Chapter 20: Dirty Deeds
"Wait for the opportune moment before striking."

Something hard kicks at my gut, causing me to gasp awake and curl up at the pain. "Shock!" Dead Hoof shouts, his voice rings in my ears, as my vision begins registering my surroundings with two blurry alicorns ahead of me. "Shock, get the fuck up!"

The two blue alicorns slowly focus into one as my brain figures out what is going on, it's noon and I overslept. I can tell based off the bright daylight coming in from behind the alicorn in front of me."What is it?" I grumble quietly with my mind as I scratch the side of my head. "Need a morning hoof job or something?"

"No," he replied as his eyes narrow. "I don't want to have sex with you right now."

I shrug some and yawn. "It's not sex when I do all the work. Just me helping you to relieve some tension."

"Get your head out of the gutter!" he shouts, causing me to wince in pain. "Wait. Have you been drinking?"

I pull my warm blanket over my body and shake my head. He continues to block most of the light from coming in. Truth be told, I have not enjoyed these days with Dead Hoof. Turns out the mainlanders already knew how to make alicorn stallions, making my brilliant plan absolute crap and my deal with Dead Hoof only one way; his way.

I scratch my mane with a quiet yawn and try to look out of my tent at the other boring tents outside. My attempt fails because he steps in front of my vision. For some reason I find my gaze lingering on his mane that he dyed a purple color and continued to put in pigtails with pink bows. "Remember what I said on the island?" he asks. I nod slowly as I curl up in my blankets. "Then what were my rules?"

I sigh deeply, roll my eyes and recite with my mouth, "I will listen to your word as if it were law. I won't butcher any ponies for food or fun like a sadistic raider. I will dedicate my time to helping ponies and not killing them. If I want to kill a pony I must first ask permission."

"And the last one?" he asks, tilting his head a bit.

"What last one?"

He frowns and points his hoof in a threatening manner. "Don't fuck with me. You know the rules!" Dead Hoof sets the hoof down and floats a small single shot pistol out of his mane. "No. Weapons. Allowed!"

How he hides things in there is beyond my measure of comprehension. I sniffle a bit and shrug, my heavy eyelids threatening to send me back to sleep. "What if I'm walking along and some pony attacks me? I need the protection a-"

"No weapons in town!" He shouts at me, causing my ears to fold back. "You have a shield. Use that and come get help, okay?" I nod a little bit. "Good," he says as his glare softens to a more normal expression. "I hate yelling at you. You know that, right?"

I look at the tent wall where my gear is stored and frown. "You do it a lot though."

"Because I want to see you as that monster I met on the island."

"That monster is what I am," I reply. "I'm an evil monster who can't be redeemed. Any attempts fail or get the other ponies killed."

I feel his warm hoof under my chin as he turns my head to look at his face again. "You're a better pony than that. All you have to do is let go of your old ways and change with the new. There's a new, safer, world out there if you just let it in." I frown at his remark and let my eyes shut. "You know I'm right because you got your cutie mark back," he points out, causing me to try glancing down at it. I fail to see it, but I know exactly what it is.

"It's a dumb mark though."

"But you can put it to good use here." He says, slowly leaning closer, almost to kissing range.

I place my hoof on his lips and push him back. "I might like you, but not that much. There's a purple stallion around here that has my eye."

"Oh?" Dead Hoof smiled a bit as his eyes flutter like some teenage filly. "And why haven't you talked with him?"

"Be... because he is a stallion, and... and... And I don't want a wasteland relationship."

"A what?" he blinks as he pulls back even further. "What the hell is that?"

I bring my other hoof up and look at it. "This is a mare." I nod my horn at the new hoof. Then look at my right hoof, "and this is a stallion." I bring them together and look at Dead Hoof. "They get together for no reason and bang each other's brains out. Afterward..." I remove the hooves and pull the covers over me. "They go their separate ways, or they stay together and one dies in a firefight. I want a stable, lasting, relationship with a pony that won't have a high risk of dying within the next couple years to a lead wall."

Dead hoof has a confused expression on his face, his head tilted to the side and pulled back a bit as he blinks over and over and over for a few seconds. "Huh?" he tilts his head. "Are you saying you won't talk to him because he might get shot?" I nod. "That's stupid! You take what you can get and don’t worry about the future."

Shrugging, I lean over and flop ontop my comfy cot with a thump and shut my eyes. "Then leave me alone to wallow in my pity." Dead Hoof grabs the blanket and pulls on it, but I hold tight. "Noooo! I don't want to get out of bed!"

