Fallout: Equestria - Fall of a Hero

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Chapter 1

I was dead on my hooves.

I could barely stand up; the workbench seemed to swim before me. Velvet Remedy was by my side though, encouraging me gently. Her attitude seemed to have completely changed after I mentioned the children. I was surprised but unquestioningly pleased.

“It’s okay. You can do it. Just focus.”

I nodded to Velvet’s voice as I wonderglued the pieces of seemingly random junk into a potent hoof-made weapon. “There… it just needs to dry now.”

Velvet Remedy nodded and gave me a little nuzzle. “Your heart is always in the right place, Littlepip.” She backed up, giving me a sad smile. “Your mind maybe not so much. But I’ve learned to believe in your heart…” She looked down, scuffing the floor with her hoof. “I do care about you, you know.”

I felt my heart flutter and my head swim. What was this? This wasn’t her trying to hurt Calamity. Was she coming on to me? After pushing me towards Homage yesterday? No… I had to be reading this wrong.

I looked away, aching because I knew Homage was so close. My eyes caught a bit of red in the far corner under a blanket. “Hey…uh… Velvet, is that your wagon?” I asked, suspecting she had left it up here the morning before. I pictured Homage finding it and carefully setting it aside, even covering it... although I couldn’t remember Velvet bringing it in the first place.

I looked to her again, and the thought left me. She looked beautiful and heart achingly sad. Her eyes were glistening again, but she changed the subject. “How long?” she deflected, glancing again at the dart gun.

“Oh, wonderglue is…” I searched for a good word and failed. “Wondrous. No time at all. Hell, it’s probably ready now.”

“You have all the darts you need?”

“Only should need one.” Although, I had to admit, I’d need a few dozen in the state I was in. I would be lucky to hit a barn door.

“Let me see,” Velvet cooed. I floated out one of my poisoned darts and set it into the dart gun. Velvet Remedy wrapped her telekinesis around it and lifted it to her eye, checking the alignment. It occurred to me that a non-lethal weapon like the dart gun should hold quite the appeal for my more pacifistic friend.

I remembered my earlier worries. How much would Velvet Remedy benefit, psychologically and spiritually, from being able to handle enemies without further soaking her own hooves in blood and death? Dammit, why didn’t I think of this before?

I turned to her, the promise to make her a dart gun of her own wet on my lips. And froze in bewilderment. Velvet Remedy had the dart gun pointed right at me. Didn’t she know that wasn’t safe?

Thwap!

Ow! I opened my mouth, words of surprise frozen on my tongue.

Velvet Remedy shed a tear as she said, “I’m sorry, Littlepip.”

What…. What was happening?

Velvet Remedy’s horn glowed a little brighter. I heard the squeaking as the small red wagon rolled over, stopping behind me. Velvet Remedy stepped closer and gave me a gentle nudge with one hoof, tipping my paralyzed body onto the wagon.

She’d shot me on purpose!

As Velvet Remedy floated the blanket over me, covering my body, I swore I’d kill her.

“She’s gone!”

Calamity still remembered it like if it was yesterday. He had been in Doctor Helpinghoof’s office, waiting for Velvet Remedy with the unconscious Littlepip in tow to arrive. Even though the doctor had told him several times that there was nothing he and Velvet could do help either him or Littlepip during the process, he had insisted on staying in the doctor’s office and with his friend until the procedure was over.

At least, this had been the plan.

He had known that something must have gone horribly wrong when Velvet had burst through the door half an hour late, drenched in sweat, eyes wide in horror, and repeated the same thing over and over again. “She’s gone! She’s … gone! I … I can’t believe she’s … she’s…”

Then she had collapsed, breaking into a sobbing heap right in front of Calamity’s and Helpinghoof’s eyes, blubbering, cursing herself, Littlepip, and this whole, messed-up world.

Three years had passed since then, and the two still knew just as little about the circumstances of Littlepip’s disappearance as they knew about her current whereabouts.

Between crying, blaming herself for the loss of their friend and cursing her own stupidity, Velvet Remedy had tried to explain to Calamity how it had been possible for her to lose Littlepip in the first place. After all, she was sure that she hadn’t taken her eyes off their unconscious friend for longer than five minutes – and even then only because two guards from Tenpony Tower had stopped her when she was halfway to Doctor Helpinghoof’s office.

They had –justifiably- been alerted by the unconscious body Velvet had in tow, and had insisted on her coming with them to be questioned; only after telling them the whole story behind her friend’s drug addiction, and only with some serious persuasion had she been able to keep the guards from arresting her for further examination.

However, when she had left the guards’ bureau –they hadn’t allowed her to take her unconscious friend with inside- she had noticed with horror that her red wagon was empty, and that Littlepip was gone – without a trace, it seemed.

Despite months of combing through seemingly every inch of the wasteland, despite a comprehensive search-campaign led by Homage as DJ-Pon3, and despite a search that almost compared to a hunt, seeming to get more desperate every day, Littlepip remained missing; lost without a trace – it was as if she had vanished off the face of Equestria.

That is, until today.

Possibly.

“Are you sure about this, Calamity?” Velvet Remedy asked cautiously, a touch of worry in her voice, “What if this is just another misunderstanding?”

The rust-colored pegasus cowering on the ground next to her replied nothing, his stern look focused on what lay ahead of them.

“I mean,” Velvet Remedy continued, “I want to find Littlepip just as badly as you, but what if this turns out to be just another raider’s nest? Don’t you think we’ve seen enough…” she had to cut herself off to swallow, “dead and dismembered bodies? I appreciate ponies trying to help us find her, but these hints we’re getting just keep getting more and more vague. What if this one turns out to be a prank too?”

“Then we’re gonna move on. An’ keep searching.” Calamity replied coldly. “She is somewhere out there, an’ Ah’ll be damned if Ah give up searchin’ before Ah find her.” Then, after a short pause, “Or at least her body.”

Velvet Remedy sighed heavily, giving her friend a pleading glance. “I know. And I … I understand your determination, but…” she wanted to end it there, but as her friend just replied with a raised eyebrow, she forced herself to continue, “We can’t spend the rest of our lives searching for her! We can't-“

“Why not?” Calamity cut her off sharply. “Why can’t we?” Before Velvet Remedy could reply, he proceeded, “She’s mah friend, Velvet. Heck, she’s like family for me.” He paused for a second, letting his words sink in, “If one of our friends suddenly disappears that’s a horrible thing, but if we can just shrug it off an’ say ‘Tough Luck.’ then that’s even more horrible if ya ask me.”

“I know, and she was my friend too, Calamity.” Velvet countered, “But what I am trying to say is: there still is a wasteland out there! There still is a long way to go to make this world a better place.”

“And?” Calamity asked skeptically.

“And we can’t do anything to make it a better place if we keep running from settlement to settlement searching for Littlepip just to end up finding another unicorn mare that roughly matches Littlepip’s description.” Velvet said emphatically. “Think about it: if she were still here, do you think she would want us to spend each and every sort of resources on finding her, or do you think she would want us to continue fighting her fight, and make this world a better one.”

Her words faded away, and a long period of silence followed.

Calamity said nothing for a while, just looking Velvet Remedy in the eyes, before he slowly turned his head back and his look went back to the buildings in front of them. Reaching over his shoulder, he opened a dust brown saddlebag fixed to the back end of his battle saddle and pulled out a set of binoculars, looking through them back at their destination.

Finally, after another moment of silence, he spoke up again. “Ponies say they’ve seen a short unicorn mare with some sorta device on her foreleg around here.” He explained calmly without lowering the binoculars. “Ah dunno ‘bout you, but that’s reason enough for me to go in there and see if it’s our unicorn mare.”

Velvet Remedy drew a breath to protest, but then cut herself off, thinking about what Calamity had just said. True, that ‘device’ could be just about any sort of device, and there certainly wasn’t a lack of short unicorn mares in the wasteland, but somehow … she couldn’t put her hoof on it, and maybe it was just hope induced by despair that made her think this way, but somehow this one sounded a little more promising than most of the other hints they had gotten before.

Then again, they had received hundreds, if not thousands of these, and so far none of them had ended up leading them to their lost friend.

“Ya don’t need to come with me if ya don’t want to.” Calamity continued, calmly, but with determination, “But until Ah know that this one’s a dead end too, Ah can’t just ignore it.”

Turning her head back, Velvet gave a defeated sigh. Then, after a moment of silence, said, “I know.” Determination now also swinging in her voice, she added, “And I won’t let you go in there.” Calamity lowered the binoculars, turning his head to give her a questioning look.

“Not alone.” She declared, forcing an encouraging smile onto her face, “I am with you. For better or worse.” She took in a short breath of the mild evening air, then got to her hooves, “Let’s go.”

“Easy there.” Calamity said, getting to his hooves as well, grabbing the charcoal unicorn by her tail and pulling her back down, gaining a startled shriek from her. “We can’t go. Not yet.” He explained, lifting his binoculars and offering them to Velvet Remedy who, after a moment of looking at him confused and with a light blush on her face, lifted it with her magic and levitated it over to her face.

Through the binoculars, the complex of buildings looked even more impressive: in a valley ahead of them was what looked like a prison from pre-war times: a brutalist gray building that looked like it had been carved from a single block of concrete, surrounded by two rows of ten feet-tall barbwire fence from three sides, with four watchtowers forming the corners, making for a rectangle about a hundred yards on each side.

Facing the two ponies was the building's front: adorned by nothing but a heavy-looking metal door and a handful of small, slot-like windows, it indeed revealed the complex to be the ‘Misty Hills Correctional Facility’ which was written above the entrance door in faded black paint.

Within the limits of the high-security fence was another, smaller building, some random junk lying about, as well as several spots where the ground had been ploughed to reveal the brown soil underneath – something Velvet had last seen in the apple orchards back in Stable Two.

“Fields?” she asked herself, slightly confused, until she saw the dozens of ponies on the fields. While she certainly wasn’t an expert on wasteland-related topics, she had seen enough to know just what sort of ponies these ones were: if their empty, hopeless looks hadn’t given them away, Velvet would have recognized them from their malnourished bodies or –if nothing else- from the thick, black bomb collars around their necks.

“Slaves.” She noted sadly; then, with new hope, “Do you think Littlepip might be under them?”

