I was broke.

We'd decided to wait for the dead of night to make our move. Not only would the darkness provide better cover, but we also could use the rest to be in tip top shape for the coming fight. Taking shelter in a nearby office building, we set up camp and waited. I couldn't say I truly trusted my companions yet, which led me to suggest we stand guard and sleep in pairs; an easy way to keep an eye on a potential backstabber and (hopefully) not have to deal with them alone. Bone Crusher paired up with Aryanna, while I took Firebug and the first shift of watching.

The filly talked a mile a minute, but nearly everything she said just didn't make sense or was about fire. She was definitely a little crazy, and I had to wonder how she survived in the wasteland like that, or if that was what helped her survive. When I'd finally gotten tired of her constant rambling, I suggested a game. To my surprise, she pulled out a pack of cards. Sounds fun, right? Just a friendly card game with a (mostly) innocent filly.

She had won everything but my hat and guns by the time Crusher and Aryanna woke up and came to take over guard duty. I was so engrossed in getting my ass kicked by Firebug that I didn't even notice the sun set and night set in. Soon it'd be the dead of night and time to strike. I wasn't sure how successful our plan would be. I wasn't certain how much I could trust my new allies, or Crusher for that matter. In fact, there was only one thing I was certain of as I laid down on the two century old sleeping bags me and Crusher had packed for ourselves:

I was NEVER going to play cards with Firebug again!

__________________________

It was time to attack. According to Bone Crushers suit, it'd been three hours since me and Firebug went for our naps. It was the middle of the night and thundering overhead as storm clouds rolled in. Or away. I really couldn't tell, but I hoped they were coming because that'd make the area even darker. Darkness was a key factor to the success of this operation.

The plan was simple: Aryanna would fly me and Firebug up to the roof of the warehouse, then go hide in a nearby building. Then Crusher would launch a full out frontal assault on the place, with Aryanna backing her up from a distance. While they did that, me and Firebug would slip in and find the stable ponies. We'd secure them, rescue and rally the slaves for support, then clean up whatever enemies remained. It was really a simple distraction plan, but even the simplest plans could go wrong...

I'd volunteered to be flown over first, since I was most likely the heaviest between me and the fire loving filly. Surprisingly, I didn't feel much about flying. I was more focused about the task at hand than getting a new view on the wasteland. Even from this vantage point, I could barely see Crusher as she walked towards the warehouse. The black parts of her power armor were nearly hidden in the darkness. For all intents and purposes, she looked like a walking skeleton with glowing red eyes. I had to admit, that was definitely something I would NOT want to see coming my way unless it was on my side. Maybe even then...

The roof of the warehouse was in pretty good shape. Not that many holes, it felt pretty solid, and there was even a hatch that gave us access into the building. To top it all off, there were only two guards up here, both sleeping together after seeming to have engaged in some on the job fun. This could literally not get any easier! As long as those two didn't wake up before Crusher started her assault, we were in the clear. I kept my eyes on them as I waited for Aryanna to drop off Firebug. Best not to have any unwanted surprises out of them. The griffin returned with Firebug in tow and gently set her on the roof before flying off. Everyone was in position or just about. Time to get this party started...

The roar of minigun fire signaled that Crusher had begun her job as the distraction. It also woke up the two lovebirds in front of me. Four bullets made sure they'd be together forever in the afterlife. There was something I wanted to see before I went inside, though. I'd never seen my killer companion actually fight, and up here on the edge of the building, I had a safe front row seat to see just that.

It was kinda frightening to say the least. Small arms fire pinged off of the ex Rangers suit harmlessly while she layed down bursts of fire from her miniguns. The flaw in her battle saddle -like all battle saddles- was that she could only aim at the angle her body was at, which left everyone above and below her relatively safe... For now. Her guns were easily chewing through most of the cover the slavers had to get behind as she advanced through the lot. Anyone stupid enough to try and attack her up close found out that Bone Crusher was a very fitting name for the killer mare. Right now she was a one mare army, a walking tank that was invincible. But that'd change once they start going for heavier weapons. It was time for us to play our part.

