Rest for the Wicked

Chapters

Welcome to E
That was just the Tutorial
Market Day
Storming the Castle
The Dark Pony
Setting Course
Decisions, decisions...

Welcome to E

Northern Canterlot

A man was running through an open field, zig-zagging, trying to avoid something, but he didn't know what.

"FORE!" A man yelled.

Suddenly he heard a shot off in the distance. He took a breather. He wasn't found. Then he heard the zip of a bullet, just before his entire head came flying off.

"HEYOOOOO!" Steve 2 said.

"Nice shot, Steve." Eight Ball said.

"Heyooo!" Steve 2 said back.

"I know, he shoudn't of stayed still." Jack Adolph returned. "I think it was almost TOO easy."

"Heyooo!" Steve 2 returned, pointing at Jack.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. I'll give it to ya. No need to get upset."

"Okay," Eight Ball began, "That's ten heads for Jack, twelve for me, nine for Eight Toes, whenever he comes back from the shitter, and... hold on, let me count. Twenty-six for Steve."

"HEYOOO!" Steve 2 said, dancing in a circle.

"Hey! That's unsportsman-like conduct! Do somethin'!" Eight Toes said, returning from a tree down the hill.

"No rules sayin' I have to."

"Whatever. Let's just get another game going. I got a feelin' that I'll beat Steve yet."

"Heyooo!" Steve 2 said again. Jack pressed a red button on his communicator and began loading his rifle.

"You know. It's times like this that I love. Outside this court I want to scoop your eyes out with a spoon. But inside, I fell like I want to scoop your eyes out with a spoon, in your sleep." Jack Adolph said.

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me!" Eight Toes began to say as he held back tears. Jack patted him on his back.

Eight Ball saw one runner through his binoculars. "Alright boys! I see 'em!" The four men jumped into their buggys and started to head in the direction of the frightened man.

The man was running through an open field, zig-zagging, trying to avoid something, but he didn't know what.

"FORE!" Jack yelled just before a shot from a gun went off.

===========

A Meadow East of Whitetail Forest

The meadow was peaceful. It was one of the last few untouched landscapes in the Atlas sector. Flowers had just began to bloom, the animals were finally coming out of their dens to wake from hibernation, a double fusion reactor transport vessel was barreling towards the ground in a steep nose dive. Upon all else, it was fairly calm.

"This is why we shoulda gone with Dahl, not Tediore!" A masked man in the ship yelled.

"Yeah! Keep complaining! That's exactly what's gonna get down on the ground safely!" The pilot of the ship yelled back at the first man. He was furiously pressing random buttons to see if they did anything. Suddenly in the passenger hold a bright blue spark flashed.

"Did Lilth just bail!?" The first man yelled to the passenger hold.

"Yup." A deep, nonchalant voice returned.

"Well, shit. We're screwed."

"Just let me land the damn thing in peace, god damn it." The rusting ship finally recovered from the nose-dive. "ALRIGHT! Now were cookin' with-OH SHIT!" The ship then collided with a large cluster of pine trees on the edge of a cliff. It crashed through a large portion of the trees, stopping just before the other end of the cliff. "Ya'llright?" The pilot yelled to the air.

"Bloodwing!" The masked man whistled.

"Oh, thank you for caring more about a damn BIRD then another human being Mort." The pilot pushed some rubble out of the way to get up.

"Three things." The masked man began. "First, don't call me that. Second," The 'bird' landed on his arm as he began to show it off, "this 'bird' is a fully trained, grade A, alpha male, bloodwinged hawk, it's worth more than everything you got in the bank, tripled, and then some. Third, I like this thing, that's more than I can say for you."

"My hearts broken. Just get the damn door open." The masked man just stared at the pilot. "PLEASE!" He said in a mocking tone. All of a sudden the door flew off it's hinges as a extremly burly man with bolts on his fists had entered the cockpit. He just looked at the others. They knew that that look meant 'Get off your asses, tea time's over'. They crawled out of the ship one by one. "I'm not payin' back Scotter for this one."

"Well, I ain't doin' it. It's Lilth's turn."

"Whatever, let's just get to town. Okay?" They headed off for the nearest settlement.

==========

Outer Limits of Ponyville

Twilight carefully adjusted her sights to custom-made triple-shot Jakobs' elephant gun. It was expencive as hell but it could take down an Uras Major if she ever had to do so. Her job was simple: Kill any wandering skaggs, have Spike collect their pelts, and sell 'em to any trader lookin' for "high-class furs". It wasn't the most honest of all careers out there, but it payed the bills, and it got her ever so closer to living inside "The Walls". The Walls were what was left of Canterlot after the Great Escape. They had the best opennings for anything, the best protection, and so much more. Bascially everything you could want on this planet. Only problem was that only the greatest could enter. And once you leave The Walls once, you can't EVER go back in.

She did notice the crashing ship over the horizon, but something was always crash landing here. And by the looks of it, whoever was onboard wasn't packin' dough. So she just let the Bandits have it. Whenever she could avoid them was better. Last time she went toe-to-hoof with them they followed her home. She got a lot of trouble for that. It wasn't worth it again.

Finally a skragg came into sight. "Gotcha!" She said as she lined up her sights. She used her horn's magic to pull the trigger as the skragg nearly exploded when it came into contact with the round. "Damn!" She said. "That one might not be usable. Oh well, it was pretty scrawny anyways."

Spike ran up to Twilight's postion. "You need me to get that one?" He asked.

"No. No, it was pretty small."

"Oh, okay." He went back to drawing pictures in the dirt. The sun began to set.

"Pack up Spike! Sun's setting!" The dragon had begun to pack up when two averaged sized pony jumped out of the bush. Spike screamed as the ponies had started to slice at Spike with knives in their mouths. Twilight pointed the rifle in their direction. The ponies looked at her and let Spike go. Her ran behind Twilight as she loaded and extra bullet into the chamber.

"We don't want no trouble." One of the ponies said in a raspy voice. "We just needed some supplies, that's all. A kind and caring pony like yourself would underst-" The pony's head burst into a fine redish-pink mist. The other pony turned to run but another round shot through his leg, tearing it completely off. He screamed in agony. Twilight walked over to the pony as Spike had brethed fire on it to cauterise the wound.

"That symbol," She said poked it on his chest with her rifle. "That's not 8-toes sign. Who are you runnin' under?"

"It was just me and him! We were tryin' to start our own gang, I swear!"

"And you had enough money to make your own jackets?" She loaded another bullet into the chamber, "I don't like repeating myself. WHO ARE YOU RUNNING WITH?!"

"Me." A scawny, yellow skinned pony said. "Let him go." He was unarmed, but Twilight knew that he had at least five other followers in the surounding bushes. A few were human.

"I know you got more around here. What do you want?"

The pony chuckled, "Really? You don't know what we want? I thought you were pretty smart. Anyways, COME ON OUT BOYS!" Three ponies and two humans walked out of the bushes. Twilight lowered her gun.

"I know when I'm defeated. You can have my load of supplies."

"Oh, you know we want more than just some food and pelts." His eyes had a sadistic look to them. The ponies and men began to walk slowly closer to her. Twilight's heart started beating very fast. She had an idea of where this was going to go. She started to look for a way out but was completely surounded.

"You can do this the easy way, or the fun way. Your choice." Twilight took a defencive stance. If she was going down, she was at least going to take THAT bastard with her. "ALRIGHTY BOYS, WE GOT A FIGHTER!"

Suddenly, Twilight saw a blue ghost-looking apperation approach the scrawny pony from behind. The leader started screaming in pain as his head began to glow the same color of blue until it finally a chunck of his face blew off in front of everyone. The men and ponies ran at the sight of the ghost-like apparation. It stopped glowing and began to open fire at the bandits, taking down three of them before it stopped. The human turned to Twilight and gave her it's hand.

"Thanks." Twilight said. "If it weren't for you I would have been a goner, or worse."

"Don't metion it." The female human said. "I know what it's like to fight alone. It ain't nice."

"Well, thank you again." She looked around for Spike, he had a syringe in his neck. She pulled it out, it said 'Skragg Tranquiliser'. "Dang, he's gonna be hurting when he gets back up." She then looked back at the human. "You're not like most humans are you?"

"Well, I just don't like seeing one person, er pony, getting out-numbered like that. It's Just not fair."

"No I mean like what you did back there. With the glowing and the exploding of that guy's head. I don't know too much about humans but I know most don't do that."

"Well, let's just say I'm not human."

"What are you?"

"I don't like to talk about that to complete stangers."

"Oh... Okay. I'm heading back to town, wanna tag along?"

"Sure. I'm Lilth, by the way."

"I'm Twilight, nice to meet you Lilth."

"Twilight huh? That's a nice name."

"Thanks." They got to the outer reach of town just as night had completely settled in. The howl of ware-skraggs echoed through the town to signify shut-in time. The girls made their way to Carousel Boutique Inn. They were going to see if Rarity had a room open for Lilth to stay the night.

============

Northern Tip of Everfree Forest

Roland, a average-sized, black man with rusted armor from a time back when he was part of an army in his mid-twenties, took off his pilot helmet to get some fresh air. He took a deep inhalation, the rumors were true. This WAS the best smelling air in the galaxy. He felt as though he needed to smile, it was very odd. Mordecai, the skinny, pale masked man sent out his hawk to catch some food for itself.

"The closest town is North." He said to the group.

"How do you know?" Roland asked.

"I looked at the map."

"What map? I thought E was uncharted." Mordecai pulled out a yellowed paper map with some blood stained into it.

"Seems we hit a very unlucky chump on the way down. Luckly for us, this was unscathed."

"So what's the name of the town that's North of here?"

"Ponyville."

"God damnit! A pony settlement. I hate those things."

"Why? Their rather versitile creatures. It's amazing how they can survive and prosper with only hooves. Truthfully I find that their probably better than most humans seeing as their basically 'cursed' at birth."

