Fallout Equestria: Revenge

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Strange Case of Dr. Black Eye And Mr. Guy
Chapter 2: Right And Wrong
Chapter 3: A New Heading
Chapter 4: Memories
Chapter 5: Friends and Miracles
Chapter 6: Revenge...(Almost)
Chapter 7: Gearing Up
Chapter 8: Tenpony Tower
Chapter 9: Comedy Gold
Chapter 10: Bloodfest in Fillydelphia
Chapter 11: A Fitting Epitaph
Chapter 12: Renewal
Chapter 13: The Nightmare Child

Chapter 1: The Strange Case of Dr. Black Eye And Mr. Guy

I had seen her. She was lined up perfectly in my sights. That little gray unicorn. I hadn't cared who she was. Money was money, and I was dealing with a lot of it. Then a bang. Then darkness. I'd been shot. I stumbled, not knowing that my eye was gone. I stepped on a piece of metal that beeped and exploded. As I flew through the air, I saw him. The white Pegasus. He was wearing a suit with a smile on his face. I landed, three of my legs as well as my eye gone and my back broken. I should've been dead. At the time, I'd wished I was. Now, two months later, I'm ready to find him. Now it's time for revenge.

I should probably explain what happened to me after that night. Well, if you really want to know, and it probably will explain a few things. Alright fine. After I blew up, I managed to crawl back to my home, which was only a short walk from my hunter's blind. When I got inside, I got to my fireplace and burned the stumps of my legs. It was a wonder I hadn't died of blood loss yet. I had experienced pain before, but when I placed my stump of a foreleg in the flames, I almost bit through my own teeth. I had screamed. But it was necessary. If I was going to live, I had to do this. But my body was telling me that it didn't want to live, to except death as a better alternative. I went to the back, and drank all my healing potions and super restoration potions. They wouldn't grow anything back, but they would at least keep me from dying until I could heal properly. I ate some painkillers, but they still couldn't dull all the pain, they just kept me from passing out.

After that, I went to work. I built limbs out of scrap metal and circuits. Wondering why I didn't just reattach my limbs? Well, to be honest, I don't know what happened to them. I searched, but couldn't find them. I didn't know what to do with my eye, so I just put on an eyepatch for awhile. It took about eight-and-a-half weeks to complete my work, but it was worth it. I was better now. I had collected so much scrap metal and circuits in the time, I had enough to buy Tenpony Tower with some to spare. So I continued. I built an eye, from wires and metal, even built my C.A.M. with a broken Pip-Buck. Needless to say, it should have been impossible, but I was clever. More than clever. I was a motherfucking genius. Looking back on it, I don't know how I did it, nor do I think I could do it again. Those weeks were a blur of activity, collect, break down, sort, construct, repeat. Eventually I had to build help. I took an old SpriteBot and combined it with a medical assist droid thing. I had dubbed it Mr. Guy. What? I said I was a genius, not a creative writer. He helped me remove the broken part of my spine and replaced it with a storage unit. I don't how, and sometimes it hurts, the metal box rubbing against my organs. I found spare hooves that I made in the construction process, re-purposed them, and put them in the unit. So know you know how I became a cyber-pony. Now can I please get on with story? What's that? You want more exposition? Sorry, no can do. I only know how I did this from a memory orb that Mr. Guy made for me. Now, to the real story.

I put on my hoof. My eye hurt. I stepped into the sparse light of my bedroom and sat on my bed. I flipped on my C.A.M., listening in to Dj-Pon3's radio broadcast.

“Good morning everypony, DJ-Pon3 here, and I’ve got to tell you, I don’t know what to make of this one. For weeks I have been telling you of the heroic deeds of the Stable Dweller, our heroine of the Equestrian Wasteland, our bringer of light in this time of darkness. But today, another village in Manehattan has gone silent," he was quiet a moment then took a deep breath, "Arbu is dead. Reports have reached me that every pony in the town, dozens, have been killed. And listen, I don’t know how to say this, but," again, silence, "but it looks like it was the Stable Dweller who was responsible. A witness from Bucklyn Cross reported seeing her opening fire on ponies in the Arbu town square. Now I don’t want to believe this, not for one second. I don’t want to believe our heroine has turned on us. There must be more to this story than what I’m hearing. If you know anything about it, please, contact my assistant Homage at Tenpony Tower. I don't why this happened. But I’m not going to stop until I do know. And when I do, you’ll know as well. This is DJ-Pon3, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.”

I shut it off. That wasn't news to me. I had been in the foothills near Arbu, and heard the gunshots. I had gone to investigate, but my inherent love for destruction and the fact that I had been treated to their 'hospitality' before, if you can call tricking me into eating pony meat hospitality, had kept me from doing anything about it. When you're reading this you're probably wondering why I didn't kill them while I was there. At the time, I hadn't known it was pony meat. I didn't like the town to begin with, but when I had learned they were cannibals afterwards, it only enforced my hatred.

As I lay on my bed, I reached into my back and switched my hoof out for a hand. Flexing my fingers, I reached over and grabbed the Sparkle Cola off my nightstand and took a sip. I lay back and wondered how I was going to find the fucker who had destroyed my body and reputation. I had been known to take hits, but never this bad. Ponies would see me differently from now on. I was no longer Black Eye, the one who would kill you for sport, no longer Black Eye, the merciless bounty hunter. When I got hit like that, it had wounded my pride as much as my body. Alright that was a bit much, but it was a deep internal blow. And to find him, I only had a race and color. Then I remembered. I shot up. I had been hunting Littlepip. She had been there. During one night, I had managed to place a tracker on her. Her coordinates were still on my C.A.M. I quickly pulled up my foreleg and searched for her. She appeared. She was slowly making her way to Friendship City. I knew she had an entourage, and killing them would bring a lot of unnecessary attention to me. I needed to find her, and fast. I didn't want to spend the next few weeks trying to find information she probably didn't even have. But it was the only lead I had.

"Mr. Guy!" I shouted. He slowly hovered into my room.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Looks like we're going to Friendship City," I said, "Littlepip may have information on where the pegasus went."

"As you wish sir," he said, his metallic voice showing no emotion, nor accent.

"Get ready to go," I said, "And activate flight mode, it's going to take awhile."

"Yes sir," he said.

"Alright, this is good," I said, "I'll get my things."

I went to the front room, put on my battle saddle, which only held a shotgun and rifle, but had a lot of ammunition, the only firearms I had, besides the ones tucked away in my back. I threw on my saddlepacks, filled my canteens with the last of my fresh water and a box of Sugar Apple Bombs. I sat down on Mr. Guy's seat and we shot out the door. As we did, I saw Shatteredhoof in the far distance as we sped away from it. It was mid-afternoon, so we wouldn't get far, but it was a start. My saddlepacks and battle saddle rested comfortably on my shoulders.

We must have going for hours. I checked her coordinates again. She was still going to Friendship City. I urged Mr. Guy to pour on the speed. If we were lucky, we might be able to get there before sunset the next day. Half way through our journey, I had to stop and replace Mr. Guy's spark batteries. I checked my map. We were almost a quarter of the way to the city. On the way, I took delight in shooting raiders as we zoomed past. The looks of surprise followed by a raiders head exploding was hilarious. It got dark quick. I decided it would be best to bed down for the night and wait until morning. I slowed Mr. Guy to a stop on a ridge. I rolled out a sleep mat and lay down. I reflected on my plan from here on out. We were going to find Littlepip. When I did, I would ask her what she saw and if she knew anything about the pegasus. I wouldn't kill her, at least, not until I knew I could still get my reward. If she did, all the better, and if she didn't, then I would have to go to back Shatteredhoof and ask around there. Music began to play through the earpiece in my head. I grunted in annoyance and turned the volume down.

"Hey Mr. Guy," I said, "Remind me to patch the earpiece."

"When?" he asked.

"Whenever I forget," I said.

"When?" he asked again.

"I don't know, just pick a time," I said.

"Okay," he said. Then I nodded off.

Chapter 2: Right And Wrong

When I woke up, I realized something. I wasn't on my bedroll. In fact, I wasn't even outside. I was in some room, strapped to a table. The air smelled heavily of gore and shit. I looked around, seeing blood covering walls and the mangled bodies of ponies scattered about. I must be in a raider camp. The bastards probably nabbed me while I was sleeping. Knives pinned my metal hooves to the table. It didn't particularly hurt, but it was still a problem as I would have to repair them.

Just then, a brown earth pony raider stepped into the room. He laughed giddily as he raised a rusted, bloody knife to my stomach, starting to cut me open. Quickly, I turned on an auto-targeting system that immediately gave me three red targets: two on the eyes, and one on the neck. I concentrated, my bionic eye turning into a tube that hummed and shot a small beam of energy right into the raiders neck. Flesh melted away, leaving a burning hole in his neck. He gurgled, blood drooling from his mouth as he keeled over and died. Blood began to pour down my stomach where he had cut me.

I kicked on my hydraulics and began to push against my bonds. They held. I pushed harder, grunting with the effort, and they gave. I put my foreleg to my other bonds and cut them with the sharp edge. I sat up and jumped off the table. I immediately regretted my decision as more blood began pouring from the open wound on my stomach. I cried out in pain as I felt my insides about to give way and spill out onto the floor. I bit the floor hard and lay there, trying to regain my senses. When I did, I sat up and surveyed the scene, making sure I didn't put strain on my stomach. It was grisly.

Mangled bodies of mare, stallions, and foals alike littered the various tables that made up the kitchen. Their rib cages had been smashed open and various organs were pulled out. Their meat had been completely ripped off and piled up in a corner. Their skins were flayed out like terrifying artwork. Thick pools of blood were covering the ground. I looked away, not wanting to bare the sight. I had seen it before, but I hadn't grown any more used to it. I stepped out and into a larger room.

The raiders hadn't anticipated that I might have other weapons, of which I had many. I reached into my pack and switched my hoof out for a bladed one. At the flick of my wrist, a blade shot out. When I flexed it retracted. I looked around the room. The other raiders hadn't seen me yet. Two of them were earth pony bucks. The other one was a unicorn mare. The bucks had knives in their mouths while the mare held a shotgun in a field of levitation. There were two cages, one had fresh corpses in it. The other had two fillies and a colt. All of them had clearly been repeatedly raped. They cowered from one of the bucks as he walked past. He growled and slammed a hoof on the cage, scaring them all away. That did it. I would kill them. I'd talked my way out of a raider nest before, but these sick fucks had to be put down.

I ran up behind the buck and jumped on his back. I stabbed him at the base of his neck. When he hit the ground writhing, I stabbed again, and then a third time. The unicorn fired her shotgun at me. It glanced harmlessly off my foreleg. I jumped off my kill and ran to cover. She fired again, again, and again. Then when I heard her reload, I ran out and stabbed her in the eye. I pulled my blade out, blood soaking my foreleg. Then a sharp pain flared up in my gut. My wound began to bleed profusely again. I grabbed it, but just then the other buck knocked me over. I felt him flip me over and I saw his face. His eyes were yellowed and he had a wild grin on his face. He was giggling ever so softly. He held the knife to my neck. Again, I fired a laser from my eye. It hit him squarely in the forehead. He went crosseyed and then fell over, dead. I got up, pushing his corpse off me. I checked my C.A.M. It was not a pretty sight.

I was loosing blood fast. It told me that if I didn't treat the wound and fast, I would bleed out. I looked around, found my saddlepacks, and opened it. Inside I found my magic healing bandages. I tied them around my waist, staunching the bleeding for now, but I would need a healing potion to seal it up. I got up and walked over to the cage. My bionic eye had gone dead, it's fission batteries drained. I would have to replace them before I could use the laser or the targeting system. I reached into be back and replaced the bladed hoof with the hydraulic one. I looked at the fillies and the colt. They had a look of absolute terror on their faces. It was a wonder they weren't dead. The good side of me said I should take them to the nearest town, to help them. The evil part of me said that I should leave them. I checked my C.A.M. It showed that Littlepip was far gone away from Friendship City and was making her way to the Canterlot vicinity. In a short time, she would be close to me. It would be the closest she would be, and I would be able to intercept her. But I would have to leave then, and leave the children to rot. If I took the children to the nearest town, I would miss my window, but they would be safe. I looked back at the children and decided.

"Ohhh," I said with a frown, "Fine." I walked up to the cage and tried my best to remove my permanent scowl and not look as menacing. I put my hoof on the lock and pressed down, shattering it. I walked in.

"It's okay," I said in a quiet voice, "You're safe now. I can help. Just come with me." They regarded me with a look, and looked at each other. I extended my good hoof and crouched down.

"Come on now," I said, realizing something with horror. There were two fillies and two raider bucks. There was one raider mare and one colt. I pushed that thought out of my mind. Right now they needed food, and medical attention. I hated acts of charity, but I drew the line when it came to rape and anything involving young. The colt stood up and grabbed my hoof.

"That's it," I said, "Now come on, let's get you cleaned up."

He came with me and the fillies were soon to follow. He followed me over to my saddlepacks. I reached in and grabbed some water, healing bandages and the box of Sugar Apple Bombs. I offered the water and he drank greedily. It was kind of funny. His coat was a tannish color and his mane was long and unkempt. He reminded me of...No, I said to myself, No, you and I both know he's dead. I pushed the thought away. He gave me the bottle of water back and the two fillies walked up behind him. By the way they regarded each other, I'd guessed they sisters. I offered the box of cereal and they accepted it. I picked up the healing bandages and pulled out a bottle of sedatives. I didn't want them to be awake as I applied the bandages.

I had layed out my sleep mat and the three dozed off, the sedatives quickly working their magic. I walked up to the fillies and wrapped the healing bandages around their blood caked haunches. Part of me hated myself for doing it, but the other part of me told me it was necessary. I swallowed hard. I finished and walked over to the raiders bodies to loot them. They didn't have much on them. I took the shotgun, if only to use it to repair mine. I walked over to a crate which had a padlock on it. I used my hoof to shatter it. I looked inside and found a sub machine gun, which was in horrible disrepair, but usable, some ammo and a grenade. I took them all and stowed them in my saddlepacks. I went over to the back room, where I was strapped to the table. I looked around the refrigerator and was relieved to find some radigator meat. At least this endeavor wasn't a total bust. I walked out and back into the front room. I found the front door and went outside.

It was still nighttime, the sun barely peaking over the horizon. I was also greeted to Mr. Guy hovering next to me.

"Woah," I said, "Don't sneak up on me like that. And where the hell were you when they kidnapped me?"

"I am not equipped with a weapon," he said, "And I am incapable of opening doors."

"Why do I even bother taking you with me?" I said, "You're useless most of the time. But at least you can actually heal ponies." I said laying on the ground, "So why don't you do what you're good at, eh?"

He bobbed towards me and removed my bandages. I shivered as the exposed wound was cooled by the night air. He hovered above me and began to mend my wound with a device that I still didn't understand. I got back up, feeling much better. I opened the door for him and we both went inside. I threw the raiders' bodies in the back room and shut the door. I sat down next to the children who were slowly beginning to wake up. When they did, we left.

I told Mr. Guy to activate flight mode. He opened up his top and I picked up the two fillies. I sat them on top of Mr. Guy and made sure they were comfortable. I picked up the colt and put him on my back. I checked the C.A.M. The nearest town was Junction R-7. I started off, the fillies smiling as they hovered along next to me. They said nothing, but I could tell that flying was definitely improving their mood. I could heal their physical wounds, but the emotional scars, I knew, would never heal.