“Ayep.” Calamity replied curtly, “That’s what Ah was thinkin’. But they ain’t the reason why we can’t go in there yet. Look at the watchtowers.” He said and directed her gaze into the right direction.

Indeed, aside from two big spotlights, each of the watchtowers also had two ponies on it – ponies carrying guns and armor, who didn’t look like they were too keen on letting intruders in.

Slowly, Velvet Remedy lowered the binoculars again, nodding her head. “I see…” she muttered, “So … I take it we should wait until the sun has set, right?”

“Ayep.” Calamity confirmed, nodding his head, “Ah’d say we wait till it’s dark an’ then sneak inside. No point in runnin' in there an' risking our lives till we know that she’s actually here.”

"Right.” Velvet Remedy agreed slowly, nodding as well, feeling new hope kindling in her heart. “Do … do you think we might actually find her this time?”

“Ah certainly hope so.” Calamity said, looking at his friend, then back at the complex, “Ain’t much else we can do anyway, right?”

“Somethin’s wrong here.”

Calamity could feel the hairs on his back stand on edge as the two left a narrow hallway and stepped into what must have once been the prison’s entrance hall.

His original plan had been to fly himself and Velvet Remedy over the fence surrounding the complex and enter the main building through the back door – it just seemed like common sense that the back entrance to a slaver’s nest wouldn’t be as heavily guarded as the main entrance.

However, after Velvet Remedy had pointed out that –due to the height of the fence and the positioning of the watchtowers- flying over it would bring them dangerously close to the guards who were still keeping watch from the towers and thus increase their chance to get caught right away.

Instead she had proposed to give the main entrance a try first – after all, it seemed to not be guarded at all, and the main building made for a small but noticeable blind spot, out of the guards’ line of sight.

The two had waited until the sun had set completely, using the cover of darkness to sneak up to the building. Maybe their sneaking-skills had increased noticeably, maybe they just had a lot of Celestia-damned luck, but they had managed to reach the front entrance without being noticed by any of the guards on the towers, and the door had not been guarded at all – the slavers probably saw the guards on the towers as sufficient during nighttime.

However, Calamity had become suspicious when they had arrived at the entrance door: while it was heavy, rusty, and appropriately hard to pry open, both, the doorlock that had been manufactured into the door as well as a heavy padlock that –from what it looked like- had been mounted on the door after the war were unlocked, making it almost too easy for the two to break into the former prison.

Even though -speaking from experience- Calamity had somehow expected to be met with a bullet-storm as they had entered the building, they had seen … nothing. No guards, no slavers, no turrets. It was as if the whole building had been abandoned years ago.

The door had led into a narrow, darkened corridor, leading them through a set of two heavy barred doors that were standing wide open, until it opened into the hall they were standing in right now.

From what it looked like, this might have once been the prison’s visitor center – broken, toppled tables were laying in the corners, a few deserted chairs were standing here and there, and motivational pictures and quotes had been painted on the walls – most of which had been repainted with obscene graffitis by now.

Nowadays it seemed the hall was used as some sort of common area for the slavers, as a set of old sofas and tables with playing cards on them suggested.

However, to their surprise, there was nopony here. Sure, it was nighttime and most of the slavers and slaves probably were asleep by now, but Calamity would have expected some sort of resistance – maybe a night guard, or at least a turret.

But there was nothing. If it hadn’t been for what they had seen earlier this day, he would have thought the place had been abandoned entirely.

A voice in his head had been shouting at him ever since they had set hoof into the building, warning him that this couldn't be a coincidence; that the unlocked door and the complete absence of guards were all signs indicating that him and Velvet were walking right into an ambush set up by the slavers.

The voice of reason in his head was telling him to turn around and bring himself into safety, but he knew that there was no other way: if they wanted to see if Littlepip was under the slaves kept here, they had to get an image of all the slaves, and it was clear that there would be no better chance to do so than now, during the night.

Shaking his head to drown out his reservations, Calamity stopped in the middle of the room and reached into his saddlebag again, this time pulling out a small flashlight that created a small, yellow-ish cone of light and looking around the room, looking for clues on where to start searching.

Velvet Remedy caught up with him a few seconds later, stopping next to him and letting her gaze wander throughout the room.

Aside from a set of doors that –according to the signs on them- would lead them to the building’s toilets, and another door that –based on the smell coming from its general direction- would lead to the actual toilets, the room didn’t have too much to offer – at least in terms of what they were looking for.

“Where should we start looking?” Velvet whispered after a moment, leaning closer to Calamity so as to cause as little noise as possible. Her look fell onto a metal door at the other side of the room, barely recognizable as such in the twilight the room was in.

“Look.” She whispered, pointing a hoof into the direction of the door, “I think this one leads into the backyard. Maybe the slaves are accomodated in that other building.”

Carrying the flashlight in his mouth, Calamity was unable to speak, but gave a muffled sound of disapproval and shook his head.

Slightly confused, Velvet Remedy turned her head to look at her friend, noticing only now that he had turned around and was pointing his flashlight at a door right next to the one they had come through. A mutilated metal sign on the wall next to it read ‘HOLDING CELLS’ and a thick arrow pointing downwards.

“Oh.” Velvet replied with an intrigued nod of her head, wondering how she could have missed the door when she had been looking around earlier.

“Ah say we check down there first.” Calamity whispered with some difficulties due to the flashlight in his mouth, “Seems like the best bet.”

Velvet just nodded in agreement, not wanting to talk more than necessary.

“Ah’ll go ahead.” Calamity clarified, “Stay close to me.”

Again, Velvet nodded, and the two ponies started walking towards the dark doorframe; the set of stairs that lay behind it led the two one floor below ground, and into a hall at least three times as big as the one above.

“Jackpot.” Calamity would have said if he hadn’t been carrying the flashlight in his mouth. He and Velvet were standing on a balcony that encircled the room's entire upper floor; a set of metal stairs in front of them would lead them to the bottom of the basement, where –in the middle of the room- a hole of about ten yards in diameter had been dug into the ground and covered with a cage of chainlink fence. A full set of neon lamps, including three big spotlights were fixed to the ceiling, but were all turned off, so that a few rows of emergency lamps on the walls were the only thing saving the hall from complete darkness.

However, neither of the two had eyes for this in that moment: on the level of the balcony they were standing on, as well as on the ground level, the walls were filled with prison cells, all filed with sleeping ponies – most likely slaves.

Calamity and Velvet Remedy turned to face each other with meaningful looks, then nodded almost simultaneously.

“Ah’ll check the lower cells. You stay up here.” Calamity said, storing his flashlight back in his saddlebag now that minimum lightning was provided.

Again, Velvet nodded in agreement, and the two ponies split up, Calamity walking down the stairs, careful, so as to not wake up anyone and maybe trigger an alarm, while Velvet started walking past the holding cells on her level, looking inside to see if the pony they were looking for was under the prisoners.

“She’s not on the upper level.” Velvet Remedy concluded resignedly as she approached Calamity from behind. The pegasus was standing in front of one of the lower holding cells like petrified, looking inside with a deadpan look.

“Have you found her?” Velvet asked with just a touch of new hope in her voice.

Slowly, reluctantly, Calamity shook his head, and his eyes trailed off to the ground. Slightly confused, Velvet now looked into the cell as well – and could feel her shoulders sink.

Laying on a metal plank bed that was lined with the smallest bit of moldy hay was a short mare. A short unicorn mare. A short unicorn mare with a device on her foreleg that –without a doubt- was a pipbuck.

Only that it wasn’t Littlepip.

The mare’s features seemed completely different to those from their friend – her body was a little more buff, her mane and fur had entirely different colors, and her cutie mark –barely visible in the nightly twilight- was a picture of a rusty cog wheel instead of a PipBuck.

Velvet Remedy could feel herself sink to her haunches as the integrity of things caught up with her, and she tasted bile in the back of her throat: another failure; another opportunity gone bust.

She could hear Calamity growling next to her. “It’s not her.” He hissed, “It’s not her!” In his anger, he shouted out a curse, giving the cell door a strong blow with his off. “Fuck!”

“Careful.” Velvet warned him. While she could understand his frustration –she was no less frustrated after all- she also knew that they were still intruding somewhere and thus had to keep their noise level reduced to a minimum. “Somepony might hear us.”

As if by command, the mare on the plank bed let out a muffled groan, before slowly lifting her head. “W-what?” she asked with half-open eyes, “Who are you?”

“Damnit!” Calamity cussed, ignoring her and turning away from the cell, “Fucking damnit! Ah was sure we had her this time!”

“Calamity please!” Velvet begged, making sure to keep her voice low, “If we keep making noise, we will get caught! I know that you’re disappointed, but we can’t-“

Suddenly, with a click, followed by a soft whirr, the lamps on the ceiling came to life. The formerly dusky hall now was completely enlightened, and the spotlights, focused on Calamity and Velvet Remedy, left the two as exposed as a deer in the headlights.

Simultaneously, their heads shot up, and just as simultaneously, their jaws dropped.

The entire balcony on the upper level was filled with at least two dozen ponies – slavers, most certainly. Weapons ready and pointed at the intruders, mouths grinning with wicked smiles, eyes looking the two over with gazes like those of hungry predators, they were standing there, ready to shoot the two to pieces at a moment's notice.

Taking in a deep breath and suppressing a curse, Calamity focused, trying to come up with a way out.

To his surprise, the slavers hadn’t started shooting yet. For now they were just standing still, eyeing them with superior glares. They knew about their superiority, and wanted to let them know it too.

Slowly, Calamity leaned over to Velvet who was looking at the armed ponies like petrified.

“On the count of three, we’ll run over to the stairs and seek cover behind ‘em. You go ahead, Ah’ll cover you.” He muttered into her direction.

The charcoal unicorn replied nothing, seemingly unable to look away from the hordes of ponies above their heads.

“Understood?” Calamity asked carefully.

While she still seemed to have some trouble moving, Velvet slowly nodded her head, her eyes finally leaving the slavers and drifting over to the set of stairs.

“Alright then.” Calamity said, drawing in a long breath, “One…”

Slowly, reluctantly, Velvet turned around to face the stairs, tensing her legs.