"Oh, don't be goin' all 'BRONY' on me Mort. I don't want to have to drag you away from any 'lovers' any time soon." A large knife was then thrown at Roland's shoulder, piercing his armor and puncturing the skin. "GOD DAMNIT!"

"Remember what I said about the 'Mort' thing!? And if you mention another thing about 'bronies' I'll rip your damn throat out!"

"GOD DAMNIT!"

"Oh, walk it off, and take a medkit too."

Brick, the giant, burly fellow with the bolts in his hands spoke up, "We got company." He grumbled.

"What, can ya smell 'em or somethin'?" Roland asked.

"Yup." The brute said. An over-sized greyish dog-like creature then pounced onto Roland from a tree. It began to feriously tear into Rolands armor. Brick punched it in the back of the neck and crushed it's spine in a single blow.

"Is that a skragg or somethin'?" Roland asked after injecting another medkit into his arm.

"Nope. If I remember correctly, it's what the inhabitents call a diamond dog, they ALWAYS travel in packs."

"Well, BRING IT ON!" Roland yelled at the trees, pulling out his assault rifle. "I got an incendiary round for all yall BITCHES!"

"Calm down, Roland. I think there gone, otherwise they would have shut you up already." He then bent down over the diamond dog and began to chop it's head off.

"What are you doing?" Roland asked.

"Colllecting a trophy. I haven't gotten one of THESE babies on my mantle, yet."

"Whatever, just make it quick. I'm gettin' tired of this nature hike."

"Okay. Aaaand, done. Let's go."

"Okay, next stop: Ponyville." Roland said in an almost giddy tone. He looked at the others. Brick cocked an eyebrow. "I Just can't wait to get out of this damn forest!"

"Yeah, right." Mordecai said.

"Hey! I hate ponies! Okay?"

"Never said that you liked 'em." He said with a sheepish grin on his face. They continued to walk down to the settlement. Mordecai didn't care to mention that he saw what looked like a pony-shaped key chain on his gun. Then again, it could be nothing.

============

Manehatten Wastelands

The bar had a stale scent to it. A sort of mix between elegant perfume, cheap alchol, blood from previous brawls, and the sweat of earlier nights. Smooth jazz was playing over the roaring crowd in the background. Trixie was sipping a smooth Northern Equadone Amantilado, a rare drink, made years before the First Encounter. There was nothing like, the taste made her slip into a state of pure innocence and, to a degree, happiness. She began to think. She thought about the crowds, how they loved the show. How they loved HER. It was a perfect relationship. She would give the audience everything they needed, and they would scream for her, and shower her with gifts, and love her. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Unfortunately her mind began to wander into the darker sides of her relationship. Don't think about them, Trixie. Don't do this to yourself. They love you, and would do anything for you. Don't let those thoughts slip in. Don't think about them. But it was too late. She had imagened the first 'show'. The crowd didn't know what to expect. They just cheered. Then one of her old-time fans came up. He was a contestant, hardly over the age of twenty. He came in thinking that he would get the fame and the glory. The crowds and the women. He didn't know. She knew, but couldn't tell him. They had to only guess, it was part of the fun.

He didn't last five minutes. He looked so promising, so full of potential. But then he threw it away.It's not your fault! He knew what was going to happen! It was all HIS fault! It wasn't your fault at all! Don't blame yourself, god damnit! This was how you fell the first time. You kept thinking. Just stop. You can do it. Finish your drink. The crowd is calling you Trixie. You wouldn't want to disappoint your lover would you?

She threw back one final swig of the wine and put on her make-up. She was to look like a godess if she were ever to please them. Don't think about IT. Just think about THEM. Think about their LOVE. She took a deep breath, and walked onto the platform. She pressed a button and it began to rise. She was greeted by the flash of lights, the sound of dubstep blaring from hundreds of spearkers, and the screams of THOUSANDS. YES! THIS IS EVERYTHING WE NEED! Now you must pay up. Give them what they want.

She lifted a megaphone to her mouth with her magic and took a deep breath. "ARE YOU READY!" The crowd screamed again. Chants of her name erupted through the crowd. "ARE YOU READY! FOR THE RIOT!" The crowd screamed even more so. Flares and rockets blasted in all directions. "GET READY! FOR ROUND ONE!" Just as she said that, an enormous barrage of bullets, screams, and explosions erupted below her. The 'riot' had begun. She held her stance. No flinching, no sign of anything but joy. You love this, and they love you. Just enjoy the show.

That was just the Tutorial

Northern Tip of Everfree Forest

The sound of gun shots rang through the trees of the forest. The three men were being swarmed by ware-skaggs. Mordecai took the head of one clear off with his rifle, but seconds later it grew right back. Brick threw his gun to the ground and put his 'bolted' fist up, challenging all the skaggs to a fist fight. He punched and jabbed with amazing speed, breaking bones with every swipe. Roland yelled to everybody that they were almost home-free.

Then, a ware-skagg jumped on top of Roland. It bit at the man's arm, trying to remove it from the body. Roland pulled his sawn-off out of his belt with his spare hand and turned the creatures face into a fine sauce. The creature backed off a little by it's face grew back right in front of Roland's eyes.

"I fricken HATE these damn things." He said, kicking it off. Mordecai through a transfusion grenade onto the ground. A ware-skagg picked it up and began to chew on it. It exploded in it's mouth, the liquid inside covered his enitre body and the ware-skagg began to shrivel into skin and bone, but again soon recovered in an extreme pace.

"OUT OF AMMO!" Mordecai yelled to the group. He pulled out his sword and began to feriously chop at the attackers. Limbs and blood flew everywhere, but he knew that it didn't do much to the beasts. Roland looked at the horizone, the moon was still high in the sky.

"Why does it ALWAYS have to be a full moon!?" He screamed. A ware-skagg ripped off one of his shoulder plates, revealing a large chunk of unprotected skin. He took the chance to punch the being square in the face. His hand was burning after making contact with it. The beast didn't even pay any attention to Roland it just feriously tore apart the armor. Roland was caught off guard by another ware-skagg pouncing from behind. He kicked it square in the stomach, actually putting his boot through the beast. Unfortunately, the beast's fast healing process trapped Roland's leg inside the creature. "SHIT! HELP!" He yelled as his body was tossed around like a ragdoll as the crature attempted to claw at the man whose foot was inside it. All he could do was stab the creature until somebody decided to help him.

Brick heard Roland but was too busy dealing with three ware-skaggs. He had one under his foot while he held one in each hand. He made the two in his hands collide with each other, breaking both their skulls on contact. He then smashed the beast under his foot in one foul blow. They took a little longer to heal due to all the injuries they had sustained. Brick the grabbed Roland's arm and the ware-skagg's neck and seperated each of them in one pull.

"GOD DAMN! Have some sympathy!" Roland's leg felt broken. He fumbled for a medkit in his pack. He injected directly into his lifeless apendage. The pain was still present but at least he had some control over it again. Mordecai was doing pretty well dealing with the group of ware-skaggs that surounded him. They would attack two at a time, one from the front and one from behind. He would always evade them and get a few good strikes on them. The entire crowd was ferious. They really wanted to kill the masked one. Bloodwing came back from the recon mission it was previously on and began to help it's master. It tore into the eyes of the ware-skaggs, trying to reach brain.

"Anybody got a plan!" Mordecai yelled to the brawling group.

Roland, who had a ware-skagg in a head lock, yelled, "How's 'hang on untill sunrise' sound!?"

Mordecai looked up at the moon. It didn't even give a hint of moving."Not good enough, we need to lose these guys!"

"How do you suppose we do that!?"Roland returned. Mordecai looked around the ground and surounding area. There was a den close by. He told everyone to follow him. Roland stabbed his knife into the trapped ware-skaggs eye and then followed. Brick also followed, carrying a ware-skagg by the thorat, trying to rip it's limbs off to immobilise it for a few presious seconds. They entered the cave with the pack following closely behind. "This didn't do SHIT Mort!"

They suddenly came across a giant sleeping beast. It's fur had a pattern that was similar to a star map. The creature was also slightly transparent, looking similar to Lilth in siren form. Mordecai instantly reconised the beast and threw a rock at it to wake it. The Ursa Minor woke with a ferious roar. It saw the three intruders and the pack of ware-skaggs. It went straight for the ware-skaggs just as Mordecai planned. The beasts tried to jump onto the Ursa but was almost always batted straight into the ground. It was putting up a great fight. Mordecai wanted to watch the beast in action, but was pulled out of the cave by Roland.

"You forget we were escaping?" They ran for a bit, then they saw Ponyville in the distance. "'Bout damn time." Roland said out of breath. They began to slow their approach towards the town when they were then attacked by a group of bandits. "I hate this damn planet!"

============

Ponyville's Sherif's Office

Rainbow Dash was laying down on the bench on her stomach. She was thinking of how they were going to get rid of that ware-skagg problem. She decided to put it off yet another day and get some more sleep. Suddenly, a man in a bandit's mask busted through the door. He was carrying a small pistol and some various pieces of loot. Dash quickly drew a custom-made handgun from her pistol belt and aimed it right at the human's eyes.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Dashy! Wait!" He yelled.

"Bruiser!? What in Celestia's name are you doing here?"

"Remember that time we found that Crimson Lance stash?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, it turns out they do too. Ya gotta hide me Dash! I can't go back." He was on his knees, begging for a hiding place.

"Alright, alright." She said in a sigh, "You can have the back room."

"Oh, thank you, Dashy! I knew you were same-old. You're the best, man. I won't forget this. Bruiser don't forget!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just get some sleep." The phone then rang just as Bruiser walked into the back. She answered it. "Hello?... Oh, you don't say?... That much, really?... Well I was just about to call you guy's.... Two minutes?...Awesome. Don't worry, I'm good for my word.... No, thank you. Goodbye." After a few minutes a pair of red-armored troops walked into the office.

"You Rainbow Dash?" One of the troopers asked in an altered voice.

"Yup, that's me." She smiled.

"He in the back?"

"All your's, boys." The troopers then walked into the back. A few gunshots went off, but the troopers came back with Bruiser in a straight jacket and threw a bag of golden bits on the table.

