After her impromptu canonizing, Pinkamena decided to listen to what her fellow members were saying. Some were amazed with her skills. Some were still weirded out about her. Some complained that they got beat up by a “little girl’s fantasy.” Pinkamena couldn’t help but laugh at that last part, causing some of the members to roll their eyes along with some “Whatevers.”

Now that she and Playa were part of the gang now, Troy rounded them up to let them know that he was going to teach them the basics of gang life. The first thing they did was visit the nearest gun store which was just across the street from the cathedral. Troy gave Playa and Pinkamena a thousand dollars each from the Saints reserve. Pinkamena took the cash with a look of curiosity.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s money. You never seen money before?” Troy snapped.

“Where I come from we don’t use paper money. It’s all coins.”

“Well here we use paper money. Get used to it.” Troy then exhaled some smoke from his cigarette. “Not sure why Julius even bothered to give you that money. You don’t look like you could fire a gun let alone hold it.”

Pinkamena rolled her eyes as she entered the store. The shopkeeper stared at the pink mare entering his store and considered kicking her out because of his ‘no pets’ policy but thought better of it because of the rumor going around about a strange creature that put two animal control employees in the hospital and figured that he was looking at the culprit.

Inside the store, Pinkamena looked at the weapons on display. They looked much like the ones that she saw last night. However, since she didn’t know anything about guns, she had to ask Troy who indulged her request and told her about pistols, submachine guns or SMGs, shotguns, rifles, rocket launchers and explosives to name some of the weapons in Stillwater.

With her funds limited and her choices expensive, Pinkamena bought a NR4 pistol and a T3K Urban SMG. While the shopkeeper had reservations about selling weapons to animals, especially one that didn’t look like she could wield them, he was also not going to turn down a sale because money was money. Pinkamena stored her new toys within her mane which confused everyone around her.

After Playa bought a Vice9 pistol and a T3K Urban, Troy wanted Playa to use that piece he bought and help him clean up the Row of the Vice King presence. Pinkamena wanted to confirm with Troy one last time about something. “So, anything goes when dealing with these guys?”

“Huh? Yeah, why?” Troy asked.

That was all Pinkamena needed to hear as her smile became wide and creepy. Pinkie knew what was coming and she didn’t like it at all but there was little she could do to convince the Vice Kings and Pinkamena to not try to kill each other so she could only look away from the imminent carnage Pinkamena informed her that the room marked for her would let her avoid hearing the gunfire and seeing the carnage. Pinkie made good use of the room.

Pinkamena, Playa and Troy ran to the next block southeast of the store and saw a pair of yellow shirts whom Pinkamena would associate as Vice Kings from now on. The mare ran right up to the Vice King members and put on her most cheerful smile. The Vice Kings had looks of confusion for a moment but that was enough before Pinkamena pulled out her pistol and SMG and shot one in the head with the former and turned the other into swiss cheese with the latter. The duo dropped before they even knew what happened and dropped ammo clips and cash that the violent mare helped herself to.

Troy and Playa had no words to describe the illogical event that just took place in front of them. Troy couldn’t even fathom how it was possible for the mare to fire her guns when logically she shouldn’t have been able to do so because guns were not designed for hooves. He decided to just drop the matter for the sake of his sanity.

The commotion put the rest of the VK in the area on alert while Troy and Playa charged the next pair of VK members with guns blazing. Pinkamena noticed several things from the fight. One was that she saw how Troy and Playa reloaded their guns; useful knowledge. Another was that the VK were poor shots at long range but better at closer range. She would use this to her advantage at some point.

Another pair of VK thugs were just down the sidewalk from the previous pair and started charging their way toward the trio who gunned them down with their pistols. While Pinkamena thought she would need to practice with her aiming, she realized that she was being aided with a targeting reticle in her vision that seemed to appear whenever she pulled out a gun.

Pinkamena was also greeted with a tingling sensation coming from her left rear hoof which she figured was her Pinkie Sense telling her something. The feeling intensified after killing that sixth VK in the area. She wasn’t sure what the feeling meant so she put the thought away for the moment.

“Looks like that got their attention...if it ever gets too hot, go to Forgive and Forget, they’ll cover up everything…,” Troy said.

The trio spotted one of the cars, a Compton, that looked like it was once owned by the VK grunts they just dropped. The group barely managed to squeeze into the two seater car and Playa took the wheel. Whether he didn’t care or was just a naturally bad driver, Playa still drove recklessly to the Forgive and Forget, running over a pedestrian or two.