I moved over to the hatch and pulled it open. A short ladder and a small supply closet greeted me. Much better than what I was expecting, a room full of enemies or an open and exposed area. I climbed down the ladder, Firebug following me. The closet was cramped with both of us in here, but luckily we weren't staying for long. I cracked the door and peeked into the hallway. Empty, perfect. I creeped into the hallway, checking again in both directions before motioning to the filly for her to join me. "Ok, if you were a stable pony, where would you stay?" I asked the pyromaniac.

"Um... I'm not sure..." She admitted.

"First, they were stable ponies, so they'd probably lay up somewhere cushy to try and have some resemblance of home. Second, they looked more important than the others, but didn't seem like fighters or exactly brave, which means they're as far away from the battle as possible. Got all that?" Firebug was writing everything I said down on a notepad. When she finished, she put it and the pencil she was using to write away.

"Mmhmm! So that means that they'd be..." She trailed off for a while, looking around the hallway. There were no signs telling what was in either direction. "Um... This way?" The pyromaniac offered, pointing down the hall with a sheepish smile. I shrugged and started heading that way. Not like I had any better way of picking which way to go first.

_________________________

It was both good and bad luck that we went this way. Good luck because on the other side of the warehouse, I could just make out another set of doors and I was at least 80 percent certain that I saw the word Executive. Bad luck because of catwalks. It seems that this warehouse built most everything higher up to have more floor space. This left a maze of catwalks hanging over everything. They looked pretty safe, but these things were notorious for giving out under someponys hooves. Not to mention that we're completely exposed with only a limited number of paths to run if we get spotted...

I sighed and turned to Firebug. "Ok, I think where we need to go is straight across. Just act like you belong here and if anybody starts shooting, run for the door." She nodded in understanding and I turned back to the catwalks. "Here we go."

The first couple dozen steps were surprisingly smooth sailing. With the fight against Crusher and Aryanna and the race to find something that could actually punch through her armor, almost no one noticed us. Almost. A grey stallion carrying an anti machine rifle passed under us and only spared a glance. Apparently under some of the still functioning warehouse lights, that was enough for him to notice something was off.

"Wait a fucking second..." He stopped in his tracks. "We don't have any flamethrowers here." Me and Firebug started trotting faster. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him starting to adjust his body to try and line up a shot. Fuck punching through Crushers armor, that gun will tear us to bloody chunks!

"Run!" I shouted, not even bothering to see if Firebug was running behind me. Our saving grace was that the warehouse floor was a maze of crates and boxes. Combined with the fact that he had to aim his battle saddle by standing at an angle, and we were pretty much home free.

Then part of the catwalk blew up.

He'd fired at us, something that was definitely going to attract attention with the thunderous CRACK! the AMR made. It didn't matter how many times he missed, all the stallion had to do was hit us once and we were dead. Not to mention that every one of his potshots were chewing away at the catwalk.

We were almost to the door now. A few more feet... And then there was no door no more. The heavy rifle welding stallion missed us barely, blowing the door to pieces and showering us with splinters. I also noticed a lot more groaning of metal than I did a few seconds ago. It seemed like that last shot hit some vital support or the 200 year old metal just couldn't take this abuse anymore. Whatever the reason, the catwalk started coming down, beginning with the section WE were on!

I didn't even think, I just jumped for the doorway and crashed through what little remains were left of it. I landed, going into a roll and drawing my revolvers as soon as I was on all fours again. Our side of the mission was no longer a stealth one. Firebug went tumbling a few feet ahead of me on her back. Seems she wasn't able to make a roll like I was. It was enough to get a chuckle out of me despite our plan having gone half wrong. After all, it had only gone half wrong. They'd be coming for us, and our targets probably knew we were here, but we could still round them up and fight our way out. I trotted over to the filly and helped her up to her hooves. "Be careful, we're still in trouble here." I told her. She gave a nod, and we got back to the task at hoof.

There were a lot more doors than I expected. While I figured that there'd probably be a fair amount of loot and potentially useful pre war information to be garnered from exploring every room, I was on a tight schedule. So I simply reached out with my magic, grabbed every single doorknob, and threw open all the doors I could. Now all we had to do was quickly peek inside the rooms and shoot or capture whoever was inside. That was the plan at least.

