Fallout Equestria: Injusticeby The_Archiver1234ChaptersChapter 2: Wasteland TrickeryChapter 3: No MercyChapter 4: MistakesChapter 5: Dark MemoriesChapter 6: Corrupt Revolution: Part 1Chapter 7: Corrupt Revolution: Part 2Chapter 1: Honest WorkChapter 2: Wasteland TrickeryAfter apart an hour of walking I arrived at the town of Knife's edge and not to my surprise there was a group of raiders outside the main gate holding very crude weapons, but what surprised me the most was that they had hostages. "So, Sprinkles have you got my payment yet or do we have to convince you again?" said the lead pony who wore what seemed like heavy combat armour, he was also flanked by five other ponies wearing basic raider armour "Please just let my daughter go" Sprinkles pleaded, I looked up and saw a beige mare earth pony with a brown coloured mane staring at the raider with fear in her eyes, also there were four guard ponies flanking by her side with rifles and combat armour and they all had their rifles pointed down and trained on the first raider pony, they were stood on top of what seemed to be the main gate of the town which had a very basic scrap door and walls. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, you know how it works I need payment, then I will return her” I looked down back towards the group of raiders and saw another pony in the middle of all the other raiders, she looked nearly exactly like her mother just had a darker mane “Listen I can’t pay you right now I just need more time” Sprinkles begged “Sorry, can’t do that, give her here” he motioned to one of his fellow ponies and they pushed her down to her haunches then put a knife to her throat “Last chance mayor, give us the money or it's your daughter’s life” I couldn’t let this happen, so I quickly ran towards the raiders and unholstered my revolver then I fired away hitting one in the head and taking them down instantly, then the rest of the raiders spun round to face me, but before they could open fire I hit another one with War and knocked them aside, without waiting for me to recover the next two raiders ran at me with knives, but they didn’t get far as I grabbed of them with my magic and threw them into the other, while they were dazed I took my hammer and swing it into their heads using the blade side to kill them, now only the leader was left and as I spun around to face him, he was using the daughter as a shield “Who the fuck are you?” He asked, panicking as he held a pistol to the daughter’s head “I’m the pony they hired to deal with a little raider problem and it seems like I found you, now I’m going to give you one chance to let the hostage go and I won’t kill you” the lead raider hesitated, then he pushed the daughter towards me and ran, but he didn’t get far as he was shot in the legs by one of the guards onto of the main gate, I walked over to the raider and looked down at him “I thought you said I could live” he groaned, I just smiled sadistically “Yeah, I said I wouldn’t kill you, but I don’t speak for the townsfolk” I looked up as the mayor and two guards came towards me. “Thanks stranger we can take him from here, guards take him to the cells” then the guards grabbed the raider and dragged him away, while the Mayor turned to me “So you must be that bounty hunter we hired” “Yep, that’s me, the names Hammer” “Mayor Sprinkles, nice to meet you, please follow me so we can discuss your job” I nodded then followed her into the town, the town itself was very ramshackle, there weren’t many buildings, from what I could see there was an armoury of some sort and a clinic with three pink butterflies on the front of the door, various different ponies were walking around just going on with their days “So, where’s your daughter?” I asked “She’s getting a check-up in the clinic, to look for any injuries and to give the guards any info on the raider base” this caught me off guard “What do you mean information, how many times has she been sent in there?” “That isn’t important right now” I quickly walked in front of sprinkles and stopped her in her tracks “How is this not important, that’s your daughter, aren’t you worried something might go wrong?” Sprinkles pushed me aside and carried on walking “She knows the risk, now if we can continue” As we continued walking we entered a building marked Mayor’s office and on the inside was a table that held two maps, one showed the outside of what seemed to be a factory with two red crosses near the main entrance, and the other map seemed to show the inside of the factory with a red line going through multiple hallways and eventually leading to one big room with another X marked in one of the corners “Oh, this info,” I said while looking back and forth between the two maps, Sprinkles then pointed to the first map “This here is the outside of the raider base, and these two red marks are the sentries and in between them is the main entrance” She then moved over to the next map “This red line is the path you will have to follow to find the boss, deal with them and that should hopefully stop our raider troubles” “How many raiders are in the factory?” “Don’t know” “Well, is it alright if I have a word with your daughter then since she was the last pony there?” Sprinkles stared at me “Why does that matter, don’t you have enough info here?” “Yes, but I need to know how many so I can know when to leave” Sprinkles looked like she was trying to think of an excuse, but eventually she just sighed “Fine, guard take him to the clinic, you have one minute then head straight to the factory” I nodded then left with the guard, after walking in silence for about a minute, we came outside of the building with the three pink butterflies on it “You have one minute” the guard repeated, I nodded then headed inside, there wasn’t much to the building, only four beds, various tables with medical supplies on them and filing cabinets on the walls, but in the bed in the far-left corner held the pony I was looking for, when I walked over to her, she noticeably looked more uncomfortable “Oh, it’s you…thanks for saving me,” She said without looking up at me, I just smiled “No problem, I’ve always hated raiders, so what’s your name?” “I’m…Candy” “Nice to meet you, I’m Hammer, so I’ve just come to ask a quick question, how many raiders are in that factory?” suddenly she quickly shot her head up and looked around the clinic, then turned to look at me “It’s not real?” “What’s not real?” “All this, everyone here is also a raider, all of this is a setup to kill you” “I don’t understand, why would they want me dead?” Candy quickly looked around again “I heard them talking a couple of days ago, they got a message from somepony and they said to kill you and take your hammer” I just stood there confused, who in Luna’s name could want my hammer “Ok, but what about the Deadshot, I was told that they had one leading them?” “Yes, there is a Deadshot in there, but they are hostages, I think they captured them to try and lure you in” “But I thought you were the Mayor’s daughter, why are you telling me this?” “Because I’m not actually her daughter, I got captured a week ago and they just fitted me into the plan by using me as a fake hostage” I signed “I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be easy” “If you want my opinion Hammer, you should just run, they’ll probably let me, and the other hostages go if you just leave” “That’s the problem, I can’t, there raiders you can’t trust them, so listen here’s the plan, I’ll go into the factory, deal with the raiders and save the hostages, then ill come back and help you, I promise” Candy just smiled, after that the guard appeared in the doorway and told me it was time to go so, I said goodbye to Candy and started my journey towards the factory. The factory wasn’t to far from the town and it was really showing its age with rust showing from its chimneys to its supports, but as I walked towards where the main entrance is, I started thinking maybe this is a bad idea, maybe I should rethink this, but I ignored those thoughts and as the plan had stated, there were two guards in front of the entrance, I was thinking I should go sneaky, but if they want me dead then they might as well stare death in the face as well, so I ran towards the two guards and without them getting a chance to shoot, I struck both of them with War, both of their heads slowly rolling away from the entrance as I pushed the door open and went inside, looking around it seemed like some sort of reception area with a main desk with a terminal atop it, there were also chairs and tables with magazines and papers with articles from before the bombs, but the main thing that I noticed was the lack of blood and guts, usually raiders love filling their bases with things like and they usually don’t put tripwires like the one I just stepped in, and with that an alarm started to blare and two automatic turrets appeared from the ceiling, joined by four other raiders who all opened fire, I managed to jump behind a table that had been flipped over with only a few scraps on my armour, now I had to think of something quick since this table wasn’t going to last long, I couldn’t pop my head up to aim since ill be torn apart by those turrets and I couldn’t reach with my Hammer, so I was slowly running out of options, but out of nowhere, for some reason the turrets stopped firing and went back into the ceiling and while the raiders were distracted by the confusion, I quickly popped up and used my revolver to take all four of down, and as I walked around their corpses, I said a prayer to Luna and carried on following the path that was on the map, well I think I was going the right way, I didn’t take the map with me so was practically guessing at this point, after walking around various hallways, I eventually got attacked by two more raiders both holding knives in between their teeth, I raised up my revolver to fire, but it clicked and it wasn’t till they were right on top of me that I realised I forgot to reload, so I hit one of the raiders with the revolver, but the second one managed to stab me in the shoulder, I recoiled back from the pain and dropped my revolver, but before I knew it the raider was charging again with his friend’s knife, so as he ran towards me I quickly pulled the knife out of my shoulder and used my magic to throw it at him and I managed to hit him square in the head and down he went, I looked at the wound, it definitely hurt but it will heal just had to wait a bit, as I carried on walking I finally arrived at a door which led into a massive room with conveyor belts, various bits of machinery and what looked like big buckets of molten metal, there was also a catwalk that led round into what seemed to be a main office. “Well, look who’s finally arrived” then I heard some pony speak, I looked up and on one of the catwalks was a raider wearing very heavy combat armour, she had two more raiders to her sides and when I looked to my left and right I saw four more, the raider boss continued “we’ve been waiting for you for a while now” “Sorry to keep you waiting, but you didn’t have the best welcoming party” the raider boss smirked “Well let’s get this over and done with, RAIDERS, OPEN FIRE” and with that shout the boss walked away and the other six ponies opened fire, I quickly ran behind cover and reloaded my revolver, then used my magic to aim and fire at the two to my left, I managed to hit one, but the other ducked, so I used this opportunity to run to my right and go under the catwalk making it harder for them to shoot me, even though I managed to avoid most of the bullets some still hit, when I was under the catwalk I ran towards the stairs, firing at the one raider that ducked and managing to hit him, as I reached the top of the stairs I pulled out War and charged at two of the raiders, crushing one with War and hitting the other over the edge into one of the vats of molten metal, now I ran towards the last two, but they had set up a barricade which I wouldn’t be able to get past, so as I was being riddled with bullets I looked around and saw one of the raiders that I had just killed had a grenade, so with my magic I grabbed the grenade, pulled the pin and threw it towards the raiders and before they could notice, the grenade went off taking out a bit of the catwalk as well, now the boss, I turned and walked towards the main office and there she was typing on a terminal and in the corner were two ponies tied up and gagged, both mares, one unicorn with blue hide and a black mane, and the other was a pegasus with orange hide and a red mane, while I was looking at the hostages the raider boss turned to face me and used her magic to pull out a sledgehammer and without a word she ran at me and tried to bring the sledgehammer down on my head but I managed to block it with War, I then pushed her back and hit her in the side of the head with War which broke her magic and knocked her down, and without a second to hesitate I took War and cleaved her head straight off, after I had returned War to my back I walked over to the hostages “Don’t worry I’m here to help you” their expressions went from calm to shock in seconds but before I could ask why I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, then everything went black. Chapter 3: No MercyMany ponies would probably love to be like me and have this curse because they can live forever and do some great things, but the one thing they don’t realize is that I can still feel pain like if I’m shot in the head I feel the pain for a few seconds, then when I wake up again I have a splitting headache and it takes time to go away, so some may see this as a small inconvenience to being able to live forever, but that’s not the worst part. Here I am again waking up in knee-deep black water with a sludge pony staring at me “Hello Hammer, welcome back” I managed to get up from the liquid, rubbed the back of my head, then looked towards the thing in front of me “Oh, it’s you again, if I may ask, why are you appearing to me now, I’ve been in the wasteland for two years why not earlier?” “Well, there’s two answers to that question, the first is that she is closer than she has ever been before and...” I quickly interrupted her “What do you mean she, who is she?” But I got no answer from the sludge, it just stared at me, well I think it was staring at me hard to tell since it had no eyes. “The second reason is that thanks to her I can now talk to you, but only when you appear in this void which means that you have to take a hit that would usually kill a pony” I just stared in disbelief, this made no sense “Ok, but I’ve died before in the wasteland why now?” The creature just shook its head “Like I said it’s thanks to her that I can talk to you now” “Ok hold on I saw you yesterday, when I was in Nova’s home and I was only asleep” The creature then smiled “Do you really believe that?” “But it was only me and Nova in his home and I dealt with the Burner Brothers that were sent to kill me, you would think somepony would have heard the gun go off” The thing cocked its head in confusion “What made you think a bullet killed you?” “Probably because of the headache, but now that I think about it, there was no blood or anything like that, and they clearly didn’t slit my throat or anything like that, so I don’t know what it could have been” “I think what killed you isn’t important, what is important is that we need to who did it and I have a feeling you know, but you don’t want to believe it” “The only pony who was with me at the time was Nova, but he’s a friend, why would he try