It didn't take long to get to Junction R-7. I walked into the town and the fillies jumped off of Mr. Guy. The townsponies spotted me and one of the mare's eyed grew wide.

"Shimmer Star!" she shouted, "And Unity! Oh thank Celestia you're okay!"

They both ran to their mother, running into her tight embrace. Then she saw me. I straightened. She ran up and hugged me as well.

"Thank you for rescuing my children," she said, "If there is anything I can do for you, please, let me know, I cannot thank you enough."

"I could use some scrap metal, fission batteries if you have them, and a place where I could get some shuteye," I said.

"Oh," she said, "Well, I'm afraid I don't have any scrap metal, but I do have a fission battery and a mattress."

"Much obliged," I said. She led me to her home. The townsponies eyed me suspiciously for some reason. I guess they didn't see a lot of cyber ponies often, and when they did, it hadn't worked out for them. I walked inside, saw the mattress and slumped down. Mr. Guy hovered next to me.

"Wake me up in four hours," I told him. I checked my C.A.M. Littlepip was now in the foothills near Canterlot. I'd missed my window.

"Yes sir," he said. I closed my eye and went to sleep.

Chapter 3: A New Heading

I woke, thankfully, in the same bed that I had gone to sleep on. Mr. Guy hovered next to me, quietly humming. I checked the C.A.M. again. Sure enough, Littlepip was still near Canterlot. Why she would be there, I had no idea, nor did I care. Wait, I never explained what C.A.M. was did I? Well, allow me to explain.

I'm sure you are familiar with the Pip-Buck. Well, the C.A.M. is essentially the same thing, except it's an integral part of my leg. It has the same capabilities as a Pip-Buck, however it cannot trigger S.A.T.S. C.A.M. stands for cybernetically augmented multi-tool. It is wired straight into my brain, so I can use it just by thinking, but I much prefer to use it normally.

Anyway, I got up and rolled out of the bed, grunting as I flumped onto the ground. I stood up and stretched. My bones were popping so loud it sounded like somepony was walking on foam packaging. I shook my self off and put my back legs on the bed and began to do push-ups. After 30 reps, I stopped. I walked out of my room and outside. I held the door open so that Mr. Guy could exit as well.

The townsponies eyed me again. Seriously, what was it with this town? Had they encountered another cyber pony that was like, evil? I didn't know and I didn't care. The mare I had met yesterday had given me the fission battery which I was in great need of. My eye hummed to life, showing me that it's battery level was at 55% capacity. That was good. That meant I had one targeting chance, and one laser charge. I walked over to the general store and went inside.

"Hey, you got any fresh water?" I asked walking up to the counter.

"Indeed I do," said the stallion behind the counter, who eyed me cautiously, "It's 45 caps for a bottle."

"What?" I asked incredulously, "Hey pal, I didn't save three kids just to get ripped off for a bottle of water. 30 caps."

"35 caps," he said, "And I'll give you some scrap metal for some ammunition."

"Done," I said. I gave him the caps and the shotgun shells and he gave me the scrap metal and water. I thanked him and left. Sitting outside, I pulled out my tools and began to repair my hooves. When I was finished, I wiggled them. Good as new.

"Mr. Guy," I said, "Activate flight mode."

He opened up and I hopped inside. I bade farewell to the townsponies and sped off towards Canterlot. About an hour into our flight, I heard gunshots. There was a caravan being fired upon by raiders. I urged Mr. Guy to a stop and jumped off. As I ran, I pulled out the sub-machine gun and jammed a clip in.

I dove behind a rock and looked around.

The raiders were at an advantage. They were situated on top of a ridge and were firing down on the caravan. The caravan couldn't get any shots in on them because the raiders were behind rocks. Two of the caravan ponies had already gone down. I aimed the sub-machine gun (which I had repaired with my extra scrap metal) and began to shoot bursts at the raiders. My aim was true and one of the raiders went down. I aimed at another. One of the raiders spotted me and it just so happened that he had a sniper rifle. He fired.

Pain flared in my shoulder as the raider's bullet hit it's mark. I ducked down, hissing with pain and grabbing my shoulder. I breathed in and slowly exhaled. I loaded a bullet into my battle saddle's rifle. I got up and triggered the targeting system. The target zeroed in on him. I aimed the rifle and fired. The raider's head exploded in a shower of gore.

Bolstered by my help, the caravan began to take better shots. Soon enough the raiders had thinned out. The remaining four began to retreat.

"Oh no you don't," I mumbled to myself.

I pulled out the grenade and pulled the pin. I cooked it for a second and then threw. My throw was perfect. Three of the raiders were caught in the blast and died instantly. The fourth went down, mortally wounded by shrapnel. I walked over to the caravan.

"Thanks for your help stranger," one of the stallions said, "I don't think we would've made it without you. Anything you'd like to buy will be at a 20% discount."

"Mighty kind of you," I said, "I'd like some tinder and a healing potion if you got one."

"Certainly," he said and turned to one of the ponies, "Hey Rainslick! Get the nice stallion the tinder and a healing potion."

"That'll be 14 caps," he said turning back to me.

I gave him the money and stowed the tinder and drank the healing potion. I could feel the bullet wound, as well as some scrapes and bruises healing. I asked him if he happened to have a fission battery, but unfortunately he didn't. My eye was running on 38% power now. If I didn't get another fission battery, and fast, my eye would run dead again. I thanked him and began to walk away, but then I turned back around.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen a group of ponies go have you?" I asked, "And they may have had a Steel Ranger with them."

"No, I haven't sorry," he said, "But I did see a Sky Bandit go by not too long ago. They looked like they were headed to Glyphmark."

"Alright, thank you," I said, and walked back to Mr. Guy.

"Mr. Guy," I said, "Make a heading for Glyphmark. And activate flight mode."

"As you wish, sir," he said, "I regret to inform you that battery capacity is drained. I am running on emergency power now."

"Ah shit," I said looking back to see the caravan long gone, "We'll get you some new spark batteries when we get the chance." Until then, I removed my fission battery and replaced Mr. Guy's spark batteries. It would be more than enough to get to Glyphmark, but that also meant I would have to rely on my normal eye for fighting.

I sighed. Couldn't anything be easy? I hopped onto Mr. Guy and we went on our way.

On the way, I thought about how I would go about talking to Littlepip. I would have to hit her friends with tranquilizer darts. Unfortunately, after I was done talking to her, I have to get her with my only amnesia dart. It wouldn't take long to make them again, but gathering the materials wouldn't be. That is, if she didn't shoot me first. I came up with a solution to that to.

If I overclocked my fission battery and then inputted a power usage pattern so that is was an external pattern, I could make an energy shield in front of me. I would be able to hold it long, but just long enough to convince her not to kill me. Of course then there was the problem of sneaking up on her friends and shooting them with the tranquilizer darts. It wouldn't be that hard, as my rubber soled hooves reduced the sound I made whenever I walked, but what about their Steel Ranger friend?

If I could get close enough, I could link my C.A.M. to him and shut his armor down with a security override. No, that wouldn't work. His weaponry would tear me to shreds if I got within ten meters of him. Then I thought about the spark batteries. The batteries were drained, but the cells were alive. If I attached the batteries to the metal darts, the surge of power from his suit would cause the batteries to over charge and shut his armor down. Hopefully knock him out in the process.

I set to work. I created a program so that when I put my fission battery back in it would overclock into the pattern, creating a shield in front of me. Hopefully it would work. If it didn't, then I was fucked. But oh well, I had one shot at this. And it wasn't like the Wasteland would miss me. I was a vile stallion. I had done some terrible things. And yet, I had done some things that weren't so evil. I didn't care.

After a few hours, we got to Glyphmark. I saw the sun was slowly setting on the horizon. I would have to make my attempt the soon. If I didn't, then I would just be chasing after Littlepip forever. I slowed Mr. Guy to a stop and we settled underneath an overhang.

I gathered some rocks and made a campfire. I gatthered some wood and set the tinder underneath. I switched my hoof out for the plasma cutter. I used it to light the fire. Switching the plasma cutter out for my hand, I found a flat stone and placed it on the fire. I took out the radigator meat and laid it on the stone. It began to sizzle. It wasn't much, and I didn't like the taste of radigator, but it was better than starving.

After it had cooked, I ate the slab of meat and got back up. I went to the top of the ridge and surveyed the area. Glyphmark was a small town, built low to the ground and crumbling. I checked the C.A.M. She was close, the device telling me that she was within a mile of me, but moving away. I took the fission battery from Mr. Guy. and began to run.

After a few minutes, I could see her. She was followed by the Steel Ranger, a pegasus wearing a desperado hat, and a zebra. I silently ran to a nearby rock. She was in shouting distance now. I replaced my hoof with the tranquilizer gun, sorting the darts in such a way that it would be the pegasus, the zebra, and then the Steel Ranger. I took a deep breath and stood.

Firing the three darts in quick succession with the speed of my bionic hoof. They first two went down instantly. The Steel Ranger had electricity arcing across his body. He fell over, his armor smoking. Littlepip became extremely agitated. She looked around, trying to find the source of what just happened.

I put in my fission battery. As soon as I did, a field of energy flared in front of me. I ran out and towards Littlepip. She spotted me and pulled out a revolver. She shot four times, each bullet glancing harmlessly off my shield.

"STOP SHOOTING!" I shouted, "I JUST WANT TO TALK!" That made her falter. I trotted up slowly. I could tell she angry. Very angry.

"What did you do to my friends?" she asked, "Did you kill them?!"

"No," I said panting, "Now let me talk," I said and took a deep breath, "I needed to talk to you, so I devised a plan. I followed you all across the Wasteland to get here and I shot your friends with tranquilizer darts. They aren't dead, just sleeping, and when I'm done talking with you I'll do the same. I knew they wouldn't want to talk to me because then it would interfere with what you were doing. I didn't want to interfere, but I needed to talk to you alone. If you would kindly put away your gun, we can talk like civilized ponies. And it won't matter anyway, because my reflexes are much faster than yours, so if you try to shoot me, you will be dead before you can lift your gun. This shield isn't going to last long, and when it dies, I was hoping you'd give me the benefit of the doubt and just talk."

As if right on cue, the shield died. I changed my hoof out for the bladed one just in case. I panted. Who knew talking so fast can take so much out of you? Littlepip put her gun down.

"If you so much as touch my friends or hurt them in any way, I will kill you," she said her anger ebbing, "Now want do you want to talk about?"

"Yes," I said, "Thank you. It happened two months ago."

"How would I remember what happened two months ago?" she asked.

"Just listen," I said, "Two months back, I had been hired to kill you. I don't why, but I didn't question it. Since then I've dropped the job because of what happened next. Just before I could kill you, someone got to me first. They did this," I said gesturing to my cybernetic appendages, "To me. You were there. You heard the explosion that blew my legs off. Did you see anypony that day?"

"I don't know," she said, "I think so. I saw a white pegasus in a suit running down the hill. He kept saying something like, 'I have to get back the something society'. He looked like he was being chased. Do you know him?"

"No," I said, "I don't, but he still destroyed my body and reputation. And from what I know, he even looted my near dead body. I want to find him, and kill him. Think hard. What was he saying?"

"I think he was saying," she said, clearly thinking hard, "The White Sock Society."

"Thank you," I said and started to leave, then turned back. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have two fresh spark batteries and a fission battery would you?"

"What!?" she asked incredulously, "You tranquilize my friends and then have the gal to ask for shit?"

"I'll give you 200 caps," I said.

"Oh," she said taken aback, "Okay."

I gave her the caps and she gave me the batteries. I immediately changed out the old fission battery for the new one. My eye hummed back to life. It told me that it was now at 100% capacity. I thanked her and switched out the bladed hoof for the dart gun and immediately shot her with the amnesia dart. She stumbled and struggled to raise her gun again. I walked up and put a hoof on her and pushed her to the ground with little effort. She was out in seconds.

I checked my C.A.M. I removed her tracker's signal. I wouldn't need to hunt her again. I had a target now. The White Sock Society. I hadn't heard of them. But whoever they were, they would pay.

I made my way back to to Mr. Guy. I replaced his spark batteries. Now we both were on full charge. He activated flight mode. I smiled and hopped in. We sped away, making our way to back to our home.

Chapter 4: Memories

Well, it took a whole day of traveling, but we made it and with no incident. We were back home. I immediately ran inside and to my back room. I walked up to the wall safe and opened it up. Inside were a couple of photographs. I picked one up. It was a picture of me standing next to a beautiful mare with a gold mane and red coat. On my back was a colt with a tan coat and brown mane. We were all standing in front of Tenpony Tower, smiling.

I smiled back. I put the picture away.

"Don't worry," I said as I closed the safe, "I will be coming home. And I will not fail you."

I reached back in and grabbed the memory orb and Recolecter. I put on the Recolector and activated the memory orb. Instantly I was washed away into a different reality.

"Honey, get Wood Whittle down from his room. Dinner's almost ready," said Comedy Gold, "And why are you having this recorded? You know how much that costs."

"I know," I said as I walked past, "But it's just something to keep my sanity up. This world does things to you like you wouldn't believe."

I walked up the stairs to Wood Whittle's loft. He was carving another piece of the ornate table we had been tirelessly working on. He saw me enter the room and ran up to me, with a carving knife in his mouth.

"Whoa there," I said stopping him short, "Easy killer. You don't run your old man through with a knife now do you?"

He shook his head and dropped the knife. "I finished another leg for my table!" he said, "You wanna see? You wanna see?"

"Sure," I said smiling. He grabbed my hoof and pulled me over to his wood craving pallet. On it was an expertly crafted table leg. It had intricate curves that I could barely follow.

"That is incredible," I said, "But listen, right now, dinner's ready, so let's go eat and then we can work on this. Alright?"

He nodded. I crouched and he hopped on my back, cradling his forelegs around my neck. I ran out of his room.

"Comin' down!" I shouted as I jumped down the flight of stairs. Right before we landed, a mattress was pushed underneath us. I landed with a soft whump!. Wood Whittle laughed as he jumped off my back. I smiled and tousled his mane. We walked over to the dinner table and sat down.

Comedy Gold walked over and laid two plates of steaming hot vegetables on the table. She sat down, smiling at me.

"You know, I won't be able to save you every time you jump down the stairs," she said.

"Of course you will," I said, scooping up a plateful of greens, "You know why? Because I know you too well."

After dinner, Comedy Gold sent Wood Whittle to bed. It was just me and her now. She walked up and nuzzled my neck.

"Well, Whittle's asleep now," she said in a seductively voice, "Why don't we go to bed as well? I've got something new I'd like to try."

"Oh is that so," I said matching her tone, "Well, in that case, lead the way fair princess." She giggled and we went to bed.

The memory ended. My eye's were closed. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I felt...I don't know what I felt. I felt empty. I gulped and walked into the kitchen. I opened up a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of scotch. I poured a small glass and walked back to my room. I took a gulp of the alcohol, feeling a warm glow in my stomach. I lay on the bed and put my hoof over my eyes.

"Don't wake me up," I said.

"Yes sir," said Mr. Guy.

Chapter 5: Friends and Miracles

I woke up. Sitting up, I reached over and grabbed the cup of scotch. I noticed something. Some of it was gone. Now that was strange. I thought I had locked my doors. I immediately got up and began checking the rest of the house too see if there were signs of robbery. Nothing was gone. The safe was still locked. The door was closed. So who drank the beverage?

