Cannerlands

"What are we doing with our lives? Seriously Celestia. Can you even look me in the eye and say we're doing things for the best of Equestria anymore? Or are just doing things that benefit you? I..." Twilight paused, looking over her shoulder in her little booth. The entire room smelled of cigar smoke, something Twilight wish she never learned the existence of. It was a foul odor that stuck with you long after you leave. She hated it.

She was in a 'restaurant' that served only meat entrees to an Equestrian based society, whom of which primary diet consisted of plants. Plants! Not cow and chicken, raised to slaughter for consumption. Twilight was seething since she set hoof in Bottom Drop Alley. It was a small little town located in a cavern that seemed to have been created by a natural earth quake. The only reliable light source was the crack in the earth above them. At night, they would light anything they could find on fire in this forsaken place.

With nothing to eat, she was forced to order the least repulsive thing on the menu, a basket of fried potato strips. When they finally arrived, Twilight could just see the heart attack in front of her. Nothing was pure here. Everything was corrupted to the point that she thought she was transported to another planet separate from her own. "You should really try the bacon burger. That's good stuff," A voice from behind her came and sat down across from her. Twilight was able to find a 'companion' of sorts who was on his way to place called Bordertown. She hoped it was much more respectable than this dump.

The lights were dim in this restaurant and each booth had an optional patchwork curtain that you could pull to hide your booth from sight. Twilight's mind shuddered, trying not to think about what that was trying to imply for their customers. "Hey, you okay Twilight?"

"No! I am not okay!" Twilight fidgeted with the little metal rod attached to her head, hanging from her ear. Her companion told her that it was a HAYS device, designed to keep in touch with the sane ponies around and guide your way through the wasteland. Twilight should have denied the device, but she needed to know more about the Cannerlands. From the pure disgust and filth she has seen out here, there has to be something she can do to help these poor ponies live better lives.

"Hey," Her companion got out of his seat and sat next to Twilight, wrapping an arm around her, trying soothe her and stop her from violently shaking. "Everything will be alright. There's nothing much a lone unicorn can do..."

"A lone unicorn could stop enslaving other ponies..." She bit back scathingly. Her companion bit his lip.

"I only five ponies under my hoof right now. Ponies who are coming to the Cannerlands for vile purposes already. I'm trying to fight the good fight here..."

"There's a right way to do it, and a wrong way to do it Stock," Twilight turned to her companion and looked him dead in the eyes. He felt his spine go rigid. That stare, something was magical about this unicorn, and no duh not that kind of magic. Stock felt... not like a scumbag around her. And it felt nice. Twilight sighed, taking a fry a tossing it into her mouth. It was too salty. It was too greasy. It felt just right in this kind of place.

"And what do you suggest we do?" Stock seperated from Twilight, giving her some room to look at him. "Be heroes? Invade the Wound Lickers headquarters at the edge of town?" Twilight tried to hold herself steady. Wound Lickers. She witnessed a horrible event where dark alicorn magic consumed her heart for just a moment. Three crudely dressed ponies in barbs and padding were antagonizing a mother and daughter. Hoping that was the extent, Twilight was dead wrong. That was foreplay for what was going to happen next, if Twilight didn't step in.

This entire town was scared of the Wound Lickers. And no pony could do anything against them. Twilight was told of a time when they tried to fight back. Most of them got captured, raped, tortured, killed, and then put on display in front of the hideout. She could run in and probably cast a spell, wiping the place out, but that would kill whatever innocent pony was in there left. She was an alicorn with incredible power, but she wasn't invincible. "It's better than doing nothing..." Twilight fought back feebly.

"And what? Die? No Twilight. Every war is won strategically. If an entire town can't kill those ponies, what makes you think two ponies will make a difference?" Stock wiped his eyes and adjusted his mane. "Trust me Twilight, it would be a suicide mission with just two ponies,"

Twilight felt her stomach twist. Stock was right. She has never felt more helpless in her life. What chance did two ponies have against an army of bloodthirsty cannibals?