Chapter 5 - Brave New World

I dragged the unconscious mare to the water tower not far from the farm and tied her to one of the pipes. I had removed her barding and belongings and noticed some strange things. Her orange fur coat was too clean to be a raider and her cream mane wasn't cut into a spiked mohawk or other styles common to raiders. Her cutie mark was a.. slice of pie? This pony didn't seem like a raider at all. There was something more to this mare. I intended to find out what. She let out a small groan as she came to.

"Good morning. Enjoy your nap?" I spoke to her in my usual gruff monotone. She groaned again and looked up to me, her eyes struggling to focus. "Come on. Wake up. I have some things I need to ask you," she noticed the the bindings around her hooves and began to struggle. It didn't take long for her to realize it was useless to struggle and she looked up to me terrified.

"W-who are you?" she asked. Her reaction wasn't like any other raider I had in this position before. They would be struggling uselessly and swearing at me, telling me they would rip me open and eat my guts while fucking my corpse. Not her though, she was afraid. A normal pony's reaction.

"Already forgot? I'm the pony that killed your crew and knocked you out. Here's how this works; I ask you questions; and if I don't like the answers, I hurt you. Understand? Please be compliant. I don't want to get any blood on my armor." she nodded frantically tears starting to form in her yellow eyes; they weren't sickly or bloodshot like other raiders. "Good. Your crew. Where are they hold up?"

"A-an o-old radar station. Northeast. Y-you can see the radar dish in the d-distance." Way too quick to sell out her friends. I could probably use the radar to try and send word to Manehattan or get a message to my squad.

"How many of your friends are left?" her head shot up.

"Friend?! Those blood thirsty sadistic psychopaths are not my friends," she yelled. Her fear momentarily replaced by anger. Interesting.

I raised my hoof to strike, which caused her to flinch and turn away, "How. Many. Are there?"

"TEN! There are t-ten of them left," she curled up the best she could in her bindings and started sobbing. I watched her silently, observing. This was strange; not the reaction I expected at all.

"What's your story?" I asked her softly. My change in tone caused her to look at me. "You don't seem like the pony who would go raider. There's more to this story," I tell her. She lets out a dry chuckle and looks up at me.

"Why do you care? You're just going to kill me," her voice was heavy with regret, anger, and... sadness? This mare had me intrigued; I had to know her story. Scope said once that everypony had their own story and I'd be surprised if I listened. Not sure a raider captive is the best start, but why the hell not?

"Famous last words?" my sarcastic offer got her to chortle a little, so I made good progress.

"Fine. I suppose somepony ought to know," the color drained from my vision as I focused, "I used to be scavenger. Me and my... best friend were poking around the ruins of Poncard. We were looking for cooking supplies, believe it or not," every detail; the pause, the way her voice brightened at a fond memory, "He found an old cook book about pre-war pastries and we didn't have anywhere near enough caps to buy ingredients from restaurants; if they had them and would sell.

"He figured that we could search the kitchens in the boarded up buildings for anything useful. I'd like to think I'm a pretty damn good cook. Anyway, some raiders headed out to the city to attack the last of the Minuetmares and found us instead. They... k-killed him," her voice dropped with sadness, "Some wanted to kill me too but their leader held them off. Wanted me; wanted somepony to pass her 'grand empire' to. Not sure why she chose some random wastelander. I went along with them so they wouldn't kill me or worse. I had Ack-ack's personal protection and focus. She... did h-horrible things to m-me," that shudder, the emotion was way to raw to be fake, "She picked up Nail Board from the few that survived attacking the Minuetmare. He's the one that came up with the plan to attack the farm and killed that mare."

"Why'd you stick around if you hated them so much?" her answer would save her life. If it wasn't what I was hoping for, I'd put a bullet in her head and move on.

"Because I want them dead," her eyes stared into mine, showing conviction and determination. She gave a momentary pause once she noticed the change in my eyes, but continued, "I want to kill them for everything they did to me. They were watching me too closely for me to make a move. I needed to wait and gain their trust. Endure until they accepted me. Then when they don't expect it, I kill them all; or at least Ack-ack before they take me out."

I see, she's just another victim. "I see," I tell her as color returns to my sight. I turn around and trot away from her back to Abernathy Farm.

"H-hey, wait! You're just going to leave me here?!" I ignore her as she keeps yelling after me. I needed to get some things before venturing out. When I returned she had slumped over in her bindings, crying again. She heard my approach but didn't look up, "You come back to kill me?" I threw her leather barding on the ground where she would see it. She looked up to me in confusion.

