"...Fuck!" Blurted the mare that I had spent three days tracking, holding onto her right hindleg with both her hooves. A leg that I had shot, aiming straight for the bone. "Why!?" She questioned, turning to face me.
I could see the desperation in her brown eyes, that matched her lighter coat and her stone-gray mane. It was a colour combination that I had seen countless times, and it didn't make it any easier to track my quarries.
Things tend to get bad when you shoot the wrong pony. But this time, I knew too well that this was the right one.
"You know perfectly why," I stated, aiming my Battle Rifle directly at her head. My rifle, mounted to my battle saddle, was designed for medium-to-long engagements, ideal for my style of shooting from afar, or from above the cloud cover, but not for an engagement this close. This weapon also got me into debt, as just the thermal scope on it was worth five ponies' lives. But it was worth every cap, as I could see my objective before they could even see me, making this all the more easy.
"F-Fuck, okay, look, I don't have much on me, but if you let me go, I-I'll pay off my bounty. Here, I've, um, got half of it..." She muttered, almost too quick for me to understand, while her horn lit up and the lid of her left saddlebag opened, magically. She started rummaging through it with her hooves, and I heard the clattering of who-knows-what and bottlecaps.
But I knew exactly what she was doing. I took aim towards her neck, and awaited for the inevitable. Ponies like her, the kind that murder their children and almost shank their husband to death have a tendency to go down with a fight.
"Just... Aha!" And as I was expecting, she pulled out a Plasma defender out from the saddlebag, and tried aiming it directly at my face right when I pulled the bite-trigger of my battle-saddle.
A loud 'PANG!' emerged from the side of my body, and before the sound registered on my mind, the mare now had a new hole dead-center on her neck, going straight through her vertebrae, painting the sandstone rock behind her in a new coat of red and bits of white. Her magic stopped, and she slumped down like a puppet whose strings were cut. My shot must've been as true as my Cutiemark was; Crosshairs on a bone.
She was still alive, of course. Not for long ‒She would end suffocating on her own blood thanks to the new hole in her neck, if the newfound tetraplegia doesn't kill her afterwards. She tried to move her mouth to say something, but no noise came from her. Independently, if she survives this encounter, she's done for. The Wasteland eats crippled ponies for breakfast every day.
So I got to work.
As my contract ordered, I needed her keys as a proof of my victory. Most times, ponies ask for an ear, or the whole head. The latter being an inconvenience, as heads tend to rot and are cumbersome. When it's a very personal matter, they ask for the target's cutie mark, as it's often a symbolic thing. And in odd contracts like this one, where somepony seeks revenge after the target snapped into a murderous rampage, they ask to bring their keys instead, or some personal trinket.
This usually means that the target ran away with something incredibly valuable locked in a safe or behind a door, and since the contract came out from Tenpony Tower, this is something I could believe. Even if six-hundred caps was a bit on the cheap end (knowing who was behind the contract), it's still caps that I need.
Then again, the Talons would've done this themselves if the sum was larger and it didn't involve the Tower. So here I was, a Freelancer doing yet another dirty job in the middle of nowhere, Equestria.
After exhaustively rummaging and finding a hefty sum of canned dried oats, sparkle-cells for a Plasma Defender that screamed 'Van Graff' all over it, and a pouch with two-hundred bottlecaps in it, I finally found the keys. Plural, there were five of those, in varying degrees of wear and tear..
I had no idea why somepony would need more than three keys ‒Front door, back door, safe‒ but it was none of my business to snoop into other ponies' lives. At least until I was paid for shooting them first.
Pocketing the Defender and its cells (it'd fetch a good price in this condition, if it didn't end up substituting my 9mm sidearm), the dried oats (waste not want not) and the caps (never let them go to waste!), I rose from her still warm body, taking a quick look around in case this meeting had brought attention to me.
Middle of Nowhere, Equestria. Yes, it was a real place. New Appleloosa was a far walk to the north, with the rest of the Wasteland to the north-east and north-west. This place was a cross between a desert and the brown arid landscape everypony was used to. Though the change of 'puke brown' to 'ghoul orange' was a welcome one to my sore eyes. Talking about Ghouls, a pack of them were shambling their way towards me, probably attracted by the two shots I've made in the last minute.
I looked back down to the slowly dying mare, and wondered momentarily where she had planned heading towards, with so much food but so little water. And barely any protection, just a half-rotten leather armor on her that wouldn't stop a .308 even if it was enchanted. There's nothing else going to the south, just sand and death. Nopony that went down ever returned, for a reason.
Though it made a nice hiding spot if somepony had to disappear for a while.
Shaking my head, I extended my wings, and flew straight up into the cloud cover. It took me a bit more time than usual thanks to the extra weight, but I made it, digging my hooves into the fluffy, cold, rain-ready and probably slightly irradiated brown clouds.
Unlike many other wastelanders, I had seen the blue sky. It was as beautiful as many imagined it to be, an endless expanse of blue with streaks of white, the sun shining onto your coat with a newfound warmth.
Too bad I could only enjoy it for a few minutes before having to duck down to avoid radar detection by the Grand Pegasus Enclave.
