Chapter 13: Beyond Bunkerville
“One day we’ll see sunshine and rainbows again, but that day is not today.”

A pony pushed hard on my flanks, shoving me into the jail cell. I turned around to look at the door, but it was slammed in my face and my ears folded back. The door was your garden variety sliding blast door with a window added to it for viewing your prisoners. My gaze went to where the panel to open it should be, but wasn't. Instead, there was a solid block of concrete where the panel should be and that caused my ears to droop to the side of my face.

My rump hit the cold floor hard as I sat on my haunches, lowering my head in shame.

I had been tricked again by ponies I wanted to help. Instead of open civility I was greeted with guns drawn and hostility. Perhaps it was my ways of old that caused that treatment, but I wanted to mend it. To make it right like it should be. But even in my memories of just after the war I could pick out instances of ponies abusing my trust. One such instance is stuck in my mind like glue. I'll never forget it because a pony I loved died there.

I sighed deeply, shutting my eyes as a few cold tears fell down my cheeks. When I opened my eyes again, I sniffled and cleared them of tears. Slowly, I turned around to face the rest of the room and took a few deep breaths.

A central fluorescent light in the ceiling illuminated a piss stained mattress covered by sheets that looked like a pony used them to wipe their ass with. The stone floor beneath my hooves had a carpet at one time, but it looked as if a pony had pulled it out because they had left the tacks in various places. Along the walls were cute, and not so cute phrases written in probably shit or blood. Luckily, there was a small adjacent room with a loo that appeared to never have been cleaned.

I tested the faucet in there and found it produced clear water that had just two settings, either ice cold or scalding hot. The mirror had long ago been broken and removed. So I turned to look at the shower, which I could not find because there were no provisions for it.

My guess was that they used a communal shower system and that I, of course, would not get to use it.

After I checked out the loo I walked back into 'my' room and placed an ear on the wall between my cell and Sister's. I stood there, waiting for a while before I tapped a couple of times on the wall with a hoof.

Sister tapped back which made me smile.

Since Sister was okay I walked over to my door and knocked on it.

After an agonizing amount of time, an earth pony appeared in the viewport of the door. "What do ya want?" she asked through a speaker system that I couldn’t see.

I smiled, pointing a hoof at the bed. "I was hoping for some clean sheets. It appears a pony took a crap on mine."

The earth pony on the other side shook her head slowly. "Prisoners don't get requests."

I stomped my hoof down with a glare at my guard. "I will not sleep in some other pony's shit! Either you get me some clean sheets or... or... or I'll stop your heart!"

"And I'm Celestia," she deadpanned with a roll of her eyes. "I'll have your tongue cut out if you don't stop bugging me."

I gulped, because this pony did not need to say that Sister's tongue would also be removed.

The earth pony took a few steps away from the door as I picked up her thoughts. "Hah! Alicorns aren't so tough." She walked away from the door and I sat down again in shame.

Without anything else to do, I found a comfy spot near the door to and pulled out my journal to start writing where I left off.

*** ***

The door next to me opened partially and a tray of food was shoved underneath. It smelled sweet and delicious. I set the journal down and levitated a sandwich up to my nose.

"You have ten minutes to eat," a stallion said before closing the door. I stood up and looked through the viewport at his backside as he walked away.

"See something you like?" a familiar voice whispered from behind me. I nodded slowly in response. "What is it?"

"A stallion." My voice was quiet because they could probably hear me through the speaker system if I talked too loud. The stallion vanished from my view, so I laid down and began nibbling on my food. The sandwich was a bit soggy and salty tasting. Still, I ate it and didn't complain because I enjoyed eating food even though I did not need it.

As I was levitating my murky looking water bottle for a drink. The voice behind me whispered, "I bet you want a ride from him."

"Not really," I shook my head slowly, setting the bottle down. It had tasted like dirt and I felt a familiar sensation of absorbing trace amounts of radiation, causing me to smile. "While I would love to have a stallion of my own, I don't want to be with just any stallion. They have to be powerful, funny and most of all. Perfect. Lika an alicorn."

"Shock," the voice began quietly. "We are a powerful pony, so why are you just letting Us waste away in this cell?"

Gulping down the rest of my soggy sandwich, I looked over my shoulder at myself who I called Dog. She was sitting on the bed in her businessmare suit and looked as terrible as ever. Her face looked pale and sick, her eyes were slightly glossy, and her mane looked a bit thin.

I shrugged a little and ate a fry that tasted like it was a few days old. "Because a beast chained is better than a beast on the loose. They want us for something and I want to know what."

"They're changelings!" Dog shouted, sitting up and stomping her hoof on the bed. "They're probably keeping Us to alive so they can fuck Us for Our love energy until We're a husk!"

I shook my head. "I doubt it works like that. They would have already done so and not to mention the poor accommodations they put us in. I think they want us for something else."

"You let your wings get clipped, again!"

"So?" I shrugged. "They will grow back next time I find a hotspot or in a few months in the next moult."

"And the collar?" I looked down in shame, my ears slowly drooping. "That's what I thought. You fucked up again."

The collar was not something I wanted to think about. It was connected with Sister's collar. If I died, she died and vice versa. It was a slightly heavy and ugly thing that rubbed at my fur when I looked in a certain direction to remind me it was there.

The door behind me slid open a little and the stallion from earlier said, "time's up."

I sighed deeply, pushing the tray under the door with my hoof before pulling said hoof back as the door shut. I quickly scrambled to my hooves and looked out the window at the stallion in a cook's apron. He picked up the tray in his teeth and with a well practiced swing, tossed it onto his back before trotting off.

He glanced back and saw me looking at him. I blushed slightly as he flicked his tail just enough for me to see his stallionhood and disappeared around the corner. "How do they hide it?" I whispered to myself.

"They just do?" Dog shrugged, rolling onto her back before staring up at the ceiling. "They're stallions, Shock. It's not rocket science!"

I quickly sat down, shutting my eyes while trying to picture the stallion.

"You're not seriously going to do that?" Dog whined. I nodded. The distinct slapping sound of a pony facehoofing preceded her groan. "This isn't the place or time for that!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to picture a sexy stall-" My eyes snapped open as I quickly lost all desire for self pleasure. "Alicorn!"

"Huh?" she tilted her head. "What about them?"

Slowly, I walked over to her with a smile, but made sure to go around the tacks in the floor. "There's an alicorn stallion on this island!" Dog's eyes went wide. I nodded rapidly, smiling a little. "If he is an alicorn I can probably contact him!"