and kill me?” “You’re a bounty hunter, a hired gun, and a pony that kills anypony that knows your secret, your not supposed to make friends only rivals who will one day try to kill you” “But I still don’t get why?” The thing just let out a deep sigh, then looked at me again “I think for once you need to get your head out of your hammer and use your eyes for once, you took all the best bounties and you even killed a few bounty hunters just to protect your secret, and of course they want that hammer, so I think that may have been the push they needed” I sighed “Fine, what should I do now?” “Talk to the hostages” “But why?” “You will probably need their help and I think they will need yours as well” “But they know my secret, how can I trust them?” Then the thing growled at them “Hammer for once in your Luna forsaken life actually try and use your curse as a benefit, many ponies die every day, but you can change that, be a hero” “Yeah, you clearly weren’t there when I tried that, and let me tell you it didn’t end well” “Yes, but back then you were alone and now you have a chance to be a hero with other ponies who might possibly want to do the same thing,” I thought that over for a minute “Fine I’ll talk to them, but before I go, how do you know all of this?” “All in due time my friend” and with that sentence, it went black again. When I awoke the first thing I saw was the raider pony that had shot me and he was messing around on a terminal, talking to another pony on the other end. “Yes, I got him, I managed to put one in the back of his head, so he shouldn’t get back up again” there was a crackle of static and the voice on the other side of the terminal spoke “Good now just get rid of the body and head to the location on this terminal, also don’t forget the hammer” “Ok got it, but what do I do with the hostages?” “I don’t care just get rid of them” The raider nodded then cut the connection, and when he turned around, he was struck with War and promptly lost his head, with that I returned War to my back and spun around to face the two mares who I promptly untied and ungagged, the orange one spoke first “Thanks, I guess” they were both still clearly in shock, I just smiled “Yeah, no problem, I’m Hammer by the way” The orange mare nodded and pointed to herself “I’m Thunder Flame and this is my friend Sapphire Frost, but you can just call us Flame and Frost” I nodded, then Frost walked next to Flame “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what just happened?” Frost asked hesitantly “Well yeah it’s a long story, but the shorter version is that I’m immortal, don’t know why or how all I know is that I can’t die”. “Oh ok, so just your normal wasteland ponies then,” Frost said sarcastically “So, how did you know how to find us?” Flame asked while Frost went to gather up their armor and equipment. “Well, I was sent to help the town of Knives’ edge with raider problems and kill their leader who was supposed to be a Deadshot, but it turns out that they weren’t being led by a Deadshot, they had captured one and their friend, so I was sent in to save them and clear out the raiders” with the mention of the word Deadshot Flames eyes went from normal to shocked in a split second “They must have been referring to me, but I’m not a Deadshot, I only killed one and took their armor” I smiled “I’m quite impressed that you managed to kill a Deadshot” Flame adverted her gaze for a second then looked back at me, the comment seemed to make her uncomfortable “Thanks, so does that mean you have to kill me now for your payment?” Flame asked, I could see that her eyes were darting back and forth from me to Frost “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you, turns out the town that hired me were all raiders and this was all a ploy to kill me” Flame visibly relaxed and cocked her head “I’m guessing they don’t know that you're immortal then?” I nodded, then frost walked back over carrying Flame’s gear which included, black Deadshot combat armor with a helmet attached to the side and a modified sniper rifle battle saddle with ‘Vengeance’ written on the side of it, also it had a mouth grip meaning the user could fire it while prone or while it is on the saddle, I turned to look at frost who was wearing a stable jumpsuit with the numbers 86 written on the collar and she had a holstered pistol on her side “So, what’s your plan now then?” Frost asked “Well, there is a pony in that town who isn’t actually a raider, she was also captured, and I promised I would get her out, what about you two?” They both looked at each other for a second, then looked back towards me “Well we owe you one for saving us, so do you want some help with the town, then we can decide where to go from there” I took a moment to think about it, was this what the sludge pony meant, I mean I could easily say no and deal with the raiders on my own, then deal with the bounty hunters and then move on to something new, but I think for once I need to make the right decision “Yeah, I could use the help” they both smiled “Ok, then it's settled, but if you want us to stick around afterward, then you will need to explain exactly who you are,” Frost said while pointing towards me “As long as you two do the same, then I’m fine with that” They both nodded, and before we left, I turned to the terminal and walked towards it, I clicked a few keys, but I really had no idea what I was doing “Hey, Hammer, are you alright?” I shook my head “Do any of you know how to use a terminal and find out where that last call came from?” Frost then walked to the terminal as well and after a few minutes she spoke “Well, I can’t trace the call, but there is a meeting location on here at a place called Celestia’s Rest if that helps” I sighed, but then I heard a BEEP noise come from one of Frost’s front hooves and I noticed she had a pipbuck on “Well, there’s something to do later I guess,” I said kind of defeated, I was hoping I could know who was on the other side of that call, so I could deal with them as well “Well there’s no point in sticking around here any longer, let’s go”. When we got closer to the town, night had fallen, and we positioned ourselves on top of a hill so we could get a better angle on the town, the town itself seemed to be empty, there were no sentries or any guards which kind of confused me, even if they thought I was dead, they would still need ponies to watch out for other attackers. “So, what’s the plan?” Frost asked while loading her pistol “Flame how good are you with this sniper rifle?” Flame hesitated before answering “I would say I’m a decent shot” “Ok good, so here’s the plan, Flame I want you to stay up here and provide covering fire for Frost while she sneaks her way into the town and looks for Candy, also Flame if any try to run, shoot them” “So, what does Candy look like?” Frost asked “She has beige hide and a dark brown mane and she’s around about your height but be careful because there is another pony who looks surprisingly similar, but that would be the raider boss” both ponies just stared blankly at me “Weren’t you a bit suspicious of her since like you said there are two ponies that look similar and one is a raider, how do you know Candy isn’t just part of the plan?” Frost questioned “I don’t know, it’s just she told me that it was a trap, so I believed it” I responded, maybe Frost was right, and I just fell for another trick, why do helping other ponies have to be so difficult, why can’t I for once just a get a chance to save a pony without having to kill another. “Hammer, you alright?” Flame asked while tapping me in the shoulder, I had phased out and didn’t even notice “Yeah, I’m fine, do you both of you understand the plan?” They both nodded in response, then I and Frost made our way down the hill while Flame set up her sniper, when we neared the front gate Frost turned to me “Listen Hammer about Candy, I’m not questioning your judgment or anything but...” I put up my hoof to stop her “It’s ok Frost, even if she is part of the trap, I still want revenge on this town for trying to kill me” Frost just nodded “Do you know where she might be?” “Check the building with the three pink butterflies on it, that’s where she was last time” Frost nodded “Ok one last question, how do I get over the wall?” I did not say anything I just wrapped Frost in my magic and lifted her over the wall “Ok this can work, good luck Hammer” After she was over the wall, I lifted myself over it as well and I floated towards the center of the town, luckily there were no guards to spot me, but that was about to change, especially when I pulled out my revolver and pointed it to the sky then fired, and seconds later ponies started to rush out, there was about half a dozen with Sprinkles running towards me in pure disbelief “Hello Mayor, I’ve come to have a word with you, and I think you know what it’s about” Sprinkles faced turned from confusion to anger “But your dead, it was confirmed by the survivors at the factory” I just grinned “Funny you call them survivors because now that factory is their tomb” “How in Luna's name are you alive?” “It takes a lot more just a few dozen raiders to put me down” Then I heard a struggle in the clinic and Frost was thrown through the door towards me, with Candy and two other guards following her out and joining Sprinkle’s side, I helped Frost up and she sounded like she had the wind knocked out of her “Sorry Hammer, she’s a lot stronger than she looks” “It’s fine, are you alright?” Frost nodded, then got back on her hooves “Yeah, I’ll be fine” “Ok good, also next time I need to make a decision, I’ll have to remember to have you and Flame there cause clearly you have better judgment than me” Frost lightly chuckled “Yeah, I’ll have to remember that” then our conversation was cut off by the Mayor clearing her throat “So, I see you found the hostages, frankly you should have just left them there because now you’ve just brought them to their deaths” I held up my hoof “Quick question, Candy, why did you lie and say you were a hostage, couldn’t you just have stayed quiet?” “Well we needed to make sure you came back to the town in case you did survive, but enough talk, it’s time for you to die” Frost smirked at Candy “Ha, you have no chance at stopping us since we have the high ground” Sprinkles just cocked her head at us “What are you on about, we have you surrounded” I smiled as well “Yeah, but as you can see, I only have one hostage with me and obviously you don’t know where the other one is, and doesn’t that just scare you to death” Sprinkles growled “Can’t you see that we have you surrounded” Sprinkles started to sound a lot less confident “And can’t you see that I’ve killed nearly a dozen raiders already and that was on my own, now I’ve got backup, so as much as I would like to kill you, I’m giving you a choice, run or die” Sprinkles snorted “Why would you give us mercy?” “Because of two reasons, the first reason is that you don’t seem like proper raiders and the second reason is that, I’m looking around now and many of these ponies I think would love to run right now” Sprinkles started to get more and more worried by the second, I could see it in her eyes and after a few moments of silence all the ponies apart from Sprinkles and Candy ran, but they didn’t get far as I heard six cracks break the silence and all the ponies that ran, fell never to walk again “So, I see you lied about the mercy,” Sprinkles said nervously, my face turned back to serious and I responded “You should have made sure I was dead”, then Candy stepped forward “Fine if we can’t kill you, then I’m at least taking your friend with me” and with that shout, she pulled out a pistol and fired it towards Frost, I managed to push her out of the way and I heard another crack and when I turned back to Candy, she had a hole through her head thanks to Flame who had flown down next to us “No one shoots at my friend and gets away with it” Flame shouted angrily, I got up and turned to Frost “Are you ok?” “Yeah thanks, I guess I owe you again” I smiled “Yeah, don’t worry about it, let’s just deal with her now” we both turned to face Sprinkles who was now holding Candy in her hooves and it was then that I realized how much had been wasted on just this one hammer "Was this really all worth it, all this effort just for your daughter to die, why?" I asked “Just kill me, what's the point in letting me live,” Sprinkles said through tears, I slowly approached and sat down in front of her “I’ll let you have what you want when you tell me why you want my hammer?” Sprinkles sniffed and looked at me “Fine we aren’t raiders, we work for a gang in a city called Celestia’s Rest and the boss wanted that Hammer, since it apparently holds great power” “What’s the name of the gang?” I asked but I got no response, so I got up and turned back towards my allies “So, what’s the plan?” Flame asked while still glaring at Sprinkles “I don’t know, I was planning on paying my old boss a visit, but I don’t know, do you two have any idea?” “Well, I’ve been looking at my Pipbuck, trying to find out where Celestia’s Rest is and it turns out that it’s quite far east from here, it would take us at least a week maybe more to get there” Frost answered while tapping at her Pipbuck “Well, how far away is your old boss?” Flame asked “About an hour walk that way” I responded “Well I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here so I think we should leave, walk for about ten minutes then set up camp for the night” Frost suggested, I and Flame nodded and as we were leaving I heard a scream behind me and it was Sprinkles running at me with a knife, but before she could reach me she was shot in the two front hooves by Frost and Flame, and as she landed in front of me I didn’t say anything I just pulled out my revolver and fired. Chapter 4: MistakesIs this friendship, it’s hard to tell if a pony is a friend or they are just bullshiting to try and rob you when you sleep, but Frost and Flame they seem different, they don’t seem like the type to do that sort of thing and they agreed to help me deal with my boss, so maybe the Sludge thing was right maybe I should put my trust in other ponies and actually use my powers for good. After leaving the town and getting a safe distance away from it we set up camp for the night and sat around the campfire, we put most of our gear in a pile with our other supplies but I kept War with me just in case, Flame brought out various cans of pre-war food and passed them around, when I opened the can, it seemed to be some sort of mixed vegetables soup or something that resembles soup, the taste wasn’t too bad, I’ve had worse, then Frost put her food down and looked towards me, “Well a promise is a promise, so who are you, Hammer?” I sighed “Well it all started when I woke up in a stable with no memory” The door to my pod opened and I promptly fell face first onto the cold floor, when I recovered my balance and was able to walk, I looked around and noticed multiple other pods but they were all vacant, then I heard a faint beeping, I followed the beeping through various hallways that held generators, small bedrooms, and a clinic, after walking through most of the facility, I eventually found a somewhat empty room apart from a desk with a terminal and a box onto of it, when I approached the terminal the beeping stopped and a recording appeared on the screen and I tapped play which started with a Mare clearing her throat “Hello Hammer, if you are hearing this then you are awake and unfortunately Equestria has been destroyed, so I’m leaving this message