Just then I heard a cough. I quietly switched my hoof out for the bladed one. I walked over to the source of the cough, which was my room. I walked into my room. I switched my eye on and turned it on thermal seeking. The heat signature of a small pony was in the closet. It appeared to be female and small. Possibly even a filly. I walked over.

I flung the door open. Inside was a cowering filly. She had a red cloak on, with a dark purple mane and orange coat. A Crusader. I lifted her onto her hooves and threw her out of my closet.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, "I was about to kill you."

"I snuck in sir," she said with a hangdog look on her face, "I'm with a scavenging party for the Crusaders."

"Yeah I can see that," I said, "But why did you think you could just steal from a buck like me?"

"I didn't know anyone lived here!" she protested, "I thought the house was empty!"

"Fair enough," I said with a sigh, "What's your name kid?"

"My name's Scootle sir," she said with a touch of pride, "Pleasure to meet you."

"At least you got manners," I said, "Now get out."

"Oh," she said with a look of sadness, "I can't. My leg's torn up good."

Just then I noticed her back leg was shaking and bleeding. I noticed the rag that was soaked in my scotch behind her. I sighed. Could I please get a break from children? Is this like some cruel form of karma? I picked her up and threw her onto my back. I walked outside where Mr. Guy was waiting. I set her on the ground.

"How did you even do this?" I asked.

"I was attacked by a bloodwing. I killed it, but not before it got me pretty good," she explained. I was slightly impressed. Bloodwings weren't something to fuck around with. The fact that she had survived at all was impressive. Mr. Guy hovered over, noticing Scootle's mangled leg. He began to mend her. It only took a second.

After he was done, Scootle stood. "Thank you sir," she said.

"Don't mention it kid, now get lost," I said, "I'm busy. I've got people to find."

"Uh, heh heh," she said, "Yeah so do I."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked turning back around.

"I kind of um...lost my scavenging party," she said, "We got separated when the bloodwings attacked."

"Ughh," I said, "And you want me to help you find them don't you?"

"Uhh, yeah," she said with a embarrassed smile.

"No," I said, "I don't do charity for lost ponies. Find them yourself."

"Wait!" she said, "I can help you find the ponies you're looking for!"

I stopped. "Is that so?" I asked, "You don't even know who I'm trying to find.

"No," she admitted, "But I'm really good at finding ponies!"

"Oh good," I said, "Then it shouldn't take you long to find your scavenging party."

"No, uh," she said, clearly running out of options, "I'll pay you!" she blurted.

I straightened. "I'm listening."

"I'll give you," she said, "300 caps!"

I thought for a moment. "Mr. Guy, activate flight mode. Hop in kid."

"Really!?" she asked with a smile, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Just be quiet," I said, "We'll find the scavenging party, you'll pay up and then that will be it. Now where were you last?"

"We were near Shatterdhoof Ridge," she said as she climbed into Mr. Guy's seat.

"Alright we'll start there," I said, and began to trot. It took maybe ten minutes to get to Shatteredhoof Ridge. After all, my house was in the foothills near there. Then I saw it. The bloodwings. It looks like they hadn't left. I armed my battle saddle. Aiming the rifle, I took potshots at them to get their attention. They saw me. There were seven in total. The first one flew towards me.

As it got near, it's fangs bared, I jumped at it. Extending the blade, I stabbed it right through the skull. It twitched and we both fell. I hit the ground rolling, the bloodwing dead. More charged at me. I fired slugs from my shotgun. Another went down. I shouted at Mr. Guy to execute maneuver Beta: hide. He sped away. The other bloodwings flew at me. I jumped on one's back and another slammed into it. I stabbed the second one, then jumped to the ground.

Two more charged. I pulled out the sub machine gun and began to fire at them. It did nothing. Growling, I put it away and switched my hoof out for the hydraulic hoof. I waited till the last second, then turned on the hydraulics. As I did, I slammed my hoof down on top of the first one, cracking it's skull open, my hoof jammed inside. I lifted the corpse and use it to deflect the next bloodwing. It bounced off the corpse, taking it with it as it hit the ground. It sent me rolling, but I managed to land on my hooves. I switched out for the bladed hoof now, ran up and stabbed the flailing creature.

The last two slammed into me from behind. The first one's fangs glanced off my metal back. The second one was luckier. It bit me in the neck. I cried out in pain. I reached behind me, swinging my blade as hard as I could. The blade went through the creature's skull, killing it. It released my neck, blood pouring from the wound. I walked over to the last bloodwing and stabbed it in the head.

I sat down panting. I rubbed my neck, blood covering my hoof. I drank a healing potion and I could feel the wound begin to close. I stretched my neck. Felt fine. I pressed a button and Mr. Guy slowly came back into view. Scootle looked surprised at all the dead bloodwings. She hopped of Mr. Guy and walked up next to me.

"Wow," she said, "You did this yourself?"

"Nevermind that," I said, "Let's see if we can find signs of your friends." I looked around. There was a single dead unicorn filly, all her blood drained.

"Oh no," she said running up to the corpse, "Hidden Light. She was one of our best scavengers."

I regarded the corpse. She didn't even have a cutie mark yet. Oh well. What happens has happened, and we can't change that. I found some small hoof tracks that led to a building in the distance. I waved Scootle over and pointed at the tracks. I followed them to the building. It was squat, one story and long. It looked like a super market. I walked inside.

As I walked in there was a bang, and a bullet glance off my eye.

"Sonuvabitch!" I shouted, "Who the hell just shot me!?" I looked around at the surprised group of Crusaders. "Can you at least check who's walking in before you shoot your goddesses damned rifles!? Especially if said guest brings in one of yours."

Scootle walked in. "Scootle!" one of them shouted, "We thought you were dead!"

"No," she said, "But Hidden Light is."

"I'm sure this is all sad, but I was promised caps," I said, "Am I'm not going to leave until I get them."

Scootle turned to me and handed over the caps. "Thank you," I said, "Now about your friend Hidden Light. There is a slight chance she may still be alive."

They all turned to me. "She wasn't totally drained. She still had some blood left, and if we can get some in her, we might be able to get her back."

They all charged me cheering and asking questions.

"Are you sure?"

"Thank you mister!"

"Do you think you can do it?"

"I don't believe you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, "If we're going to do it, we have to do it fast, like right now."

We all ran out the door and towards the slain bloodwings. I called over Mr. Guy. I told him to check for vital signs. She had a very slow hearbeat, but it was slowing, on the verge of stopping. I told him to check her blood type. It was O-. I asked him if any of the Crusaders were O- blood type. He said no. I knew what had to happen. I was O-. I told him to take my blood. He began to draw it and at the same time, injecting it into Hidden Light's body.

I was beginning to feel light headed. I told him to keep drawing.

Her body began to inflate a bit and return to it's color.

My vision was dimming. I told him to stop.

I stumbled over to to Hidden Light. I asked for a super restoration potion. One of the Crusaders handed me one. I poured it down Hidden Light's throat. She didn't move. I needed a jump start. I poured energy from my fission battery into my hoof. It began to arc with electricity. It pushed my hoof down on where her heart was. Her body jumped. I did it again.

She gasped. Her eyes fluttered open. It worked. I stumbled. I needed a super restoration potion myself. I could no longer feel my back legs and collapsed. One of the Crusaders brought a healing potion. I gulped it down greedily. My vision brightened again. I got up. The Crusaders began to crowd around me, hugging me, then hugging Hidden Light.

"By all accounts, that shouldn't have worked," I said.

"Just be glad it did," said Scootle, "We'll give you triple the caps. We can't thank you enough."

"Yep, your the second pony to tell me that," I said.

What has happened? When did I suddenly start risking my life for other's? Scootle brought me 1,200 caps.

"Oh no I can't except this," I said, "But I will anyway. Also Scootle, you said you could help me find the ponies I was looking for."

"Yeah, who do you want to find?" she said with a bright smile.

"Someponies called the White Sock Society," I said, "I just need a location."

"Oh, the White Sock Society," she said, "You'll find them in Fetlock near Manehattan."

"Thanks," I said. I bade the Crusaders farewell and walked back to Mr. Guy. I told him activate flight mode and make a heading for Manehattan.

After a short while I saw something that caught my eye. It shouldn't have, just some pony walking along. But something was different. This pony was insectoid, with holes in it's leg. I stopped and walked up to it. It turned and looked at me with blank milky blue eyes. It had a horn and wings and saddlepacks. It didn't seem to be hostile. In fact it smiled at me when it saw me.

"Hello there!" it said with a voice that sounded like a filly and colt talking at the same time, "My name's Alpha Changeling! What's your name?"

"My name's Black Eye," I responded. For whatever reason, I seemed to like the little creature. Probably because of my love for trickery and facination with magical creatures. Suddenly, in a flash of necromantic light, it turned into me. Like, it turned into a mirror image of me.

"Oooh," it said in my voice, "Tut tut Black Eye, you've been naughty lately. Why haven't you been nice to ponies? They just want some help!"

"Heh," I said, "That's very interesting. What are you?"

It transformed back, "I already told you silly. I'm Alpha Changeling! Hey, I have an idea. Can I come with you?"

"Sure, why not," I said, "I could use some help. But can I call you Alph instead? Saying Alpha Changeling is too long."

"Sure," said Alph, "What time is it?"

"Uhh," I checked my C.A.M., "It's 12:07 a.m."

"No silly filly," he said, "It's adventure time!"

I laughed. The little thing was adorable. Despite my grim disposition, I actually felt happy. It was like Alph radiated happiness. I think I would quickly grow to like my new companion.

I was flying along in Mr. Guy, with my new companion flying with me. He kept hovering around me, smiling and waving as he soared into the air. He flew so high that he hit the cloud cover. He bounced off. He shook his head and flew back down to me.

"Bad magic," he informed me, "The pegasi have magic protection on the clouds. I'll stay down here from now on."

We went on. After about an hour, I decided to talk to Alph.

"So Alph, where did you come from?" I asked, "You seemed lost."

"Not lost," he said, "Lost would mean I didn't know where I was at. I was wandering. I'm a collector."

He brandished his saddlepacks, "Cool stuff inside. You wanna see?"

"Why not?" I asked. He opened his saddlepacks. Inside was filled with various objects. Guns, drugs, caps, various pieces of junk. He brought out a pistol and pushed in a clip. He fired. The gun was unbelievably powerful. It knocked him onto the ground. He got up, shook himself off, and flew back to me.

"You should have," he said, "Hydraulic leg will absorb most of the recoil. The pistol fires a similar caliber to that of a rifle. Very useful."

He handed me the weapon. It seemed to be in good repair. I noticed he spoke weird. It was like he couldn't decide if he was a foal learning to speak, or an adult with an extended vocabulary. Either way, his voice never changed in terms of tone. He always seemed to be endearingly happy.

"Thank you," I said, "Do you have anything else?"

"Yes," he said, "By the way, stop calling me a he. I'm a girl." What? How had he, no, she known that I had been thinking of her as a he?

"I can read your mind, duh," she said, "Do you think I just change shape? I change mind. I get yours when I change."

Okay now it was getting weird. But it did make sense.

"Anyway, the other thing that you had?" I asked.

"Oh yeah!" she said. She reached into her saddlepack and pulled out a fission battery. "You'll need it soon. Your almost out of power."

"How can you tell?" I asked. Because I was starting to run low.

"Your eye dims a little," she said and giggled, "It's funny!" She changed into me, somehow still flying. She showed me as me how my eye would dim down and it would go lazy and drift to the side. I snickered. Why? Why did I snicker?

"Why do I feel so uncharacteristically happy?" I asked Alph.

"I'm an Alpha Changeling," she said, "Alpha Changelings make ponies just a little more happy! It's how Beta Changelings eat. We blend into the crowd, spread happiness, and the other Changelings eat the happy."

"Wow," I said. So she really did radiate happiness. "Does that mean other Changelings can sense my happiness?"

"No," she said, "I stopped sending out the happy signals a long time ago. I don't like the other Changelings eating my friends happiness. I like my friends!"

She nuzzled up against me, temporarily turning into a blue unicorn mare with a silver mane.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, "What was that?"

"Other friends that I meet on my travels!" she said, "When showed love, I can transform into others that I've met, no sight required." She gasped, "That means you like me for real!" She beamed. I smiled back.

After a while, it began to get dark. I slowed Mr. Guy to a stop. I checked my C.A.M. We were a little more than halfway to Manehattan. I decided we should bed down for the night. I sparked a fire and offered Alph some water. She declined.

"Changelings don't need food, water, or sleep," she said, "I can live on a steady supply of the happiness you give me! In moderation. Not like other Changelings who eat it all at once. I can give you happiness, and then I feed on your positive energy! As long as your happy, I can go indefinitely! Neato, huh?"

I smiled and nodded. I took a drink and rolled out my sleep mat. I lay down. Oh yeah, I would definitely like my new friend. Alph informed me that she would keep watch and then sat down next to Mr. Guy. I slowly nodded off into sleep.

Chapter 6: Revenge...(Almost)

I awoke to the sound of a fire sizzling. I sat up, wondering what was burning and what smelled so good. I looked around. As it turns out Alph was also a cook. She had put a cook pot over a fire and was tending the coals...with her hoof. She didn't seem to be in any pain. She lifted it, blowing some embers off of her hoof. Then she saw I was awake.

"Oh hey, you're awake!" she said, "I was just cooking up some eggs! Good source of protein!"

"Hey, thanks," I said, "They smell delicious."

After a quick breakfast of...something eggs, we continued on our way. I hopped on Mr. Guy. Alph took to the air. With any luck, we would find the White Sock Society today. It took until noon, but we made it. I could see the Manehattan skyline as we approached. That meant we should be seeing Fetlock soon as well. It was the northernmost town.

"Hey Alph," I said, "Would you mind transforming into a different pony? The townsponies may not take to you like I did."

"How long would I have to retain it for?" she said frowning, "I can't hold it forever you know. I would need some serious magic to hold it for a while."

"Can you at least get the image of the pony you want to change into?" I asked.

"Yes?" she said.

I thought for a moment. Then I floated close to her and gave a her a kiss on the cheek. She blushed hotly. She transformed into a Earth pony mare. She began to fall without her wings. I caught her and set her on the ground. I stopped because she was frozen in place, still blushing.

"Will that hold it for a while?" I asked.

"Y-yeah," she said in a squeaky voice.

"Well come on then!" I said, "Let's get moving!"

She ran up next to me. I floated into town, Alph following close behind. The ponies eyed me, but didn't say anything. Fetlock had changed since I had last been here. Ponies seemed to be more haughty. Some wore masquerade masks, suits, and white socks. I took a wild guess. The White Sock Society members. I jumped off Mr. Guy and approached one.

"Excuse me, would you know where the White Sock Society's main HQ is located," I asked, "It's rather urgent."

"Oh yes," said the mare in a prestigious tone, "It's right over there in the Clockwork Casino."

"My thanks," I replied.

I walked over. Alph was looking around, dumbfounded. I walked over to her.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Haven't been here before," she said, "Very shiny."

I grabbed her right hoof and pulled her along. She seemed to snap out of her daze and started walking. We entered the Clockwork Casino. Ponies all around the building were playing games of poker or using slot machines. I looked around. Then I saw him. The white pegasus. He was wearing the same suit he wore on the day he tried to kill me. Now he was wearing a masquerade mask and white socks. He hadn't seen me, but he was dealing a blackjack table.

I walked over, Alph following close behind. I sat down at the table.

"Deal me in," I said.