"Don't be stupid. alicorn stallions don't exist."

I waved a hoof dismissively. "Shut up, Dog. You're not real." She stuck her tongue out at me, crossing her forelegs across her chest and vanishing.

Laying down down, I shut my eyes while concentrating on looking specifically for alicorns. A grumpy and distraught Sister was found right next door, obviously, so I left her and concentrated more. Alicorns were easy to pick out because they were like spotlights in the nigh. I eventually located the other Unity alicorns on the island, but no Sparkle Cola. If that was his real name.

This caused me to groan in frustration and slam my hooves on the ground. Sharp pain shot through one of my forelegs as it slammed down on a rusty tack.

I cried out in shock, my spell dropping, as I quickly cradled the trembling and bleeding appendage. Slowly, I brought it to my nose and sniffed the sweet familiar scent of blood.

My gaze went around to the writing on walls. Ponies had put madness into the writing, but I would not add my own words to it. Instead, I looked down at my journal and sighed.

"Maybe Ripper was right about the journal." I mumbled quietly to Dog. She did not respond for a while, then she appeared on the bed again and laughed at my plight. Causing my ears to droop slowly.

Fear... Fear is a powerful and effective weapon. If one were to cause their enemies to rout without taking heavy losses then the battle is still won. At least that is what I had assumed to be true, but sometimes your enemies come back.

Slowly, I took a long look around the room I was caged in. The writing on the walls looked depressing, and so did the bed along with the terrible floor. The only good thing there was, was clean looking water in the loo. Glancing down at my steadily bleeding foreleg, I sighed deeply out of annoyance.

“They are trying to scare me, I think,” I mumbled to myself, walking over to the wall and pressing my ear against it. But I heard nothing, so I concentrated on connecting to Sister.

She felt annoyed, angry and scared.

“Sister?” I quietly asked with my mind as I tapped the wall. She did not respond, which caused me to frown. “Sister, please, I am sorry for getting us into this mess.”

Still, I received no response from the blue alicorn.

“Bet’cha she’s pissed at you,” chided Dog with a smirk.

Rolling my eyes, I tapped on the wall again. “Sister? Just let me know that you are alright.”

There was quite a long time of silence and then I felt her sigh deeply. “I’m not you’re fucking ‘sister’,” she replied in my mind, causing my ears to droop as I sat down. “Leave me the hell alone, Shock.”

“But…The Goddess said all alicorns are her children, so that-”

“We never were family. Unity was just a hive mind controlled by a supreme bitch! Why can’t you get that through your thick skull?!”

“But… I’m sorry…” Slowly, my ears drooped to the side of my face as I looked down at the concrete floor in despair. “We’ll get out of this. I swear.”

Sister had never spoken out against The Goddess like that before. That meant that she was really, really, angry at me for what I did and I did not blame her.

Instead of continuing to talk to an angry pony, I broke the connection, covering my ears with my hooves while attempting to figure out how to leave. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Telepathy. A simple spell to read a pony’s mind or communicate with them. A spell that I mostly use to talk to ponies with..

I looked at the door and smiled as a plan formed in my head.

*** ***

I waited and waited until the door finally opened again, but this time it opened all the way and that tall changeling walked in. My ears folded back as I slowly backed up against the bed.

She walked halfway across the room and stopped to stare at me. I gulped, looking away from my captor and stared the wall.

"I see you're obedient, good." she said in that pompous voice that made me want to buck her teeth in. "Your silence tells me that you also remember my warning, which is also good. By now you're probably wondering what you're doing here."

Nodding, I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly closed it.

"You, being an alicorn, presents me with a pony who is far more resilient to damage than the average pony." I looked over at her as she shut the door. "You're probably wondering why I've told you this." I nodded again and she smiled. "It's simple, really, I want you to kill a pony."

I rolled my eyes because she could have just asked when we first met.

She laughed a bit, taking a step back. I briefly considered spearing her with my horn, but chose not to because she might have the detonator on her, which would be bad. "I can assure you this earth pony is not easy to kill. He's has cybernetic augmentations, and hits like a rocket. Thus I need a pony that is not easily damaged and an alicorn is perfect for that."

I looked over at something else, the shit covered wall. “Why am I in such… deplorable conditions then?”

Again the changeling laughed. “Because it is fit for a prisoner and that is what you are, my prisoner. You want out, don’t you?”

I nodded slowly. “I kill this cyberpony and you will let Sister, Sienna, Celly, and I go?”

Smiling, she bowed her head a little. “Yes. I will allow you to go free. Now…“ she took a breath and looked off to the side then at me. “As I understand it, alicorns have… powerful spells such as telepathy, a lightning attack and an impenetrable shield along with… what was it? Teleportation and invisibility?”

Again, I nodded. “Yes, but they are-”

“Good, so you will be able to assassinate the pony without being seen.” The changeling queen grinned.

My ears folded back slowly as I gulped. “I… could do that.”

"Good, now that we got that out of the way..." There was a green flash of fire all around her, and when it was over. She appeared to look like a muscular light blue stallion. Her back legs were replaced with grey cybernetic ones and part of her jaw was also replaced, at least in appearance. Her grey mane was cropped short along with the tail.

"This is the pony you have to kill, Iron Jaw," said the changeling in a deep baritone voice. "Do not let him buck you, his hind legs act as shotguns too and he has a bite like you wouldn't believe."

Slowly, I nodded while taking in all of the details. "Shotgun hind legs and a bite like the bear trap on his flank." However, I found myself trying to get a peek to see if she had changed everything or just her outer appearance.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Seeing if..." Warmth spread across my face as I blushed deeply. "I was curious about changeling anatomy. When you change sexes, do your organs also change? Or is it just appearance? Does it work is what I’m asking."

Rolling her eyes, green fire engulfed the changeling queen. Causing me to take a few steps back and when it was over, she stood before me as her normal changeling self. "I’m not telling you and no. I'm not fucking you either. Celestia knows where you've been. I wouldn't touch you if you were the last mare on the face of Equestria. Now are there anymore stupid questions? You have three before I get annoyed."

I opened my mouth to say something, but looked away as my face darkened further out of embarrassment. "No... Yes..." I looked at the changeling again. "If I am locked up how am I to kill the pony?"

"Hm..." She her chin for a few seconds while I wondered if the holes in her leg made it weaker and that’s why she needed an alicorn. "That is a good one. Follow me."

