Borderlands: Eden

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Borderlands: Eden

Part 2: Fresh off the Bus

Twilight Sparkle (As the Princess)

Twilight had not been expecting to change form once she left the planet. At all.

But here she was, sprawled out in a human form, unconscious on the floor after some considerable pain.

She came to, grimaced and got back up. That had been nothing like teleporting to Canterlot High School in the human world. What she just went through HURT.

There were a few, other, small differences. She wasn’t in a teen’s body. Instead, she appeared to be in a body more suited to her age. Twilight looked in a convenient mirror. She guessed that she looked twenty-four.

Another difference was that her skin wasn’t lavender for some reason. Instead it was a creamish colour. Her mane (she guessed it was called hair now) had remained the same colour, so that was a plus.

There had also been no clothes that had magically appeared on her. Great.

Twilight looked at the sliding door behind her. She had done some searching before she took off just to make sure she knew what to do. She read the manual and pressed the designated buttons. She had also found six sets of clothing that, at the time, didn’t seem like they would fit. Now, Twilight knew exactly what they were for.

She opened the doors. Buy n’ Large had clearly expected one of them to go, because each set seemed to be tailored towards them, although how they knew what they’d want to wear Twilight had no idea. She took a set off the rack and looked at it for a moment before deciding that she wanted it.

After a bit of fiddling, Twilight was dressed up in a white button-up shirt, a light-purple woollen vest, a navy skirt, two purple stockings and some black, lace-up shoes. She was satisfied with it, but still didn’t know why she changed form. Maybe there was some sort of magical barrier around the planet…

She couldn’t put much thought into that idea though, as a message flashed on the on-board screen.

Planet Eden approaching. It read.

Twilight was surprised at that. She must have been out for a while. Or this ship was incredibly fast. Either one.

Please read the instruction manual. The screen flashed.

Twilight reached for the booklet and opened it. Flipping to the pages concerned with landing, Twilight read that first, she should spread out a mattress and lie down on it as the ship entered the atmosphere in order to avoid passing out due to the pressure.

Huh… that would probably explain why she passed out the first time.

Once she landed, she then needed to install a chip into her head that hardwired her brain for English, the major language on the planet.

Upon reading that, she read a bit further ahead to see if there were any ways to remove the chip once she was done with it. There was one.

And that appeared to be it. Seemed simple enough. Twilight assumed that she only had to do the same thing once she wanted to get back.

Twilight opened the sliding doors again. There was a rolled up mattress on the bottom of it. She got it out, spread it across the floor and lied down.

She thought about what she was currently doing. The thought of being in space made her giddy. She was actually beyond the final frontier! She was going to places that Celestia’s sun had never touched!

As that thought crossed her mind, she suddenly realised something. She had forgotten to tell Celestia what she was doing. She would have no idea.

As Twilight worried about that, she realised something else: her friends would probably tell Celestia. No need to get worked up, all they would have to do was pop around to the library and…

Then Twilight realised something else: she had forgotten to tell Spike where she was headed.

She winced. That was incredibly thoughtless thinking on her part. Spike would’ve had no say in it and might have wanted to come had he been at the site instead of sorting out misplaced fiction books.

As the ship entered the atmosphere, it began to shudder. Then, Twilight began to feel a crushing pain.

She gasped. It wasn’t unbearable, but it really, really hurt. She couldn’t see why the Buy n’ Large corporation couldn’t come up with a way to avoid this.

Maybe this rocket was really cheap.

The pain continued for five minutes, which felt like a longer time than it actually was to Twilight. Then, it stopped with a jarring crash.

Twilight lied there for a bit more, trying to recover from the pain. Once she had managed that, she stood up, shakily.

She looked at the screen again. It read, Planet Eden reached. You may exit the vehicle.

Excited at the prospect of being on an alien planet, Twilight jumped up and was about to press the door button before she remembered the rest of the instructions. She reached for the metal instrument labelled in the manual and put it to her head. She pulled the trigger, as the instructions read.