"Shoock," Dead Hoof growls as the pulling intensifies. "There's hungry ponies that need to eat!"

"Fuck 'em," I reply and use my magic to keep me curled up and snuggled in my comfy bed. "I had a bad dream and I need my sleep."

"So? You have bad dreams every day. Nothing new there."

"This one was about Mudpie and us when we first met on the island."

The pulling stops and something is set where my wing is. I open my eyes and look at it, finding out it is Dead Hoof's forehoof. "Shock. Canterlot is leveled to the ground."

"Maybe the book survived?" I ask, my gaze slowly moving from the hoof, up his leg towards his face. "They don't know for certain if anything survived the Enclave’s bombardment, so it could still be there!"

Dead Hoof's gaze slowly goes over to my box of stuff where my open journal is sitting on top of it. "Did you read that last night?"

I nod slowly as I try to snuggle my still warm bed. The feeling of being in a soft bed causes me to smile a little. "Yes. I was writing and trying to finish it, but passed out."

Dead Hoof facehoofs. "No wonder you had a nightmare about Mudpie. Which one was it?"

I shut my eyes and sigh. "The one where I'm walking through a jungle and I see her talking corpse."

"I get goosebumps thinking about that image." Her wing feathers fluff up. She walks over to the journal and looks at the last entry on the open page, frowning a bit. "You didn't finish it?"

"I do not care."

"What if somepony finds this in thirty years or so? They'll never know what happens after you yelled at me because I shot that earth pony. I thought you wanted to finish it."

I nod again. "I don't care what some random future pony thinks. I'm never writing in it again. You are right, I need to move on. Ripper was right..." I bury my face in my pillow and mutter, "the journal is cursed."

"Then let's uncurse it by making lunch!" Dead Hoof says as he tugs at my blanket.

"I don't want to make lunch." I try to bury my face in my pillow even further. "I want to sleep!"

Dead Hoof walks over and starts to slowly pet my back with his hoof. I sigh contently at the feeling of his hoof running along my spine and slowly relax. "Fine,” he says quietly. “You rest here and I will tell the others that Tail Blade is going to cook."

"No!" I shout as my eyes snap open. "She is a horrible, horrible, cook who would burn soup if such a thing were possible I'll cook!" I say as I sit up and look at Dead Hoof.

My response receives a chuckle from him. "I knew that'd get you out of bed. Come on then! There's hungry wastelanders and chances to fill your pockets with caps."

I quickly grab my stuff in magic, apron included, and shut the journal before dashing out of the tent towards my table.

I did not get much farther than thirty paces when some green pony suddenly appears in my path. My eyes widen as I find myself skidding along the dirt covering the alicorn camp as I try to stop, flapping my wings to slow myself. The pony looks over at me and steps to the side, holding her leg out at the same time I bump into her soft fur.

"Easy now," she says as she removes the hoof. I give my wings one last flap before folding them and standing up, looking over at her. It is like looking into a mirror if that mirror showed a pony with a coat three times as light as your own. The green alicorn's face could be mistaken for a grey at a good distance away. Only up close could one see her green. My eyes slowly wander from her moving mouth to her own eyes that were a deep green much like my coat. It takes me a second to realize who it is, Mistress Tail Blade, the camp's leader.

Why her name is Mistress is not known to me. All I know is that she runs a camp for alicorns in the Baltimare area. Any and all alicorns are welcome, for a small fee; you work around the camp and help the others or you get out.

She waves her hoof across my face, causing me to blink and realize that I am staring at her. Taking a couple steps back, I try to smile and laugh nervously. "Uh, um. Ah, well I suppose I should..." I glance down at my stuff on the ground and frown. "Thank you for moving out of my way?"

"Shell Shock, right?" she asks.

I shut my eyes, sighing deeply as I pull my stuff close with my magic. "That is Our... My. That is my name."

"Right, right," she says. I open my eyes and look at her. "You run Lilly's Soup House."

I nod. "Yes, ma'am, I do."

She holds her hoof out and smiles. "I'm Mistress Tail Blade."

Slowly, I bring my hoof out and shake hers. "Can... can I ask you something?" She nods as we set our hooves down. "Why Tail Blade?"

"That's a funny story actually." She sits down, so I also sit down and patiently wait. "I once had a long tail, didn't bother cutting it, see?" I nod. "So I would tie daggers inside it and use the tail like a deadly whip. Until one day the whip kicked back and stabbed me in the flank!" She starts laughing like some posh Canterlot unicorn.

I force a smile and a fake laugh at her not so funny story. "Heh, so is that it?"

