Pandora's Box

“Well that’s just great.” Check Mate prodded the wreckage of their vehicle with a hoof. Behind him, Blood Rain pulled her hood back. Her mane was a swirl of dark red, and cobalt blue, accentuating her purple coat. Her eyes were a bright red, and reflected her Lunar heritage. The residents of the newly colonized moon had eyes that resembled a cat’s, with elongated slits that allowed more light reach the actual eye. Light was something that wasn’t always present on the moon, so these eyes allowed her to see in darker areas.

“Guess we’ll just have to hoof it, then?” Rain looked to other Vault Hunters, who had been searching the wreckage for anything salvageable.

“I’m afraid so,” Check Mate sighed. He was the most robust out of the four of them, but a long walk still wasn’t a pleasant experience. Before he could take his first step, a voice cut off his thought process.

“Hey! Vault Hunters! Over here!”

Virtuous Love looked behind him, scanning the wrecked vehicle and vacant gas station for the source of the noise. The changeling saw nothing, and noticed his fellow Vault Hunters didn’t either.

“Could you help me out? I’m stuck under this pile of building that collapsed when the truck exploded! You probably could’ve figured that out though.” The voice had a metallic ring to it, but also seemed rather happy. “You know, from the sound of my voice?”

After a few moment of searching, they discovered that the source of the voice was a small yellow robot, one with old Hyperion markings on it. He was stuck under a pile of rubble by side of the station, and was slowly becoming covered in snow. The robot righted himself, balancing his boxlike body on a single wheel beneath his frame. Two slim arms hung down from his sides at the same level his eye was placed; near the top of his body. Atop said body was a thin metal antenna. His eye glowed with a blue light as he got a better look at the Vault Hunters.

“Hello! Thanks for rescuing me, friend!”

“Um, hi,” Blood Rain replied, not sure of what to make of this machine, “Who are you?”

“I am the CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap! That is, if any of my friends were still around.”

“You don’t have any friends?” Virtuous asked, “Can’t get very far nowadays without friends.”

“Well, I did,” Claptrap told him, “But then we got separated, and I assumed they all got torn limb from limb by threshers!” He paused, then added, “If I sound happy about this, that’s only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice. I’m actually quite depressed!”

Check Mate chuckled internally. “Well, we better start moving. You can tag along with us, but-”

“Hey,” Blood Rain bumped him with a hoof. “We can’t just go around picking up random robots. He’s got a Hyperion mark on him, he could be linked to Helios!”

“What are you doing out here?” Virtuous asked the robot.

“Well,” Claptrap began, “I was on my way to Sanctuary to see one of my old friends, but since I met you guys here, and you guys aren’t trying to kill me, I guess my problem is solved!”

“What do you mean?”

“This,” the robot produced a small yellow amulet, his hands allowing him to hold the chain of it’s necklace up from them to see. The changeling squinted, trying to figure out what it was. “This is something that I need to hide. If you’d help me get this somewhere safe, I’d owe you a great deal.”

Grey Noise, who had been silently watching the road this entire time, tapped Check Mate on the shoulder. The gas masked mare pointed to another bandit vehicle, probably searching for the one that they had destroyed. It hadn’t spotted them yet, so they had to move quickly.

“Claptrap,” Check Mate said, “There’s more bandits coming, we can’t stay here.”

“Take this then!” He thrusted the amulet into Check’s hoof, “And I’ll show you a place where we can hide.”

They followed Claptrap, who showed them to a small cave. It was cold, but it offered a place to hide. It was somewhat well furnished, with a small table and several chairs pulled up around it, as well as a cabinet and a couch off to the side. Claptrap explained how he had several places like this scattered throughout Pandora, and had worked with Vault Hunters before.

“And the one thing that I don’t get,” he explained, “Is how you ponies holds things in your hooves. I mean, come on!”

Blood Rain was very skeptical about this robot. He was very forthcoming with all of this information, but was it all true? It sounded like he was involved with the downfall of Hyperion.

“Oh, and one more thing, before I forget,” Claptrap searched around in the cabinet, before coming back with four earpieces. “Take these ECHO devices. They’ll help us keep in touch, as well provide you with useful information. Don’t worry about any dried blood on them, they should still work.”