“Ow!” Twilight jumped back, almost letting go of the object. She waited until the pain died down before removing it. Touching her head, she felt a bit of blood, but not enough to cause any concern.

With that done, she pressed the door button. It slowly opened, allowing Twilight to admire the scenery at it was revealed, bit by bit.

Twilight stepped out of the ship and onto the planet, where no pony had been before. She looked around the landing pad she had landed on, looked at the scenery beyond it and took it all in.

Then she said, “This is paradise?”

The landing pad was situated near a rough, tarmac road. A cart stop with a bench was on the other side. On the pole was a piece of paper that might be a letter. Everywhere else resembled Apploosa: dry, western deserts with giant plateaus dotted every few hundred kilometres.

There was no grass in sight, no trees, nothing that could suggest paradise in the remotest sense.

Twilight looked at the letter found on the ship. Then she looked back at the landscape surrounding her. There had to be some sort of mistake. This couldn’t be Eden.

Twilight turned back to the ship, hoping to find some answers on board, but she found that the door had closed on her.

Twilight frowned, pressing the button that opened the door. Nothing happened.

Then the ship started to shudder. The ground beneath it started to glow with heat. Then, the ship started to take off.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she realised what was happening. She quickly backed off from the ship as smoke poured from the bottom of it. It rose upwards, leaving her on the landing pad.

“Wait!” She shouted desperately. “You forgot me!”

This was to no avail though, as the ship simple rose and rose until it was completely out of sight.

Twilight stared upwards in hopelessness and horror as she realised that she was marooned on an alien planet with no idea how to get around and where she was.

How would she ever see her friends again?

Was she going to die out here?

What is this planet even like?!

Twilight looked around. With nothing else to do, she went over to the cart stop and sat down on the bench.

Staring at her surroundings, Twilight saw that the message was bright white, while everything around her looked worn down and out of shape.

She took the paper off of the pole and looked at it. With mild surprise, she saw that her name was on it.

She read it.

'Miss Twilight Sparkle,/Miss Rarity Belle,/Miss Rainbow Dash/Miss Applejack/Miss Fluttershy,/Miss Pinkie Pie,

Thank you for letting yourself get tricked so easily.

If you ever want to see your friends again, then find the Tree. A bus will arrive in a few minutes. Get on it and help the other three find the Tree. If you don’t do this, then you will never escape this planet alive.

Commander Wales, Buy n’ Large Corporation, Weapons and Armour Reservation Division

P.S. I can’t guarantee that my soldiers won’t attack you.'

Twilight read it a few more times, just to make sure that her anger was justifiable.

This guy tricked her?! He dared to threaten her?! What kind of psychopath would just dump her on some alien planet to hunt a tree of all things?!

Twilight threw the letter onto the road in a fit of temper.

Seriously angry, Twilight sat there, barely registering anything.

She did, however, register a sound that was coming from down the road.

She looked to the side. She could make out an object that coming closer. It looked a bit like a rectangle.

As it approached, Twilight saw that it had wheels, windows, doors, everything that made it a bit like a cart. It quite clearly wasn’t though, because Twilight could see that it was made out of metal and there was no underprivileged group of ponies driving it.

She stared at it in amazement. What was this thing?

It stopped in front of the cart stop. The doors opened, revealing the driver.

It was humanoid in appearance, except it was made entirely out of a grey, shiny metal. Its limbs, body and head were squares or rectangles, with some orbs apparently holding it together. It looked at her with two eyes that had electric blue irises.

They stared at each other for a moment, Twilight in amazement, the metal creature with raised metallic eyebrows.

Then it said to her, “You getting on or not?”

Twilight blinked. “Uh… where are you headed?”

“To Hornsby.” The thing replied. “Gonna make a few stops though, just for your lot.” He frowned. “You are a Tree Hunter, right?”

“I… what is it with trees around here?” Twilight asked, confused.

The creatures sighed impatiently. “Listen sweetheart, the Tree is a mystical vault full of alien treasure. Those who are looking for it are called Tree Hunters. Do you want to search for it?”

