden jerk before the door was slid open and we resumed walking. Well, they did, Sky and I just kept riding along. After a few more moments, the way the hoof beats of the guards sounded on plush carpets told me that we had just entered a well furnished room. I was slid off the back of a guard and helped onto my hooves before I could hear most of the guards leave and swing shut the door we came through. The two that stayed behind us must have been the ones casting the binding spells because I still couldn't move either sets of my hooves.

I heard a door across the room open, then shut before heavy, slow hoofsteps drew across the room. The creak of a wooden chair in front of me announced as a pony sat down and adjusted themselves. As I stood there with the black sack over my head, I wondered if I was wrong in not pushing for the truth from longbow. No, I had to trust that her reasons were her own and that she had seen us get taken. I prayed to Celestia that she had some sort or plan to rescue us.

"Do you know who I am?" A deep stallions voice resonated from in front of me. The words he used sounded well rehearsed and his tone was harsh. I nodded slowly, assuming that sky would do the same. "Do you know what I do here in the pool?" His words sounded the same. He sighed lightly as I nodded again. I tried to peer through the black sack, looking around to see if I could find any holes. The fabric was frilly on the inside and tickled my nose rather uncomfortably.

"Then would you kindly tell me who the FUCK you are and WHY YOU WERE TRYING TO INFILTRATE MY TOWER!?" His voice boomed, the room reverberating with his words as I felt myself shudder. The sack tickled my nose again, I gasped as I felt the inevitable coming on. Oh luna no, please, just...

"AHHCHOO!" I screamed and threw my head down reflexively as I sneezed, the hood dropping to the floor as I stared down in shock at the carpet. I slowly looked up to see something I never expected. An extremely overweight Zebra wearing a leather pouch around his neck sat in front of me behind a large wooden desk, his silver eyes studying me over. Fucking White Bishop was a Zebra?!

He leaned back in his chair, making it creak loudly again. (I know I'm not in the best shape, but that's just unethical treatment of a chair!) "Well that is a shame. I would have let you go with a few broken limbs, but nopony has ever gotten to walk away after seeing me."

"What about your guards?" I asked dumbly. We were at a complete disadvantage here, and our only chance is to stall until Longbow some how makes her way to us and saves our flanks.

The White Bishop facehooved. "I know you are just trying to keep me busy until Yew can make her entrance." He opened his desk and pulled out a gem-studded 10mm submachine gun, he lifted it and leaned forward to lay it on the desk.

"Wait. wat?" Sky spoke up from under her hood. "You think Backlash is a mare? He's a stallion..."

Bishop dropped the weapon on the desk and shook his head "No, I..."

"You know I'm a stallion..." I replied before he could finish. "Also, how am I supposed to make an entrance if I'm already here?"

Bishop brought up both his hooves to his face and drug them down slowly, his anger rising. "No. Yew Longbow!" I knew my feeling that longbow was hiding something about Bishop was correct, but I didn't know it's what got us caught. Regardless, Bishop had inadvertently giving me a chance to take up more time.

"I am Backlash..." I said slowly. "She is Sky..."

"AND I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" He slammed both his hooves on the table and snorted in anger. "Tell me where she is and I will make your deaths quick!" Well that was quick. Stalling that way didn't take nearly as long as I hoped it would.

"Maybe if you hadn't put a bag over my head I could have seen her on her way up here to kick your ass." I said as I goaded him again.

The fat zebra laughed through his clenched teeth, hoofing his drawer open and sliding the SMG back into it. He slid the drawer shut as he locked his gaze to mine. "Oh you have no idea what I am going to do to you. You think you are tough, but in a month when you have had enough of the pain, I may see fit to kill you." He waddled (Yes, I used that term. His entire body swung as he walked and it looked ridiculous, shut up.) over to a large bookshelf on the wall, hoofing at a book on the bottom while pushing at the side of the case.

A soft click emitted before the whole case slide a few feet to the side, revealing a huge, four-legged safe set into a nook in the wall. The black metal box was nearly the height of the bookshelf and almost as wide as Bishop himself was. I looked around for anything I might be able to grab to gain the advantage, stopping as I looked back at the door behind us. A single pink line on my Compass sat between the two red lines which represented the guards. We'll it's about time that...

A sequence of explosions flashed around the edges of the room, the floor dropped out from under the entire room. Dropping everyone but Sky ten feet down to the floor below. I screamed as I hit the ground and felt my right shoulder twist at an odd angle. Cringing, I looked up to see Longbow walk onto the fallen carpet from the dark emptiness of the floor we were now on. She held a sleek Gauss pistol in her magic, pressing it to each of the guards foreheads and executing them before they could recover. The Gauss rounds turned the ponies heads into small meat explosions, leaving their necks looking like long, bloody ribbons. With the guards dead, the magical manacles popped off and faded away from Sky and me, allowing her to take her hood off.