Anything that sticks its head out from the cover was bound to get found, as the top end of the cover was a fluffy semi-flat surface, making it extremely easy for radars and patrols to find ponies (or zebras) trying to go above. How do I know this, I hear you ask?
Well, I used to work on said radio equipment before I had to make a grandiose escape, after being accused of treason for not bending over and fetching coffee for a general. Mind you, I was doing my work just fine when that happened, and being interrupted while watching the radars should've been a reason for me to accuse him of being a traitor. One couldn't interrupt survey and security crews under any circumstance, it's in the law.
...Then again, I also had a bit of an affair with his daughter, that might've been part of the issue.
But alas, now I was down here, on the surface. I was smart enough to wing it before they torched my flanks or shot me dead, though truly, I don't fit with the Dashite mentality either. Of course, one side tried to kill me, while the other tried to sway my opinion a few times in order to have me die for them in an uphill battle, but I always stated that it'd only happen if the price is right. The 'right price' having enough zeroes to suffocate a Manticore in. Politics came after one is no longer struggling with life.
I sighed, and slumped down into the cloud cover itself, as my time was running out. Inside the clouds, I pushed them away to make a hollow space, squishing some fluff here and there to make a bed, and a table. As a pegasus, I could walk on the stuff, and basically make myself a temporary house whenever I went as long as there's some condensed moisture in the air. Only downside is that I had to travel light, and keep everything on me at all times. I could stand on clouds, but whatever I carried couldn't. At least not without spending half a fortune to have a unicorn enchant them for me. There's also the downside that clouds are horribly cold, and it tends to snow in Winter, and bringing a blanket up here usually meant having to replace it overnight.
These 'homes' were also temporary, as the cloud cover renews itself constantly, squishing whatever hollow space or hole is made in it. In fact, the larger the hole is, the quicker it gets covered up.
Squishing a cloud to make it rain on an impromptu cloud-sink, I looked down at the flat surface of the relatively clean water. There, I saw my reflection.
Gray on slightly darker gray, windswept mane, and a pair of yellow eyes. A bit of an unkempt beard there, but little can be done without razors that aren't rusted. There I was, in all my glory. I would be happier and maybe be more, uh... Sexy, if I didn't have those sleepless bags under my eyes, and the reminder of the only moment of hesitation I had in my life, on my left cheek. A .308 that flew dangerously close to my head after I thought twice about giving a young mare acute lead poisoning, while she held a hunting rifle between her hooves aimed directly at me.
I ran my hoof across the scarred tissue, and winced a bit. Physically it didn't hurt at all, but it did in my mind, something that was engraved pretty deep. There was nothing I could do about it, at least not without expensive procedures. This also reminded me that I was yet to buy a helmet, it'd be silly to not protect my head properly.
I beamed down and drank some of the rainwater, before using it to clean my face from dirt and... Other, more reddish things.
After that, I slumped down on the impromptu cloud bed, and double checked my bags to make sure everything was fastened and wouldn't fall if I rolled over.
Yes, I was going for a nap right after a one-sided fight. I would need the extra energy on the incoming flight to Tenpony to turn in the contract. Plus, I always rest better after a successful hunt.
I'd consult how to get into Tenpony without raising suspicion with the pillow. The Tower doesn't usually allow ponies like me to get inside.
Sleepless rest.
The sole reason why I have these massive bags under my eyes. Most ponies I've spoken to occasionally mention dreams. Something that escaped my grasp, even before I descended from the clouds.
Tartarus, even when I was a child, I would never dream. I'd rest, sure, but never actually have a dream, or a nightmare. Something that gave me endless room to think. Through the few hours I spent slumped down on the cloud, I had cobbled together a plan to access the Tenpony Tower, without having its security try to shoot me on sight.
I only had to enter like a normal Wastelander. For which, I'd have to hide my wings, or mask them somehow. I know that Pegasi aren't exactly common in the surface, and they're usually disliked when their cutie marks aren't branded over as that tends to mean 'loyalty to the Enclave'. Even if in my case, it simply meant that I'd rather not have a searing-red iron pressed on my flanks.
Plan A was simply entering like another visitor. The only issue would be the security, and actually finding my contractor.
Plan B would be doing the same, but state that I'm working for somepony inside, in hopes that they let me in. Which would probably not work.
Plan C would be trying to get in contact with the stallion that hired me, and tell him to get his sorry ass out of the tower to pay me for doing his dirty job.
Plan D included dragging my flanks all the way back to Junction R-7 in order to have the gryphons there do all the bureaucracy behind a completed contract (That they didn't want to do in the first place) in order to get me paid. And they'd probably take a commission in the long, slow process.
Yeah, this was a foolproof plan. Why was it so complicated to get paid these days? It was way easier when it was 'half of the payment now, the rest later'.
Grunting, I squished the cloud-bed under me and got up. I didn't have a clock with me, or a pip-buck or anything fancy like that, something that made it fairly easy to lose track of time. But once again, being a pegasus granted me another advantage. If I wanted to know the time, I only had to fly up through the cloud cover and look for the sun. Its angle on the sky would tell me two things: What time it was, and directions like a compass.
Of course, there was the risk of getting it completely wrong and accidentally end on the opposite end of the world, twelve hours late. Or early.