to help you, to help you survive in whatever is left out there, so the first order of business, and this may be hard to hear but you’re immortal meaning that you can survive anything that would usually kill a pony, I can’t explain how you are immortal because we don’t have enough time, ok next thing, there should be a box to the right of this terminal, use your magic to open it and grab what’s inside” I turned to my right and let my magic grab the box and with a click it opened and inside was a hybrid mix of a hammer and a sword when I picked up the weapon I felt a sting of pain in the back of my head that went away quickly, the voice continued “This is War, it’s a prototype hybrid weapon that you used to weld back before the world went to Tartarus, and no...” then there was a knocking sound and another voice could be heard faintly in the background “Come on doctor, it’s time to go” the voice on the recording sighed “Just give me two more minutes I need to finish this recording” “You have one I’ll be waiting outside” the hoove steps could be heard walking away “Well looks like I’ll have to wrap this up, ok last thing, when you head towards the exit before you leave there’s a locker near the main control panel, unlock the locker and take what’s inside, it may be a relic but it works, so I think that’s it, oh the password for the door is ‘ETERNITY’ and the very last thing is that I hope that one day we’ll meet again and I can explain everything, but that day might not ever come, so if I don’t see you again then I’m sorry” then the recording ended, I just stood there baffled, I was immortal I could never die but why me, what’s so special about me, after I thought it over for a few more minutes I then walked towards the door which turned out that I actually was in a stable, the gear shaped door stood in front of me and as I looked around I saw the locker and walked towards it, when I opened it inside was what seemed to be a piece of armour with beige coloured cloth and green armour plating, I put the armour on and it fit like a glove there was even a slot for War, with all my gear ready I walked towards the control panel and typed in the password, with that alarms and lights started to blare, but eventually the gear door was moved out of the way by some sort of mechanism and I walked out for the first time into what was left of equestria “And after that, I’ve been traveling ever since taking odd jobs and eventually becoming a bounty hunter” “So, what about eating, drinking or radiation and stuff like that?” Flame asked “Well I mostly learned about that through experience, so pretty much I still need to eat and drink but not as much as a regular pony and when it comes to radiation if I get enough of it then I still feel the effects and I can still get radiation sickness but I won’t become a ghoul” they both nodded “Ok but what about sleeping, can you just stay up for weeks on end and not have problems,” Frost asked but I shook my head “No I need a lot less sleep than a regular pony, but I still need to sleep so I can give my brain a chance to rest because if I don’t, well let’s just say it won’t end well for anypony in my path” “Ok, but how does the healing part work like what’s causing it?” “To be honest Flame, I don’t know all I know is that the healing factor will focus on individual wounds at a time, so say I’m shot three times in individual places, as soon as I’m shot by that first bullet the healing factor will start repairing it and when it’s finished it will move onto the next in a matter of seconds” “Well I have to say Hammer you are an interesting pony, just one last question those tally marks on your hammer what do they represent” Flame queried, I was surprised, how did she notice them, War is turned away from the light “Well it’s a long story but the short answer is that they represent all the innocent ponies that I couldn’t protect, all five of them, it may not seem like a lot but these deaths made me quit being a hero and just do the things I do best and that’s killing others that deserved it” Flame bowed her head in shame “I’m sorry for bringing that up” “No it’s fine, we all have dark secrets, it’s what makes us who we are” with the comment of dark secrets Flame started to look nervous, but quickly shook it off when I spoke again “So what about you two, Frost I noticed that you are wearing a stable jumpsuit, I guessing you were born in a stable, what was it like?” “Yes I was and it was horrible, it was pretty much a dictatorship where we had to follow the rule of the Overmare and if we spoke out against her, we would be beaten, so me and a group of friends decided to leave and after we had left it didn’t get any better, all my friends were slowly killed off in this Luna forsaken wasteland and it wasn’t till about a week after that I was hit by something which nearly killed me but luckily Flame was there to help me and after she patched me up we started traveling together and after traveling for a while we were captured and I think you know the rest” while listening to Frost I noticed that whenever she mentioned Flame saving her life Flame would avert her gaze and rub her front hoof nervously “So Flame what’s your story?” Flame was taken aback like she didn’t expect the question “Don’t really have one as good or exciting as yours” “Come on Flame, you haven’t even told me your past, so what juicy details do you have to share?” Frost encouraged, but again she did the same thing, averting her gaze and rubbing her front hoof “I just don’t want to talk about my past” but Frost persisted and before I could tell her to stop Flame turned and glared at Frost “I SAID NO OK, my past isn’t sunshine and rainbows so please just leave it” Frost was shocked but she backed off and when she tried to apologize Flame didn’t say anything and in silence they both moved away from each other and went to sleep in their bedrolls while I stayed up and kept watch. About an hour had passed well I think an hour had passed couldn’t tell, really needed to get my hooves on one of those Pipbucks, but as I was scanning the area I heard a voice and it was the sludge pony again but when I looked around I couldn’t see it “Hello again Hammer” the voice was coming from nowhere “Yeah hey, umm where are you and wait why can I hear you I’m not dead” “Well like I said Hammer, she is getting closer every day and that means I have a stronger connection with you, so how’s it going with Frost and Flame?” The creature asked inquisitively “I thought you saw what I saw, shouldn’t you already know?” “Yes I was watching the conversation but I wanted your opinion on it” I just sighed “Well I have noticed that there’s something up with Flame, she’s very defensive about her past, and when anypony mentions the time she saved Frost’s life she gets really nervous like she regrets saving her or something” “Well I agree with you there but do me a quick favor and look at Flame for a second and look near her eyes notice anything about them” I did as I was told and even though it was hard to see with the dim flame I could see that she had been crying quietly to herself “Do you think she was crying because we mentioned her past?” I asked the nothingness “Either that or maybe she wasn’t happy with how she snapped at Frost, maybe there’s something there” I just nodded “I also noticed that she gets really nervous whenever we mention that she killed a Deadshot so that might have to be something to look into whenever she’s ready to talk about her past” I heard the sludge thing agree and then nothing but the wind blowing in the calm night. After both Flame and Frost were up, we packed our camping supplies away and headed towards the bounty hunter’s town, it was a nice morning with clear skies with the sun shining bright as ever, as we walked I was looking around the barren wasteland, keeping an eye out for threats but luckily I didn’t see anything dangerous, Flame and Frost stood on opposite sides of me and didn’t say a word to each other, I glanced at both of them and they had different expressions that I could read, Flame held a sad expression while Frost held a worried expression, I’m hoping that when we get to the town they will be able to put their argument aside and help me deal with whoever is left in this town. When we approached the town I noticed that it seemed empty, no guards, no other bounty hunters, nothing, as we entered the town through the main gate we quickly figured out why it was so quiet, in front of us lay dozen of motionless bodies, with hundreds of empty shell casings and blood splattered everywhere, it looked like a manticore had attacked this place “Well this isn’t good,” Frost said while walking among the bodies “Recognise any of the bodies Hammer?” Flame asked, I just shook my head “I can’t tell if that is a good or bad thing” as we continued to walk around the town we noticed that the buildings were completely fine, the Mayor’s office, the bar, and the armory still stood including all the temporary homes, Flame walked up next to me “Well looks like revenge will have to wait, what’s the plan now?” I thought it over for a moment “Ok, Flame you head to the bar over there and look for supplies, Frost, you head to the Mayor’s office there and look for clues on what in Luna’s name happened here, while I check the armory for any space ammo” Both ponies nodded and headed off towards their respective buildings while I headed to mine. Walking into the armory, I immediately noticed that it was a mess, shelves broken, guns and ammo scattered everywhere also there were two dead bodies both killed by what seemed to be plasma burns, as I walked back the bodies and approached the main desk, I saw a note on top of the counter, it was from Sky Chaser. "Hey Hammer, I don't know what's going on here but the boss isn't happy, he seemed scared over something you had done, and now he's running away with all of his guards and a few other bounty hunters, leaving us with no leader and no pay, so the rest of the bounty hunters either fled or tried stealing from the town, they even tried raiding my shop, but as you probably would have noticed that didn't end well for them, anyway I'm leaving this place, there's nothing for me here, so since I still probably owe you free weapon repairs I've left you some extra plating for your hammer and some special ammo for your revolver in the safe, also take the device that's in there as well and if you can find a pipbuck and install it on to one of them, it's pretty much a tracker, if you ever need me just tap the icon in the Pipbuck's inventory system and ill be on my way to help, also please be careful Hammer" I put the note down and noticed a key underneath it, with it I walked behind the counter and found the safe, opening it I found the scrap plating she mentioned and three small boxes of bullets with different colored stripes on them, one red, one blue and one black, I had no idea what they meaned since I've only ever used normal bullets but she said they were special so I might as well use them, after putting the scrap and the boxes into my saddlebags leaving three of the different bullets out, I looked around the shop one last time and grabbed a few boxes of pistol and sniper rifle ammo, then left. As I approached where I split off away from my friends I saw Flame standing there, but no Frost "Ah there you are, did you find anything useful in the armoury?” Flame asked, I nodded then passed her the sniper rifle ammo and showed her the bullets "Do you have any idea what kind of bullets these are?" Flame leaned in closer and examined them "Well the black ones are armor-piercing, the blue ones are shock rounds very useful for taking down robots and the red ones are obviously incendiary" Flame then smiled "Ah thank you, so what did you find in the bar?" "Not much, quite a few dead bodies managed to find some pre-war food and a few sparkles-colas" "Nice, so what in Luna's name is taking Frost so long?" Flame just shrugged her shoulders "Don't know, but..." She then just stopped talking and aimed her sniper rifle at a random spot and fired, she did this so fast that it took me a few seconds to register what happened "What is it?" I asked, Flame then loaded another bullet and turned to me "No idea, but it looked like a mix between a robot and a griffon, it seemed to be watching us, I managed to hit it but it flew away" "Well that's never a good thing, come on let's go get Frost and get out of here" She nodded then followed me towards the Mayor's office. As we entered the building, we saw Frost working away on a terminal" Ah, there you two are, come have a look at this I think I may have found something" as I walked over to the terminal I noticed there were two different messages on the screen "Are these from the Mayor?" I asked, Frost shook her head "Nope, they are messages sent to the Mayor and they both come from Celestia's rest, both of them are corrupted, but I managed to get something out of both of them and they are requests for your Hammer, but while the first one wants you dead, the second one wants you alive and brought to Celestia's Rest" "So why do you think the Mayor wanted to kill you instead of just sending you to Celestia's Rest, it just sounds easier that way," Flame asked "Well there wasn't really much to say in terms of payment but I imagine that if he was killed then they would have been paid more, But I did find one last thing on here and that was a name and a message that was supposed to be given to you Hammer when you were given the job" "Well, what is the message?" I asked, but Frost just scratched the back of her head "I, unfortunately, can't read them since they are in Zebra" then Flame stepped closer "Let me try, I know a little bit of zebra" She examined the terminal for a few minutes and turned back towards us "Well the message reads Usisahau yaliyopita, njoo unitafute, Jaji wako, which roughly translates to don’t forget the past, come find me, your Judge” I just stared blankly at Flame “My Judge, and what past, I remember nothing” both ponies just shrugged “Well it looks like we’re going to Celestia’s Rest, just need to work out the best route there,” Frost said while tapping on her Pipbuck, as she did that Flame looked over her sniper rifle and I got an idea. “Hey Flame, do you trust me?” Flame was taken aback at the question “Well you did save our lives from the raiders and you haven’t tried to kill us so yeah I trust you, why?” “Well I have an idea on who might have some answers to this, but I need you to shot me in the head” both ponies just stared at me in pure shock “What...no I ...” “Please Flame just trust me on this” Flame looked back and forth from me to Frost, then she pointed her rifle towards me “You better make this up to me” then a gunshot and the dark swallowed me again After waking up again, I noticed that the black liquid was gone and I was stood in a square room with white walls, there were also empty picture frames on the walls but that was about it “That was really foolish” I quickly spun around and saw the sludge pony but this time it was just pure black with no dripping liquid or anything, it was like staring into the void “Yeah, well you seem to know more about me then, well me, so before I ask about what I’ve just seen, please can you explain why I’m seeing four walls and not a void this time?” “Well, every time you find a clue towards your past, this place changes to the one place where you were last happy” I cocked my head in confusion “Well, where is this place then?” “You’ll have to wait and find out, but before we carry on why did