Sore. Every inch of my body was sore. Not the bad kind of sore like running from angry manticores or getting tossed into a solid object, but the good “I just had the best sex of my life” kind. This was something I could get used to! I groaned as I rolled on my side and opened my eyes, being greeted with an empty bed. Now where did-

“You sleep like a rock.” Bone Crusher said from behind me. I rolled over to find her standing in front of the tiny bathroom, water still dripping off her body, mane and tail slick and giving her an entirely different look. Goddesses, she was beautiful… “A pretty soft, snuggleble rock, but a rock nonetheless.”

"Everything is soreeee..." I whined like a little colt.

"Oh suck it up, you pussy." Crusher said with a roll of her eyes.

"No more sucking anything, please." I begged with a groan. The beautiful mare in front of me just scoffed.

"See, this just proves that Earth Ponies are the best at sex." She said, shaking the water off her body.

I immediately sat up and dropped the act, even though I really was feeling sore. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." She moved over to her armor and began looking over it as she continued. "Earth Ponies and Zebras are the best in the sack, then Unicorns, while Griffins and Pegasi are the pussiest of the pussiest."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Oh please. You have no evidence that proves that. Have you even slept with a Pegasus or Griffin?"

Crusher seemed to deflate a little before answering. "Well... No..."

"Ha! Now I know you're full of shit!" I laughed triumphantly, sticking my tongue at her.

"Oh yeah? Why's it taking you so long to get out of bed? Afraid you'll walk funny?" She grinned smugly at me, finishing the checkups on her suit. I didn't say anything in response, I simply got out of bed, walked straight to Bone Crusher -without any limps, I might add- and pulled her into the deepest kiss I could muster. Needless to say, it took the Ranger completely off guard.

We stayed like that for nearly a minute before I pulled back and dove forward to nibble at her ear. "You're mine later." I growled. "I'll put that silly notion of yours to rest and THEN we'll see who walks funny after. But that's later." I gave her a quick peck on the lips before moving away completely. "Right now, I need to clean up and we need to go see Tinker."

It took Crusher a few more seconds to snap out of her daze. "H-huh? You cocktease! Why do we need to go see that bitch anyway?" She obviously wanted to put the theory of who's better in bed to rest right now. I did too, but duty calls...

"Guilty as charged." I chuckled and changed my walk as I moved to the bathroom, trying to imitate the trotting of all those mares who made their hips sway when they moved. I seemed to be copying it alright, because I could feel the killer mares eyes glued to my backside. "And we need to see Tinker about work, so get ready." I didn't hear a response when I entered the bathroom and closed the door, so I assumed Crusher was still staring dumbfoundedly at the door. The thought made me grin.

___________________________

We made our way through the large marketplace of the Skyport, opting to take the short route to Stable 37. I could feel all the eyes on us, Specifically on Bone Crusher. How many here had seen this armor kill their loved ones? How many still held grudges? How long before they acted on them?

"Look, you need to ditch the armor." I said plainly. "At least when you're at the Skyport, and especially in the market."

"Why would I do that?" She asked with honest confusion in her voice.

"You don't feel the stares? The hatred for that suit of power armor you're prancing about in?" I asked back.

"Oh I feel it. And I relish in it. The worst torture one can do is of the mind, not the body. They can't do anything because here they'll be the aggressor, and they'll be in trouble. Or I'll retaliate and they'll join the ones I took from them. And they know this, so they just sit and seethe and it's delicious." She purred and I imagined her licking her lips.

"Dear Goddesses, you're sick." I said with mild disgust in my voice, but a little admiration was there as well.

"You know you love it." She teased, before turning her attention to a stallion running a stand selling various odds and ends. "I think I broke that stallions legs." The power armored mare gave him a happy wave.

The glare he gave in return could have frozen the sun.

I just shook my head and sighed. "You're certainly something, that's for sure."
Surprisingly, we made it to the shop housing the elevator to the stable without any trouble. I wasn't so sure we'd be as lucky next time. That was a bridge to burn later, however. Right now, it was time to see if Tinker had anything for me- us to do today. The elevator was already coming up, so we just had to wait for it to get here. Perfect time to push our earlier conversation. "Will you at least consider it?" I asked hopefully.

Crusher sighed, nodding her head. "Fine, I'll consider it. Just because somepony out there might want to really get rid of me."

