Chapter 6: The Singer

Velvet Remedy.

So this was the mare Pip was searching for. I mean, she was beautiful, and she had a great voice. But the fact that she was singing for slavers made me feel suspicious.

I turned to look a Pip, who was staring dead at her with an enamored look. Ah, I see what's going on here.

"You may wanna close your mouth. You're staring to drool."

Pip broke out of trance, wiping away the drool. I couldn't get rid of the stupid grin on my face as she glared at me.

I turned back to the guards making their rounds. They didn't see us, but soon they would. So, we quietly moved back the way we came.

"I wanna take a guess and say that getting Velvet has become our top priority."

"What was your first clue?"

This caused a ripple in the plan. Not only did we have to worry about the other ponies in those cages, but something personal had been added to the situation.

The moment we stepped outside, I knew that we were in trouble. There were multiple slavers, with lanterns strapped to their backs, and they were standing around the corpse of that flamethrower bastard I put down. Our activities were gaining more and more attention. Four of the ponies turned and ran towards the central barn. They were gonna trigger the alarm!

A single gunshot rang out through the storm, and the lead pony dropped. Two of the runners skidded to a muddy stop and dove for cover, while the third kept moving. He nearly made it to the barn, close enough that the barn door was splattered with red when Calamity hit him.

Some heavily armed slavers spotted Calamity on that last dive and began firing in his direction. But he was fast, the lighting was bad and the slavers aim was about the same as Dashiegames.

The four were working in a group, moving towards the barn while covering each other. We raced down the catwalk and towards one of the old wooden buildings surrounding the megabarn, shotguns reloaded and ready. But the door was locked.

Pulling out a bobby pin and the screwdriver, I began to work. The glow from Pip's horn was helpful. The lock really tricky, and I lost the bobby pin.

Behind us, the noises from the central barn changed drastically. The singing stopped. And the drunken hollers were replaced by houts.

Pulling out another bobby pin, I tried again, with Pip getting antsy. I could hear the barn doors swing open, with slavers tearing out into the storm. Cries for blood and rape and death, scared me that those comments were directed towards us.

The door’s lock finally gave. Without a second to lose, we dove inside.

POW! POW! POW! POW!

Four rapid shots with our shotguns, and the guards were dead before they had time to react. I admit it was still unnerving to be killing ponies, even if they were slavers, but I shook it off. One of them had the keys both to the front door and the cage that took up two-thirds of the room.

My eyes widened at what I saw before me. There were weapons and boxes of ammo, some stacked on top of other boxes of ammo!

As Deadpool would say, "holy gun boner!"

I tossed Pip the keys, "lock the door!"

Moving quickly, she locked it,then began to barricade it. Bottle caps and gaming chits slid to the floor as I flipped the table and pushed it against the door. Pip levitated the filing cabinet against it to hold it in place. The desk, I noticed, had a glowing terminal.

First, however, was improving our armament.

Seven ammo boxes, two gun cabinets and a weapons locker later, were less like a pony and a human and more like walking arsenals. There were dozens of weapons, but all in such crappy condition that we were only able to salvage three useful ones including a needler pistol, the repair assist spell of Pip's PipBuck allowed her to swiftly tear down the worst of the weapons for the best of their parts. The weapons locker contained two battle saddles, both far too heavy for us to bother with.

We now had ammo for everything but Little Macintosh, including weapons I had never seen before, like 'spark packs' designed for recharging magical energy weapons, and three missiles.

The biggest prize in the lot had been a set of schematics for creating a homemade gun that would fire poisoned needles!

The slavers took little time figuring out we had barricaded ourselves in their armory. Locking the door was pretty pointless; the first pony to the armory had her own set of keys. The table, cabinet and desk were proving much more worthwhile, and by the time Pip had finished repairing the weapons we were taking, they had finally stopped struggling. They were probably waiting to ambush us, but that gave us yet a little more time. We used it to take a look at the terminal. The password was “terminal”.

Entry One:
Had a surprise inspection from the Ministry of Morale yesterday. We pretty well knew it was coming, and I’d been given instructions on what to do; but I couldn’t believe how smoothly it went! We slip them a small percentage of the special product, and they give us clean marks? Even if they were dirty, I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t bring the cage down on us and impound all of it for themselves. Seemed too good to be true. So I did a little digging, and a friend of a friend working over at Ironshod who claims to have an inside peek gave me this apple to chew on: according to him, the head mare of MoM herself actually loathes the new contraband laws. And since MoM enforces those laws, that means all sorts of tasty zebra treats are slipping into Equestria right under the Princess’s nose. I figure this means as long as she says golden delicious, we’re golden delicious. And even if the Princess suspects her (and how dense would she have to be not to?), she really is the one pony the MoM can’t bring up on sedition charges!