you ask Flame to shoot you?” “Well I needed to talk to you, and it was the only plan I could think of” I couldn’t tell but I think the sludge thing was glaring at me “You’re a moron, I told you to gain their trust and you ask one of them to shoot you, not really what I had in mind” “Well you weren’t appearing beside me like you did back at the campfire, so I didn’t have much choice” the thing snarled at me “Fine, what do you want to know?” “It’s about what was on the terminal, and the message from somepony calling themselves my judge, does that ring any bells for you?” “Ah the Grim Reaper’s Judge” “Who?” “Well back before the bombs fell, you lead a team called the Grim Reapers, you did the jobs no other pony wanted to do and one of those members was Judge, she was the only zebra on your team and she kept the rest in line, she was supposed to be your second in command, but one thing lead to another and you picked somepony else for unknown reasons” “Wait, I led a team, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” the creature just chuckled “I had to make sure it was you and frankly you weren’t a good pony back before the bombs fell, I also wanted to make sure you had changed” “So where can I find this team then?” “That’s something you will have to figure out on your own, but if you can find Judge then talk to her, she’ll be able to help you, but heed this warning, watch out for the Grim Reaper’s Scalpel” then I was pushed back into darkness. As I awoke I realized that I wasn’t on the floor I was now leaning up against the wall, I was still in the Mayor’s office but I noticed that Flame was sat with her back to me and she was looking at her sniper rifle which had been disassembled, then Frost walked up next to me “Hey Flame he’s finally awake” Flame’s head then shot up and she turned to me with a look of anger “Why didn’t you tell me you would be out for that long, I thought I had actually killed you, what in Luna’s name is wrong with you” she then hit me across the face so hard that I thought it would knock me out again, she went to hit me again but Frost stopped her “Flame, just go outside and cool off for a minute and I’ll talk to him ok?” she nodded then left the building closing the door behind her “How long was I out?” Frost sat down next to me and sighed “You were out for quite a long time, maybe about a few hours” I turned to her in disbelief “What, a few hours, how?” “No idea, if you don’t know then I’m not going to know either, was it worth it?” She asked, I sighed and explained who the sludge pony was or what I thought it was and I also explained what it had said, after telling Frost this she sighed again “Listen I’m sorry, but usually it only lasts a few minutes not a few hours” “Yeah well, it’s not me you need to be apologizing to” I nodded “Is she still willing to travel with us?” “Yeah I think so, but you will need to make it up to her eventually” she then got up and walked towards the front door “Just let me talk to her and we can get going” “Ok I’ll wait here” she nodded then left leaving me with absolute silence apart from muffled talking “Well this is going to be fun to watch” I quickly turned my head to face the voice and it was of course the Sludge pony “Why?” “Why, what?” “Why did I spend hours dead while I was only with you for barely two minutes?” “Well I specifically asked you to gain their trust but you ignored that and thought asking them to shot you was a good idea, so I messed around a bit in your head and made you wake up a lot later than usual” “But why?” “To teach you a lesson” “I...” but before I could say another word, the creature was gone and Frost walked in with Flame walking towards her sniper rifle and quickly reassembling it, picking it up and then leaving again through the front door without out even looking at me, I quickly got up myself and headed towards the door, but I was stopped by Frost “Listen, she still wants to come with us but she doesn’t want to talk to your right now, so just give her time ok?” “Ok, got it, so what’s the plan now?” I asked “Well since we have multiple sources saying we should go towards Celestia’s Rest, that’s where we are heading, but walking straight there will take us a while and through many dangerous areas, so there’s a town a few hours away from here, I’m thinking we should head there, rest up then continue our journey” “Ok that sounds like a plan, let’s go” she nodded then we headed towards the main gate and before we left I looked back towards the town, and with one last glance I left the town I had spent so long at, never to return. Chapter 5: Dark MemoriesSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 6: Corrupt Revolution: Part 1Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 7: Corrupt Revolution: Part 2Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 1: Honest WorkDeath, it is a fact of life that creatures die, ponies, zebra, Griffins, we all may have our own different virtues or different legacies, but we all have one thing in common that eventually we all die and move on to join our loved ones in a better place and leave this wasteland behind, but not every pony is graced with the chance to die. A normal life that’s all I’ve always wanted, I just wanted a life with no action no excitement, so I became a bounty hunter, it’s not great work, sometimes I feel like I’m killing innocents, but I need the caps so I just fire away and bring the body back to the Hunters, they always say just take the head so we can confirm, but I’m not that type of pony so I just bring the whole body, really pisses off the guards who have to dispose of the body but why should I care I get paid then I move onto the next one. So, the day was drawing to a close and I had managed to get one last bounty in, and I was meeting with a friend in the bar well the closest thing you can get to a friend. As I entered the bar, I looked around, there wasn't much to see really about from the main bar itself which only had five seats, there were a few tables with ponies idly chatting, as I walked towards the main bar many of the ponies turned to look at me and I stopped to stare back, there were a wider variety of ponies here, from new hunters that barely know how to hold a gun and didn't have their battle scars yet, to veteran hunters who were that scarred they looked like a ghoul from certain angles, all the races were here, earth, unicorn and pegasus and they are all here, for one thing, money, as I continued my walk I saw my friend call me over from the front of the bar “Hello Nova” this is Nova Star a very bright yellow stallion with electric blue hair, I have known him since I started the bounty hunting job and he sort of trained me as well also he’s a good drinking buddy “Hello Hammer, so how many today then?” He asked while pushing a drink towards me “Just brought the tenth one in now I swear they keep giving me the easy ones, this one was just stood in the open just waiting to get shot” Nova took a quick swig then snorted “Yeah well at least you are getting bounties I’m barely making anything, just enough to survive” “Well maybe if you could hit something with a sniper rifle then you wouldn’t be having these problems” “Oh, haha very funny” then we just sat in silence and I looked down at my drink, it was only apple cider nothing special but I just stayed at it in contempt until he piped up again “So, Hammer quick question if you don’t mind me asking, how is it that even after months of doing this job you’ve never once come back with any wounds or bandages at all also even when you come back completely covered in blood that’s it’s impossible to even see your green hide and mane how come it’s never yours, what’s the deal with that?” I pondered that question for a bit then took a drink “Sorry mate that’s a secret that should never be told” he then started to chuckle “What I thought we were pals, why won’t you tell me?” I hesitated, finished my drink then swing around my seat and looked towards the door “Because of this, 3, 2, 1” after I said one three bounty hunters walked in, one blue, one red and one green with fiery red manes and of course they headed straight towards me and Nova “What do the Burner Sons want?” Nova asked while getting his laser pistol ready to draw, but I quickly stopped him “Don’t worry I’ll deal with this” as they approached us, they all had hatred in their eyes and of course weapons drawn, two pistols and an assault rifle “Hammer we have a bone to pick with you,” the first one said, then both the others nodded in agreement “When don’t you have a bone to pick, with me, so what do you want now?” the brother to the left stepped forward “You know what you did” he looked like he was about to fire, but he was stopped by the third who spoke next “You killed one of our brothers while you were hunting and don’t try to deny it, we saw the body it has you written all over it, you and that hammer of yours, I see it still has his blood on it” I turned towards the hammer on my back it was custom made, I had found it in the stable that I woke up from two years ago, it’s made to hit like a sledgehammer and cut like a sword since it, of course, had the hammer side, but it also has a blade attached to the other side, I also added a few modifications myself like the five tally marks on the top of it so that I don’t forget, I call it War. “Frankly, I’m quite surprised you noticed him missing since practically most of the ponies here are your brothers or sisters” the first pony growled “I’ll make you eat those words, BROTHERS AND SISTERS WITH ME" and with that shout, all the ponies in the bar stood up from their tables and began to open fire at us, and as they did I quickly grabbed Nova and threw him and myself over the top of the bar and took cover behind it, without a second to lose I pulled out my secondary weapon, my trusty .44 revolver, I was given it as a gift from a family that hired me as a bodyguard, but that was a long time ago and even that didn't end well, but as I cleared my head I loaded my pistol and popped up from the bar and fired it twice, one hitting its mark and taking down one of the sisters and when I dropped back down I saw that Nova had loaded his laser pistol and he started firing away as well hit two more of the siblings, one being turned into goo with its signature sizzling sound "You know I said really stop you two from coming into this bar because every time you do half of it gets destroyed" Both of us looked to the right of us and saw an earth pony mare with white hide and a grey mane, this was Rose she was the bartender, we had a kind of love-hate relationship and by that I mean sometimes she's a good pony to talk to but only when you stay on her good side and the only way to stay on her good side was to do jobs for like when I was her bouncer for a week. "Yeah, well it's a pony eat pony world Rose, not much I can do about apart from keep shooting" Rose just sighed and pulled out her own weapon a small .32 pistol, and with it, she popped her head out and took another one down and ducked back down again "So do you two plan on dealing with these ponies or do I have to deal with it" Rose shouted angrily, I just sighed "Ok, when I say now I want you two to cover me, got that?" they both nodded "ok NOW!!" and with that shout, I pulled War off of my back and ran towards the closest sibling, and with one good whack he was down and without hesitating, I fired at two more, killing both, then Rose and Nova fired at two ore killing both as well and that only left one brother, the leader and without giving him a chance to aim, I leaped at him and with one swing he was knocked down to the ground gasping for breath but before he died, he said one more thing to me "We won't stop hunting you, one day one of my brothers or sisters will hold your head in front of the father and we will celebrate for weeks in pools of your blood" then he started to laugh but I shut him up with a clean cut of the head. After helping Rose deal with the bodies and putting the tables back where they belong, I sat back down next to Nova and Rose sat behind the bar in front of us as well “You alright?” I asked, he looked fine just had a few bumps and bruises “Yeah, I’m fine thanks, I owe you one” “Maybe buy the next round then we’ve even” he smiled and nodded to Rose who brought out three more ciders and placed them in front of us “So, want to tell me what that was about?” He asked before taking a big swig “Well, I may have killed one of their brothers on a bounty mission” “Was he the bounty target?” Nova looked at me with a confused look “No he just got in the way” Nova just nodded and turned back to his drink and Rose just looked at me with shock "All that over one brother, that's ridiculous" I just nodded in agreement and carried on drinking. After another hour of drinking Nova was pretty much close to passing out so I brought him back to his room which was conveniently only a few steps away from the bar, after I threw him into his bed, I looked around his home, it was nothing special various pictures of pre-war families that he hasn’t taken down, a bathroom, one bedroom and a front room with a couch and an old terminal which sat on a coffee table surrounded by Nova’s weapons and ammo, with nothing else to do I laid down on the couch and fell asleep. Not too long after I fell asleep I awoke in a black void with knee-deep black water and loads of voices speaking words I couldn’t hear, I started to move forward and as I walked further the voices got more clear “You’re not the only one,” one said in front of me “You need to be their leader again,” another said to the left of me “The Grim Reapers need you, they need their hammer” I started to back away “Who are you, who are the Grim Reapers, and what do you mean I’m not the only one?” Then a black pony shaped figure appeared in front of me, it had no eyes, no mouth just a black face with black sludge dripping from it, then it held its front hoof up to mouth and whispered, “All in due time my friend” and out of nowhere it pushed me back into the sludge and I woke up on the floor with a splitting headache. “Morning Hammer you want a sparkle cola?” It was Nova he was looking down at me with a cola in his hooves “Yeah ... yes please” after taking the bottle I drink about half of it and jumped back onto the couch, Nova then took a seat across from me “So may I ask why you are asleep on my floor instead of using the sofa?” “No, I was using the sofa, but I had a bad dream and I think I rolled off” “So, what happened in the dream?” Nova asked and I explained the very short, but confusing dream and he was as baffled as I was. “Yeah, I’ve got no idea what that means sorry Hammer” I shook my head “It’s fine” I then went to drink some more cola, but was stopped when there was a knock at the door “Who could that be?” Nova asked, I did not answer I just walked to the door and opened it and stood before was two of the mayor’s personal guard “Yes, can I help you?” I asked, one of the guards looked me directly in the eyes and spoke “Are you Hammer?” “Yes, why?” “The mayor wants a word with you about a new job” I was shocked why in Luna’s name was the mayor asking for me over a job “Ok I’ll head there now; I’ll see you later Nova” but Nova just nodded then we left. After walking with the guards for about 10 minutes we entered one of the larger buildings in the town and the main thing I noticed was that there was a different pony sat at the Mayor’s desk, typing on a terminal and shuffling through different bounty posters, I had met with the original mayor a couple times