After stretching my wings a bit, I dug through the clouds and peeked my head out, letting the warm sun bathe me once more with its godly rays. Looking up, I deduced that it was either very early in the morning, or late in the afternoon. The sun was to my right, that meant that I was either facing the north, or the south. With all the information that I needed to know, I dipped back into the clouds, and dive bombed out of it, keeping my body facing the same direction at all times.
Once I was facing the surface, I looked ahead, seeing the grand expanse of the Middle of Nowhere, and its deserts and dunes. That meant I was looking towards the south, which meant that I had to go towards my left in order to reach Manehattan, and the Tenpony tower.
Letting out a sigh of joy, knowing that I was well-oriented for once, I set wing to the East, keeping myself as close to the cloud cover as possible to blend in with it.
Last thing I need is to get shot with an anti-air cannon because I accidentally flew over a hidden Steel Ranger bunker.
There's very few things that can pose a threat to a Pegasus in flight.
Anti-Air missiles with heat seeking capabilities, Anti-Air cannons, Bloodwings at night, Stratosprites, just to name a few off the top of my head. The first, nopony has any of them anymore. Of course, the Grand Pegasus Enclave had plenty of those stored away in the deepest flying warehouses one could imagine, never to be used for fear of somepony getting spanked by a General.
The second, only towns and cities had them, Bunkers occasionally. I was yet to see a Raider den having an AA battery on it, or at least one that worked. Bloodwings were easy to avoid by simply not venturing out at night, or being near caves or abandoned mines.
Stratosprites, on the other hoof, were a completely wild thing to find. Sure, its cousins, Bloatsprites were annoying but otherwise easy to deal with from a distance, but those little fuckers were a completely new league. Stalking the cloud cover, those things feed on the irradiated patches of water in the clouds when they're small, and grow larger to prey on anything that crosses them, which are usually birds or insects that fly a tad too high. Or even other Stratosprites when food lacks.
However, when they grow too large, they have no issues with trying to eat a Pony whole.
And guess what I just encountered?
I had grown insensitized to seeing blood, or a corpse or two. But seeing a half-eaten body with a leg sticking out of the sky-blue gooey body of a Stratosprite will always get onto my nerves. Even more when said bug attempts to turn me into its next snack by throwing poisonous needles at me from half a mile away. Needles that stuck to the cloud cover like a bullet hitting a sandbag, thankfully so.
In the air, there's only one kind of cover: Clouds. Up here, you're always exposed to projectiles coming from any direction. The only thing that you can use is the clouds to hide yourself with, and hope that whoever's shooting you doesn't have any sort of tracking equipment, or a missile with your name on it.
The sort of tracking equipment Ihad.
Placing the bite-trigger on my mouth, I kicked one of the levers at the side of the battle-saddle, and the thermal scope attached to the rifle unfolded upwards, letting me look through it by moving my head slightly to the side. And there I saw the abomination, as a gigantic yellow blob with red bits coming out of it on a background of varying degrees of blue. That... Hinted me that the leg it was eating was still warm.
I shook my head clear of these thoughts, and bit the trigger. A loud 'PANG!' rang through the air, and I saw the bullet soar through the clouds, hitting the blob dead-center.
After a second or two, it exploded in a cloud of cyan and red, chunks of pony and Stratosprite meat falling down to the surface, followed by a little rain of dubious fluids. Hopefully, nopony down below would get showered in this. It'd be the ultimate hint of having terrible karma.
Kicking the scope lever again, the thermal sights shut down and retracted, to sit on top of the gun. I pulled from a different lever and the battle-saddle started to reload the rifle, fairly pleasant 'clicks' emerging from it as a new ten-shot magazine was loaded in, the old one getting stashed away on its built-in storage.
I'd never grow tired of those noises.
However, the one thing I'd grow tired of, is hovering in the same spot for too long. So I set wing again, continuing my trip towards Manehattan. A few hours of flight awaited me.
The Wasteland was vast. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a charred brown landscape, ruins of old Equestria at seemingly random intervals, and patches of radioactive balefire filled with every abomination one could ever imagine swimming in the poisonous ponds.
Sure, there were safe havens here and there, namely towns or small refuges, but those were too few and far apart. Usually a day's worth of a walk from one another; More than enough time to get ambushed by an angry Hellhound with a minigun and more ammo for it than brain cells in its skull.
It was also more than enough time to get ambushed by ponies like me.
Case and point, the poor mare I shot twice over the day prior. I still remember her cocoa eyes looking at me in desperation after the first shot, and how quickly life faded from them after the second. Sucks to have to end such a cute thing, but bounties don’t discriminate.
Well, they do more or less, now that I think about it. Only ponies that have wronged someone else end with them, after all.
But alas, my mental ramblings would need to wait. Manehattan was on sight, or at least as well as I could see in this dark afternoon. There was only a little stretch before I could get somewhere safe to sleep in, that last stretch being the flight straight into Friendship City. There, I’ll get a room in a hotel, inn or whatever’s open by then, and buy the supplies I’ll need to get into the Tenpony Tower.
If everything played as I had in mind, I’d slip right under the Tenpony security without raising eyebrows.