"You think?" I asked with as much sarcasm as I could.

"Fuck you, you smartass." She spat, turning her head away from me as the elevator finally arrived. "Now lets-" Bone Crushers words died in her throat, and the power armored mare jumped a few feet back in what could only be surprise and a little bit of fear. "Holy fucking shit!"

I just gave the only creature in the elevator that even had a possibility to frighten her a wave. "Hi Tiny."

"Gunslinger." She replied with a polite nod. Tiny was the very definition of irony. The zebra mare was massive, at least as large as an Alicorn, with muscles that seemed to be made of steel. The numerous scars along her hide and missing eye just added to that "I'm going to fuck your shit up" look. Bone Crusher may had the psychotic killer look down, but Tiny just oozed strength and dominance wherever she went. Despite this, she had a pretty nice, if distant attitude usually. She was like the wise old mare who dished out helpful advice sometimes and cracked everyone's skulls off the wall until they got in line when they were rowdy.

"So you're the little mares big lap dog." Crusher said, getting herself back under control. Mostly. "I heard a lot about you."

"And me about you." The giant zebra mare replied. "Hopefully you won't be razing any more caravans. At least not any that are friendly to us, anyway." She gave her an accusing glare, but Crusher just drank it in with glee.

"No promises, but you can rest assured I won't be doing it often from now on, if at all." The power armored mare said nonchalantly, ticking Tiny off just a bit. "I've got a fucking sweet gig here, and I'd be a fool to mess it up."

"Well more of a fool than you already are." For a zebra getting in her, what, late 40s? Early 50s? Tiny sure could be childish at times. Guess it came from hanging around Tinker so much... "Anyway, as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, I must be going." The stable ponies took this as their cue to safely haul ass out of the room before anything happened. She turned to me and stared, her eye asking a silent question.

"I'll look after the little brat while you're gone, promise. I was just going to try and get some work from her anyway." I gave her my best smile, and that seemed to seal it.

"Thank you, Gunslinger. I... worry about her when I'm not close by." Tiny looked apprehensive for a second before straightening back up into the badass wall of flesh she was.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure nothing will happen to her." Bone Crusher said with confidence.

Tiny stared her down like she was an enemy ready to attack. "You better." Was all the massive zebra said, and even though I've done this for her many times, I still felt my blood run cold at the unspoken "or else" tacked onto the end of that.

"Where are you going anyway?" I quickly asked, not wanting the conversation to end on an ominous tone.

"I'm escorting some of the Stable inhabitants to a place they wanted to scavenge and back. It should not take more than a few hours." She replied, moving out of the elevator and heading for the door. "Which reminds me, I should catch up with them. Stay safe, Gun."

"You too, old timer." I gave a nod and moved into the elevator, Crusher following behind me.

"That is one big ass zebra." She remarked, stating the obvious.

"Eh. Her ass is more toned and muscular than big." I answered with a shake of my hoof.

"I heard that!" Tiny yelled from across the room. I'd hoped she was out of earshot by this time. Though the tone of her voice was more playful than annoyed, I closed the door and made the elevator start descending just in case she decided to "playfully" throw a heavy object at us.

___________________________

"So what is this called again?" Bone Crusher asked, eyeing her plate curiously. The killer mare sniffed her plate, unsure of how to feel about the food on it.

"It's a waffle. They make it out of wheat from the stable." I replied simply. We'd gone to Tinker looking for work, and she said to give her some time to check if she had anything of value for us to do. I decided to take this free time and take my new partner in crime to breakfast at a nice little resturant in the terminal that sold some different kinds of good food for a reasonable ammount of caps. So far it had gone better than I had hoped. There was no one dead yet.

"And this stuff that looks like cum?" She asked, gesturing to the white square in the middle of the waffle.

"Butter. If I remember correctly, they make it from Brahmin milk." I awnsered for the second time.

"And this sticky orange stuff?" She gave it a lick, nodding at the taste.

"That's syrup they make from the oranges." I replied with a bit of irritation in my voice. It couldn't have been five minuets ago that I just explained all this!

"Uhhuh... And-" She began to ask something else, but I cut her off.
"By Lunas fat ass, will you just eat the damn thing already!" I wanted to get to my own food sometime this year.