They were very, very cold. Check Mate cringed as he put the speaker into his ear, but was intrigued as the vitals and tactical readout appeared before his eyes. He could see the three others as his friends put theirs in, the ECHOs automatically linking to each other as they booted up. These would be useful.

“Thanks. Now, about that amulet?”

“Check,” Rain cut him off again, her voice a sharp whisper, “Are you sure you think we should do this?”

“Yes, Rain, friends are what we need out here.” Check matched her tone.

“Yeah, but who knows what we’re getting into? What if this is something bigger than we can handle?”

“What if it’s not? What if it helps us find and protect the Vaults? This robot here just needs us to hide this amulet for him, what’s the big deal?”

“Ugh...” Blood Rain looked to the changeling, “What do you think, V?”

Virtuous thought for a moment. “I think we should help him, he’s already helped us.”

Rain looked to Grey Noise, who only nodded her head. Defeated, Blood Rain sighed and rolled her eyes. “I don’t like this, but whatever...”

“Well, you see...” Claptrap’s voice got quiet, “I need to hide that amulet, because... well... let’s just say it’s important to a certain individual that I don’t particularly like, okay? Well, I was going to hide it in Sanctuary, but now that I think about it that’s kinda obvious, so maybe you guys could help me find a better place for it?”

“I don’t know...” Check Mate thought about all the safe places he’d been, but could only think of one place. “The only place I can think of is Ivory, which is pretty far from here.”

“No, wait!” Claptrap exclaimed, “I know exactly where I can hide it! I have a friend who is very strong, and can keep it safe, but we just need to find him...”

“Where is he?” Virtuous asked.

“He actually lives close by, I think. If we’re near the town of Icepaw, he should be just past it, in Stag Valley. At least, I hope that’s where he is...”

“What’s the catch?” Blood Rain knew that it couldn’t be that easy. “It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Well, I just came from Icepaw, and everyone there is kind of a jerk. So yes.  But, if you were to help me meet with my friend and deliver the amulet to him, I’d be happy to return the favor.”

Rain sighed, only wanting to get this over with. “Let’s go then.”

The Vault Hunters returned to the gas station with Claptrap, recovering fallen weapons from their previous battle and making sure the bandit trucks have left. Everything was going well so far. They walked down the path that led to the town of Icepaw, and stopped in front of the closed front gate. The town’s walls prevented entrance on all sides, save where the gates were.

As they approached, the Vault Hunters heard a buzzing in their ECHO devices, followed by a voice.

“My amulet... Is in Icepaw?” The voice asked, as if to somepony right next to her. It was a mare’s voice, soft yet serious. Her tone strengthened as she gave her next command. “Attention, residents of Icepaw, this is Solf Blues, the current head of the Helios Syndicate. I am offering one million bits to the pony that brings me my amulet! You all know which one I’m talking about, a small yellow robot that just came through there had it.”

Grey Noise shot a glance at Check Mate, who returned with a look of concern. They all heard the message, including Claptrap.

“Uhh... About that,” the robot said, “Everyone here kinda knows I have the amulet... so...”

Rain pointed her rifle at Claptrap, “Helios? They’re here? You set us up, didn’t you?”

“No! I didn’t!” He cried in defense, his voice trembling in fear, “I swear, I didn’t know she’d find me here!”

"So you stole from Helios? Are you crazy?"

“Rain,” the gentle unicorn put a hoof on her gun, lowering it. “We’ve got other problems to worry about. If we can get him through here, we might have a lead. He’s clearly been around a while, he may know something about the Vault.”

“The Vaults? Oh! Yes, I know a lot about the Vaults, just help me and I’ll tell you everything! Let me open the gate, and hopefully you guys will be able to get through there without them noticing.”

“How’re you going to....” Rain couldn’t even finish her sentence before Claptrap rolled himself up to a panel, pressed a few buttons, and began to raise the gate.

“Aaaaaand open!” He announced, waving his arms in the air to express his excitement. No sooner had he done that, a bandit waiting by the front gate noticed, and began to attack them. He called to several others, and soon enough the Vault Hunters were fighting, firing their weapons at enemies who presented themselves, until no more had arrived. It happened so quick, they didn’t even notice that Claptrap had seemingly disappeared.