He looked down from his mug, and almost choked. "You," he said. I looked him over. Now that I had a chance to look at him, he wasn't too impressive. He had a blue mane, a short tail. And a Dashite brand. That's why he was here in the land of ground based ponies. He was ex-Enclave. He probably ran the White Sock Society as well.

"Me," I said, "And you've got about ten seconds to explain why before I blow your head off and find out anyway."

"Ub-u-um-uhh," he fumbled, "How!?"

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!" I shouted, slamming my hoof on the table, cracking the wood. My happy feeling was gone, replaced by an unabating rage.

"Ahh, okay!" he said, "I was hired by somepony! The boss told me I needed to kill you, so I did! Just please, spare me!"

"No," I said, switching my hoof out for a hand, "I don't think I will."

I pulled out the pistol that Alph had given me, and blew his head clean off. Blood squirted everywhere from the stump where his head used to be. Other members of the White Sock Society began to run at us. Ponies began to run out of the building, screaming. I switched out the hand for the bladed hoof. Alph changed back into her normal Changeling self. When a stallion charged at her, she grabbed his hoof, flipped him sideways over her back which sent him flying in the air. As he sailed, she stood on two legs and kicked him in the chest.

"Sweet Celestia!" I said, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"This isn't my first scrap. I've got a black belt in Fallen Caesar as well as my own form of the art," she said, "I call it Hoof Jitsu."

"Damn," I said as I stabbed a masqueraded mare in the neck, "On your six!"

She bucked the air, catching the buck just right that it twisted his neck with a savage CRACK!. He fell to the ground, instantly dead.

"You seem to have a form of the art yourself," she said as she jumped onto a unicorn mare's back and wrapped her hind leg around the mare's neck. She pulled her hind leg with her forehoof, crushing the mare's trachea. She fell to the ground, gasping.

"I guess I do," I said, wrenching the stick out of the buck's mouth and stabbing him with my blade, "We'll call it Killer Instinct style."

"Very impressive!" she said, twisting her hind leg in a scissor kick that knocked the next buck out instantly, breaking his jaw in the process.

So we fought, both of using our form of the Fallen Caesar to kill or incapacitate our enemies. Eventually they stopped coming. We had taken out at least twenty Whit Sock Society members. I was panting.

"I think I got more," I said.

"You wish," she said, "What now?"

We looked at each other, "IT'S LOOTIN' TIME!" we said in unison. I walked up to one of the masqueraded bucks. I checked his pockets. Inside I found a kebab of strange meat. I recognized it. It was the same meat I'd seen in Arbu. I took his caps and moved on to another member. Another kebab of pony meat.

"These White Sock Society members," I said, "They're all cannibals. This cannot go on." Any member that was still breathing, I stabbed through the neck. These sick fucks were like the one's in Arbu. They deserved to die. At least in Arbu, it was understandable. They were trying to survive. But these ponies had ready access to normal food. And yet they chose to eat those of their kind. How fucked up in the head did you have to be to do that?

"I'll kill them," I said, seething with a familiar rage, "I'll kill them all."

I went to the hotel part of the casino. The boss must be up there. I started kicking open doors. Alph soon joined me, satisfied with her looting. Eventually I found the right room. I knew it was the right room because I was greeted with a security turret. I fired a laser at me which thankfully missed. I closed the door quickly. I turned on my auto targeting system. I opened the door and painted two targets on it. I flung the door open and shot the turret with a laser. It sparked and died.

I walked in. There was a desk. Behind it was a cowering mare in white socks, a masquerade mask, and a tight dress. I shoved my foreleg up against her throat and shoved her against the wall. I looked at her terrified face and knew it was working. I threw a right cross across her muzzle, knocking her to the ground. She tried to crawl away and I bucked her in the chest. She started coughing up blood. Just then, Alph ran up and stopped me.

"Stop!" she said, "You'll kill her!"

"That was kind of the idea," I said, "She's a cannibal and she ruined my life!"

"Just stop, and look at her," said Alph, "Really look."

I looked. I looked at her face. She was terrified. Of me. As though I were some kind of monster. I inhaled sharply. I backed up and looked at me hoofs. One pristine and shiny, light glinting off the metal. The other was bloodied. It had marks on it from where I'd pummeled the mare. Was I becoming a monster? I had always been a bad guy, but a monster? Never. I closed my eyes and walked over to her.

"Why?" I asked, "Why did you order me dead?"

"I-i," she stammered, "I don't know. I was given the job by...I can't say. He'll kill me."

"I'll kill you if don't tell me," I said, "Why was I ordered dead?"

She looked around like a cornered animal. She grabbed my hoof and forced me to stab her in the stomach. She fell over and died.

"Dammit!" I said. I looked around and found her wall safe. I cracked it open and found a document inside.

"Dear Monty Gem. Good work on disposing of a one, Black Eye. As promised, attached to this document is your 50,000 cap reward. I hope to do business with you again soon. Sincerely yours, The Judge"

Inside the safe was 50,000 caps. I took them. They would really help.

"Well," I said, "It looks like there's another piece of this puzzle. We'll just have to go pay mister The Judge a visit."

We exited the building. Along the way, I shot anypony who dared call themselves a White Sock Society member. My C.A.M. told me I was now infamous in Fetlock. I didn't care. I had done my part to rid the Wastelands of scum like cannibals. Since there was a letter attached to the mone sent by mail, there was only one ghoul who would know where it came from. Ditsy Doo.

"Hey Alph?" I asked.

"Yeeees?" she asked.

"Do you know how to bake a muffin?" I asked.

We left Fetlock. I told Mr. Guy to activate flight mode and we sped our way away from Fetlock.

"So," I said, "Where did you learn Fallen Caesar?"

"I once met a tribe of zebras in the Everfree forest," Alph explained, "I helped them clear out their manticore problem and they agreed to teach me Fallen Caesar. And I showed them Hoof Jitsu."

"Well then," I said, "I've never really had formal training, but I managed to develop Killer Instinct. Sort of like a culmination of basic survival instinct and exploitation of weak points. I guess you would have to the instinct of a hunter like me to actually understand it."

I thought for a moment then said, "Do you think you could teach me the Fallen Caesar?"

"I suppose I could," she responded, "It's not that hard to learn. Once you get a basic idea of how it works, you just kind of figure out the rest of it."

I felt satisfied with the knowledge that I might actually get formal training in a real fighting style. It didn't take long for it to get dark. I checked the C.A.M. We were a short distance away from Old Olneigh, and by extension, Appleoosa. I slowed Mr. Guy to a halt. We made a campfire and Alph sat down, smiling slightly at the fire.

"I have a question that's been bugging me," I said. Alph looked up. "Why did you decide to come with me?"

"Because you looked lonely," she said, "And it's my personal quest to make sure anypony I meet had a friend, or at least somepony to talk to. Also because the writer said you needed a friend."

"Who's the writer?" I asked with confusion.

"Duh, the one who's been narrating the story!" she said looking up at the sky, "Oops! I broke the fourth wall again. Sorry Mr. Writer! But I thought the reader's would find it funny if I did!"

I shook my head. She wasn't making any sense. I rolled out my sleep mat and lay down on it.

"Mr. Guy?" I asked.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Wake me up in four hours," I told him.

"Yes sir," he said. I rested my head on my hooves and went to sleep.

Chapter 7: Gearing Up

I awoke to the sound of Alph humming a tune. She had turned on my C.A.M. and was listening to the music that was playing. The music was slow and melodious. I began to realize that it was playing in my head. Not as annoying as I remembered it. Alph saw I had woken up. She looked at me and gave a slight giggle. She bounced towards me and lifted me up.

"Come on," she said, "I baked muffins!"

She brandished a tray of fresh baked muffins.

"I've got some left over, so have one!" she said. She and I both picked one up and took a bite. It was delicious.

"Mmmm!" I said, still chewing, "These are really good! Where did you learn to bake?"

"I don't remember. Oh well, these muffins are great regardless!" she said and took a huge bite.

I finished my muffin and hopped on Mr. Guy. Alph began to fly, putting the muffins in a box, then in her saddlepacks. It didn't take long to get to Appleoosa. However when we got there, I had to once again replace my fission battery with the one that Alph had given me. Mr. Guy's batteries were still okay, but another day, and they would have to be replaced. I urged Alph to change, but this time she refused.

"How am I supposed to make other ponies happy if I don't look normal?" she asked, "I can use my happy power if I look like me, not a disguise. Besides, I've been here before."

"Fine," I said, "Just stay close to me. I don't want to take any chances."

"Okay!" she said.

We walked into town. I stuck close to the side of the road. As we passed, ponies regarded Alph with a strange look. It was like they couldn't decide if they wanted to smile or not. Alph walked up to everpony and greeted them happily. She would vigorously shake their hood and then transform into them. Whenever she transformed, the pony she was talking to began to snicker. They would cover their muzzle with a hoof to stifle their laughter as Alph danced around them.

As she approached, filly's and colts would crowd around her, asking her to transform into them. When she would, she begin to mirror everything they did, including what they said. They all laughed in delight of their new friend.

I found the building I was looking for. Clearly, Alph would be fine. I walked up to the counter and looked at the ghoul who ran it.

She held up a notepad that read, "Welcome to my shop! My name's Ditsy Doo!"

"Yeah, hi again Ditsy," I said, "I've got two things for you. The first one is muffins."

Her eye's lit up with joy. I brought out the muffins that Alph had given to me and set them on the counter.

"The second is a letter," I said, "Addressed to somepony in Fetlock. Can you tell me where it was sent from?"

"Anything for the muffins!" she wrote.

I brought out the letter and gave it to her. She opened it up and looked at it.

"It came from somepony called the Judge. He sent the letter from" she flipped the notepad over and wrote again, "Fillydelphia"

Oh, that can't be good. I knew of a certain red pony who had a lot of power in Fillydelphia. At this point, who didn't know? I thanked her and pushed the muffins close to her. She put them under the counter, grabbing one discreetly. I chuckled and walked away. We had a new heading. Fillydelphia. And that was not good. Few areas in Fillydelphia weren't under Red Eye's control. Anyone who was in Fillydelphia was either one of Red Eye's army, Red Eye himself, or a slave.

I walked up to Alph and put a hoof on her shoulder. She turned and looked at me.

"Looks like we're going to Fillydelphia," I said, "Get your things together and get ready to make way."

She nodded and bade farewell to the townsponies. They waved good bye as well. Looks like she had accomplished her goal of making ponies happy. I began to go and then thought. Perhaps we should stop by my stash in Ironshod Firearms, go to Tenpony Tower for my own reasons. If you haven't caught on to them by now, then you haven't been paying attention.

I hopped on Mr. Guy and told him to make way for Ironshod Firearms. We didn't make it far out of the town before something went horribly wrong. Gunshots rang out. The bounced off of Mr. Guy. I slowed to a halt. I jumped off and began to load my rifle when Alph began to scream. She was trapped in a magical field of levitation. She tried to fly away, but the magic was stronger. Attached to the magic was several unicorn raiders. They began to run away, taking Alph with them.

"No you don't," I said. I began to run after them. I should have caught up to them, but for some reason they were extremely fast. Suddenly I was blocked by a brutish raider.

"Don't worry," he said with a smile, "We'll love her just right."

"Fuck you!" I shouted. I jumped back as the brute tried to grab me. I switched out for the blade. I ran up jumped as high as I could and brought by hoof down on top of his armored head. The blade went right through the raider's head. When somepony tries to block, just stab em' in the head. I wrenched the blade out. I called Mr. Guy over. I hopped on and began to chase the unicorn raiders. They were almost to far away to see now. I switched out the spark batteries for a fission battery. Suddenly he put on a burst of speed.

I was slowly catching up to them. They took her into a cave. I jumped off Mr. Guy with all my momentum and burst right through the wooden door. I rolled, and got up. I shook myself off and began to run deeper into the cave. As I did, I passed so many things that I wish I could've taken. Caps, ammunition, but they could wait. Alph was at risk and that was my number one priority.

I ran deeper, only to be punched back by a rifle round in my chest. I gasped. The bullet felt like somepony had driven a hot spike through me, which wasn't all that inaccurate. I fell, and crawled away to cover. I drank my last healing potion. The wound began to feel better. I loaded two shots into the pistol and took aim from behind the rock. A bullet glanced off the rock. I realized that it didn't make a sound. I fired the pistol and the sniper's scope shattered, shortly followed by the sniper's skull. She fell over, dead. I ran out in the open and ran up the stairs to the platform where the sniper was.

I picked up her gun, which was nothing special, but it had a tube on the end which I recognized as a silencer. It was an infantry weapon. I picked it up and put it away, to examine later. I ran through the door and noticed two things.

The first was Alph chained to the floor on a grungy mattress. The other was the buck slowly approaching her. I practically burned with rage. I slowly walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around just in time to see my bladed hoof go into his mouth and out the other side.

I wrenched my hoof out, tearing small chunks of flesh out with it. He gurgled and fell to the ground, blood flowing onto the ground in a deep red pool around his corpse.

I walked over to Alph and bucked the spike that held the chain in the ground so hard, it broke in two. Using my plasma cutter hoof, I managed to cut the chain off, as well as the shackle. Alph looked at me with a blank expression. Neither happiness nor fear, just blank. She didn't move, or even blink. All at once, she collapsed, like a balloon deflating. I stepped back, shocked.

"Oh hey," said Alph from behind me, "There you are!"

I turned around to see Alph, except she was covered in a weird slimy film that glistened in the lamplight.

"But you-," I said looking at the other Alph, "And the-...but-...WHAAT!?"

"Changeling defense mechanism!" she said, "I can shed my carapace if I feel threatened. That's just an exoskeleton. A husk."

"Now I've seen it all," I said, "An insect that looks like a pony and can shed their skin. Yep, seen it all."

We left, but not before doing some much needed looting. I found a medical box and cracked it open. Inside were some healing potions and a splint. I collected the caps and worn out guns that lined metal shelves. I grabbed everything. We left the cave and began our journey to Ironshod Firearms.

It was getting late when we spotted them. A group of ponies, small, only about three of them. Even from where we were, I could see that one of them had been in a stable. She was a white unicorn with a black and red dyed mane. It had to have been dyed. Such a vibrant red and black was very uncommon. She wore what looked to be some kind of security barding and I realized something. I hadn't had any armor this whole time. Then I remembered I had some armor in Ironshod.

We steered clear of them. I didn't know what they would do. They looked dangerously unpredictable. I turned on Dj Pon3's radio broadcast for the first time in a while.

"Well folks, it is that time again," he said, "Time for the evening news. This one comes out of Fetlock. It seems some cyberpony went on a murderous rampage and began killing everypony wearing white socks and a suit. From what I can tell, they were called the White Sock Society. But for whatever reason, this pony, accompanied by a strange black insect creature, killed every single one of them. We'll have more on this tomorrow, but for now, let's lighten the mood up."

Music began to play. I shut it off. Looks like our stunt in Fetlock got some attention. That was good and bad. It was good because I needed to build up my name again. And it was bad, because that meant I would be getting some nasty looks from a lot more ponies. We got to Ironshod near midnight. I decided we probably shouldn't sleep. Nightime was the best time to go to Ironshod because the security system shut off at night.

I walked inside. Sure enough, the turrets and other security robots were all shut off. Alph followed me to the belt line where they made the gun. I walked up to a seemingly ordinary crate. I popped the top off. Inside was an assortment of ammunitions, guns, medical supplies and barding. I grabbed two combat shotguns, a sniper rifle, and a light machine gun. I would need them where we were going. I checked the rifle I had picked up off the raider.

