//-------------------------------------------------------// The Darkest of Souls -by Masked_Frenchman- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Ch. 1: Surprise Delievery //-------------------------------------------------------// Ch. 1: Surprise Delievery The Darkest of Souls (Just as a warning, this is a bad start. I had a hard time starting this series and it shows. If you be patient with the series I promise that it will get better. I have confidence that it will :twilightsmile: ) 1: Surprise delivery BOOM!!! A man tied up fell to the floor dead, a shot gun blast through his chest. Two guys, tied up like the first one, sat on the floor on their knees, looking at the first with fear and panic. They look back up at the shooter. "Please Keen, I swear we didn't tell them! We were getting shot at too when they hit us!" the second guy tried to explain. The shooter looked down at his captives emotionlessly as he reloaded his sawed-off shotgun and pulled back the first hammer. "Now, I am gonna ask you again, cuss I don't like to be lied to. Tell me what happened, if I like what I hear, I'll let you go. If not, you can join your friend in hell," explained the shooter as he stared them down with hate and cruelty in his expression. The two tried to swallow their fear as they tried to think clearly. "Look boss, They came out of no where and just started shooting at us! We tried to fight them off but their were too many of them. We were out numbered three to one and out gunned. We ran back so we could tell you," explained the third guy. the shooter (Keen) looked at them unimpressed. "I see? Tell me, how many people does it take to deliver a message?" Keen asked calmly. The two looked at each other confused as they looked back up at him. "Ummm, one?" the third guy asked hesitantly. Keen smiled down at him and nodded his head. "Very good, I am glad you know," said Keen as he nodded his head. With out taking his eyes off of the third guy, he aimed his gun at the second guy and shot him in the chest. The shot tore right through his chest, splattering the wall behind him with blood, bone fragments, and pieces of his organs. The man fell backwards onto the wall as his eyes faded away of life and he stared up at the ceiling with cold, dead eyes. The third guy looked back at him, tears running down his face knowing he would be next soon. "What the hell was that for?!" yelled the third guy in anger, turning towards Keen. He pulled back the other hammer of his gun and put it right onto the last man's testicles. "Now I am gonna ask you one last question. Whether you live or die is up to you. If you do not answer they way I expect you to or take too long to answer, I will assume you are lying and I will shoot off the last thing that identifies you as a man. Now, are you ready?" Keen asked with murderous intention. The man could only nod in terror, fearing for his very life. "Good. Now tell me, who do you work for?" Keen asked plainly. The man looked at him confused but tried a not to take too long to answer the mad man. "I work for you, boss. I have for-" the last guy tried to explain. A loud gun shot was heard and the man's eyes opened wide of fear and pain. Tears started to run down his face as he looked down. A small amount of smoke left the barrel of the shot gun as he saw the hole in his crouch and blood poured out of the spot where his man hood use to be, then he felt the pain. Keen got up and wiped off alittle blood that got on his gun. He turned his gaze of hatred back to him through his midnight black goggles. "Wrong answer. I knew you have been working for the Brotherhood of steel for some time now. I know you infiltrated my town to try to learn from it and sell away our secrets. Well I made sure you didn't learn much. Now you can join your traitor friends in hell. Tell satin I said hi," Keen explained while reloading his gun. The man fell to the floor, bleeding out right in front of Keen, who only smiled in return. He kneeled down to the bleeding man and grabbed a hand full of his hair to make him look into his eyes. "I am sick and tired of your shit, you know that! I will make sure that the Brotherhood of Steel will pay for this. I will see to it that they all die. I will kill them one by one, you understand me?!" Keen yelled at the man. The man's vision started to black out as his body felt cold and the pain started to fade away. Keen slammed his face onto the floor. "I will see to it that this will not happen again." Keen stated as he got up to kick the dying man before him. His office doors burst open and made Keen pull out his gun just to see that it was his body guard holding some one in cuffs. "Sir, it is me. I have the true traitor right here!" exclaimed the guard. He looked down and saw that he was too late. The three men were already dead. He looked back up to Keen he holstered his gun. "Boss, I said I was gonna find the person who did this." he said shocked. Keen simply shrugged his shoulders and turned to the window. "Oh well, they sucked anyway. I have no use of someone who fails me. I can easily replace them. They had no use anymore as is, so there for, no longer needed to exist." explained Keen as he turned his focus to the new captive. "So he is the one who lost our caravan?" he asked, pulling out his sawed-off shotgun. The guard nodded his head and turned to him. "Yes, he was caught meeting up with the Brotherhood of Steel. We caught him and brought him here as soon as we saw it happen." the guard explained. Keen grabbed the captive and slammed him into the wall, over the dead bodies. "Who do you work for?!" Keen yelled, shoving his gun at his gut, pulling back the first hammer. The captive smiled and spit at his face. "Fuck you man! As if I would tell you shit!" He yelled back. Keen smiled and shot him. Blood splattered the already red wall and the new captive leaned against Keen holding a face of shock and disbelief. "You think I am gonna play 20 questions with you? A piece of shit like you isn't worth my time," Keen said coldly as he kicked him up against the wall and socked him in the face. He watched as the man slumped down to the floor and slowly closed his eyes. Keen watched with a stern, emotionless look on his face as his victim laid dead on the floor with a puddle of blood under him. He looked up at the guard and then back down to the bodies. "Kalvin, clean this shit up. I think feeding time for the dogs is coming up," Keen ordered while he went to his chair in the back of the room and pulled out a bottle of scotch and a glass. "Yes sir," the guard replied and started to leave the room. Keen swirled the bottle around to see it was almost gone. "And get me another bottle of scotch NOW!! This one is almost gone!" Keen added with a demanding shout. The guard quickened his pace and ran out the door. Keen swirled around in his chair to face a portrait of his father and mumbled to himself. Later that night, he filled out some orders and attack plans with his second personal body guard, Issac. Keen was about 6ft 2in with sky blue hair. He was fairly tanned, not too much, but