"You wanted to kill those raiders right? Here's your chance. You will follow my orders. If I tell you to do something, you do it without question," I started loosening the ropes around her hooves as I spoke, "If you don't, I will kill you. If you try to betray me, I will kill you. Try to run, I will kill you. Understand?" she nods. "Good. Your name?"

"Crispy Crust. My name is Crispy Cru-oof," I finished untying her and she dropped to the ground. I levitated a .10mm pistol I looted from the unicorn raider with all the ammo he had and set them down in front of her leather barding.

"I'm trusting you not to try anything, Miss Crust. Prove to me your story is real. Get your stuff, we're leaving," I turn and started walking in the direction of Poncord. Crispy frantically hurried after me, tripping as she shrugged into her barding as she followed. Bringing her along was a risk, but it was one I was willing to take.

"What happened here?" We missed a war. The street was littered with bodies; many of them were ripped apart. There weren't many things in the wasteland that could rip bodies apart like this. There were only raider bodies, but a Hellhound in the area was still bad news. There were a few ash piles still being blown away in the breeze. One of the buildings had a large whole in the wall. A nearby alleyway was scorched black and I could barley make out the charred remains of a large creature. Whoever managed to take the hellhound out has my respect if they survived.

"From what Nail Board said, this is where the Thundega raiders tried to attack the Minuetmare. He didn't want to talk about it because he got his ass beat and ran like a bitch; but he did mention power armor and a Hellhound. Not sure how everything turned out, he refused to talk about it anymore," Crispy told me. She was good at filling me in on anything that Bush couldn't; she was being surprisingly cooperative despite me shooting at her a few hours ago.

"The Minuetmares? Who are they?" Crispy mentioned them often. Were they a mercenary group of some kind? It was kind of nice to get proper intel.

"You don't know? Aren't you a... nevermind. The Minuetmares were a group of ponies that just wanted to help ponies. It was a good idea, they had my support; but something went wrong. Not sure what happened, but they were mostly wiped out. The last Minuetmare was chased here and I suppose they fought off the raiders. The Thundega raiders won't give up though. Nail Board let it slip more than once that they were after something that the Minuetmares had." Interesting. If these Minuetmares wanted to do good, I'd have to seek them out later.

"Doesn't look like the bodies were searched. Something to come back to," I say. We couldn't spend anymore time, the raiders would begin to wonder what happened to their pals. That would set them on edge and make this tougher than it already was.

Crispy turned to me with a frown, "You're a pretty cold motherfucker, ain't ya? Usually I see you guys being more sadistic, but your just... cold," there was no way she was talking about the NCR. Who did she think I was working for? That was a question for later.

"Enough talk, it's wasting time," I say and walk slightly faster.

"There, see? This is what I'm talking about. You say you want to help, but they you act like this. Ponies would believe you if you were nicer," I really didn't want to have this talk again. Shiana, Recon, Brush Fire, and Echagi have told me this before. "Don't let yourself be too cold" they say. I don't, only to those I don't trust yet. Crispy Crust was a raider until a few minuets ago, I trusted her about as far as I could throw her. Which would be pretty far now that I think about it... huh.

"We'll cut through the forest once we can," Crispy said after a few moments of silence, "We could follow the road, but I get the feeling you'd say it'd take longer. That, and you like going off the beaten path," that was true on both accounts. I nod and gesture to her to lead the way. Crispy sighed and took the lead through the dead woods. "You could be more of a conversationalist, you know," she said behind her shoulder at me. We still had a ways to go, I hoped she wouldn't whine like this the whole way.

"Fine," I sigh, "What are we going to be facing we we get there?" now would be a perfect time for a plan.

"Not what I had in mind, but ok. They have the usual; double barrel shotguns, .10mm pistols, pipe guns, and molotovs. Ack-ack, she's the boss, has a minigun. Not sure where she found it, but she has it and plenty of ammo. Should be two outside; One in the shack on the radar and one in the building. The rest are inside. Oh, and we have pet molerats! That... we uh... strap mines onto and send them out to attack ponies that get too close," she shuddered at that.

Molerats were ugly little mutated rats with no fur, wrinkly skin, and deadly buck teeth. They usually live underground and only come up to attack if somepony gets too close to their den. They burrow through the ground like miniature Hellhounds. Molerats make great stew if cooked the right way. The thought of Shiana's molerat and mutfruit stew made my mouth water and my stomach growl. It also reminded me that I hadn't eaten a proper meal in these past few days. Leaf Abernathy had brought me some fruit and water, but I refused take any significant amount of their food.