She walked over to the door and knocked on it, I followed close. After a few moments. the door was opened and the changeling stepped out into the hall. I followed her over to Sister's door, which was opened before we arrived.

A tired and rough looking Sister slowly walked out with her head hung low. "Yes?" she mumbled quietly in a voice that sounded like she had not slept for a while.

"Both of you, follow." The changeling began walking in what looked like a random direction and the both of us followed her.

*** ***

Below our balcony ponies mixed in with undisguised changelings as if it were normal. The queen swept a hoof over the stable atrium while wearing a pompous smile.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Changelings and ponies under one roof. The ponies do not mind being used for food so long as we provide them adequate protection from the outside and not go on a feeding frenzy."

Slowly, I stepped up to the balcony and glanced down at the picnic tables. Somepony, or changeling, was having a birthday party for what looked like a foal.

While Sister had yet to say anything since leaving her room, I hoped she would forgive me for my mistake because it was a simple matter to leave; kill Iron Jaw.

Slowly, I scanned the crowd for anything that would indicate he was down there and I eventually spotted his aqua blue coat among the sea of ponies. From the distance I was at, his cutie mark looked like a bear trap. Iron Jaw was different than what the changeling queen had showed me. He had long donkey ears which meant he was a mule, yet ponies parted way for him as if they gave him the utmost respect. The fact that he was a mule made the fact that I had to kill him that much easier.

Mules are not ponies. They are imp spawn.

"Do you see that bright blue mule with the bear trap cutie mark, robotic hind legs and jaw?" I whispered in Sister's mind. She looked over at me with a small glare. "All I have to do is kill him and we go free."'

A small smile formed on her face. "Shock, if that's true-"

"Well lookie what we got here," said a cold, familiar, voice that sent a shiver down my spine. "Two collared thorns in my side served up on a platter."

Sister glanced at the voice, snarling a little. I slowly turned my head to look and my heart sank at the sight of Eclipse's braided strawberry red mane even though I had known it was her. Based off the bulkly appearance of her cloak, I assumed the teal earth pony was wearing her armor, yet there were no claws near her hooves. I suspected they may have been taken from her at the door. Behind Eclipse stood two power armored Steel Rangers like guard dogs.

Slowly, my ears drooped as a maniacal grin formed on Eclipse’s face. The changeling queen stepped between us, looking down at Eclipse. "There will be no violence here!" she hissed in a tone I had yet to hear from her before. "I caught them fair and square. You cannot take them without violating the laws here."

"Laws, shmaws," Eclipse rolled her eyes, tapping her hoof down. “I captured these two before you and I demand their release. They are my property, not yours.”

The changeling glanced back at me, then looked at Eclipse again. “No.”

“What?” Eclipse’s left eye twitched. “Why the fuck not?!” She stomped her hooves down like a whiney filly who didn’t get her toy, “they’re mine! Mine! Mine!”

“The green is my fuck toy and the blue is of no concern, but their collars are linked. Ergo they cannot be separated except in certain circumstances. This is not one of them.” As if to confirm the point I walked forward a bit and leaned on the changeling, wrapping a foreleg around hers. However, I could feel an angry glare from Sister that burned through my skull, yet she said nothing.

Eclipse slowly looked me up and down before walking over to the railing and nodded. “Fine, if that’s what you want to use them for. But…” She looked over her shoulder, “I challenge that blue to a duel.”

The changeling looked at Sister then Eclipse and nodded. SheTaking a deep breath, she practically shouted in my ear. “A challenge has been issued!” her voice echoed over the atrium, causing it to go quiet for some reason. The changeling queen left my embrace and walked over to the railing. "A Steel Ranger earth pony has challenged a blue Unity alicorn to a duel." She looked over her shoulder at Sister. "Do you accept this challenge?"

Sister looked at Eclipse, the changeling, and finally me before nodding. "I accept the challenge and will enjoy beating the shit out of her." I smiled, nodding slowly in response.

The changeling looked out over the atrium, nodding. "The challenge has been accepted and the duel will commence in three hours. I welcome you to watch as it will most surely be an excellent fight."

"Perfect," Eclipse grinned at Sister. "First you, then the green."

"Bring it, bitch," Mudpie puffed out her chest and ruffled her feathers. "I could stop your heart in ten seconds flat."

“Why don’t you do it now then?” Eclipse walked up and pressed her nose against Sister’s.

"There will be no fighting until the duel!" the changeling hissed as she rejoined us. "There are rules in a duel; you fight to the death and no guns of any kind are allowed. Is that understood?" Eclipse and Sister nodded. "Good. I shall see the both of you in the arena in three hours. Prepare yourselves and fight to the best of your abilities. Maybe the best mare win."

The changeling queen tugged on my ear with magic as she began walking back the way we had come. "Come along, green, I'm hungry and need to relax before the show."

Turning to follow close behind the changeling queen, I caught Sister's death glare and gulped. She quickly followed after me while keeping her glare. I watched Eclipse and her goons turn around and slowly walk away.

The changeling led us around a few corners and we quickly lost sight of Eclipse, so I connected with Sister to explain myself. Her anger was almost overpowering. "Sister, I can explain! You see it was just a tri-"

"Shut up!" she nearly screamed inside my head, causing my ears to go back. "I don't believe you, Shock, I don't fucking believe you!"

"But-"

"No buts!" her eye twitched. "You... I love you, I offered myself to you, but you choose this... this bug queen over me?!"

"No..." I shook my head as my ears drooped slowly. "She lied... I have never touched her and she-"

"Ahem," the changeling cleared her throat and I only noticed right then that we had stopped walking. "Are you two done having your argument inside your heads?" I looked at her, tilting my head, but she was looking at Sister. "I suggest you focus your anger on the one who challenged you." She looked around, whispering. "Because I have a contract with your friend for you to go free if she helps me with a problem."

"She's not my friend," Sister grumbled, pushing past the changeling.

"Sister, I'm sorry!" I called after her, but she ignored me. My collar began beeping so I quickly chased after her before the both of us literally lost our heads.

*** ***

I looked out over the balcony at the arena below from my soft cushioned bed. A cold chain held my hind leg to a post with enough length to allow me to walk a few feet. The changeling was lying on my right on her own cushion. My wing was draped over her warm body and I had my foreleg wrapped around hers to keep up the ruse for Eclipse in case she had ponies watching us. Which she most likely did.