Entry Two:
Finally wiped the crap from this terminal. Three-hundred plus documents that I have absolutely no use for (and many of which it’s probably best there not be a record of). All except that one damn file from forever ago with the weird-ass flag on it that prevents tampering. And trust me, I’ve tried.

Don’t know why we even bother keeping record of where we send the goods, since they’re all going to the same damn place anyway. I don’t know what the hell Stern needs all these slaves for, but unless she’s building an army, whatever it is has one hellish rate of attrition.

Boss is more worried about the attrition rate in transit. A third of these fuckers don’t make the journey, and Stern ain’t paying us none for corpses. I’m supposed to figure out a way to keep the damn goods alive at least until after caps exchange hooves. Maybe a cocktail of drugs will help. Found a false floor last week leading into a buried boxcar just full of the stuff!

Entry Three:
I’ve finally convinced the boss that we need to start a little side business in the foal market. The young ones are easier to corral, control and train. Sure, we have to play up the “investment” angle, since they can’t do the work of a normal slave, but there are plenty of ponies out there who see the potential. Unfortunately, Stern ain’t one of them. That bitch has no patience.

Turns out, a mixture of Buck and Dash, in small doses, does mighty well in keeping the more worthless slaves from keeling over before they make Fillydephia. What happens to them after Stern gets her hooves on them ain’t none of my concern. Still got to talk to Whip Crack about going a bit easier on them though. No drug cocktail is going prevent a pony from being lashed to death. Might suggest swapping out which slaves are pulling the wagons a bit more often too.

Entry Four:
The cells in the old sheriff’s station have been perfect for foal holding. The settlers of Appleloosa might have constructed a lot of this place with an eye to speed over lastingness but they sure knew how to make a holding pen. I’d even say that the cells in there are a close second in the list of stuff I’m glad they left behind when they all kicked the bucket, next to that apple pie recipe!

Turns out, gathering foals has made hitting isolated homesteads a much better risk. The parent folk have a tendency to get annoyingly shooty when we come to claim them, but they also take such great pains to keep their little ones out of the fight that even if we have to kill off all the adults, we still make a good profit.

Entry Five:
What a fucking cock-up! A whole shipment, two wagons worth, slaughtered. Best we can figure, they ran into a stray hellhound. Damned taint fucks everything up. Now I hear that Stern is sending a “special representative” to take a look-see at our operation. Sounds more to me like she’s planning on taking over. I think she’s in for a face-buck surprise. And this “special representative” best watch her tail.

Got a new herd of foals ready for breaking. Raked in the caps with the last batch. Another benefit of dealing in foals: you only have to kill one of them in front of the others to take the fight out of them.

Entry Six:
The last week has been beyond words. Stern was playing it close to her chest with that “special representative” business. I never had any idea! Let’s just say I was shaking in my shodding when our new boss heard about some of the stuff I’d been saying back when we didn’t know her. But I guess it’s easy to be understanding when you’re connected to the divine! Besides, we still have what’s left of the old boss as a reminder that the new boss’s hooves ain’t soft.

The new acquisition is going to do wonders for keeping the slaves up. Good thing too, since the new boss don’t cotton to the Buck and Dash trick. Fortunately, I was able to convince her that was Apple Core’s idea. Poor Apple Core. Never saw it coming.

All hail the living Goddess!

By the time I was done reading I was too stunned to speak. Pip could have set the town on fire with the heat of her seething. We had to get those foals yo safety, we couldn't them for the slavers to do god knows what to them.
I just hope Pip wouldn't let Velvet Remedy distract her too much.

I was about to move away from the terminal, when Pip start to stomped around angrily, trying to move the desk.

"Uh, Pip?" She didn't seem to hear me. I was about to help her when the barricade exploded inwards! Agony coursed through me as I was thrown back against the wall. My head slammed into the armory cage and for a moment, I lost consciousness. The slavers had launched a missile at the door!

I was lucky Pip had those healing potions. I gulped down another one and already, my wounds were closing. Even with the potions, my head was still throbbing in pain. I'm glad Calamity found us.