“HALT!” shouted the guard in charge of raising and lowering the bridge, and the gate into Friendship City. “We don’t take too kindly to you enclave guys! You’re not going in! Turn around else we’ll shoot!”
I stood in the middle of the bridge into the ‘City’, looking up at the tower on the left side. It was made out of scraps and metal sheets, anything larger than a 10mm shot would go straight through it. On top of said tower was a mare in old world Riot gear, the glass face place of the helmet reflecting the faint light of the lamp beside her.
A powerful Floodlight shone from the right tower, lighting up the entire bridge. I saw some shadows scutter behind the glare of the light, though I was forced to close my right eye to not go blind. It was pretty clear that they were taking aim against me, but I paid no attention to it. I had to stand my ground.
“I’m not with the Enclave!” I shouted back, raising my right hoof to cover the bright light being shined straight onto me. “I’m here to rest in a motel, buy some things and I’ll be on my way!” I stated, grunting afterwards. This wasn’t the first time I’ve had to say this, and yet here I was. “Cross my heart!”
I was starting to fear that my face was just that forget-able, or that my visits to Friendship City were too few and far apart. The only silver lining in this is, that if anything went south and I had to shoot somepony, I could come back in a few months and nobody would remember. Probably.
If I came out alive, that is. I knew that these ponies had anti-air batteries built around the statue, and who-knows what else inside. The bridge was the only way in and out, flying around was just suicide. Even at night.
The mare on the left watchtower leaned outwards a bit, as if examining me. She rose the glass plate, revealing her face. A scar ran across her white nose, a pair of blue eyes judging my everything. She said nothing for a solid minute or so, before shrugging and leaning back. She gestured at somepony inside, and…
The gates opened, with a slow, creaking noise.
I took a deep breath, and walked forwards. Although I could just fly up and make myself another ‘home’ in the clouds above, the Manehattan area was terrible for that. Being so close to the ocean, the cloud cover was too dense to make anything that doesn’t collapse in on itself within minutes. And it’s all soaked in balefire radiation.
So I’ll have to settle with an actual, solid bed for once.
Have I mentioned how much I hate not being able to actually sleep?
I daydreamt of the moment I’d be able to fall unconscious, have my first real dream. Tonight, that wasn’t going to be that night, as the only Inn that was open only offered bunk beds (At least at a low price), forcing me to keep watch over my belongings, but also because a pair of frisky wastelanders were going at it on the other side of the thin metal sheet that acted as a wall between rooms.
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
That noise went on for hours on end. Way beyond what I imagined was equinely possible. The other ponies I was forced to sleep along with at least slept through that, while I could only put my hooves on my ears, stare at the metal sheet that acted as a roof, and wish for them to be done with it.
Squeak, squeak, squeak…
“So, this old rag, two nine-mil mags, a canteen and thirteen caps for your ten cans of oats. Deal?” Said the trader behind her counter, repeating the same thing after I complained about the unfair price she was asking for the old scientist’s coat that sat on the counter, under two five-shot magazines and a sturdy canteen I got my eye on.
I nodded, looking at the neat pile of cans of oats I got from the mare shot dead two days ago. I was amazed it all fit in my saddlebags. “Deal.” I agreed, pushing them over to the mare, who smiled widely upon my agreement, sliding her greedy hooves around the pile of food. It felt as if I was taking junk off from her shelves in exchange for something actually useful, but this was, sadly, junk I needed to sneak into Tenpony.
I was somewhat sure I wouldn’t be able to bribe the guards with ten cans of oats. They were fed and paid well enough that it wouldn’t work anyways.
I took my new belongings, and slid the magazines into my jacket. It was always a good place to have ammo on, anywhere a swing of one’s head would reach. The mare was too busy drooling over the food that she didn’t even bothered to say something nice after doing business.
I guess politeness was a thing of the past.
Tenpony Tower.
It looked way, way more intimidating up close.
Towering over every single other building in the area, this massive structure oozed a kind of power lacking in the wasteland. It felt indestructible, like an impenetrable fortress filled with enough magic to resist a balefire bomb.
Oh, wait.
I shook my head, and flew over to the old Celestia Line entrance, circumventing the stairs that everypony else used. This was the only way into Tenpony, as far as I knew. They had completely barricaded the lower floors, and probably set all kinds of traps to keep ponies and other creatures away. Setting hoof onto the metallic surface, I went onwards and into the repurposed train station inside the tower itself, while getting odd glances from the ponies keeping watch for troublemakers.
Here goes nothing…
I sat in a makeshift waiting room, alongside other five ponies that wanted to enter Tenpony. Four of them seemed to be a family; Two stallions ‒One of which was probably as old as my pistol‒, a mare, and a little colt, all huddled together in the chairs in front of me. They looked like your average wastelanders, though a bit on the desperate side, judging by the rags they wore for clothes. Part of me felt sorry for them, knowing that the security here wouldn’t let them through. Another part of me was wondering why they were even trying their luck going here, into the most exclusive settlement in whatever’s left of the world.
Then I remembered what I was trying to do.