“Well…” Twilight’s face dropped. “A note said that if I didn’t…”

The creature’s eyes lighted up. Literally. “Oh, just like the snake. Alright, hop on.”

“…Snake?” Twilight asked, suddenly tense.

“Relax, she doesn’t bite.”

Reluctantly, Twilight hopped on the bus. She looked down the row. There were several seats and the back ones were occupied by some of the strangest individuals she’d ever seen before.

Sitting on Twilight’s far left was a muscular pale man. He might’ve passed for being made of metal, since his suit was made of it. It shone black with some dust on it. On his left bicep was a zigzag ‘S’ with a line scratched through it. His jet black hair was also dusty. Attached to his leg with no visible sheath was a katana sword, which was also black.

At the far end of the bus was another muscular man, although he was much large than the other one. He had a black and white balaclava on, a leather vest and some leather pants and odd boots. The weirdest thing about him though was the fact that there tubes on the vest and going into his body. They were clear with no apparent purpose.

The last person made Twilight shudder. It was a long, thin, green snake with various markings flowing along its body. It had two lotus clips attached to the back of its head and its eyes were cyan. Not the iris. The eyeball. Twilight probably would’ve jumped off the bus if the snake didn’t look so miserable.

“Take a seat.” The metal thing said.

Twilight looked at the thing. “Uh… who are you guys?”

“Well, I’m Thomas, nice to meet you, yadda yadda. And those guys you see before you,” He pointed to them. “They are your fellow Tree Hunters.”

“…Oh.” Twilight said. She couldn’t picture herself working with them. “Are you a Tree Hunter?”

Thomas chuckled. “Nah, I’m a weapons merchant. I sell guns, grenades… that kind of stuff.”

“Guns.”

“Yeah.”

“Grenades.”

“Yup.”

“…What are those?”

Thomas stared at her blankly, then waved her off. “Okay, just sit down.”

Twilight walked down the bus, trying to figure out where to sit. The guy at the very back was being intimidating without even trying, so Twilight immediately ruled him out. The guy in armour was giving her a critical, cyan stare, which made Twilight feel uncomfortable so she wasn’t going to sit next to him either.

The snake however seemed safe. While Twilight was terrified of snakes by default, this one looked like it needed someone to talk to. So, ignoring her immediate fears, she sat on the seat next to the snake.

The bus lurched forward with a few coughs of the engine. Then, the scenery started moving forward and they were on their way.

“Okay, everyone!” Thomas shouted from the driver’s seat. “Next stop, Bycroft! I hope that you’re all ready to search for treasure!”

Thomas turned on the radio and sound started blasting out of it. It appeared to be some sort of song.

Twilight looked at her fellow Tree Hunters again. No-one seemed to be making any attempt at conversation.

Twilight decided to start with someone who might be the friendliest.

“So… hi.” She said to the snake.

It jumped, blinking up at Twilight. “Huh?”

Twilight almost jumped too. She had not expected the snake to talk in a female voice.

“…Hi.” Twilight repeated, more nervously this time.

“Oh… hi.” The snake smiled, although it was quite forced.

And that was about as much conversation as Twilight could go before looking away.

“Oh, I don’t mean to be rude.” The snake said quickly. “I’m just a little… upset.”

Twilight was reminded of Fluttershy.

“No, no, it’s fine.” Twilight insisted. “It’s just that… I have ophiophobia.”

“Huh?” The snake cocked her head.

“Um… fear of snakes.” Twilight explained awkwardly. Then she added quickly, “Like, an irrational fear. One that doesn’t make sense.”

The snake’s expression was unreadable. Then she said, “You’re sure it’s irrational?”

“Yes! Of course.”

“Alright.” The snake relaxed. “My name’s Viper.”

Not very original. Twilight thought to herself. “Mine’s Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

Viper giggled at that.

Twilight frowned. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. Nice name, that’s all.”