After a few seconds of her annoying laugh, she stops and smiles. "Most ponies want to know why I'm called 'Mistress'."

"I think I can imagine," I mutter under my breath. "Ex-slaver?" She shakes her head. "Then what?"

"I used to run a brothel in a town waaaay," she leans back and waves her hooves around, "down south in the Badlands. I ended up dropping my name and calling myself Mistress to keep who I was hidden. Kind of stupid, huh?"

I shake my head and let out a quiet sigh. "No. I have many names, some are thankfully lost to time, but a few stick with me."

"What are they?"

"Shell Shock, Dog, and Lilium, which is my original name."

"Ah." she nods. "Now I see where the Lilly comes from in Lilly's Soup House." I bow my head at her figuring it out quickly. "I get Shell Shock, I get Lilium, but I don't get Dog."

I frown, slowly looking down at my hooves. "Because I'm a monster on a leash. My masters point me in a direction and say 'kill that tank' or 'take that hill' and I do. I follow orders to the letter. That. Is why I have the name Dog."

By the time I finish, she is holding a hoof to her chin, her brows furrow together in thought and her lips are just a tight thinking line. I wait patiently for a response. Soon, she nods and looks at me. "I think I understand you now." She slowly stands up and motions with her wing for me to follow. "Come, I have a business proposal for you to hear out."

"Really?" I tilt my head and trot along next to her, ignoring the tents around us. "I already cook when I can and think you did not mind."

"Oh no, no, no." she shakes her head and slowly wraps a wing around me, pulling me close. "Lilly, I have certain... Business partners throughout the city." I give a firm nod and swivel my ears forward to give her my full attention. She glances at me and smiles. "While I am sure your skills with cooking are quite good. It seems you have a second, more useful, skill set that I have a need for."

"I made a promise many years ago that I would survive and come back for a pony very dear to me. So far I have kept the former, but not the latter. My family is dead so the latter is impossible."

Mistress Tail Blade opens a door to a corrugated shack and we step inside. She shuts it behind us, folds her wing and heads over to a locker. "Lilly. How quiet is your ability to fight?"

"Quiet?" I stand at the doorway, blinking in confusion. "I... I can turn invisible, but I don't think fights are quiet. Quite the contrary."

"They are if they are done in a certain manner," she says, pulling a dirty manilla folder from the locker. I trot over to her and take it from her with magic, slowly opening it up. "I want you to kill ponies for me. Who I say with no questions asked, and absolutely no talking about it," she says rather bluntly as I begin to look over the folder.

In it are colored sketches of various ponies, a unicorn, a pegasus strangely enough, a few earth ponies and... My gaze went back to the earth ponies and I pull a stretch of a very familiar one out. "I'll do it," I say as my eyes slowly narrow on the picture of a teal earth pony with a strawberry red mane.

"Don't you want to hear my offer?"

I blink, mentally facehoofing at the sudden realization that I very nearly accepted another offer without hearing it through! Slowly,I put the picture back into the folder and shut it, nodding. "What are your terms? What's the catch?"

"My terms are simple," she says as she takes the folder and puts it in the locker. "You will go about your cooking as you normally do. I will 'slip' some information to you about a target, and you will take them out, sound fair?"

I frown at the locker, stepping back as she shuts it and locks it with a spin dial lock. "What do I get in return?"

"Caps, favors, entertainment, whatever you want it's yours." She says in a voice like velvet. My frown only grows more. I look down, slowly rubbing a foreleg with my hoof.

"If I do this I'll need a weapon. Dead Hoof won't let me have any."

"Sounds like he has you wrapped tight around his hoof."

I nod a little, then shake my head. "It's for my own good. I... sometimes see things, visions of long dead ponies who aren't there. I hear voices in my head belonging to zebras and ponies I've killed urging me to kill more. He's trying to help me ignore that. The only other pony I have found that could do that, is now dead."

"Seems you early greens weren't quite perfected enough to remain in a stable mental state for so long."

"Perfect...?" I blink a few times. "The Goddess made all her children perfect. If I am slightly flawed, then it was by her will that I am flawed and I accept it."

"Great," Mistress Tail Blade mutters under her breath. "A Goddess worshiper." She claps her hooves together and smiles at me. "What do you say to my proposal?"

I blink again, then frown. Dead Hoof would kill me if she finds out, but I am quite bored here in the camp. Except... I have been making progress. I have yet to call myself 'We' for weeks! But...

My gaze goes over to the locker and I remember Eclipse's portrait in there. "I..." Opening and closing my mouth, I try to formulate a reply. I shut my eyes and sigh deeply. "I'll need something special, a suit."