I blinked a few times to clear my thoughts, and gazed at the other side of the rows of chairs I was sitting on. A unicorn of generally brown coloration sat there, idly staring at the ceiling, and the flickering lights. She looked incredibly bored, and I feared I’d end like her if I had to sit here and wait any longer. A camera kept watch on us all from the corner of the room, while guards dressed up in Tenpony fancy attire came and went, usually escorting or following actual Tenpony residents, who didn’t even bother to glance at us.
The first ones to go into the security checkpoint was the family, after they were called in by a guard. Though a thing of five minutes later, they were all shooed away, just as I predicted. The poor little colt didn’t seem to understand a thing, while the two stallions shot glares at the mare.
Then the unicorn sitting in the corner was called in. She got up and slumped her way towards the checkpoint, on the opposite end of the room, disappearing through the door frame. And now, I was alone.
I sighed, and mentally revised my plan of action. Everything I had on me played into it; The weapons, the attire I bought, the excess of medical supplies. Even my cutiemark played into it. Now I just needed to act convincing enough for them to let me in.
Wait… Did I had my medical supplies with me? Oh. I forgot to actually buy them!
I slid my hooves over to my saddlebags, and started digging. Soon I realized that I was only carrying a pair of healing potions and some bandages. Antiseptic? No. Antibiotics? Nope. Not even a shot of Med-X, or a bottle of booze to double as a painkiller.
Well, I could put up the excuse that I’m here to buy actual medical supplies, and slide in as a Wasteland doctor that escaped from the Enclave. They don’t need credentials down here, right? Anypony with a lab coat and a bonesaw could pass as a doctor these days. Yeah, a little twist in the plan that I can use in my favour.
I sighed and closed my saddlebag, and just as I looked up, one of the Tenpony guards was standing there, staring at my very soul. Colour would’ve drained off my face if I wasn’t painted gray already. The unicorn’s deep green eyes nailed themselves into my very soul, until he finally asked; “Did you forget something, sir?”
I blinked once, quick to say; “I believe I dropped my reading glasses somewhere along the road,” I lied, pouting a little to make my statement more believable. I turned my head towards the exit, then back to the stallion in front of me. “Guess I’ll have to make do without them.”
He squinted at me, but nodded. “Right. Well, it’s your turn now, so please, follow me.”
I slinged the saddlebags onto my back, got up from my seat, and merrily followed him towards the rooms on the left, further into the tower. For now, my little lie seemed to have worked, and only needed to work for a few more hours…
“...Doctor Bonesaw. Really?” Asked the unicorn sitting on the other side of the steel table. We were in some kind of interrogation room ‒Or at least it looked like it to me‒, with a steel door being the only way in and out of this small room. Two chairs and a table, that’s everything that was here.
“Doctor Bone Marrow.” I corrected; “Orthopedic specialist.”
“Whassat?” He asked, scribbling something on a paper on his side of the table, with a rather fancy pen.
“I realign bones and help with bone-related injuries, mostly swift recoveries from fractures and dislocations.” I explained, glad that the magazine I read a few hours ago about this subject was still lingering on my mind.
The stallion kept staring at me for a few seconds with a confused look, which prompted me to say; “I’m a bone doctor.”
I could hear him hold a laugh, which made me glare at his very soul. He quickly wrote more things onto the paper he had, before shaking his head with a grin so dumb I wanted to punch it. “Okay, okay. Please fill out this questionnaire, then we’ll continue. Take as long as you need.” And then he said under his breath; “Boner doctor…”
And with that, he levitated a two-sheet long questionnaire towards my side of the table. The first few questions were reasonable enough; Name, age, race, profession.
I nodded, and started answering with the same pen he was using, one question at a time…
Question 45: Have you ever consumed another pony’s flesh? ...Question 46: Are you affiliated with any gang or major faction?
Yep, as I expected, the questions got more and more redundant and ridiculous. Nopony that’s done what they were asking here would ever answer genuinely. I stared at the questions in front of me, which seemed to span well into the hundred questions, and perhaps even more as the sheet was double-faced.
“Having troubles there?” The unicorn asked, looking me over as I held the pen with my lips. “You really needed those glasses, didn’t you?”
I rolled my eyes, and answered with a little nod. Then went back to answering these stupid questions.
Two-hundred questions.
Why would somepony need to know so much about a visitor, I will not know. Questions so unnecessary and so… Personal, that it almost hurt to answer them. Then again, most of the answer I gave were a lie of the size of the wasteland just to get in, so I didn’t really felt too bad. Though I feared that I might’ve spent a whole hour just writing answers, judging by how stiff my rear and lips felt.
Now I just had to sign at the very bottom, and check a little box. Probably something about not making the Tower’s security responsible in case they had to shoot me. Whatever, I just wanted to be done with this.
I stretched my wings out, and spat the pen, pushing the two sheets soaking with ink towards the unicorn. “Done.”
The guard on the other side of the table snapped out of whatever daydream he dozed into, his horn lighting up and levitating everything I slid towards him. “Alright, good. Well, I guess you’re ready for the security check and the medical examination.” He said, soon raising a hoof over to the little radio strapped to his shoulder, he pressed a button on it and spoke into it, “Welcoming Room three to Medical, visitor needs a checkup, over.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Examination?”