About eight meters below us was a dirt floor that looked like it was an apple orchard at one time due to the cage being built around some stumps. Now, however, ponies stood around the cage talking amongst themselves while waiting for the fight to start, and no doubt they were placing bets. Eclipse was standing at one corner of the cage while Sister stood at the other. The alicorn had her mane tied in a bun to keep it out of her face and to hide the fact that it was now flowing from radiation.

Our collars had been delinked and Sister's was set to detonate via remote only. The changeling queen would not tell either of us who had the detonator.

"Food," the changeling queen said quietly. I levitated a tray of grapes over and placed one into her mouth. She chewed slowly, nodding. "Does that earth pony really think she has a chance?"

Slowly, my ears folded back. "Yes... she is quick, wears bone armor and has hellhound claws on her hooves. Those claws are very deadly to alicorns."

"This will be interesting then."

I merely nodded and waited for it to start.

A unicorn stallion in a large floppy hat walked out into the center of the ring. He looked at Sister then Eclipse before nodding. "Fillies and Gentlecolts!" he shouted in a powerful voice that nearly echoed. "You have all gathered here today to watch a dance of death between two mares. One, an earth pony working for the Steel Rangers. Power armored heathens who hoard technology. The other, a Unity alicorn. The most beautiful mares in the wastes, but oh so deadly and powerful. These two foes are more than a match for your average wastelander, but what about against each other?"

I glanced at the changeling and saw that her face held a smile.

However, the pony below kept talking. "Well, that is what these mares plan to find out. One of them has requested her death for your entertainment. But which one?" He looked at Eclipse and then sister. "Fuck if I know, so. Without further horseshit. Leeet's get ready to rumble!" He walked towards a door in the center. "Alright, the rules are as follows; no guns and only one of you leave this cage alive. Start fighting once I close this door."

I took a deep breath and held it as the door shut.

As soon as the door shut, Sister vanished completely, causing Eclipse to blink in shock. The teal earth pony took a few steps forward, slowly looking around the floor in the cage..

"Interesting opener," the changeling mused. "How long can she keep the spell up?"

"Indefinitely," I replied, bowing my head slightly to the side. Then placed another couple of grapes in her mouth on her tap of my hoof.

She pat my side with her wing. "Good girl. Keep this up and you'll get better quarters. I can feel the sisterly love energy between you and that blue just pouring out and it is tasty."

"How does it taste?" I mumbled as Eclipse started circling the center of the cage.

"More filling than pony food that is for sure."

"Where are you?" Eclipse shouted as she took off her cloak and tossed it in a random direction, revealing her dark bone armor. "Hiding like a coward because you're afraid of getting scratched?"

Suddenly, Eclipse staggered sideways from an invisible blow and nearly collapsed on her side. She quickly hauled herself up and spun in the air with her hind claws out, hitting nothing. As she landed, she swiped a hoof full of dust and tossed it in that direction.

"Smart pony," the changeling nodded at the drifting dust cloud as an invisible Sister galloped away from it, creating a slight draft and pulling it with her.

Slowly, the dust settled around Eclipse, but she started kicking more, and more, of it into a large cloud. And soon the entire cage was one big cloud of dust. Most of the crowd complained and stepped away from the cage to breathe in fresh air.

As if by magic, the dust started blowing out of the cage, but I knew the reason. Sister was furiously flapping her wings to clear out the dust so she could have full invisibility again.

Eclipse's distraction had an unintended side effect for her, she began coughing into her hoof and had to squint her watery eyes to see lest they get dust in them. Suddenly, a pair of invisible hooves kicked the earth pony in the side, sending her flying against the cage and causing it to rattle from the weight.

I cringed as the bars dented a little from the impact. Eclipse watched the ground for a second and swiped her claws at nothing, but Sister screamed in pain as a line of red appeared in thin air. She jumped back and flapped her wings to put even more distance between them. The line of red made her visible to everypony including Eclipse.

As the dust slowly cleared from the arena, Eclipse began laughing at Sister who had dropped her invisibility spell and was clutching her chest were the hellhound claws dug in. Her blood poured out and was quickly coating her forelegs.

My ears folded back at the sight of the wound. With her bleeding out like that her invisibility was pointless, which was probably why she dropped it. Though, Sister did drink quite a bit of irradiated water a few hours ago, so she must surely be healing already.

I ignored the crowd that was making all kinds of racket because I assumed they were trying to distract the fighters. "The earth pony draws first blood!” the unicorn's powerful voice resonated over the crowd. “Can her success last or will beauty triumph over brawn?"

Sister's horn glowed a deep blue as she prepared a quick spell. With a deafening clap of thunder and a blinding flash, a lightning bolt shot towards Eclipse. The bolt missed the agile earth pony by a mere hoof width as she jumped out of the way. It struck the cage and I frowned as a few ponies standing close by got burned.

Eclipse began galloping towards Sister as Sister prepared another attack, the earth pony deftly dodged the lightning bolt and jumped with her claws out. Sister quickly pivoted on her good forehoof and kicked out. Her hooves cleanly connected with Eclipse’s chest and stopped stopped her in her tracks, as all the air was pushed out of her lungs. I could hear her bone armor crack slightly.

Sister crouched low and jumped into the air with a flap of her wings. She folded her wings and fell with a hind hoof aimed at Eclipse's head. The earth pony recovered just in time to roll out of the way and slice her claws across Sister's wing on an upstroke. She cried out in pain again and quickly kicked. Striking Eclipse in the lower jaw with a loud crack.

Sister quickly teleported to the other side of the arena to begin treating her wounds. She ripped a few pieces of cloth off some bystanders and wrapped it around herself, much to their annoyance. Oddly enough, I thought I saw a yellow maned purple pegasus in Enclave power armor standing on the far end of the cage. But a group of ponies pressed themselves against the bars before I could get a good look at her.

Meanwhile, Eclipse stood where she was and spit at the ground; a few teeth and a lot of blood landed in the dirt. She wiped her face off, took a deep breath and charged Sister while she was distracted by tying the bandage on her wing. Eclipse’s head slammed into Sister’s injured wing before I could alert her. Sending the blue alicorn flying against the bars. As Sister was recovering, Eclipse pivoted on her hooves and gave Sister’s injured wing one buck with her left hoof, then one with her right, and finally one with both of them.