"Alright, alright! Jeez, who shoved a stick up your ass?" Crusher gave me a glare, but finally leaned in and took a bite after one more apprehensive look. And then she took another. And another. And then the entire thing was gone in a flurry of noisy gobbling and plate licking. As quick as she started, she sat back and called over the waiter, ignoring the stares of all the patrons around us.

"Yes, miss?" He asked innocently.

"Bring me all of your waffles." Crusher said simply.

"What?" We both asked in confusion.

"I said bring me all of your waffles." She repeated.

"Miss, we can't just-" He started, but got cut off when Crusher grabbed him and pulled his face into hers.

"I said..." She started darkly, staring into his eyes. I swear the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees. "Bring me. All of. Your waffles. Now."

To his credit, the waiter stallion didn't piss himself and scream in fear, though he was shaking like a newborn foal. "Y-y-yes miss. R-right a-away..." He turned tail and ran as fast as his shaky legs could cary him the moment she let him go.

Crusher turned back to me once he was out of sight, grinning as if she hasn't just silently threatened someponys life with her eyes. "This shit is delicious! I think I'm going to come here often."

I heard a scream of what I assumed was pure terror and sighed. Either that waiter was going to quit or we were banned for life. The only thing certain right now was that Bone Crusher liked waffles.

________________________

I stood across the desk from Tinker, waiting for her to say something. Crusher had went off on her own in the stable, complaining about "not wanting to deal with the pink bitch" and stuff. Fine by me, it cut down on problems anyway. I had to admit, it was a little amazing watching the little pink and blue mare handle piles upon piles of paperwork like a machine. You'd hardly think she was still a teenager! Though I do suppose they were training her to be her mothers successor since day one.

"I've got a job for you, and I need it done quick." The young Overmare said, finally looking up at me. "That means no getting knocked out for four days, alright?" She fixed me with a glare.

"That was that one time, jeez." I defended, though I still looked away and rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "But you can count on me and Bone Crusher to get the job done."

"I'm hoping so. This is important, but I'd rather not risk any more stable inhabitants." Tinker slid a paper towards me and I grasped it with my magic. Looking it over, I found it was a map of a good chunk of the city around the Skyport.

"What am I looking at here?" I asked confusedly.

"A map." She looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No shit it's a map. A map for what?" I really hated it when Tinker tried to make me look stupid.

“It’s a map of the area they were working in. They were scavenging, said they found some nice stuff, bought it back to trade." She explained.

"I'm surprised you let them go that far away." Tinker didn’t restrict where the ponies under her could go, but they almost always stayed around the Skyport to stop her from worrying so much. She was overprotective of them like that.

"They assured me they could handle it. And they did, numerous times. Until now." The young mare sighed, and I could see the worry in her eyes. "They were supposed to return yesterday and check in, but none of them showed. Then an hour ago, all their Pipbuck signals blinked out one by one."

"What were they doing over the course of that day?" That was a pretty big gap not to come home.

"Two of them traveled towards the north and came back, while three of them stayed put all that time in the same location."

"And they all disappeared after the other two returned?" I asked curiously.

"That's correct." She replied.

"What am I looking for?" I was beginning to see where this was going.

"If they're captured, I need you to rescue them. If they're..." Tinker paused and steeled herself. "Dead, I need you to recover their Pipbucks and see if you can't find any clues to who did it. Most importantly, I need you to clear a safe route in either circumstance so more of us can come behind and continue their work... And potentially recover the bodies." She added grimly.

“Why not send Tiny?” I asked with genuine curiosity. I wouldn’t say everyone was afraid of her, but the enemy at least thought twice about attacking when she was around.

“I sent her with another group of scavengers. If this is an attack on 37, I want them protected.” She explained, and I nodded in agreement. It was pretty sound logic.

"And my pay?" While I wasn't above doing rescue missions for free, I don't think Crusher would be as charitable.

"A thousand caps for every one you bring back alive, five hundred for their Pipbucks only, fifteen hundred for just coming back with info, no negotiations." The tone of her voice said that there really would be no discussion of payment.

"Fine by me. Have the last location?"

"Yeah, let me get the paper again?" I floated the paper back over to Tinker and she took it, grabbing another piece of paper from a small stack and a marker. She marked a location pretty damn far away from the Skyport with a blue dot before handing it back. "I suggest you get going. I would like them back as soon as possible.”

"Noted. I'll get this done as quick as I can." I slipped the paper into my saddlebags and began to leave.