not too little ether. He always wore goggles, even to bed and was very well toned and built with a few scares placed in some places amongst his arms, legs, back, body, and two on his face. He controls a metro station that his family cleared out by long ago and eventual built a small city out of it and was called Dweller Citadel in hopes of becoming a nation. Keen lead the town with an iron fist and controlled it using the only element he knew, fear. Everyone was far to scared to mess with him let alone disobey him. Their was a knock on Keen's office door. With an annoyed sigh he turned to the door, readying his trusted sawed-off shotgun. "Come in," Keen ordered cautiously. A guard walked in with a case of booze, four bottles of vodka by the looks of it. "Sir, you asked for a case of booze of any kind. So here you go sir," said the guard respectfully. With a smile, Keen put down the loaded gun and jestered him to place the box on his desk. "Thank you Issac, now piss off! I got some drinking to do," Keen ordered rudely. The guard flinched at his cruel words but did as he was told. "Yes sir, anything else before I go back to my post?" Issac asked politely. Keen looked back at him with a glare. "No, go back to your post." Keen fired back before pulling out one of the bottles. Issac quickly bowed and fled the room, leaving Keen by himself. Once the door shut, Keen sat back down in his chair and opened up the bottle. "It may not be scotch or whisky, but hell, this will do the job just fine," Keen said to himself with some joy. As the hours flew by, he was on his third bottle by the time he was lost. Everything blurred around him and the walls where shimmering and moving all on their own accord. Keen looked up at the ceiling with the bottle in his hand. "I am. . . the fucking king. . . of this place. Fuck the. . . . what are they again? Steel brokies or some. . . . ship light. . . . uhhh," Keen slurred. He was so drunk he sat perfectly still and the world was spinning all around him. He felt like he was falling, but he liked this feeling. It was some how calming. He looked up to the ceiling smiling. "I don't even. . . know man." He continued to talk to himself. Keen accidentally looked into the ceiling light and got blinded by it. While everything was bright he heard something. "Keen," the voice called out in a faint whisper, almost unheard. It was almost angelic, like a being from the old folk tales of angles. Keen looked around panicked, he couldn't see anything. "Keen," the mysteries voice called out again, this time louder. Keen looked around again and noticed he wasn't in his office anymore. In every direction he looked it was nothing but bright light. "Keen," the voice called out once more, this time sounding as if it was right behind him. Keen turned around to find an even brighter light, a figure hiding in front of it making the figure appear to glow but was unable to be properly seen. All he could make out from the figure was it appeared to be riding on a white horse, wearing what appears to be a helmet with a horn jutting out the top of it. "Who the hell are you?! Where the fuck am I?" Keen asked demandingly in an aggressive tone. The figure appeared to have shuddered by his sudden tone, but only for a brief moment. "It is time for your test Keen. Your time has come. I hope you are ready," said the voice. Keen looked down and reached for his gun in his holster but it wasn't there. When he looked back to the mysteries figure, he only found a highly blinding light. When he could see again he was lying on the floor, an empty bottle of vodka on his chest, with two more above his head. He saw the light on the ceiling and quickly looked away. "What? What the hell just happened?" Keen asked himself, slowly getting up, stumbling as he did. Keen looked at the empty booze bottles and he frowned. "What the hell happened to my vodka?" he asked with some rage. He took a step towards the last bottle and stumbled down to his desk and almost fell back onto the floor. "Oh, thats what happened." Keen answered himself. He thought about what he saw and shook his head. "That was a strange dream, wow. No more vodka after tonight. I'm gonna stick to my scotch, whisky, and wine thank you." Keen said with a slight hint of humor. As he twistwed the cap off and went for a sip he heard a knock on the door. Keen froze and looked at the clock, it said 2:57 am. With an annoyed grunt he put the bottle down and raised his trusted sawed-off shotgun to the door. "What the hell is it?!" Keen yelled over with anger. After a moment of silence Keen pulled the hammer back and his rage turned into caution. "I said come in," Keen repeated, this time with a bit more patience. After a few more moments of silence he knew what this meant, assassination. Keen grabbed his other sawed-off shotgun and pulled the first hammer on that one. He slowly walked over to the door, looking at it as if it was about to explode at any second. After a minute or so he finally reached the door and grabbed the handle, placing one of the guns in his mouth for a brief second. Once the door opened alittle, he quickly got both guns ready and pushed the door open, launching his guns forward and then to the left and right of him. After a second he realized that no one was in sight, and it was dead quiet. This made Keen chuckle to himself. "Wow, now I am hearing things," Keen said to himself, feeling stupid. He holstered his guns and felt his foot brush up on something. As he looked down he found a cardboard box, right in front of his foot. "The hell?" Keen whispered in confusion. He kneeled down to it to try to get a closer look at it. There was a note that read: "Dear Keen Eye I wish to inform you that your family made an arrangement with me many years ago. They have placed this test upon you now. At the end of this test, everything will be explained to you. All you need to know is that by the end of the test you shall be granted one wish that you may use for anything you so heart desires. You will know when the test is over. So until then, I wish you the  of luck, and take good care of them. Your Watchful Protector Princess Celestia" Keen looked at the note and reread it over a few times since he couldn't believe what it said, that and he was very drunk. After a chuckle he crumbled up the note and tossed it into his office. Looking at the box he felt his curiousity raise within himself. "Well, let's find out what this is all about," Keen said to himself. He opened the box and looked inside. Inside, he saw 6 puppies, all of different colors with a blanket underneath them. "How cute. Well, my last dog hunting team did die, so I guess I need to train some more. Hopefully they will last longer than the last ones," Keen said to himself. As he looked closer he checked out there color scheme. "Let's see what we have. An orange pup, a white pup, a yellowish pup, a purple pup, a pink pup, a blue. . . . . . wait a second!" Keen said confused. He took a closer look and saw that they were not pups, thou roughly the same size. They looked like very small ponies, two