Their vehicle drove into a building that looked like a short tunnel and Pinkamena’s tingling sensation disappeared when they emerged from the other side. She began to suspect that the sensation had something to do with their current level of notoriety towards a gang. She would need to set them off again to be sure. Pinkamena put the idea on the back burner for the time being until she was ready to confirm her theory.

For now, Pinkamena decided to ask about the notoriety wipe from the Forgive and Forget. “That’s it?” The madmare asked. “All we have to do is go through one of these things and we can get away with murder?” She pointed to the Forgive and Forget.

“Yep, just goes to show how fucked up this city is,” Troy said. He looked at Playa, “Hey man, now that everything’s taken care of can you drop me off at Freckle Bitch’s? I’m jonesin’ for a fun bag.”

The location itself was across the street from the Forgive and Forget so the trip was brief.
Playa drove up to the drive thru. Since Playa insisted on being mute, Troy ordered two fun bags. However, Pinkamena demanded one too. Troy had to question whether it was a good idea to give a hamburger to a horse before the mare told him where to shove his opinions.

Pinkie reeled in disgust when she saw what her counterpart was about to put into her body which caused Pinkamena discomfort. The madmare rolled her eyes and had a mental conversation with her partying partner. “What’s the matter now?”

“You’re about to eat that?! Why?”

“How do you even know that this is bad for you? Did you actually try one yourself? Or was it because someone told you that they were?”

Pinkie thought about what her counterpart said and realized that she had a point. Everypony in Equestria had always said that meat was bad for ponies but never explained why that was. Pinkie also never experienced peer pressure before because her parents home schooled her for the first few years that she remembered, so she was easy to convince to try the hamburger...or at least let Pinkamena try it.

With her appetite regained, Pinkamena took a bite of the cheap hamburger. It was greasy but not bad. The taste was also being shared by Pinkie who found the taste strange since she tended to eat mostly sweets more than the flora that most ponies ate. She eventually came around after a few more bites. The fries were soggy but still edible.

The last stop on the list of errands was a phone store to buy the pony a phone. Pinkamena let Pinkie decide on the phone to buy and as Pinkamena had foreseen, her partner chose a pink colored cell phone.

The group returned to the cathedral and the mare had given her phone number to the gang lieutenants and leader.

Julius praised the newbies for learning the basics so fast and told them that the next step would be to lock their reputation down and that meant going out and helping some sympathizers of the Saints with their problems. One in particular was in the Harrowgate area of the Saint’s Row District. The area was currently under the control of the Rollerz so Playa and Pinkamena had to be careful not to upset the Rollerz too much since they would not get support from the Saints while in the area.

The drive to the location was uneventful if you don’t count the minor property damage Playa caused with his reckless driving.

The ally of the Saints introduced himself as Will who was either not paying attention to the pink pony in front of him or his problems have put his curiosity on a lower priority queue in his mind.

Will wore a dark red shirt underneath a purple jacket and a metal chain around his neck. The duo also noticed his jeweled goblet in his left hand.

Apparently, Will’s business of selling prostitution services hit a snag because he lacked quality hos who were in the service of rival pimps and the one ho he did have was extremely unattractive. For Will’s business to turn a profit he needed Playa and Pinkamena to steal from the other pimps. In exchange, the two would get a cut of the profits and a boost to their gang’s reputation.

Playa had a feeling that they might be transporting more hos than their two seater could carry so he and Pinkamena abandoned their current car once they located a suitable four seater. Once they acquired one the duo located one of the pimps in the area. Playa drove up to him and Pinkamena shot him in the head with her pistol which caused the nearby ho to flee in terror. Playa whistled for the frightened ho to get in his car so he could drive her to Will and make him money.

Playa and Pinkamena repeated the process but they also had to deal with some Rollerz who did not look too happy about them killing pimps and stealing hos. Playa kept driving while Pinkamena shot the pursuing drivers in the head to get them off their backs.

Once the duo had delivered three hos to him, Will was satisfied with the new additions and paid them for their troubles. He also mentioned that they could call on him if they needed his help.

Word quickly got back to Julius about the increase in the Saints reputation in the area and he decided to inform Pinkamena and Playa that the Carnales stronghold in Athos Bay was ripe for the taking.

It was finally time to start pushing back against the rival gangs.

Author's Note

1 more chapter until the prologue portion is over.