"Done." Came a quick reply from Mistress Tail Blade.

"Not just any suit. A form fitting one with built in sheaths for knives. And I'll need a suppressed revolver, preferably less than a forty-four in caliber to make less of a mess. I will also like a weapon cleaning kit and payment in caps for each job I complete, including the first."

"You're expecting payment on top of the weapons and clothes?" She asks. I open my eyes and nod. "You're quite bold."

"And you're fucked without me," I reply honestly. "Otherwise you wouldn't have asked the camp crazy. You should have already known I'm not all there and we just ‘happen’ to bump into each other?" I place a hoof to the side of my head to make my point. "You're desperate for a dog to send after ponies you need to get rid of and you sure as hell don’t want a raider to do it."

She walks over to the desk and sits down with a sigh. "Alright. Talk with Stitches after lunch. He'll get you set up with the suit. Any preference on the revolver?"

"One that works,” I nod, “isn't too big and isn't silver. It needs to be dark and not reflect light. But I can paint it over if finding a non-silver one is too hard" I nod again. "So I am to talk with Stitches after lunch."

"I just told you that," she grumbles.

"I was repeating it so I'd remember. Have a good day, Mistress Tail Blade." I bow gracefully before turning for the door.

*** ***

I stare at the slowly boiling tomato soup, slowly stirring it as I listen to the sounds of the camp. Ponies, and alicorns walk around oblivious to me and my food like always.

I don't care.

They could all be ghouls for all the good it would do. Alicorns don't even need food! But still, I eat to remind myself that I'm a pony. To remind myself that I used to be worse off than now. To be my old self now would be to invite death over for tea and crumpets. Normal ponies are inferior to us alicorns. Weak, frail, and so helpless without to guidance of the Goddess. But I can say the same about us.

I shut my eyes and sigh deeply while continuing to stir my food. Opening my eyes again, I look up at the camp. It's a ramshackle hodgepodge of tents, corrugated shacks, old skywagons, and part of a Pony Joe's coffee shop. The Pony Joe's being the center of what the locals call 'Alicorn Town'. There they sell food for caps, but they won't include my soup stand for some reason. They don't look at me like they look at each other. I feel like an outcast that gets to live with them, a pony you know of but will never talk to. Each minute of each hour of the day they pass by my soup stand. I smile and wave them over, but they quickly walk off. Dead Hoof comes by to take the cooked soup to the Pony Joe's for them to eat. I never get invited.

Sitting down, I stare at my soup and slowly stir it. A blue alicorn's reflection slowly appears in it. "Hi, Dead Hoof," I say quietly to the blue. The only pony to ever come by.

"Hey. Soup's ready?" he asks.

I nod slowly. "Yeah. But why can't I cook inside the diner? It's boring here and," I look up at his face, "no pony ever talks to me."

"I told you already." he pulls the pot off the grate with magic and sips from the ladle. "The diner doesn't have a stove, so you have to cook out here. Good soup by the way."

I nod a bit. "They're tomatoes you bought for me."

His wing wraps around me and pulls me close to his body in a hug. I sigh as his body heat slowly transfers to my wing. "Cheer up, Shock. Ponies-"

"Lilly," I correct him. "I... I shouldn't use my old name." He nods.

"Well there's bound to be happy ponies once they have this soup!" He smiles. I try to smile back, but notice movement out of the corner of my eye, drawing my attention to the almost grey-green alicorn Tail Blade. Dead Hoof lets go of our hug and steps back. "I better get this to the Diner." he says as he trots off with the pot in tow.

Both Mistress Tail Blade and I silently watch him go. I tilt my head and stare at his flank, smiling a bit. He walks between a couple of tents and vanishes as he turns the corner, so I look at Mistress Tail Blade. She steps closer and sets a hoof on the wooden part of my ‘shop’, which is just a table and a stove.

"I have a location for a revolver you might like," she says in my mind without moving her lips.

I glance around to see if anypony was nearby and nod when I see that we are alone. "What caliber?" I ask in her mind.

"It was small." she shrugs.

"You don't know?" She shakes her head, causing me to frown. "How can you not know?"

"I don't use primitive bullets to vanquish my foes. Here is the code to a box in a run down department store with a ruined cargo wagon out front about two blocks away. Second floor, right side, second door in should be the mare's restroom. The box is buried under the rubble in the far corner. I have placed your first contract inside of the box as well. Your payment will be the suit and pistol. Any questions?"