"Good luck, Gunslinger. Try to bring them home alive." Tinker said before I left.

I hoped they were still alive for me to bring them home.

__________________________

It was surprisingly easy to find Bone Crusher, since she was already waiting by the Stable door. "Had fun waiting?" I asked as I started heading out, the power armored mare following close behind.

"Yep! Spent 500 caps." She said happily.

That made me stop and balk at her. "500 already?! On what?"

"Music! Got a hundred songs at five caps a pop. No more listening to the same few songs from DJ Dickwad for me!" The killer mare just seemed to beak behind her armors helmet at that. That was right, the Stable sold their music for five caps a song. Not really a bad price when the only other options were DJ-PON3s same old songs or the spritebots music, both of which got really old really fast.
The music that started playing from Crushers suit was pretty heavy to say the least. Beating drums, screeching guitars, foul lyrics... It really fit her. I was still surprised Tinker let them make that kind of music. "

At least you've got good taste in music." I said with a grin. At least we weren't going to be arguing about that.

"You're damn straight I do!" She replied, stopping the music from playing out loud. "Now, what kind of work do we have?"

I filled her in on the job as we traveled back to the terminal and back out into the wastes and to my surprise, she agreed that it sounded suspicious. “So we’re going to find out what the hell happened, basically.”

I nodded and blinked in surprise as I found ourselves already outside the Skyport, passing the guards and incoming caravans. Do try to watch your fire if they are hostages, I want that bigger payout for rescuing them.”

"No promises, but I'll try since I want the bigger reward as well. Keyword, try." She responded.

"That's the best I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?" I sighed and kept on walking. "Fine..."

"So how long is this job going to take anyway?" Crusher asked as we started moving away from the populated area of the Skyport and into the city proper.
"Well..." I crunched the numbers in my head, trying to come up with a good estimate. "It'll take us the rest of today to get there at least, then we have to search and possibly rescue so who knows how long that'll take... At the very least, we won't be back until tomorrow."

"Well fuck, and I was just getting used to high class living too." She sighed in what I assumed was actual sadness.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon enough, and hopefully with five missing ponies in tow." I said, trying to be cheerful. I wasn't sure it worked, as she said nothing in return and silence fell upon us as we made our way into the ruined city of Maremi.

____________________________

This was getting boring. We'd been traveling for a few hours now through the ruined streets and buildings of Maremi, and absolutely nothing has happened. No raiders, no bandits, no Steel Rangers, no rain, no wild animals, no caravans, nothing. Not even any talking, though I think that was due to Crusher listening to all the new songs she just bought. I couldn't take anymore of this quiet! Pausing to check the map again, I turned to speak to my killer companion once I was sure we were still going the right way. "Hey, Crusher."

"Hmm?" She came out of her music induced trance and looked at me. "What's up?"

"See anything?" I asked, hoping the hopefulness wasn't easy to detect in my voice.

She stopped and took a look around the area. "Buildings, road, sidewalk, sky, you."

I resisted the urge to buck her in the face. "I meant on your EFS, you dumb bitch."

"Yeah fuck you too." Crusher spat back before actually giving the answer to what I wanted. "EFS shows you in front of me as friendly and a few red dots dotted around moving all over the place before disappearing. Probably just some wild animals or something. I'll tell you if I think there's anything that's actually a threat."

"I'll hold you to that." I really hoped she would warn me before something or someone offed me. Silence was starting to come back between us, but I wasn't about to have it. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What now?" She groaned. "I just wanna get back to music."

"Tough titties, I want to talk." I replied indifferently. "So... What's with the painting and the red lights in your eyes?" It really was an odd look. "Come to think of it, your armor looks completely different from any other Ranger armor I've ever seen."

"I was wondering when you'd ask that. Honestly no one has really cared about asking why I did this since I left the Rangers..." Crusher went silent for a bit and I was about to kick her to make her speak when she finally opened her mouth again. "Well, since I was at least two heads taller than most everypony, nobody close to my height wanted to give me their suit, and my parents weren't dead so I could inherit theirs, I had to get a whole new one."

"Inherit a suit of power armor?" I asked in surprise.

"You think we got a fucking factory to keep making new suits or something?" Bone Crusher asked, and I looked away, chuckling nervously. "Really? I mean really?"