and he was a good pony, but now somepony else took his place “So, your Hammer?” He asked with a stern look on his face “Yes, that’s me, what do you want?” “Well my friend you are one of my best bounty hunters and a job came up that requires a certain pony with a certain skill set” he pushed a map towards me and pointed to an X on it “ this is the town of Knife’s edge, I got a message earlier that they are having a bit of a raider problem, while I would usually ignore this type of thing, I’m going to make this one exception because apparently they are being led by a Deadshot” every-pony just went silent and stared at the Mayor, the Deadshots were an elite group of freelance mercenaries that are pretty much a family, they don’t allow outsiders in and they are the best snipers around “Why in Luna’s name would a Deadshot work with petty raiders?” I asked “I don’t know, but if you could kill one of them, bring me back their armour and weapons, I could make quite a few caps from them and of course you will get a big cut and to sweeten the deal I can get you free armour and weapon repairs for a year how does that sound?” I pondered it for a minute yes free armor repairs would be great since it is so expensive nowadays and of course the caps would be useful “Fine I’ll take the job, but before I leave, I’m going to need more bullets and some quick repairs to my armour” “You will have to pay normal price since the job isn’t finished yet” I snorted at him “Do you want me to finish the job or not?” The Mayor growled under his breath and nodded to one of his guards and he dropped a small bag of caps onto the table, and I scooped it into my saddlebags and started to walk towards the door, but before I left I quickly turned and faced the Mayor “One last question, what happened to the old mayor?” The Mayor smiled “Let’s just say he had a bit of an accident” I nodded then walked away, I may need to talk to him about that when I get back. Luckily, the town armory wasn’t too far away from the Mayor’s home, it’s run by a mare named Sky Chaser apparently she used to be a part of the enclave, but not many believe her also she is very pricey when it comes to weapons and repairs when I walked in, she was sat down looking at a combat shotgun with most of the front part of the barrel being blown off, the shop itself was quite big with various weapons across the walls while all the ammo for them were behind Sky Chaser, also there were display boxes in the middle of the shop with what she called premium weapons, they were mostly anti-material rifles and plasma rifles. “Repairs or you here to trade?” She asked while still examining the shotgun “I need a quick look over on my armor and I also need some Revolver ammo” then she looked up and smiled at me “Ah hello Hammer haven’t seen you in a while what’s the occasion?” She asked while digging in her drawers for some scrap metal plating and some more bullets, I took off my armor which was just basic metal armor, and set it down on her desk “Just got a special job from the Mayor he wants me to kill a Deadshot” She quickly shot up and stared at me in confusion “He must be crazy right, Deadshots are practically impossible to kill” then she paused “How much is he paying you?” “He didn’t say how many caps, but he said quite a big cut also he said I could get a year of free repairs for my weapons and armour” Sky Chaser chuckled “Kill one of those mean bastards and I’ll give you free repairs for life” About five minutes later Sky Chaser pushed the armour back towards me “Well, there you go, I’ve managed to fix the holes and scratches but there wasn’t really anything major and I’ve only got about 12 revolver bullets left” I shook my head “Don’t worry about it Sky I can make do how much do I owe you?” She also shook her head “Keep the caps just make sure you kill that Deadshot” I smiled, put my armor back on, then left towards the town entrance and started my quest, Knife’s Edge was not too far away only about a mile, so I headed east and prepared for my ultimate challenge. From his window the Mayor looked on as Hammer walked away from the town, then there was a knock at the door and two guards walked in with another pony in tow “Ah welcome” The mayor exclaimed “So did you give him the job?” The pony asked “Yes, I did and just gave him some bullshit story about them being led by a Deadshot” The pony smiled “Good he was taking way too many of the bounty making the rest of us look bad, oh and he killed a bunch more of the burner brothers in the bar yesterday,” the pony said, but the mayor ignored the comment “Well one thing he doesn’t realize is that this is all a trick and hopefully the trap I set up will stop him” The pony cocked his head “So, what is the trap?” The pony asked “Well, we’ve been hired to kill him and take the hammer and take it to Celestia’s Rest, so we made up a fake town and it’s been filled with some of our bounty hunters and some gang members, the plan is to try and kill him while he’s supposed to be saving hostages” “But what if he wins and returns?” The Mayor laughed “Trust me Nova he won’t”.
Chapter 2: Wasteland TrickeryAfter apart an hour of walking I arrived at the town of Knife's edge and not to my surprise there was a group of raiders outside the main gate holding very crude weapons, but what surprised me the most was that they had hostages. "So, Sprinkles have you got my payment yet or do we have to convince you again?" said the lead pony who wore what seemed like heavy combat armour, he was also flanked by five other ponies wearing basic raider armour "Please just let my daughter go" Sprinkles pleaded, I looked up and saw a beige mare earth pony with a brown coloured mane staring at the raider with fear in her eyes, also there were four guard ponies flanking by her side with rifles and combat armour and they all had their rifles pointed down and trained on the first raider pony, they were stood on top of what seemed to be the main gate of the town which had a very basic scrap door and walls. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, you know how it works I need payment, then I will return her” I looked down back towards the group of raiders and saw another pony in the middle of all the other raiders, she looked nearly exactly like her mother just had a darker mane “Listen I can’t pay you right now I just need more time” Sprinkles begged “Sorry, can’t do that, give her here” he motioned to one of his fellow ponies and they pushed her down to her haunches then put a knife to her throat “Last chance mayor, give us the money or it's your daughter’s life” I couldn’t let this happen, so I quickly ran towards the raiders and unholstered my revolver then I fired away hitting one in the head and taking them down instantly, then the rest of the raiders spun round to face me, but before they could open fire I hit another one with War and knocked them aside, without waiting for me to recover the next two raiders ran at me with knives, but they didn’t get far as I grabbed of them with my magic and threw them into the other, while they were dazed I took my hammer and swing it into their heads using the blade side to kill them, now only the leader was left and as I spun around to face him, he was using the daughter as a shield “Who the fuck are you?” He asked, panicking as he held a pistol to the daughter’s head “I’m the pony they hired to deal with a little raider problem and it seems like I found you, now I’m going to give you one chance to let the hostage go and I won’t kill you” the lead raider hesitated, then he pushed the daughter towards me and ran, but he didn’t get far as he was shot in the legs by one of the guards onto of the main gate, I walked over to the raider and looked down at him “I thought you said I could live” he groaned, I just smiled sadistically “Yeah, I said I wouldn’t kill you, but I don’t speak for the townsfolk” I looked up as the mayor and two guards came towards me. “Thanks stranger we can take him from here, guards take him to the cells” then the guards grabbed the raider and dragged him away, while the Mayor turned to me “So you must be that bounty hunter we hired” “Yep, that’s me, the names Hammer” “Mayor Sprinkles, nice to meet you, please follow me so we can discuss your job” I nodded then followed her into the town, the town itself was very ramshackle, there weren’t many buildings, from what I could see there was an armoury of some sort and a clinic with three pink butterflies on the front of the door, various different ponies were walking around just going on with their days “So, where’s your daughter?” I asked “She’s getting a check-up in the clinic, to look for any injuries and to give the guards any info on the raider base” this caught me off guard “What do you mean information, how many times has she been sent in there?” “That isn’t important right now” I quickly walked in front of sprinkles and stopped her in her tracks “How is this not important, that’s your daughter, aren’t you worried something might go wrong?” Sprinkles pushed me aside and carried on walking “She knows the risk, now if we can continue” As we continued walking we entered a building marked Mayor’s office and on the inside was a table that held two maps, one showed the outside of what seemed to be a factory with two red crosses near the main entrance, and the other map seemed to show the inside of the factory with a red line going through multiple hallways and eventually leading to one big room with another X marked in one of the corners “Oh, this info,” I said while looking back and forth between the two maps, Sprinkles then pointed to the first map “This here is the outside of the raider base, and these two red marks are the sentries and in between them is the main entrance” She then moved over to the next map “This red line is the path you will have to follow to find the boss, deal with them and that should hopefully stop our raider troubles” “How many raiders are in the factory?” “Don’t know” “Well, is it alright if I have a word with your daughter then since she was the last pony there?” Sprinkles stared at me “Why does that matter, don’t you have enough info here?” “Yes, but I need to know how many so I can know when to leave” Sprinkles looked like she was trying to think of an excuse, but eventually she just sighed “Fine, guard take him to the clinic, you have one minute then head straight to the factory” I nodded then left with the guard, after walking in silence for about a minute, we came outside of the building with the three pink butterflies on it “You have one minute” the guard repeated, I nodded then headed inside, there wasn’t much to the building, only four beds, various tables with medical supplies on them and filing cabinets on the walls, but in the bed in the far-left corner held the pony I was looking for, when I walked over to her, she noticeably looked more uncomfortable “Oh, it’s you…thanks for saving me,” She said without looking up at me, I just smiled “No problem, I’ve always hated raiders, so what’s your name?” “I’m…Candy” “Nice to meet you, I’m Hammer, so I’ve just come to ask a quick question, how many raiders are in that factory?” suddenly she quickly shot her head up and looked around the clinic, then turned to look at me “It’s not real?” “What’s not real?” “All this, everyone here is also a raider, all of this is a setup to kill you” “I don’t understand, why would they want me dead?” Candy quickly looked around again “I heard them talking a couple of days ago, they got a message from somepony and they said to kill you and take your hammer” I just stood there confused, who in Luna’s name could want my hammer “Ok, but what about the Deadshot, I was told that they had one leading them?” “Yes, there is a Deadshot in there, but they are hostages, I think they captured them to try and lure you in” “But I thought you were the Mayor’s daughter, why are you telling me this?” “Because I’m not actually her daughter, I got captured a week ago and they just fitted me into the plan by using me as a fake hostage” I signed “I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be easy” “If you want my opinion Hammer, you should just run, they’ll probably let me, and the other hostages go if you just leave” “That’s the problem, I can’t, there raiders you can’t trust them, so listen here’s the plan, I’ll go into the factory, deal with the raiders and save the hostages, then ill come back and help you, I promise” Candy just smiled, after that the guard appeared in the doorway and told me it was time to go so, I said goodbye to Candy and started my journey towards the factory. The factory wasn’t to far from the town and it was really showing its age with rust showing from its chimneys to its supports, but as I walked towards where the main entrance is, I started thinking maybe this is a bad idea, maybe I should rethink this, but I ignored those thoughts and as the plan had stated, there were two guards in front of the entrance, I was thinking I should go sneaky, but if they want me dead then they might as well stare death in the face as well, so I ran towards the two guards and without them getting a chance to shoot, I struck both of them with War, both of their heads slowly rolling away from the entrance as I pushed the door open and went inside, looking around it seemed like some sort of reception area with a main desk with a terminal atop it, there were also chairs and tables with magazines and papers with articles from before the bombs, but the main thing that I noticed was the lack of blood and guts, usually raiders love filling their bases with things like and they usually don’t put tripwires like the one I just stepped in, and with that an alarm started to blare and two automatic turrets appeared from the ceiling, joined by four other raiders who all opened fire, I managed to jump behind a table that had been flipped over with only a few scraps on my armour, now I had to think of something quick since this table wasn’t going to last long, I couldn’t pop my head up to aim since ill be torn apart by those turrets and I couldn’t reach with my Hammer, so I was slowly running out of options, but out of nowhere, for some reason the turrets stopped firing and went back into the ceiling and while the raiders were distracted by the confusion, I quickly popped up and used my revolver to take all four of down, and as I walked around their corpses, I said a prayer to Luna and carried on following the path that was on the map, well I think I was going the right way, I didn’t take the map with me so was practically guessing at this point, after walking around various hallways, I eventually got attacked by two more raiders both holding knives in between their teeth, I raised up my revolver to fire, but it clicked and it wasn’t till they were right on top of me that I realised I forgot to reload, so I hit one of the raiders with the revolver, but the second one managed to stab me in the shoulder, I recoiled back from the pain and dropped my revolver, but before I knew it the raider was charging again with his friend’s knife, so as he ran towards me I quickly pulled the knife out of my shoulder and used my magic to throw it at him and I managed to hit him square in the head and down he went, I looked at the wound, it definitely hurt but it will heal just had to wait a bit, as I carried on walking I finally arrived at a door which led into a massive room with conveyor belts, various bits of machinery and what looked like big buckets of molten metal, there was also a catwalk that led round into what seemed to be a main