Again, I slowly glance around at the tents surrounding us to see if anypony had walked over. None have, so I slowly take the paper and nod at Tail Blade. "One of the ponies in your folder Eclipse, is a pony I am looking for. Where is she?"

"I can't give away that information here. Somepony might be listening."

Sighing deeply, I hang my head low. "I understand. Thank you for this opportunity, Mistress Tail Blade."

"Good luck, Lilly."

*** ***

I slowly and steadily pick my way through the rubble of downtown Baltimare, glancing back every once in a while to see if any pony has followed me from the camp; none has. So I smile and keep going. The ruins ahead are slowly decaying with time, once proud buildings stand as near salt blasted rusting hulks that creak and groan on the wind. Piles of rubble line the sides of the derelict buildings. My gaze wanders left, right, and up the rusty steel monstrosities.

They stand as testament to the engineering of earth ponies. Buildings that can stand the test of time without maintenance makes me wonder what else they built that can last this long. But if I had my way, I’d bring down every single one and start anew.

Slowly lowering my gaze down to road level, I spot the wrecked cargo wagon ahead. It’s tilted and leaning against the building with looted boxes falling out the open doors. The boxes are nothing more than smashed wood and anything worthwhile is long since looted. I stop, kicking one of the wood boxes with an armored forehoof and slowly glance up at the name of the store.

"Haystacks and Beyond," I mutter to myself, the sign is partially destroyed, but I know the name since I remember the store chain well. It's a place that sells everything from cups to full on furniture. I glance back down the broken road towards Alicorn Town and wait, hopefully catching a glimpse of a cloaked blue or a regular pony trying to hide.

I know that my boss, Mistress Tail Blade, wanted me to talk with Stitches after lunch, but this... This is more important. It's a chance to help with more than just cooking, and I'm going to take it. The suit can wait until tomorrow. It's only a piece of clothing that a vision of perfection does not truly need.

Seconds slowly begin to tick by as my gaze flicks across the road at a partially collapsed building, nothing moves. Frowning at my inability to spot hidden ponies, I turn and head inside the old department store.

Shards of glass crunch into the carpet from the weight of my hooves as I pick my way around the wreckage of the door. The carpet is initially pure dirt until you get a few paces inside where it turns to normal moldy old carpet again. Ahead of me, many shelves three times as high as I am reach to the ceiling. Some are collapsed, having long since spilled their wares out, and some have holes cut into them with boards placed as bridges.

My magical glow slowly pulls an old trusty flashlight out and I flick it on, casting a pale yellow beam of light on an old unicorn skeleton with tattered saddlebags. I walk over and quietly inspect them, but find nothing in the bags beyond holes. The light of the torch reflects off something underneath the bones, so I gently move them to the side and find a dust covered bottle of Stalliongrad's Finest. Bringing it up, I gently dust it off and find it's filled with a purple liquid, which causes me to nod a bit and put it into my own bags.

A healing potion most likely, I think to myself as I stand up from the bone pile. The torch slowly sweeps across the dark room until the light falls upon a sign pointing to the staircases. I nod at it and tell myself, the second floor mare's room.

I slowly begin picking my way over the rubble as I follow the signs pointing to the staircase. Though I do not worry so much about salvagers or raiders. Any inhabitants are long gone, otherwise they would have set up shop. Something bright catches my eye, causing me to stop and stare at it.

The torch illuminates an intact pre-war anti-zebra poster.'Better wiped than striped!' is the motto below a few demonic looking zebras standing over a group of scared foals with a Steel Ranger defiantly standing in defense. The mere sight of the poster causes my wings to flex in and out as my breathing deepens and my feathers fluff up. I continue to stare at it as my ears twitch and swivel, picking up sounds; multi-language shouting, gunfire, and swords clashing against each other.

I find myself grinding my teeth together as my ears press against my head to block out the sounds, but they don't cease, only intensifying. Rearing up on my hind hooves, I grab the top of the poster and rip it off as I scream as loud as I could without a spell, "look what it did to this world!"

I land back on the floor, panting heavily as my heart thunders in my ear and my breathing starts to slow down. Looking down at the carpet, I shut my eyes. "Put the past behind you and have no regrets," I whisper to myself. "Don't look to the future for it holds uncertainty. You're here in the now, that is what matters."

I turn away from the now vandalized poster and head for the stairs. They are collapsed into a large pile of rubble much to my dismay. It causes me to stomp my hoof down and flare my wings out. "Damnit! How did she..." I look back at my outstretched wings and facehoof. "Right, wings. I can fly."