“Hippie name, more like.” The guy in the armour muttered. He said it like an insult.

Viper gave him an irritated look. “What does that mean?”

“That’s it’s a stupid name.” The guy replied.

Twilight glared at him, slightly angry. “What’s yours then?”

“I’m not giving my name to someone I just met.” He replied.

“His name’s Alex.” Thomas replied from the front. “Alexander Ortis Divore Campbell if you want to annoy him.”

Alex closed his eyes.

Twilight studied him. There was something different about him. It was like he had the aura of a unicorn in the sense that he radiated magic. But it wasn’t the kind of magic that Twilight detected on a daily basis.

It was more close to the sort of magic she had felt when she encountered King Sombra. Dark Magic.

She took an instant disliking to him.

“I am Bane.” The guy in the back said in a rich, Spanish accent. “And I am only telling you this to stop you from asking.”

“Right.” Twilight said. “Sure.”

“So… do you know anything about this planet?” Viper asked Twilight, apparently trying to start up a conversation.

Twilight shook her head. “No, I just arrived.”

“Damn.” Viper muttered. “So we have no idea where to go.”

“Bycroft is a good place to start.” Bane spoke up.

Viper looked at him. “How come?”

“It’s where the first mining operations started.” Bane replied.

“Mining operations?”

“You two really don’t know anything about this planet, don’t you?” Alex asked.

Twilight glared at him. “Enlighten us.”

“A corporation known as the Chemit Corporation used to hold operations on this planet.” Alex explained. “They were searching for valuable minerals and used criminals as a cheap labour force.”

Twilight was interested now. “You mean, like slaves?”

“Exactly like slaves.” Alex said. “No pay, no health insurance, no safe work conditions, nothing.”

“That’s horrible!” Viper said.

Alex rolled his eyes. “It’s life.”

“While mining for minerals, the workers came across some odd artefacts.” Bane said. “They hushed it up from their superiors, but they did mutate the workers both physically and mentally.”

“…Really?” Twilight asked.

Bane nodded. “Colonists were lured here by promises of a fresh start,” Bane waved his hand to the windows. “But were rewarded by this.”

“Eventually, the corporation abandoned the planet, since they didn’t find any minerals.” Alex added. “So they left the colonists and the staff they left behind to the mercy of the convicts.”

“You mean… the ones that attacked me were prisoners?” Viper asked.

“Attacked you?” Twilight blinked.

“No.” Alex replied. “All the convicts either overthrew their superiors or made negotiations with them to go free and became Bandits instead.”

Viper gulped. “Um… how many convicts were there?”

“Think along the lines of a whole planet’s worth of criminals.” Alex said. “That’s pretty much what we’re up against.”

“…You’re kidding me.” Twilight said.

“And then there are the local monsters.” Bane added.

“Ah… those.” Alex said bitterly. “I ran into a few of those myself.”

“What were they like?” Twilight asked.

“They had varying appearances. But they all have barbed wire on them somewhere.” Alex described. “That grows naturally.”

“Yikes.”

“My race created them.” Alex added. “How they got here, I’ll probably never know. But someone ought to get punched in the face for letting them near the planet.”

“…It really isn’t a paradise, isn’t it?” Twilight sighed.

“You don’t say.” Viper agreed.

“So… I guess we have to find this Tree thing?” Twilight said.

“I guess so.”

“I know where it is.” Bane said.

Everyone looked at him. Except for Thomas, who was entertaining himself by running over a wolf-like creature on the road.

“You do?” Viper exclaimed.

“Great, job done.” Alex said. “Let’s go home now.”

Bane glared at Alex. “If it were that easy, I would’ve claimed my prize already.”

“And I can’t go home.” Twilight said. “I’m stranded.”

“You too?” Viper said.

“You mean… you’re stranded as well?”

“Yes! I was tricked and-!”

“The Tree,” Bane interrupted. “Is a large chamber. It’s currently locked and nobody has the key.”

“…Oh.” Twilight said. “So, we’re searching for the key.”