The plan did not go as expected.

No sooner than I had thought of it did we come under fire from across the gap the catwalk made. Luckily, the distance was a far bit greater than our attackers were used to, leading them to miss and shoot up the carpet and wall around us. We needed to get moving before they stopped being shit with their aim.

"Follow my lead." I ordered Firebug, and dashed to the next open room. She followed a few seconds later, just missing being hit by the gunfire. I dreaded to think what'd happen if they struck her tank. I was definitely going to look into getting that reinforced once this job was over. Working with a walking bomb was just a little too dangerous for my tastes.

We continued our door to door dodging strategy until we reached the end of the hall. We needed to get these Stable ponies quickly, and the equally long hallways branching from the center in a T shape housed so many more doors... At this rate, we'd have to get dug in and really fight our way out. The gunfire had stopped, so I could only assume they were on their way over here using one of the other catwalks.

"Agh!" I yelled in frustration, slamming my hoof against the wall. "Which room could they be in?!"

"How about... that one?" Firebug asked, pointing to a door about halfway down the right side of the hallway we were on.

"Oh yes, I'm sure that's it." I mocked, grabbing the handle with my magic. "You've magically picked the right door, and when I open it, a Stable pony is gonna fall out."

A pony wearing a Stable 37 jumpsuit fell out of the doorway as soon as I opened the door.

"... Huh." I think he was just as surprised as me that Firebug actually chose the correct door. The filly just grinned at both of us.

"I told you so!" She beamed.

"That was just lucky." I retorted. Right, time to get this over with. The stallion was trying to stealthily slide his way back into the room, but I stopped him with a look. "We're not here to hurt you, we were just sent to find you is all."

"By who?" The stallion asked curiously. Four more ponies dressed in Stable 37 jumpsuits poked their heads out the doorway now that they knew we at least wouldn't hurt them on sight.

"Tinker." I responded. "She was worried about you all since you just seemed to vanish and not report in."

"Oh. Her." One of the stallions said with clear disdain in his voice.

"We definitely haven't been worrying about that brat." A mare added.

I raised an eyebrow at them. It was stupid to think that everyone in the Skyport or even the Stable liked Tinker, but I'd never encountered this much animosity before. "Well that's nice, but it's time to get you all back to the Stable."

"Like hell we're going back." The mare I first saw barking orders said, stepping forward. "We've got a good thing going here. Freedom, lots of caps, lots of supplies... We've got so much that we'd be more than willing to share with anyone who joined our cause..."

So we've moved into the bribery stage already. I weighed the benefits of each side. On one hoof, these ponies weren't lying about their operation. It wasn't Skyport and Stable 37 sized, but getting a good hoofhold in a small operation before it goes big means big rewards in the end for me. On the other, the Stable provided several unique advantages, like a barber, fresh food, clean water, the ability to have my clothes cleaned, close proximity to the Skyport, a steady source of caps, not being an enemy to Tiny, glorious, glorious air conditioning, and pretty Stable mares who wanted to experience a wild night with a "rough, tough wasteland stallion."

"Sorry, I don't change loyalties that easy." Not without the other side offering better benefits, anyway, but they didn't need to know that.

"I'm sure we can work something out, right stud?" The mare in front of me asked, placing a hoof on my chest and slowly dragging it up and down. That combined with the seductive smile made it clear what she was offering.

I entertained the thought for a few seconds before shaking my head. "No dice." I may have offered freedom to mares and stallions for a roll in the hay before, but this job was too important to throw away over a quickie. "Besides, I think I've blinked you before. The experience wasn't something I'd call barter worthy."

That little jab, wether true or not (I really needed to keep a list of who I screwed) earned me a slap to the face. "You bastard!" She screamed, readying to strike me again. I drew my guns and aimed them at her before she could.

"Alright, playtime is over. You're all coming back wether you like it or not." It was around the time I finished my ultimatum that I noticed there was only four of the five Stable ponies in my field of view. Before I could even ask where the fifth went, he came from another room (this room was joined to the two next to it) brandishing an assault rifle in his magical grip.

"No, I don't think we will." He said with a grin.