"GOD DAMNIT, DASHY! YOU'LL REGRET THIS! BRUISER DON'T FORGET!" Rainbow Dash just chuckled as she began to count her pay.

=============

Carousel Boutique Inn

The bell on top of the door rang.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where drinks are cheap, the rooms are unique, and the girls are magnifique." Rarity said in a tired, nonchalant voice. She looked up, "Oh, hi Twilight. Nice to see you made a new friend."

"Hey, Rarity. I'm looking for a room for my friend here."

"50 bits a night."

"Woah! That's twice as much as last time!"

"Sorry, but I have a buisness to run. Don't like it? Go somewhere else."

"Yup, just as generous as usual." Twilight said in a disgusted voice. She looked at Lilth, "Let's find somewhere else, I don't have the money for those prices."

"Thanks for the offer, Twilight. But I can cover it." Lilth said, pulling out some money. Rarity gave Lilth a key and she went to her room. Twilight started for the door Rarity wanted to stop her but didn't know what to say. She grabbed another bottle from under the counter, popped the cork off, and began filling a cup for her self. She wasn't much of a drinker, but now was as good as anytime to start.

=============

Streets of Ponyville

The three men entered the ghost town. There was a drunk every now and then asleep on the sidewalk, but the entire town was seemingly dead.

"Must be hiding from the ware-skaggs." Mordecai said. "Bloodwing, go see where some dens are."

"Why would he do that?" Roland asked.

"Remember the last time we helped out a town in need? And the time before that? It's almost set in stone that we're gonna need to help these poor saps."

"True. But first, let's find somewhere to sleep. Three straight hours of fightin' off ware-skaggs ain't something I do on a regular basis." The sun had just began to rise moments later. "God damnit. It's like this friken planet hates me!"

"Well, we can still grab a drink." The walked into the Carousel Boutique. Some song by Johnny Stash was playing in the background.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where drinks are cheap... an' other stuff." Rarity said in a muffled voice. Her head was in her arms on the counter. Roland and Mordecai sat at the opposite side of white pony, but Brick just stood by the door. "What'll it be boys?" She said.

"Whatever you got there." Mordecai said. "Put it on a tab."

"No tabs fer strangers. Bits first." Roland scratched his head.

"That's their word for money." Mordecai said to Roland. Mordecai threw some money in front of Rarity and she filled up two glasses for the men.

"And what about you, big boy?" She said to the giant standing by the door while attempting to bat her eyes. He didn't say anything at first, he just looked at her.

"I don't swing that way, pony."

"A simple 'no' would have been sufficient. So, what brings you all into town."

"We're lookin' for the same thing everybody else is lookin' for. The fabled 'element 8'. Whatever it is." Mordecai said.

"Why would you ever want to waste all your time looking for a myth if you don't even know what it is?"

"Hear the pay's good."

"Such a waste of good workers, if you ask me."

"I don't 'work', okay. I'm just collecting what's owed to me."

"Whatever. Keep on doing whatever your doing. I'm just voicing my opinion."

"Don't need it." They were all silent for a while. The men kept on drinking, Rarity kept on filling their glasses. The town soon awoke from it's slumber and people and ponies alike were roaming the streets. "So..." Mordecai said, eyeing the bottom of his glass. "What's the story of this place?"

"What do you mean?" Rarity said.

"Like, I remember hearin' that this place was all prosperous an' stuff. What happened?"

"Humans." She said, staring at a glass she was cleaning.

"That's a pretty bias statement coming from a pony. What really happened, if you could explain some more?"

Rarity sighed, "Well, as you might know: Atlas Co. was the first to find us. They established contact and everything. After a few months of staring at the skies, a few pods came down. From what I heard they all landed in Canterlot, the place where the princess of this land used to live. Atlas simply asked for the allowence of digging into the ground for some special minerals that we didn't need, and the princess said 'yes'. That's it. They had just made contact and minutes later we became one of their mining colonies. Though it was pretty good at the start. Our economy florished with the introduction of new, foreign planets to trade with. It was perfect. But then something happened, other companies came. And they brought the bad stuff: prison laborers, firearms, drugs, and all together, the company of bad seeds. That's where you'll find the downhill slope on the charts. It didn't seem all that bad at first, we were having fun with these new 'toys'. But then the 'Great Escape' happened."

"Great Escape?"

"Remember those prison laborers? A bunch in prisons all across the lands started to riot and take over the prisons. After a bit they started flooding out of the prisons and into neighboring cities and towns. Those who didn't fall at first had to decide between joining Atlas and giving up basically all control of your life, the bandits and prisoners and become wanted criminals, or between fending for yourselves and hoping to survive. We got lucky with the last choice. If I could remember correctly, this same exact thing happened on another planet call Pandora, right?"

"Yeah, we were there."

"Exactly! You humans never learn! If you thought about ANYTHING for a mere second, you would have relised this was a bad idea!"

"Woah! Calm down. Just finish the story, you can fill us in on the extra stuff afterwards."

"Okay, so where was I? Prison riots... uh, oh yes! That's right. Well, the Great Escape happened and the land itself made a turn for the worst. The weather went hay-wire, the day and night cycles were no longer schelduled. Everything, how should I say it? 'Went down into the crapper'. Nothing much happened after that. At least, nothing I know of. Communication was poor even BEFORE the First Encounter. So, if you want to know more, go talk with someone like Twilight or something."

"Who's this 'Twilight' person and where can we find her?"

"She's a pony, and-"

"OHGREAT! Moar dam pownies." Roland interupted, "Itss not like we havnt, had enuff of... dem."

"Shut up Roland. I'm interested in this story and you're drunk. Your opinion dosen't matter anymore." Mordecai said.

"Imnot drunc... I gust gota speesh impe-impedi-impedentation. An'im... dizzy."

"Anyways..." Rarity said looking at the two humans in confusion. "She's basically the town scribe and doesn't have much of a real home, she just wanders about the town. You most likely to find her in the market, peddling those cheap furs of hers. Or maybe selling her knowledge to fools like you."

"Thanks for the tip." Mordecai said, leaving some extra bits on the counter. "Let's go, guys."

"Oh, do come back soon." Rarity said. "And bring some more friends next time." Roland barely managed to stumble out of the Inn. Mordecai chuckled a little bit. Whatever he had just drank was pretty strong. Must be a pony thing. They headed off to find this 'Twilight' and finally get some 'work' done.

Market Day

The Streets of Ponyville

The market was suprisingly bustling with a lot of traffic. Mordecai kept his gun out to warn off any pick-pockets. Roland was stumbling behind the group, barely managing to stand up. Whatever he was drinking was harder than anything he had before. Maybe he was wrong about these ponies being all girly and annoying. Then he took a look at the surounding architecture and all it's bright colors. Nope, he was right the first time.

They started asking around for this Twilight pony. She was pretty hard to find, they didn't even ask for a picture or anything back at the Inn. Everybody seemed to know WHO she was, but not WHERE she was. And by the way they mentioned her name it seemed that she had a bit of a bad reputaion. They wandered for hours trying to find her. It was almost as if she was purposely trying to avoid them.

============

Twilight decided to give her old friend Rainbow Dash a visit. She walked into the Sherif's Office to find the multi-colored pony napping. She cleared her throught to try and wake her. Nothing. She walked over and tried to shake her awake. Just before she touched her, Rainbow Dash sprung up, pulled out her gun, and aimed it at her eyes. Twilight jumped in surprise as well. Dash obsevered Twilight for a few seconds longer. She gasped and lowered her gun.

"Holy Celestia! Twilight! I'm so sorry! It's just-"

"It's okay Rainbow Dash, we can all be a little jumpy around here."

Dash cocked her eyebrow, "Wow, you changed a bit, someone points a gun at your head and you just act like it was nothin'."

"Yeah, I get practice out in the fields."

"So, what brings you over 'round these parts."

"I just wanted to stop in and say hi. That's all really." Dash looked at Twilight. She was seriously questioning whether or not she could trust her. All this time hangin' low and not talkin' to anyone and NOW she wants to chat.

"Well, I'm good here. Not doing much really."

"Oh..." Twilight looked at the floor and at the pictures on the wall, nothing much to notice.

A large scream was heard coming from the streets. Rainbow Dash grabbed her gun, leaped over the desk, and ran for the door. Twilight began to follow, but Dash stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm following you."

"Sorry, but this is a job for professionals."

"I can handle myself!"

"Whatever, just don't get shot." Twilight just glared at her for a second.

In the streets a crowd gathered around Mordecai and another man wrestling. Mordecai finally got him in an arm hold and pulled out his knife. The man screamed again. He started lining up his knife with the man's hand. Dash pushed past the crowd, saw this, and bucked Mordecai square in the chest. The man got up and began to run away. Dash pointed her gun at Mordecai. "What exactly do you think you're doing!"

Mordecai stood up and brushed some dust off himself. "That man was a thief. I was just doing what ANY law enforcement would have done."

"Listen! This is MY town. You don't take the law into your hands in MY town! Now we can do this easily or REALLY easily, your choice." Mordecai looked around the crowd, neither Roland nor Brick was in sight, he put his hands forward. Dash slapped some cuffs on his hands. "Wise choice, Mu-cha-chose." They began heading for the sherif's office. "Now I should've just shot you, but I think that the Crimson Lance would like to have a word with you." Mordecai looked at Dash. "Yeah, you're pretty hard to not notice. At least they got your jaw right."

A gun then cocked behind the two. The pick-pocket had an assualt rifle pointed at Mordecai. "You gonna PAY for makin' me look like a FOOL!" Mordecai gave the thief an unimpressed look. The he lined up the sights as best he could from his waist. But Mordecai pulled his sword out and threw it right at the man's gut, all in one smooth motion. The man fell on his back. Mordecai walked over to the thief, pulled the knife out of his gut, kicked the man's right hand out into the open, and brought the giant knife down upon his hand. It fell off like it was made of paper. He then drove the blade into the ground, put the blade between his cuffed hands, and broke the chains in one good push. He picked up the gun, brought it over to Rainbow Dash, who was fronzen in shock, threw it to her hooves, and put up two fingers.