“Sort of.” Bane said. “According to a lunatic I interrogated, the key is in three pieces. So we have to find the pieces before we open the Tree.”

“You legitimately believe that the Tree exists.” Alex said.

“Yes.” Bane said coldly.

“If you don’t, then why are you here?” Viper asked.

Alex jerked a thumb towards Thomas. “Because the idiot driving insisted that I held his hand when he came here to sell his merchandise.”

“Don’t mind him.” Thomas called. “He’s just bitter.”

“So the place we’re going…” Twilight said.

“It’s where the key was first found, yes.” Bane said. “At least, it was found in the general area.”

“So when we get there, we search for it.” Viper said. “Sounds straightforward. Probably isn’t.”

“We’ll be fine.” Twilight said. “There are four of us.”

“Sure. Four of us.” Alex said. “Against a whole demographic.”

“Do you see any other Tree Hunters?”

“No,” Alex sighed. “And that’s part of the problem.”

“Do you lot have guns?” Bane asked.

“Um… no.” Twilight said. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“YES, that is going to be a problem.” Alex said in disbelief. “Guns are the only way to defend yourself on this planet.”

“What’s a gun?” Viper asked.

Alex raised his hand.

Dark smoke appeared out of nowhere and formed a metal object in his hand. It had a long tube in the front, a barrel in the middle and a grip for holding.

Twilight was only mildly surprised, due to her detection of Alex’s Dark Magic, but the other two had more violent reaction. Viper jumped backwards in her chair and Bane stood up, his face in a snarl.

“How’d you do that?!” Viper asked.

“I’m a Shade.” Alex replied. “Manipulation of Dark Magic is one of my natural powers. But that irrelevant. The point is that this is a gun.”

Bane sat back down, his frown deepened. Viper tentatively poked the gun with her nose, as if she was afraid it would bit.

“This is one of the miniature cannons the Bandits were using.” She said nervously.

“Oh Gods, it’s called a gun.” Alex said impatiently.

“Yeah, I don’t have one of those.” Twilight said. “I get that Thomas sells them, but is there any other way to get them?”

“You could find one in someone’s chest.” Alex said. “That’s to say, a treasure chest. Or a box.”

“Isn’t that stealing?” Viper asked.

“Have you got a better way to find things without spending money?”

“What model is it?” Bane asked.

“It’s an Angsty Revolution, made by Campbell’s.” Alex said.

“…That’s seriously its name?” Twilight asked.

“I know.” Alex muttered, the gun dissolving back into smoke.

Bane frowned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a white circle with the Buy n’ Large logo on it.

“Where did you get that?” Twilight demanded, her eyes widened.

“Unimportant.” Bane replied.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“A communicator. It’s vibrating for some reason.”

“Get rid of it.” Viper said, giving the communicator a dirty look. “I hate that company.”

Ignoring them, Bane pressed the logo down.

A green, see-though figure appeared above it. Twilight and Viper jumped back, while Alex rolled his eyes and Bane ignored them all.

“Don’t tell anyone you can hear me.” The figure whispered so that Thomas wouldn’t hear.

Twilight looked towards Thomas, who seemed focused on the scenery around him.

She looked back towards the figure. It was humanoid and female in appearance and looked quite pretty. It was naked, although no defining features could be seen on her. She had a blank face and a pony tail. Foreign symbols flashed along her body.

“I’m not from Buy n’ Large.” The figure whispered in a deathly quiet tone. “I’m here to help you find the Tree.”

The four looked at her. They were doing their best to remain quiet.

“When the bus stops, you’ll find a helper that’ll give you some of the essentials. Listen to what he says. You’ll understand when you meet him.”

She looked at them all, going around in a circle. “You have no reason to trust me, I know that. But you have to believe me when I say that I want to help.”

The figure disappeared.

The four looked at each other, not really knowing what to say.

Twilight started to say something, but Alex shook his head and gestured to Thomas.

The bus stopped.