Giving my wings a few test flaps, I smile at the broken ceiling and hover up to it. The broken rubble pile is just far enough below that a pony cannot jump or see into it. It takes a flying pony, or teleporting unicorn, to reach the second floor.

I glance back at the first floor and slowly scan the area with my torch. The light slowly passes by the old shelves, ruined carts, fallen debris, and nothing else out of the ordinary. My flapping wings is the only sound my ears pick up as they swivel in all directions. Smiling some, I turn around and slowly hover my way to the second floor.

The second floor is less picked through, but in even worse shape than the first. One side of the building's roof collapsed long ago, filling half the second floor with debris and giving a large hole for the elements to poke through. Daylight floods the floor to the point that I no longer need the torch, so I turn it off and put it away.

I slowly glance at the rubble and partially picked through stuff around me as I wonder to myself, which right side? Right while I'm facing the street or with the street behind me?

Looking right, all I can see is the collapsed portion of the department store. Piles and piles of dirty rain soaked rubble line one half of the wall. My gaze stops and backtracks when I spot a partial door barely hanging on by a hinge. I glance down before hovering over to the door. It's just a rotting wood door with a sign on it. Beyond the door is a bunch of trashed stalls and mirrors, leading me to believe it might be the mare's room.

Picking up the sign in my magic, I dust it off and see an outline of a stallion. With a roll of my eyes, I toss the wood to the side and hover away, finding another restroom system not more than ten feet away. The stalls have all been crushed flat by debris, but the side holding the mirrors up is strangely intact. Shrugging at what must be the obvious mare's room, I land, fold my wings and trot in.

The rubble around the far wall looks to have been disturbed recently and the shape of it screams 'I'm hiding something'. I head over to the box shaped rubble pile and gently begin moving the pieces from it one at a time. As I do, my brain wants to scold Mistress Tail Blade for her impetuous hiding spot as even a fool could have found the box. I will have to hide it better later.

Tossing the last piece of rubble to the side, I stare at the rusty locker with the shiny combination lock. The sight of it makes me wonder about the mental state of the other green and where she got a nearly new lock. But, I shrug and pull the code out from inside my foreleg's ex-power armored plate. The armor, while unpowered and partially useless without the suit, does give me an advantage when I have to slap a pony or block a strike.

The code for the lock makes me frown, but it's easy to remember. 42, 48, 36.

The lock clicks as my magic pulls it apart and sets it to the side. Then, ever so slowly, I partially open the locker and shine the torch all along it to check for wires. Finding none, I slowly open it all the way and cringe as the hinges let out a rusty scream.

My ears twitch and swivel around while I sit and listen for intruders trying to sneak up on me, nothing does. Looking down into the locker, I find a large burlap sack. It's pulled out and I dump it out right there. Papers fall out with a flutter along with a few heavy objects, I quickly grab them in magic and pull them close as I pick the revolver up.

Floating the revolver near my ear, I gently spun the wheel and find it's slightly rusty. I frown and look down the cylinder's dirty chambers. The weapon looks to be in poor shape, but I was not expecting top notch equipment. There is no suppressor much to my dismay, something I shall bring up with Mistress Tail Blade the next time I see her. However, with some love and care the pistol can be great again.

I gently set it to the side and look at my paperwork. Not so strangely, it's the same dirty folder I saw in her office, but with most of the contents removed. All that is in it is a picture of a pegasus mare named Cloud Layer and her last known location. Which happens to be in a building down by the docks. There was a stamp indicating her death was urgently requested.

I fold the folder up, place the picture in my bag along with the pistol and ammo before standing up.

*** ***

Slowly, I ascend the rubble strewn stairs as silently as I could, my horn is dark and the revolver firmly clenched in my teeth. No sounds greet me beyond the occasional clink of my metal forehooves on stone, the thunderous sound of my heart beating in my chest, and the roar of my nose breathing. I glance up at the top of the stairs where a door is blocking the path, then look down the way I had come. Seven whole flights of stairs. Why the pony could not be on the ground floor is beyond my reasoning. At least it is not the top...

I take a quiet breath to calm myself even more and look at the door. My hoof gently touches the cold rusty steel of the handle as I press down, receiving no response. The locked door causes a warm, angry, feeling to well up inside my chest. To come so far only to be blocked by a stupid door! A door, the great immovable object that it seems nopony can pick a lock on. Well…

Turning around as best I can in the narrow confines of the stairwell, I back up and test the door with a hind hoof. It feels like your average wooden door which has stood against the test of time; dead, hollow, and slightly squishy. Drawing my hind legs in as far as I can, I balance on my forehooves while staring at the door.