Skyline hovered for a moment as her jaw dropped. "Wait, Bishop is a ZEBRA?"

Longbow stepped towards the overweight Zebra slowly, the meaty bits from the guards slowly drooping down the blood-soaked violet dress."I've been waiting four long years for this moment, White Bishop. You may have escaped before but NOT AGAIN!" She aimed the pistol and shot at him, hitting him in the leg and watching with glee as the severed limb flopped a foot away, twitching as a pool of crimson grew under it. I haven't ever heard a scream like the one that he gave, not from any creature.

He panted and whined on the floor for a few moments as she stopped a few feet from him. "You steel rangers are NOTHING but pests to be exterminated!" He laughed as he bled profusely. "To be squashed like when your brother came around looking at my daughter. He thought he could have her all to himself and take her away from me. ME!" Longbow growled and shot at his legs again, this time the shot went wide and struck a support beam next to him, the beam let out a low whine but held the floor above. "Oh, how he begged for me to kill him as I tore his pretty, purple coat right off of his body ever so slowly. I savored every scream, every plead he gave, but he was weak and died before I was satisfied. When you came and arrested me, I knew it was only a matter of time before you would try to get your vengeance." Longbow growled and pulled the trigger again.

Nothing, the gun was empty. "Well it looks like you won't be getting that revenge after all." He laughed from the floor, using his other hoof to open the pouch. "It's a good thing I always keep a hydra with me in case of just this sort of thing. You'd be surprised how often I have to use one." He stuck his muzzle in the pouch and grabbed the syringe, stabbing it into his severed leg before screaming out.

No, he gets to die. Fuck doing it for the mission, after what he did to her, I have to do this for Longbow. I shambled to my hooves and painfully twisted myself to pull the party cannon off my back, watching in fascinated horror as the missing leg regrew out of Bishop. I stifled a scream as the pink tube weighed down my leg, twisting at my busted shoulder as I lifted it up. I couldn't stabilize it enough to hit him accurately, but I hoped that the sheer size of the cannon ball would compensate.

I fired and yelped as the recoil threw my leg back, sending waves of pain through my body as the sleek ball missed Bishop and smashed through the support beam next to him, splintering the wood before punching a wide tear in the tower's rusted wall. The sphere traveled out and lodged itself into the cliff face above the taint lake. The upper floor groaned and sagged, the heavy safe above us slid forward and tilted slightly.

"No! no! no! no! NO...!" The plump zebra screamed as he tried to get to his hooves, but his new leg was weak from non-use like my hoof was after it regrew. No matter how much he scrambled, it wouldn't hold his tremendous weight. The safe slid again and dropped over the edge, hanging in the air for a moment before flattening the drug lord with the satisfying splut and crunch that normally comes from squishing a bug under-hoof. A great, big, gooey one.

"That's for Short Staff you fucking fat piece of shit." Longbow spat on the ground as a thick pool of blood spread out around the safe. She turned to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me tightly, making me whine as she squeezed my shoulder. "Thank you, Backlash."

The floor under the safe groaned and buckled, giving way and dropping the gore-covered, two-ton box another floor, then another, then yet another. Crushing it's way down floor by floor before crashing down into the basement, screams erupting as the dust started to clear.

"Well that's not good..." Sky said as she flexed her wings. "I vote we leave. Like, right now."

"At least that saves us from evacuating the tower." Longbow said with a small smile, sniffling and stepping back from me.

Wait, what? "Why would we need to do that?" I asked as I leaned in front of the blood-soaked mare.

"I set charges along key points in support sections to create a controlled, linear demolition of the tower." She said very Matter-o-factly

"YOU WHAT!?" Sky yelled and flailed her hooves in the air. "That wasn't part of the plan!"

"This will insure that his whole drug organization falls for good! Nopony else can just take over." Longbow stomped her hoof.

I hobbled over to Sky, nudging her with the party cannon. "Take this and head back to the hotel. Find Myron and tell him the job is done, Longbow and I will meet up with you there." She grabbed the pink gun in her mouth and trotted to the hole in the wall it had made. She gave a sad look back and dropped through, taking off into the night.

"So..." I said as I turned to longbow. "You didn't happen to take out the rest of Bishops guards while we were held prisoner, did you?"

She shook her head, a chunk of guard pony slid free from her mane. "No. I snuck past them. None of them are allowed up this high and the two floors below this are empty and unused." The shouting voices of guards coming up the flights of stairs filled my ears. We needed to get out of here.

"How much weight have you levitated before?" I looked over to the hole that the cannon ball had made, suddenly getting another one of my stupid ideas

She bit her lip in thought and danced nervously on her hooves. "Back at base during training, they made us levitate an entire suit of disassembled power armor onto ourselves at once, just in case we needed to suit up quickly in an emergency."