It was in bad condition. I used another of the same rifle to repair it. I grabbed as much ammunition as my saddlepacks would allow. I grabbed two super restoration potions and a dozen or so healing potions. I also took some healing bandages. I dumped it all in my saddlepacks. We were good on food and water. I pulled out the barding. I had crafted it myself. It was similar to raider armor. I had cleaned it up, removed some stupid things like spikes, fixed it up with a latticework of leather and metal strips and added pockets. It was some pretty sturdy armor. I put it on. It only weighed a little. I put a leather cape on over it. Hopefully, it would keep be safe.

I had grown to like my armor. I had used it on so many occasions that it was like a part of me. Now it was time to bring it out once again. Hopefully some rain hadn't damaged it. I looked around and found a smaller, more lightweight version of my barding. It was simpler, but at least it would work. I gave it to Alph who immediately put it one. She tried to extend her wings, but since the armor was designed for earth based ponies, it didn't have win holes.

I thought for a second. I told her to hold still and brought out the plasma cutter again. I carefully cut out two wing holes and threw the excess material away. She extended her wings happily and began to fly around the room. I closed the crate, satisfied.

We left the building and made camp not to far from it. I replaced Mr. Guy's spark batteries with some that I had taken from the defense machines inside Ironshod. His battery level raised all the way full. I lit the campfire and started to cook some meat. I made a sandwich with some old bread and enjoyed my meal. I washed it down with a Sparkle Cola. I laid out my sleep mat and went to sleep.

Chapter 8: Tenpony Tower

I awoke once again to music. Except this time Alph wasn't humming. She was singing. She had a beautiful voice that didn't suit her body at all. It sounded like a completely different pony. It almost sounded like an exact likeness of the song that was playing.

"Holy Luna," I said, "Where did you learn to sing like that?"

"From this pony!" she said. She concentrated and slowly transformed into a white unicorn mare with white and silver mane that was done in curls.

"Who is that?" I asked. She looked familiar.

"Sweetie Belle!" she exclaimed, "At least I think that's her name."

My jaw dropped. Sweetie Belle was one of the singers on Dj Pon3's radio broadcast. But that couldn't be, those songs were hundreds of years old.

"Alph," I said slowly, "How old are you?"

She put a hoof to her chin in thought then said, "2,856. I think. Yeah, 2,856." She smiled at me. I just sat there, dumbfounded.

"T-that's impossible!" I said, "You look like a filly!"

"Hivemind," she said, "Changelings are a hivemind. Sort of. We are all connected through a series of instincts, signals, and other things that I can't quite describe. It's a telepathy of sorts. When I cut myself off from it, about two years ago, I assumed my natural cycle. No more immortality. Well it's not real immortality. Only my mind would've lived on. Now, my mind dies with my body."

"I take back what I said earlier," I said, "There is still so much I have yet to see."

I'll skip the traveling part. You don't want to hear about a two day travel across country do you? Thought not. Moving on!

We came up on Tenpony Tower. It hadn't changed since I'd last seen it. I slowed Mr. Guy to a stop in front of it. I hopped off and walked up to the massive building. I urged Alph to change into somepony that she had seen here. She instantly changed into a unicorn stallion with a brown coat and a wedge of cheese for a cutie mark. He looked familiar somehow. We got past the security guard without incident and went in.

The buildings interior never ceased to amaze me. A massive foyer with shops and ponies bustling to and fro. It was so lively and uncharacteristic of the Wastelands. I immediately walked up to the ammo shop. The pony behind the counter almost instantly recognized me.

"Black Eye? Is that you?" he asked, "What happened to you?"

"Not now Bullet Time. Do you know where Comedy Gold is?" I asked.

"Yeah she's over in the atrium, but-"

I cut him off with a thank you and began to run to the atrium. I burst through the door and looked around. Then I saw her. Comedy Gold was sitting on a bench reading a book. Beautiful as ever. I told Alph to stay behind and slowly approached her.

"Excuse me sir, but would you mind getting me a glass of water," she asked without looking up, "I'm ever so parched."

"Not at all fair princess," I said with a smile. Her eyebrows knit and her head shot up to look at me. I stood there smiling down at her. She smiled and I brushed a tear from her eye.

"Now now," I said, "It's undignified to cry at a time like this."

She jumped up and embraced me. She began to cry into my shoulder. I held her tight and saw Alph slowly approaching. I nodded slightly to her and she sat down. After about a minute of sobbing, Comedy Gold let go of me.

"I thought you were dead!" she said, "You didn't came back for three months! What happened?"

"Well I think that's pretty obvious what happened," I said gesturing to my cybernetic limbs and bionic eye, "Somepony got me pretty good. but I'm here now and that's all that matters. Come with me. I need you to write a letter for me."

"But we've only just got back together!" she said frowning, "Wouldn't you at least like to catch up for a bit?"

"Alright," I said, "Alright, alright. We'll catch up for a bit. I'll start. This is my friend Alph." I waved Alph over. As she did, necromantic light swirled around her and she turned into her normal, smiling self.

Comedy Gold jumped back as soon as she saw the necromantic light.

"What is that!?" she practically shouted.

"Hey now don't be mean," I said, "She don't bite."

"Pleasure to meet you miss Comedy Gold," said Alph bowing her head, "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, and I do hope we can be friends in the future." Now it was my turn to be surprised.

"Well," I said, "That's certainly uncharacteristic. She normally acts all happy and jumpy and excited. How did she su-"

"Black Eye," Comedy interrupted, "Why is she staring at me like that?"

I noticed that Alph was engaged in an intense staring battle with Comedy Gold. I was confused. She didn't normally do that.

"That's strange," I said.

"Why can't I turn?" said Alph, "You cannot be transformed into."

"What?" I asked, completely flabbergasted at the turn of events.

"I tried to turn into her," said Alph slowly, "But I can't. Strange magic surrounding her, like an aura of sorts, except I can't penetrate the magical barrier." Suddenly in three consecutive transformations, Alph turned into a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, a pink earth pony with an extremly poofy mane, and a white unicorn with purpled curled hair. Then it happened again, but with different ponies. An earth pony with a weird circular hat, Comedy Gold, and Dj Pon3's assistant, Homage.

"A Bearer," said Alph, "You bear the Element of Loyalty."

Then Alph shook her head and became here usual self again. She transformed once again into Comedy Gold and began to mimic her movements, smiling as if that whole ordeal hadn't even just happened.

"What the hell just happened?" said Comedy her voice doubled by Alph.

"I have absolutely no idea," I responded.

"So let me get this straight," said Comedy as I sat down at our table, "You want me to write a letter to the one who blew you up, then you're going to get it to Dj Pon3 via his assistant Homage, and call out this Judge character to the whole Wasteland?"

"Yep," I said, "That's pretty much was I was planning on."

"That's insane," said Comedy, "How will you even get it to Dj Pon3?"

"Simple," I said. I laid out 10,000 of the fifty thousand caps I had gotten from the safe back in Fetlock. Comedy's eyes went wide.

"Where did you get that?" Comedy asked incredulously.

"Uh, I found it," I said trying not to look suspicious. Comedy Gold's eyes narrowed.

"Right," she said slowly, "Anyway, fine. I'll write the letter, but after that, you're coming with me to the spa. You look like and smell like you haven't had a bath in weeks. Then again, knowing you, you probably haven't."

"Thank you," I said, "Now you just write what I say. Please don't question what I tell you to write."

"Okay," she said nervously, "I'm trusting you on this one."

She reached into a drawer and pulled out a pen and paper. She placed the tip of the pen to the paper and looked at me.

"Hello Judge," I said, Comedy Gold writing it down as I spoke, "This is your old friend Black Eye. That's right you worthless, scum sucking piece of crap. I'm still alive and know that I'm coming for you. I'm not going to stop until you're dead, dead and gone. I shall wipe you from the Wastelands. Pretty soon it'll be like you never even existed. With love, Black Eye."

Comedy Gold finished writing and placed the pen down. She rolled up the letter and tied it with a piece of string. I put the letter in my saddle packs.

"Right," said Comedy Gold, "Now you're coming with me to the spa."

I followed her without question. She took me and Alph, who thankfully had transformed into somepony else now, to the spa.

The trip was uncomfortable and somehow relaxing at the same time. The spa ponies began by giving us a back massage. I could barely feel it because of the metal piece of my back. I could tell the spa pony was getting frustrated because she kept pushing harder trying to get the knot out my back that wasn't even there in the first place. Eventually she gave up and began to massage my shoulders.

Afterwards they took me to the bathhouse. I didn't go in. I knew (unfortunately from experience) that if I got in the water, I would kill everyone else in the water. I just sat down and enjoyed the steam. I walked out, my mane and coat all fluffy. I shook myself off and the spa ponies began to brush me down, straightening my coat and tail.

It only took all of twenty minute, but I felt thoroughly refreshed and ready to take on anything the Wasteland had to throw at me.

"I'll admit," I told Comedy, "That was pretty relaxing."

"And you doubted me," said Comedy, "Next time, just go without question. And by the way, part of your mane is sticking up." She said that last part stifling a laugh.

I looked up and sure enough, part of my mane was sticking straight out in front of me. I licked my hoof and pushed it back, but it just shot back out. Comedy Gold, not being able to contain her laughter, began to laugh harder and harder as I continued to try and push it back. Eventually I was successful, but Comedy Gold was gasping for air. She stood back up, tears in her eyes and smiling.

"Yuck it up," I said smiling. I turned to one of the spa ponies.

"You wouldn't happen to know where DJ Pon3's assistant is would you?" I asked them.

"As a matter of fact we do," she said, "She's over in the atrium."

I thanked them and left, Comedy Gold and Alph following close behind. I entered the atrium and stopped dead. There standing next to my good friend Homage, was Littlepip. They were holding hooves and we're talking to each other. As I approached, I could barely make out their conversation.

"-er gonna let me forget that whole counting thing are you?" asked Littlepip.

"You know I won't," said Homage.

I gave an obvious clearing of my throat. "Am I interrupting something?" I asked.

Homage's head slightly turned in my direction.

"Oh Black Eye," she said and then saw me, her smile quickly turning to a face of worry, "Oh Black Eye. What happened to you?"

"You know him?" asked Littlepip.

"Yes," replied Homage, "He's a resident here, a bounty hunter."

"A bounty hunter?" asked Littlepip warily, "He's doesn't have any weapons does he?"

"Oh trust me Littlepip," I said, "You should know just by looking at me, I don't need a weapon to kill a pony."

"Black Eye!" exclaimed Homage.

"Kidding!" I said, "I need you to read this letter on tonight's evening news."

"Me?" she askd, "Why me?"

"Oh come on, you of all ponies should know," I said, "You're Dj Pon3! And I'm giving you ten thousand caps, so you can't say no anyway."

She looked astonished. She stepped back.

"I'm not Dj Pon3!" she said.

"Of course not!" said Comedy incredulously, "How could you be Dj Pon3? Dj Pon3 is a stallion."

"Then why do you look so surprised?" I asked ignoring Comedy and pressing on, "Only reason you'd be that surprise is if I'd guessed correctly. Besides, if your not Dj Pon3, then why do you take everything for him and Dj Pon3 is never seen? Only one probable answer: you're Dj Pon3."

I handed the letter to the sheepish looking Homage. She dropped it and then picked it back with her magic.

"Will do," she said in a small voice.

We all left the atrium, heading out into the main foyer.

"I just had a great idea!" said Alph gasping. She bounced up to Homage and transformed into her. Homage stepped back, as well as Littlepip. Littlepip began to draw her weapon. I smacked it out of her magic and disarmed it before she could raise it. Now she was even more surprised.

"What is that thing!?" exclaimed Homage, Alph no longer mimicking and looking slightly confused.

"Excuse me," I said, "She is a changeling. And quite frankly, that was rude, trying to shoot her. Shame on you Littlepip!"

They both looked at Alph and began to have a calm down and began to give a hint of a smile as she danced around them, transforming into them over and over again. They weren't as uncomfortable as Comedy Gold had been.

We eventually got to the broadcasting room and Homage informed us that she was about to do her evening news, telling us to remain quiet. Her horn glowed and she put on a pair of headphones, walking up to the microphone.

"Good evening everypony, it is your pal Dj Pon3 for the evening news," she said, her voice magically changed, "I've got something different this time folks. Some pony has sent me a letter and ten thousand caps with the request that I read it here. Since this pony was so generous to provide me with an incredible stack of caps, I will read the letter," she said and picked up the letter, clearing her throat, "'Hello Judge. This is your old friend Black Eye. That's right you worthless, scum-sucking piece of crap. I'm still alive and know that I'm coming for you. I'm not going to stop until you're dead, dead and gone. I shall wipe you from the Wasteland and pretty soon it'll be like you never existed. Love Black Eye.' Well, that certainly was something. This Black Eye's got some guts to be calling some pony out like that. Those are some strong fightin' words, so let's just hope that he can hold up to that claim. In other news..."

She finished her news report and took off her headphones. She trotted over to us.

"That better have been worth it to you," she said, "Because that is the last time I do that."

"Oh, believe you me," I said smiling deviously, "That was worth every cap."

We left and parted ways. Alph went off on a search for more cooking supplies. Homage and Littlepip went back the way we'd come. I thought about the conversation I had overheard between them. Counting thing? What did that even mean? I gave up trying to figure it out. Me and Comedy Gold went back to our home. And it was just me and her.

"I'll be right back," Comedy informed me. She went to our bedroom and shut the door. Maybe she had something to take care of. I wandered around the old and now empty house. After a few minutes, Comedy emerged...wearing socks. She had a seductive half-smile on her face. She wandered over to me, putting emphasis on swinging her damn sexy flank back and forth in a hypnotic manner.

"Welcome home big boy," she said, "Call this your welcome home gift."

I blushed hotly. Comedy walked around me, coaxing me to the bedroom with her tail, making full sure I got a view of that ass. I followed her with a dopey grin on my face. I had a feeling I might be staying longer than I had intended.

Chapter 9: Comedy Gold

I woke up next to Comedy Gold. She was curled up underneath my foreleg. Our manes were tousled and I was still tired. Yesterday had been a great stress reliever. I carefully got out of bed, making sure not to wake her. I walked out of the bed and saw that Alph was sitting patiently on the couch. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"How long have you been there?" I asked.

"All night," she said, "I counted four."

"Oh great," I said, my whole face beet red and my ears feeling like they were on fire, "Four what?"

"She had four," said Alph, "I can tell by the sudden raise in her voice as well as hear almost screaming. She had four."

I inhaled deeply then exhaled, "Goody fucking gumdrops," I said, "Did you at least find what you were looking for?"

She nodded and produced a shiny frying pan as well as other cooking apparel and food items. A lot of it.

"Sweet Celestia," I said, "How much did that cost?"

"Only 1,000 caps," she said with a smug tone, "I'm a good negotiator."

"Well good," I said, "At least we won't have to worry about food or water any time soon."

"Oh," said Alph as she looked down, "I forgot about the water."

I blinked at her. "How could you forget the water? Don't you like need water to you know, drink!?"

"Remember," she said, "I don't need to eat, sleep or drink. I don't even think I have a stomach," she looked down and patted her belly, "Nope, no stomach."

"Ughhh," I groaned, "Fine, whatever, we'll get some water on the way out."