Check Mate lowered his shield and looked for the little robot. A small trail in the snow that could’ve only been left by Claptrap’s wheel led around a corner. He heard screaming in the distance. Claptrap’s screaming.

“Ack! Put me down!”

Without thinking, Check Mate turned the corner, only to see a large and particularly mean looking bandit with a flailing Claptrap dangling upside down from his mouth. The stallion was easily twice the size of Check Mate, and blocked all passage down that particular path. His victim called out to Check Mate when he saw him and his friends turn the corner.

“Help me!” He called, “Don’t let him know that you have the amulet!”

Upon hearing this, the huge pony spat the panicked robot from his mouth, and shook the snow from his mane. Underneath the snow, this pony had a ice blue mane, with a snow-coated horn pushing through it. As the he brushed the rest of the snow off himself, his dark grey coat became clearer. His horn glowed a dull green, the same color as his eyes, and Claptrap quickly became encapsulated in a block of ice. The bandit growled and swatted the frozen Claptrap aside, reaching for a large metal beam that he wielded as a club.

"Heh..." he breathed, "What I'd do with a million bits..."

Ice Breaker- Brutally Cold

Ice Breaker brought his metal club down on Check Mate, who lifted his shield to block the strike. He grunted as the force of the attack pressed him into the ground, but pistol fire from Grey Noise distracted the bandit long enough for him to push back and avoid being crushed. He got in close, raising his Sub Machine Gun to attack, but a blast of ice magic froze his back hooves to the ground. As he fell forward, doing his best to free himself with his front hooves, Virtuous Love made his attack with a scattergun, stumbling Ice Breaker back long enough for the changeling to help free his friend’s hooves.

Blood Rain put her gun on her back, charging at the brute of a pony and swiping at his front legs with her daggers. Ice Breaker growled in response, knocking her into a solid concrete building.

“Bring a bigger stick next time, puny mare!” He taunted, not noticing Grey Noise’s gadget being hurled into his face. The pulse emitted from it only enraged him, but his roars and threats of death were cut short as Check Mate and Grey Noise attacked him together. Ice Breaker’s horn glowed again, and this time a chunk of ice was hurled in Grey’s direction. Check’s shield blocked the attack, but Check also collapsed before her. She couldn’t help him up, but she did jump over him, firing her gun relentlessly.

Virtuous had helped Rain back up, but when he went to help Check, the unicorn insisted that the changeling drain Ice Breaker’s energy. The spell was cast, just in time to keep them both from being crushed. Ice Breaker’s foreleg suddenly lost it’s energy, releasing the club and planting itself in the ground for support.

“Hit...” Check coughed, “Hit him now!”

Blood Rain swept her daggers through the large unicorn’s front legs, knocking him flat on his face. Lifting his foreleg to aim down his weapon’s sight, he lined up Ice Breaker’s head and fired. The bullets that ripped through his skull killed him, and Check Mate was filled with a sudden sense of victory. With this sense of victory came a rush of energy, which he used to stand up and take a deep breath. They had beaten this brutish bandit. Now all they had to do was unthaw Claptrap and make their way to his friend.

“Okay...” Blood Rain said, catching her breath, “That was pretty badass...”

“I certainly feel more badass.” Check Mate took a look at his shield. The clamp that attached the shield to his shackles was limiting the spread of the shield while deployed... He fiddled around with a few bolts on it, and found his shield could reach an inch or two further now.

“We gotta do something about Claptrap...” Virtuous circled around the ice cubed robot, inspecting his frozen prison. His eye seemed to move around a little, and his voice was just barely heard through the thick wall of frozen water.

“Hey! Find a fire weapon, get me outta here!”

Grey Noise turned her gaze to Check Mate.

“What?” He looked back, not understanding what she was trying to tell him.

“She may be on to something,” Virtuous said, “Do you know any fire spells, Check?”

The unicorn in question shook his head. “Sorry, I never took the time to learn elemental magic.”

“Well, where are we going to find a fire weapon?”

Claptrap spoke again from the ice. “Find my friend, he’s got what you need. Get out to Stag Valley, just south of town. Tell him that I’m in trouble!”

The four Vault Hunters headed for the south gate, moving as fast as they could through bandits that were out for their blood.

“I knew we were getting into more than we could handle,” Blood Rain grumbled.