“Yeah, new thing added since a lil’ incident couple of weeks ago,” He explained, giving me a shrug; “We now do medical checks on visitors in case they have some weird disease, or carry live ammo in certain, uh. What’s the way the doc said it… Ah. Inside certain ‘cavities’. Hope ye’ don’t mind.”
...Oh. Well, I wasn’t planning to bring ammunition into the Tower, I wasn’t here to shoot anypony. But having my ‘cavities’ checked? Yeah, no, thanks. “...Uh-huh. Right. Who’s going to be doing this medical check?” I asked, getting second thoughts about this all.
“Our resident doctor, ma’am Echo.” He said, raising a hoof before I could say anything; “Don’t worry, she’ll use magic to make sure there ain’t metal inside you, she won’t be fitting her hoof… Down there, for how much you might want that.”
“Ah, an unicorn. Okay, well…” I sighed, calming my nervousness for this hole in the plan, something that shouldn’t be an issue if what he said was true; “If it has to be done, then so be it. Let’s get it done quickly.”
“...Yes, I need you to strip down.” Stated the pinkish unicorn in front of me, gesturing towards my armor with her free hoof, the other holding a clipboard. “Otherwise this will be pointless. The spell works through flesh and bone, but not fabrics. So if you may.” She repeated, tapping the floor under her, the doctor’s coat making the stethoscope around her neck tingle against a necklace she wore.
“Alright…” With a sigh, I started to undress. First came the battle saddle, then the saddlebags, and finally, my Leather jacket and the flak vest under it, followed by my gray shirt.I laid everything on the table by the side, before standing in front of the mare. I felt, well. Naked, without my gear on. Like if I was leaving behind a part of me. Said part was now quickly being examined by the other unicorn, as he pulled things out of my bags, laying them in perfect order on the table.
Echo, the mare, looked me up and down, her horn lighting up in the same violet hue as her eyes, as she pointed it at me, moving her head up and down as she circled around me. I stood still, keeping my eyes on whatever it was that she was doing, until she took a step back, and gave a nod of approval.
“Excluding residual Balefire radiation, traces of Med-X abuse, and some scarred tissue, you carry no notable diseases, tumour cells or metal inside of you.” She stated, her horn lighting up again as she levitated yet another fancy pen, and scribbled on the paper within the clipboard. “In fact, you are among the healthiest visitors I have examined today. Congratulations.” She added semi-sarcastically, pulling out a sheet and levitating it to the pile of papers with my fake name on it.
I rose an eyebrow, looking over my body. Then lifted my hoof to brush my cheek, over where that bullet whizzed-by. “How much residual radiation?” I asked, trying to sound professional and worried.
“Not enough to cause the beginning stages of radiation poisoning.” She answered; “If you start tasting metal, that’s when you should worry. Until then, enjoy your stay in this community.” And with that, the mare swiftly left the room.
“Well,” Stated the Tenpony guard that was still in the room, sitting on the other side of the table; “That went smoother than usual. She tends to throw a fit over the minimal amount of radiation going through, and she’s especially rough with Pegasi. I think she likes you just because you’re a Doctor too.” He jested, with another dumb grin on his face.
I really, really wanted to punch him, even if he believed the big lie I’ve woven in a day.
I was in.
After what felt like hours, I was finally inside the Tenpony tower.
And I have never seen so much luxury, so many details in such a little space. Right after having all my ammo taken away (temporarily) and given a little receipt with a number for a lockbox somewhere in the tower, and returned almost all my belongings, I was free to access the Tower.
Or, at least the places where visitors were allowed. Before leaving security, I was told that the elevators were exclusive to the residents, but I was otherwise free to wander around anywhere stairs allowed me to go. Sadly, that meant that the only place where I actually wanted to go was restricted; The residences themselves. The Stallion I had to meet in order to redeem my reward was a permanent resident of Tenpony. Mister Bright Light. What he looked like, I had no clue; Contractors only appear by name, location, cutiemark (if applicable) and motive. His cutiemark was a lantern, he wanted his wife dead after she snapped, he’s a stallion... And this was everything I had to work with.
Definitely enough to pinpoint him in a tower where hundreds of ponies lived and worked, in a closed community where nopony seems to even look at strangers unless they’ve got caps to spare..
Definitely.
I facehooved after realizing this hole in the plan, then shook my head and wondered towards the nearest place where I could get a map of the area. That being a little Information kiosk sitting on the corner of the wonderfully highly-decorated marble entrance.
“Hello!” Squeaked a young earth-pony mare with a voice so high-pitched it made my ears hurt; “You’re a new face! Welcome to Tenpony tower!” She continued, waving her little beige hooves towards my direction, as if pleading for me to come closer. I was tempted to turn tail and leg it, but she had what I needed.
Come on Dust, you can do this.
With a deep breath, I walked closer, even as it felt that I was walking straight into my doom. “I have a pamphlet for you right here! And some things you should know first!” She squeaked, holding a blue pamphlet and a small map with both her hooves, staring at me with her big green eyes.
Time faded around me.
I felt like if I had downed five bottles of Whiskey, then got ran over by a Hellhound, and later squished by a Vertibird. I didn’t know a filly could talk so much, in so little time, about everything.