"Two things: One, you never saw me, got that? Two, get better cuffs, you'd have a harder time getting out of a brown paper bag." He then turned around and headed back to the market. Dash didn't know what to do, so she just gave the man a medkit and dragged him back to the office. Twilight finally found Rainbow Dash and ran to her side.

"What happened!? I got lost in the crowd and couldn't find you."

"Nothing happened at all."

"Oh, what's up with that guy's hands?"

"Nothin'!" Rainbow Dash kept walking towards the office.

"Did I miss something?"

"NO! YOU DIDN'T MISS ANYTHING! OKAY!?" She was agitated by being shown up by someone else.

"Alright, calm down." Rainbow Dash just kept walking foward, an angered expression on her face. Twilight thought about returning back to the office with her, but something in her gut said to leave her alone. She had already caused her enough pain...

===============

An underground Atlas co. Bunker

A man stared at a large computer screen. He studied the information that was being projected from it.

"...This element 8. Is it really as potent as the information says?" He said in a thick russian accent.

"Yes, Commandant." A female voiced computer said.

"This planet, E, really is a gold mine in ALL aspects of it's manner. Is it not?"

"Why yes it is, Commandant. The Council is very well pleased with the results. They said that you now have full control of the budget to continue all planet wide projects, sir."

"Good. How is project 9 comencing?"

"All reports say that the merging studies are going better than planned."

"And project 26?"

"Unfortunately, we have not found patient 001 or 003 yet, Commandant. But we have found patient 002. With her we can draw patient 001 out of wherever she is hiding."

"Good, good. And finally, how is the status of 'Operation: Saddle' going?"

"Alpha and Omega are being met with surprisingly heavy resistance in sector CD, but we have sucessfully captured a leader of the resistance. She is rumored to be one of the founders of the resistance. I am sure that you would like a personal meeting with her, correct?"

"Yes, I shall meet with her before the stock holder meeting, which is right about now actually. That reminds me, how are our negotiations going with the 'Riot Dome' deal?"

"Unfortunately, the Great and Powerful Trixie is not giving in to any of our deals yet."

"Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"I am sorry sir. The Great and Powerful Trixie has seemed to hack into my mainframe during the meeting with the Great and Powerful Trixie the other day. Now it seems that I can only refer to the Great and Powerful Trixie as 'the Great and Powerful Trixie' and nothing else."

"We shall try to get you fixed later. But for now let us go. I have an important guest to accomidate." He walked down the corridor and entered into a room with an automatic-openning door. He walked in front of the restrained pony. "I hope that you didn't have too much of a problem getting here, Major A? I know that traffic can be horrific nowadays but I ensure you that your stay will be pleasent. At least, compared to everyone else's stay it will be. Just as long as you sing the sweet melody of 'everyone of your resistance postions'. I do love that song."

The pony cleared her throat. "Sorry, sugarcube. But I ain't speakin'."

===============

Ponyville's Sherif's Office

The office was dark and the deputy had left for the night. A single, old florecent lightbulb flicked in the front. Rainbow Dash couldn't sleep. She just sat on her stomach. She itched at her neck, Yup. It's still there. The scar on her neck was fairly well hidden, but the feeling of it never went away. She could hardly remember that day. She was good at keeping out bad memories, but she still had an itching urge of 'what if'. The only light that was on in the entire office was Dash's television set. It wasn't even on a channel, the glow of blue protruded from the box. Suddenly a fimilar man's voice could be heard from the speaker. He breathed heavily into the microphone, or whatever he spoke into.

"Daaaaaaashie," He began in a croaking, tired voice, barely above a wisper. "You awake?" Rainbow Dash shot up. She knew the owner of that man's voice. "Great." He said slowly, draging out the last few sounds of every sentence. "Long time, no see. You forget about me? That's hurtful. I loved your visits. They were the best. It gave me somethin' to look forward to. But now, you don't even call. I would've, had the tables been switched." He took a deep breath and signed, "I guess that's what seperates us then, huh?" Rainbow Dash shot the screen of the T.V., a sudden cackling laugh burst through the corridors of the office. "Oh, ye of such little intellect. Shoot whatever you want. It might've worked the FIRST time, but now's different."

"Skinnards..." Dash wispered.

"You remember my name?" He took a slow, sarcastic sigh of relief. "And I thought I was just another man to you."

"What do you want!?" Dash said, half agitated, half scared.

"Reeeematch. I do know how you LOOOOOVE competition. And I LOVED our little git-togethers. We all shared laughs, at least 'I' was laughing. You though? Sometimes you just get too far into the games. I'd hate to say that you might actually get too involved in them. And if you lose? Maybe you pretend that you didn't. Maybe this is all pretend."

"You ain't fooling me at all..." Dash yelled out into the darkness.

"I ain't foolin' you at all... WHO? You don't want to say it, do you." He cackled again. "Go on. SAY IT."

"I don't know who you think you are, but I ain't sayin' ANYTHING!"

"You said it before. What's the matter? I didn't SCARE you, did I? I'm soooooo sorry if I did." He chuckled, "I just come off as a SCARY person."

"I ain't scared!" He cackled again. Rainbow Dash kept reminding herself that this was probably some sick joke being pulled by Carmel, he'd get a REAL 'taking' for this.

"Carmel? What a silly name. I doubt that a pony with THAT kind of name would be able to pull off something like THIS."

"What!? How!?" She looked around the darkened room franticly.

"You know EXACTLY where to find me. And no, I'm not THERE! At least, not ALL of me. You can check if you like, though." A shovel threw it's self on the ground, Rianbow Dash jumped at the sound of the loud bang. The voice went silent. Rainbow Dash picked up the shovel and headed out back. She walked up to a tombstone.

Johnny 'Skinnards' Pope: Born a man of the law; Died a dirty criminal. He will not be missed.

She began to dig. She reached the coffin, or what should've been the coffin, rather quickly. The grave diggers didn't spend too much time digging a hole for him. They were too busy partying with the rest of Ponyville. She opened the coffin, the body was still there. It was picked apart by just about every kind of rodent, but it was still mildly reconisable. She poked the body with the shovel. It didn't move. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Wow, Dash." She thought to herself, "You really got to lay off the cider before bed." Then a slight chuckle broke the silence. She could still partially hear the giggle, even when she went back to bed. She woke up the next day to find that Skinnards was in the ground. She KNEW she didn't bury him. Of course it was a dream. You're just a little uneasy, that's all. Dash left the grave. Sunddenly a quick, strong gust of wind knocked over a shovel right next to the grave stone.

==============

The Den

Gilda looked at the map in front of her. She grumbled, her borders were shrinking. Eight Ball was really getting aggressive, just in time for winter. She was certain that he would stop for the seasons, he seemed jolly enough to do that. Adolph was also trying to march onto her turf. She was basically being sandwiched by the two. Thankfully, Eight Toes kept good on the deal. He'd stay neutral for shares of the profit. Gilda was thankful for having a 'friendship' with Eight Toes, but she never liked his back-story. She got her power by making sure everybody knew were they sat, which was beneath her. Toes got his power by being the rich-boy son of some Crimson Lance commander and using his inherited private military to gain control. He didn't even PLAN his conquest. He had people for that. He just sat back and got richer. Still, this mutual peace was well worth his annoying personality.

A buff, shirtless man walked into the room Gilda was in. He had at least three heads worth of height over her, but he was quite and chose his words carefully around her.

"What do you want!" Gilda yelled at the man.

He jumped a little before saying "I got those reports you asked for."

"Wasn't Tommy supposed to give those to me?"

"He's uh..." The buff man looked back at the doorway. Tommy was hiding right behind the door. He made a back and forth sweeping motion with his arms, shook his head, and mouthing the word 'NOO!'. "He's uh, sick! Yeah, got the Scootpox."

"Oh, okay. Let's see those papers." The buff man didn't know what was in the files, Tommy just handed them to him and told him to give these to the boss. Gilda looked at the papers. Her face went from nonchalant to impressed to questioning to angry and then to 'your going to die'. The buff man headed for the exit but Gilda dashed forward and kicked it shut on the man's fingers.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" The man yelled as he fell to the ground. Tommy just walked away and began whistling.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN EIGHT TOES IS SWITCHING SIDES!"

"I'm sorry boss! It's not MY fault! I just handed you the papers! I didn't do ANYTHING!"

"Yeah, well I'm pissed and I need something to break! And you're closest!" She cracked her knuckles as she walked over to the man, who was on the verge of crying. In the mess hall, on the other side of the fort, dust began falling from the ceiling in a constant rhythm. Some recruits thought that they were being bombed. Other men stopped eating and began praying for the unlucky sucker.

Gilda finished her beating of the man. He was bloodied and bruised, but still wide awake.

"Okay..." Gilda began, slightly out of breath. She picked up the paper. There was a small piece of paper that was neatly tucked into a secret compartment in the file. It had Eight Toes signature on it and said 'Don't read this BEFORE the report.' She unraveled the paper and in small neat lettering said, 'Just kidding'. She sighed, she forgot that she was dealing with Eight Toes.

The beaten man got up and walked toward the door with a limp. He said in a calm voice, "I'll just let myself out." He then ran out and screamed "WISEOW!" Another set of feet also began to run.

"Sorry, Mark!"

Storming the Castle

Mordecai surveyed the town from the hill he was on top of. It looked suprisingly small from his view point. He was out hunting, trying to clear his mind and get his priorities striaght. He then heard rustling in a bush behind him. He pointed his gun in the direction of the noise. Nothing moved for a few seconds. He kept the sights trained on the bushes. Finally a small, purple dragon slowly walked out of the bush. Mordecai focused his sights again.

"Wait!" Spike said with his hands up, out of breath. "You gotta help me! My friend! She's in trouble and needs HELP!"