My hind hooves slam against the door, the wood shatters outward as the door split in four large chunks. Spinning around as fast as I could, I gallop into the hallway only to be met by silence. After a few seconds, I slow my gallop to a stop and frown.

The dirty halls around me are quiet except for a windy moan coming from nearby. I glance in the direction and push open a door with my hoof. The room beyond the door is missing a window and cool salty air blew in from the coast not far away, blue sparkling water catches my eye and tries to entrance me into staying. Letting out a quiet hiss around the pistol's trigger, I turn from the room and head down the hall to another door that gets bucked open. After the wood splinters and dust settle, I turn around and look in.

The room is thankfully not looking out at the water, but neither is my target in it. All that my gaze spots is a desk and an overturned file cabinet. Stepping inside the room, I walk over to the desk and start pulling drawers out in a haphazard manner, dumping them out as soon as they're clear of the desk. The first drawer is empty so it gets tossed to the side, the second holds useless papers and the third holds a single bit and five rifle rounds. My magic grabs the last drawer tightly before tossing it at the window with a snarl. The wood smashes clean through, shattering the glass into lethal shards that rain down onto the street below with the bullets and bit.

"Fuck this building!" I shout with my mouth as I grab the desk with my armored hooves and pull up, flipping the desk over. As soon as I’m standing, I pivot on my hind hoof and kick out with the other one, slamming it into the desk. The wood desk cracks a little from the force and gets shoved back some.

I lift my armored forehooves up and bring them down on the file cabinet with a metallic clang, leaving two dents in it as the shock of the blow reverberates up my forelegs. My heart pounds against my chest as I take deep breaths, wings flexing in and out as I look around the derelict room for something, anything, to shoot or kick.

"You have to be her," a voice says from behind me. I spin around and attempt to trigger the pistol, but only succeed in flicking my tongue out of my mouth like a snake. This causes me to blink in confusion and look down at the pistol on the floor before I could get a good look at the pony.

My magic surrounds the dropped pistol and I lift it up. "Expecting somepony?" I ask as I bring the pistol to bear on the blue unicorn in ugly looking blood soaked barding. He doesn't even flinch.

"You must be here for the chicken wings," he says, causing me to frown. When I don't reply, he sighs, "the pegasus?"

I nod slowly. "Yes, I am."

"Did you bring the bits we asked for?"

Bits...? What did she not tell me?

I turn my head to the side a bit and eye the pony. My mind flashes back to Mistress Tail Blade telling me that I'd be paid to kill ponies for her. Not even the papers in the folder I had indicated I was to pay for the rescue of the pony, which means... this job is a test of my abilities to do a job and not have any witnesses.

"Yes," I nod. "I have been given a sack of bits as payment."

"May I see them?" the slaver asks. I shake my head, causing him to glare. "The deal was we trade fair for her. The bits for the pegasus."

"You sure you didn't want caps?" I ask. "Every pony uses caps these days you know."

"Bits. You can't use caps for pre-war vending machines."

I smile a bit at his reply. "I'd like to make sure she hasn't been harmed first. Then, and only then, will you get your payment."

"Give me your pistol," he says.

Again, I shake my head. "Dost thee think I am a foal? If I walk in there unarmed, I will be outnumbered, and at your complete mercy. If thou wants the bits, thou will hath to let me keep thine pistol."

He takes a half-step back, blinking as confusion slowly spreads across his face. The reaction makes me smirk knowing that he probably could not understand half of it. A couple of seconds pass before he nods. "Okay. You can keep the pistol. Follow me."

*** ***

I hum quietly to myself as I follow the stallion through the building. Little does he know that I am marking each corner we pass by so I can make a hasty exit when the shit hits the fan, because it sure as hell will when they find out I have nothing but caps.

The stallion makes a left at a door and steps inside a room, I follow along behind him and quickly glance around to get my bearings. The room used to be a cubicle office at one time, but now the walls are set up as a sort of impromptu maze along three of the walls including most of the windows. The smell of rich smoked meat fills the room and I try ignoring the bags of body parts hanging from the ceiling, ripe with flesh for the taking.

"Nice decorations," I mutter to the blue stallion. He glances back at me with that 'yeah sure' face, but I gesture to one of the bags over the fire with a hoof. "If you put the meat inside a trash bin with coals and wood chips, it'll give the meat a smoky flavor. Put some spices on it and you'll have a real nice tasting meal."

He cocks an eyebrow at my suggestion. "You eat meat?"