Most were just things about the inhabitants of the tower and silly gossip, and how life is within the Tower (Fairly boring by her words), and a billion things about how her father works at the restaurant cooking fancy things, but doesn’t want her near knives so she’s put in the information kiosk to keep her away from sharp things.
The things I truly didn’t care for, but lacked the heart to interrupt her. I didn’t get a moment to do so anyways, though in what felt like hours of listening to her squeaky voice violate my eardrums, I managed to dig out that Bright Light, an Unicorn, visits her father’s restaurant fairly often, and perhaps today I could have a chance to meet him during lunch. Then she started questioning how a ‘new face’ would know about him, followed by a thousand questions about my life.
I hope that I didn’t reveal anything incriminating to her on the few moments I could actually answer her questions.
Nonetheless, I was finally free from her chains, with a little map and a pamphlet telling what’s what, and where I could get things and some kind of ‘review’ for every place, rated with stars. Everything had five stars, excluding the Silver Rush, which only had three.
A nearby massive clock adorned with enough gold to make a full-body armor set told that there were still a few hours left before lunch time (Or at least my lunch time), allowing me to wander around for a bit, check stores and whatnot.
Basically do what every other visitor does in this place, and there were a fair amount. Though it was hard to tell who was a visitor and who was a resident, with so much glamor and unnecessary decorations littering every step.
I had a feeling I was going to end selling my kidney here.
“Wait, this costs how much?” I asked in disbelief, staring at a Semi-automatic Battle rifle of the old world, its wooden body perfectly kept and maintained inside a vacuum glass case. It was wonderful, a piece of art on its own, but the number of zeroes on its tag quickly put me off.
“Thirty-five hundred caps, sir.” The clerk besides me stated, twirling his stupid blue moustache. “Ammunition bought separately and given upon your departure.”
I blinked, my sight jumping between the stallion’s face, and the wonderful weapon in the case. I knew that things would be expensive here, but not that expensive. That was the price of three high-risk targets, which meant having to kill at least fifty ponies average.
Yeah, no thank you.
“Right. Well, uh. Do you accept trades?” I asked, only to have him shake his head. “Okay. Still, thank you.”
“Any time, sir. We are open until six in the afternoon.” He stated, walking behind the marble counter, placing his white hooves over it. “Feel free to look at your leisure.”
I nodded in acknowledgement, walking around the store once more. It felt… Oddly fancy for a gun store, with marble floors, marble walls, marble ceiling, gold rims on everything, and wares with way too many zeroes on them. How they kept afloat I will never know…
I walked out of the store with a newfound air of pure disappointment. Not a single weapon there was worth the price they were asking for, even if everything was kept in perfect conditions, or them somehow having every single gun imaginable in display. Not even that brand-new 9-millimeter pistol…
Ugh. Focus, Dust. It’s almost Lunch time, it’s time to go and find Bright on the restaurant of that filly’s father. Now that I think about it, she spoke about absolutely everything, but never said her name. Hm.
No matter. The restaurant she pointed out on the map was fairly close. I only needed to lurk around the area until the stallion appears. Then I’d just walk up to him and notify him that the deal’s done, show him the keys, and hopefully get paid.
So I started walking. But much to my surprise, the Unicorn I was picturing in my mind happened to come out of an elevator right beside me.
As I had imagined, his coat was an off-white drastically similar to the marble under our hooves, his yellow mane was combed backwards, a fairly well-kept leather vest covering his chest. And his cutiemark, just as the description stated, was a flashlight. His equally yellowish eyes stared at me as he rose an eyebrow, which was missing a patch of hair, sign that he went through a knife fight at some point. “Can I help you?” He asked, clearly uncomfortable with my presence.
I felt a little grin appear on my face, as I slid my right hoof towards my saddlebags, and promptly pulled out the keychain the contract required. “Do you recognize these?” I asked, raising the keys towards him, just enough that he could see them.
His eyes widened, and he stopped in his tracks. “How did you- Wait, does that mean…?” He blurted out, to which I nodded. “Okay, okay. Look, we can’t speak about this out here, let’s, uh, have lunch together and we’ll talk about our, uh. Business.” He offered, finally walking out of the elevator.
“Alright. It’s been a long day, I could use a real meal.” I agreed, stowing the keys back into my saddle, something that seemed to make him nervous. He looked really, really desperate.
If I was more of an asshole, I could’ve used this to snatch some extra caps off from him. But I’m not.
At least… Not too much of an asshole.
“So.” Bright stated after a little cough, now that we were sitting on a quiet table in the far left of a rather fancy restaurant. Thick glass panels divided the restaurant from the rest of the tower, making it nigh impossible to hear what was going inside this room. There was the plus of the kitchen constantly making noise, and the other few customers went on with their merry lives, speaking fairly loudly. We wouldn’t have an issue discussing things here. “How…?”
“Hit her leg, tried talking to her. She pulled a gun on me, I put her down.” I explained, looking down at the marvellous plate of incredibly expensive salad. I didn’t even bother understanding the price since Bright was the one paying for it, and I was glad I wouldn’t have a hole in my pouch today. “Then I got her keys, and flew all the way here from the Badlands.”