I looked over at Firebug, careful to keep my guns aimed straight at the mare in front of me for security. "Why weren't you watching them?!"

"I was!" The filly defended. "I watched them the whole time you were talking. I even watched him go and get that gun!"

I took a long, deep breath to calm myself. She was still a filly, I didn't want a foals blood on my conscience... "Next time, say or do something if you see something like that happening again." The pyromaniac nodded, and I turned my attention back to the Stable ponies. "And as for you, I still have a gun pointed at your friends head."

"That doesn't mean anything." The assault rifle wielding stallion replied. "You can't shoot us, let alone kill us."

"What makes you say that?" I quickly asked, trying not to show any nervousness at my bluff having been called before I even mentioned it.

"Because you won't get paid if we're dead, will you?" He answered, that shit eating grin stil on his face. I really wanted to rip it off.. While it wasn't completely true that I wouldn't get paid if they were dead, I noticed a distinct lack of Pipbucks on their legs. Add to that the fact that if I killed even one of them, the others would blab the moment we got back to Tinker. Deserters that dislike her or not, she'd still be pretty pissed if I killed one of her ponies.

I had to think of a way to turn this back in my favor. Seconds ticked by until I finally remembered the only reason we were able to get in here in the first place. "You have no choice but to come back."

"Why's that?" The mare without a gun at her head asked.

"Because your operation here is done." I said smugly. "You think we just snuck through this place to rescue you?"

"But we did do that." Firebug ever so helpfully added. I made sure to give her the best glare I could.

"Anyway, the only reason we were able to do that is because my associates are currently outside killing everyone who's not a slave."

"Bullshit. You're just making up anything now to try and get us to go with you." The stallion holding the assault rifle said. He looked very close to pulling the trigger.

"Try me." I dared, doing my best to keep up my confidence. "You five seem important here, am I right? Have guards and stuff patrol this area maybe? Well we've been standing here for a good few minutes, and I haven't seen anypony. That might have to do with the fact that they're all dead."

"You-" The mare in front of me started, but I cut her off. I was on a roll.

"AND. You have no choice but to come back anyway because lets be honest here, there's no way you all did this on your own. Gathering slaves, getting so many goons, establishing shipping routes and buyers for the goods here... No, you're getting big, but you're far from the top still. And whoevers at the top won't like how I've fucked up your operation, will they? They may come after me, but they'll definitely come after you."

"We-" The other mare began, but I cut her off too.

"Go ahead, call my bluff. Shoot us and go outside. You'll find most, if not all of your non slave workers dead, and you'll also find that our friends out there aren't as nice as us." I held my breath for several seconds, hoping that half stringed together train of thought was enough to get us out of this situation. They looked between eachother, talking in hushed whispers and contemplating what I said. The assault rifle wielding stallion finally gave his full attention back to me.

"Even if everything else you said is bullshit, you're right about what'd happen to us once our employer catches wind of this. The safest place to stay until the heat cools down would be the Stable." He said.

"So does that mean...?" I asked hopefully, guns still at the ready in case this situation got worse again.

"We'll come along quietly." He said dejectedly. I let out a sigh of relief. Our side of the operation was finally starting to go according to plan!

"Rifle. Now." I ordered, grabbing it with my magic now that I was mostly sure I wasn't going to get shot. He let his own magic stop holding it and I floated it over to float in front of me. I wasn't that experienced with assault rifles, but I didn't think I could miss very much at this range. "Are your Pipbucks close by?" The mare in front of me nodded. "Go grab them. I won't make you wear them, but I know Tinker wants them back." One of the stallions -I REALLY need to find out their names- ducked into the room on the right and quickly returned with a box. A quick look through it confirmed that it was those oh so helpful devices. "Firebug."

"Yeah?" The filly hopped to her hooves, having decided to lay down on her stomach while I dealt with the Stable ponies.

"I need you to take the lead. Anypony who isn't Crushef, Aryanna, or a slave you can attack."

The pyromaniac grinned and pulled her gas mask back on before saluting. "Yes sir!"

I nodded in approval. "You all follow me. No sudden movements or anything." I'd had one too many targets suddenly turn cooperative just to try and stab me in the back to give them too much free reign. "Alright, lets get outside."