Mordecai lowered his gun and turned his back. "Tough luck, kid. I see friends die every day. What difference does YOUR situation make?" He said in a low mumble.

Spike then pulled out a bag filled with pure gold bits and showed it off to Mordecai, "This." Mordecai walked over and picked up the bag. It was very heavy and was surprised that this little dragon could carry it. He thought about running off with it, but relised that if this little guy could carry all this wieght like it was nothing, he might be a problem.

"Deal." Mordecai said eyeing Spike.

"Great! Let's go. Hurry!" Mordecai followed the dragon as they bolted through the woods. Mordecai couldn't help but feel a little suspisious about the dragon. Either this was a trap or he was a real wimp, he was a DRAGON after all. He should be able to do whatever he wants. They finally came upon a castle in the middle of the woods. Just as they left the brush a large barage of gunfire from the castle was shot at them. They jumped back into the bush.

"What the hell was THAT!?" Mordecai yelled. "Is this a TRAP!?" He pulled out his knife.

"NO! They're the one who took Twilight!"

"Twilight?" Mordecai thought for a moment, was this the same Twilight that HE was looking for? "Shit!" He then pulled out a spare submachine gun and began to return fire from behind the bushes. A grenade bounced over the cover. Mordecai pulled Spike by the neck and threw him in front of the bushes. He saw the gunmen and instantly knew that he was going to die. He closed his eyes. He then felt the pound of bullets against his scales. He didn't die though. He opened his eyes to see that Mordecai was using him as a meat shield!

"WHAT THE BUCK!" He yelled at the man behind him. He then looked to see that the bullets began to ricochet off his scales.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! You're a god damn DRAGON. You got SCALES! I got flesh! And these guys aren't packing SHIT! Just take it like a man." They finally got to cover and he threw Spike back onto the ground. They had managed to get up some stairs and got behind a large pillar on the castle grounds. Spike saw the lady from before.

"Follow me!" He yelled to Mordecai as he ran towards the woman. Mordecai saw Lilth also battling the bandits and ran to her side.

"Long time no see, Lilth!" He said behind her. She jumped a little from the surprise.

"GOD DAMNIT, MORT! Don't sneak up on me like that!" She then continued firing at where she thought the men were.

"Care to explain why you bailed on us!?" Mordecai asked before also returning gunfire.

"REALLY!? You want to talk about this NOW!?"

"Oh, you've been in a firefight before. Just answer me this: What the fuck man!"

"I thought we might not make it so I bailed. Happy? If it make you feel any better, can you sleep at night now!?" Mordecai then saw a bandit load an RPG and fire it at the three.

"INCOMING!" He yelled. Lilth then burst into a bright blue spark. The rest of the world suddenly slowed down. She got her barings and saw where the rocket was coming form. She then grabbed the two by the collar and pulled them out of the rocket's blast radius.

To the men it seemed that they blinked and then they were saved. It was time like this that Mordecai really thought that Lilth was an actual angel.

"What's the status on her whereabouts?"

"Twilight's? She's in the castle, that's for sure... since we're asking questions, what's your deal with her?"

"Pay. What's YOUR deal with her?"

"She's a good friend, okay?" Mordecai didn't know how to process this. Lilth wasn't the greatest people person he knew. There had to be more than just a friendship here, but he would find out what later. They slowly worked closer and closer towards the entrance of the castle. The two managed to rack up quite a kill count by the time they did. It was odd though, the were SO many bandits, all trying to protect this Twilight pony. Maybe she was worth it.

They finally reached the giant doors. Lilth provided cover fire as the two others pushed the heavy wooden doors open. When they did enter the castle walls, they quickly shut the doors on the bandits. The three heard a rocket collide with the door, but it still held. That should buy them enough time to find Twilight. The two mercenaries suddenly began to take this matter professionaly. They slowly checked each room as they stayed as quite as possible. Any time they came across a possible enemy, they would carefully decommission the patrolman.

Spike then heard some sort of chanting when they neared a ballroom. He alerted the others as he began to peek into a crack in the door. He finally got a good look at Twilight's captors. They were a large assortment of various species of animals, spanning from humans to ponies, some gryphons, a zebra here and there, and even a buffalo. They all idlely sat, staring at the large wall. As Lilth had approached the small dragon she decided to take out another watchman. Just as the guard hit the ground, Spike saw one of the figures in the room instantly get up, grab a weapon, and head out another door. Mordecai also saw this and thought of an idea. He slowly opened the door and approached the group. Lilth tried to stop him but he assured her with a simple look.

He crept up behind one of the entranced ponies, keeping his submachine gun up all the while. He slowly brought his hand in front of the pony's face and slowly waved it up and down.

The pony did nothing.

He then pulled out one of his bad pistols and began popping a bullet into everyone of the animal's heads. Spike screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He ran over to Mordecai to stop him.

"I'm taking these guys out before they get up." He returned as he continued to kill the helpless animals. Lilth stopped him.

"He has a point. Maybe there is a way to help these guys." Mordecai observed the sitting beings. Their eyes were oozing a black slime, and they all kept mumbling softly inaudible chants of sorts. They looked around the entire ballroom. There was a few dusty scrolls here and there, but nothing else. Spike decided to take a few, they might catch a nice price in the market.

Outside, one of the 'bandits' accidentally fell off the side of the wall, he died on impact.

Inside, another 'bandit' awoke from his trance and got up to replace his fallen bretheren. He was almost out the door when he saw the three intruders.

"AAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!" The rest of the entranced animals suddenly broke from there trance and also got up. The all looked at the intrders and, all at the same exact time, pulled out a small knife from their belt with either their mouth or hands. They all jumped at the three.

Mordecai could only yell "GO!" before a knife was thrown into his shoulder. He clutched his shoulder as one of the 'bandits' jumped on top of him. He didn't even grab Mordecai, he just let his body weight hold him down as the others surrounded him. A large volly of knives was just about to come down upon him before they all stopped in mid-swipe. They all backed away as a few ponies had picked him up and carried him over their backs.

Mordecai couldn't move. There must've been some sort of paralysis inducing drug on the tips of the blades. He blacked out for a moment.

Lilth had only managed to use her siren ability to escape with Spike. She felt bad for abandoning Mordecai but carefully followed the group of 'cultists' as they carried Mordecai's unconscience body. They headed for the throne room as the group began to chant some more. They reached the throne room as the group then threw Mordecai's body onto the ground in front of a large dark figure. The figure observed the body. It motioned it to a table on the other ide of the room. The cultists had hooked up Mordecai to a large blood transfusion machine. One of the zombies had flipped a switch as the machine then began to take blood from Mordecai. Lilth pulled out her sniper rifle as she lined up a shot at the machine.

She took a shot and managed to stop the machine from working. She then decided to add insult to injury as she also took a shot at a large container of a red liquid titled "Element" and another titled "Hero". She then pulled out her submachine gun and began to gun down the oncoming horde of attackers.

She was fairly decent at keeping the attackers at bay for the moment, then some cultists with firearms had joined the fight. Lilth flipped over a table for cover. The cultists didn't bother to head for cover, they just stood out in the open firing from the hip. The charging cultists were getting closer and closer. Lilth still didn't have enough energy to make another escape using her ability. She threw a grenade at her own feet and jumped out of the cover. As the cultist moved toward Lilth's old cover a giant fireball erupted from the turned over table, consuming most of the group. A few bullets grazed Lilth's elbow and calf as she ran for more cover. She could hardly lift her gun to return fire. She threw a few more grenades, but the cultists had gotten smart enough to throw them back. She was getting backed into a corner of the ballroom as she retreated to more cover away from the slowly advancing horde of enemies.

She had finally gotten stuck between the back wall and another flipped table. One of the cultists had thrown another grenade. Then finally she had gotten enough energy to use her ability once more. A large blue flash sparked as she ran past the nearly frozen cultists. She loaded one of her enhanced submachineguns and stood right behind the crowd. Just as her abiliy ended she opened fire upon the group. When her clip ran dry, she had disabled the entire crowd. The entire room was quite, except for the occasional moan. The dark figure that had remained at the throne the entire time finally spoke up.

"I had not seen such ability here before." The figure said in a deep, feminine voice. "You are not of normal human attributes. You shall make the greatest of trophies in my collection." Lilth loaded another magzine in her weapon.

"Who are you?" She asked the now standing pony.

"If you wish to know, join me." She said with a slight grin on her face. "Join me and have ALL your questions and MORE answered!"

"Pfft! Like I'm gonna fall for that!" She raised her weapon.

"What a shame. You could've had so much potential." The dark pony then began to mumble some words very softly. Sunddenly every single one of the dead cultists had shot up. They were oozing more black goo this time. Lilth raised her weapon at the pony and began to open fire. Unfortunately some of the cultists had moved in front up the bullets and made a wall as others began to surround Lilth. Lilth's weapon then clicked. She reached into her bag for more ammo but only felt air. The dark pony then returned to her throne and at the base of the throne a large black hole opened. Out of the hole crawled an entire pack of were-skaggs. Lilth looked around her, all she had left was an automatic pistol and she was surrounded on all sides. Her ability wasn't even half-way done recharging. She took a deep breath.

Then the throne door blasted off it's hinges. Out of the thick smoke a volly of rockets flew. Roland ran towards the crowd of enemies and yelled, "YEAH, BABY! GET SOME!"

The Dark Pony

Roland sprinted through the halls. He'd come across the occasional wandering guard, but not the action he knew he was missing. After about three days on this planet he finally had a chance to blow something up! Brick was walking slowly behind. He had no idea why he was still following these idiots. Maybe it was because he knew that if he followed something would happen eventually.

Roland saw a locked door. He grabbed an entrance charge out of his bag. He set it up for a quick fuse and stood right at the door. The door flew off it's hinges. He ran through the smoke screaming "YEAH, BABY! GET SOME!". He randomly shot into the room. He saw Lilth surrounded by a large group of bandits. He threw down his Scorpio Turret, it began to rip through the enemies bodies, but they kept running at him. He got a little nervous at the sight but continued to fire at the beings.