I ate a couple of carrots. It wasn't as good as a plate of bacon and eggs, but it would do for now. Beside, I could just get more at one of the restaurants. I drank a bit of water to wash it down, and began to tinker with my hooves and talked with Alph for a little bit until Comedy Gold woke up. She walked up to me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek as she walked past. She went to the kitchen and made herself breakfast.

Her mane was done up nicely, and she smelled great. I wondered why I had even chosen to take a job that required me to leave her almost every day. Then I remembered. I pushed the thought away. I didn't want to remember. I trotted over to Comedy who was still making breakfast. I thought carefully and decided. I had been thinking about this ever since I came back to Tenpony Tower.

"Comedy Gold?" I said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," she said.

I took a deep breath and asked her, "Will you come with me this time?"

She stopped and turned to face me, "Will I-?"

"Come with me," I finished. She thought about this, her eyebrows furrowed and frowning.

"Well," she said, "But Tenpony Tower is the only place I've ever known. Where would we even go?"

"Anywhere," I said taking her hoof, "We could go anywhere. Do anything. No rules, no laws. Just pure freedom."

"I don't know," she said, "I don't know how to survive, I don't know who is who, I don't even know how to use a gun!"

"I'll teach you," I said, "I would teach you everything. Everything there is to know about the wasteland. Please." I looked into her deep emerald green eyes. I could tell she was distressed at my sudden request.

"Oh Black Eye," she said, brushing her hoof against my bionic eye, "I would follow you to the ends of Equestria. Always stand by your side. That was the pact we made when we decided to get married. I will join you if it makes you happy."

I smiled widely, "It makes me very happy. Thank you."

Alph walked up to us. "Loyalty," she said. We both smiled at her.

"Some adventure!" Comedy shouted as I loaded more rounds into my shotgun drum. The raiders had us pinned down pretty good. I rose up and fire once, twice. The raider fell, bleeding holes punched through his chest. We had only just barely left Tenpony and we were almost immediately beset upon by raiders. They were jeering and shouting at us as they fired their weapons.

"Well sorry, I know how the Wasteland operates, I can't tell the future!" I shouted back. I tossed her the pistol that Alph had given me. Alph had informed me that it was called the Tundra Hawk. She picked it up and fumbled with it.

"What do I do with this?" she said

"Just aim and pull the trigger," I replied. She aimed the pistol from behind her rock and pulled the trigger. The pistol flew out of her hoof, but one of the raider's was punched to the ground, dead. Alph had snuck up behind the raiders and transformed into one of them. She had begun to fire at us, intentionally making her shots go wide.

I loaded some rounds into the rifle on my battle saddle and fired several shots. Two more raider's went down. With only four left, Alph went to work causing havoc. She dispatched one raider and used him as a body shield for when the one next to her began to fire. The bullets hit the body and Alph dropped it. She flew into the air and flew overhead, dodging gunfire and taking full advantage of the holes in her body. Bullets passed harmlessly through them.

I ran up the hill and switched my hoof out for the blade. Comedy stayed behind. Me and Alph quickly dispatched of the remaining three. I walked back to Comedy Gold who just stood there.

"First lesson in gun training," I said picking up the Tundra Hawk and putting it in her hoof, "When firing a gun of any kind, do not let go of the gun."

"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm just not used to using guns."

"I know," I said, "Neither was I when I first started using them. And don't hold the gun in your hoof, you hold it in your mouth."

"What?" she said, "That is completely ridiculous! If I held that infernal thing in my mouth, I'd blow out all my teeth. And what about you? You fire using..."

Then she saw I was holding the combat shotgun in my hand.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's called a hand," I said, "And you don't have one, so use your mouth."

"But I just told you I can't!" she said, "The gun is far to powerful!"

I grabbed the Tundra Hawk from her in my mouth. I fired off several rounds into the ridge using my mouth. She just stood there, dumbfounded.

"You think the gun has a bit for decoration?" I said giving her the gun.

"How many other ponies have used this gun like that?" she asked, "What if I get some disease?"

"Allow me to assist," said Mr. Guy. I had almost completely forgotten about him. He took the gun and sprayed it down with some aerosol.

"There, the weapon is now free of 100% of bacteria," he said. Comedy Gold still looked suspicious, but took the gun anyway. She was cautious taking the weapon. She bit down, aiming towards the ridge thankfully. The weapon fired. Her head only twitched back a little. She opened her eyes and smiled. She turned to me.

"I can beleef it work!" she said, her words scrambled by the gun. Then it fired again, right into my chest. I screamed and fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. She dropped the gun and ran to me.

"Oh my Celestia, I'm so sorry!" she said, "Will you be okay?"

"Second rule of firearms," I said through grating teeth, "Never aim them at friendlies!" I struggled to my feet.

"Mr. Guy, can you take care of this?" I said. I was rapidly loosing blood. Mr. Guy hovered over to me. He used an extremely thin appendage to remove the round. It had gone right through my armor. What are the odds that out of all the times I've been shot wearing this armor, it falls to my own wife to find a weak point? Mr. Guy used a healing spray to cover the wound. I drank a healing potion just in case. The bullet wound was not very deep, but it still hurt like a motherfucker.

"Now," I said, "Make absolutely sure you never aim it at me or any friendlies again, okay?" She nodded and picked the gun up again. I walked over to the raider that Comedy had shot. He lay there, dead for sure.

"First blood goes to Comedy Gold," I said.

"I-I killed him?" she said shakily. She gagged, seeing the dead eyes, and broken flesh, "I think I'm going to vomit."

"Go ahead," I said, "I know I did my first time." She ran over to the edge of the ridge and threw up her breakfast. She spit over the edge and walked back, her legs shaking a bit. She wiped a hoof across her mouth to wipe away the bile.

"Now comes the easier to stomach part," I said, "Proper looting." She looked at me curiously. I walked over to another raider, and explained to her the importance of looting.

"Looting can find you a great many useful things," I explained, "Food, medicine, weapons, all kinds of things." I showed her how to check a body, and showed her the caps and ammo that I had picked up.

"I don't know if I can do this anymore," she said, "We've only been outside for less than an hour, and you've already shown me that the Wasteland is a horrible place."

"Yes, the Wasteland is a horrible place," I said, "But if you give it a chance, I'm sure you will have the chance to see it in all its immense wonder and beauty."

"Okay," she said nodding, "Okay. I trust you."

"Thank you," I said, "We will come across many ponies that are corrupt, mean, or even downright evil. But you have know that there is always some good where there is bad."

She nodded. She straightened and put on a brave face. She walked over to another raider, took a deep breath and looted her. She took off the saddlepack and put it on. It wasn't as large or as roomy as mine was, but it would have to suffice for now. She dumped her findings in the bag and I saw a gun, some ammo, caps, and a knife go into the bag. I was impressed.

She looked at me with a weak smile. I nodded approvingly and we went on our way. I could no longer ride on Mr. Guy since Comedy was with us.

And we trekked. I had set a heading for Fillydelphia. After a short while of walking, Comedy spoke up.

"So where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going to Fillydelphia," I said.

"Uhh, you mean the place where Red Eye's army is?" she said, "That's right, I may not go outside, but I've listened to enough radio to know who Red Eye is."

"Well good," I said, "Then you know that Red Eye doesn't control all of Fillydelphia."

"What?" she asked with a blank look, "but Dj Pon3 said that Red Eye control's Fillydelphia."

"Well she hasn't been there," I said, "I have been to Fillydelphia. And I can tell you, Red Eye is not everywhere. As a matter of fact. I have a safe-house there now. And that's where we are headed."

"Okay," she said, "But if we get turned into slaves, I'm blaming you." I chuckled and we pressed on. It didn't take long for it to get dark. And with darkness comes sleep. But this is not what happened.

As we were making camp, something moved nearby. I stopped.

"Everyone stop," I said. Comedy, Alph, and Mr. Guy froze in place. I turned on the thermal imaging camera in my eye. A single heat signature appeared. It was ponylike, but it was about twenty feet out of the ring of light made by the fire. I stepped forwards towards it. It cowered away. I reflected on it's size. It was about the same size of Alph. I turned off the thermal cam and instead turned on the flashlight. A solid beam of light shot from my head and lit up the whole area. What I saw next was a shocker.

It was an alicorn. I had seen alicorns before, but never this small. She was cowering away. Her wings were folded in. She didn't appear to be hostile. That was one of the things I also hadn't gotten from my C.A.M. I hadn't gotten an E.F.S. compass. But I could tell she clearly wasn't hostile. She was cut up and bruised. She looked like she hadn't eaten in days.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

She was silent.

"Can you speak?" I asked.

'My name is Chrome'. I heard the sentence in my mind. It caught me off guard. I thought for a moment on how to respond. 'Can you hear me think?, I thought.

Yes., she responded.

Okay, my name is Black Eye. Can you speak with your mouth please?, I thought.

"Okay," she responded. It took me a second to realize she had actually spoken.

"Okay," I said, "These are my friends." I said, gesturing to Comedy, Alph, and Mr. Guy.

"Hey you don't look so good," I said.

"No," she said, "I'll be...fine." And then she collapsed.

"Go get some medical supplies!" I said to Comedy. She got up and ran up to my saddlepacks that were laying next to the fire. I ran to Chrome and lifted her over my back. I carried her to the fire and laid her down. Comedy handed my a healing potion. I mixed it with the stew that was cooking and I slowly poured some into Chrome's mouth. Her wounds slowly began to heal. I sighed.

I injected her with a sedative. Just to be sure that she would sleep. Her body relaxed and she went limp. She was in bad shape. If I wasn't watching her breath, I'd swore she was dead. I decided we should sleep and check on her in the morning. I laid down on the ground, because Chrome was laying on my sleep mat. It took me a little while longer, but eventually I fell asleep.

Chapter 10: Bloodfest in Fillydelphia

I woke up. First time I've woken up in normal circumstances for days. Sort of. There was an alicorn sleeping not ten feet away from me, but I could consider that normal. I got up and stretched out. I checked my system settings. Everything was in order, my fission battery needed changing, but that was fine. It was still good for a while.

I woke the others, excepting Alph who never slept. They slowly woke up. The sun was just barely peeking up over the horizon. Chrome was in better shape than she had been in. I offered her some stew. She accepted and ate it greedily. While she was eating I got a good look at her. She had a long mane and tail, both of which were a subdued red. Her coat was silver. When I say silver, I don't mean gray, I mean it look like she was made of metal because of the way it glistened. But the most interesting feature was her irises. They were blood red and seemed to flow as if her eyes were glass balls filled with flowing blood.

Then I saw her cutie mark. It was a crucible of sloshing silver metal over an open flame. I thought it odd for an alicorn to have a cutie mark and a name. Most of the alicorns I'd seen were nameless beasts that delighted in killing things. Chrome was different. She seemed to be independent and free of whatever controlled the other alicorns.

She finished her meal and thanked me. She looked down and simply stared at the ground. Then she got up and flew away.

"Hey!" I shouted, "WAIT!"

But she was already gone.

"Should we chase her?" asked Comedy.

I shook my head. "No," I said, "Whoever she was, she's not our problem."

We continued on our journey. After a few hours, Fillydelphia came into view. I began to run. I knew the way to the safehouse, but it was a dangerous route. I urged Alph to stay on the ground until we got there. I could see Red Eye's complex up ahead. Slaver's were taking a batch of ponies into the complex.

"Wait!" said Comedy, "Shouldn't we help those ponies?"

"No," I said, "We can't. They'd be caught again anyway."

"Well we should at least try!" she said, "We owe it to them to help them!"

"And then what?" I said turning to face Comedy, "Let them go, all on their own? So they can get captured, or killed, or worse?"

She looked at me and said, "Yes. Maybe they will die, maybe they will get captured again, but at least let them be free."

I sighed. This was stupid and pointless. Furthermore, it would draw attention to us, attention that we didn't need. Nonetheless, there was no arguing with Comedy. I produced the silenced rifle and pushed a clip in. I used the targeting system in my eye to target and pick off most of the slavers from a distance. With the element of surprise in our favor, I loaded the submachine gun and ran at the slavers. They saw me and began to shoot weapons of their own.

Alph flew high above and swooped down on top of them. She defeated two of them and was about to defeat a third when a slaver caught her on the back with a shovel. I growled and unloaded the clip into his skull. Seconds later, his head was scattered all over the ground. They were all dead. I got there and helped Alph to her hooves. The shovel wound would bruise, but she would be fine.

I trotted up to the cage of slaves and busted the padlock. I pried the door open and set them all free. They thanked me as they ran away. Sure enough, more slavers from inside the compound were drawn to the commotion. A lot of them.

"Come on!" I shouted, "We need to get out of here."

I grabbed Comedy's hoof and we began to run. After a few minutes, we made it to my safe house. We had lost the slavers, but that didn't mean we had lost their attention. Fillydelphia would now be on high alert. I ushered my friends inside and closed the door. We all collapsed, out of breath.

"That...was stupid," I said getting back to my feet, "Now...Red Eye's army will be looking for us."

I began to search around the safe house. I found the fridge and brought out a Sparkle Cola Rad. I popped the top and drank the fizzy soda. It was delicious, with a slight tang from the radiation. I walked back and gave Comedy the drink. She took a sip and gave it back. So we sat there, the both of us, enjoying the soda for about twenty minutes until it was gone.

I sat up and began to draw up plans of attack for getting to the Judge. The first thing we would need to do was get into the complex. Then we would need to get to one of Red Eye's lieutenants and ask them if they knew of the Judge. If they didn't then-

My thoughts were cut off as there was a banging on our door. I actually sounded more like knocking. I produced my bladed hoof and flung the door open. There, standing on the threshold...was Red Eye himself. He just stood there staring at me with his one bionic eye. His cape draped over his back, the only remnants of his stable life. I was so surprised that I stepped back. Comedy stood up and Alph took a fighting stance.

"Well hello there," he said, his voice silky smooth. I hated it. "May I come in?"

"No," I said, burning with righteous rage, "And you'd better run, or give a good reason why I don't pound you into paste on the ground."

"I simply wanted to talk," he said, "You and I have both have a bionic eye, so I felt a more personal connection. I would like to know why you murdered twelve of my men."

"You'll get nothing from me," I said, "Let me step outside and we'll see how well you fare then." He continued to smile which made me even more mad.

"Come now," he said, "We are both civilized cyber ponies and you should reflect that as I have. Now please, talk to me. Why did you decide to take out a dozen of my men?"

"Unless you tell me the location of the Judge, this conversation is over, at which point I will kill you," I said.

"A damn shame that is," he said, "I had hoped we could talk, but alas, that does not appear to be the case. Take them away then."

He stepped aside and a group of armed ponies flooded in around me and my friends, weapons drawn. There was no way we could get out.

"Mr. Watts?" said Red Eye, "Did I just here our cyber friend here volunteer for the Pit?"

"That's what I heard," said the pony in front of me.

"Well then," said Red Eye, "Could you please administer a light anesthetic for our friend please?"

"My pleasure sir," he said. He walked over to me and then bucked me in the chest. It knocked the wind out of me. Comedy shouted. I fell to the ground gasping and the guard hit me on the head with the but of his gun. I blacked out.

When I came to, I was in a dark room. Suddenly, doors opened up and I was staring at the Pit. I was shoved into it. Ponies were gathered around, cheering.

"Here we have a cyber pony," said an announcer, "We'll see how well he fares against the Crush Brothers!" Ponies began to cheer louder as on the other side, the doors opened up and two stallions stepped out. They were about as big as me, both wearing armor that resembled raider armor, except it was more well put together. They looked at me and both gave a savage grin. They flanked me on either side and took up a fighting stance. I sent a small prayer of thanks to Celestia and Luna that I still had my bladed hoof on.