My ears drooped as the sound of a rib snapping nearly silenced the crowd. Quickly, I brought a hoof and covered my mouth so I didn’t scream at Eclipse and get my tongue removed. All I could do was sit there… and watch as Sister was attacked.

“Food,” the changeling said quietly. I quickly levitated the tray over and stared at Eclipse as she picked Sister’s head up in her forehooves and slammed it against the bars. “Ahem!” I blinked in confusion and tore my gaze away from the fight. The changeling nodded at the tray of fruit, so I levitated an apple in front of her, sighing in frustration.

“Sorry, I am distracted.” I said quietly, turning my head to look back at the fight. Sister and managed to flip Eclipse onto her back and had torn off a part of her armor.

The changeling took a bite of the apple and nodded. “Hm.. it seems I may have overestimated alicorns.”

Slowly, I shook my head, “Eclipse has claws capable of piercing our shields. It is a fair match for both considering Sister does not know many spells.” The earth pony managed to nearly slice Sister’s chest again, but the blue alicorn had caught the claw in magic and appeared to be tugging on it. “She also has a grudge against our kind for some reason.”

Sister tore off the hellhound claw boot and brought it around, slashing Eclipse across the face and drawing two lines of red. The earth pony screamed in pain as Sister shouted something incoherent from the distance. Sister brought the blades straight down on Eclipse’s head, but the teal earth pony blocked it with her other claws and punched Sister in the lower jaw with her exposed hoof. The blow appeared to stun her for a second, because Eclipse got a second strike in on her neck where her larynx was.

Sister jumped away from Eclipse and landed, brandishing her stolen armor piece with the claws out. The teal earth pony slowly stood up and spit more dark red blood off to the side. Her armor piece that was removed had covered her hind quarters and now her flanks were exposed. But I could not make out what her cutie mark was from the distance I sat.

"You want to help, don't you?" the changeling queen quietly asked, looking at me.

I nodded slowly, "it would be beneficial to Sister if I could, but it would be obvious because of my horn glow."

"I had heard greens could add to the spells of other alicorns," the changeling queen commented in a tone that sounded more like a suggestion.

Sister's makeshift bandages were soaked through and dripping with blood. Even from where I sat, I could see her slight stagger and the heavy eyes of a pony slowly bleeding to death. Eclipse smirked because she no doubt could see the same signs.

"What are you waiting for?" Sister shouted over the crowd. "For me to melt your brain or stop your heart? That would be too easy! I could Shock your heart."

I blinked in confusion for a second, slowly realizing Sister was talking to me. Slowly, I looked at the changeling queen, who was watching the two combatants stare at each other, then looked at Sister and shut my eyes.

I quickly connected with Sister's panicked mind, giving her my reserve magical power and opened my eyes. However, I couldn't move when I was casting that spell, which was its downfall in my opinion, but I could still see.

"Food," the changeling said. When I didn't respond she nudged my side. And after I still didn't respond she groaned and levitated the tray of food herself. That was when I noticed how similar her magic color was to mine. From afar they would probably look the same shade of green.

Sister's horn glowed a bright color, just before she sent another lightning bolt at a galloping Eclipse which was followed quickly by two more. The first one missed and flew wildly, the second struck her armor and left a scorch mark while the third struck the ground underneath Eclipse. The armored earth pony slammed the top of her head into Sister's chest wound, causing her to scream in agony again as she fell on her back and slid in the dirt.

Quickly, I gave her more of my magic in an effort to help. Sister grabbed Eclipse's neck in magic and tossed her to the side at the same time she sent a lightning bolt that missed. Eclipse landed on her hooves, quickly broke into a gallop and reared up on her hind legs when she got to Sister.

The blue alicorn rolled, jumping into Eclipse with all her weight and horn lowered. The exquisite horn struck the bone chest plate and snapped at the tip. Sister's pain exploded in my mind, causing me to reel in agony and hold tightly onto the changeling queen.

"Shock, I'm sorry..." Sister's pained voice filled my mind. "Close... your eyes."

"No!" I screamed, breaking the magic transfer and jumping to my hooves. Quickly, I flew towards the cage, but pain exploded in my leg as the chain went taut, pulling me to a stop. Turning around, I glared at the thing binding me there and tried to tear it apart with magic, yet I failed after many attempts to break it.

The changeling queen looked at me in confusion. "What is she doing?"

“Huh?” I quickly looked at the fight.

Sister was laying on the dirt, bleeding out and smiling a weak smile at Eclipse. Her blood soaked foreleg was wrapped around Eclipse's armored one, which had its claws dug into her chest. Except Sister was not moving to pull it out. She dragged the other boot over with a hoof and offered it to Eclipse. The earth pony put it on and raised her hoof up over Sister's head.

Sister stared up into Eclipse’s eyes, nodding slowly.

"Stop!" I screamed, tugging again at the chain binding me to the wall. It still didn't budge, so I tugged harder and harder until it dug deep into my flesh, drawing blood, but I didn't care.

The changeling queen glared up at me. "Sit down! She, and you, knew only one was leaving that arena alive. But it seems alicorns are not as-"

My hoof came around and cleanly connected with her face, audibly slapping her and leaving a mark. "Don't you dare speak to Us like that!" I glared at her, my eyes slowly narrowing. "We are the perfect example of a pony. You are nothing more than a parasite living off of others. Unfit for anything else, but shit!"

She held her hoof to her cheek, smirking slightly and I could see the red through one of her holes. "I shall let that slide because of your recent loss. Now, if you ever. Talk to me like that again, I will personally cut out your tongue and feed it to you."

My ears slowly folded back and I broke down into tears.

*** ***

The orchard arena was empty, devoid of ponies that left almost a half hour ago. Had I encountered Eclipse on my way here, I would have speared her and crushed her heart without hesitation even if it ended me.

Sister... Mudpie... or whatever her name was. Was lying motionless in front of me. Blinking back a few tears, I stepped towards her blood soaked body, which mirrored the now black dirt around her.

I collapsed next to her with tears in my eyes, gently nosing her. "Sister..? I'm sorry I got you into this," I gently rested my head on her cold back and shut my eyes. "Please come back to me. I swear to Celestia I'll be a better pony. Just come back. I don't want to be alone."

I got no response from Sister, so I tried to connect to her mind to no avail. Even applying my horn to hers produced no results. Sister was a corpse, lifeless, and never to breathe again.

A dead pony... One that I loved as a sister and I will never hear her voice again. She had been there for me since Unity, even protected me against myself when I needed it. But when the time came... I could not help her.