“I, oh. I’m… Sorry that it had to end that way. Was it painless at least?” He asked, barely touching his salad.
“As painless as I can make it.” I said, digging my teeth into the salad. Lettuce, olive oil, carrots… Flavours I never thought I’d taste in my life, and here I was. Having the closest thing to a tastebud orgasm. “She looked like a seasoned wastelander when I found her. How long was she out there, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“About two weeks since she snapped and, well… Did horrible things.” He said, lowering his head. The poor stallion looked conflicted about this all. I didn’t really care, I was there just to get paid for a job well done.
“Sorry about that, but that's what happens when a Pony gets a price. It’s all done now, the only thing we can do is move on.” I stated, almost choking on the salad. It was just that good. “Talking about moving. Where’s the payment?” I asked, a tad unsubtly, but I didn’t want to spend more time than necessary in the Tower.
“Oh, it’s… In my apartment. I’ll need those keys to give you your part.” He said, letting out a sigh of defeat.
I stopped eating and looked him over, a piece of carrot in my mouth. The poor stallion’s light seemed to have faded right in front of my eyes, as whatever little world he had made in his mind shattered, whatever hopes he had of seeing his wife again poofing in front of his eyes.
With me being the messenger of bad news.
“...Alright. Well, when you’re done with that, we can go and get things sorted out.” I finally said, breaking the moment of silence. “Though I don’t know if I'm allowed into the elevators. Alone, at least.”
“O-Oh, yeah, you’ll be fine as long as you’re accompanied by me.” He said, before letting out another sigh of defeat.
Then, silence. I enjoyed my extra-depressing, super-delicious salad, while he didn’t even take a bite out of his fifty-cap worth bowl of fresh vegetables.
Must be nice having so many caps to spare.
“And here we are.” Bright said, levitating a key and opening a rather ornate door with it. He walked into the apartment, which was impressingly messy. The living room had a large sofa in front of a radio, with a small kitchen in the corner and a few doors to the sides. One of the doors led to a bathroom, the other probably going into the rest of the apartment. A window on the far end of the room gave a pretty good sight of the surrounding ruins through welded bulletproof glass. Nopony was coming or going through that window anytime soon.
“Nice place.” I tried to compliment, as I almost stepped on a can of 200-year old ravioli, and an empty can of beer. “Very, uh. Chic.” I said, trying my best to not land on my face with all the rubbish littering the floor.
“Thanks. My wife used to keep it clean, until she killed my son and ran away.” He stated with venom in his voice as he closed the door behind us. “Where’s the keys?”
I slid a hoof into my saddle once again, and pulled out the keychain. I tossed it towards him, and he caught it with his telekinesis. “Wait here, I’ll fetch your caps. How much was it? Five hundred?”
“Six.” I corrected, pushing aside some bottles and tissues. I didn’t want to know what those tissues were used for. “How long has been… Nevermind, ignore me.”
Bright didn’t say a thing, and instead just walked away, across the other door. A few seconds later, I heard something emit a mechanical ‘Ping!’, some ruffling, and a bag of caps being dragged across the floor.
Then he came back, a pouch levitating within his eye level. “Here’s the caps. Feel free to count them yourself.” And so he levitated it over to me.
I took it between my hooves, and quickly measured. It weighed like six-hundred bottlecaps, and had the volume of six hundred caps. After opening the bag, I confirmed that it was indeed, a genuine bag of six hundred caps. Enough for me to pay off my debts. I nodded in approval. “Alright, this is everything. Nice doing business with you, Bright.”
“Yeah, yeah…” He dismissively said, waving his hoof at me. “What was your name again? I don’t think I’ve heard it in all this time.”
I thought for a second. My real name, or the fake identity I used to get inside? If he was a snitch, they’d be looking for Bone Marrow, nonexistent pegasus Bone Doctor. If he wasn’t, he’d give me, Gray Dust, a good name among my peers for a job well done.
I went for the safe route. “Bone Marrow.”
“Right. Well. Thank you. Now please, go. I need some time to think.” He said, gesturing towards the door. I nodded again, before turning tail and walking off.
Out into the Tower’s corridors again, I turned my head to look back at him, as he slumped himself onto the sofa, defeated. I rolled my eyes, and closed the door behind me.
I was now six-hundred Caps richer. Next step was getting out of the tower, and cashing in.
Sometimes, things go smooth in the Wasteland.
Usually they don’t. There’s always something bad ready to happen right around the corner, or something completely random and out of our control.
Today, however, wasn’t going to be the day. Excluding the Stratosprite of two days ago, and the mare I had shot dead, it seemed that I didn’t had the attention or hatred of whatever twisted goddesses live high up in the stars, trying their hardest to thwart my plans and get me killed one way or another.
Just the way I like it.
To avoid jinxing this moment of slight peace, I got things done right on the get-go. Got my stuff back upon leaving Tenpony, and went straight towards Hollow Shades, at the north, to pay off my debts and get all this weight off my back.
Today was a good day. Hopefully these will be more common.
Oh, who am I kidding. They never will be. Not until somepony suddenly becomes some sort of rampaging, invincible being and kills off every single danger this world has to offer.
Oh, wait...