"3...2...1...FIGHT!" shouted the announcer. Both stallions charged me. As the first one came up on me, I stabbed him right through the armor. He gave a gasp and his grin turned to a look of fear. I looked him in the face. The crowd had gone silent and the other stallion stopped and stared. I twisted the blade which elicited a blood-curdling scream from the stallion. I pulled out the knife and he dropped dead. The other stallion regained his senses and charged.

I sidestepped and slit his throat. He gave a small gurgle and blood squirted from his neck and coalesced in a small pool. I retracted the blade and the crowd remained silent.

"COME ON!" I shouted as loud as I could jumping on to a piece of rubble, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?"

"No outside weapons are allowed in the arena!" said the announcer, "Cease using yours!"

"Fuck you!" I said, "My whole fucking body's a weapon!"

"I think this pony needs to be taught a lesson," said the announcer, "What say you crowd?"

The crowd began to cheer and chant 'Storm'. Suddenly a unicorn stepped out into the arena. She was wearing a cloak and her horn was glowing. Suddenly a full size bolt of lightning shot from her horn. It made contact with me eye and electricity arced across my body. I fell to the ground a twitching heap. It felt like somepony had turned my blood into lava. My vision dimmed. The crowd cheered wildly. Then all at once, my eye shot to life and I was informed that I was at 6,000% battery capacity.

"Well ain't that something," I mumbled. I stood up and I switched my eye to laser mode. I poured all my energy into my eye and light began to gather around it. The laser produced was about a big around as a pony. It also vaporized Storm instantly. But it didn't stop there.

The recoil was so great, my head tilted back and the beam carved a trench in the arena, went straight through the bars surrounding it vaporizing about a dozen ponies in the proccess. It carved up the side of a distant building and through the cloud cover, leaving a hole that was quickly filled in with more clouds. I passed out.

I was later told that I was only out for a few seconds. My eye fluttered open and I got up. There was a black trench in the arena and the top of the building I had hit was shorn off. I climbed out of the pit and saw that ponies were scrambling about, in fear of what I had just done. I walked away and began to run to the center complex. My eye was completely dead, the fission batteries totally drained.

I burst through the door and announced my presence.

"Where the hell is Mr. Watts?" I said. The pony standing in front of me turned, a look of shock. He pulled out a pistol and I immediately stopped him with a slice on the horn. It shore the top of his horn, as well as sent some shock up my arm. He dropped the gun and fell back. I switched my blade out for my hand. I grabbed him by the throat and pushed him up against the wall.

"Where is Watts?" I said. When he remained silent I squeezed harder.

"Ahhh! Okay!" he shouted, "Watts is in the cell block! In the back of this building!"

I dropped him and smashed his horn with my hand. I left him writhing on the ground. I ran to the back of the building, passing guards and such on the way. I was too fast for them to even say anything. I got to the back where the cells were. I burst through the door and heard soul-wrenching screaming. It was coming from Alph. I ran around a corner and saw Mr. Watts shoving boards through Alph's legs, right through the holes. I ran up and flipped around at the last second and bucked him in crotch. His legs twisted and he fell to the ground shouting.

I walked over and used the plasma cutter to cut the boards from Alph's legs. She didn't bleed blood. Instead, she bled a dark green goop that looked like radroach blood. There was nothing I could do, so I turned and looked at Mr. Watts. He looked up at me and I switched my plasma cutter for the hydraulic hoof.

"Fuck you!" he shouted, "Fuck you in the ass with a hot knife!"

I put my hoof on his jaw, "If I were you, I'd tell me where my shit is."

"No way!" he shouted, "You'll have to answer for gelding me!"

I pressed the hydraulic down and his jaw tightened, threatening to crack.

"Fine! Fine you win! It's in the room down below the Pit! And you're girl is in the same area! But don't worry about her," he said with a laugh, "I already loved her pretty good, so she might not be in too good a shape!" he began to laugh. Words could not have described my rage at that moment. My eye's were tinted red as I pressed the hydraulic down cracking his lower jaw into dust. His laughs turned to screams.

"How about you and I take a trip down to the parasprite pits?" I said, "Because death is too good for you."

His eyes widened. I punched him again, my hoof almost killing him with a single blow, but thankfully only knocked him out. I slung him over my back. Alph seemed to have healed somehow. Maybe it was another Changeling thing, but I didn't care. I walked out of the building, knocking out anypony who stood in my way with single blows.

As I walked out, I was greeted by Red Eye.

"Now where do you th-?" his words were cut off by my hoof making contact with his face. It broke his nose and he looked surprised. He looked at the blood flowing from his face then back up in time to see my hoof catch him the face again, this time knocking him out. He crumpled under the second blow, which looking back on it, was pretty satisfying.

I ran to the parasprite pits, dodging gunfire and bowling over ponies. I stood at the edge of the pit and dropped Mr. Watts. I kicked him to wake him up. He woke suddenly just in time to see me push him in the pit. He screamed on the way down. He hit the ground with a thud. Parasprites came from seemingly nowhere and began to go into his mouth. He couldn't even scream now. I watched the whole ordeal with grim satisfaction. His stomach bulged with parasprites and blood poured from his mouth. I could tell he was still conscious because he tried to move. Eventually, they burst from his stomach, his body now an empty husk. And yet, he still moved, but eventually stopped.

I turned and walked back to the Pit. I jumped down into it and ran to the door. I burst through it. Literally, the door was closed, and I hadn't bothered to open it. I turned on my flashlight, which ran on emergency power. I looked around and found my saddlepacks. I heard chains clink.

"Black Eye?" I heard Comedy's voice ask, "Is that you?"

I looked around found her. She was chained to the ground. I ran up and broke the chain. She stood and hugged me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, pulling away from the embrace, "Did they hurt you?"

"No," she said, "I'm fine."

"Oh thank Celestia," I said. I put on my armor, saddlepacks, and battlesaddle. I led her outside and gave her a healing potion. Alph was going to town, wreaking havoc as she took on dozens of Red Eye's goons. I ran up and joined the fray.

It didn't take long to defeat them. Apparently Comedy was a really good shot with the Tundra Hawk. She had downed about seven thugs before she ran out of bullets. Alph and I dispatched the rest of them.

When the battle ended, there were dozens of dead or dying bodies littering the ground. I didn't take the time to loot. I took them straight to the inner complex. If we were going to find the Judge, we were going to do it now. As we approached I saw Red Eye once again standing flanked by two alicorn guards. I took out my plasma cutter and began to hack at the shields. They gave quickly.

When I was done, Comedy fired two more rounds and the alicorns fell. Red Eye looked very fearful. I switched my plasma cutter out for the hand and grabbed him by the throat. I burst through the door and held Red Eye in front of me as a body shield. The thugs inside lowered their weapons.

"Now," I said, "Since we are in a temporary cease fire, I'd like to know where the Judge is. If I don't get an answer, Red Eye here will longer have a head to speak with."

"Fine," Red Eye said in a grating voice, "The Judge is one of my lieutenants. He's based in a secret bunker inside Canterlot. But you'll never get there. And in advance, he sends his regards and consolations. He is deeply sorry about your child. But business is business."

"Oh is that so," I said, "Well then, looks like he'll lose his head first. Then i'm coming back for you. And while we are here, where is the Hydra? I know you have it."

"No," he said, "You cannot have that weapon. You know not of the power it wields."

I squeezed his neck, threatening to break it, "You'll find it in the armory!"

"Much obliged," I said. I pushed him towards the other ponies and ran to the armory. I made it through and barricaded the door. Now it was me, Comedy, and Alph in the armory. I looked around, trying to find the weapon in question. Then I saw it. The Hydra was sitting on a table. I took it and admired the sleek design of the rifle. It's barrel was very long and the clip size was massive. I grabbed as much ammo for the rifle as I could.

Banging on the doors, trying to get, were about a dozen or so thugs. I told comedy and Alph to get down. I aimed the rifle and when the ponies burst through, I fired. The explosive round sailed down the barrel, getting supercharged on the way by the magical energy crystals lining the barrel.

The round went through the first three ponies and exploded on the fourth. The massive explosion rocked the building. When the dust cleared, the ponies that had been standing there a second ago were just blood spatters and burning body parts.

"I think this will do nicely," I said.

Chapter 11: A Fitting Epitaph

I carefully removed the barrel from the rifle and put both pieces in my saddlepacks. We ran out and I burst through the door for the millionth time. I hopped on Mr. Guy.

"Alph, can you carry Comedy Gold?" I asked, "We need to get out of here, like now."

"Uh-maybe," she said.

"Good enough for me," I said, "Comedy, just don't look down."

I hoisted Comedy onto Alph's back, who appeared to be able to hold her weight.

"Now hol-!" she said. But Alph was already in the air. Comedy began to grow very afraid. Her eyes widened as she lifted off the ground.

"I do not approve of this!" shouted Comedy.

"Not now!" I said, "I'll draw their attention, just get out of Fillydelphia!"

Alph nodded and took off. Comedy was absolutely still, like a sack of scrap metal slung over Alph's back. I looked back and I paled. A group of griffin mercenaries were making their way to me. And fast.

"Mr. Guy," I said, "What's battery level?"

"Battery level is at 12% sir," he said, "Estimated flight time is 4.76 minutes."

"Shit," I said, "Shit, shit, shit!"

I jumped off Mr. Guy and brought out the Hydra again. I pushed a full clip in and fired several rounds at the griffins. The gun made huge metallic noises as it fired. They may have been able to dodge gunfire, but they certainly couldn't dodge explosions ten times the size of an incendiary grenade. Two were blown up on the first shot. The second shot went wide. The third shot killed five more. Now there were only eighteen and they had begun to shoot at me.

Luckily, they were using sub machine guns, so any of the few bullets that did hit me didn't do much but make me stumble a little. I pulled out the twin combat shotguns and attached them to my battle saddle. I reloaded the drums just as the griffins came up on me. The landed and surrounded me in a semi-circle. Time seemed to slow down as I fired the shotguns, one after the other, mowing down the griffins as if they were nothing. I got thirteen, but the others began to shoot. I was aware of two rifle rounds entering my chest. I stumbled, tears in my eye, but I continued firing.

Eventually, they managed to get me down. I was aware that I had been shot with maybe a dozen rifle rounds, and two hollow points. I was bleeding profusely and tears ran down my cheek from the pain. I managed to drink a healing potion before they handcuffed me. They knocked it out of my hand before I could drink the whole thing.

As my vision tunneled, I could see Red Eye walking up to me. He kicked me in the face and I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was in a cell. I sat up and checked my back. Not surprisingly my hooves were still there. There was an emergency protocol in the case that I go unconscious, it welds itself shut and all my metal plating tightens to prevent further injury. When I wake up, it cut's itself open again. However, my hand was gone. Just in case, I reached and put on the hydraulic hoof. It couldn't cut through the bars, but it was suited in case I were attacked.

I was aware I had a cell mate. He was burly and powerful. He eyed me down, as if wondering if he could take me. I fixed him with a glare, using my bionic eye to full advantage. He looked at the black socket and sat back down. I sat in the center of the cell and looked at the bars. They were too thick to bend. I decided on waiting.

So I sat there. And waited. For hours. Eventually a guard brought some gruel. I took the bowl and gulped it down in one fell swoop. The stallion behind me walked up and picked up his bowl. He sat and ate it without speaking.

And I waited again. I began to dismantle my bed, taking it apart and crafting it smaller and sturdier. When I was done, I took it apart again. This time I built a sculpture. It was the skeleton of a pony, minus the head. I dismantled it again and put it back together. I dismantled it again.

"Get up," I said turning to the stallion. He looked at me with a glare. I glared back. He got up and I dismantled his bed. Then I took my bed pieces and his, and made a bed that fit his body. I put both mattresses on it and he laid back on it without a word. I sat there. With nothing to do. I looked around the cell and found a window. I looked out the window and found nothing. It was just a wall.

"What's the purpose of a window if you can't see nothing?" I said aloud. I walked back and sat down again. I looked outside the cell and saw no pony else. I turned in for the night. The cell floor was hard, but I had slept in worse.

When I woke up again, there was banging on the cell door. I looked up to see somepony on the edge of my vision.

"You there, Black Eye?" said the figure.

"Eh?" I said without looking up, "What do you want?"

"I'm willing to get you out if you tell me something," said the pony.

"I'm listening," I said.

"Is it true that you're my father?" he asked. I shot up. Pushing myself to my hooves I looked at the pony. He was young, with a satchel and a cutlass. Why the hell would a pony wield a sword when guns were readily available? I didn't question it. He had a short mane, brown and his coat was tannish. I glanced at his flank to see his cutie mark. It was a knife crossed with a sword carving a piece of wood underneath them. No. It couldn't be. He was dead. It was impossible.

"Don't play games with me, boy," I said, "Who are you?"

"My name's Wood Whittle," he said.

I banged my hooves against the bars shouting, "NO! Wood Whittle is dead. Now who are you?"

He backed up. Then I looked into his eyes. They were an emerald green. The same color of Comedy's eyes.

"Woah," he said, "Cool it. If I'm going to get you out of here, you need to be quiet."

"Oh my Celestia, Luna, and the great stars above," I said, "It is you. But how? I watched you die."

"So you are my father then," he said. He produced a key and unlocked the door. I stepped out. I closed the door before the stallion could get up.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to help ponies?" he asked.

"No," I told Whittle, "I stopped helping ponies like him a long time ago."

I grabbed his hoof and we ran. He looked surprised as I ran.

"But if you're really my dad," he said, "Then why are you a cyber pony? They told me that my dad was a normal pony."

I stopped. "What's that supposed to mean? Who told you?"

"Red Eye," he said, "Who else?"

"Son," I said slowly looking into his eyes, "What is my name?"

"Hell if I know," he said with a shrug.

"Okay," I said rolling my head, my anger rising, "I'm going to have some serious words with that cock-sucking mother-bitch."

I began to run, Whittle close behind. I wanted to think that he really did remember me. But I had heard of Red Eye brain washing ponies and raising them to see his ideals. And I hated them all the more for it. Not with my flesh and blood. Not with my son. I began to run faster. I ran out into the hallway. I got to the staircase and ran up. It was nighttime, so most of the guards were sleeping.

When I got to the top, I began to trot to Red Eye's personal office. There were two alicorn guards. I stayed behind the wall and switched out for the plasma cutter. It sparked to life. I took a breath and ran up. They were the kind that held shields. They were holding their's pretty good. I slashed and hit the shields over and over until they shattered. A guard had seen me and now an alarm was blaring.

I burst through the door and saw Red Eye sitting at his desk. He saw me and almost choked on the scotch he was drinking.

"Don't you ever die!?" he said slamming his glass down.

I walked up to him and heaved the desk out of the way. I switched for the bladed hoof and pushed him against the wall. I slowly extended the blade to the tip of his neck.

"You're going to answer some questions," I said, "Then we'll see about letting you go."

I saw Red Eye looked behind me and give a small nod. I turned to see Wood Whittle swing his sword at my head. I blocked it with the blade and dropped Red Eye. I stepped back.

"Wood Whittle?" I asked, "Why?"

"Because he belongs to me now," said Red Eye, "He understands that the Wasteland is dying and he only wishes to help. Starting with eliminating you."

"No," I said, "No, you can brain wash my child, but you cannot make me fight him."