All I could do was watch as she was beat to death.

My ears drooped to the side of my face, gently resting my head on her neck. "I will get her for you," I whispered to her with my mouth. "Even if I have to join you in death. I swear. I swear to The Goddess and to Celestia. I will kill Eclipse as slowly and painfully as possible. For you."

I sat up, cradling Sister against my chest and began humming the song she had sang to me to help me sleep. The changeling queen, who was standing off to the side, cleared her throat, but I ignored her and pet Sister's neck. Slowly, I rocked back and forth as gently as I could as if she were needing to be rocked to sleep.

"We will incinerate the body in a half hour," the changeling queen mumbled.

I whipped my head around, glaring daggers at her. "No, you will bury her like a pony!"

"You're in my city and will abide by my rules! Here we incinerate the bodies."

"No!" I narrowed my eyes, whispering in her mind at the same time I said. "You will bury the body."

"Tell me," the changeling queen rolled her eyes and waved a hoof about. "Did you think that mind trick would even work on a queen?" My ears folded back as I gulped. "Thought so. Look, the least I can do is give you a lock of her mane."

"And her ashes?"

"We can't collect them, so no."

Slowly, I stood up and gently levitated Sister onto my back. "Where is it? I will do it myself."

*** ***

The incinerator stood before me. Well, it was like a giant metal box with a cute leading down into the incinerator. I cared about nothing around me except for this one last task I was going to do for Sister. The changeling queen had told me she couldn't find Celly nor Sienna. The latter going missing worried me greatly while the former... Good riddance.

"Is there anything you wished to say to the deceased?" a pony in robes asked.

My ears folded back. I glanced at the wooden plank they had put her on and walked over to her. She was cleaned up of all blood and appeared as if she were merely sleeping. I leaned down, giving her a very long kiss on her cold lips.

After it was over I brushed her mane behind her ear. "I love you," I whispered to her even though it was pointless. "Do you hear me? I love you and hope to see you again. I don't know what I had until I lost it, and I'm sorry. One day, I will tell my foals the story of their Mommy's friend that helped her when she needed it."

I kissed her cheek before slowly levitating the plank up.

As I began walking towards the incinerator, the pony in robes said. "Oh Great Wind Spirit, hear our pleas for this lost and weary soul. Though she was not from our herd, she fought bravely on the field of honor. Watch over her as she moves on into the hereafter and guide her loved ones to her when they so too pass on."

Opening the chute door, I gently placed Sister on it and looked at the other ponies. "Does either of you have a blade?"

They looked at each other then me as the robed unicorn hesitantly pulled one out. Floating it over, I looked at myself in the metal's reflection. "What are you doing?" the changeling asked quietly.

"This," I said, lifting my non-flowing mane with a hoof. The knife cut it with ease. Eventually I cut down my mane in a cut that I had during the war. Short, simple, and wouldn't get in the way. Next I cut my tail short and tossed the knife back to the pony. It struck the dirt near his hooves and stayed there.

Unfolding a wing, I plucked out my best looking feather and laid it across Sister's face. Then placed what had been cut from my mane on hers. Slowly, I caressed Sister's cheek one last time before I used my magic to push the tray shut and held it there, shutting my eyes to hide the tears.

After a while, I turned to face the other ponies. "Where is Sister's equipment? And where is mine? I must see them now!"

*** ***

The changeling stopped at a door in some hallway I had never been too. She opened it, stepping aside. "This is your new room. Near the bed, you will find all of your and that other alicorn's equipment, minus ammo."

I walked into the room and turned around to face my captor. "You will help me find Eclipse, yes?"

She nodded slowly. "Do this task for me and I will let you go. Do you have a name?"

"Dog," I nodded.

She raised an eyebrow up in confusion, tilting her head. "What idiot names their foal 'Dog'?"

"Dog is my wartime nickname and it fits because I am collared like a dog." I pointed at the collar to make my point.

"Riiight... Anyway, I will be back in a day or so to let you calm down." She shut the door, causing my ears to fold back.

I didn't care to look at the room and immediately dumped out my bags as I began inventorying everything.

I found my journal, the Twilight Sparkle statuette, the Annihilator, two 10mm pistols and five empty magazines for both, a round screw-on tube I guessed to be a suppressor, Sister's jacket that I pulled on, Ripper's odd message, some cloth bandages, the Pipbuck that I also put on and found it was still broken, my rusty sword, and a few other items. But I had no ammo, food, medical supplies beyond bandages, and no 105mm he shell. The bandages looked pretty useless as they were just cloth.

None of that concerned me.

I buried my nose in the jacket's collar and took a deep breath. Sister's scent was still on it, causing me to tear up at the memory.

Quickly, I pulled out my journal and wrote down everything like Sister had told me to, because it was real. I wrote and wrote all through the night until there came a knock on the door.

The journal was tossed into my bag that I threw on my back, tightening down. "Who is it?" I called out.

Slowly, the door opened and a handsome looking unicorn stallion poked his head in. My ears folded back slowly."I was told you might need comforting," he said as he walked into the room and shut the door.

This gave me the chance to slowly look him up and down, noticing that he was well groomed. The fact that he so blindly walked in without a care caused me to look away at the wall, which was devoid of shit writing.

Slowly, the unicorn’s hoofsteps came closer until he stopped next to me. "Do... do you need comforting?"

I shut my eyes and looked down at the floor, slowly nodding. "She was Our sister..."

Underneath me, my saddlebags came unbuckled on their own, but I didn't care enough to object. Nor did I care when they were slipped off as slowly as possible.

I just kept my eyes closed. "How can We go on without her? She kept Us stable in my darkest moments..."

"Um... c-can you take your... your jacket off?" he asked.

I obliged by sitting up and slowly pulling it off. As I set it aside I laid down and looked into the stallion's yellow eyes. "Tell Us, how can We go on?" He hugged Us and We buried Our face in his chest. "We can't go on without her, but I must. I swore to her and to The Goddess that We will have Our revenge."

Slowly, I felt his hoof press against the back of my head as he pushed me lower onto his belly. Opening my eyes, stared downwards at his full stallionhood. Only then did the true meaning of his question dawn on me. What he really meant was 'comfort', as in sex, to take my mind off the death of Sister.

Nodding, I slowly reached down with my hoof to oblige him.