"You, uh... hungry, huh? I could cook for you... I-I mean if you w-want me to that is," Crispy said as she blushed. Why was she embarrassed to offer to cook?

"That would be nice, thank you. But not until we take out the raiders. A proper celebration." Crispy seemed to physically brighten at that. She even walked with more of a bounce to her step. It was a good sign, she must have not been a raider long to still be this sane. "We're getting close. Are you ready?" I could see the buildings that Crispy described. Sure enough, I saw a raider leaning against the wall of building attached to the radar dish. Crispy nodded to me and drew her pistol.

I took Springfield off my back and looked down the scope. Now would be a good time to figure out the S.A.T.S. scope. I grabbed the small wire that Shiana showed me and connected it to my helmet. The world around me froze and the scope zoomed in on the raider leaning on the wall. His body was segmented and his head was highlighted next to an 80% chance to hit, The torso showed 95% and the few legs I could see offered 62%. I wanted to wipe these scum out so selected the head. The little spell charge gauge dropped a significant amount when I selected the shot. The more difficult the shot was, the more the spell charge was used up; good to know.

I was only able to select two head shots with the spell I had. I was still a rather poor sniper and didn't quite trust this S.A.T.S. stuff. I wondered if there other targets in my view. As if on cue, the scope panned down to a molerat on the slanted walkway that led to the building the raider was leaning on. It had landmines strapped to its back that were highlighted. I could shoot the mines... It took me no time at all to remove one of the headshots on the raider and queued up two shots on the mines with what remained of the charge. Time to make an entrance. I accepted the shots.

It was some of the worst moments of my life. I have terrible fear of not being in control of my body. Having S.A.T.S. freeze me in place and adjust my aim for me was horrific. I wanted to panic, to scream, to drop the gun and hide, but couldn't. The crosshairs of the scope lined up with the raiders head and I felt myself pull the trigger. The sound of the shot was deafening and I seemed to follow the bullet as it traveled through the forest. Nononono no no NO, put me back! The bullet hit the raider in the eye and painted the wall behind him with the contents of his skull. I was looking through the scope again as it slowly panned down to the molerat. It turned to the source the gunshot, making the mines harder to hit. The second bullet missed, grazing the front leg of the small creature and sending it sprawling.

The land mine was now in prefect view and the scope followed the molerat and lined up with one of the mines. Stop! Give me back my body! Control returned to me as if the spell heard my plea. My legs gave out from under me and Springfield dropped out of my levitation. One of the raiders started shooting at us and Crispy dragged me behind a tree for cover.

My breathing was out of control, my heart pounded in my chest and I could hear the beat in my ears. I couldn't focus. The branding on my neck throbbed in tune with my pounding heart. Crispy was patting me down and looking me over for any wounds; trying to ask if I was OK but she was drowned out. She had the right idea but was looking in the wrong place; this damage wasn't physical.

I took a few deep breaths to calm my self and placed my hoof on her shoulder. I looked up to her and she helped me up. "Oh, hey! You OK? You like, completely broke down there. What happened?" She dusted me off and look into my visor.

"Something triggered a bad memory. I'll be fine in a moment. What's the situation?" from the look on her face, she didn't trust me.

"Only one of them know we're here. He doesn't know where we are though," she peeked around the tree, "I think we can take him out before he realizes what happens."

"A good plan, but a little basic," she turned to glare at me, "Let us expand. Here's what I think we should do.

Two gunshots were heard in the direction the raider was shooting. They weren't the loud, heavy rounds rounds from before; they were small and one right after the other. The raider kept shooting where he saw the muzzle flashes. A shout stopped him, "Stop fuckin' wastin' ammo, you fuckin' dumbass," a mare shouted. The raider knew this mare.

"Oh shit, Crispy! Where the others? Did you get the tribute?" the raider asked as Crispy limped up the hill with Springfield on her back. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Those fuckers hired a mercenary. He killed Crusher and the Abernathys killed Cinders. Embers threw a molotov at the place and burned it down before he got shot. Took me a while, but I limped back here to find some fucker snipin' you idiots and you shootin' as many shots as we got. You wanna tell Ack-ack that you wasted all your ammo?" Crispy started yelling at the raider. slipped back into her harsh attitude with no problem.