Twilight looked out the window. They were near what looked like a settlement. There was a sign that read ‘Bycroft’ outside the bus.

“That’s our stop.” Alex said, walking towards the doors.

Twilight thought about what the figure said. How could they trust her? Twilight had learned a mere ten minutes ago that stuff from Buy n’ Large wasn’t to be trusted. On the other hand, Twilight figured that they could use a guide.

“Take care, jackass.” Alex said to Thomas.

“Love ya too, buddy.” Thomas replied. “Er… in a bromance sort of way, that is.”

Alex ignored him.

Bane said nothing as he walked out. Twilight and Viper went up to Thomas.

He turned and looked at them. “What’s up?”

“Just… to say goodbye and thanks, I guess.” Twilight said.

Thomas waved his hand. “Ah, don’t worry with all that goodbye BS. I’m sure we’ll be doing this all again soon enough.” He laughed good naturedly at that, as if sharing an inside joke.

Then, immediately reverting to serious, he said, “Get off my bus.”

Twilight stepped off with Viper and watched as Thomas drove off into the sunset.

Twilight frowned. For the first time, she realised that she was actually going on a quest to find a vault full of treasure. She was actually going to stay on this crazy planet.

“See ya next time!” Said a high-pitched, synthetic voice.

The four turned towards the sound of the noise. Alex’s shoulders slumped and he said, “Oh no.”

A robot was standing on the other side of the road, waving the bus off. It had a body in the shape of a trapezoidal prism, a long antenna sticking out of its top, two thin metal arms and one singular, blue eye.

“Ha ha!” Claptrap laughed. (The Fates are cruel)

He turned towards the ground and whirred forward on his singular wheel for a leg. “Welcome to Bycroft!” It said to them. “I am CL4P-TP. You may call me by my locally designated name ‘Claptrap’. Before continuing,” It reached into its own body and produced four rectangular devices. “Please accept these S-NET communication devices and heads-up displays, provided free of charge by the Scaleskin Corporation.”

The four stared at the robot, slightly overwhelmed. If Twilight found that if this S-NET thing did something wacky and odd, then her brain would have a technological meltdown.

“Um… thanks.” Twilight took one.

Viper took one as well, with some confusion. Bane stared at his, frowning.

Alex took one and immediately attached it to his right bicep.

Bane took after him and attached his S-NET to his back.

Viper looked at her thin body and the device again before settling with putting it on her back in the middle.

Twilight attached hers to her hip.

Immediately, she decided not to learn anything about technology on this planet.

Words immediately hovered in front of her. They read ‘BOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED’ and were accompanied by a bar that slowly filled up. As it filled, a red bar in the lower left of her vision appeared as a ‘Health Bar’ and a ‘Weapon Display Module’ appeared on the lower right. Then a digital bearing module appeared on the bottom, allowing Twilight to see what direction she was pointing at.

“Great!” Claptrap said. “I detect that your S-NET devices are fully functioning. This way please.” He turned and rolled off.

“I hate these things.” Alex growled.

Viper, once she had gotten over the shock of words appearing in her face, said, “It doesn’t seem too bad.”

“Trust me, after two days of hearing this thing talk, you’ll want to commit suicide, or worse.” Alex assured her.

“Do we trust the hologram?” Bane asked.

Twilight knew that he was talking about the green woman.

“Well, could we manage without her?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” Alex replied. “But this planet is foreign to all of us. We could use a guide.”

“Agreed.” Viper said. “So what now?”

Bane shrugged. “We talk to the residents of the town. See if they know anything.”

“Hey!” Claptrap shouted. “Over here!”

“Come on.” Alex muttered. “Let’s go see what this thing wants.”

They followed Claptrap to the front gate of the town. Along the way, Bane walked over to two dumpsters and began opening them.

Viper eyed the trash. “Um… what are you doing?”

“You never know what you’ll find.” Bane replied. He picked up some green notes and a green box full of gold, thin objects.

Turning to the next one, he opened it. He blinked and grinned when he pulled out a long, polished brown ellipse.