Brick then came up behind Roland with a shotgun in each of his hands. He aimed at one enemy and took off his entire top of his body, the legs kept running at the group though. It eventually fell over. Roland also took out his shotgun and began to make fleshy paste out of the charging horde. Then a few bullets hit part of his armor. He turned to see that some of the creatures were picking up guns and returning fire. He told Brick to keep the horde at bay as he picked off the gunmen. The enemies they were facing were very resiliant compared to most other foes they have fought before. The only type of damage that seemed to faze the attackers were body crippling blows. Roland thought for a minute, though it would get messy he decided to break out his new Mailwan corrosive, extended magazine submachinegun.

The sound of sizzling flesh and muffled out screams flooded over the sound of everything else. The adrenaline that was pulsing through Rolands viens made him totally block out the sounds. One of the cultists jumped on Roland just as he shot it. It began to turn into ooze just as it was on top of Roland. Roland wasn't sure if he would get burned by the ooze, but he didn't take any chances. He kicked the man, but unfortunately the victim was eroded enough to leak onto Roland after the kick. He was covered in the man's gooey remains, but Rolands adrenaline made him get up and continue fighting, even if he did want to puke all over the floor.

Brick was too busy caving in his enemies skulls to notice the dark pony in the background bolting right for him. It dashed at him from the air and pinned him to the ground. Brick was surprised by the pony's great strength. He looked it right in the eye. A thick substance was leaking out of it and into his eyes. The substance in his eyes only made him angrier. He quickly knocked the pony off him and began to feriously demolish anything standing in his way. He came up to Roland who was busy gunning down the cultist to see the giant fist knock him in the back off the head. He fell to the ground in a loud bang. He quickly rolled over the see Brick trying to stomp on him. He jumped out of the way just before the mighty boot made contact with his face. Roland had seen Brick like this before. The best thing to do was stay out of his way while he decimated the rest of his enemies.

Lilth was searching her bag for a medkit while she was dodging swipe after swipe from the cultists. She was running low on ammo for her last gun so she decided to use her lesser siren powers and began to hit the cultists with mini-sonic booms. It would stumble them for a moment, but by now the entire group knew that they would have to destroy the bodies of these creatures. Roland saw Lilth fighting off the creatures with her hands.

"LILTH!" Her threw his gun to her, she was better with these elemental weapons than he was. He pulled out his shotgun afterwards.

Brick was still going crazy. Inside his mind he was battling the demanding wispers of the dark pony. Whatever she put in his eyes seemed to be a mind-controlling agent, he only got angrier and more resistant to the wispers the longer she was in his mind. Outside his mind he was literally putting his fist through the cultists. He did as much damage as a point-blank shot of Roland's shotty to the blackened enemies.

The dark pony knew that her minions were losing, the masked hero was also coming to. These annoying humans seemed to have a better resistance to her than anyother being she had come across before. She got up from her throne and began to walk to the room that held the element. She was reluctant to leave her castle, but she first had to make sure the element was still in her hold.

Mordecai sat up. He didn't hear the firefight going on around him, he couldn't even see well. He came to only to see the dark pony sneaking away. He picked up his trusty rifle and quitely followed it. He saw the pony pass through a holographic painting. He followed through. It led to a steep spiral staircase. He went down it to find that it led to a dungeon. The dark pony pressed a few buttons with her hoof and he heard a hydrolic lock undo. A door opened on the other side of the dungeon. The dark pony then said some inaudible words and out walked Twilight, oozing the same black goo that the cultists upstairs were. Mordecai thought for a few seconds before lining up his sights with the pony's head.

Suddenly a cultist crept up behind him and swung his knife down on the masked man. Mordecai noticed this in time to turn around and stop the knife with his rifle. The blade dug into the scope of the weapon. Mordecai then kicked the cultist across the room, lined up his sights with him, and shot the man in the head.

The dark pony heard the shot and turned around to see Mordecai fire a hastely aimed shot into her chest. The heavy caliber of the rifle made her stumble to the ground. She had lost control of Twilight for just a quick second, Twilight used her temporary freedom to quickly attack her captor. She quickly turned around to buck the dark pony square in the face. She might not have been Apple Jack, but she knew that she had quite a kick. The dark pony had fully lost control of the element, her resiliant mind was impossible to hold down without full concentration.

Twilight ran away from the dark pony. She saw another human and thought he was a bandit by the look of his mask. She darted toward a door to her left. The Mordecai ran after her.

"Wait!" He yelled. "I'm a good guy! Stop!" But Twilight didn't have any of it. She kept running further down the hallway. Mordecai knew he couldn't keep up with her, so he made a quick gamble. He lined up his sights with her leg, took a deep breath, and took a shot at the pony's leg. The bullet just barely grazed her hoof, but the power of the caliber had knocked her off balence. Mordecai took a quick sigh of relief, then ran over to the pony with his last medkit. She kicked him straight in the face just as he injected her with the medical syringe. He was knocked unconscience by the blow and fell on top of Twilight.

Twilight struggled to get the man on top of her off, but he wouldn't budge.

"...but you're wrong man." Mordecai began to mumble, "Derpy is best pony."

Oh, great! He talks in his sleep! This is gonna be a loooong wait.I hope Lilth is still out there.

===================

Upstairs the group had just finished fighting the cultists. They seemed to just drop down during the fight. Lilth decided to take no chances, she began to line up her sights with the first cultist. The pony opened his eyes and screamed. He jumped up and said, "Don't shoot!" Lilth observed the pony, and others around him. The black ooze had seemed to disappear from their bodies from what she could tell.

"Roland! Make sure the rest of these guys aren't still crazy, okay? I'm gonna find Mort."

"Got it!" He returned as he began to kick awake the rest of the newly-freed animals. Lilth looked around and couldn't find any trace of Mordecai.

"Hey!" She yelled to Roland, "How'd you guys find us?"

Roland pulled out a virtual map, "Tracker!" He said as he tapped it.

"Let me see that." She took it and began looking for Mordecai's position. Aparently they were on top of him, must be beneath them. "Start lookin' around for some stairs or somethin', okay?"

"Sure, whatever." He looked over to Brick, "You okay, big guy?"

"I'm fine." He then walked out of the throne room. Roland didn't bother to follow him, he just went on waking the unconscience animals.

Lilth then had flash vision, a special ability she was working on for future missions. She didn't try to activate it, but it did show Mordecai on top of Twilight in a dungeon beneath, and then saw the false-painting that hid the entrance. She then flashed out of the vision. She ran to the painting and down the stairs to find the two.

"GOD DAMNIT, MORT! Are you really THAT lonely!?" She then saw that Mordecai was unconscience.

"Lilth!? Help get this guy off me!" Lilth then lifted Mordecai off of Twilight. Twilight then unholstered her gun and aimed it at the man.

"WOAH, woah! Don't shoot! He's friendly!"

Twilight looked at Lilth with a confused look on her face. "Oh yeah? Do friendly people do this!" She pick her hoof off the ground and showed it to Lilth. Lilth just looked at Twilight with confusion of her own. Twilight looked down to see that her wound had heal. "Oh! I guess he WAS friendly." The two then picked up Mordecai and took him upstairs. Roland had finally gotten the last of the mind-controlled animals awake and met the three 'heroes' at the exit.

Mordecai awoke to the face of Twilight Sparkles. "Yup, he's just fine."

"Thanks, Twilight." Lilth said.

"So... what now?" Roland said.

"We go after her." Mordecai said in a croaking voice.

"What?! Why!?"

"Did you see her powers? And what about all this technological stuff around here! Obviously that's the element 8 we're all looking for. She has it, or at least she knows of it's powers. Come on, even if she doesn't have the powers of the element 8, we can't let something like this slide! This is all obviously all part of something bigger! Am I wrong?!" The other looked at one another. Mordecai had a point. If anyone was to know of this element 8 and what it does, it would clearly be that dark pony.

"Alright, let's go!" Roland said, heading for the door.

"Well, where did she go?" Everybody looked at each other.

North

"North," Twilight said, "She went north." The others looked at her.

"How do you know?" Roland asked.

"I just do, I don't know how, but I do." Mordecai scratched his chin.

"She just might, guys. It's not like we have any other leads, anyways." Mordeaci said.

"I trust her, too." Lilth added.

Roland looked at the purple pony. He eyed her for a while before saying, "Sorry, but I don't trust her. As a matter of fact, I think we should head south instead! I hear that Jakobs is hirin' down there and I think that the pays good enough."

"I don't know about you, but I'm heading south, too." Brick said.

"Guys, come on! We can't split up." Mordecai tried to reason.

"What's saying we can't? How about you guys go north, and me and Brick will head south."

"I don't know about this..." Mordecai didn't like the idea of spliting up the group, but then again he had no real control over them. The fact that they stayed together for so long was nothing short of a miracle. Maybe now was time to part ways. "Fine. You guys do whatever you guys wanna do. I'm finding that pony!"

"Great! When do we leave." Twilight said behind the group. Everyone looked back at her.

Mordecai chuckled, "Sorry, kid. We're sort of professionals. You... uhh, you're not."

"Hey! I'm just as good with a gun as any of you!" Mordecai looked at Lilth, she shruged.

"Sorry, but no. We can handle ourselves. You? You're a glorified princess." Twilight glared at Mordecai, she then quickly turned around and bucked him straight in the knee.

"AHHH! Fuck!" He bent over. Twilight walked over his kneeling body.

"I can handle myself just as good as you."

"Fine! Don't go crying when you're in a pit of mud and half dead. Cause I won't be around to give a fuck."

"Deal." Twilight said with a sheepish grin on her face. Mordecai got back up.

"So it's settled. Me, Lilth, and Twilight will head north to go after that pony and become millionares, and Roland and Brick can go south to become glorified bodyguards."

Brick groaned, he grabbed Mordecai's shoulder. "Don't leave me with him." His voice was nonchalant as ever.

"Sorry, big guy. I gotta go north."