“Two…”

Calamity grabbed the mouthpiece of his battle saddle, eyeing the mass of enemies. He would have to seek out and take down the ones with assault rifles first, as those would pose a bigger immediate threat than those equipped with shotguns and combat knives.

Having his eyes locked on his first set of targets, he lowered his body into a crouch, tensing each and every muscles in his body to the maximum.

“Three!”

...

Nothing.

It took Calamity’s mind less than a second to figure out what was going on, but even that second felt like a whole eternity to him. The whole world seemed to stand still: Velvet wasn’t running; the slavers weren’t shooting - he was doing neither.

He couldn’t move. Not by an inch. The slavers above them were laughing at their misery, cheering in delight, but –thank Celestia- not shooting them.

It was by then that Calamity noticed an aura of green magic around his and Velvet Remedy’s body. Seconds later he felt himself torn away from the ground and up into the air, leaving him hovering several feet above the ground.

He felt his heart pound, the sensation of flying without using his wings something he had never experienced before, and the instinct to struggle and break himself free from whatever was holding him in place overwhelming every other thought.

But the magic aura around him didn’t give in, and he could have sworn that the more he struggled against it, the tighter it would get, only adding to his primal rage and frustration.

From the corner of his eye, he saw that Velvet Remedy had suffered the same fate, her eyes wide with shock as she floated mid-air next to him, unable to move as well as she was engulfed by the magic green aura.

Once again, nothing happened; the world seemed to stand still for just a moment, then a voice cut through the room, drowning out the laughter of the slavers who altogether silenced abruptly.

“Well, what do we have here?” Calamity’s ears perked up as he heard the voice – that is, they would have, if he had been able to move.

This voice, it sounded familiar. Awfully familiar.

The raiders on the top end of the stairs stepped aside, and past them walked a single pony – the leader of the pack, based on the serious, respectful looks on the slavers' faces.

The pony slowly walked towards the stairs, then stopped, lifted her head, and looked at the two immobilized ponies; a grin crept onto her face.

Calamity was sure, even with the magic aura still holding his body in place, his jaw dropped by at least two inches as he saw her.

Velvet Remedy’s heart must have stopped for a second as she saw her.

Littlepip!

She was here! They had finally found her! Their friend was back!

These were the thoughts shooting through her head in the first couple of seconds. But her optimism was short-lived: after keeping her look focussed on the pony for a few more seconds, she could feel her heart sink again.

No, this wasn’t Littlepip.

This mare was dressed in heavy raider armor; her mane was militarily short, unkempt and done in a steep sidecut, and her eyes were cold, showing no signs of the fire and the determination she had seen in those of her friend.

Besides, looking at the integrity of things, it was clear that this mare could not be Littlepip: obviously, she was working with the slavers that had ambushed them! And looking at her brightly gleaming horn, it was her who was holding Velvet Remedy and Calamity in place.

But who was this mare, then? Her eyes, her mane, and those parts of her fur that weren’t covered by her armor did make her look like a perfect copy of Littlepip, and even in height she did come amazingly close to their friend.

A distant relative, maybe? A long-lost twin? Or a clone?

Velvet Remedy had to admit that none of these possibilities sounded particularly likely, but anything else would mean…

“Intruders, huh?” Velvet didn’t have time to finish that thought, as the pony spoke up again. Her words sent a shiver through Velvet’s body: even her voice sounded exactly like that of their friend.

Slowly, as if she were enjoying every step, the slaver mare walked down the stairs, her look constantly focused on the two ponies floating above her head; a group of slavers followed shortly after her, weapons at the ready.

“You sure look familiar…” she said, eyeing the two closely, “I could swear I had friends like you once.” she paused for a second, then her eyes narrowed and her features hardened, “Until they betrayed me!” she snarled; the magic aura around her horn vanished, and her two captives fell to the ground. Calamity, his instincts kicking in in the nick of time, was able to spread his wings and soften his fall at least a little bit, but Velvet Remedy crashed into the ground at full speed, letting out a pained groan as she struggled to get to her hooves.

“Velvet!” Calamity shouted appalled and wanted to run over to her, but was stopped as the green aura came to life again, holding the two ponies in place.

Littlepip walked over to Calamity and looked at him for a long moment, seeming to contemplate something, but then shook her head, turned her head towards the slavers behind her and said, “Get him out of my sight.”

Promptly, four slavers –three stallions and a mare- stepped from behind their leader and walked towards the still immobilized Calamity. The pegasus’ eyes widened and he prepared to fight as soon as Littlepip would release him from her magic, but he was hit with a wave of disillusionment as one of the slavers pulled out a syringe with a reddish fluid in it, and he could only watch helplessly as they walked up to him and rammed it into his shoulder.

It must have hit a vein, as the effects were immediate: within a few seconds, Calamity could feel his eyelids getting heavier, his legs getting weaker, and despite his fierce determination to resist whatever the slavers had in mind for him, he collapsed to the floor as the magic aura holding him in place vanished just a few seconds later, his eyes failing him as they drifted close and he lost consciousness.

Velvet Remedy could feel her heart in her mouth as she saw the body of her friend hitting the floor, before being picked up and carried away by the group of slavers. Her eyes were wide, breathing stifled. She didn’t remember when she had last felt this furious; maybe never. Even though her body still wasn’t moving and she could barely blink, she swore these ponies would pay for this! She would … she would break free and make them-

Her thoughts came to a halt as the leader of the slavers now walked up to her. Her eyes were cold and as emotionless as before, but the cold grin on her face didn’t bode well.

She stopped in front of Velvet who was still sitting on the ground, and looked her over.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” she said calmly, never breaking eye contact with Velvet Remedy, “Last time I saw you you were pointing a gun at me.”

Velvet’s breath caught in her throat as Littlepip’s horn glowed a little brighter and a revolver came flying from a holster on her flank, floating in front of Velvet Remedy’s face with its barrel pointing right between her eyes.

“Funny how tables can turn, right?”

Like petrified, Velvet looked past the revolver and at Littlepip, eyes wide in shock and sheer disbelief.

But Littlepip seemed unaffected, staring right back at Velvet with a cold glare and the weakest of smiles on her face. "What?" she asked casually, "Don't say you weren't expecting something like this." the gun floated closer to Velvet's face, its cold barrel now pressing against her forehead.

"What goes around, comes around, right?" Littlepip said with an almost innocent shrug, "You shoot me..." The revolver gave a soft click as its hammer was slid back; Velveet Remedy could feel her skin creep, her mind going heads over heels, trying to digest what was going on, but only descending into chaos.

"And I'll shoot you." Littlepip concluded with a grin.

With horror, Velvet watched how slowly, Littlepip's magic pulled the gun's trigger back. Seeing her life rush past her inner eye, she gave one last pleading stare at the pony she had used to call her friend, before she drew in a short breath and closed her eyes, accepting her fate.

*click*

"But that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" Littlepip said with a chuckle, pulling the unloaded revolver away from Velvet Remedy's face and throwing it into a corner of the room. "If the wasteland must have taught you one thing, then it's that things are never easy, right?" she continued; her voice sounded almost friendly now.

And with that, she dropped her magic field around Velvet's body, causing the charcoal unicorn to fall onto her back with a breathless gasp, both out of relief and exasperation.

"No." Littlepip said with a shake of her head, "Since you went out of your way to sneak in here..." she paused for a second, her thoughts seeming to trail off, "By the way, next time you're planning an infiltration," she lifted her foreleg, typing something into her pipbuck.

"So … I take it we should wait until the sun has set, right?" Velvet heard her own voice coming from the device's speaker.

"Ayep. Ah’d say we wait till it’s dark an’ then sneak inside. No point in runnin' in there an' risking our lives till we know that she’s actually here.”

"Check your surroundings." Littlepip said sternly, her voice seeming almost annoyed, "Watcher isn't the only one who can hack into spritebots, you know."

She shook her head, "But where was I?" she pretended to reflect, "Right, since you went out of your way to sneak in here, I think it'd only be fair to let you stay for a while." she announced with a malicious grin.

Velvet wanted to say something, but was too absorbed in her thoughts to bring out a word; all this was way too much for her!

"And," Littlepip continued, her face lightening up noticeably as she walked over to Velvet who was still laying on the ground, positioning herself over the bigger unicorn like a lion about to kill its prey with a bite to the neck, "I even have a welcome present for you!" Again, her horn lightened up, and she floated something out of a bag on her flank. Velvet was both, surprised and horrified to recognize it as a needle gun. Taking a closer look at it, she realized: it looked exactly like...

"You left this with me in Tenpony Tower." Littlepip explained coldly, "After you shot me!" her head shot forward, her face stopping mere inches away from that of Velvet, her eyes wide and teeth clenched in anger.

The shorter unicorn remained like this for a few seconds, before her mouth formed into a grin and she -just loud enough for her and Velvet to hear- said, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment."

Engulfed by Littlepip's magic, the needle gun floated between the two, resting just more than an inch above Velvet Remedy's chest.

With pure delight, as if she were savoring every single word, Littlepip bit her lip, then said, "Eat this, cunt."

Thwap!

Eyes torn open, mouth opened wide for a scream that never came, Velvet Remedy could feel the needle pierce her skin, and the poisoned dart do its work: within seconds, she could feel herself losing consciousness, and her mind drifting away from this world.

Only half-conscious, her mind drifting from this world, she could hear Littlepip growl in anger, the needle gun trembling in her magical grip.

Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!

Barely able to feel the pain of the additional needles, Velvet Remedy closed her eyes, before her body gave in to the poison and she lost consciousness.

Thwap! Thwap!Thwap! Thwap!Thwap!

Chapter 2

"Velvet! Velvet, can ya hear me!?" Calamity gasped, grabbing Velvet Remedy's limp body by her shoulders and shaking her. He let out a sigh of relief as her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she awoke with a gasp, her head shooting up.

"What?" she panted breathlessly, her head shooting around, her wide eyes searching her environment, "Ca-Calamity?" she asked as her eyes settled on the rust-colored pegasus, "Where are we?

"In one of the prison-cells." Calamity replied sourly, offering his friend a hoof to help her up. "Ah woke up in here earlier, then some of them slavers came and threw you in here too." With a serious look, he asked, "Are you alright?"