of them seemed to have small little horns and another two had wings. "What the hell is going on here?!" Keen yelled out in a panic. He looked around quickly to make sure no one could see him. After confirming that he was alone, he grabbed the box and brought it inside. He placed the box on his desk as he thought everything through in his head. "What the hell is all of this? Why is this happening? What the hell do I do? What the hell are they?" Keen questioned but receiving no answers. He just looked at the box as if it was just gonna disappear and never to be seen again at any second, but it didn't. Keen looked back into the box and at the creatures that rested in it. They looked so peaceful in their slumber, it pissed Keen off a bit. "Hmph, maybe I should just shoot them right here and now. End the confusion in one big bang. Although I think I can profit from these guys, but to raise them to become work horses would cost me more than they would be worth. Although the ones with wings would become very handy, but what of the ones with horns?" Keen continued to stand there and question on what he should do. The yellow winged pony among the group woke up and looked at him right into his goggles. It's stare seemed as if it was staring right into his soul. This made him angry. Anything cute made him angry. "What the hell do you think you are looking at?" Keen asked with a threatening tone and a cruel glare. The little pony hide away under the blanket.  Keen smirked down at it. "That's what I thought," he added. He went back and looked for that note he just threw in here. After a few minutes of searching, he ended up finding it, uncrumbling it, and rereading it just in case he missed something. On the back on the it had a picture of each of them with their basic information next to them. All females with some strange names. "Twilight Sparkle? Rainbow Dash? PinkiePie? What the hell kind of names are those?" Keen questioned himself. I think this weird test thing is to take care of them. Suddenly, a thought came to mind as he pulled out his sawed-off shotgun. "I have an idea, let's leave it to fate," Keen said with a murderous smile and aimed his gun at the box, pulling back both hammers. "If you little ones some how live through this, then fate is on your side and I will take care of you. If you die *which I know you will* I will just bury you, or burn you, not sure. But I am just gonna warn you that everyone who went through this test, has not been in fate's favor, so start praying to what ever god you believe in," explained Keen as he got ready to pul the trigger. 'Shame, they might have been useful, but too much of a chance. If they were to fail, it would cost him greatly in the long and short run. The yellow winged pony named Fluttershy poked her head out and looked over toward Keen and his gun. Keen looked into the eyes of the young filly and smiled. "Good luck," he whispered with a menacing smile as he pulled the trigger. Both of the hammers came flying off and the barrel fell right off as if it was all hanging together by a thread. This same gun that has killed countless amounts of people and always kept in check with repairs, now suddenly fell before him in pieces. The sound of metal clanging on the floor must have finally been enough to wake up the rest of the fillies because they all poked their heads out, looking over to see what the noise was. Keen fell to his knees as he picked up the pieces. "My. . . m-my gun. I have thrown this so many times. I have shot this firearm countless times through out the years. This same one that has saved my life almost everyday since I got it seven years ago, has fell apart attempting the test of fate?" Keen questioned, staring at his gun that is now in pieces on the floor. Keen looked up at them with a cruel expression on his face. He slowly got up and approached the box with clenched fists. Once he got to it, the other ponies ducked down into the box in fear. Keen walked up to it about to kick it as hard as he could but his face stopped a few inches away. The one time in his life that his most trusted gun breaks down while doing the test of fate, maybe they passed? He looked back at the little ponies that were shaking in fear below Keen's sharp gaze. "Fine, it looks like you passed the test. You can sleep in my room for tonight. I will figure out everything tomorrow. Maybe I will wake up from this crazy dream and move back to my normal life," Keen explained, mostly to himself. The purple filly named Twilight poked her head out of the blanket and looked up. Her adorableness could make any man's heart explode, maybe even twice. But it only made Keen more pissed. "You can try that all you like, but it doesn't work on a man who doesn't have a heart." he explained with a cruel grin on his face and she ducked back into the box. He grabbed the box and brought it to his room. He snuck out of his office and into his own room. Once there, he locked it up and went straight through his hallway and into his room. Once in his room, he placed the box on the floor and tipped it to the side and making the young ponies roll out of the box. The group of young ponies looked around at their new environment around them. They saw posters and guns hanging on the wall. They all looked up to Keen who shut the door behind him. "Alright, tonight and only tonight will you be aloud to sleep in this room with me. After tonight I will make you sleep with the dogs or something. Don't try anything funny or I'll strangle you, got it?" Keen explained harshly. They all stared up at him with a hint of fear in their eyes, but nodded. Keen smiled in amusement in return. "Hmm, you can understand me? Then this might be easier than I thought. Anyway, go to sleep." Keen said impressed and turned off the lights, it become almost pitch black in the room, only the most faintest of light coming in through a crack at the bottom of the door from the hallway. Keen laid in his bed, one sheet under since living under ground gets alittle chilly now and then. As he was falling asleep he felt one of them crawl on top of him, laying down on his chest and curled up in a ball. Keen swatted the pony off of him and she landed on the floor, scurried to shelter of the box she came it, that one had wings but Keen couldn't see which one. "I said no funny business!" Keen yelled out at them. They all rushed for the box and hide in it, looking up at him from behind the box. Keen went back to bed and sighed with annoyance while staring up at the ceiling. "Father, what would you have me do?" Keen whispered to himself as he slowly drifted to sleep, and for the first time in many years, he dreamt of his father. //-------------------------------------------------------// Ch. 2: Time Goes By //-------------------------------------------------------// Ch. 2: Time Goes By (Warning, this chapter is crap, I got a headache trying to write this but I needed to get past it so I could continue, but you can skip this chapter if you want, you're not missing too much if you do, writing this gave me cancer, and reading this chapter might