Fallout Equestria: Sins of Retribution

Chapter 4: The Job

“You’re certain you know where we’re going?”

Scarlet gave an unconvinced glance towards me as we trotted down the road.

“Well unless there is another Shatterhoof on the map I would say so”

I was fairly certain that we were going in the right direction. At least that’s what the marker on my pipbuck was telling me.
As we continued through the wasteland without much more hassle than a random bloatsprite encounter, I decided to switch to the radio.

There weren’t exactly a lot of radio stations to choose from so I flipped on the one titled DJ-P0N3 and gave a small smile to hear an old song from Sweetie Belle.

For the first time in three days I felt calm.That was the first mistake I made: Lowering my guard in a world where everypony wanted to blow your head off for no apparent reason other than that they could.

Yet for as calm as I was I couldn’t shake that feeling of being watched.We had walked almost three miles so far and not a single sign of life.

“You think we’re going to find her?”

Scarlet finally broke the awkward silence between us.

I thought of Atlas, how he had spent twenty years trying to find his daughter Ambrose. Twenty years of uncertainty about whether or not his daughter was dead. Then finally after all those years he gets the closest he had ever been only to find out she was gone again.

He offered to fight alongside us to protect the town that had kept her safe from the raiders she escaped from and we had failed to keep our end of the bargain.

Loom had tipped off the raiders and sent her back to Shatterhoof to be resold back into slavery. We barely knew Loom yet he had managed to earn a very special spot in my heart. That spot was called my shit list, which I felt was only going to increase as our time out here grew.

How anypony could just give somepony else away for money was mind blowing to me. Then again, what did I know of the wasteland?
All that I had learned from it so far was that if you’re cold hearted you manage to last a bit longer, meanwhile if you show an ounce of good and trust somepony to not stab you in the back, ultimately they would.

Grace trusted us before we even knew her and almost got robbed from Eureka and her gang because of it. Even after all of that she still gave us a place to stay (No matter how short of a stay) as well as nursed me back to health after I was wounded.

Ambrose fixed up an anti-venom for me after I was stung by Cazadors.
One way or another we were going to find her, we had to at least try.

That was when I made my second mistake: Getting distracted.
As we walked deep in thought I failed to pay attention to the markers on my pipbuck warning us of multiple figures approaching.

“Well I’ll be damned. Deadeye was right about these ones.”

A red and black striped pony gave a hyena like cackle as six more ponies circled us.Something about these ponies was off, they weren’t like normal raiders.

For starters they actually wore decent looking armor and stood with a more arrogant bravado compared to rather twitchy trigger happy behavior I was use to encountering now.

“What do you want with us?”

Scarlet gave an irritated growl trying to keep calm as we tried to calculate any form of escape. There weren’t many forms of escape.
Short of going out guns blazing, all we could do for now is stand there and hear them out.

“Firebrand told us of a few pony folk that were trying to steal one of his toys away from him. A bleach white stallion and an ever so lovely mare.”

He gave a charismatic smile and wink to Scarlet who immediately shot mental daggers at him.

“So you’re going to take us back to Firebrand? Or what?”

Famous last words folks. The mercenary grinned tapping his hoof as his buddy’s grabbed hold of me and Scarlet.

“Firebrand? Oh no, we work for Deadeye.”

He placed shackles around our legs and nudged us forward with the butt of his shotgun.

“Don’t worry though, our boss just wants to have a little word with you.”

A little word with a pony who is involved in slaver business?Alarms were blaring in my head about how bad of a decision it would be to follow.Then again, Its not like we really had many other decisions available to us.

"These are the ones that took out Flintlock? They look like they could barely handle an angry bloatsprite."

A golden brown colored mare sneered at us before pulling on Scarlet Blaze's mane.

"This ones pretty though; oh the fun I'll have with you."

Her associate nodded in agreement, rubbing against her side suggestively.

"Maybe we could sample them before we turn them loose to Deadeye."

The leader of the group simply sighed shaking his head at the two horny mercenaries.

"They aren't slaves you idiots. They are guests, for now at least."

For now; considering we were dealing with borderline raiders, for now was better then dying right now.

Walking along with these ponies and hearing their casual banter between one another, reminded me of Eureka and her gang.
Just a bunch of ponies that were trying to make an living, even though it was as mercenaries who cared for little more than the caps they were promised for the jobs they did. They weren't just mindless raiders. These ponies still held some kind of rationality and still had feelings, no matter how small those feelings were.

I couldn't stop thinking about Trotton now: The bodies, burnt and mounted on display through the streets. Buckshot, Juniper and Sandstorm were some of the mercenaries that suffered the wrath of Atlas.Their lifeless eyes still somehow filled with terror as though that was just the beginning of their misery. Even though they were mercenaries, they were still ponies like me and Scarlet, they were just given the short end of the stick.

Who knows how many more ponies had ended up on those stakes in his twenty year hunt. And who knows how many more would end up on them if we don't find Ambrose soon.The more I thought about it, the more I started to worry. What if Atlas had already began burning Hoofstead as we speak?

"Welcome, to the Shattered Hoof Correctional Facility."

One of the grunts gave a courteous little bow before waving us through the gates. Soon enough we were face to face with the stallion at the head of the operations in this little facility.

"So you are the new stable ponies that have been causing a bit of trouble for my clients?"

Deadeyes gave a smug grin and snicker before starting to trot to his office.

"I must admit, killing Flintlock was impressive, considering your stature of course but managing to call upon a full zebra legion to defend one small town? That takes some guts."

He laughed again with a shake of his head.

"It didn't take much convincing, considering you stole Atlas' daughter."

Scarlet stamped her hoof on the ground approaching Deadeyes furiously before he simply waved his hoof to her.

"Oh no, I didn't steal her. That would be the work of some hired help from long ago. I had only recently inherited the little beauty before I gave her away."

He levitated a bottle of alcohol and poured it into three small glasses.

"Care for a drink? You must be parched after that long walk through the wasteland."

Scarlet continued her glare before slamming down the whiskey, setting the empty glass on the table.
Mine of course was left untouched, ever since my mother showed me the effects on a ponies liver, alcohol and I were pretty distant from one another.

"Just give us Ambrose and we wont bother you alright?"

He pursed his lips as if he was about ready to agree and hoof her right over to us. You can guess what the answer is.

"That hardly seems fair to me."

I pounded my hoof onto the desk, knocking over the empty glass and before staring down Deadeyes.

"But enslaving innocent ponies is?"

Deadeyes simply shrugged before taking another drink.

"Who ever said life was fair child? Not I."

He stood up from his desk and picked up the fallen glass before returning to our conversation.

"I'm a humble business pony, I deal in caps and arrangements. Do you have the two thousands caps to buy her?"

Deadeyes arched a brow then smirked at our enraged glares at him.

"Exactly, so if you don't have caps, then you're going to have to pay through work."

Scarlet and I exchanged glances to one another at the word work then stared back at Deadeyes' evil grin.

"What work exactly?"
He nodded his head to one of the guards behind us who immediately closed the door behind the two of us and leaned in.

"Ever hunted a pony before?"