Slowly, not completely over her anesthesia yet, Velvet nodded her head. "Yes. Yes, I'm okay." Her look went around their small cell, her eyes resting on the metal plank bed and the small jar that -based on its smell- served as a makeshift toilet for just a second before she spotted the wall of bars that offered her a good view of the very same hall in which she had passed out in earlier; she was indeed sitting in one of the correctional facility's prison cells.

A shudder ran through her spine, and Velvet closed her eyes, her heart seeming to sink with every bit of memory she recalled. How they had been caught, trapped, and ultimately captured by none other than...

Feeling like she was about to choke, Velvet opened her eyes again, her glassy look staring at the spot where she had ... encountered one of her best friends not too long ago, and her mind going head over heels searching for ways to explain all this without having to accept the painful, but equally obvious truth.

Calamity could see his friend's eyes glaze over as she stared through the bars, drawing in a sharp breath as she seemed to recall what had happened earlier; her lips began to tremble.

"This ... this isn't happening." She murmured, her head slowly turning towards Calamity, her wide eyes tearing up, "This isn't happening, right? We're not ... Littlepip, she's ... she's not ... not..." Velvet swallowed, shuddering, "This is all just a bad dream, right?"

Calamity replied nothing, just giving his shivering friend a pitying look.

"Right?" Velvet Remedy asked again, her voice getting more desperate by the second, "That ... that mare..." she lifted a hoof, pointing into the courtyard-like ground level of the hall where the two had been ambushed earlier. "That wasn't Littlepip, right? That was ... a doppelganger, right? There's no way Littlepip could-" she cut herself off as Calamity remained silent. "None of this is actually happening, right?" she started another attempt, her voice clearer this time.

"Calamity!" Velvet said, stepping closer to the pegasus; her voice was weak; desperate, "Tell me." she said curtly, "Please, tell me!"

"Velvet..." Calamity said carefully, "Ah need you to stay-"

"It is real, isn't it?" Velvet said with quavering voice, looking at Calamity who bit his lip, giving her a helpless look, apparently not quite sure what to make of their situation either.

The charcoal unicorn took in a shaky breath, then turned around again, looking through the bars of their cell doors. She thought of the last time she had seen her before she had disappeared, then thought of what Littlepip had said earlier before paralyzing Velvet with the needle gun, and slowly but steadily, a painful realization entered her mind, and she could feel her heart sink.

For a long moment, the room was silent, Velvet's jagged breathing being the only thing that filled the room. Then, after a moment, she whispered, "It's my fault." she concluded curtly, "It's ... my ... fault."

"Hey, now that ain't true." Calamity said, walking up to her from behind and laying a comforting wing on her back, "Ah dunno what's happened to Pip that made her..." he cringed, "Like this, but it ain't your fault." he said determined.

"Don't you get it!?" Velvet's head shot around, her eyes, wet with tears were looking at him angrily, "I shot her! She said it herself! She thinks we've betrayed her, with me leading the way!" Her voice broke and she looked away, her tears running freely now. "It's my fault!" she shouted, ramming her head against the barred door.

"Careful Velvet!" Calamity shouted appalled, pulling her head back, "Ya might set it off!"

That made Velvet hesitate. "Set what off?" she asked, giving her friend a confused look. For the first time since she had woken up, she actually took a closer look at his body - and let out a gasp. She wasn't surprised to see that his battle saddle and saddlebag had been removed, but what had caught her eye was the collar around his neck: it was pitch black, about two inches thick, and had a small red button on one side - Velvet didn't need to look at it twice to figure out what would happen if that button were ever pressed.

Her friend was wearing a bomb collar.

Slowly, as if by instinct, she raised her hoof, leading it up to her neck where it touched the cold metal of a bomb collar of her own, and suddenly the once so distraught and panicking mare became very, very quiet. Swallowing, her hoof never leaving her collar, she sank to the ground, her back resting against the wall of bars, her glassy eyes casting an empty gaze at the opposite wall.

"Velvet..." Calamity said softly, walking over to the softly breathing mare and putting his hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find a way out." as the charcoal unicorn still didn't react in the slightest, "And Ah promise we'll find out what's wrong with Li'lpip an' find a way to..." he paused, searching for the right term, but couldn't find one. "Cure her, Ah guess."

Velvet Remedy, who had lowered her hoof by now, letting it loosely hang from her side instead, took a long moment to breath in, then breathed out again. "Just..." she breathed softly, her head slowly turning towards her companion, "How stupid are you!?" she snarled, getting back to her hooves in an instant, "Can't you see it?" she asked angrily, "It's me!" she almost shouted, tapping her hoof against her chest, "She's mad at me, not you! Because I shot her! Not you!"

Calamity said nothing for a second, wanting to argue that it was him who had shot -and almost killed- Littlepip way before Velvet, but thought better of it and instead said, "Y'know, she brought me here, too. Didn't seem like she's any more fond of me than of you."

"You didn't see her the way I did, Calamity." Velvet explained, surprisingly calm, "When you were..." she cringed at the memory, "gone, she kept me with her for a while." A shudder ran through her body, "She threatened me, pretended to shoot me - and she did it with passion. I could see her enjoy it!" she explained with horror in her voice. "From the way she acted, she must hate me! Something must have-"

"For fuck's sake it's three in the morning, just shut it already!" the angry voice of a stallion made her silence abruptly, and their heads turned almost simultaneously. A buff earth pony stallion in the adjacent prison cell whose coat was either a bright gray or a dark white was giving them an annoyed look through the bars that separated their domiciles, "There are some ponies here who are trying to get some rest!"

Like petrified, Calamity and Velvet Remedy stared back through the bars, looking at the stallion with wide eyes, neither of them having expected this sudden interruption.

"S-sorry." Velvet Remedy breathed after a moment - more out of good manners than anything else, "We ... didn't mean to disturb you."

With a grunt, the stallion rolled his eyes and was already turning away again, but then stopped in his movement, turned back and looked at Velvet again with a curious glance. "Wait a second," he said, lifting an eyebrow, "aren't cha that ... Velvet Remedy-gal?"

Slightly confused, Velvet nodded and opened her mouth, but before she could bring out a word, Calamity took an assertive step forward and asked, "What do you care, huh?"

The buck glowered at the pegasus, then snorted and asked, "No-one's asked you, featherbrain."

Ignoring the angry glare Calamity shot him, he then focused on Velvet again, and a malicious grin grew on his face as he looked her over. "It really is you..." he muttered; his look went back to her face and he began to chuckle softly.

Lifting an eyebrow, Velvet shot Calamity a confused glance, but his attention was still focused on the stallion, staring daggers at the gray earth pony.

"Oh boy..." their cell neighbor said, shaking his head, his eyes never leaving Velvet, though the maliciousness in them had given way to something that looked like pity. "I wouldn't wanna be in your horseshoes, girl."

"What?" Velvet Remedy asked with growing confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, yer just as much a prisoner as us." Calamity pointed out, pointing a hoof at the slave collar around their neighbor's neck, "We're in the same boat, y'know."

That gained another chuckle from the buck. "Oh no." he said, shaking his head, "You see, I'm trapped here, yes, but unlike you..." he paused for effect, casting a meaningful look at Velvet, "My name ain't on the death list of the mare running this place."

That made Velvet flinch. She still had some hopes left that, somehow, this had all been a big misunderstanding and Littlepip wasn't ... like she had been after all, but she couldn't deny that the stallion's words had stung in her heart.

Seeming to notice her reaction, the stallion gave a dry laugh. "Hurts, doesn't it?" He asked with a partly sympathetic, partly amused grin, "From what she's told me you must have been close friends at some point. She's been after after you for the better half of her life, always looked up to you as the voice of reason and peace. Heck, she would've caught a bullet for you without hestiating." With a knowing grin, he added, "And then you stabbed her in the back."

Again, Velvet flinched, more intense this time. She tried to not think about the things this random, unimportant slave was throwing at her, but at the same time couldn't deny that it all sounded painfully true.

"Hey, now that just ain't right!" Calamity stepped in, stomping his hoof in anger and baring his teeth.

"Yes it is." a fourth voice chimed in. Contrary to the heated argument going on between the three inmates, this voice was completely calm, sober, and dripping with a subtle hatred.

Almost simultaneously, the three ponies' heads turned around to look at the new dialog partner: standing at the other side of the bars, still dressed in her black raider armor, was the leader of the slavers - Littlepip.

"You betrayed me." she said calmly, casting an icecold glare at Velvet Remedy, "I turn my back to you for one second," she lifted a single hoof as if to underline her statement, "And you shoot me in the fucking back!" she hissed.

"Littlepip..." Velvet forced out; she was shivering, tears in her eyes as her look rested on her former friend, and she started blaming herself again, "I ... We ... we wanted to help you! You were-"

"Help me!?" the short unicorn exclaimed, her eyes wide in legitimate indignation, "What, by stabbing me in the back!?"

"Your addiction was getting the better of you!" Velvet defended herself, stomping her hoof. "I stunned you with the needle gun so that we could bring you to Doctor Helpinghoof - to get you cured."

Littlepip's eyes narrowed as she stared at Velvet for a second, seeming to contemplate the story. Then she shook her head, and clenched her teeth. "No!" she shouted, her head shooting forward to rest mere inches from the bars that were separating the two, ponies, "You're not talking yourself out of this! You betrayed me! All of you!" her look shot over to Calamity. Realizing that he had Littlepip's attention, he opened his mouth to protest, but was cut short. "Don't try to play it down!" she growled, pointing a threatening hoof at the pegasus, "I know you were involved in this!" she took in a quick breath, her eyes widening, "I trusted you! I trusted you blindly!" she shouted, her voice constantly increasing in volume and pitch, "For fuck's sake, you were the closest thing to a family I've ever had, and then you all just turned your back on me! I believed in you, and you just..." Her voice broke, and she hastily turned away, as if to hide the tears in her eyes.

A few moments of silence passed, the muffled sounds of Littlepip catching her breath being the only thing that filled the room.

"Pip..." Calamity carefully spoke up, stepping next to Velvet and putting a comforting wing on her shivering body, "Ah think we should-"

"No." she replied curtly. Her voice was calm again now; hoarse, and so faint it was barely audible, but calm. "Enough of that."