Pip was worried about the missile, but Calamity calmed her. According to him, a missile-launching battle saddle takes some effort to aim correctly, meaning that any pony short of a true expert with the things would be planting him/herself for each launch. Which would make them an easy target.

When I could stand again, though still wobbly, I hastily filled Calamity in on what we had discovered. He gave me a confused look as Pip went on and on about Velvet, before trotting over to take a quick peak at the battle saddles. Neither, he declared at a glance, were sufficiently similar to his own to even raid for spare parts.

We didn't spend any more time in the armory. The slavers would be back any moment. We decided to split up. Pip and I would look for Velvet Remedy while Calamity hightailed it to the sheriff’s office, where he would scout out the place and hopefully take out any guards. We'd meet him there soon to unlock the cages.

Slipping out, we parted ways and slid into the storm. The slavers missed us by seconds.

"Pip, are you sure we can trust her?" I asked as we neared the boxcar

"Of course! Why wouldn't we?"

"Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that, she was singing for slavers."

Pip came to a holt, and turned to me with barely concealed anger. "She is not with them! She's probably being held hostage! And I intend to rescue her!"

I shook my head as she turned back.

We jumped into the boxcar when we were close enough. I slid the boxcar door shut behind me.

And there she was.

“It’s about time!” Her tail was to me as she faced a wall with three yellow boxes arranged so their butterflies were in a triangular pattern. “I can’t very well do any good sitting in h…”

She had turned a glance towards me and stopped. Now she turned slowly towards me, staring. “Oh… no…”

Looks like my suspicions were true.

“Oh, oh dear!” Her eyes traveled from my face to Pip's face.

“What are you doing here?” she asked with a breath.

Pip stood tall. “I followed you out of the Stable. Came across the Equestrian Wastlelands to find you. I’m here to rescue you!” She wore a winning smiles, but added meekly. “I’m not stalking you.”

I face palmed. Oh Pip, if only you realized it.

“Aren’t you now.” She shook her head and pranced around almost as if distraught. “I tried so hard to keep anypony from following me. This isn’t what I wanted at all!” Then she looked at me again, and this time I could tell she was seeing the wounds. And the weapons.

“You’re the one out there shooting up everything? You are, aren’t you.”

Pip was confused. “Yes. Like I said, I’m here to rescue you.”

“Rescue? Littlepip... I’m not a prisoner. I’m here of my own volition.”

I knew it.

“You’re… here… with slavers... You’re… working with slavers!?” Pip was shocked, and I couldn't blame her. Going through all that to find somebody only to realize it was a wasted effort.

She stared at me, her voice cool. “And you’re cutting a bloody swath through them. How many ponies are dead tonight because of you, Littlepip?”

“They’re slavers.” I cut in.

“And how about the people they support? This is a town, Littlepip. There are merchants and tavern owners and workponies here. Have you killed any of them? Are you sure?

“No, I haven’t. I’m sure!” Pip responded.

“And the slaves? Do you think you can kill slaver ponies and they won’t retaliate? Do you think they wouldn’t take it out on helpless ponies to make an example?”

“Why?” Pip mustered.

Velvet Remedy’s voice never faltered, nor did her poise. “When I left the Stable... after leaving a message to keep anypony from following me,” she gave us a pointed look, “I came upon a band of ponies who had been set upon by a horrific beast. There was only one survivor, badly wounded, missing a leg. So of course I galloped to his leg. "

“Did you know I always wanted to be a medical pony? I bound his wounds and carried him back to his camp. It was a slaver camp, and there were several ponies there who were in severe need of aid, particularly amongst the captives.” Velvet Remedy looked about the boxcar, which I began to realize was not her cell but her room. “I’ve been with them since.”

Pip was stunned. “But... you’re helping slavers!”

Velvet Remedy turned away from us, staring at her wall of yellow medical boxes with little pink butterflies. Casually, as if talking about the weather, she told us, “I read in a book once, back when I was about your age, that when Fluttershy, the Mare of the Ministry of Peace herself, stepped onto a battlefield, she insisted that her healer ponies tend to everyone wounded on the battlefield. Everyone! Pony, zebra, to her it didn’t matter…”

Velvet turned to us and slowly asked, “How could I do any less?”

“It’s different!” Pip argued.

“Oh?” Velvet challenged, “How?”

I decided to not to butt in just yet. But Velvet was right. Back home, it's the same thing; war never changes.

“Look.” Pip tried, “These slaver ponies… when you save one of them, you’re making it possible for them to hurt and kill other ponies. Destroy lives. The slaves you heal? They’re being sold into horrible work that ends up killing them. The slavers are just using you so those poor ponies survive the trip into hell.”