Twilight blinked. A box just appeared on her heads-up-display. It had the words BULET ASULT-RFLE written on it in deep green.

“Uh… some words just appeared on my display.” She said.

“That’ll be the name of the gun.” Alex said.

“That’s a gun?”

Bane pressed a button and the object unfolded into a long rifle.

“Oh.” She read the ID card a bit more. Under the gun name, it read Level: 1. Next to that, it read Assault Rifle. In the bottom right corner, the Buy n’ Large logo could be seen.

“Huh.” She said as Bane slung the gun over his shoulder. “Neat.”

They reached Claptrap at the gate.

“You’ll love Bycroft!” Claptrap said cheerfully. “It’s a town that’s survived many Bandit attacks and sieges thanks to the local Badasses!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“That’s just what we call people who are really awesome at fighting.” Claptrap explained. “We don’t have many of them on Eden though. I think that…”

A growling sound filled the air. It was faint and high, but it reminded Twilight of the sound the bus had made.

“Wait… is that…?” Claptrap looked around in fear. “Oh no, not again! RUUUUUUUUUNNNN!”

And with that, Claptrap ran into a little shed.

A shadow passed over Twilights head and landed in the form of some sort of vehicle.

The Tree Hunters jumped back as the vehicles leapt over the fence and into town. Twilight couldn’t get a good look at them due to the dust clouds they made, but one of them, which was a dark red, spun around and started shooting at them.

Twilight had never been shot at before in her life, so this was a new and terrifying experience.

After a bullet whizzed past her ear, she ran towards a wall and hugged it. Viper followed suit, although she did so dodging every single bullet that came her way in graceful form, despite the fact that she was scared as well. Bane and Alex followed soon after.

Bane readied his assault rifle, but Alex raised his arm.

“Save your ammo.” He commanded.

A few more bullets whizzed by the gate, apparently being fired for the hell of it. A large explosion sounded from inside the town. Then there was nothing.

Claptrap peered out of his hidey hole. “Are… are they gone?”

Alex peered around. Twilight couldn’t see what he saw, but he nodded. “Looks like it.”

“Phew!” Claptrap said, relieved. “Those Bandits really have it in for us Claptraps.”

“I wonder why.” Alex said sarcastically.

“Yeah. Being used as target practice is not part of our programming!” Claptrap moved his way to the gate and pressed a few buttons.

“That was terrifying.” Twilight said, her heart thumping.

“Get used to it.” Bane didn’t put away his rifle. “There are going to be a lot more Bandits like those.”

“Will we… have to kill them?” Twilight asked in a small voice.

“Looks like it.” Viper said sadly. “I tend to avoid killing people, but sometimes I have to.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Twilight held up a hand. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do this. I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“Then we have a weak link.” Alex said drily.

Twilight was too terrified of the concept of killing someone to be angry at that.

Bane frowned at her. “I suppose that we’ll have to teach you then.”

“It’s easy.” Alex said. “You point a gun at someone you don’t like and then pull the trigger.”

“Mentally.” Bane said. He looked at her. “Do you have a family?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“Friends? Boyfriend?”

“Yes, no.” Twilight wondered where Bane was going with this.

Bane gestured to the group. “Pretend that we are them.”

Twilight looked at Bane. Then she looked at Alex. “That’s going to be difficult.”

“Start small, with Viper.” Bane said. “Imagine that she’s someone you love.”

“Uh… now?”

“When the Bandits attack again. Imagine that the Bandits are attacking someone you love. That’ll help.”

Twilight nodded uneasily. “Uh huh… but…”

“If that’s too hard, try this: it’s either you kill, or you get killed.” Bane said. “And if you get killed, then you will never see your friends and family again.”

That made sense. It didn’t make it any easier for Twilight, but it made perfect sense.

“Uh… could one of you look for a piece of paper in my shack?” Claptrap asked sheepishly. “I forgot the passcode.”

“Oh, for the… Viper, you’re small enough.” Alex said.