_________________________

It was carnage. Plain and simple carnage.

Our trip outside wasn't met with opposition, and it was clear why once we were back out.

The bodies of numerous ponies lay dead all around us. Some were perforated with minigun rounds, others only had a single or a few bullets in or through them, and others looked like knives had torn through them and torn out their throats. The ground was a sticky mess due to the blood mixing with the light drizzle that had started to come down. I couldn't smell the corpses much yet, but I figured that was going to change soon. All in all, it was pretty gruesome.

And standing in the center of it all was Bone Crusher. The ex Ranger had already freed the slaves along with Aryanna, and was having them collect every single weapon and piece of useable armor they could get from the bodies. She gave us a wave and trotted over. "Yeah! I don't think I've ever raised this much hell in one sitting!" The killer mare was absolutely delighted with herself, and I couldn't blame her. It was a pretty tough task she was assigned. "So what the hell took you guys so long?"

"Negotiations." I said simply. "How'd it go?"

"Fucking sweet is how it went!" Aryanna answered for her, landing next to the power armored pony. "Bone Crusher just went in and was all-" she paused to give her best impression of a minigun. "And then everyone else started shooting like pow, pow, pow! But then I came in and I was like bam, bam, bam! And they couldn't find me because they were so focused on Crusher who's still shooting. But then I ran out of ammo, so I swooped down and kicked someone right in the face! Then I just started going all ancient zebra crouching manticore style no jutsu on them like wah! Hah! Hyah! And I tore them to shreds! And then they gave up after that when they saw Crusher was still pretty much fine. It was so epic!" The griffin finally finished her tale of how the battle happened, giving a flourish and falling on her back. "Woo!"

"That's... Pretty much what happened." Crusher said slowly.

"Ok then..." I decided to just let the action loving griffin rest while we finished up here. "Alright, so the slaves are free, and they're stripping the bodies and taking their weapons." She nodded in affirmation. "Ok, we need to put all the stripped bodies into a pile."

"Already ahead of you." She pointed further down the side of the building, wher the stripped bodies were being placed into a big pile in an open area. There was already about two dozen. I had to wonder just how big this operation was... "We're gonna have Firebug light em up once they're all there, right?"

I nodded. "That was that part of the plan, yes. After Firebug burns all of them-"

"Yay!"

"We'll need to gather up as much guns, armor, and some of these carts full of goods too. The rest we'll let the slaves take."

"Like hell we're giving them this entire fucking warehouse!" Crusher protested. I gave her a light tap on the side of her helmet to calm her down.

"Relax, will you? We're not letting them take everything, just enough for them to be satisfied. We'll have Tinker get the rest or come for it ourselves. This place is a gold mine, and I'm not gonna let it go so easily."

"What about the survivors?"

"Oh that ones easy." I grinned. "Give them a taste of their own medicine. Throw some bomb collars on them. The Stable ponies too." That got them in a tizzy, but I paid no mind. I was taking no chances on this.

A few minutes later, the stripped corpses were cooking nicely, all the non slaves who were controlling the place had bomb collars on, and the freed slaves were finally ready to enjoy themselves. I had something to say before they did, though.

"I'm proud to say that you are most certainly free now!" This got a cheer out of them all. "However, there's a favor I'd like to ask of some of you before we part ways." This got a lot of quizzical looks in my direction. "I'd like to ask if any of you will help escort your former captors to the Skyport so they can face justice. You'll be paid for helping, of course." The promise of payment and their former slavers getting punishment for what they did got a lot of volunteers.

"What's your names" One of the former slaves asked. The question made me pause. Not because I forgot my or my companions name, but because this was the first real opportunity to get some kind of unified name out there. If we were going to be working together, we might as well do it under one banner. I tore through my thoughts looking for some decent name to call us. Then something Crusher said early stood out to me.

"My name is Gunslinger. That's Aryanna, Firebug, and Bone Crusher. And... We're Hellraisers."

Silence.

"That name sucks!"

I promptly shot the jerkass slaver in the head. "Everybody's a critic..."

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. Also sorry for the shortness, but the next part was giving me trouble, so I wanted to rework it. Anyway, enjoy the story!