I groaned. "Ok, that wasn't an answer! How much does the suit weigh!?"

"Maybe one hundred pounds?" She cringed as she answered. The voices were getting far to close for my liking. I just had to hope that her magic could hold up.

"Ok, so this is going to suck a lot, but it's our only chance." I nudged her over to the hole with my hoof. "If you wrap us in your magic and we jump, you should be able slow us enough that we could make it to the cliff face and kick off of it to make it to the ground below."

She leaned over the edge and looked down. "You mean float over the enormous lake of taint? Are you insane!?"

"Time to find out! Jump!" I painfully hooked my right hoof around her neck and pulled myself close to her, pushing off the edge with her as her blue aura spread around us. The guards spilled up through the stairwell, firing poorly aimed shots as we dipped over the ledge and into the radiant light filtering down from the spotlights. I was delighted to see we weren't plummeting to our deaths, but mortified to see that we were sinking faster than I though we would be.

"Um... a bit slower would be nice!" I called out as the cold night air swirled around us, the guards shots still pinging the cliff face above us.

"By Celestia's grace how much do you weigh!" Longbow groaned as a dim layer of overglow enveloped her horn, slowing us further. I reached my left hoof out as we approached the cliff face. I spun us around and kicked us away as hard as I could. A round from the guards ricocheted off my pipbuck as we floated back toward the tower, the lake of shimmering taint growing closer and closer. We were going to cut this really damn close!

The tell-tale thumping of .308 battle rifles filled the air as Carlotta flew by, sending the guards retreating back from the hole. Sky flew over and gave us a firm push to the shoreline as we floated only a few feet away from it. I was happy to feel the dirt under my hooves as Carlotta let out another burst, strafing back across over us.

"You're all clear! Now blow this thing so we can all go home!" She called back as she flew up, disappearing beyond the bright lighting

Longbow's horn sparked and stopped glowing, she panted heavily as I noticed the tip of it was a dimming red, quickly fading to charred black. She shook her mane stiffly as she reached up into it with a hoof, pulling out a tiny square box with a red button on it. She slowly tilted her head down and used her horn to press it. Immediately a series of sharp pops from inside the building resounded through the night air, I could see longbow counting softly.

"3...4...5...6...........damnit, only in a casino would it be unlucky number 7!" She tensed up and looked over as me as a low groan filled the air. "It might be a good idea to run!" The spotlights at the top of the building flickered and went out as side of the tower facing the cliff buckled inward, the top of the tower listing slowly over us. Sky took off again, flying low towards the street with Longbow and I hot on her tail. The tilting tower's walls screeched and screamed as the tortured metal twisted and sheered, the top of the tower slammed against the rock face, breaking off a section which fell into the calm lake with a large splash.

I looked back to watch the tainted water surged over the dirt edge only slightly before receding. Fuck. The streets will be flooded with that shit if that whole thing comes down. We needed to get everypony off the streets! "Everypony run! Get to high ground!" I screamed out as we ran towards the amazingly large crowd of onlookers. Tonight was a hell of a choice for a party in the middle of town!

Longbow joined in shouting as we galloped into the crowd. "When that comes down, it will flood the town with taint! You need to get the hell out of here!" We pushed our way though the mass of ponies as they started to panic, a set of cracks coming from the cliff face and a groan from the tower announced it had given way. As we climbed the gentle hill toward the Red Lantern, the ground shook as the large steel tower slammed into the reservoir, jolting my shoulder painfully and making me trip up. I went down hard, skidding painfully on the street as a wave of frantic ponies trampled over me. I curled up as tight as I could to keep from being stomped by their hooves, screaming as they slammed and cut into my flesh in fear.

I almost couldn't hear Sky call out for me as I looked up, watching as the flood of taint spilled up the street quickly. The mob thinned enough for me to struggle back up and try to outrun it. I looked over my shoulder as I took off, watching as the rainbow wave raced towards me. Sky flew down over me and wrapped her hooves around my gut, beating her wings hard and pulling against me, trying to lift my heavy weight. I looked up in time to see Carlotta do the same to Sky, feeling overjoyed as my thumping hooves left the ground, lifting me up as the torrent caught up and spread out under me. I breathed a sigh of relief as the surge reached its apex and slowly drained back down into the center of town.

I smiled up at Sky and panted heavily. "Well. That job went pretty well, don't you think?"

Carlotta watched the door as Myron tapped his hoof on the floor of my hotel room. We all stood silently in the kitchen, the furious look on the pale stallion's face was unmistakable as he looked over the three of us. I rubbed over my sore shoulder, Sky said it was just a dislocation, but for how much it still hurt after she 'fixed' it, I wasn't sure.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! I told you to disrupt the king's operations by killing one of them! Not to make the ENTIRE FUCKING TOWN UNINHABITABLE!" He screamed and threw one of the chairs clear across the floor. For a little guy, he had a lot of strength when he was angry. "You three FUCKING IDIOTS just cost me my manufacturing plant! Do you know how expensive it's going to be to fucking ship Dash out of Las Pegasus?"