"Alright, chill the fuck out. You kill the fucker that was shootin' at us?" Were raiders usually this dumb?

"No, I just took his gun and walked up here. Of course I fucking killed him you stupid piece of shit," Crispy shouted. She was laying on a little thick.

"Goddesses, you're more of a bitch than usual. Your time of the month or something?" Really? Crispy, can I kill this guy already?

"No, I'm just stalling until my new friend gets behind you and kills you," Crispy said with a smirk.

The raider got halfway around before I wrapped my forelegs around his neck and used his momentum to flip him over my back and slam him to the ground. A quick twist and his neck snaps like a twig. I stand up and brush some dirt of my duster. "Holy shit, that was so cool! Where did you learn how to do that?! Can you teach me?" Crispy was in my face with a barrage of questions.

I gently push her back, "Standard hoof-to-hoof combat training I went through when I enlisted. Maybe I'll teach you a thing or two, if you have the patience for it," the smile on her face was so bright, "Later though. We have other things on our to-do list," her smile drooped and I felt terrible.

A beeping drew my attention to the walkway. The molerat with the mines was hobbling our way making pained hisses and snarls. From the look of it, the bullet must have grazed its foreleg and went through the hindleg. I felt bad for the poor creature and drew my .45 pistol to end it's misery. From what the Abernathys told me, .45 and .44 rounds were rather common out here, but the .45-70 rounds that my Sequoia needed were unheard of; best to save those for when I need them. I was about to pull the trigger when Crispy smacked the gun away and ran to the molerat.

"Crispy, what wa- hey, stop!" I was expecting an explosion and chunks of mare raining everywhere. What I got was Crispy scooping the molerat up in hooves and throwing the mines away. Um... What?

"Cuddles! What happened to you?! Did Ack-ack put those on you? Oh, I am going to skin her alive. And your legs! Who did this to your legs?!" Oh, this was her pet. I shot her pet.

Fuck.

"Uh, that was me," she whirled on me with fury in her eyes, "Sorry. Here," I floated a healing potion from my coat and pulled the cork out of the bottle. I walked over and Crispy snatched it out of of the air and poured half of the potion on the molerat's legs and the other half down it's throat. I had seen ponies do this before with their dogs.

"You trigger happy merc! You almost killed Cuddles! This little moleratty got captured shortly before I did. They threw me in the room they kept the molerats in and this little guy defended me from the ones that wanted to rip my throat open. In turn, I gave him a little spot to hide when the raiders came around," she gave the molerat a pat on the head. They shared a bond formed from a traumatic situation. Many of my friendships were made the same way.

"I see. Glad it's still alive then," I floated my pistol back into it's holster and walk into the building. There was a makeshift armor workbench behind the door and a short hallway led around a corner. There was an overturned desk and ransacked filing cabinet with a Dash inhaler sitting on top. "Shall we?" Crispy followed me through the doorway before turning back to the molerat.

"Stay in the radar building until we come back, Cuddles. You know that thing I always told you about? This gunner is helping me do it," the little creature gave a fer sniffles and a hiss, "I know you want to help, but you can't with your legs all tore up. Let the potion do its work. We'll be back soon, I promise." Crispy gave the molerat a quick hug before shooing it outside.

I opened the door and held it open for Crispy. It lead to a stairway that sharply turned around a corner. "You know the layout of this place. After you," I said as I motioned her through.

"Aw, who knew the gunner could be such a gentlestallion?" she said as she passed. She was calling me "gunner" too often; did it mean something? She was already halfway down the stairs and walking round the corner by the time I moved. I was making too many rookie mistakes. The blows I suffered to my head must have been worse than I thought. Even though I knew this wasn't a good enough excuse, I still told myself that.

The stairway wrapped around a few times before reaching the bottom. Crispy was crouched at the bottom of the stairs next to the wall. In front of her was four little red lazers.

"Ack-ack rigged this up for ponies who wanted to wipe us out; showed us few competent ones how to turn it off and on when we leave. If the lazers didn't scare them off, then they would have to walk through and get zapped by a lightning trap. They scream as they fry and let us know they're here. Then the fun starts," she sneered as if speaking to a pleading victim. Ack-ack wouldn't send Crispy to get the supplies from Abernathy Farm if she wasn't trusted. What worried me was what Crispy had to do to gain this trust; you don't stay sane when doing those kinds of things.