"So, you had to get a whole new suit?" I hoped she'd get back to the story and ignore my stupidity.

"Yeah. And it wasn't get new armor, it was get a piece of shit no one wanted. You're looking at the T-83 series of Steel Ranger power armor. Strongest, most armored, and one of the most rare suits of power armor in the entire series, and also the shittiest. Servos are trash so you can't move well, inferior spell talismans can barely lighten it up or repair it, no AC unit so you’ll die of heatstroke if you use it for five minutes... The worst part was it didn't even fit me! It was either fix it up or be stuck on scribe duty for the rest of my life."

"So you chose fix it up." I interjected.

“Damn straight!” She beamed. “It took me nearly five years of working by myself. Repairing shit, replacing shit, stealing shit, building shit… They laughed at me for five years, but I showed every single one of those fuckheads when I strolled into training with the best damn suit on the base! Most powerful, best looking AND most comfortable!”

“Most comfortable?” I didn’t even know Steel Ranger armor differed in comfort levels. Then again, I didn’t even know there were different types of armor until this conversation.

“Right before the bombs fell, our base got a delivery of carpet. Really comfortable, plush stuff too that was supposed to go into the executive offices we had. Then the world ended, so nobody gave a fuck about a few rolls of carpet. We kept it all down in a storeroom for all this time, and it stayed in surprisingly good condition. Nopony was using it, so I took some and covered nearly everything in it. The result? I have nice, comfortable carpet surrounding everything but my ears, mouth, nose, AC and medicine injectors. Only thing more comfortable would be sleeping on a pony. Not a dead one though, they aren’t very comfortable.”

I did not want to know how Crusher was able to compare sleeping on a living or dead pony. I turned my attention to check the map. Seeing we were still on the way and getting close now, I decided to continue the conversation with my companion. “Ok, that explains the odd suit, but what about the paint and the eyes?”

“Those? Well-” She began, but suddenly paused. “There’s a yellow dot over in that building.” She pointed in the direction of a five story building, probably an office building before the bombs fell.

“Yellow means friendly, right?” Crusher nodded in confirmation. “Then lets go say hello. maybe it’s a merchant or scavenger and we can get something off them.” The whole front of the building had collapsed and become inaccessible, but there was an alley next to it that led to a side door. Hopefully this wasn’t blocked off as well. Luckily it wasn’t and I let the much more able to survive an ambush mare lead the way.

“Well that’s… Interesting…” She wasn’t dead or being attacked, so I assumed it was something of the hopefully good kind of interesting. I started making my way inside behind her when someone started shouting.

“HoldthedoorholdthedoorholdthedoorholdthedoorholdtheDOORHOLDTHEDOOR!” Before I could even start searching for a voice, I was bowled over and went tumbling inside the building with someone else. By the time I got my bearings back, they were already off of me and closing the door. “Ok… I think I’m safe…” My dive bomber was a female griffin. She didn’t look to be too old, though I never was good at telling griffins apart. I was only sure I’d never seen her before due to her size and the almost garish green feathers on top of her head. The other thing I’d noticed was that she was armed to the teeth- uh, beak. Her armor looked sturdy and in one piece, and two submachine guns hung from her sides along with a few blue tipped grenades. I drew my guns just in case she wasn’t going to be friendly.

“You alright?” I asked while backing up a bit and keeping my guns trained on her. I didn’t fancy my chances of taking a griffin in hoof to talon combat.

“I should be fine now. Sorry for tackling you like that.” She said meekly.

I waved a hoof dismissively. “No harm, no foul. What’s with the big rush anyway?”

She was about to answer, but paused and stared at me. No wait, she was looking past me. I turned my head to see Bone Crusher and… I raised my eyebrows at the pony beside her.

It was a filly with a bright orange mane and a deep black coat, made all the darker looking with the black fireproof cloak over her body. What really caught my attention was the almost comically oversized flamethrower she had. The fuel tank alone took up most of her back! I also noticed the red tipped grenades, strange striped pistol, and gas mask hanging around her neck that almost looked perfect for her size… What’s with the sudden appearance of heavily armed children?

“Who’s your new friend?” Crusher asked me, gesturing to the griffin behind me.

“I should be asking you that!” I exclaimed, pointing at the filly. "I leave you alone for two seconds and you pick up a kid?"