She sighed deeply, then shook her head and turned around again. "Look..." she started over, looking the two over with a sober glance, "I don't know why you came here, but I don't want you - neither here, nor anywhere else. By all means, I'm through with you."

For a moment, Velvet felt tempted to ask if that meant that her and Calamity would be released without further ado, but quickly dropped that thought - one way or another, they wouldn't leave without Littlepip.

"So yer jus' throwin' us out?" Calamity asked, seeming to have thought of the same thing.

A smirk crossed Littlepip's face for a second, but she shook her head, "No." she said, seeming slightly amused about the question, "You'll stay right here - for now, at least." she added with an ominous grin, "As little as I care about you as ponies, you still had the audacity to sneak in here, and the stupidity to get yourself caught in the process, so you're effectively prisoners now - slaves, if you will."

Before Velvet Remedy or Calamity could reply something, her face lightened up and she continued, "But I'll tell you what." she announced with a treacherous smile, "There's a way to gain your freedom - instantly. One little thing, and you'll both be free ponies again."

She paused, leaving her prisoners no other choice but to inquire further.

"What?" Velvet Remedy asked reluctantly after a moment of silence.

The smile on Littlepip's face broadened into a toothy grin. Her horn lit up, her magic pulling something from a pouch on her right flank.

"You and me..." Velvet couldn't contain a sound of discomfort as the combat knife floated over to her, hovering right in front of her face. "Down in the pit. In direct combat. One on one - no magic, no guns." Littlepip explained with anticipation, letting the knife move in circles in front of Velvet's face, "You win, and you'll both be free to go wherever you want." she paused, a sly grin appearing on her face, "I win and..." the knife floated away from Velvet Remedy and back to Littlepip who gave the jagged blade a passionate, slow lick before lowering it and saying, "Well, you'll see."

"So?" she then asked, lowering the knife and letting its sharpened tip scratch the concrete ground, "What do you say?"

Neither of the two replied. Staring at her former friend with wide eyes, partly in shock, partly in disbelief, Velvet Remedy was dumbfounded for a moment, before she could bring up the power to slowly shake her head. "You ... you can't be serious!" she whispered unbelievingly.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Littlepip asked dryly, and suddenly the expression on her face turned dead-serious, "You want to get out of here? Come and fight for it."

Another moment of silence followed. "No." Velvet Remedy finally declared. Her voice was determined; neither angry, nor desperate, but filled with decisive clarity. "I don't know what has gotten into you that made believe we would have betrayed you, but you still are my friend." she said emphatically, stomping a hoof to drive home her point, "And I do not fight against my friends."

Velvet didn't know what sort of reply she was expecting from Littlepip. Disappointment, maybe. Anger, because Velvet refused to play along in whatever game Littlepip appeared to be playing with them. She couldn't deny that she was a little disappointed, not to say disillusioned when all that came from their captor in return was a light shrug and a light-hearted, "Okay." she turned away, giving the two a grin over her shoulder, "Your choice, right?"

And with that, she started walking away from their cell, but then stopped as her look fell into the neighboring cell, and her face darkened. "What are you looking at, huh?" she snarled at Velvet and Calamity's cell neighbor who apparently had watched the whole scene.

The buck stood up to his master's look, and said nothing, just grinning back at her like if he knew something Littlepip didn't.

"Don't try to fuck with me, Cinderblock." she hissed menacingly, "The pit isn't far away."

The stallion -apparently named Cinderblock- seemed completely unaffected by her threats. Smirking, he returned Littlepip's stare and said, "You think I wouldn't survive a fourth time?" he grinned, baring his yellowed teeth, "I thought after all those years you'd know me well enough to know that - Pipsqueak."

Even in the dim light of the hall's emergency lightning, Velvet could see Littlepip's face assume a deep shade of red at the mention of her full name, and she could hear the short unicorn grind her teeth as she stared at Cinderblock with narrowed eyes. Her horn lit up, and with the speed of a startled radroach, her combat knife was torn from her flank and launched into the direction of the buck. Though, as if he had seen the attack coming, he swung his head to the side in the nick of time, causing the knife to fly past his temple, missing it by a mere inch, and fall to the floor of his cell with a clatter. "Old trick." he said with a grin, took a step towards the knife lying on the floor and kicked it back to Littlepip who picked it up with her magic and stored it back in the sheath on her back with a grunt.

She remained in front of the cell for another moment, looking at Cinderblock. Then, with a quick look back at Velvet and Calamity's cell, she said, "Get your ass into bed; you're gonna be on early shift tomorrow. And Celestia help me if you don't meet the quota because you're tired."

And with that, she turned around again, and walked away, disappearing in the hall's nightly twilight moments later.

Cinderblock, calm as ever, despite the assault on his life mere moments ago, looked after her for a moment, before turning around and walking back to his cot.

However, he stopped halfway as he noticed two sets of eyes looking at him and giving him questioning looks from the cell nextdoor.

"What in tarnation was that?" Calamity asked the question both he and Velvet were wondering about, "Ya know Pip?" after a second of contemplation, he added, "Like this, anyway."

Cinderblock looked at the Pegasus with a glare that made it clear just how little he wanted to answer questions like this in the middle of the night, but then made a face and curtly replied, "I've known her for a while now. Probably even longer than you, pegasus."

Calamity opened his mouth to argue, but was cut short by Cinderblock who, having expected this reaction, gave him a dismissive look and said, "Don't waste your breath; I'm not your nanny. You want explanations, go and bother someone else.

With that he stopped next to his bed, slumped into it, and closed his eyes with a satisfied grunt.

"One more thing, if you please..." Velvet Remedy asked softly, making an effort to make her voice sound as meek and dear as possible so as not to upset their new neighbor.

Cinderblock let out an annoyed growl, but to Velvet's surprise opened one of his eyes, focussing the charcoal unicorn with an angry glare, but allowed her to continue.

"What is that ... pit Littlepip mentioned earlier?" Velvet asked carefully, "Is it ... some sort of..."

The gray buck sighed deeply, rolling his eyes, but then said, "That hole in the middle of the hall - with the barbwire around it." he didn't lift his head while speaking, making his voice sound muffled and hard to understand, "That's the pit. Ponies are put in there to fight - to the death. Breakaways, rebels, the underachievers - all that scum is sent in there once a week to beat the shit out of each other til only one of 'em remains."

"Underachievers?" Velvet inquired hesitantly, feeling a sensation of sickness in the back of her throat.

Finally, albeit reluctantly, Cinderblock sat up on his bed, allowing him to speak a lot easier. "Everypony in here is a slave." he soberly explained the obvious, "We're forced to work, either tilling the fields or scavenging the area around for food. Every slave is working for themselves, and the yield they're bringing home at the end of the day decides about what they're worth." Velvet swore she saw a ting of pain in his look as he added, "And at the end of every week those two with the least revenue are thrown into the pit..." he paused, swallowing, "And have to fight until only one of them is left."

"That's just horrible!" Velvet exclaimed, placing a hoof in front of her mouth.

"It's a horrible world we're living in." Cinderblock countered dryly, "Does a great job at keeping the morale up, though." he added, but then, as if he regretted saying that last part, closed his eyes, shook his head, and laid back down on his bed with a sigh, turning around so that his face was pointing away from his neighbors.

"Sleep now." he grumbled deeply, "You'll need it tomorrow."

Chapter 3

“How did this happen? What have I done?

I was only trying to help, but I caused so much pain.

I wish I could hide. Wish I could run.

I wish I could find a way to do it all over again...”

The song played in her head, over and over again. It occured to her only now just how terribly, awfully fitting the song lyrics seemed to describe her current situation. It had all begun with her trying to help one of her closest friends cure her addiction. She had acted with a pure heart and with only the best intentions, but now...

She cringed, suppressing the urge to scratch a spot on her neck where her bomb collar had chafed her fur and skin.

Now she was a slave. A prisoner, held captive by her own friend.

While she must have heard it at least a dozen times on occasion, she felt like she was only now starting to fully feel with the singer.

But more importantly, aside from the surprisingly fitting lyrics, hearing the song play in her mind gave her a chance to mentally escape this misery she was in. It reminded her of past times; of travelling through the wasteland, along with Calamity, SteelHooves and...

The thought caused her to cringe again and stop for a moment, her hooves sinking into the soft, muddy soil underneath them. Slowly, wary of what she expected to see, she raised her head, looking up.

It was raining. Temperatures were low, and the icy rain didn't make her feel any warmer. The water pouring into her face blurred her vision, but despite that she could see her all too clearly.

The small, second building she had spotted the day before had a small balcony on one side, overlooking the backyard with the fields she had seen the slaves working on - and where she, now, was working as well. Standing on that balcony was Littlepip.

She had come out the building about ten minutes ago, and since then hadn't moved by an inch. Seeming unaffected by the chilly temperatures and the drizzling rain, she stood there, looking down at the mass of slaves. Unlike the night before, she seemed completely calm. Her face was almost expressionless; Velvet couldn't tell exactly from the distance, but it almsot seemed like she was ... Velvet leaned forward, narrowing her eyes ... was that a frown on her face? Velvet took a step forward, blinking from the rain flooding her eyes. That look on her face ... was she sad? Downcast? Maybe even regretful?

Velvet could feel her heart beat just a little faster as a thought crossed her mind: could it be that -despite the overwhelming odds- her old friend was having regrets? Had she maybe thought about what Velvet had told her the night before and now was beginning to feel like she had made a horrible mistake?

Lost in her thoughts, Velvet Remedy hadn't noticed how Littlepip's eyes, having rested on the crowd of slaves before, had wandered and were resting on the charcoal unicorn herself. It took Velvet a few seconds to notice the eye-contact, but when she did, she flinched noticeably. Upon spotting her in the crowd, Littlepip's eyes had narrowed, and the expression on her face had turned from regret to disdain in less than a second.

"Hey, you!" the rough voice of a mare hit Velvet and made her look around. A dark yellow mare in black slaver barding standing beside the field she was on pointed a threatening hoof at Velvet, "I didn't tell you to stop! Get on with it!"

Velvet stayed where she was. All her life she had never been in the position to receive commands or orders, so listening to these, let alone obeying them was something she was far from used to. Her look went back up to the balcony, and she couldn't deny that she felt a pang of disappointment as she saw Littlepip slowly shake her head and turn away, walking back into the building.