Crispy turned to me and smiled as the lazers deactivated, "Safe to go through now. How we gonna play this; guns blazing or sneak around and take 'em out one by one?" I liked how she planned ahead, but she missed a few options.

"Not quite. You know how to play dead, right? Let's go make you presentable."

"Are you sure about this?" Crispy wined as we walked back down the stairs, "What if they don't buy it? What if I'm not convincing enough What if they can tell all this is fake?" We had returned to the surface to briefly to make it look like she was bleeding to death. It involved cutting open a dead raider and covering Crispy in his blood and stuffing some of his intestines into her barding to make it look like she had been gutted. She was a raider lieutenant, so being covered in blood and guts wasn't a new experience.

I sigh and turn to look at her, "You'll be fine. You got them to trust you so you must be good enough at acting. Make them scared, warn them, 'die,' then all hell breaks loose. Once they're distracted, you pop up and help me out. Got it?" Crispy looked at me for a moment before nodding. She was scared and hesitant; it worried me. Hesitance could lead to death, for both of us.

We reached the end of the stairs and and enter the room beyond. It was ransacked and far less graffiti than I expected. Three filing cabinets with their contents thrown about the room. Only one of them remained up on the right wall. There was a desk opposite the upright cabinet with a working terminal sitting atop it; a wire ran from the terminal to a locked door. These raider must really hate doors, several have been removed from their hinges. There was nothing in the closet, a few ripped apart terminals, boxes of files; a few bottles of clean water was the only thing of use in the small closet. Small windows allowed me to look into the room beyond.

I could only see a single raider leaning over a metal walkway that wrapped around a large, round, metal pillar; likely the base of the radar dish. There were more out of view; I could hear them talking below and what sounded like a dog panting.

"When the fuck is Crisp comin' back with the food. I'm starving," a mare said.

"Me too," a stallion, "If I don't get me somethin' to eat soon, I'm killing her rat and cooking that up." This comment caused laughter of several raiders.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Nail Board, lay off Crispy," a different stallion spoke, "Ack-ack's gonna chop your balls off if she hears you talkin' like that."

"Ah, you're just standing up for her cause you wanna fuck her," the voice now identified as Nail Board sneered. He was the one who killed Melon Abernathy.

I turned to Crispy and placed my hoof on her shoulder, "Showtime. Where do you want to make your grand appearance?"

She thought a moment before speaking, "I'll take the stairs on the right. The hallway to the left will lead to the walkway above them. Gives you a perfect place to shoot them from."

"Alright. Good luck," With those parting words, we went our separate ways. I crouched and moved slowly through the hallway. There was a room ahead that I could hear somepony in. Peaking around the corner revealed it to be a restroom with a raider inside. Crispy's harrowed cry of "Ack-ack" caused the raider to turn around. I reared up on my hind hooves and ran at him. He attempted to draw his gun in his levitation but quick strikes to his throat and horn stopped that. With his windpipe crushed, he couldn't warn his friend; and breaking the tip of his horn off meant no magic. He fell forward and I caught him before he hit the ground; I placed one of my forehooves on his snout and the other on the back of his head and twisted. His neck snapped and he fell dead.

Leaving the room and moving through the hallway, now stood over the raiders on the walkway. I had a decent vantage point, but there was a fusion reactor blocking most of my view. The raiders were gathered around Crispy who was now laying on the ground. They were looking at each other and muttering fearfully. Good. I crept along the walkways until I could get a good view of them all. Once in place, I drew my trail carbine and took aim. Somepony shouted at me as I fired my first shot into a raider mare's skull. They started to scatter as my second round found a new home in a stallion's throat. By the time my third shot was ready, they started shooting back which caused me to seek cover. There was none on the walkway but plenty of filing cabinets and monitoring equipment.

I jumped from the railing and ran through the doorway that Crispy came from. There was a table that one of the raiders had taken cover behind; peaking her head up to see where I had gone rewarded him with a bullet to the head. Six down, four to go.

I was about to move when pain erupted on my hindleg. A look back to see what happened revealed the mongrel hound I had heard earlier with its jaws around my leg. I was in the process of floating my pistol from underneath my duster when a raider ran at me with a tire iron. Five bullets hit her head and a two more made the dog release my leg with a pained yipe. It attempted to snap at me again, but a shot to its head.

"Yer 'elcom," she mumbled around the the mouth grip. I nodded my thanks and pulled out some magic bandages from the medical pocket within my duster. A potion would be more effective, but I didn't want to risk taking off my helmet to drink it. No matter how skilled I was, I could always get killed by a lucky headshot. I wrapped my bleeding leg in the bandages before stepping over the the raider Crispy killed.