give you this too :pinkiesick: ) Ch. 2: Time Goes By Keen woke up the next morning to his alarm going off just like every morning. He got up and started rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up. “Man that was one hell of a dream. I think I dreamed of fucking ponies in a box or some shit. Man I-” Keen started. He looked down to see the six foals he thought he dreamed up sleeping on his chest. Breathing slowly and with content, smiling in their sleep. He felt his anger rise once again as he swiped them off of him with one strong backhand, sending them flying onto the floor. They woke right up and ran for their box to hide in. “God dame it, it was real!” Keen exclaimed in rage. He pulled out his sawed off shotgun and aimed it directly at them, pulling the hammer back. A quick flashback of last night flashed into his mind as he remembered that the last gun broke when tried to shoot them. “Hmm, just luck, I’ll get you this time!” he claimed and pulled the trigger. *Click* “Huh?” Keen looked at his gun and saw the safety was on. “Oh, haha, stupid me,” Keen said to himself as he flipped it back and aimed again. He pulled the trigger yet again. This time, a loud gunshot was heard and rang in the room. The gun exploded in his hand, sending the pellets in all directions except the direction he wanted. His hand was torn up, the flesh almost completely ripped off and torn to bits and bone showing. He grabbed his hand trying to stop the bleeding, stared down at the box they hid in with blood rage. “Fine, if I can’t shoot you, I will stomp the SHIT OUT OF YOU!!” He screamed as he stomped toward the box. As he rose his foot to crush the box they were in, he slipped on some of the round pellets of the remains of his gun and slipped. Trying to grab something, he grabbed the cloth of his dresser, pulling it with him and the alarm clock that rested on the cloth. He fell onto his back, taking his breath away as he hit the hard stone floor, the alarm clock hitting his face. “If. . . I can’t. . . . stomp you. . . . I will. . . . . PUNCH YOU!!!” He screamed as he crawled over to the box. He heard something creaking behind him. As he looked up he saw his large, metal dresser leaning towards him. “Oh god. . . NOOOO!!!!!” He screamed. * * * * * * * * * * * * *Knock knock knock* One of Keen’s personal body guards opened his bedroom door, wiping his eyes as he saw his boss covered in injuries and blood. He had a black eye, his left hand covered and dripping with blood, hair burnt, small cuts and bruises all over his face, and carrying a box. His clothes red almost throughout “My god boss, what happened to you?!” exclaimed the guard in concern. “Just shut up, Issac! I have a job for you,” Keen said coldly as he limped inside. Issac closed the door behind him and followed him, ready to catch his boss if needed. “What’s in the box, sir?” Issac asked curiously. Keen glared back at him with a cold stare. Issac couldn’t see behind his goggles, but he knew when he was receiving that stare from his boss. Issac Eye has been in Keen’s family for some time, and his age shows it. Keen’s grandfather found him in the wastelands when he was a small boy and raised him as his own, training him to fight and defend himself. He served the family in return for saving him, and protected Keen’s father before him. He was around 60 years old. around because he stopped counting. He had bright silver hair and brown eyes. He was old and wrinkled and has saw much of war during his time which showed on his face. He became a animal train to try to improve the defenses of the town. “Your new job. You train the war dogs, so now you will be training these creatures!” exclaimed Keen as he dumped the box unto the table as the six foals tumbled out yet again, looking around their new environment. Issac stared in disbelief at the creatures walking around on his kitchen table. “What are they?!” Issac asked confused, but also amazed. As if discovering a new element. “Don’t know and don’t care. I need them trained for combat by whatever that may be. Whether that’s work horses or war horses, I don’t care, just train them to be useful!” keen ordered with some rage in his voice. Issac calmly took a step back to give him some space. “Sure, whatever you say boss, just calm down. I will see what I can do,” assured Issac as he looked back over at the little fillies. “I’ll see what I can learn,” he added. “I do not care what method you need to use to train them, just make sure they are battle harden by five years max. I want to see what they are cable of!” ordered Keen as he stumbled around Issac’s room. Issac spun around to him. “Five years sir?! That is not enough time. They appear to be in an infant stage. It would take five years to even begin training. I can do a little here and there, but that is mostly giving them the right kind of food. In order to-” Issac started. “Oh shut the hell up! I don’t care about your little pet facts. Whatever, you got ten years then, I will come back by then. I have a trip to New Vegas I have to go to anyway and I will be gone till then. You and Kalvin will be watching the place, keep things EXACTLY as they are going, you understand that?!” Keen asked, raising his voice. “Yes sir! Before you go today though, you should treat those wounds before they get infected, what happened?” Issac asked caringly. Keen shot him a dirty look. “Fate, fate happened. I tried killing these fucking things and I failed every time! Watch,” Keen instructed. He pulled out Issac’s combat knife and readied to throw it. “How many times have I ever failed a knife throw?” he asked. “Never sir. You have an expert throw every time,” Issac explained. “How many times have I ever missed?” Keen asked again. “Never sir. You can hit the eye of a super mutant over 30 yards away, why?” Issac asked in return. “Exactly!” Keen stated. With a quick spin he threw the knife directly at the little Fluttershy. Right before he let go of the combat knife as he was winding up, the knife slipped down a little and as he threw it, it sliced the skin in between his pointing finger and thumb, causing him to miss and hit the leg of the table instead, making the six little foals to flinch. Even more blood ran down onto the floor as he knelt down to hold his hand, turning to Issac. “SEE!” he yelled. Issac stood there, unable to understand what was happening. “My god, this is incredible! We could use this sort of luck on our side, I will start as soon as I can to get them ready for you,” Issac explained, helping Keen back to his feet. “But now you should go down to Doctor Church and get those wounds stitched up. You look like you got into a fight with a fucking death claw or something,” Issac advised. Keen sighed but nodded his head. “Yea, I guess I should. You should have an easy time teaching them, they already understand english so it should be easy. No one is to know about this except Kalvin. Get him to be the needed supplies to buy whatever you need to do your job,” Keen called out before leaving. Issac looked at him confused as Keen shut the door behind him. “All