office. “Well, look who’s finally arrived” then I heard some pony speak, I looked up and on one of the catwalks was a raider wearing very heavy combat armour, she had two more raiders to her sides and when I looked to my left and right I saw four more, the raider boss continued “we’ve been waiting for you for a while now” “Sorry to keep you waiting, but you didn’t have the best welcoming party” the raider boss smirked “Well let’s get this over and done with, RAIDERS, OPEN FIRE” and with that shout the boss walked away and the other six ponies opened fire, I quickly ran behind cover and reloaded my revolver, then used my magic to aim and fire at the two to my left, I managed to hit one, but the other ducked, so I used this opportunity to run to my right and go under the catwalk making it harder for them to shoot me, even though I managed to avoid most of the bullets some still hit, when I was under the catwalk I ran towards the stairs, firing at the one raider that ducked and managing to hit him, as I reached the top of the stairs I pulled out War and charged at two of the raiders, crushing one with War and hitting the other over the edge into one of the vats of molten metal, now I ran towards the last two, but they had set up a barricade which I wouldn’t be able to get past, so as I was being riddled with bullets I looked around and saw one of the raiders that I had just killed had a grenade, so with my magic I grabbed the grenade, pulled the pin and threw it towards the raiders and before they could notice, the grenade went off taking out a bit of the catwalk as well, now the boss, I turned and walked towards the main office and there she was typing on a terminal and in the corner were two ponies tied up and gagged, both mares, one unicorn with blue hide and a black mane, and the other was a pegasus with orange hide and a red mane, while I was looking at the hostages the raider boss turned to face me and used her magic to pull out a sledgehammer and without a word she ran at me and tried to bring the sledgehammer down on my head but I managed to block it with War, I then pushed her back and hit her in the side of the head with War which broke her magic and knocked her down, and without a second to hesitate I took War and cleaved her head straight off, after I had returned War to my back I walked over to the hostages “Don’t worry I’m here to help you” their expressions went from calm to shock in seconds but before I could ask why I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, then everything went black.
Chapter 3: No MercyMany ponies would probably love to be like me and have this curse because they can live forever and do some great things, but the one thing they don’t realize is that I can still feel pain like if I’m shot in the head I feel the pain for a few seconds, then when I wake up again I have a splitting headache and it takes time to go away, so some may see this as a small inconvenience to being able to live forever, but that’s not the worst part. Here I am again waking up in knee-deep black water with a sludge pony staring at me “Hello Hammer, welcome back” I managed to get up from the liquid, rubbed the back of my head, then looked towards the thing in front of me “Oh, it’s you again, if I may ask, why are you appearing to me now, I’ve been in the wasteland for two years why not earlier?” “Well, there’s two answers to that question, the first is that she is closer than she has ever been before and...” I quickly interrupted her “What do you mean she, who is she?” But I got no answer from the sludge, it just stared at me, well I think it was staring at me hard to tell since it had no eyes. “The second reason is that thanks to her I can now talk to you, but only when you appear in this void which means that you have to take a hit that would usually kill a pony” I just stared in disbelief, this made no sense “Ok, but I’ve died before in the wasteland why now?” The creature just shook its head “Like I said it’s thanks to her that I can talk to you now” “Ok hold on I saw you yesterday, when I was in Nova’s home and I was only asleep” The creature then smiled “Do you really believe that?” “But it was only me and Nova in his home and I dealt with the Burner Brothers that were sent to kill me, you would think somepony would have heard the gun go off” The thing cocked its head in confusion “What made you think a bullet killed you?” “Probably because of the headache, but now that I think about it, there was no blood or anything like that, and they clearly didn’t slit my throat or anything like that, so I don’t know what it could have been” “I think what killed you isn’t important, what is important is that we need to who did it and I have a feeling you know, but you don’t want to believe it” “The only pony who was with me at the time was Nova, but he’s a friend, why would he try and kill me?” “You’re a bounty hunter, a hired gun, and a pony that kills anypony that knows your secret, your not supposed to make friends only rivals who will one day try to kill you” “But I still don’t get why?” The thing just let out a deep sigh, then looked at me again “I think for once you need to get your head out of your hammer and use your eyes for once, you took all the best bounties and you even killed a few bounty hunters just to protect your secret, and of course they want that hammer, so I think that may have been the push they needed” I sighed “Fine, what should I do now?” “Talk to the hostages” “But why?” “You will probably need their help and I think they will need yours as well” “But they know my secret, how can I trust them?” Then the thing growled at them “Hammer for once in your Luna forsaken life actually try and use your curse as a benefit, many ponies die every day, but you can change that, be a hero” “Yeah, you clearly weren’t there when I tried that, and let me tell you it didn’t end well” “Yes, but back then you were alone and now you have a chance to be a hero with other ponies who might possibly want to do the same thing,” I thought that over for a minute “Fine I’ll talk to them, but before I go, how do you know all of this?” “All in due time my friend” and with that sentence, it went black again. When I awoke the first thing I saw was the raider pony that had shot me and he was messing around on a terminal, talking to another pony on the other end. “Yes, I got him, I managed to put one in the back of his head, so he shouldn’t get back up again” there was a crackle of static and the voice on the other side of the terminal spoke “Good now just get rid of the body and head to the location on this terminal, also don’t forget the hammer” “Ok got it, but what do I do with the hostages?” “I don’t care just get rid of them” The raider nodded then cut the connection, and when he turned around, he was struck with War and promptly lost his head, with that I returned War to my back and spun around to face the two mares who I promptly untied and ungagged, the orange one spoke first “Thanks, I guess” they were both still clearly in shock, I just smiled “Yeah, no problem, I’m Hammer by the way” The orange mare nodded and pointed to herself “I’m Thunder Flame and this is my friend Sapphire Frost, but you can just call us Flame and Frost” I nodded, then Frost walked next to Flame “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what just happened?” Frost asked hesitantly “Well yeah it’s a long story, but the shorter version is that I’m immortal, don’t know why or how all I know is that I can’t die”. “Oh ok, so just your normal wasteland ponies then,” Frost said sarcastically “So, how did you know how to find us?” Flame asked while Frost went to gather up their armor and equipment. “Well, I was sent to help the town of Knives’ edge with raider problems and kill their leader who was supposed to be a Deadshot, but it turns out that they weren’t being led by a Deadshot, they had captured one and their friend, so I was sent in to save them and clear out the raiders” with the mention of the word Deadshot Flames eyes went from normal to shocked in a split second “They must have been referring to me, but I’m not a Deadshot, I only killed one and took their armor” I smiled “I’m quite impressed that you managed to kill a Deadshot” Flame adverted her gaze for a second then looked back at me, the comment seemed to make her uncomfortable “Thanks, so does that mean you have to kill me now for your payment?” Flame asked, I could see that her eyes were darting back and forth from me to Frost “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you, turns out the town that hired me were all raiders and this was all a ploy to kill me” Flame visibly relaxed and cocked her head “I’m guessing they don’t know that you're immortal then?” I nodded, then frost walked back over carrying Flame’s gear which included, black Deadshot combat armor with a helmet attached to the side and a modified sniper rifle battle saddle with ‘Vengeance’ written on the side of it, also it had a mouth grip meaning the user could fire it while prone or while it is on the saddle, I turned to look at frost who was wearing a stable jumpsuit with the numbers 86 written on the collar and she had a holstered pistol on her side “So, what’s your plan now then?” Frost asked “Well, there is a pony in that town who isn’t actually a raider, she was also captured, and I promised I would get her out, what about you two?” They both looked at each other for a second, then looked back towards me “Well we owe you one for saving us, so do you want some help with the town, then we can decide where to go from there” I took a moment to think about it, was this what the sludge pony meant, I mean I could easily say no and deal with the raiders on my own, then deal with the bounty hunters and then move on to something new, but I think for once I need to make the right decision “Yeah, I could use the help” they both smiled “Ok, then it's settled, but if you want us to stick around afterward, then you will need to explain exactly who you are,” Frost said while pointing towards me “As long as you two do the same, then I’m fine with that” They both nodded, and before we left, I turned to the terminal and walked towards it, I clicked a few keys, but I really had no idea what I was doing “Hey, Hammer, are you alright?” I shook my head “Do any of you know how to use a terminal and find out where that last call came from?” Frost then walked to the terminal as well and after a few minutes she spoke “Well, I can’t trace the call, but there is a meeting location on here at a place called Celestia’s Rest if that helps” I sighed, but then I heard a BEEP noise come from one of Frost’s front hooves and I noticed she had a pipbuck on “Well, there’s something to do later I guess,” I said kind of defeated, I was hoping I could know who was on the other side of that call, so I could deal with them as well “Well there’s no point in sticking around here any longer, let’s go”. When we got closer to the town, night had fallen, and we positioned ourselves on top of a hill so we could get a better angle on the town, the town itself seemed to be empty, there were no sentries or any guards which kind of confused me, even if they thought I was dead, they would still need ponies to watch out for other attackers. “So, what’s the plan?” Frost asked while loading her pistol “Flame how good are you with this sniper rifle?” Flame hesitated before answering “I would say I’m a decent shot” “Ok good, so here’s the plan, Flame I want you to stay up here and provide covering fire for Frost while she sneaks her way into the town and looks for Candy, also Flame if any try to run, shoot them” “So, what does Candy look like?” Frost asked “She has beige hide and a dark brown mane and she’s around about your height but be careful because there is another pony who looks surprisingly similar, but that would be the raider boss” both ponies just stared blankly at me “Weren’t you a bit suspicious of her since like you said there are two ponies that look similar and one is a raider, how do you know Candy isn’t just part of the plan?” Frost questioned “I don’t know, it’s just she told me that it was a trap, so I believed it” I responded, maybe Frost was right, and I just fell for another trick, why do helping other ponies have to be so difficult, why can’t I for once just a get a chance to save a pony without having to kill another. “Hammer, you alright?” Flame asked while tapping me in the shoulder, I had phased out and didn’t even notice “Yeah, I’m fine, do you both of you understand the plan?” They both nodded in response, then I and Frost made our way down the hill while Flame set up her sniper, when we neared the front gate Frost turned to me “Listen Hammer about Candy, I’m not questioning your judgment or anything but...” I put up my hoof to stop her “It’s ok Frost, even if she is part of the trap, I still want revenge on this town for trying to kill me” Frost just nodded “Do you know where she might be?” “Check the building with the three pink butterflies on it, that’s where she was last time” Frost nodded “Ok one last question, how do I get over the wall?” I did not say anything I just wrapped Frost in my magic and lifted her over the wall “Ok this can work, good luck Hammer” After she was over the wall, I lifted myself over it as well and I floated towards the center of the town, luckily there were no guards to spot me, but that was about to change, especially when I pulled out my revolver and pointed it to the sky then fired, and seconds later ponies started to rush out, there was about half a dozen with Sprinkles running towards me in pure disbelief “Hello Mayor, I’ve come to have a word with you, and I think you know what it’s about” Sprinkles faced turned from confusion to anger “But your dead, it was confirmed by the survivors at the factory” I just grinned “Funny you call them survivors because now that factory is their tomb” “How in Luna's name are you alive?” “It takes a lot more just a few dozen raiders to put me down” Then I heard a struggle in the clinic and Frost was thrown through the door towards me, with Candy and two other guards following her out and joining Sprinkle’s side, I helped Frost up and she sounded like she had the wind knocked out of her “Sorry Hammer, she’s a lot stronger than she looks” “It’s fine, are you alright?” Frost nodded, then got back on her hooves “Yeah, I’ll be fine” “Ok good, also next time I need to make a decision, I’ll have to remember to have you and Flame there cause clearly you have better judgment than me” Frost lightly chuckled “Yeah, I’ll have to remember that” then our conversation was cut off by the Mayor clearing her throat “So, I see you found the hostages, frankly you should have just left them there because now you’ve just brought them to their deaths” I held up my hoof “Quick question, Candy, why did you lie and say you were a hostage, couldn’t you just have stayed quiet?” “Well we needed to make sure you came back to the town in case you did survive, but enough talk, it’s time for you to die” Frost smirked at Candy “Ha, you have no chance at stopping us since we have the high ground” Sprinkles just cocked her head at us “What are you on about, we have you surrounded” I smiled as well “Yeah, but as you can see, I only have one hostage with me and obviously you don’t know where the other one is, and doesn’t that just scare you to death” Sprinkles growled “Can’t you see that we have you surrounded” Sprinkles started to sound a lot less confident “And can’t you see that I’ve killed nearly a dozen raiders already and that was