"Not any more." I shake my head. "The smell is... enticing, but we have business to attend to."

He nods and starts leading me around the maze of cubicle walls, which I can just barely see over so his attempt at subterfuge is pointless. In the center of the room is a tent with a pink pony and Cloud Layer sitting outside it. Cloud Layer has ropes binding her to a chair, except one of her forelegs, and a chessboard is between them with pieces in it that looked like Cloud Layer was losing. They glance at us as we approach and a glimmer of hope passes over Cloud Layer's face when she sees me.

I glance at the tent to see if anyone was inside it, but none are. Stepping around the fire, I stand next to Cloud Layer and look her over. A scabbed over nub replaces one of her ears, various cut marks line her forelegs and her wings were missing quite a few feathers. The sight of the pitiful starved, near skeletal, pegasus makes me frown.

"She hasn't been treated well," I say, pointing at her ear. "What's this? I was told she was alive and well."

The pink mare rolls her eyes. "They didn't tell you a thing."

"Proof of life," Cloud Layer whimpers, receiving a death glare from the mare. I look over at the stallion as my horn glows, slowly opening my bag. His face lights up from the prospect of bits. My magic feels around the bag for the familiar feel of my pistol.

As quick as I can, I draw the pistol from my bags and bring it to eye level, causing the stallions face to turn into a look of horror. "Deal's off," I say at the same time I telekinetically pull the trigger and the hammer slams forward.

The revolver recoils in my magical grip as the blast fills the room, my bullet striking the stallion in the eye. I pull the hammer back again and send a second shot at the stallion before he had time to even react to the first. A splattering of blood from the back of his head coats the wall behind him before his body drops.

"Book!" the mare shrieks in horror at her mate dying. She dives out of the chair before I can train my pistol on her and quickly drags the corpse behind a cubicle wall out of my line of sight.

Glancing at the stunned Cloud Layer, I start to untie her with my magic as I say, "it's okay. I'm here to get you out."

"Really?" she asks sarcastically as the last knot is undone. "I thought you were here to play chess."

I roll my eyes and glance at the blood trail and try to block out the mare's sobbing scream.

"Can you walk?" I ask Cloud, then aim towards the mare's voice and unload shot after shot at the wall. A scream of pain hits my ears at the same time the first bullet hit, but it is cut short by the second bullet rapidly following it. The third and fourth most likely finish the mare off.

"Y-yeah," Cloud Layer mumbles, drawing my attention over to her. Her legs shook as if they had not supported her for some time. "No. I can't move."

The revolver's cylinder flips out and I pull the casings out with magic, slowly floating them into my bag before I start loading it with more rounds. "You're going to have to walk, understand?" I ask Cloud Layer.

She gulps and tried to take a step forward, yelling in pain. I frown and snap the cylinder into the firing position with a spin. "I can't move!" she screams as tears fill her eyes. "My legs fucking hurt any time I move them!"

"Then stand there and don't move," I say. She sets her leg down and most of the pain in her face goes away. “It’ll make things easier.”

"Wh-what are we going to d-do?" she asks, sniffling between words. "I can't fly and I can't walk."

"Well," I pull the hammer back on the revolver, "I'm going to collect my paycheck. As for you? Mistress Tail Blade sends her regards." I turn the pistol and aim at her chest, causing her eyes to go wide.

"You bitch! I hope-" my magic pulls the trigger, causing the pistol to kick a lead dart into her chest. The bullet slams into her and goes clean through into the wall. Pulling the hammer back again, I send another bullet at her chest. She staggers into the wall from the impact and slowly slides down, leaving a bloody streak as she gasps for breath. I float the revolver to her head, pull the hammer back and look away, triggering it again.

Warm liquid splatters back onto my face, forcing me to blink it out of my eyes. I squeeze the trigger a fifth time, forcing even more of the mare's cranial matter to fly back at my face. Stepping back, I shake the now bloody pistol to get any blood off it and start heading back through the maze towards the door. On my way by the raider mare, I put one last bullet into her and her mate's head just to be sure they were dead.

The thing I've learned these past few weeks is that I cannot run from my past for long. It creeps up and hits me with a sledge hammer, so the only thing to do is embrace my inner demons and let them flow out once more, because let's face it. I already reserved a seat in Tartarus long ago and war will most likely never change. Somewhere down the road, somepony will want another pony dead, and with the changes to the wasteland. They can't do it openly anymore.

They'll need an obedient dog to do their dirty work for them in the shadows. And I'm more than happy to oblige for a price.

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Shell Shock: Game Over!