animals understand some human speech in some aspects, but what did he mean by that?” Issac asked himself. He turned to the frightened foals slowly to not frighten them any more. “Hey there, calm down now. I’m not gonna hurt you,” Issac assured them. They calmed down a bit and slowly inched towards him. “Thats it, can you understand me at all?” he asked them. They all nodded their little heads. Issac stopped and took a step back surprised. “Mother of god, he was right!” Issac exclaimed in disbelief. Keen packed up for his trip and left with his caravan, all bandaged up. “Good morning sir, what happened to you?” one of his escorts asked. “Just shut up, let’s go,” Keen ordered. They left the metro station and entered the wasteland. They started walking towards the direction of New Vagas. “So why are we heading to New Vagas sir? I can’t see why you would want to got here,” asked one of his escorts. “I got a tip that the commander of the Brotherhood of Steel is there. I plan on paying him a passive aggressive visit,” Keen explained with a sinister smile. “Why so long boss?” another escort asked confused. “We are gonna do a little shopping, and some research. ‘Know thy enemy’ as the old saying goes. That and we are going around as traveling merchants, so we have to play citizen for a while,” Keen explained. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Eight years later Keen Eye came back from his trip from New Vagas. He left with seven men, and came back with one, and more bandages than last time and one side of his goggles broken, but he kept that eye closed. Everyone who saw him did not ask what happened, for his hatred expression on his face told everyone what happened. Issac met up with him and brought him and the last escort to the clinic. “So, I assume that the visit didn’t go as smoothly as planned,” Issac asked. Keen throw a scalpel at Issac, missing him by an inch, which he did not flinch. “I guess not,” he whispered. “He was waiting for us, he knew! That fucking rat must have told him more than I thought. You better give me some fucking good news or else I am gonna shoot someone’s fucking brains out right here and now!” Keen ordered, looking for his gun. “We have taken some control over some nearby towns. Big Town and Tenpenny Towers is under our rule, sort of speak. They agree to pay a small profit fee for our ‘help’ to keep the peace. Also, Megaton is now in partnership with us,” Issac explained Keen glared at him through his broken goggle lens and stared him down with his eye open. His eye was ruby red, but with no pupil. “Thats it?! I expected total domination while I was gone. I clearly put my trust in the wrong hands,” Keen explained with anger in his voice. Issac shuddered at the sight of Keen’s eye. “Sir, the Brotherhood of Steel have kept our forces out of DC. We are unable to enter. Not even our spies can get in,” Issac explained. Keen looked away as Doctor Church came in. “God dame it! Why can’t you come in here with a small patch up for once?” he asked annoyed. “Cuss then I would do it myself, moron. Just shut up and do your job!” Keen ordered harshly. “Your lucky I’m getting rich off of you,” Doctor Church mumbled under his breath. Keen ignored his comment and returned his gaze towards Issac. “Also, I have some, ‘other’ news, about the pets,” Issac whispered. Keen closed his exposed eye as he looked at Issac. “Pets? do you mean those fucking god protected basterds?” Keen asked aggressively. “Yes, that would be them,” Issac explained, suddenly getting excited and a smile spreading on his face. “Fine, I will come look when the doctor is done,” Keen replied. Issac nodded and went up stairs to his room. ‘Hmm, your eye is getting worse, we will need to have a check up on that later this week,” Doctor Church advised. Keen’s expression turned from anger to sadness. “Yes, I know, set one up,” Keen ordered quietly. After his patch up, he went up to Issac’s room and walked right in. What he saw took his breath away. In the room before him was the six foals that he dropped off her, except they were nowhere near that small. They were the size of a big dog now. The two with wings now had wings as long as their bodies. The two with horns now had much longer and more slick horns, all sitting on the floor, looking up towards him with bright, happy smiling expressions on their faces. “Here they are, and they have much to tell you,” Issac said excitedly. Keen raised a brow at him. “Tell?” was all he said. Issac smiled brightly at him and nodded, turning his gaze towards the six ponies. The purple one took a step forward and took a deep breath. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and we have been waiting for you to get back, dad,” she announced, whispering the dad part. Keen stood there with his jaw wide open. He took a step back and just stared in disbelief. “You are one hell of a trainer there Issac, you trained them to speak?!” Keen asked dumbfounded, lost for words. “No, they just started speaking a year or so after you left,” Issac explained, smiling like an idiot. If he was any younger, he would mostly likely be jumping up and down from his excitement. Although Keen was very shocked to find this, he was not as pleased as Issac. “I will admit, this is impressive, but are they capable of combat?” Keen asked harshly. Issac’s smile faded slightly but kept it. “Well, yes, yes they are, but they are capable of so much more. There is so much room for possibilities for what they can do, just think about it!” Issac explained excitedly. The six ponies sitting and waiting. “I only care if they are useful, if they can make up for the money I put in them and keep up their part, then they can live, but if not, I will shoot them here and now,” Keen said coldly. The six smiling ponies now sat there with their smiles gone and their feelings hurt, staring at the floor. Issac glanced at them and then back at Keen with a hurt expression on his face. “Well, sir, I am sure they can, but they have feelings, and they are still young, please do not be so-” Issac started. “Feelings? They are mear tools of war, nothing more! I do not ask my gun if I can shoot some one now do I? I do not care about them at all nor how they ‘feel’. All I care about is that they are able to fight or serve me in some manner!” Keen yelled towards Issac. He looked at the six now frightened ponies with a cruel glare and started walking out the door. “They look good enough to start. bring them out tomorrow, we shall announce their existence then. Also, I will personally see what they are able to do, if they do not impress me, then I will shoot them. So get them ready by then, and if I hear them call me ‘dad’ one more time, I am gonna punt them out the fucking window, got it Issac?!” Keen threatened harshly. Issac nodded in reply. “Yes sir, they will be ready,” he mumbled. Keen glared at him back but walked out the door. “Does h-h-he not l-like us?” Fluttershy asked quivering. Issac turned to her with a gentle smile. “He is not use to you girls yet, let him warm up to the idea. He does not like anything different. He