"Do I look like I'm joking!?" The slaver mare shouted again, reaching for a pouch tied to her foreleg and pulling out a long, black whip. The sight of the 'motivation'-tool made her heart sink, reminding her of the times she had spent alongside the group of slavers, way before she had met Littlepip, and she swore she could hear the screams of those poor souls being whipped into an almost unconscious state every now and then.

More out of instinct than anything else, Velvet hastily nodded, turned her head back, and got back to work. She herself had been lucky to never get in contact with a whip, and she would like to avoid it in the future as well.

Her task was -as the same misgruntled slaver mare who had just threatened her had explained this morning- to pick the carrots that were grown on the field she was on. The big plastic box resting on her back was where she was supposed to store the carrots, and -as she had been told- at the end of the day, the box would be weighed and she would be told how she had performed compared to a fellow slaves, which would ultimately decide about whether or not she would have an appointment in the pit by the end of the week.

Coming to think of it, Velvet was surprised she could still remember her instructions this clearly.

Truth be told, ever since they had entered the correctional facility yesterday, her feelings and emotions had been on a constant roller coaster ride - happines, because she finally knew where Littlepip was - that she was alive and safe; shock, horror and disbelief because of everything Littlepip had told her, and above all, self-loathing because, even without her friend reminding her of it, Velvet knew that, ultimately, it was her fault.

If she had been a little more patient with her friend, she might have convinced her to get her addiction treated herself; if she had been a little more assertive with the Tenpony Tower guards, she might have talked them into letting her go, allowing her to bring Littlepip to Doctor Helpinghoof in time; and if she had been a little more persistent with searching for Littlepip shortly after she had disappeared, she might have found her in time, and stopped her from turning into ... this.

At least since their encounter last night, she had realized that she had to face the truth; that the mare holding her and Calamity captive was indeed Littlepip and not some evil twin; that Littlepip was indeed fully conscious, and had not fallen victim to some sort of brainwash; and of course, that her fully conscious and sane friend seemed to hate her more than anything else in this world.

However, that look she had seen on her friend's face earlier gave her something; a last bit of hope to hold on to. As unlikely as it sounded, she still hadn't given up on the thought that, maybe, this might have all been a misunderstanding; that maybe Littlepip would realize that all this time Veltet and Calamity had wanted nothing but the best for her, and maybe, just maybe come to her senses and end all this.

It were these thoughts running through her mind that helped her keep her head up; and it were these thoughts that distracted her enough to not look ahead of herself and bump right into somepony else.

"Oh!" she gasped, taking a step back, then losing her balance as her hooves sunk into the soaked ground, and falling back onto her haunches with a soft shriek; the plastic box and the carrots in it joined her on the ground shortly after.

"S-sorry." The apology was on her lips - again, it were the manners she had taken to back in Stable Two giving her this unconditional politeness. However, her apology died on her tongue as she saw who she had bumped into. Sitting on the field opposite to her was a light brown mare. No, not a mare, more an adolescent filly; a young mare at best. She already had her cutie mark -a dead tree; whatever that meant for her destiny- and looked about half Velvet's age. Just like Velvet, she was wearing a slave collar, and looking at her malnourished body and white mane that was falling out in several spots, it became clear that she had been a slave for a long time - all her life, possibly.

Velvet started another attempt to apologize, but was cut short as the filly looked up to her, then snarled, "Hey! Why don't you watch where you're going?"

"I ... I'm sorry." Velvet stuttered an excuse, the realization that her friend wouldn't even back off from using foals as slaves hitting her hard.

The filly looked at her for a moment, before her look shot over to the slaver overseeing the field. Noticing that she wasn't looking, she then jumped to her hooves, rushed to pick up the box she had been carrying before bumping into Velvet as well as its spilled content -a few bushels of meager raddishes-, then ran over to Velvet, picking up the half dozen carrots she had harvested so far and throwing them into her own box as well.

It wasn't until the filly was almost done that Velvet realized just what she was doing: she was stealing her carrots!

"Hey!" she shouted in dismay, instinctively reaching out a hoof which the filly dodged with practiced ease. Done with her wicked deed, she turned around and took flight - a flight that -fortunately for Velvet- didn't last long.

Even before the charcoal unicorn had gotten up to give chase and confront the thief -she had no intentions of harming the filly or getting her in trouble to begin with, but justice had to be done in some way- the culprit slipped on the wet, muddy ground, losing her balance and landing face-first in the same pile of mud that had ended her escape so mercilessly seconds ago.

"What was that?" Velvet asked reproachfully as she approached the filly who was picking herself up from the mud, muttering colorful curses.

"Hey..." Velvet added as she stopped next to her, "Why did you do that?"

Muttering another curse, the filly shook her head, rubbing the mud from her face with a hoof and spitting out a mouthful of dirt.

"Hey, I am talking to you." Velvet said admonishingly, leaning forward to look her in the eyes, "Stop ignoring me."

"Fuck off." The reply that came from the filly was as short as it was surprising for Velvet, "Just leave me alone."

"Excuse me?" she said, raising an eyebrow at the filly who was already in the process of picking up her box again.

"What?" finally, the filly looked up, giving Velvet an annoyed glance, "What do you want!?"

"Look." Velvet said, doing her best to put on a conciliatory smile, "I'm sorry for bumping into you, but that's no reason to steal from me! You see-"

"I need it, alright?" the filly snapped back, "More than you! More than anyone!" she explained with a grim look, "I'm in big fucking trouble right now, and-" she cut herself off, shaking her head, "Forget it. Just ... just leave me alone."

And with that, she turned around and walked past Velvet Remedy, heading for a different spot on the acre where the carrots had't been picked yet.

"Wait!" Velvet said, holding her back with a hoof and gaining an annoyed sigh from the filly, "What trouble are you in? I can help you!"

"None of your business." the filly replied coldly, shaking Velvet's hoof off her back, "Now fuck off." she hissed and walked away.

Velvet wanted to walk after her, but was stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the still all too familiar crack of a whip cutting through the air, followed by a stinging pain burning on her flank.

"Are you fucking deaf!?" the slaver mare shouted again, the whip still in her mouth, "I said get going!"

It took Velvet's mind a few seconds to process what had just happened. This mare had whipped her. The pain in her flank sent tears into her eyes, but it was replaced by a more severe realization shortly after: this mare had whipped her. Her! While the encounter with the filly was still fresh on her mind and seemed to beg for her attention, her shock was quickly drowned out by another, more energetic emotion: anger.

"Oh. Heck. No." She whispered as she locked eyes with the mare who had whipped her, and started walking into her direction with big, threatening steps. "You did not..." she said, slowly, threateningly, "just hit me with that whip."

She stopped in front of the mare who gave her an unimpressed glance, drawing herself up to her full height. "Who do you think you are, huh?" she snarled at the slaver, "You do not, I repat, not have the right to-"

Her outburst was cut short as she felt a hoof collide with the side of her head - the strike was so powerful it blew her clear off her hooves, causing her to stumble to the side before falling to the muddy floor with a thud.

"Shut it, slave." the slaver's voice sounded distant to Velvet as she laid on the ground with a look of disbelief on her face. The attack had caught her so off-guard it took her mind a few moments to catch up with everything.

"Pick yourself up, cunt, then get back to work." the slaver mare commanded her coldly, "Looks like you haven't collected anything yet. Better get going if you don't wanna land in the pit."

Slowly, absentmindedly, Velvet arose from the mud, and her look went back to her box which was still laying where she had dropped it earlier.

It occurred to her only now that the brown filly had never given her her carrots back.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts! Slavers, slaves, and all you other scum. I welcome you all to this week's pit-fight!" the rough voice of a stallion tore through the hall, amplified by the prison's former PA system.

Velvet Remedy was laying on the cot in her and Calamity's prison cell where she had spent the past half our trying to get the dried chunks of mud out of her fur. She had contemplated washing herself with the water provided in their bucket-toilet, but had changed her mind after walking over to and -inevitably- smelling it.

After her confrontation with the slaver-mare the rest of the day had passed unexpectedly quickly. Despite her initial -and still ongoing- protest and discomfort with the realization of being forced to work, she had performed surprisingly well - at least, that was what she had concluded from the curt "Really outdone yourself today, cunt." she had received from her slaver-nemesis after being told to hand in her box and being accompanied back to her cell along with a horde of fellow slaves.

Upon her arrival, she had noticed with relief that Calamity was back again as well -the slavers had come to pick him up before Velvet this morning and she hadn't seen him on the field all day- and didn't seem nearly as exhausted as her. After asking why he looked like he had just come back from a walk in the park while she was covered in mud from head to toe and walking on her last legs, he had explained her that the slavers had assigned him to 'housekeeping' today, which essentially wasn't more than a few simple chores and preparing food for the dozens of ponies accomodated at Misty Hills.

While she couldn't deny that she had felt a pang of jealousy when thinking about how easy her friend's day was -at least compared to hers- she had to admit that the food they received a few minutes later -some pre-war food cans and -go figure- carrots - was surprisingly generous and unexpectedly tasty.

The voice of the stallion tore her from her thoughts and caused her to look up. She shot Calamity -who was sitting on the floor next to her- a look, then arose from the makeshift bed and walked over to the bars of her cell, looking outside to see what was going on in the main hall.

The main lights were turned off, and the three spotlights were directed at the hollow Velvet had learned was 'the pit'. A big cluster of ponies in slaver armor had formed around it, looking inside, shouting, and cheering. A buff, white stallion with a microphone in his hoof was standing in the middle of the round pit, making the announcements with an exaggerated smile on his face.

"Let's have a look at this weeks underachievers!" he proclaimed cheerfully, gaining applause and shouts of cheer from the slavers. "In this corner," he said, pointing a hoof to his left, "we have Sunbeam!"

Slowly, reluctantly, a pony stepped out of the shadows on the side of the arena. A young buck with light yellow fur and a mane of light orange. His eyes were wide, fearful, as he looked up, first at the slavers, then past them and up to the holding cells where most of the slaves were watching with anticipation, and Velvet could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes. Just like all other slaves he, too, was wearing a bomb collar around his neck.