“I’m Firebug!” The filly said happily. Well at least it was fitting…

“I’m… Aryanna.” The griffin replied, stepping up to all of us.

“Now that’s an interesting name.” The killer mare said, Aryanna nodding in agreement.

“I’m an interesting griffin.” She replied with a smirk.

"I'll say. What exactly made you run like that?" I was curious as to why she was so heavily armed in the first place, but that could wait.

"Raiders, and not the gang kind that'll probably let you live." The you g griffon looked horrified as she spoke.

"And you couldn't take them with all the firepower you have?" Crusher asked skeptically.

"They took out my whole squad and you expect me to stick around to try and face them?" Aryanna did raise a good point.

"Squad?" Firebug asked. "Does that mean there was a lot of you?"

"Let me just explain the whole thing..." Aryanna took a deep breath and calmed herself before starting to speak again. "Ever since I was little, it was my dream to be a badass like the Talon mercenaries. So I trained hard, ran away from home when my parents wanted me to become a metalworker, and lied about my age to join the Talons."

"Just how old are you anyway?" Crusher interrupted to ask.

"16. I'll be 17 in a few months, but that's not important." The young griffon waved off the question with a few dismissive waves of her talons. "So anyway, I joined the Talons, and was lucky enough to be taken on as a part of Red Eyes glorious army. Stern herself gave me my first mission! Stern! The head hen, Red Eyes right hoof, the most badass griffon in existence since the legendary Gilda herself!" I was starting to think she was a fan of Stern.

"Is this exposition going anywhere?" Crusher asked annoyedly. Apparently she was getting impatient.

"It is, it is, keep your power armor on." Aryanna reassured her. "So Stern gave me my first mission, this mission, and she looked me straight in the eyes and said "Don't fail me." And then I failed! Me and six others were sent down here to secure the Robronco factory down here for Red Eyes operation. They gave us access to everything we'd need: Matrix disruption grenades and bullets, anti machine rifles, the whole nine yards! And we didn't even get to use any of it!"

I saw where this was going. "You're saying you got ambushed?"

"Yes!" Aryanna nearly cried. "Raiders got us before we even got to Robronco. They popped five of us out of the air before we could even react, and got the other survivor before he could use his anti machine rifle. I ran before they shot me and ducked in here because I didn't want to risk a locked door. I'm sorry for telling you my life story, but I wanted to tell someone before I died..."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of those mean old raiders for you!" Firebug said, giving the griffon a hug.

"We will?" Crusher asked in surprise. "I don't recall saying I'd do shit."

"Might as well, they're probably between us and where we need to go anyway." I said with a shrug. Extra work I'm not getting paid for, great... But with any luck, they kept all the griffons weapons and armor.

"It doesn't matter, I'm dead no matter what!" Aryanna finally broke down and started crying. "I'm the only one left to face Stern! Not only did I fail her, I broke the contract by failing her! She'll probably clip my wings and throw me in the pit against Brimstone Blitz or someone else who can easily kill me! I can't go back to her and I can't survive the wasteland on my own, I know I can't! I'm as good as dead!" She held onto Firebug, sobbing into the fillys shoulder. "All I wanted was to be a badass..."

"You still could be." Crusher chimed in, surprising all of us.

"What?" The three of us said simultaneously.

"Look, you want to be a badass, right?" Aryanna nodded. "I don't like to brag, but I'm a pretty big badass around these parts. You stick with me, and I'll show you how to become the biggest badass in the wastes."

"Y-you mean it?" The young griffon asked hopefully.

Crusher nodded. "I mean it. First lesson, stop being such a pussy! There's a time and place to break down and cry and out in the field is not it. Shape up, right now!" She barked. Aryanna immedietly stood up and saluted, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Don't show weakness out in the field around your allies or your enemies. Your allies rely on you for morale as much as they do firepower, and your enemies will press down on you even harder if they see that you're weak." The power armored mare explained.

"Yes ma'am!" Aryanna still held the salute.

"At ease." The griffon lowered her arm. I had to give Crusher credit where it was due, there was a lot more confidence in Aryanna's eyes. Still, I had to ask just to make sure.

"You're serious about this, right?" I was skeptical about the whole thing.

"You bet your ass I'm serious. Not only will she be a good asset for us with all her anti-robot gear, I honestly want to see her become a true badass of the wastes." She explained. While that was smart, I was still a little skeptical about the situation. But if Crusher wanted to take her under her wing and was actually serious about this, I guess I couldn't complain.