has been through a lot that has made him who he is,” Issac explained. “Like what?” Pinkie Pie asked with curiosity. “A different day, for now, we have to get you girls ready, so get some sleep, we wake up early tomorrow,” Issac instructed, they all got ready for bed as Issac stared out the window of his room since his room was the only one not under ground. “Oh Keen, I hope you can learn to not be such a prick,” Issac whispered to himself. He backed away from the window and laid down in his sleeping bag, next to the ponies. “Good night girls,” he called out, “Good night,” they replied one at a time. * * * * * * * * * * * * Keen walked into his office and slammed the door behind him. Pulling out a bottle of scotch and started downing it. “What the hell?! Why do they have to be so cute, huh?! I’ll make sure that that changes quickly!” Keen yelled at himself, he kept drinking right out of the bottle, ranting about the six ponies. “I hope that they are useless, so I can kill them, or better yet, I’ll just send them off out on the wastelands, yea. They will be raped and killed or just wither away in the sun to be eaten alive by the other freaks of this god forsaken wastelands! Fate wouldn’t be able to save them then!” Keen yelled off. Once he finished the bottle he threw it with all his might at the wall, the bottle exploding upon impact. He suddenly felt a painful throb in his exposed eye as he placed his hand on his desk to catch himself. “Dame it, it’s acting up again!” Keen said to himself. He stumbled to his bedroom and fell onto the bed. “I hate you father, whatever sort of shit hole of a deal you made, now I’m suffering for it. I hope you’re in hell right now, so fuck you father!” Keen yelled out through the pain in his eye. With everything that has been going on that day, he ended up passing out through exhaustion. “Why did you have to leave?” where his final words before drifting off into slumber. //-------------------------------------------------------// Ch. 3: Doesn't Add Up //-------------------------------------------------------// Ch. 3: Doesn't Add Up (Music listened to while writing this, 'Move Bitch' by Ludacris, 'All I do is Win' by DJ Khalid and 'Daddy Discord' by dBPony. If you choose to listen to the music while reading, then enjoy, if not, then enjoy quietly :twilightsmile:) Chapter 3: Doesn’t Add Up The next morning, Keen woke up in his home finally. His first night back home in a long time. He got up, put a cigarette and lit it. After taking a big drag and letting the smoked rush past his lips, he stretched himself out and his memories of yesterday came back to him. “Oh yea, that,” Keen whispered to himself. After stretching some more and getting dressed, he started walking out the door when he looked at the calendar. Today was Thursday. “Fuck!” he exclaimed as he rushed out the door. He went down to the barracks cafeteria to grab a quick breakfast when he ran into Issac. The aged guard turned to him and smiled. “Good morning sir, how are you this morning?” he greeted like he normally did. Keen smirked quickly before forming his usual harsh frown, cigarette still in his mouth. “I’m fine, I just didn’t know today was thursday,” Keen said to him as he cut the whole line all the way to the front. Everyone he passed didn’t say a word or even looked at him, knowing what might happen if they did. As Keen passed one guard, he put his cigarette out in his water. “Yes it is, Sir. Shall I tell ‘them’ to get ready?” Issac asked, making sure Keen knew who ‘they’ were. “Where are ‘they’?” Keen asked annoyed as he grabbed all the best things in the lines and a lot of it. “They’re in my room. I was grabbing some breakfast for them, but they are ready when you are,” Issac explained. Keen ‘hmph’ to the thought of them, their cute little stares and innocence pissed him off so much he wanted to strangle someone, or just give them a good punch to the face. Keen turned to one of the guards in the line and grabbed a hold of one and pulled him out of the line, socking him straight in the face with all his strength, knocking him clean out. “Much better,” Keen stated as he walked off to sit down with his tray of food, leaving the unconscious guard on the floor. Keen sat down with Issac following suit and the guards sitting there jumped out of their seats to sit far away from him. Keen took one of the brahmin steaks and took a big bite out of it.“Alright, start spreading the word about them, no need to keep them a secret. I will be bringing them out and test them one by one to see if there is some use for them. They’re smaller than I thought they would be,” Keen explained. “I was surprised to sir. I will tell them about the test, but their is something you should know sir,” Issac started. Keen glared at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. “Don’t test them as ponies, test them as humans,” Issac explained. Keen raised an eyebrow in question as he said that, then bursted out laughing. “You want me to treat them as humans?! HAHAHAHAHA, that’s hilarious!” Keen blurted out as he started laughing like a maniac. After a few moments, he took off his goggles to rub a few tears away, keeping his eyes closed, and put them back on, turning back to Issac who kept his face stern the whole time. Keen chuckled a bit more seeing it. “What, are you serious?” he asked slightly confused but still chuckling. He looked around and saw that some of the guards were staring. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT!” Keen yelled out in a threatening tone and they all turned away. “Hmph, that’s what I thought,” he said to himself, turning back to Issac. “Yes, I am serious. They are not what you make them out to be. They can do human things. Hell, they can even hold a rifle!” Issac said excitedly. Keen raised an eyebrow again, this time in curiosity. “Really?” he asked in disbelief. Issac smiled in a cocky smile. “Hell, I bet my position that you are gonna be impressed with them,” he said, holding his wrinkled cocky smile. Keen finished up his meal and taking another cigarette out and putting it in his mouth, returning the smile. “So, you would put that much on the line on some group of ponies? You’re fucking crazy old man,” Keen stated, patting his pockets for his matches. “That may be true, but I know what they are capable of, and you see them as weaklings. I have the advantage here,” Issac explained. Keen finished patting his pockets down till he realized that they were in his room. He looked at a guard across the room smoking and walked up to him. “You!” Keen called out in a booming voice, the whole room went dead silent. The guard in question turned to see Keen’s icy stare. He stood straight up and still. Keen walked up to him till he was right in front of him. “Got a light?” Keen asked calmly. The guard was confused for a split second and pulled his lighter out, handing it to him. Keen grabbed it and lit his smoke, handing it right back to him. “Thanks,” he said quickly and started walking back, leaving the guard standing there confused. “I expected a different kind of confrontation,” Issac