on my own, now I’ve got backup, so as much as I would like to kill you, I’m giving you a choice, run or die” Sprinkles snorted “Why would you give us mercy?” “Because of two reasons, the first reason is that you don’t seem like proper raiders and the second reason is that, I’m looking around now and many of these ponies I think would love to run right now” Sprinkles started to get more and more worried by the second, I could see it in her eyes and after a few moments of silence all the ponies apart from Sprinkles and Candy ran, but they didn’t get far as I heard six cracks break the silence and all the ponies that ran, fell never to walk again “So, I see you lied about the mercy,” Sprinkles said nervously, my face turned back to serious and I responded “You should have made sure I was dead”, then Candy stepped forward “Fine if we can’t kill you, then I’m at least taking your friend with me” and with that shout, she pulled out a pistol and fired it towards Frost, I managed to push her out of the way and I heard another crack and when I turned back to Candy, she had a hole through her head thanks to Flame who had flown down next to us “No one shoots at my friend and gets away with it” Flame shouted angrily, I got up and turned to Frost “Are you ok?” “Yeah thanks, I guess I owe you again” I smiled “Yeah, don’t worry about it, let’s just deal with her now” we both turned to face Sprinkles who was now holding Candy in her hooves and it was then that I realized how much had been wasted on just this one hammer "Was this really all worth it, all this effort just for your daughter to die, why?" I asked “Just kill me, what's the point in letting me live,” Sprinkles said through tears, I slowly approached and sat down in front of her “I’ll let you have what you want when you tell me why you want my hammer?” Sprinkles sniffed and looked at me “Fine we aren’t raiders, we work for a gang in a city called Celestia’s Rest and the boss wanted that Hammer, since it apparently holds great power” “What’s the name of the gang?” I asked but I got no response, so I got up and turned back towards my allies “So, what’s the plan?” Flame asked while still glaring at Sprinkles “I don’t know, I was planning on paying my old boss a visit, but I don’t know, do you two have any idea?” “Well, I’ve been looking at my Pipbuck, trying to find out where Celestia’s Rest is and it turns out that it’s quite far east from here, it would take us at least a week maybe more to get there” Frost answered while tapping at her Pipbuck “Well, how far away is your old boss?” Flame asked “About an hour walk that way” I responded “Well I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here so I think we should leave, walk for about ten minutes then set up camp for the night” Frost suggested, I and Flame nodded and as we were leaving I heard a scream behind me and it was Sprinkles running at me with a knife, but before she could reach me she was shot in the two front hooves by Frost and Flame, and as she landed in front of me I didn’t say anything I just pulled out my revolver and fired.
Chapter 4: MistakesIs this friendship, it’s hard to tell if a pony is a friend or they are just bullshiting to try and rob you when you sleep, but Frost and Flame they seem different, they don’t seem like the type to do that sort of thing and they agreed to help me deal with my boss, so maybe the Sludge thing was right maybe I should put my trust in other ponies and actually use my powers for good. After leaving the town and getting a safe distance away from it we set up camp for the night and sat around the campfire, we put most of our gear in a pile with our other supplies but I kept War with me just in case, Flame brought out various cans of pre-war food and passed them around, when I opened the can, it seemed to be some sort of mixed vegetables soup or something that resembles soup, the taste wasn’t too bad, I’ve had worse, then Frost put her food down and looked towards me, “Well a promise is a promise, so who are you, Hammer?” I sighed “Well it all started when I woke up in a stable with no memory” The door to my pod opened and I promptly fell face first onto the cold floor, when I recovered my balance and was able to walk, I looked around and noticed multiple other pods but they were all vacant, then I heard a faint beeping, I followed the beeping through various hallways that held generators, small bedrooms, and a clinic, after walking through most of the facility, I eventually found a somewhat empty room apart from a desk with a terminal and a box onto of it, when I approached the terminal the beeping stopped and a recording appeared on the screen and I tapped play which started with a Mare clearing her throat “Hello Hammer, if you are hearing this then you are awake and unfortunately Equestria has been destroyed, so I’m leaving this message to help you, to help you survive in whatever is left out there, so the first order of business, and this may be hard to hear but you’re immortal meaning that you can survive anything that would usually kill a pony, I can’t explain how you are immortal because we don’t have enough time, ok next thing, there should be a box to the right of this terminal, use your magic to open it and grab what’s inside” I turned to my right and let my magic grab the box and with a click it opened and inside was a hybrid mix of a hammer and a sword when I picked up the weapon I felt a sting of pain in the back of my head that went away quickly, the voice continued “This is War, it’s a prototype hybrid weapon that you used to weld back before the world went to Tartarus, and no...” then there was a knocking sound and another voice could be heard faintly in the background “Come on doctor, it’s time to go” the voice on the recording sighed “Just give me two more minutes I need to finish this recording” “You have one I’ll be waiting outside” the hoove steps could be heard walking away “Well looks like I’ll have to wrap this up, ok last thing, when you head towards the exit before you leave there’s a locker near the main control panel, unlock the locker and take what’s inside, it may be a relic but it works, so I think that’s it, oh the password for the door is ‘ETERNITY’ and the very last thing is that I hope that one day we’ll meet again and I can explain everything, but that day might not ever come, so if I don’t see you again then I’m sorry” then the recording ended, I just stood there baffled, I was immortal I could never die but why me, what’s so special about me, after I thought it over for a few more minutes I then walked towards the door which turned out that I actually was in a stable, the gear shaped door stood in front of me and as I looked around I saw the locker and walked towards it, when I opened it inside was what seemed to be a piece of armour with beige coloured cloth and green armour plating, I put the armour on and it fit like a glove there was even a slot for War, with all my gear ready I walked towards the control panel and typed in the password, with that alarms and lights started to blare, but eventually the gear door was moved out of the way by some sort of mechanism and I walked out for the first time into what was left of equestria “And after that, I’ve been traveling ever since taking odd jobs and eventually becoming a bounty hunter” “So, what about eating, drinking or radiation and stuff like that?” Flame asked “Well I mostly learned about that through experience, so pretty much I still need to eat and drink but not as much as a regular pony and when it comes to radiation if I get enough of it then I still feel the effects and I can still get radiation sickness but I won’t become a ghoul” they both nodded “Ok but what about sleeping, can you just stay up for weeks on end and not have problems,” Frost asked but I shook my head “No I need a lot less sleep than a regular pony, but I still need to sleep so I can give my brain a chance to rest because if I don’t, well let’s just say it won’t end well for anypony in my path” “Ok, but how does the healing part work like what’s causing it?” “To be honest Flame, I don’t know all I know is that the healing factor will focus on individual wounds at a time, so say I’m shot three times in individual places, as soon as I’m shot by that first bullet the healing factor will start repairing it and when it’s finished it will move onto the next in a matter of seconds” “Well I have to say Hammer you are an interesting pony, just one last question those tally marks on your hammer what do they represent” Flame queried, I was surprised, how did she notice them, War is turned away from the light “Well it’s a long story but the short answer is that they represent all the innocent ponies that I couldn’t protect, all five of them, it may not seem like a lot but these deaths made me quit being a hero and just do the things I do best and that’s killing others that deserved it” Flame bowed her head in shame “I’m sorry for bringing that up” “No it’s fine, we all have dark secrets, it’s what makes us who we are” with the comment of dark secrets Flame started to look nervous, but quickly shook it off when I spoke again “So what about you two, Frost I noticed that you are wearing a stable jumpsuit, I guessing you were born in a stable, what was it like?” “Yes I was and it was horrible, it was pretty much a dictatorship where we had to follow the rule of the Overmare and if we spoke out against her, we would be beaten, so me and a group of friends decided to leave and after we had left it didn’t get any better, all my friends were slowly killed off in this Luna forsaken wasteland and it wasn’t till about a week after that I was hit by something which nearly killed me but luckily Flame was there to help me and after she patched me up we started traveling together and after traveling for a while we were captured and I think you know the rest” while listening to Frost I noticed that whenever she mentioned Flame saving her life Flame would avert her gaze and rub her front hoof nervously “So Flame what’s your story?” Flame was taken aback like she didn’t expect the question “Don’t really have one as good or exciting as yours” “Come on Flame, you haven’t even told me your past, so what juicy details do you have to share?” Frost encouraged, but again she did the same thing, averting her gaze and rubbing her front hoof “I just don’t want to talk about my past” but Frost persisted and before I could tell her to stop Flame turned and glared at Frost “I SAID NO OK, my past isn’t sunshine and rainbows so please just leave it” Frost was shocked but she backed off and when she tried to apologize Flame didn’t say anything and in silence they both moved away from each other and went to sleep in their bedrolls while I stayed up and kept watch. About an hour had passed well I think an hour had passed couldn’t tell, really needed to get my hooves on one of those Pipbucks, but as I was scanning the area I heard a voice and it was the sludge pony again but when I looked around I couldn’t see it “Hello again Hammer” the voice was coming from nowhere “Yeah hey, umm where are you and wait why can I hear you I’m not dead” “Well like I said Hammer, she is getting closer every day and that means I have a stronger connection with you, so how’s it going with Frost and Flame?” The creature asked inquisitively “I thought you saw what I saw, shouldn’t you already know?” “Yes I was watching the conversation but I wanted your opinion on it” I just sighed “Well I have noticed that there’s something up with Flame, she’s very defensive about her past, and when anypony mentions the time she saved Frost’s life she gets really nervous like she regrets saving her or something” “Well I agree with you there but do me a quick favor and look at Flame for a second and look near her eyes notice anything about them” I did as I was told and even though it was hard to see with the dim flame I could see that she had been crying quietly to herself “Do you think she was crying because we mentioned her past?” I asked the nothingness “Either that or maybe she wasn’t happy with how she snapped at Frost, maybe there’s something there” I just nodded “I also noticed that she gets really nervous whenever we mention that she killed a Deadshot so that might have to be something to look into whenever she’s ready to talk about her past” I heard the sludge thing agree and then nothing but the wind blowing in the calm night. After both Flame and Frost were up, we packed our camping supplies away and headed towards the bounty hunter’s town, it was a nice morning with clear skies with the sun shining bright as ever, as we walked I was looking around the barren wasteland, keeping an eye out for threats but luckily I didn’t see anything dangerous, Flame and Frost stood on opposite sides of me and didn’t say a word to each other, I glanced at both of them and they had different expressions that I could read, Flame held a sad expression while Frost held a worried expression, I’m hoping that when we get to the town they will be able to put their argument aside and help me deal with whoever is left in this town. When we approached the town I noticed that it seemed empty, no guards, no other bounty hunters, nothing, as we entered the town through the main gate we quickly figured out why it was so quiet, in front of us lay dozen of motionless bodies, with hundreds of empty shell casings and blood splattered everywhere, it looked like a manticore had attacked this place “Well this isn’t good,” Frost said while walking among the bodies “Recognise any of the bodies Hammer?” Flame asked, I just shook my head “I can’t tell if that is a good or bad thing” as we continued to walk around the town we noticed that the buildings were completely fine, the Mayor’s office, the bar, and the armory still stood including all the temporary homes, Flame walked up next to me “Well looks like revenge will have to wait, what’s the plan now?” I thought it over for a moment “Ok, Flame you head to the bar over there and look for supplies, Frost, you head to the Mayor’s office there and look for clues on what in Luna’s name happened here, while I check the armory for any space ammo” Both ponies nodded and headed off towards their respective buildings while I headed to mine. Walking into the armory, I immediately noticed that it was a mess, shelves broken, guns and ammo scattered everywhere also there were two dead bodies both killed by what seemed to be plasma burns, as I walked back the bodies and approached the main desk, I saw a note on top of the counter, it was from Sky Chaser. "Hey Hammer, I don't know what's going on here but the boss isn't happy, he seemed scared over something you had done, and now he's running away with all of his guards and a few other bounty hunters, leaving us with no leader and no pay, so the rest of the bounty hunters either fled or tried stealing from the town, they even tried raiding my shop, but as you probably would have noticed that didn't end well for them, anyway I'm leaving this place, there's nothing for me here, so since I still probably owe you free weapon repairs I've left you some extra plating for your hammer and some special ammo for your revolver in the safe, also take the device that's in there as well and if you can find a pipbuck and install it on to one of them, it's pretty much a tracker, if you ever need me just tap the icon in the Pipbuck's inventory system and ill be on my way to help, also please be careful Hammer" I put the note down and noticed a key underneath it, with it I walked behind the counter and found