"Alright then, welcome to the team." I extended my hoof towards the young griffon, who seemed to have stars in her eyes. She shook it nonetheless. "I'm Gunslinger and she's Bone Crusher." The killer mare gave a nod.

"Ooh, ooh, can I join the team?" Firebug asked, leaning forward on her front hooves. Me and Crusher looked at eachother, thinking it over.

"Well she would be a valuable asset with all the flammable stuff." I admitted.

Crusher shrugged and looked over to Firebug. "Sure, why not? You're part of the team, kid."

"Yay!" The filly hugged Crushers armor tightly. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

I rolled my eyes, observing the two new additions to our little group. Hopefully this wouldn't he something I'd end up regretting.

_______________________

It hadn't been ten minutes since we met our two newest teammates and already we were about to go into battle. Crusher had warned us that quite a few targets were closing in on us from two sides. While this normally would've left us with a way to retreat, the collapsed front of the building along with Firebugs conirmation of only two entrances and exits to this building meant we were trapped.

"It's the raiders, it has to be." Aryanna said dejectedly, like she'd already given up hope at surviving the fight. "But how we're they able to finding me...?"

"That's a good question." Crusher admitted. "Maybe they have a zebra with them that can track targets or something?"

"We'll find out soon enough." I looked over my companions, thinking of a battle plan. "Alright, here's what we'll do. Crusher, you and Firebug will take the alley. It's pretty tight, so you should be able to make quick work of them. Aryanna, we'll clear the building. That sound good?" They all nodded. "Then lets get to it. We don't know when they'll try and come for us." We split up without another word, Firebug and Crusher taking position near the alley door while me and Aryanna moved deeper into the building.

"Hey, Gun?" The young griffon called, tapping me on the shoulder. "Can I borrow a gun? ... And some bullets? I don't have anything besides spark ammo for these, and I'd rather save that for robots. If that's alright with you I mean..."

Of course she wouldn't want to waste ammo meant for robots on living enemies. I unholstered one of my revolvers and floated it over to her along with some bullets from my saddlebags. "That should hold you over for now. Try and take their weapons off of them if you can." She nodded, checking over the weapon and storing the spare bullets in a chest pocket on her armor.

We stood in the lobby of the building, awaiting our attackers. It didn't have much in the way of cover, but it was open enough for Aryanna to fly around with ease. The way we could also see up every balcony up to the fifth floor meant we eliminated the chance of getting sandwiched between multiple attackers. I just hoped we wouldn't be ambushed. Without Crushers EFS, we were completely blind to how many enemies were coming or where they were coming from.

Suddenly I heard a shout, and then a scream and the roar of flames. It looks like our attackers were finally ready to close in on us. A stallion wearing dirty, junked together armor galloped into the room from further in the building, holding a pistol in his mouth. I didn't hesitate to draw my remaining revolver and shoot at his head. The round struck true, entering and exiting cleanly -relatively speaking- through his eye, sending the raider tumbling to the ground.

Automatic fire assaulted my cover in return, a couch. It was probably comfortable, but it definitely wasn't able to withstand bullets. I bolted out from behind the couch, firing blindly at the raiders. I didn't hit anypony, but it did make them retreat into cover, letting me dive into my own behind the big receptionists desk in the center of the room. That didn't stop somepony from taking a pot shot at me and nearly getting me in the head! I quickly pressed myself against the floor, ignoring the jagged concrete and broken glass trying to stab me through my vest and coat. Gingerly, I moved a bit further down and quickly popped my head up. Two rounds tore into the desk before I could get my head down again, another burst of assault rifle fire joining it soon after.

I was completely pinned down! There were two snipers on the second floor balcony and then there were the two raiders with assault rifles on the ground. And who knew if they had backup on top of that? Why'd so many of them come hunting after Aryanna anyway? Seemed like overkill... Or assurance. My thoughts were focused back to the task at hand when a shot from my gun rang out and struck someone, making them fire wildly before they hit the ground with a thump. Seems Aryanna had finally decided to join the fight.

"It's the griffon!" One of the remaining raiders shouted, confirming what I thought. "Shoot that bitch now!" They opened fire again, not in my direction this time. Perfect. I popped out of cover again and took aim, firing my last two rounds into one of the assault rifle wielding ponies. My shots hit home, both embedding themselves in the chest of the raider mare.