*** ***

I watched the unicorn leave the room and shut the door. After a few seconds I got up and walked across the plush carpet to the loo. I turned the sink water on, letting it run for a while. Obviously the water that came out was clear and crisp. Slowly, I placed my hoof under it to test the temperature and found it normal. The cool water caressed my hoof for a moment while I stared at it.

More blood was on my hooves, Sister's blood. She had warned me, but I ignored her and she paid the price for my stupidity. No... Shock's stupidity. The purpose of that stallion was clear; to get my mind off Sister, but he failed. I couldn’t stop thinking about her being so angry at me before the fight.

Shutting my eyes, I sighed deeply as my ears folded back. Gently, I scooped water into my hoof and filled my mouth with it. As I opened my eyes to stare at my green alicorn reflection, I saw her scarred and ugly face, the cloudy eye, the scars along her neck and shoulder on down to her wing.

I swished the cool water around in my mouth for a bit, gargling, then spit the water into the sink. The stallion had left me with an odd hard candy flavor in my mouth that I wanted to get rid of. As I was slowly drinking the water a second time, I glanced in the mirror.

My reflection's ears were back and her eyes were full of tears. She looked like a younger green alicorn that had yet to lose her eye or Sister. In her eyes was joy and life, not misery and pain.

I gargled the water again and spit it into the sink. "Hello, Shock," I said, wiping my mouth off with a hoof. My voice had taken on a cold, somber, tone that was not full of love. "How do you like where We are? Hm?"

She placed her hoof against the mirror and looked at, mouthing something that was probably 'I'm an idiot and I'm sorry'.

Slowly shaking my head, I washed out my mouth a third time, yet the taste remained. Shock buried her face in her hooves. With a shrug, I began to use the bandage to wrap my bad eye like an eye patch.

"Sorry doesn't fuckin' cut it!" I shouted at the mirror, not caring if my echoing voice could be heard by others. "Sorry is for when you trip over a pony, or if you step on their tail. You fucked up and now it's my turn to take over! I, no, We will do better than you. You've been sidetracked too much. We will kill that witch of a pony. We will slice the meat off her bones and feed it to her. That, is a promise We made to Sister over her body!"

Shock looked at me, slowly lowering her hooves from her face. "What are you going to do?" she mouthed at me.

"It is simple. We kill the mule, then We kill Eclipse." A grin slowly formed on my face as Shock nodded. A smile began forming on her face, but I noticed something in the mirror; the changeling queen was laying on the bed looking into the loo. Which meant she was looking at me.

I looked over at her, my ears slowly folding back. She got off the bed, walking over with a smile. The changeling queen was as tall as I was, which made looking at her much easier. Her hoof slowly came up as she wrapped her foreleg around my neck.

I prepared myself for a kiss that never came.

Instead, she looked into my eyes with her own ears back. "I wish to tell you something," the changeling sighed. "I will have to let you go for you to do this assignment for me. But I am truly sorry you lost that other alicorn. I felt the love you had for her, but now you feel hollow and empty."

I looked at my reflection, noticing the changeling queen's hoof was on the latch for my collar. Slowly, she opened it as it beeped quietly. I looked at her face as if wondering she would kill me right then. "Who are you?" I quietly asked.

She smiled a little as the collar fell off my neck and hit the tile below us, cracking it. "Your captor, your master, and the pony who is unleashing you." The changeling slowly levitated a few familiar bullets up to eye level; one was tipped orange which meant it was explosive.

Grinning, I took the bullets in my magic. One 10mm explosive round and twenty regular. I trotted over to the empty magazines and began loading them with all but the explosive bullet. The changeling queen noticed this fact and tilted her head.

“Observe.” I picked up the best looking 10mm pistol, pulled the slide back and placed the 10mm explosive round into the chamber before I released the slide. “Now I have thirteen rounds,” I giggled a little as I slid the magazine in. “The first is going to make that mule’s head explode like paste.”

“I thought he was an earth pony?” the changeling queen tilted her head.

“No,” I slowly shook my head. “The long ears and slightly different body shape means he is a mule.”

“Oh,” She nodded slowly. “So, what’d you think of that earth pony I had sent down?”

I screwed on the suppressor and brought out a knife. As I was scratching ‘Shock’ into the handle, I said, “he failed his objective, I still think of Sister, but he seemed to really have enjoyed it and had seconds.” My name was eventually scratched into the handle, so I set it down and levitated the other one that I named ‘Sister’. “Why do you ask?”

“I ask because I could call for him again if need be or get you another pony.”

I finished scratching Sister’s name into the handle of the non-silenced 10mm pistol and looked at the changeling. “Did you disguise yourself as him?”

“No,” she shook her head slowly. “I was gathering up your ammunition and knives. By the way. What is this?” She dug through my bag and eventually pulled out my 105mm high-explosive shell. “I’ve never seen one before, but assume it to be a bullet.”

“It is,” I slowly levitated it over in my magic, cradling it like a foal. “Do you have a pen, or lipstick or something?”

“I have this.” She held out a hoof and spit green liquid into it. My nose wrinkled up as I covered it with a wing. She held it out, nodding, but I shook my quickly head. “It hardens into rock hard wax when it dries.”

“Then you write my message.” I held out the tank round and nodded at it. “To Eclipse, with love, I hope you rot in Tartarus. From, Shell Shock.” The changeling tilted her head, but wrote the message on the side of the actual warhead then stepped back as it hardened.

Slowly, a wicked grin formed on my face as I started putting everything away in preparation for later.

*** ***

My saddlebags were heavy with everything I owned. Sister’s brown duster worked nicely to hold my magazines and the silenced 10mm pistol, Shock, in a foreleg holster. The other one, ‘Sister’, was held inside a collar holster that could be grabbed easily by my teeth if need be.

Slowly, I walked from my room and gave one last look to the changeling queen before turning invisible. “Good luck,” she nodded.

The walk to the atrium gave me time to think about my choices and everything thus far in my journey. Part of me was screaming in grief about Sister's death, but the other part of me knew that to grieve now would be a bad thing.

So I gulped down my grief and focused on the task at hoof, killing Iron Jaw then Eclipse. The mule would be easy enough to kill, but a part of me wondered why the changeling queen wanted him dead. Though... that mattered little to me because I wanted my revenge against a certain earth pony, and I would do anything to get it.

Passing by a strange sign, I stopped and looked at it. It read 'Eveything Under the Sun including weapons'. With my task forgotten for the moment, I backed up and quickly made sure I was alone before dropping my invisibility spell, and walked inside the shop.