said as Keen sat back down, taking a long drag from his cigarette. “And when did you start smoking?” he added. “Back in New Vagas. It was a total shit storm there. Conditions were worse than I thought and I ended up smoking just to keep myself from shooting my men,” Keen explained. “What happened out there? For once you looked like you saw the gates of hell or something,” Issac asked with curiosity. Keen took a slow drag from his cigarette and looked into his eyes. “A story for another time. For now, I just want to focus on those dame ponies and get it over with,” Keen said with annoyance in his voice. “I’ll get them ready then, give them a few minutes to eat,” Issac asked politely as he started getting up. “Fine, I will be up there soon,” Keen declared, smoking his cigarette. Issac quickly bowed and left with the large tray of food. Keen looked at the remains of his food and felt full. “Grabbed too much again,” he whispered. He looked around and found a guard finished his meal. He got up and walked to him, carrying his tray over with him. When he got close the other guards pointed over and they all got up. “At ease,” Keen quickly said. They all sat back down but kept their eyes on him. “I am full, you want this?” Keen asked with his cigarette in his mouth, handing the tray to him. The guard hesitated but took the tray and placed it gently on the table. “Are you sure boss?” he asked hesitantly. “Waist not, right? Now dig down,” Keen said with a smile. “Don’t you mean dig up, boss?” the guard questioned confused. Keen’s smile changed from friendly to sinister. “Nope,” was all he said as he launched his right hand to the back of the guard’s head and slammed his face into the tray with a loud BANG! Everyone turned over to the noise as Keen dusted off his hands. “Enjoy,” he instructed as he walked off. After a few minutes Keen walked up the stairs to Issac’s room. Once there, he walked up and opened the door, not even bothering to knock. When he opened the door, he was greeted by the light of the sun coming from the windows, blinding him for a moment. When his eyes adjusted, the six ponies were all ready and look as if they have been waiting for him. “Hello sir. They are ready for you,” Issac said, leaning against the wall and looking over to Keen with a confident smile on his face. Keen finished his cigarette and flicked it out the window. “So, they are ready? Good, then listen up!” Keen instructed, his voice booming with authority. The six ponies’ ears perked up and listened closely as Keen spoke. “Alright, this is how it’s gonna work. I will take you of you guys out one at a time. I will test you in every way, shape, and form. Now Issac told me to test you as I would any normal human, so that’s what I am gonna do. Human testing would include shooting range, hand-to-hand combat, observation/investigation fieldwork, and lab work. If there is something you actually wish to try out for that is not listed like medic, team leader, chef, blah blah blah. Anyway, if there is something you want, just ask for it.We all have our part to play. Everyone here does, even eight year olds have duties here,” Keen explained with a stern look on his face. Twilight raised her hoof. “What is it?” Keen asked roughly. “Well sir, you said any position we want we have to ask for if we want to try it out, but we don’t know what is available to us or what they are. Is it possible to get a list of what all the job possibilities are and what we can expect from the job itself?” Twilight asked innocently. Keen’s jaw dropped for a second and then he went back to stern. “Look, smart ass. I am not gonna stand here and explain every single opening to you. Ask Issac about it, he knows everything that I do,” Keen explained. Twilight nodded. “Understandable sir, I will ask him about that later then,” she replied. Keen cleared his throat and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Now, I have your names here and I am just gonna go down the list in the order it is listed here. I will go through you one a day, if you pass and their is something that you are good at that can benefit me in some way, you will be able to start paying me back for the caps it took to raise you six. If you fail and you can not do anything useful, I will kill you, a shotgun shell straight through the crandilum,” Keen explained with a threatening tone. “Cranium, sir,” Twilight spoke up. Keen glared at her. “Shut up!” he barked back. He cleared his throat again and looked down to the list. “Alright, we will do this tomorrow. You may travel around the town now, I mean they will have to know about you soon anyway. You may leave this room but you must be escorted by Issac at all times. You may never leave his side, is that understood?” Keen asked harshly. “Yes sir!” They all barked back at once, giving a crisp salute. Keen looked back up at them and chuckled slightly and looked back down at the list. "First up will be Pinkie Pie," Keen stated calmly. “YAAA!!!” she called out jumping into the air in excitement. Keen glared her down. “SHUT UP!” Keen yelled. Pinkie Pie stopped and sat back down. “Sorry,” she said as she calmed down. “Anyway, so go ahead and do what you need to to get ready, I do not plan on going easy on any of you. So remember that,” Keen declared. He folded up the piece of paper and put it in his pocket and started walking out. “So, they may leave as long as I am with them?” Issac asked. Keen gave out an annoyed sigh as he stopped and turned back to him, glaring at him. ‘That’s what I just said. Get your hearing checked old man,” he said as he walked out the door and slammed the door. “He isn’t quite a gentleman now is he?” Rarity pointed out sarcastically. “He is a little bit of a grumpy pants, but I am sure he just needs a good party!” Pinkie Pie declared as she jumped around the room cheerfully. “Yea, he is a bit mean, but I am sure he’ll warm up to you guys, just give him time,” Issac explained hopeful. “B-b-but what about the t-tests? I mean, I don’t know i-if I can do anything useful,” Fluttershy whispered quietly as she lowered her head. Rainbow Dash flew to her side and placed a hoof around her shoulder. “Relax Fluttershy, We so got this in the bag. I know I am gonna beat his stupid tests in ten seconds flat!” she declared, flexing her muscles to show them off. “That’s the spirit Rainbow Dash! You all can do this, I just know it!” Issac joined in with her, putting his fist out in front of her, which she placed her hoof up to connect to his fist. “How can you be so sure? I mean he really seems like he wants us to fail,” Twilight asked with doubt in her voice. Issac took a knee in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her right into her purple eyes. “I know you guys can do this, and I know Keen. He is stubborn but I know that he won’t be able to deny your guys skill, just trust me,” Issac explained with a confident smile. Twilight nodded back, returning the smile. “So, what are we up against? Ah reckon we should study up what we’re gonna be going through,” Applejack asked Issac. He smiled and stood back up, leaning