Now things were a bit more fair. I quickly floated out six more bullets for my gun as I dashed to the other side of the receptionists desk. They were getting smart now, however, with one keeping fire on me while the other tried to get Aryanna. One of them would have to reload soon enough, and that's when we'd strike. Sure enough, the sniping raider hit empty first, and both me and the young griffin pounced, a bullet coming from each of our guns striking him and sending him slumping against the railing, lifeless.

I came out of cover fully now, aiming my gun straight at the last enemy. I heard the soft thump of Aryanna landing near me soon after. By the way the stallion was looking from one of us to the other, it seemed like he'd realized there was no way to get both of us before the other got him. The unicorn let the magic around his rifle fade out, and it flattered to the ground.

"Smart choice." I said, holstering my own weapon. "Now then-" I started to say, but before I could, the raider stallions magic flared up again. I instinctively reached for the assault rifle, but found noponys magic on it but my own. Instead, I found a grenade being hurled at us, pin already missing. There was no way I'd be able to stop it and throw it back before it went off, so I did the next best thing. My magic wrapped around the grenade and pulled it towards us, and then straight past us where I let it go and hit the floor.

It went off just after, showering me with debris and shrapnel. Some pieces were large enough to give me a good bump on the noggin or sharp enough to pierce my coat and prick me, but it was much less severe than what could've been. My first priority was to stop the ringing in my ears. My second priority was to go over and check on Aryanna. "You alright?"

The griffin nodded and got to her feet, coughing out a bit of dust. "Aw man, now my head feathers are all dirty!" She was definitely fine. Now on to my third priority, catching that stallion. To my surprise, I didn't have to do anything to catch him. He was already back in front of me!

"Now that wasn't very nice." Crusher chided, giving the stallion another hit to the gut with her heavy metal covered hoof. He groaned in pain, curling into a fetal position.

"Thanks for catching him." I commended. This made the power armored mare laugh.

"Catch him? He ran right into us!" She exclaimed, shaking her head down at him. "You aren't too bright, are you?"

"So what do we do with him?" Firebug asked, joining the conversation. It was a good question, but one I already had the awnser to.

"Simple." I levitated my revolver out and put it to his head. "He's obviously going to cause trouble if we try to interrogate him or take him prisoner," I pulled the trigger, blowing the raider stallions brains out. "So we end him. Now lets start gathering up all their stuff, we still have a job to do."

________________________

We'd stripped what we thought were raiders of anything valuable, all of us taking what we wanted. The strange thing was that their weapons were in surprisingly high condition, as were their owners before they met their end. These raiders weren't as drugged up and crazy as Aryanna thought. They may not have been raiders at all... Still, we collected a good haul from them and made the final few block trek to our destination. What was there really surprised us.

Taking up the whole next block was a huge warehouse, surrounded by a rusting chain-link fence. Wagons and carts upon wagons and carts of what I assumed were lomg gone shippimg companies sat in its yard, some being moved by ponies that reminded me of the "raiders" we just fought, and others being pulled by ponies who were obviously slaves, though I did see a zebra or two working on both sides. The wagons and carts were either taken towards the warehouse or out into the street where they were being pulled... Somewhere.

"Red Eye?" I asked, turning to the Aryanna.

She shook her head. "I doubt it. This is around where and my old team was ambushed."

"I see... This is very interesting..." An operation this big outside of Fillydelphia wouldn't go unnoticed unless someone deliberetly kept people in the dark. Or only fed them some of the story... It became clearer to me exactly what was going on when I spotted a mare walking around in a blue and yellow jumpsuit barking out orders. The 37 was clearly visible on her back when she turned around.

"So that's their game..." Crusher said more to herself than any of us, but I nodded anyway.

"Alright, I think it's time we get some answers." The others gave their agreement. "So, who wants to raid a warehouse and kill nearly everyone there?" They all raised a hoof, and in Aryanna's case a talon, eagerly. I couldn't help but grin a little.

"Alright then, here's the plan..."

Author's Note

I've finally finished it! I'll get to work on chapter 3 soon, I promise! Until then, I'd love any comments/critique/feedback. It's all welcome! Thanks for reading as always, and since I forgot to mention it last chapter, big thanks to KKat for creating such an open, fun universe to write in!