We were about to enter the room with the work table when another raider jumped into the doorway with a sawed off double-barreled shotgun clenched tightly in his snarling teeth. The blast of buckshot didn't get through the riot armor I wore but it still knocked the wind out of me and hurt like hell. It made my magic give out and my pistol dropped to the floor. Crispy had started shooting before the second blast was sent her way, throwing off the raider's aim. Most of the pellets struck the wall behind her, but a few found their mark and peppered her hide. She didn't have the benefit of pre-war riot armor and cried out in pain.

The raider retreated as I picked myself off the ground. I helped Crispy to her hooves and floated a healing potion to her in my teal levitation. She took it gladly as I leaned on the wall to catch my breath. There were only three of them left. Crispy wanted vengeance on Ack-ack for all she had done to her and I wanted to have a few with Nail Board before his death. The raider that shot us didn't matter to me; he would die like the others. He stood in the doorway again with his shotgun pointed at me; he must have ducked back to reload. I didn't want to take another shotgun blast so I quickly fired my pistol form its position on the floor at his leg. One of my bullets hit his knee, causing the leg to crumple beneath him. He screamed and swore dropping his shotgun in the process.

Opportunity just knocked on my door and brought me fresh muffins. I grabbed the shotgun in my levitation and and pressed the barrels to his skull. One trigger pull later and the raider didn't have a head anymore. A brief inspection of the weapon revealed glowing orange runes carved into the barrels. When I found Brush Fire, she would love this thing; If I decide to part with it.

There were no more raiders rushing us, so it gave me time to catch my breath. It was still tough to breath, but it was getting easier. Once I was in good enough shape, I gave Crispy the signal to move and we entered the room with the work table. It was nothing special; there were lockers along the walls and shelves with cardboard and wooden boxes with nothing of value in them. An opening that used to be double doors greeted us on our left.

Movement in the corner of my vision caught my attention. Two little red lines were sitting above a compass; one was still and another was darting back and forth, but both were getting larger in size. I honestly forgotten I had E.F.S. With the sound of hoofsteps getting louder, I figured that size equaled proximity; the closer the red mark, the larger it got. Were they coming to face us head on? They were; a mare wearing a leather trench coat with a green button up shirt underneath trotted into view. She had pale blue fur and a blond mane styled two ponytails. Her bloodshot brown eyes were surrounded by dark stains and her cheeks were cut in a way to give her a wide, grotesque grin. A minigun followed her into the doorway wrapped in the same sickly green glow around the mare's horn. This must be Ack-ack.

The minigun started to spin and I ran back to the hallway. Crispy ducked behind the work table as the bullets started to fly. They stopped and the mare spoke, "What the fuck have you done, Crispy?! I gave you everything! A home! Safety! Food! Me! And you throw all of that away for a Gunner?!" she shouted with fury. This mare had been betrayed by somepony she trusted with her life. I could hardly blame her, but that didn't mean I sympathized with her. She was a raider and deserved to be put down like a rabid animal.

"'Gave' me? You took like raiders always do. Took away my happy, life. Took away the pony I loved and forced yourself in his place. This Gunner let me come along to kill you for everything you did to me," Crisp shouted back with equal rage. Ack-ack screamed and fired again. From what I could see, she wasn't trying to kill Crispy, just keep her pinned. The other red mark began moving away. I had an idea.

I ran up the stairs to get back to the walkway I stood on when this gunfight stated. Springfield was floated out next to me and I worked the bolt back and forth to eject the rounds. Once those were out and floated back into my ammo pocket, I exchanged them for three explosive rounds. I worked on enough miniguns to know how to exploit weaknesses. Plus, it would even the playing field for Crispy. I reached my destination and looked down the scope. My breathing was unsteady, the S.A.T.S. still fresh in my mind. I focused on the spinning barrels; they were red hot from continuous fire. They would be weakened by the heat and a perfect target for the explosive .308 round. I pulled the trigger as something slammed into my head. I rolled away from the impact with no way to know what happened below.

A raider wearing scrap metal armor wielding a wooded board with a large quantity of nails stuck through one end stood with me on the walkway. Why do raiders name themselves after their weapons? "You're Nail Board? Where's the locket?" It was so good to see my target was so eager to meet his end.