"Why are you so trusting of that pony?" Brick looked Mordecai in the eye. Mordecai held a sturdy face.

"I have my reasons, you have yours. Can we end it at that."

"Sure, whatever. See ya when I see ya." Roland came up from behind the two men and grabbed them by the shoulders.

"Hey! Just 'cause we're partin' ways later doesn't mean we can have one more night together. What do ya say?"

"Fine." Mordecai said.

"Sure." Brick added. Roland looked at Lilth.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"What about you, pony? Care for a drink?"

"Sure, what could go wrong?"

"That's the spirit! Let's go! I'm gettin' thursty!" The group of five now walked towards the direction of Ponyville where they would share one last drink before finally getting to see what Equestria really has in store for each of them...

Setting Course

Coursel Boutique Inn

Mordecai was balencing himself on his stool. He had a large pile on shot glasses in front of him. Twilight gazed upon the human in an unimpressed look.

"I-I dunt git it. Howda drink sa much an' not be all... yaknow, drunk." Mordecai asked, almost falling off his chair.

"I don't know actually. I guess that us ponies have 'livers o' steel'." Mordecai laughed crazily.

"Yar reel funay, yaknow that? Hay, Roland! Shes funay!" Roland had already passed out hours ago. Lilth checked into bed long before the 'drink off' began, and Brick never showed up to the Inn.

"So, what brings you guys here in the first place?" Twilight asked.

"Uh... hol'on. Letma think. Ohya, dat's right! Wer broke! Yup! Needed sum cash and come to find out that ther was sum here. We just needed to pull sum favers and get a ride here and then we could pull some odd jobs. Mainly merc stuff though, that's wat we'r good at an' the pay's good."

"So why are you so interested with this element 8 stuff?"

"I dunno, reely. I guess that I like the 'adventure'. It is pretty cool when lil' kiddies look up to ya an' say dat dey wanna be just like ya' when dey grow up. Hell, after a while of 'adventuring' some punks at this place called 'Gearshed' er sumthing wannid ta make a game in stuff about us!"

"What'd ya' say?"

"I dunno, maybe. Shoulda probably said yes, now that we need the cash. But that ships passed. So, my turn, what did ya' do that made ya get all captured by dat pony thing back ther? Wat's so special about you?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time." Twilight said with a bad poker face, Mordecai couldn't read it, though. Twilight had wondered why she of all travelers in the woods SHE was the one that was taken.

"Oh, okay. I think it's time to check in fer da night. See ya in da mornin' Twi."

"It is morning."

"Oh..." He continued to his room to sleep away the day.

================

Ponyville Market

Rainbow Dash walked up to her old friend.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash." Twilight said in a cheerful manner. Rainbow Dash looked at her friends goods. She had a serious price drop on everything. Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow.

"Going somewhere?" Twilight looked at her friend.

"Uh, yeah, actually. I'm going north for something."

"What something?" She said, picking up a rusty pistol off the table.

"Oh, nothing, really."

"Oh... okay." There was an awkward silence for a few moments.

Twilight then broke the silence, "Yeah, I'm was originally going with a group of about four, but then two of them decided that they wanted to head south. You know, towards that old Jakobs milling town."

Rainbow Dash looked up at her friend. "The milling town?"

"Yeah, they were going to be-"

"You mean the one that's just north of Hoofington?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Anyways-"

"Where can I find these two?"

"Oh, they're at Rarity's Inn. They're sleeping off one hell of a night. One's really buff and tall, the others got some old Crimson Lance armor. It's really hard to miss 'em." Rainbow Dash then walked to the Inn at a fast pace. Just her luck, it just so happens that she's heading south too. Any amount of help traversing the Everfree was always needed. After the Great Escape, the forest became much worse than before and the only way to cross it was with others. Seeing as nobody went south anymore, this was a once in a life time deal. She hoped that they haven't left yet.

=================

The group of men loaded their weapons for another round. The announcer said it was going to be the 'Natural Selection' round. Basically one species verses another, it was the most loved of all round mutators. The crowd used it as a way of proving who was the best on the planet. For five games now the ponies were crowned the winners. Even though there was no official score on which species won, the fans were more than willing to come up with ways to keep track themselves.

Today was the day that the ponies were going to be knocked off their throne. Carlton's Raiders had a nice upgrade streak going. They got the 'SMG amplifier' and 'Meatbag' going for them, unfortunately they didn't know what the ponies had and they also had the 'Sticky Fingers' which made reloading a bitch.

The flood gates had just begun to open. The roar of the crowds greeted the Raiders. They ran out in groups of two. Making sure nobody died by Hail Maries, or any other type of mortar fire. A steady flow of sniper fire flew by the humans. One raised his head above cover to see if the ponies were advancing yet. Nothing. Magnum saw a pony sniper lock onto the newbie. He jumped to pull the man down, but he was too late.

"GET ME SOME HAIL MARIES GOIN' RIGHT NOW!" He screamed on his communicator. He saw across the field the human mortar team moving into range of the pony home base. He began towards them to cover them. Before he moved out of cover he took out a piece of mirror and lifed it above his head. He saw three ponies moving on the mortar team just before a bullet took the mirror out of his hand. Definately Corkscrew. I'm gonna hate killing him.

He ran from car to car. Making sure not to stick any part of his head out in the open. He decided to take a quick look at the crowd. They were going crazy, but thanks to the sound proof dome he could hardly hear any of it. All this sacrifice and he couldn't even hear his own fans scream his name.

Suddenly a large mortar round came flying over head. It landed a few meters away from Magnum. He screamed for a medic just before he blacked out. He looked up to see the fans still screaming.

=================

Rainbow Dash had to get some buisness in order.

"You needed to see me Sherif?" Carmel asked.

"Yes, Deputy. You have served Ponyville well these past few years. You've kept the streets clean and you yourself have a clean record. I'm gonna be going away for a bit and we need someone to keep the order while I'm off. There's no real way to say it so, congrats Sherif."

"OH boy! Thank you Sherif, I mean Rainbow Dash! I wont let you down!" She hoped she wouldn't. With her luck no bandits would attack anytime soon. But just for the sake of things she give Gilda a call on a favor. She then headed out for the Inn.

Rainbow Dash walked into the Inn. It was empty. "Rarity!" she yelled. No answer. "Hello!? Anybody?" Sweetie Belle then walked from behind the counter.

"Oh, hey Rainbow Dash."

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, where's Rarity?

"She went to the bank for something. Do you need me to get you anything?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Are you sure you're not thirsty?"

"I'm fine, really. Anyways have you seen these two guys, one's really buff and the other's wearin' some old Crimson gear."

"Uh, yeah! Actually. They left a while ago, though."

Shit!

"Did they head south?"

"Yeah."

"How long ago?"

"About an hour or so."

"Good. Thanks for the info. Here," She tossed a coin at the counter. "All yours."

"Thanks!" Rainbow Dash hurried out of the Inn. She ran south. She got tired very quick, she wasn't as conditioned as she once was. Of all the times she could have used her wings...

=================

Mordecai was stocking up at the general store. He blew through a ton of ammo during that firefight at the castle. He had a couple SMG magazines left, about ten rifle bullets, and two clips for his pistol. He used up all the pay he got from the rescue to get more ammo. He was seeing a lot of looting in his near future. Lilth was also short on cash. Instead of ammo, though, she bought a car with her remaining cash.

"You know we're gonna use our guns more than a car, right?"

"I got enough ammo. Besides, we'll come across some cash eventually.

"You're pretty optimistic. What's making you so sure that anything will go right?"

"I just got a gut feeling, and we do need a car. I ain't walkin' across this damn planet."

"Alright, let's go find Twilight." The two left the store. Lilth went around to get the buggy, Mordecai went towards the marketplace.

=================

Roland sat by the fire. He was shocked at how cold it got here. It was supposed to be hotter down south than north, right? He looked over to Brick. He didn't shiver, he hardly even moved. Sometiime he wondered if he was a robot or something like that. While he was pondering whether or not his companion was metalic, Roland heard feet, or maybe hooves, in the distance. He readied his weapon.

A cyan pegasus walked towards the camp. "Easy now, stanger." The pony said. Roland lowered his rifle, she seemed friendly enough. Rainbow got a better look of the strangers. "So, you're the Vault Hunters of Pandora?"

"Yeah, how'd ya know."

"I heard you guys were heading south, into the Everfree."

"Yeah, what's the big fuss? Everybody seems to be going crazy over it."

"Nobody goes south anymore, and there's a reason."

"That being..."

"The Everfree's the deadlist place on possibly ALL of Equestria."

"Equestria?"

"E, this planet."

"Oh, okay. Go on."

"I have some... buisness, to complete down there, and seeing as I couldn't go alone, I could use your help."

Roland took a sigh, "Listen, I'm gonna tell you what I told everybody else who wanted to join us. No free rides. You want our help, you gotta: a, pay us; b, provide your own form of protection; and c, don't get in our way."

"Deal, deal, and deal." She pulled out a bag of bits. "Will this do?" She threw it to Roland, it felt heavy enough.

"Sure. Grab a seat. By the way, what's ya name?"

"Rainbow Dash." Rainbow Dash then found a nice, warm spot by the fire and went to sleep on her stomach. Roland eyed her. He couldn't help but notice those bandages all around the pony's back. If she was handicapped, this could become a problem. In the distance he heard some skaggs howl. Probably wares. Oh well. There goes sleeping for tonight.

Roland saw the sun rise above the side of the hill. It was a nice sight to end his night shift. He looked over to Brick, he just stared at the fire. He looked over the the pony, it was asleep. He walked over to it and quickly nudged it awake. Rainbow Dash quickly rolled over and aimed he gun towards the man. He put his hands up.

"Easy now. I'm the guy you paid to keep you safe, remember?" She lowered he gun.

"Sorry, can't help but be a little jumpy around here."

"I understand, just... calm down a little."

"Okay, let's get going." The put out the fire and packed up what little they had. After an hour or so of walking they saw a town at the end of the road.