"He was born on a farm all the way over in Los Pegasus, he says he's never fought anypony before." The announcer explained, then, with a knowing grin directed at the crowd, he shouted, "So who's excited to see him fight for the very first time tonight!?"

The crowd erupted in cheers and thunderous applause - much to the buck's dismay, it seemed. With slow, shaky steps he walked through the small arena, then stopped next to the announcer who casually flung a hoof around his neck, chuckled and cooed, "Welcome to the pit, my friend. Tell me, how excited are you?" he asked with a grin.

Trembling, shivering, the colt looked at the stallion, then shook his head, but didn't bring out a word.

"Hehe, don't worry," the announcer chuckled, patting the buck's back, "The best is yet to come, as you know." his look went up to the cheering crowd, and with wide eyes he announced, "Let's have a look at your challenger for tonight!"

One of the spotlights' light cones went over to the opposite end of the circular arena, hulling the second fighter in broad light. Velvet Remedy's jaw dropped.

"She was born as the daughter of a caravan guard, and grew up travelling the wastes before she came here. Ponies, let's hear it for Fallen Leaf!"

"No..." Velvet whsipered as she watched the filly she had encountered earlier walk into the arena - unwilling, obviously, but with her head held up high. "No, this can't be."

"Alright you two." the announcer continued as Fallen Leaf stopped next to him, throwing hateful looks at him and the slavers outside the pit, "Before you go at each other's throats, any last courtesies you'd like to exchange?"

Both ponies remained silent. Fallen Leaf because she looked like she wanted to tear the announcer's head off, Sunbeam because he looked like he wanted to wet himself right there.

"Well now." the announcer said with a chuckle, "if there's nothing you want to say, let's get-"

"No! Please!" he was cut off by Sunbeam who, in a sudden fit of tears , had clung to the stallion's foreleg and shouted, "I-I don't want to die! P-please, I'm sorry for not meeting the quota! Please!"

Slowy, with an indulgent grin, the announcer reached under himself, pulling the distressed buck back to his hooves and tapping his shoulder. "Don't you worry," he said with an almost ironic sweetness. "Of course you don't have to die." he explained calmly, "You'll just have to kill your opponent before she kills you. ... Let's go!" and with that he pulled himself free from Sunburst's grip and stepped back from the two, walking towards one of the arena's two exists, passing through the chainlink barrier and closing the door behind himself as the crowd broke out in thunderous cheers.

The fight was on.

For just a moment, nothing happened. The two ponies stood still, staring at each other in silence. The slavers outside the pitt cheered them on, telling them to get going, shouting for a bloodbath.

With trembling legs, Sunbeam looked around - his look wandered over the cheering slavers, up to the slaves in the holding cells, until it rested on his opponent for the night.

He shook his head. "No." he gasped, shaking his head in horror as his mind seemed to catch up with what was happening. "No, we can't." he spun around, smashing his hooves against the wire mesh that held him trapped, "You can't do this! You can't-"

He silenced abruptly as he looked over his shoulder and his eyes caught sight of Fallen Leaf. Slowly, but with cold determination, she had started moving, coming for him. She was reluctant - no doubt about that. Her face was uncomfortable, but straight, and cold. It seemed the filly really was intent on doing what had to be done to save her own life.

Sunbeam, who couldn't have missed the change in his opponent's behavior, let out a scream of dismay. "No!" he yelled, "No, please! You don't have to do this! We don't have to fight!"

Fallen Leaf replied nothing. From the look on her face, she clearly didn't want to fight either, but was determined to save her own hide - by all means possible.

She stopped a few yards away from the terrified buck who was pressing his back against the fence, knowing that there was nowhere he could go, and lowered herself into a battle stance, ready to pounce at her terrified opponent.

Suddenly, something fell to the floor next to Fallen Leaf with a loud clank, causing her to wince and look to the side for just a second. Velvet Remedy wasn't proud that the first thing that came to her mind in that second was "Now would be a good chance for the buck to attack."

However, the filly quickly re-gained her composure as she took a closer look at the object that had hit the floor next to her: it was a pipe; a steel pipe, with a set of rusty nails driven through one end of it. A 'donation', thrown into the pit to make the fight more brutal and 'interesting', presumably. Another wave of cheers came from the audience as they watched the filly pick up the makeshift-weapon with a wicked grin - much to the buck's dismay.

"No! No, please! Please, I'm begging you!" Sunbeam squealed on top of his voice as he saw his opponent raise the weapon with a deadly calmness, getting ready to strike.

"Look," He started another attempt and raised both his front hooves as if to calm Fallen Leaf, "Listen to me, please - just for one second."

Fallen Leaf didn't look like she was too keen on talking in that moment, but she didn't move any further towards Sunbeam, thus allowing him to speak up.

"Everypony!" he shouted, turning around to face his audience, "Please, listen to me!" his voice was trembling, about to break from his terror, but he pressed on, despite the clearly disapproving slavers throwing insults at him.

"We don't have to do this! None of this!" he said with a determination that seemed to surprise even the slavers, "Ponies aren't meant to fight! Ponies aren't meant to kill each other! We have existed together in harmony for decades before the great war, and it can be like this again!" He stomped his hoof to strengthen his point, "If we just work together, we can achieve something like the old times again! Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow..." his eyes began to shine as he started to lose himself in his speech.

While the slavers seemed rather displeased with this sudden motivational speech, Fallen Leaf had stopped walking towards him, and had even lowered the pipe in her muzzle. "But someday!" he concluded with determination, "All we need to do is work together. You may see each other as slaves and slavers, but we're all ponies! We all just want to live our lives, so why not do it side by side?" he lifted a hoof, holding it up as if to reach out to his audience, "Trust me, if we all work together, we can make this prison a better place! We can make this whole wasteland a better place if only we-"

His head exploded.

Something or somepony had triggered his bomb collar.

Velvet had to cover her mouth with a hoof to keep herself from vomiting, both out of sickness and pure horror. The crowd of slavers broke into shouts of cheer, exchanging bits, praises and curses.

Fallen Leaf, whose fur was covered in bits and sprinkles of what used to be in and on Sunbeam's head, looked at the dead, decapitated body with disbelief and shock, before letting out a long, relieved sigh, and letting the steel pipe drop to the floor.

"I hate it when they do that." another, awfully familiar voice came from somewhere in the hall's upper ranks, making the crowd of slavers silence in an instant. Velvet Remedy's head shot up, searching for its origin, and spotted it just a few seconds later. There, up on the mezzanine, she stood: Littlepip.

"Fight is over." she declared coldly, then turned around and walked out of the room up the set of stairs without another word.

"Well..." the announcer spoke up again after a long moment of uncomfortable silence. It took Velvet Remedy a second to spot him as he walked back towards the pit, unlocked the door, stepped inside and walked over to where Fallen Leaf was sitting on the ground. She had sunken back to her haunches after Sunbeam's death and now was sitting there like a statue, her look directed at the ground in front of her hooves. "Looks like we have a winner!" The stallion announced with delight, grabbing one of the filly's legs and holding it up into the air, gaining a roaring cheer from the slaver-audience.

"Tell me, little one," he said, putting a hoof around Fallen Leaf's neck, "How do you feel about this short, but spectacular fight? Seems like luck was on your side, right?"

The brown filly turned her head to look at him; she looked disgusted, uncomfortable, but not neccessarily distressed. It was clear that she didn't want to think, let alone talk about what had happened and what she would have done if it hadn't been for the unexpected turn of events, but the announcer didn't give up on her. "Come on, not so shy!" he said encouragingly, "Go ahead and share your thoughts with us!"

Fallen Leaf locked eyes with the stallion for a second, but seeming to realize that he wouldn't let her go without a statement, she let out a long sigh and lowered her head. Then, her voice weak and barely audible, she said, "I'm glad I didn't have to kill him."

That gained a wave of roaring laughter from both the announcer and the audience - the filly bore it without any major reactions.

"Isn't that cute?" the announcer asked as the laughter began to fade, "No need to deny it, girl..." he said with a grin, "We all saw that look in your eyes when you picked up that pipe. Deep down you're a killer, and you know it." he declared with a knowing grin. Fallen Leaf, whose eyes were wide with disbelief that quickly turned into anger, wanted to protest, but was cut off as the announcer added, "But don't you worry girl..." he said calmingly, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder, "There'll be other opportunities for you to play out your murderous phantasies. ... The pit's always open for volunters."

Again, the filly wanted to protest, but the stallion didn't leave her a chance to do so as he once again looked up to the audience and shouted, "But I'm afraid that's all for tonight, folks! Get ready for more action next week!"

And with that, the big spotlights, as well as the hall's main lightning was turned off, leaving the hall back in its nightly twilight. Fallen Leaf, accompanied by the announcer, was led out of the pit and back to a cell in the hall's lower ranks, and two ponies, armed with an old shopping cart, a snow shovel and two mops, came walking into the arena from the other side and stopped next to the dead body of Sunbeam to clean up the mess.

The crowd of slavers gathered around the arena began to dissolve, most of them heading up the stairs where Littlepip had disappeared to earlier. Most of the other prisoners who had watched the bloody spectacle now also started to step back into their cells and into their beds.

The battle was fought; the show was over.

The day was at its end.

"Velvet! Hey, Velvet! ... Velvet Remedy!" with a weak groan, Velvet awoke from a dark, dreamless sleep; her eyes shot open and she lifted her head, looking around her sparsely lightened cell. Instinctively, her gaze went over to Calamity who was stil snoring lightly on the floor next to her - she had offered him to share the small bed earlier, but he had insisted that she would take it all for herself, while he would settle with the floor.

"Over here!" the voice that had awoken Velvet whispered agian, directing her gaze to the front of their cell where somepony was standing in the twilight and clearly trying to get her attention. Velvet sat up, leaning her head forward to see who it was that had woken her up. She took a closer look at the mare, then rubbed her eyes.

"What?" she asked, still half-asleep, sat up and arose from her bed, walking over to the front of the cell. "Am I ... dreaming?"

The unicorn mare at the other side of the iron bars lifted a hoof to her mouth and gave a muffled, "Sssshhh." before her horn lit up , enlightening her steel gray coat, her dark blue mane, and her light brown eyes. "Keep calm." she said with a straight face, "We'll have you out of here in no time."