"You here for the locket? Abernathy hired you? How'd he manage to hire a Gunner with the meager amount of caps he has? Bet he whored out his daughter. And his wife. Once I'm done with you, I'll go pay them another visit; maybe get the same treatment," his cruel laugh echoed through the building. I really wanted to put a bullet in his head and be done with it, but I wanted to beat him to death with my hooves more. "How about this; you and me, one on one. A contract. You Gunners like contracts, right? You manage to beat me and I'll tell you where I have the locket. Deal?" he asked smugly. He was up to something. So was I.

My pistol floated out in my magic and his smug look disappeared. My bullet was supposed to hit his shoulder, but he ducked and fell back behind the radar, "What the fuck? You Gunners never pass up a contract," he shouted.

"Not sure what a Gunner is, but I'm not one of 'em. I work for the NCR and they sent me here to clean up the Commonwealth. That means wiping out raiders that prey upon good ponies that work hard on a farm. So you're going to tell me where you have the locket so I can kill you quick," I started walking forward while keeping an eye on my E.F.S., "Or I'm going to beat it out of you slowly." I stomped on walkway as I walked toward him with my pistol floating next to me. I could hear his terrified breathing; my intimidation tactics worked but he managed to get a hold of himself.

"You think you can take me down? Me?! Fuck you," he shoutes at me, "You're just some high and mighty merc; like that griffon bitch! When I'm done, the rest of the NCR are next!" He lunged from behind his cover and knocked my pistol away with his board and I had to duck to avoid his back swing aimed at my head. He raised the board over his head and I jumped back to avoid being smashed. His board gave him more reach and there was little room to dodge on the narrow walkway. I needed to change things up.

I crouched into a combat stance and I could see Nail Board's body tense up in response. I ran at him and used the armored plate on my foreleg to intercept his swing. It didn't block all the nails from entering my leg, but it was a minor pain that I could ignore. Batting away the board with one hoof, my other hoof slammed into his jaw and sent the board tumbling to the ground below us. I grabbed the safety rail with my hooves and used it to launch myself into him with a harsh kick to the chest. He reared up by slammed his hooves into my chest, sending me skidding back across the walkway until I hit the safety rail.

I was a good fighter, but I couldn't stand up to natural earthpony strength. The color faded from my vision as I began to take in the details. Nail Board's crooked jaw, his stuttering, heavy breathing, the twitch in his eye, even where the nailed board he used as a weapon landed behind me. A cruel smile formed as I made my plan.

I picked myself up and looked at him; he was forcing his dislocated jaw back into place as he glared at me. I tilted my head side to side, making my neck crack and pop. I lifted my hoof and waved him toward me. Raiders hated being taunted and the infuriated look he had was further proof. His nostrils flared and he bared his teeth in a snarl before he charged at me and I ran forward to meet him. He didn't expect me to roll onto my back as he passed and use all four of my hooves to launch him into the air and over the railing right onto his board. The scream he let out as he landed on it was satisfying.

I wasted no time and jumped over the railing after him. My entire weight landed on one of his hindlegs with a sickening crunch. I knew from the books that Littlepip was able to piece together some unique curses, but this raider was giving her a run for her caps with the words he screamed out at the top of his lungs. I got into his field of view and and said one word, "Locket." He focused on me and spit on the lens of my mask. I slammed my hoof into his face.

"Where is the locket?" I asked him again.

"Go fuck yourself," was his reply and he attempted to hit me with his foreleg. I caught the limb with one of my forelegs and raised the other.

"Wrong answer," I say before bringing my foreleg down upon his elbow, breaking his leg and rendering it useless and making him scream in agony. "I'll ask again. Where is the locket?" He didn't answer, the only sounds coming from his mouth were whimpers and groans. I placed my hoof on his chest and pressed down; making the nails on his board go deeper into his back. "Last chance. Where's the locket?"

Nail Board coughed up a mouthful of blood before answering, "I... I don't know. G-gave it to A-ack-ack. Not s-sure what she d-did with it. Just let me go."

I chuckled at him, "Your victims begged for their lives too, didn't they. And you just laughed at them. You shouldn't have told me that," I rolled him over onto his stomach, "I don't need you alive anymore. Your just another raider that I get to put down," I grabbed the board still in his back with my magic and ripped it out of his back. The scream he let out hurt my ears. "Killing raiders with the the weapon they named themselves after is one of my favorite methods of execution." I swung the board at his head. He shouted in pain and started babbling incoherently for me to spare his life. My answer was to hit him with the board again. The first strike cracked his skull and the second left him a twitching, bumbling mess. Before I could dislodge the board from his head for the killing blow, a furious yell caught my attention.