Velvet looked pained. “You don’t think I know that? But else can I do? I’m just one pony. And I will not do nothing! Would you have me just trot away from suffering ponies because they have the misfortune of being captives of slavers?”

I now felt the need assert myself in the conversation. “You can help us rescue them.”

She chuckled sadly, shaking her head. “Rescue them? The three of us? Against all those slavers?” She looked me over, “Not that I don’t doubt your resolve… or your firepower. But we would be horribly outnumbered…”

I grinned, “We have support, and he’s a pegasus!”

Velvet shook her head. “Even if we did, then what? Did you also bring food enough for the slaves? Water? We are many days trot from the nearest friendly settlement, and many of the poor ponies I have been tending are in no condition to make such a trip. Some of them are foals!”

Her gaze traveled to Pip's leg, and her eyes widened. “Oh dear!” She pointed. “And it doesn’t look like you are in any condition to either. If we had a few hours, I could tend to that, but...”

She sat back. “Oh I admire your bravery and sacrifice. But Littlepip, did you really think this through?”

“Of course I thought it through,” Pip stammered. “I have a train!”

“Oh!” Her eyes widened with surprise. And for the first time, her voice was hopeful rather than hurting. “That… might work!”

Calamity stood guard atop the sheriff’s office as Velvet Remedy and Pip made their way to the cells inside, with me keeping an eye out. Nearly half a dozen colts and fillies, looked up at us in feat. But softened when they saw Velvet Remedy, and she smiled gently at them in return. “I have good news, little ponies!” she said softly, hesitating with a grimace before stepping over the headless bulk of one of the guards Calamity had created. “We’re all going on a train ride!”

I admired how she was with the foals, nuzzling them through the bars. My eyes slid down to her flanks, noticing with amusement that she had two medical boxes strapped to her sides as saddlebags, only now realizing that the scarlet and golden streaks in her hair and tail had suggestive similarity to the pink and yellow that I now associated with the Ministry of Peace.

Pip soon opened the cage. The little ponies inside looked at me with mixed expressions: fear, confusion.

"Hi." I waved, causing some to partially hide behind Velvet and others to hesitantly return the gesture.

“We got incoming!” Calamity’s voice broke through the sounds of the rain. “Whoa… guys, we got trouble! Big trouble!”

Velvet adopted a worried expression. Moving deftly, I snuck up to the nearest window and looked out. Two ponies were striding up toward the sheriff’s office, clopping though the small river that the street used to be. A third watched over them from the top of a boxcar, then leapt down to walk between them. The two on either side wore heavy battle saddles, but it was the figure in between that caught my attention.

She was tall, her body exuding a graceful malice and strength I’d never seen in a pony. In truth, she hardly looked like a pony at all. In fact, she looked more like a winged unicorn.

"Hey Pip?" I called over my shoulder.

"Yeah."

"Were there any other ponies like Princess Celestia and Luna?"

"Well, legend says that there was princess Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic. There was also a rumor of a Princess Cadence and her daughter Flurry Heart. And that's about it. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." I responded, as kept my eye on the mystery pony. "Just that we might be in some deep shit."

The voice of the mysterious, dark mare carried majestically through the torrent. “We will give you just one chance to come out. Do so. Or We will bring the whole building down on your ears!”

With a yee and a haw, Calamity dived towards the enemy trio, firing twice. Four bullets struck home and the pony to the left of the winged unicorn fell with a splash, blood washing over the strange mare’s hooves and down the river.

The strange mare responded with a whinnying laugh that had no emotion. “Such impudence!” I gasped as the mare’s horn glowed a sickly green and a blast of lightning ripped from its tip, slamming into Calamity’s chest, throwing him back through the sky.

“Oh shit! Calamity!” Calamity was spiraling down, unconscious, but he was soon enveloped by the green glow of Pip's horn, holding him hovering over the minefield that surrounded the slave pens. His eyes blinked open, then widened with terror as he saw the mines below him, his hooves thrashing in panic as he tried to backpeddle through the air.

“Oh… now isn’t that touching!” The mare turned to the slaver pony still flanking her as Pip glided Calamity to safety. “Kill her.” The slaver pony trotted forward, the many barrels of his battle saddle pointed at the age- and weather-weakened wooden structure.