"Something doesn't seem right," Roland began, "Look, see? No guards." The town outskirts didn't have anything standing post. Even in Ponyville, there was at least one person keeping watch every now and then. The group then heard an engine turn on. They turned to the sound to see a crudely painted purple and white Crimson Lance buggy with matching purple and white bandits in Crimson Lance gear.

The main bandit cocked his weapon. "There's a tax here, strangers. Everybody's gotta pay it." Roland observed two more buggies roll up beside the original buggy.

"What's the tax?" Roland asked.

"What's in the bag?" The bandit asked back. Roland looked to Rainbow, she nodded her head. Roland threw the bag to the bandits. The main bandit opened the bag and rumaged through it. He nodded his head.

"Alright, let 'em in."

"What if we don't want to go to town? Do we get our stuff back?"

"Nope." The three walked towards the town.

Just before the buggies left the main bandit said with an evil grin on his face, "By the way, welcome to Bruiserville. Enjoy your stay."

Decisions, decisions...

Montgomry took a deep sigh. He held this job for two decades, and the entire time he hadn't gotten a single promotion. He pushed the large door open and was greeted by a pale, nude Eight Toes, covered in many bodies, some females, others... Montgomry made a digusted groan. "Could you please cloth yourself, sir? My eyes are not conditioned to such... sights." Eight Toes stood up from the pile.

"Yeah, yeah, old man. Did ya put the tea on?" He said in a boston acent while pulling up some pants to cover his manhood.

"Yes, sir. The tea is ready. Would you like the normal mixture?"

"Nah, spice it up a little. Try that Applelousa stuff, ya'know the stuff that makes ya real hyper."

"I'm not sure that's safe, sir."

"Who cares! I sure don't. Anyways, how's ya wife?"

"I'm not married sir."

"Oh, get married so that question makes sense, k?"

"I'll try my best, sir." Montgomry then walked over to the giant screen in the room and began to upload a map of the local area. It was slightly cracked from the night before.

"Whata we got, Monty?"

"The Spartans are moving on The Flock here and here, sir." He pointed to the screen.

"What about the Dwellers?" He put on a shirt to cover his scrawny, hairless chest.

"They, too, are attacking The Flock, sir. It seems that they are cooperating. I suggest that we sign that treaty Mr. Adolph presented the other day."

"Nah, I'm stayin' with Gil for now. I still gotta pay off that favor."

"Sir?"

"Oh... you were on leave that week. Don't ask." He walked over to make a drink out of various beverages on a counter.

"Sir, this reminds me. We are running low on funds. I suggest that we cut back on this... partying. Either that or find ways to more revenue."

"Cut back on partying! Woah, woah, woah! Slow down and listen to yourself! We'll find ways to more cash. Just don't. Touch. My. Partying funds!"

"Sorry to bring up such a 'tradgic' thought, sir. How do you suspect we gain more revenue, sir?"

Eight Toes looked at the screen and pointed towards a town on the map. "That town! Did we hit it yet?"

"Ponyville, sir? I'm afraid not, sir."

"Then raid it! Raid the fuck outta it! Take everything to the cornbeef and hash! Then... I dunno, put it under our control and tax 'em like usual." He took a sip of his concoction and looked over to Montgumry. "See? This 'ruling' stuff ain't so hard. Just like pops use to do. Right?"

"Not at all, sir. Not at all."

"Cheer up, old man. Ten more years and you'll get that pension."

"I'll be dead first, sir."

"At least you died doin' what you loved." Montgumry sighed once again.

=================

Mordecai kicked the buggy. "Money well spent, Lilth! Money well fuckin' spent!" The engine died after about a day's worth of travel.

"Calm down, Mort! It got us far enough!" Twilight crawled out from the buggy's underbelly.

"It got us far enough to WHERE, Exactly?" Lilth bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Point proven! You know, we could've stocked up on more ammo or ,god forbid, BUY A SHIELD! But no, we NEEDED a damn car!"

"Shut up, Mort! You whining wont get us closer to anywhere!" Mordecai rubbed his face and thought for a minute.

"Okay, plan B. Find the closest town and rest for a couple of days. Then we can decide what to do from there."

"We already know what to do, Mort. We're so close to finding that damn pony and possibly element 8! We can't rest just yet."

"How do you know we're so close?"

Twilight buded in, "Well, she was injured. She most likely left to regain strength. That leaves us with a small window of opportunity to find her weakened. And we ARE close."

"How do you know?"

"Just trust me. I got a REALLY good gut feeling on this."

Mordecai sighed and sat against the buggy. He put his face into his hand and sighed, "I'm on a planet I've never been on before. I'm following a pony, who I don't even know, who has a GUT FEELING about finding an object I don't even know is a gas, solid, or liquid. Where did I go so wrong." Lilth walked over to Mordecai. She kneeled beside him.

"Mordecai. You're whining again." He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Alright, let's get walking. We got serious ground to cover."

================

The town was desolate. The only people that Rainbow Dash saw were patrol men wearing the same purple and white Crimson gear as the ones in the buggies. And there was plenty of patrol men.

That name. Brusierville. Could it really be him?...No couldn't be. He's locked up in the tightest of prisons. But if it is...

"What do we do now?" Rainbow Dash decided to ask.

"Well, first we gotta get our shit back. There's no way we are going anywhere without our guns."

"Wait! Our WEAPONS were in there?! Why did you throw them away!?"

"We were surrounded! Better to lose our guns for a few hours then be DEAD."

"Okay, what's the plan then? Seeing as you obviously have a plan... right?"

"Yeah," He began as he pulled out his PDA, "Trackers. Don't leave home without 'em. We just find where they're holdin' our stuff, take it, and get the hell outta dodge."

"Seems too simple. They got Crimson gear and we got... Brick."

"Just trust me on this one," He PDA beeped, "There we go! Let's go." They slowly walked to the town armory. They walked into a nearby general store for cover. Roland looked out the window. "Okay, we got two heavily armed buggies, roughly three seperate patrols, and possibly a combo-lock we're gonna need to break under heavy pressure. All with our bare hands. Yup, we're boned."

"Looking to get your hands on the armory, eh?" A scratchy voice said behind them. Roland and Rainbow Dash turned around to view the man. Brick just stared at the building across the street.

"Uh, yeah. Why? You got a way to get to it?" The man motioned for the three to follow him.

"Come, there are others like you." The four then went into a small back room of the general store. In the room there was a small assortment of humans and ponies. At the end of the room stood a tall, silent man. "Sir, I have found more initiates for the cause." The man nodded.

A small boy walked beside the taller man at the end of the room. He seemed similar to the taller one, quite possibly relations to him. "Good work, Iron Cloak. Gordon is pleased" The boy said, he then turned to the three wanderers. "It seems you have arrived at 'Bruiserville' at quite a perfect time. We were in need of a few more initiates to begin the attacks on these bandits. If you would be so kind to join our cause, you shall be repaid handsomely."

"Handsomely, you say? And how much IS handsomely, exactly?" Roland asked.

"You shall recieve the utmost respect of your fellow peers, you shall recieve glory of no kind for your coragous acts of selflessness, and you will recieve the hornor of becoming of knight of The Order of Free Men and Ponies"

"Respect, glory, and becoming a knight? Fuck it, I just want my gear that they took. You can keep that 'knight' bullshit."

"Whatever your motives be, helping us shall aid you in reaching them."

"Alright, deal."

"Glorious! Meet us at the outskirts of the town. To begin our attack, we must first destroy their cavalry."

"Their what?"

"Oh, sorry. The buggies."

"Why?"

"They gain most of their power from the buggies. It was what made the town surrender in the first place. With their main attacking force out of the question we can procede to decomission the inner town patrols and eventually eject the occupying force out of the town hall and mark our first victory."

"Wow, you guys really put your heart and souls into killing off a couple of wannabe bandits in a no-name town." Rainbow Dash said.

"Gordon has seen the horrors of this land. He has also witnessed the beauty of it's once thriving empire. He takes pity for the ponies and only wishes for them to have back their rightful homes. Though it may seem that we are only attacking mere thugs, others will hear our call. And when they do, they shall join us in freeing Equestria. When all is said and done, we shall leave Equestria and return to our rightful homes, and maybe purge the evil there as well."

"That's pretty preachy. Did you practice that speech or somethin'?" Roland interupted.

"Yes, a little. It was good, right?"

"Eh, it was okay."

"Well, back to buisness. I am sure you will meet us at the desiered location."

"Which is...?"

"Oh, the big rock that it on the northern entrance to the town. That is where the buggies fuel up at the end of their shifts. I'm sure you passed it on the way into town."

"Alright, meet you guys there." The three then left the general store. They then bumbed into a scrawny, pale man that resembled a rat in a thin cloak.

"Hello, dear friends." He said

"Who the hell are you?" Roland said, pushing the man backwards.

"My name has no meaning to the likes of you. My motives on the other hand..."

"And those are?"

"This 'Order of Free Men and Ponies', I'm sure you've heard of them. They have aquired a reputaion that only outlaws would appreciate. They are seen by myself and many others as a small problem that would eventually grow into something... undesirable." He pulled out a large bag of bits. Roland couldn't help but stare at it with awe for a few seconds. "I only wish that you tell me when these thorns in my proprietor's side are to make a movement of sorts considered 'unwanted' and you shall recieve this and so much more."

"I don't know about this guy, Roland." Rainbow Dash began, "He's too damn shady. It's making me uncomfortable."

"Hold up! This is MY decision. If I think that I need the cash, I just might give this guy our info. Hell, it could save us a lot of trouble. With that cash, we could easily buy our shit back, and then some!"

"But on the other hand, you will be murdering innocent people who only want to free this town!"

"QUIET, PONY! This is for the man, and the man alone to decide." Rainbow Dash looked at Roland, who was looking back at Rainbow Dash. Brick walked up behind Roland and put his hand on his shoulder. Roland looked back at Brick, Brick shook his head in disagreement. Then Roland finally looked back at the bag of money.