on a wall. “I have been training you girls exactly for this day. I will still tell you, but trust me, you girls have already passed, now Keen just needs to realize it,” he explained as he looked out the window. “Where have the years gone. It felt like it was yesterday when I first started serving the Eye family,” Issac said quietly to himself. “What happened?” Pinkie Pie asked. When Issac looked back to her and then to the other five, they were all looking at him concerned. He smiled as he looked back out, taking out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth. “That is a long story without an ending,” Issac replied, looking for his lighter. When he looked to his right, he saw his lighter floating with a purple aura around it. He turned to Twilight who had a sympathetic smile on her face. He smiled as he leaned forward, the lighter sparkle to life as a little flame sprouted out and danced around. He ignited his cigarette and the flame died right away. “Thanks Twilight,” he said with a small smile on his face. “Of course, just try to cut down a bit. With your age, smoking is very hazardous to your health and can shorten your life spane by a couple of years,” Twilight explained. Issac chuckled to himself. “I know that, but thank you for caring,” he replied. “So why is his story neverending?” Rarity asked curiously. “I didn’t say it was neverending, I said it doesn’t end. At least not yet. I’ll tell you one day, but for now, let me show you around since you are allowed,” Issac said, changing the subject, they all got excited as they got ready to leave. “Now as a warning, you will be getting a lot of stares, so try not to pay much attention to it, alright?” Issac warned. “Ok,” they replied. With a smile Issac opened the door and lead them down the stairs. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Keen looked through his paperwork as he sipped his whiskey. “This isn’t right, the migration study says they should be leaving the area around this time, why am I getting reports of increased activity?” Keen asked confused. He looked through his paperwork again and got up to pull some more out, scanning through it, looking for certain ones. “No, no, no, no, yes!” he said, talking to himself. He scanned through it quickly, looking for a certain report now. “July 18  2274 1:09 pm, the super mutants population dropped 83% as they have appeared to have just up and left,” Keen read out loud. A buzzer sound from his desk. “Sir, I found those reports you wanted, shall I bring them up?” asked the voice from the buzzer. Keen looked at it stupidly and pressed the button to speak back to him. “Well yea, Kalvin. Why the fuck are you asking permission you fucking idiot?!” Keen yelled out harshly. “Well boss, you told me to,” Kalvin replied. Keen thought for a moment and remembered telling him that. “Right, uh, come on up then,” Keen finished, going back to his reading. “Right away sir!” the voice replied back and the other side then fell quiet. Keen continued reading where he left off. “‘July 19 2275 8:21 am, the super mutant population dropped by 77%. All traces of the larger groups seemed to have disappeared without a trace. Recommending a thorough background search on the event.’ Again it has happened. same month almost same day, what the hell?!” Keen said to himself as he dug around for more reports. as he pulled another one out and scanned through it, he found the piece he wanted. “‘July 19 2276 4:33 pm, a large group of super mutants consisting numbers around 60-150 charged through the old church outpost near Big Town. Reports state that they stood no chance and were over run with in seconds upon arrival. Requesting information on anomaly for future confrontation.’ What the hell, that is to the north east of D.C. What the hell is such a large group doing outside of the city?!” Keen continued to question himself. “‘ July 16 2277 4:20 am, all signs of super mutants have completely ceased. Last sighting was April 28, 2276 at 12:33 pm. A search through the wastelands and in D.C has confirmed that they are no longer a problem. Party has been scheduled for July 29 2277 all day event. Looking forward to getting wasted.’ Why the hell would you put that?! God I hate my men, but I know for a fact that whenever you think you take down a group of super mutants, there is always that one that you missed that shoots you in the back. Did they really take them out, or are they just jumping the gun here, but this all sounds so familiar, I wonder if-” Keen started on his thought when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Keen raised his new SMG at the door. “Come in,” he called out. The door opened and Kalvin came in, staring at the gun. “It is good to see you haven’t lost your touch,” Kalvin pointed out with a small smile. Kalvin was a much younger guard around the age of 24 who was bought from a slave trader. Keen bought him when he was seven due to the fact that he was much stronger than the other kids his age, he showed promise. When the trade went bad, Kalvin pick pocketed a gun from one of the traders and shot them. Kalvin saved Keen’s life, and in return, Keen brought him over to his town, making him a guard and trained him personally. Once he hit 16, Keen made him one of his personal bodyguards. Kalvin was around 5ft 9in and very toned. He didn’t look like much, but he could take on a super mutant by himself with his bare hands. He had dirty blond hair that went down to his shoulders and a faint mustache with brown eyes. Keen lowered his gun. “Why would I have? Now let me see those reports!” Keen ordered. Kalvin scanned through them quickly as he flipped a paper over every 15 seconds. “So, why are you so interested in our killstreak all of a sudden, boss? Scared we beat your record?” Kalvin asked playfully. “Can it, kid! This is serious,” Keen barked back. Kalvin snapped to attention and stood straight up and still. “Sorry sir, it won’t happen again sir!” Kalvin exclaimed like a true soldier. Keen scanned through the paper work and his eyebrows narrowed. “782 super mutants were killed in total amount of time I was gone including the area in D.C,” he stated. He dropped the stack of paperwork onto his desk and looked through another stack of paperwork quickly till he stopped at one page. “Total sightings while I was gone that were not engaged and tagged at the time, 2452, including D.C,” Keen stated. He put that stack down and looked over to Kalvin. “It states in report #7431 that all super mutants have been wiped out and all traces of them are gone. Then where the hell did the other 1670 go?” Keen asked Kalvin but mostly to himself. Kalvin shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe we scared them off?” he said optimistically. Keen shook his head and looked at the paperwork again. “They don’t know fear. That emotion was left out along with their humanity. I think they are getting ready for something. with these kind of forces, they could wipe most of the survivors out in one shot, so why are they hiding?” Keen asked disturbed. “I don’t like this, I don’t like this one bit!”