"It was the only way..." I said as I took a step forward.

"IT WAS THE WRONG WAY!" He stomped forward and hit me in the chest hard, I tried to hide the pain as I made a note not to fight him hoof to hoof when he was angry. "Unless you have another FUCKING amazing drug to help make up for my losses, you will sit your RETARDED FLANK DOWN and try to FIGURE SOMETHING OUT."

The gears in my head must have been working overtime, serving me the info I needed near instantly as I recalled there was another drug I knew of. One that's current rarity made it expensive enough that it might help. "What if I did have another drug to give you?" I said slowly. "Say... the formula for Party Time Mint-als."

"What did you say?" Myron's eye twitched as he stood completely still. I could tell he was running it through his head over and over again, seeing if this was just a ruse. His mouth twitched slightly when he was probably calculating the rewards if I was telling the truth. "You have the formula?"

"So it would be worth it to you then." I lowered my gaze and looked over my hoof boredly. "How much is it worth is the real question."

He cringed and glared back. "How about I won't kill you and your friends. That sounds like a good enough deal to me."

"Fifteen percent every month before overhead is cleared." I smiled and watched his frustration skyrocket again.

He grumbled out through clenched teeth. "Five percent, after overhead, and you still have to deliver it as per the old deal."

"three percent after overhead, keep the same deal as before, AND I get Carlotta's contract." I leaned close and smiled as I spoke. "Final offer."

"Fine fine! Deal." He kicked at the floor softly. "Now hand over the formula."

I laughed softly. "You didn't think I had the formula ON me? No, it's hidden in a safe place after I looked it over." I watched as Myron frowned at first before a wide grin split his muzzle, I hated that grin so much.

"You say you looked it over?" He said with a smile. "Pipbucks are amazing little devices. They can even copy notes or papers you find when out and about. Check the notes section."

I sat down and hooved through the pink pipbuck's interface to the notes section, surprised to see a note labeled 'Party Time Mint-als'. I held my hoof out and let Myron look it over.

"Yes yes, this is good." He nodded and salivated as he read over the document. "Half of these chemicals require taint to cut. Lucky for me you just handed me the largest reserve of the stuff in the east." He closed his eyes and waved his hoof around in the air in sharp angles. "Do me a favor and hoof all three face buttons on your pipbuck at the same time."

I shrugged and did as he asked, watching as the a small pink bar came up on the screen with the words NOTE REMOVED across it. "Ok, I guess the note is gone."

"Good, good." The young stallion rubbed his forehooves together and laughed softly to himself. "Now I alone know the formula." Carlotta walked over and jabbed a talon into Myrons shoulder. He brushed it off lightly. "Not now, bitch."

"I think you need to hand over her contract." Longbow stated as the griffon grabbed him by the scruff of his light yellow mane, causing him to flail his hooves in the air as he whined.

"FUCKING SET ME DOWN YOU BRUTE!" He growled out and was lowered back down. "You can get it yourself, bitch, you know where it is."

"I just needed to hear you say it." The gruff griffin smirked and plodded off to the door, swinging it open and heading to Myrons room, I watched as Sky hovered up and float out after her.

"So what now?" I asked the runty colt.

He looked up with a confused look and furrowed his eyebrows. "You can go the fuck away and get your stupid 'Quests' or whatever done. I expect you fucking imbeciles to be back here to take the first run before the end of the month."

"Sure thing..." I said slowly as it took all my strength to speak the next word. "...Boss."

------------

LEVEL UP!

+7 Big Guns

+8 Speech

New Perk: Drunkard's Luck - You don't know why, but when you aren't paying attention, things just seem to stack up in your favor! When your perception is reduced by any modifier, your Luck increased by the same modifier.

Author's Notes:

Big props to Kkat for creating and letting me delve into the Fallout: Equestria universe. Thanks to Somber for expanding and amplifying the awesome to a seemingly unending degree. To Mimezinga, for showing me that even in the most fucked up of times, we just need to remember we are all pretty ponies. Many thanks to No-One, who's amazing story helped fuel my creativity enough to build my own. And a beer to Stonershy for making me want to root for the bad guys for once.

I'd like to give a special shout out to John Colt, author of Gaia Prevails. Even though it's short, it truly has the potential to become something epic. Go read it, it's good.

As always, thanks to Bad Pun, without whom we would all be drowning in a sea of E's.

And lastly, thank you. Without you, this story is just a jumble of words without meaning. So thank you for bringing it to life.