Viper gave Alex an irritated look, then ducked inside the shack. “The password is 0-5-9-2-3.” She called out.

“Got it!” Claptrap hit a few buttons. He then spread his arms out wide and said, “Aaaaaaannnnnnnnnnndddddddddd open!”

The gate opened. The Tree Hunters stepped into the town of Bycroft.

Twilight saw what the others didn’t. She tapped Bane (who happened to be closest) and whispered, “Guys!”

They looked in her direction.

A bunch of bandits were walking down the road. They all wore ripped t-shirts with varying designs and jeans that looked either too big or too small. They all wore flatcaps and had balaclavas on. They looked a lot like teenage criminals, except they were adults. One of them noticed the group.

“Look! More looting material!” The Thug shouted, levelling his pistol. (His times of trouble are over)

“AH!” Claptrap screamed, running off. “Oh no! AHHHHH!”

Twilight ducked behind a wall when the Thugs started shooting. Alex and Bane pulled out their guns and started shooting back. Viper started strafing around, dodging all the bullets the Thugs had to offer.

Bane fired a few rounds into the chest of one of them, making sure to spare some ammo. Alex shot one of them through the head with a single shot. Viper slithered towards the last Thug at an incredible speed, getting in close for some quick melee attacks and a neck snap.

Twilight stepped out from her cover.

“Nice shooting.” Alex said to her sarcastically.

Twilight did her best not to look at the others. She had never seen anyone kill people that easily. She definitely didn’t want to look at the corpses.

Bane picked up a pistol from one of the corpses. Twilight thought that he was getting it for himself, but then he chucked it at her.

She barely caught it.

“Use this.” Bane ordered. “You need some way of defending yourself.”

Twilight looked at it. The title card read Enhanced Mag Handgun in white. It was Level 1 and the logo was a snake in the shape of an ‘S’. Next to the snake were two words that, when combined with the S, gave the words ‘Scale Skin’.

Twilight swallowed nervously. She didn’t know if she could kill someone, even if they were trying to kill her.

Nevertheless, she held the gun properly and looked down the sights. It seemed simple enough to use. The weapon module showed how much ammunition was in the gun and how much she had in reserve. Currently, the gun was more or less full, with eight rounds in the gun. She had no ammo in reserve.

She looked at Viper, who looked at a box with a green light on it. She opened it and pulled out a few boxes. The HUD registered a yellow box as pistol ammo.

“Hey Viper, could I…?” Twilight asked.

“Sure.” Viper threw the box to Twilight. “I don’t have a gun, anyway.”

Before Twilight could catch it, the box turned into a collection of cubes and flew into the S-NET.

Twilight jumped.

“Oh yeah!” Claptrap rolled over, apparently having gotten over the fear of the Bandits. “The S-NET has a system where anything you want to keep, it absorbs into its internal digital backpack! The ammo just digitalised.”

“Digitalised.” Twilight said. “Right.”

Viper just stared at the spot where the ammo box had turned into cubes and disappeared.

“When you’re done,” Alex called back. “We have more Bandits incoming!”

Twilight looked up a hill and saw a few more Thugs.

“WAH!” Claptrap ran off again.

Alex and Bane immediately started firing at them. Viper rushed forward, dodging the bullets.

Twilight swallowed. What better time to test her gun than now?

Twilight levelled the pistol at a Thug that wore some mismatched hockey gear. His title card read, ‘Raiding Thug’. He seemed stronger than the others. He even had a gun that fired at a rapid-fire pace, except it was smaller than an assault rifle.

Alex and Bane dove behind cover, avoiding the fire. Viper, meanwhile kept going at him.

Shooting at Viper, the Thug managed to get a lucky shot and a bullet hit Viper’s tail. She yelped and dove behind a box.

Then the Raiding Thug turned his attention to Twilight.

In that moment, Twilight took Bane’s advice and imagined that she was fighting for her friends and that she was attacking someone who she loathed.

She pulled the trigger and a bang echoed in her ears.