A bell jingled and signaled my arrival.

There were standing racks upon racks of everything from simple clothes to parts of power armor. Along the walls were various weapons ranging from blades to energy weapons.

Taking a few steps forward, my jaw dropped at the sheer amount of hardware on display as I turned around and looked above the door at the muzzle brake to a tank barrel..

"Nice, isn't it?" a feminine voice asked. I nodded slowly, turning around and stopped cold. Standing before me was a small, half-familiar, pony in a grease stained lab coat.

"Rose!" My eyes widened and I nearly tackle hugged her, but stayed put.

"Who?" Not Rose tilted her head. That was when I noticed the small horn on the mare's head, which was mostly hidden by her mane and only showed itself when she had tilted it. "I don't get many alicorns in here. Much less those walking around with missile launchers on their backs. So what brings you to my shop?"

"Um..." my ears folded back slowly. "I need ammo and a weapon exchange."

"Alright, follow me." she walked over to a counter and hopped on a stool. "What kind of ammo?"

Floating out the remaining 10mm magazines, I laid them on the counter and pointed a hoof at them. "Ten millimeter. Subsonic hollow-point if you can."

"Hm," she smirked a bit as she shook her head slightly. "That kind of ammo is hard to find. It only had a few specific uses pre-war and... it begs the question of what are you going to do with it?"

My eyes slowly narrowed in annoyance. "Do you, or don't you have it?"

She shook her head, frowning. "No, but I have regular ten mil and some full jacketed."

Setting my caps and rusty sword down next to the magazines, I nodded. "Will these cover the filling of these magazines?"

The small unicorn counted them and eventually nodded. "Yup. Need anything else?"

"Barding would be nice, but..." I slowly walked towards a rack of rifles. One of them was a familiar shape and had a rail on top of it, but no scope. "This," I pointed at the IF-12 bolt-action rifle next to the other one. "And twenty rifle rounds; five with full metal jackets, five hollow points and the rest regular."

The small mare set a box down on the counter and a bullet bounced out. "I don't have any FMJ's, just boxes of regular rifle rounds."

Sighing deeply, I pulled the IF-12 off the rack and set it down on the counter. "How much do I owe you now?"

"Eighteen hundred caps."

I set the Annihilator down and brought the rifle to my eye as I aimed it at the wall above her head. "Your sights are slightly bent." The rifle was aimed up a the ceiling as I pulled the slightly rough bolt back and undid it from the frame. Then field stripped it and stared down the barrel with my good eye. "The bolt is gritty and needs cleaning, not to mention the grooves in the barrel are worn."

I stared intently at each part of the weapon and cleaned it to the best of my abilities without a cleaning kit. After a while I nodded.

"So, you'll take it?" she smiled at me.

"Perhaps... But not for eighteen hundred caps. This rifle is worth nine hundred at the most."

"I have to make a profit!" she whined, her ears folding back and pressing against her head. "Look. Fifteen hundred caps and I'll throw in two boxes of ammo. That's a hundred rounds."

"They better not be filled with sand." I glared a bit at her.

The small unicorn blinked in shock for a few seconds as a deathly silence befell the room. Eventually, as I was putting the IF-12 back together, she recovered, slowly shaking her head. "I'd be out of business if I did that."

I nodded slowly, opening my bag to get the caps, but my ears folded back when I saw that I had no more caps. A deep sigh of frustration escaped me at this fact. The unicorn frowned, tilting her head some.

"Will you accept a trade?" I asked quietly with my mouth.

"Yes, but it depends. What did you have to trade?"

I briefly considered trading Sister's pistols, but no. They were hers and I would not give anything of hers away. Glancing down down at my missile launcher which had been given to me by Sister. I had an idea to trade that. It was a weapon that failed its purpose and was used against us by Eclipse. A traitor’s weapon.

"I will trade that," I nodded at the Annihilator, "for the rifle, the two boxes of ammo, and some thick socks to muffle the sound of my hooves."

"Hm..." the unicorn scratched her chin in thought for a few moments before nodding. "It's a deal."

I loaded five rounds into the rifle and slung across my back. The mare smiled at me as I placed some ammo into a pocket and the rest in my bags. Five 10mm magazines went into their foreleg holder while the rest went into my bags.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you." the unicorn smiled, nodding a bit. "Perhaps I'll have some 'special' items for you next time." she winked.

"Yeah," I waved. Walking over to a rack of cloth barding, I searched around it for a while before I found four identical black hoof socks that I pulled on. A frown formed on my face when I saw the Pipbuck was covered. Though with some clever knife work I made the screen and buttons accessible.

"Have a nice day!" the unicorn called out as I began walking out of the shop.

As I walked out of the door I stopped, looking at her. "What is your name?"

"Full Auto, and yours?"

"Dog," I waved a clipped wing and walked away before she could reply.

The hallways were of no importance, but I paid attention to the signs. Most of them had been painted over long ago with new names. Under a small one was called Common Area, so I followed it. One I noticed was labeled Queen Cog's Office.

I made a mental note to ask the changeling queen what her name was the next time I saw her.

Eventually my ears picked up the annoying sound of tons of ponies talking in a large room. Their echoing muddled voices briefly caused me to think my telepathy spell was working, it wasn't. I quickly glanced around and went invisible again as I neared the door.

Stepping out into the room, I glanced around to get my bearings..

Ahead of me was a stable atrium, the Overmare's office was directly across from me, and below were the tons of gathered ponies. The changelings and ponies mixed and mingled together, almost creating a carpet of the rainbow. The large stable atrium served as a sort of gathering area, or park, for the citizens. They walked here and there, talked amongst themselves or played games as if it were pre-war times.

After a while I spotted the aqua blue imp spawn playing chess with what appeared to be a blindfolded pony, yet Iron Jaw had less pieces and looked to be losing. Slowly, I skirted the edge of the room and made my way down the stairs towards Iron Jaw’s table.

I glanced at the ceiling and nodded at Sister.

Reaching down with my mouth, I grabbed the handle of Shock in my teeth and drew the pistol as I moved forward. About halfway there I noticed the unicorn I had serviced was walking around, but chose to ignore him. Iron Jaw was my target and I would not deviate or let my employer down.

As I got within hearing range, I aimed the pistol at the back of Iron Jaw's head and triggered the pistol with my tongue.

-----------

Shell Shock: 25% to next level.