Behind me, I heard Velvet Remedy telling the foals, “Lay flat, all of you. As low as you can!” I turned to see her waving her horn at their cells. And I marveled as a weak, shielding glow wrapped about the cells. I realized Velvet Remedy had not thought to place herself within the spell of protection she wove around the children.

The roar of the slaver’s battle saddle was nothing like I've ever heard before. I dove to the floor and joined Pip behind a metal desk, feeling bullets slice the air just behind me and then ring against the metal as they tried to murder the desk.

I heard Velvet Remedy cry out and fall.

The roar paused, as if the battle saddle needed to catch its breath. Pip jumped up from her position, forehooves on bullet-riddled desk, while rushed over to Velvet. Three of the bullets had struck her, one only grazing but two sunk deep into her belly. As quickly as I could, I opened one of her medical boxes and pulled out a roll of medical bandages.

BOOOOM!!!

I was slightly distracted by the explosion, but I kept working.

“That was almost impressive,” she drolled. “But now playtime is over.”

The door of the sheriff’s office ripped off its hinges and went sailing into the darkness. “Go ahead,” the mare taunted, “throw your best spell.” No spell came.

“Oh!” the mare laughed. “No spells? Well, aren’t you just a pathetic excuse for a unicorn!”

I finished binding Velvet as best I could. She stirred, moaning in pain.

“And here We were hoping that the great assassin who decided to assault Our town would at least provide Us with a challenge. We have been so utterly bored!”

I noticed Pip's horn beginning to glow.

“Telekenesis again? Such a foal’s game.” The mare was closer. “For the trouble you’ve caused Us… and worse, for wasting Our time with your patheticness, first We will kill your friends. Then have them chopped up into a nice stew. Which We will feed to you.”

Pip's horn glowed brighter, making me feel a little nervous.

“…No, We think We will instead feed them to the foals, and make you watch!”

The glow of Pip's horn flared, a bright overglow enveloped it. I noticed she was trembling.

“Still. Not. Impressed.” The light from Pip's horn was pouring out the doorway and through the bullet holes of the building. “So what’s this? Levitating all the little ponies away? You can’t send them far enough that We won’t catch them. Or maybe you are trying to levitate every gun in the armory? Even if you could, this shield around Us will stop any bullet!”

A second overglow erupted from Pip's horn, enveloping the first. And Pip began to scream.

"Pip!" I was about to stand up and help her, when some to the side caught my eye. My eyes widened. "Oh...shit..."

“Oh, enough of this!” The mare called out.

“You’re right,” Pip said, stepping feebly into the doorway, the effort made me fear that she would pass out at any moment. “I am small. Weak… pathetic.” Her crippled leg was wobbling so hard it made her teeth chatter. She lowered her head. “I am a sad excuse for a unicorn with no spells but the foal’s cantrip of levitation.” The light bathed the mare. I could see that she wasn't black, but dark forest green in coat, with a mane streaked in green and purple.

“But I’ve gotten really, really good at it.”

Again, the mare looked around casually, trying to guess what Pip was up to. “Well, maybe you are not worthless after all. Give yourself to Us. Join Us in Unity. Become something greater than this wretched thing you are now.”

A third layer of brilliant overglow erupted from her horn. I covered my eyes to avoid the blinding light. Through it, I saw Pip drop to one knee. “No!”

Still covering my eyes, I stood up to help her. But then I noticed the shadow.

“Oh what are you doing? And what in Celestia are you?” The mare questioned. The second part towards me no doubt.

I smiled as Calamity spoke, “keeping ya from castin’ a shadow.”

“What?” The mare looked down. Then up a second time, this time seeing the much softer glow coming from above the sheriff’s office. The boxcar drifted into view over the roof and stopped above her.

I couldn't help myself as Pip let it go.

"You have a train to catch."

<<<------======!!!WHAM!!!======------>>>

I grabbed Velvet dove behind the desk to avoid the splash of mud. I as got to my feet, I noticed be laying still on the ground.

I rushed over to see if she was still breathing. She was.

As I wiped some of the blood off her face. Calamity landed beside me.

"She alright?"

I nodded, "yeah."

"Good. By the way," he turned back. "'You have a train to catch"? Really?"

"Oh, shut up. And help the others." I replied, picking Pip up.

Author's Note

I took advice from Naiba and try to make the narrative my own. Though it was difficult. Hope you enjoyed it.

Also, I adjusted the ending of chapter two of Operation Shattered Glass.

If anyone is an artist or knows one. I'm looking anyone who can do cover art for this story.