Crispy charged into view from the room we were pinned down in earlier. With Ack-ack lifted onto her shoulders, Crispy slammed Ack-ack into a wall before throwing her to the ground. Both mares were battered and bruised, the result of a brutal brawl that started after the destruction of Ack-ack's minigun. I thought about helping, but this was a personal fight for Crispy; Ack-ack had ruined Crispy's life and she now had the opportunity to get revenge. Did I really want to interrupt that?

I did. Revenge was a terrible quest that only resulted in death, hate, and emptiness. The fight I was watching wasn't between a mare that wanted payback, it was between two raiders. From the stories I heard about Lightbringer and Security, they gave up everything for the concept of "do better." The Rangers were created to make the wasteland better. Last time I checked, revenge was not better.

I drew my Sequoia and leveled it at Ack-ack's head; she had gained the upper hoof and was sitting on Crispy's chest; punching her face. The click the hammer made as I pulled it back made her pause her assault on my new friend and look up to me. She only had a brief second to realize what was going to happen to her before I pulled the trigger; the .45-70 round entered her head right between her eyes. She fell back, off of Crispy, with a large hole in the back of her head.

Crispy slowly rolled herself over and I walked over to her to help her to her hooves. She rounded on me, anger flaring in her green eyes, "Why did you do that?! I had her! I would have gotten my revenge on her and you took that away from me!"

"Calm down, Crispy," I told her. It was a warning I desperately hoped she understood.

"Calm down?! I had my hooves around the neck of the mare that ruined my life and you shot her!"

"Take a moment to think," I snapped back at her, "Think about what you were doing. How you were acting. You said they killed the pony you loved. What would he think if he saw how far you went for revenge? You became a raider for Celestia's sake! What would he think?" My words seemed to bring about a realization. "Revenge only destroys ponies. The ones that seek it and the ones that are victim of it," I remembered the words that Dust told me three days after I became a Ranger. The words I took to heart.

"Ha. You sound like you believe those words. Why did bring me along then? Huh?!" Crispy yelled back. I didn't know why. Dust's wise words were something I lived by. I never went back on them if I could help it. Why I did now... I had no answer. It felt as if something came over me; the thought made me shudder. I couldn't let Crispy know that though.

"To teach you a lesson. To show you how badly you're destroying yourself just to get even," I lectured her, "A wise old pony once told me, 'Don't do something for selfish reasons like greed or vengeance. Do it because it's the right thing to do; so they can't hurt anyone anymore.' What I saw was a fight between two raiders," her anger flared and she cut me off.

"Don't you dare call me that. You were able to see through my act. You gave me the benefit of the doubt and spared me. Gave me the chance and you call me a raider? I thought you believed me...," her anger faded into sorrow.

"I do," I told her, my voice softening, "And I think you didn't want to be a raider. But the things you forced yourself to do to gain their trust... It'll be long and tough; but we can do it. The first step is already complete. If there's anything you need share or get off your chest, don't hesitate."

"I don't think I'm going to share my innermost thoughts with a stallion I know nothing about. How about a name first?" Fair enough.

"That's fair. My name is Ranger. Nice to meet you Crispy"

38% xp for next level

Quest Perk Added!-----------------------

Strength of the Wolf--
--The stress of combat gets to even you sometimes. You can't explain it, but you seem to lose yourself and forget about the promises you make to yourself and others in favor of completing the mission by any means necessary. Once you've gotten a hold of yourself, you're left with blurry vision and a splitting headache.

Companion Perk Added!-----------------------

Wasteland Chef--
--She's a damn good cook! Any food cooked with Crispy Crust in the party will remove radiation damage, heal one extra point of health, and keep you full longer. As a bonus, it tastes better!

Reputation Change!

Satellite Station Raiders - Bringer of Death

--Your job as a Ranger means the world to you. Taking out raiders that prey upon innocent, hard working ponies is part of that job; and your favorite part. The raiders at Satellite Station Octavia were wiped out with nopony left to truly know what happened.

Author's Note

Well, so much for getting these out faster, huh? I got distracted by new video games, and I'm a filthy filthy procrastinator. Anyhow, while proofreading my other chapters, I noticed they were a tad short, so I'll be try to make them longer. This means they might take a while as this poor novice learns how to develop his characters and pace his story. Bare with me folks, and thanks for sticking around! Until next time.