"Ho- Homage?" Velvet asked as she stopped in front of the bars, "What ... what are you doing ... how did you...?"

The gray unicorn focussed on the lock sealing up their cell, levitating a screwdriver and bobby pin in her magic, but then looked up at Velvet for a moment. With a sly grin on her face, she explained, "We were getting worried since we didn't hear back from you. Couldn't spot you on the MASEBS either. So we came to look after you." She cracked a smile, looking back down where her magic was working the screwdriver in the rusty padlock, "Seems like we came just in time."

Velvet stared at her perplexed for a second, a million questions running through her mind, her thoughts torn between praising Homage to Celestia for coming to rescue them, or cursing her to hell for endangering herself like this.

However, unsure which of these emotions to give priority, she decided to bring up the first question that came to her mind. Tilting her head to the side, she asked, "We?"

"I told her to let me go ahead, alone, but she wouldn't listen." The deep, mechanic voice made Velvet Remedy wince for a second as a second figure stepped from the twilight; a stallion, clad in heavy, metal armor from head to tail. "She's more stubborn than I thought."

"SteelHooves?" Velvet asked, but was cut short as Homage let out a muffled curse, dropping a broken bobby pin to the floor and pulling a new one from a small saddlebag on her side.

"How ... how did you get in here?" Velvet inquired, "This place is well-guarded, even at night."

Not looking up from the lock she was working on, Homage let out a short chuckle and smirked, "Yeah, well-guarded my flank." she cackled, "Can you believe it, these idiots even forgot to lock their front door!" she explained, doing her best to not laugh, "How did you manage to get yourselves caught by those knuckleheads, anyway?"

"We ... we were ... Littlepip, she's..." Velvet stuttered, trying hard to bring some order into the chaotic state her mind was in, as another of Homage's bobby pins broke, "Wait!" she snapped, pinching her eyes shut to clear her mind, "They left the front door open?" she stood still for a moment as her mind put one and one together, then she could feel herself going rigid, "But that means-"

"What's goin' on here?" she could hear Calamity's still somewhat sleepy voice coming from behind her as he walked up to her with fast steps. "Homage, is that you?"

The gray unicorn looked up from the lock, but before she could reply, Velvet Remedy chimed in again. "Wait!" she exclaimed loudly, now not caring about stealth any longer, "You said the front door was unlocked!"

"Yeah." Homage confirmed with a chuckle, "Can you believe that? I mean, who in their right mind would do that?"

"No!" Velvet said, shaking her head, "That means they've just been waiting for you! You need to get out of here as fast as-"

The charcoal unicorn could feel a terrible sense of deja-vu as, suddenly, the spotlights in the ceiling came to life again and were pointed at her, or, to be exact, at the pony opposite to her.

Instinctively, without hesitation, Homage spun around on the spot, her body dropping into a battle stance, even though -as Vevlet could see only now in the bright light- she didn't seem to have a single weapon with her.

However, the steel ranger accompanying her made up for her lack of arms in an instant as he too span around and readied his grenade rifle with a threatening click. Back to back, the two ponies stood, ready to face the entire staff of Misty Hills.

Only that facing them was but one pony.

Dead silence hung over the hall in the following moments. Even though she could only see their backsides, Velvet could easily imagine the looks on her friends' faces as they stared at the pony who had interrupted them. She was standing in the middle of the hall, just a few yards away from Homage and SteelHooves, eyeing the two with a cold, calculating glance.

In the end, it was Homage who broke the silence. "L-Littlepip?" she gasped, with disbelief at first, but then again with disbelief quickly turning into a cold clarity.

Littlepip gave the two a cold glare, then furrowed her eyebrow. "What. Are you doing here?" she asked slowly, menacingly, "Why did you come here? Can't you just leave me the fuck alone?"

"Li ... Littlepip?" Homage repeated herself; her voice began to tremble and tears were forming in the corners of her eyes. "This ... isn't you, is it?" she asked cautiously, shaking her head, "Please," she had to cut herself off as her voice broke, and she swallowed, "tell me it's not you." Hesitantly, she started walking into her direction, but was stopped by SteelHooves.

"Stay back." he commanded her soberly, pointing his weapons at the mare in raider armor, "We don't know if she's dangerous."

Homage stopped, looking over her shoulder, back at SteelHooves. Her eyes betrayed how much she disliked this thought, but she seemed to realize that her companion did have a point.

"Right..." Littlepip sighed, fixing the two ponies with a cold grin. "I might ... stab you in the back." she spat, baring her teeth, "Or shoot you with a needle gun." she took a few threatening steps towards Homage, "Or ally with your so-called friends and have them stab you in the back." she stopped, only a few feet away from her unicorn-friend, and brought her face close to that of Homage, "How would you like that?"

"Step back from her." SteelHooves commanded her threatenigly, the tips of his weapons never leaving Littlepip.

That made Littlepip hesiate, then let up on Homage and turn towards the steel ranger with wide eyes. "Make me." she said, her voice calm, but tensed. Her horn lit up and Velvet Remedy half-expected her to attack her former friend right there, but nothing seemed to happen.

"Make me, fucker." the unicorn hissed, taking a step towards the ranger and giving him a treatening glare - a glare that SteelHooves stood up to without any difficulties. "Do you think I'm afraid of you?" she turned around, her look wandering over Velvet Remedy, Calamity and Homage, "Of any of you? You're all just scum! You can consider yourselves lucky I didn't have you killed yet!" she paused, drawing in a long, deep breath. Her look fell onto SteelHooves who still had his rifle pointed at her, and she glowered at him again. "Now put your guns away." she told him coldly, "They won't use you anything, trust me."

The steel ranger didn't react in the slightest, seeming not impressed by her warning.

"Oh well..." Littlepip said with an indulgent shrug and a smile crossed her face for just a second. "We can do it that way."

The aura around her horn glowed a little brighter for just a second, then a zapping sound, similiar to that of a magical energy weapon filled the room, and the steel ranger collapsed with a weak groan, his heavy armor hitting the floor with a loud thud.

"Earth ponies..." the mare in raider armor said, smirking as her magic levitated something that looked like a small magical pistol from where it had floated a good ten feet above the steel ranger's head back to a holster on her raider barding, "they never see that levitating-something-up-behind-you trick coming."

Noticing the three pairs of eyes giving her horrified looks, she grinned and pulled the weapon out again, holding it up for the others to admire. "Amazing, isn't it?" she said with a grin, "It's called Electromagnetic Pulse. Perfect for knocking out steel rangers, robobrains, and all those other pesky piles of junk."

She paused for effect, then, seeing how the horrified looks she was given didn't change, added, "Don't worry, he's fine. Just unconscious and unable to move. But he can be revived with a PipBuck and some skill at any time."

"Now..." She continuted, focusing her attention back on Homage, "How should we handle-"

"Littlepip, No!" Homage gasped, her voice at the verge of tears, "No. No! This isn't you! This can't be you!" she let out a sob, rubbing a hoof over her face.

"Oh boohoo." Littlepip replied in a mocking tone, "Don't act like you care about me. You sided with them," she spat, tilting her head into the direction of Velvet Remedy and Calamity, "when I needed you. You're a traitor, just like them."

"No!" Homage once again shouted. Tears were running down her face freely now. "Pip, please!" she shouted, begging, "I ... I believed in you! I knew all heroes fall eventually, but..." she had to pause, gasping for air, "but I thought you were different!"

To Velvet's very surprise, the hateful look on her friend's face had started to vanish, and now she was looking at Homage with a mereley deadpan expression - yes, she looked almost hurt in that moment.

"You were my hero, Pip!" Homage continued, seeming unaffected the change on her friend's face, "You were my light in the darkness! Every day it was getting harder to find good ponies out there in the wasteland, but you were the living proof that there still is good in this world. You were the light in my life!"

Silence filled the room as Homage's words faded away, broken only by her occasional sobs. For the first time ever since Velvet Remedy and Calamity had been captured, she saw regret in Littlepip's face. Yes, the fallen heroine looked sick at heart in this moment.

"So please..." Homage started another attempt, her voice weak from crying, "Please, I'm begging you, tell me that this isn't what you've become! Tell me that there's still something left of the heroic stable dweller I fell in love with!" Again, she sobbed, "And that it can all be like it used to be."

That pushed the former heroine over the edge. Her face turning red, her eyes tearing up, she looked at the unicorn, then gave a muffled, "Homage..." she sobbed as well, turning her head away, "Homage, I ... I can't..."

"Shh, it's okay." Homage said, stepping forward and giving her friend a soft, comforting hug, "It's over now. We can go home, and forget about all this. We'll act like it never happened, okay?"

"B-but I..." Littlepip said over her sobs, tears running down her face and onto Homage's shoulders, "I ... I can't believe..."

"It's okay..." Homage said again, patting Littlepip's shoulder.

"I can't believe..." Littlepip whispered softly, shutting her eyes and letting her tears run freely.

Her horn lit up, and her needle gun came flying from its holster on her flank.

"I can't believe you fell for this shit."

"What!?" Homage's eyes shot open and her body tensed up, but it was too late.

Thwap!

"No!" Velvet Remedy screamed in horror, but could only stand by and watch helplessly as the poison did its job. Homage, and with her their only realistic chance to escape this living nightmare, went limp, fell from Littlepip's grip, and landed on the concrete ground with a soft thud.

"Too easy." Littlepip said with a grin, then raised a hoof to wipe the tears from her face. Her look went over to Velvet and Calamity looking at her with horror, and she gave a short chuckle.

"Really?" she asked, sounding legitimately amused, "You did not see that coming?"

She snorted. Her horn lit up, her levitation magic picking up the limp bodies of Homage and SteelHooves with ease.

"You really don't know the first thing about me, do you?" she said bitterly, but then shrugged and brought a smile back to her face. "Oh well, none of my concern, now is it?"

And with that, she turned around to walk away, taking the bodies of her former friends with her.

"You two better hit the pillow now." she said over her shoulder as she disappeared from their sight, "Wouldn't want to end up in the pit, right?"

She gave a short laugh, then disappeared.

Moments later, the ceiling lights in the hall were switched off, and it was back to the ever-present darkness of the night.

Chapter 4