"I don't expect him to fight you," he said, "I expect one of you to die. By the hoof of the other. I asked him to free you and bring you here. So that you may fight."

"What kind of shit is this!?" I shouted at him, still wary of Wood Whittle. Red Eye didn't respond.

Whittle took a fighting stance, the sword in his mouth. I unconsciously extended the blade all the way. I stepped back and looked at it. I closed my eyes and switched it for the normal hoof.

"If I have to fight him, so be it," I said, "But I will not kill him."

Whittle lunged at me, a murderous look in his eyes. I sidestepped easily. He was no match for me. I gave him a shove on the back. He stumbled and got his balance back. He lunged at me again, savagely swinging his sword at my legs. I didn't even move. He had swung form the left. The sword harmlessly bounced off my metal leg. His head shook from the shock a little. I pressed a button on my leg as he tried to regain his senses. I backed up to the window.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" asked Red Eye, "You're supposed to fight him! Not let him corner you!"

"You know what?" I said, "FUCK YOU DUDE!" And with that, I jumped out the window. As I fell, I saw Mr. Guy come up underneath me. I landed hard. Mr. Guy dipped and I began to fly away from the complex. All the way out of Fillydelphia in fact.

It took me about an hour to find Comedy Gold. They were on the outskirts of Fillydelphia, no doubt waiting for me. They saw me coming in and began to whoop and cheer. I jumped off Mr. Guy before we even touched the ground. I ran up and hugged Comedy, then Alph.

"Oh I'm so glad you two are okay!" I said, "How long have you been here?"

"One day," said Alph.

"Oh, okay then," I said, not too happy about that. Just then I heard sparking coming from behind me. I turned around to see Mr. Guy sparking and twitching madly.

"Hey, hey, hey," I said running up to him, "Don't crap out on me, not now! System diagnostics."

"Systems failing," he said as he fell to the ground, "Spark batteries drained. Power level 0%."

"What about back up?" I said, feeling genuinely worried.

"Reserve power spent. Damage to central systems 87%. Chance of repair 0%," he said.

"How?" I said. Then I realized what had happened. He had used his remaining energy to get me to safety. He began to twitch again.

"No, no, no, no, no," I said. I reached into my bags, but I couldn't find any spark batteries. I checked my eye, then remembered it was also dead.

"Urgent!" he said, "One remaining notification!"

"What is it pal?" I said, "Systems not total failure? Still some back up power? Come on, tell me something good."

"Negative," he said.

"Come on, what is it?" I said, tears welling up in my eye.

"Y-you...You," he stammered.

"Come on, I'm listening," I said.

"You need to patch your earpiece," he said. Then he gave one last spark and powered down for good.

"Mr. Guy," I said. I picked him up and shook him. No response.

"Mr. Guy?" I said, my lower lip trembling and tears running freely down my cheek, "Come on buddy, wake up!"

I coughed and sputtered. I began to cry. He had been the only true friend I'd had in years. Sure he was just a machine, but he was more than that to me. He had always helped me up when I fell. He always healed me when I was in pain. And he had sacrificed himself to get me back to Comedy and Alph.

I cried over his mechanical body.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" I shouted into the ground, pounding it with a hoof, "IT'S NOT FAIR!" I kept shaking him and trying to repair him. Eventually Comedy walked over and put a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up and saw that tears were in her eyes as well. She embraced me. I continued to sob into her shoulder.

When I had stopped, I wiped my eyes free of tears. I looked at Mr. Guy. I felt something welling up inside of me. It wasn't pain. It wasn't sorrow. It was anger. Pure, unadulterated anger. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone, replaced by an empty hole in my heart. Mr. Guy was dead. I couldn't change that.

"We should bury him," I said, "I know it's a machine, but it's only fair to treat him like we would treat a pony."

Comedy nodded. I picked him up and we began to head back to my home.

I was so sad at the time, I hadn't even bothered stopping. I just kept walking until we got back to my home. I walked inside. I passed the workbench. The very bench I had built Mr. Guy on three months ago. Memories came flooding back.

I remembered when I had fallen over, trying to use my new leg. Mr. Guy had helped me to stand back up. I passed the kitchen. I had been shot by a lucky sniper. I managed to kill the sniper, but I was bleeding. And Mr. Guy had healed my wound. I got to the back door. I stepped outside. I opened a metal box and picked up the shovel next to it.

I walked over to the dead tree that was in the back of my house. I began to dig the hard dirt. I dug for hours, until I had a large hole. Comedy and Alph brought me the box, with Mr. Guy inside. They lowered him down. I filled in the hole. It was a measly burial at best, but it didn't matter. I took the shovel and carved his name in the dirt. I sighed, trying to hold back my tears again.

I stepped back and looked at Alph on my left and then Comedy on my right.

"We are gathered here today," said Comedy, "To mourn the loss of our dear Mr. Guy. He was more than a robot. He was a friend. A healer. He would always pick you up when you were down. Always help you find your way when you were lost. Mr. Guy, you will be missed."

I nodded. He was more than a robot. He was a friend. A fitting epitaph.

Chapter 12: Renewal

Two days. That's how long we waited. I had to gather my thoughts. Mr. Guy, our best asset and friend, is gone. Wood Whittle wants to kill me. My own fucking son wants to behead me with a rusty cutlass. What kind of bullshit is that? My eye was dead because I shot a giant death ray, which hurt like a motherfucker. I had killed countless ponies in Fillydelphia. First the slavers. Then the three in the pit. Maybe fifty of Red Eye's thugs. Then seventeen griffins. So what was my body count for the one day. A hundred? Maybe more?

I don't know. What's the point in this? Just because I had been blown up, I can go on a rampage and kill hundreds in the span of a week and half? Was that who I was becoming?

I remembered the boss of the White Sock Society. How I had pounded her to a pulp before Alph had stopped me. I killed her. And I didn't even bother with a name. I had killed her, indiscriminately, because she was a cannibal. I remembered Mr. Watts. How he'd taunted me with the notion that he had raped my wife. And I sentenced him to a slow death by being eaten by bugs. I wasn't a stallion anymore. I wasn't even a pony anymore. I had become insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity and awareness.

I was an arbiter. I had taken it upon myself to give out the death sentence because I had deemed it necessary. That was what I was becoming. A voice in my head told me it was for revenge. Another told me I was no better than a raider with a plan. The first told me it was necessary. The second told me not to embrace this path. The first said I was a vigilante. The second said I was a demon. Born in fire and raised by technology and magic, who was willingly killing for myself. The first s-

"No," I said aloud. Comedy looked at me.

"What?" she said.

"I'm not a monster," I said, "And I'm not a vigilante. I have let myself become a murderer, caught up in my own selfish desires. Well no more. From this point on, I will only kill if I cannot help but do so. Non-lethal."

Comedy nodded, without a word. Alph walked up.

"Too many ponies know you already," she said, "It would be bad if you came back and everypony thought of you as some big bad guy. We can start over. You've dropped off the map, so come back a hero."

"Yes," I said pointing to her, "Perfect, we have to change our names, become completely new ponies."

"Does that mean I'll have to be a pony all the time?" asked Alph.

"No, I don't think so," I said, "But me and Comedy have to assume different names. Like a pen name. I will be Swift Round. I was dis-honorably discharged from the Steel Rangers after I went AWOL to save a platoon. I sustained major injuries in the process of doing so, so I left, rebuilt my limbs and now I'm here."

"Hmm," said Comedy with a hoof to her chin. Then she came up with something, "I am Golden Dawn. I was a resident in a Stable, but was forced to leave because of several broken systems. Many of the other residents went another way, and I met with you."

"Okay good," I said, "Now we have to remember the stories, and we can't let anything slip about who we actually are. I think we can safely go out without drawing attention. When we need food or water, we have to find a trader. Steer clear of towns and cities as much as possible."

"Makes sense," said Comedy, "So where is the big bad guy?"

"No," I said, "We aren't going to find the Judge first. We have to go back to Fillydelphia."

"What!?" exclaimed Comedy, "After all this time, we're not even going after the Judge!? And on top of that we're going back to the place we just ran from?"

"No you don't understand," I said, but there was no stopping Comedy.

"I was chained to the ground in a shitty room underneath an arena," shouted Comedy, "And you want to go back?"

"Listen-"

"No you listen!" said Comedy, now very angry, "Going back there would be beyond counter-intuitive! It be flat out stupid!"

"They have Whittle!" I finally shouted. This made her stop.

"What?" she asked in a small voice.

"Red Eye has Wood Whittle," I said, "And we are going back to Fillydelphia."

Comedy's anger totally hit a wall. She teared up slightly and began to shake her head.

"No," she said, "Whittle is dead. He has to be. We watched him die."

"Tell that," I said swallowing, "To my son who tried to behead me."

"I-no, but-he," Comedy stuttered, "But he-he-why would he do that?"

"Red Eye brainwashed him, just like he did a lot of others," I said, "And we are going to Fillydelphia."

I had learned to read emotions pretty well. Comedy had begun to go through the five stages of grief. She had gone away from anger and bargaining. She had begun to sob. Alph walked up and comforted her. I did the same. She then went on to acceptance. I was almost surprised at how fast she had gone through these stages, and had completely skipped bargaining.

"Okay," said Comedy, "No. We're not going to Fillydelphia."

"What?" I said, "Why not?"

"We have to get the Judge," she said, "He's behind all this. I want to see him dead."

"But we can't just leave Whittle there," I argued.

"And who's responsible for Whittle being brainwashed?" she asked, "I don't know if you listen to the radio or not, but do you know who brainwashes ponies for Red Eye?"

"Oh no," I said with realization. Was the Judge really responsible?

"Yes," said Comedy, "Dj Pon3 often talks about Red Eye and how he has a henchman that brainwashes ponies into doing what he wants them to."

"Why can't anything be easy?" I said picking my saddlepacks and battle saddle, "Saddle up. We're going to Canterlot."

It felt different without Mr. Guy. Like something was missing from the world. I shook my head. No use crying over spilled Sparkle Cola. We pressed on, coming across nothing in about an hour. Then we heard gunshots. It was a familiar sound, but something was off. They sounded like they were lasers. Audible charging sounds and discharges were the only return fire. I got to the top of a hill and looked on in bewilderment. A lone buck was absolutely dominating the battlefield.

He was stout, and almost as tall as me. He wore some kind of armor. It didn't look very effective since it only wrapped around his legs and a small amount covering his body and neck. Yet somehow, he was taking bullets like they were nothing. A sniper shoots him in the leg. He only stumbles before shooting a small beam of energy in an arc, slicing off the sniper's head.

He was bouncing all over the battlefield using boots that shot fire like rockets and dealing crippling blows. I pulled out the Tundra Hawk and tried to use the targeting computer. TAC I had started to call it. Only then did I remember that my eye was dead. I grumbled and aimed at one of the raiders. Luckily, my marksmanship was still on point and the raiders head exploded.

I charged in, firing rounds off and killing two more raiders. The buck saw me coming in and hid for some reason. I quickly dispatched of the other raiders. I looked around, trying to find where the buck had gone. Eventually I found him, but he caught me off guard and punched me in the chest. I stumbled back, stunned.

He came at me again, but this time I was ready. He threw kicks and punches and I managed to dodge them all, but he was incredibly quick. He jumped over my head and landed with a thud. I whipped around just to get bucked in the face. I stalked back, checking to see if I was bleeding. Sure enough, there was a steady stream of blood running down my possibly broken nose.

"Big mistake," I said in a low voice. I stayed where I was and when he came up on me, I drew the Tundra Hawk quicker than he could move and fired. The bullet caught him right in his armor, almost piercing it and punched him back a few feet. I ran and slid, kicking upward. My back hoof got him right in the neck.

He fell to the ground, choking, his trachea surely collapsed. I ran forward and quickly poured a healing potion down his mouth. He began to stop choking as his neck inflated a bit where I had kicked him and slowly healed.

"Hold on now," I said, "You're not about to go and die on me."

"Okay," he rasped, "Sorry."

"No, don't be," I said, "I probably scared you."

He only nodded.

"Hey kid," I said, "What's your name?"

"Circuitry," he said, "My name's Circuitry."

I nodded and helped him to his hooves. "Name's Swift Round kid," I said, "And now you can probably tell why."

"Yeah," he said with a chuckle, "You pack quite the punch in those legs of yours."

"It's okay guys!" I shouted over the hill, "It's safe!"

Comedy and Alph poked their heads up. They noticed the dead raiders and came over. Comedy didn't even bother saying hello before she began to loot the raiders. Alph on the other head ran straight up to Circuitry.

"Hello!" she said jumping up and down, "New friend!"

She morphed into him and began to imitate him. Circuitry just stared at her.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Well ex-cuse a-me!" said Alph, "I am not an it. I am a lady! And if you like your teeth, you'll remember that."

"Alph, he means what species are you," Comedy spoke up.

"Oh," said Alph, "In that case, I am a Changeling! An Alpha."

Circuitry looked no less confused. I helped Comedy loot the raiders, finding nothing of interest. Then I found the fission battery.

"Oh hello beautiful!" I said.

"Yes dear?" asked Comedy innocently, "I believe you said my name?"

I chuckled and put in the fission battery. It was fully charged. I switched on my eye, feeling relief. Now I could scan whatever the hell Circuitry was wearing. I turned around and examined his suit. I read the diagnostics and breakdown of what it was. My jaw dropped.

"Hey Circuitry," I said walking up to him, "Where did you get that suit?"

"Oh," he said, "The exo? I found it in an old research building. It's just a prototype, but it works pretty good."

"How long have you had it?" I asked, backing away from him.

"A few weeks, why?" he asked.

"Take it off," I said, "Take it off right now."

"What, why?" he asked incredulously.

"Trust me, get it off," I said, "That suit is a walking time bomb right now."

"WHAT!?" he shouted. He rounded on me. "What do you mean it's a time bomb!?"

"Just take it off and I'll show you," I said. He quickly unlatched himself from the exo suit. I walked up and carefully pressed a button. The suit's center piece slowly slid open. Inside was a swirling ball of fire as bright as the sun.

"What...is...that?" he asked, completely dumbfounded.

"The suit's power source," I said, "It's the soul equivalent of a Balefire bomb exploding, except harnessed as a power source. This thing went volatile as soon as you put it on. It's a wonder you didn't wipe yourself off the map."

I began to tinker with it. I was sweating profusely from the heat and nerve. I managed to take out the power source. It didn't burn as brightly now. I gently laid it on the ground and began to take scrap metal from the raiders. Alph, Comedy, and Circuitry stood absolutely still. I used the scrap metal, as well as my tools to fix it so that the suit could handle the power source. It had degraded very quickly. Another day or two, and the thing would have sent two square miles up in smoke.

I put the power source back in. The center piece closed and the suit glowed brightly. I looked it up and down with the diagnostics from my eyepiece telling me that the suit was no longer volatile.

"Okay," I said, "It should be safe now."

Circuitry cautiously got back inside. He flexed the suit and launched himself into the air. He hovered for a second before gently floating back down.

"Say," I said, a thought entering my mind, "How about you come with us? We could use another good fighter."

"I don't see why not," he replied, "You saved my life. I guess I should return the favor."

I nodded. Night was falling. I moved the bodies of the raiders into a ditch over the hill. I started a fire, rolled out my sleep mat and laid down. Comedy was cooking something, but I wasn't really hungry. Eventually, I nodded off and went to sleep.

Chapter 13: The Nightmare Child

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