the safe, opening it I found the scrap plating she mentioned and three small boxes of bullets with different colored stripes on them, one red, one blue and one black, I had no idea what they meaned since I've only ever used normal bullets but she said they were special so I might as well use them, after putting the scrap and the boxes into my saddlebags leaving three of the different bullets out, I looked around the shop one last time and grabbed a few boxes of pistol and sniper rifle ammo, then left. As I approached where I split off away from my friends I saw Flame standing there, but no Frost "Ah there you are, did you find anything useful in the armoury?” Flame asked, I nodded then passed her the sniper rifle ammo and showed her the bullets "Do you have any idea what kind of bullets these are?" Flame leaned in closer and examined them "Well the black ones are armor-piercing, the blue ones are shock rounds very useful for taking down robots and the red ones are obviously incendiary" Flame then smiled "Ah thank you, so what did you find in the bar?" "Not much, quite a few dead bodies managed to find some pre-war food and a few sparkles-colas" "Nice, so what in Luna's name is taking Frost so long?" Flame just shrugged her shoulders "Don't know, but..." She then just stopped talking and aimed her sniper rifle at a random spot and fired, she did this so fast that it took me a few seconds to register what happened "What is it?" I asked, Flame then loaded another bullet and turned to me "No idea, but it looked like a mix between a robot and a griffon, it seemed to be watching us, I managed to hit it but it flew away" "Well that's never a good thing, come on let's go get Frost and get out of here" She nodded then followed me towards the Mayor's office. As we entered the building, we saw Frost working away on a terminal" Ah, there you two are, come have a look at this I think I may have found something" as I walked over to the terminal I noticed there were two different messages on the screen "Are these from the Mayor?" I asked, Frost shook her head "Nope, they are messages sent to the Mayor and they both come from Celestia's rest, both of them are corrupted, but I managed to get something out of both of them and they are requests for your Hammer, but while the first one wants you dead, the second one wants you alive and brought to Celestia's Rest" "So why do you think the Mayor wanted to kill you instead of just sending you to Celestia's Rest, it just sounds easier that way," Flame asked "Well there wasn't really much to say in terms of payment but I imagine that if he was killed then they would have been paid more, But I did find one last thing on here and that was a name and a message that was supposed to be given to you Hammer when you were given the job" "Well, what is the message?" I asked, but Frost just scratched the back of her head "I, unfortunately, can't read them since they are in Zebra" then Flame stepped closer "Let me try, I know a little bit of zebra" She examined the terminal for a few minutes and turned back towards us "Well the message reads Usisahau yaliyopita, njoo unitafute, Jaji wako, which roughly translates to don’t forget the past, come find me, your Judge” I just stared blankly at Flame “My Judge, and what past, I remember nothing” both ponies just shrugged “Well it looks like we’re going to Celestia’s Rest, just need to work out the best route there,” Frost said while tapping on her Pipbuck, as she did that Flame looked over her sniper rifle and I got an idea. “Hey Flame, do you trust me?” Flame was taken aback at the question “Well you did save our lives from the raiders and you haven’t tried to kill us so yeah I trust you, why?” “Well I have an idea on who might have some answers to this, but I need you to shot me in the head” both ponies just stared at me in pure shock “What...no I ...” “Please Flame just trust me on this” Flame looked back and forth from me to Frost, then she pointed her rifle towards me “You better make this up to me” then a gunshot and the dark swallowed me again After waking up again, I noticed that the black liquid was gone and I was stood in a square room with white walls, there were also empty picture frames on the walls but that was about it “That was really foolish” I quickly spun around and saw the sludge pony but this time it was just pure black with no dripping liquid or anything, it was like staring into the void “Yeah, well you seem to know more about me then, well me, so before I ask about what I’ve just seen, please can you explain why I’m seeing four walls and not a void this time?” “Well, every time you find a clue towards your past, this place changes to the one place where you were last happy” I cocked my head in confusion “Well, where is this place then?” “You’ll have to wait and find out, but before we carry on why did you ask Flame to shoot you?” “Well I needed to talk to you, and it was the only plan I could think of” I couldn’t tell but I think the sludge thing was glaring at me “You’re a moron, I told you to gain their trust and you ask one of them to shoot you, not really what I had in mind” “Well you weren’t appearing beside me like you did back at the campfire, so I didn’t have much choice” the thing snarled at me “Fine, what do you want to know?” “It’s about what was on the terminal, and the message from somepony calling themselves my judge, does that ring any bells for you?” “Ah the Grim Reaper’s Judge” “Who?” “Well back before the bombs fell, you lead a team called the Grim Reapers, you did the jobs no other pony wanted to do and one of those members was Judge, she was the only zebra on your team and she kept the rest in line, she was supposed to be your second in command, but one thing lead to another and you picked somepony else for unknown reasons” “Wait, I led a team, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” the creature just chuckled “I had to make sure it was you and frankly you weren’t a good pony back before the bombs fell, I also wanted to make sure you had changed” “So where can I find this team then?” “That’s something you will have to figure out on your own, but if you can find Judge then talk to her, she’ll be able to help you, but heed this warning, watch out for the Grim Reaper’s Scalpel” then I was pushed back into darkness. As I awoke I realized that I wasn’t on the floor I was now leaning up against the wall, I was still in the Mayor’s office but I noticed that Flame was sat with her back to me and she was looking at her sniper rifle which had been disassembled, then Frost walked up next to me “Hey Flame he’s finally awake” Flame’s head then shot up and she turned to me with a look of anger “Why didn’t you tell me you would be out for that long, I thought I had actually killed you, what in Luna’s name is wrong with you” she then hit me across the face so hard that I thought it would knock me out again, she went to hit me again but Frost stopped her “Flame, just go outside and cool off for a minute and I’ll talk to him ok?” she nodded then left the building closing the door behind her “How long was I out?” Frost sat down next to me and sighed “You were out for quite a long time, maybe about a few hours” I turned to her in disbelief “What, a few hours, how?” “No idea, if you don’t know then I’m not going to know either, was it worth it?” She asked, I sighed and explained who the sludge pony was or what I thought it was and I also explained what it had said, after telling Frost this she sighed again “Listen I’m sorry, but usually it only lasts a few minutes not a few hours” “Yeah well, it’s not me you need to be apologizing to” I nodded “Is she still willing to travel with us?” “Yeah I think so, but you will need to make it up to her eventually” she then got up and walked towards the front door “Just let me talk to her and we can get going” “Ok I’ll wait here” she nodded then left leaving me with absolute silence apart from muffled talking “Well this is going to be fun to watch” I quickly turned my head to face the voice and it was of course the Sludge pony “Why?” “Why, what?” “Why did I spend hours dead while I was only with you for barely two minutes?” “Well I specifically asked you to gain their trust but you ignored that and thought asking them to shot you was a good idea, so I messed around a bit in your head and made you wake up a lot later than usual” “But why?” “To teach you a lesson” “I...” but before I could say another word, the creature was gone and Frost walked in with Flame walking towards her sniper rifle and quickly reassembling it, picking it up and then leaving again through the front door without out even looking at me, I quickly got up myself and headed towards the door, but I was stopped by Frost “Listen, she still wants to come with us but she doesn’t want to talk to your right now, so just give her time ok?” “Ok, got it, so what’s the plan now?” I asked “Well since we have multiple sources saying we should go towards Celestia’s Rest, that’s where we are heading, but walking straight there will take us a while and through many dangerous areas, so there’s a town a few hours away from here, I’m thinking we should head there, rest up then continue our journey” “Ok that sounds like a plan, let’s go” she nodded then we headed towards the main gate and before we left I looked back towards the town, and with one last glance I left the town I had spent so long at, never to return.
Chapter 5: Dark MemoriesSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 6: Corrupt Revolution: Part 1Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 7: Corrupt Revolution: Part 2Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 1: Honest WorkDeath, it is a fact of life that creatures die, ponies, zebra, Griffins, we all may have our own different virtues or different legacies, but we all have one thing in common that eventually we all die and move on to join our loved ones in a better place and leave this wasteland behind, but not every pony is graced with the chance to die. A normal life that’s all I’ve always wanted, I just wanted a life with no action no excitement, so I became a bounty hunter, it’s not great work, sometimes I feel like I’m killing innocents, but I need the caps so I just fire away and bring the body back to the Hunters, they always say just take the head so we can confirm, but I’m not that type of pony so I just bring the whole body, really pisses off the guards who have to dispose of the body but why should I care I get paid then I move onto the next one. So, the day was drawing to a close and I had managed to get one last bounty in, and I was meeting with a friend in the bar well the closest thing you can get to a friend. As I entered the bar, I looked around, there wasn't much to see really about from the main bar itself which only had five seats, there were a few tables with ponies idly chatting, as I walked towards the main bar many of the ponies turned to look at me and I stopped to stare back, there were a wider variety of ponies here, from new hunters that barely know how to hold a gun and didn't have their battle scars yet, to veteran hunters who were that scarred they looked like a ghoul from certain angles, all the races were here, earth, unicorn and pegasus and they are all here, for one thing, money, as I continued my walk I saw my friend call me over from the front of the bar “Hello Nova” this is Nova Star a very bright yellow stallion with electric blue hair, I have known him since I started the bounty hunting job and he sort of trained me as well also he’s a good drinking buddy “Hello Hammer, so how many today then?” He asked while pushing a drink towards me “Just brought the tenth one in now I swear they keep giving me the easy ones, this one was just stood in the open just waiting to get shot” Nova took a quick swig then snorted “Yeah well at least you are getting bounties I’m barely making anything, just enough to survive” “Well maybe if you could hit something with a sniper rifle then you wouldn’t be having these problems” “Oh, haha very funny” then we just sat in silence and I looked down at my drink, it was only apple cider nothing special but I just stayed at it in contempt until he piped up again “So, Hammer quick question if you don’t mind me asking, how is it that even after months of doing this job you’ve never once come back with any wounds or bandages at all also even when you come back completely covered in blood that’s it’s impossible to even see your green hide and mane how come it’s never yours, what’s the deal with that?” I pondered that question for a bit then took a drink “Sorry mate that’s a secret that should never be told” he then started to chuckle “What I thought we were pals, why won’t you tell me?” I hesitated, finished my drink then swing around my seat and looked towards the door “Because of this, 3, 2, 1” after I said one three bounty hunters walked in, one blue, one red and one green with fiery red manes and of course they headed straight towards me and Nova “What do the Burner Sons want?” Nova asked while getting his laser pistol ready to draw, but I quickly stopped him “Don’t worry I’ll deal with this” as they approached us, they all had hatred in their eyes and of course weapons drawn, two pistols and an assault rifle “Hammer we have a bone to pick with you,” the first one said, then both the others nodded in agreement “When don’t you have a bone to pick, with me, so what do you want now?” the brother to the left stepped forward “You know what you did” he looked like he was about to fire, but he was stopped by the third who spoke next “You killed one of our brothers while you were hunting and don’t try to deny it, we saw the body it has you written all over it, you and that hammer of yours, I see it still has his blood on it” I turned towards the hammer on my back it was custom made, I had found it in the stable that I woke up from two years ago, it’s made to hit like a sledgehammer and cut like a sword since it, of course, had the hammer side, but it also has a blade attached to the other side, I also added a few modifications myself like the five tally marks on the top of it so that I don’t forget, I call it War. “Frankly, I’m quite surprised you noticed him missing since practically most of the ponies here are your brothers or sisters” the first pony growled “I’ll make you eat those words, BROTHERS AND SISTERS WITH ME" and with that shout, all the ponies in the bar stood up from their tables and began to open fire at us, and as they did I quickly grabbed Nova and threw him and myself over the top of the bar and took cover behind it, without a second to lose I pulled out my secondary weapon, my trusty .44 revolver, I was given it as a gift from a family that hired me as a bodyguard, but that was a long time ago and even that didn't end well, but as I cleared my head I loaded my pistol and popped up from the bar and fired it twice, one hitting its mark and taking down one of the sisters and when I dropped back down I saw that Nova had loaded his laser pistol and he started firing away as well hit two more of the siblings, one being turned into goo with its signature sizzling sound "You know I said really stop you two from coming into this bar because every time you do half of it gets destroyed" Both of us looked to the right of us and saw an earth pony mare with white hide and a grey mane, this was Rose she was the bartender, we had a kind of love-hate relationship and by that I mean sometimes she's a good pony to talk to but only when you stay on her good side and the only way to stay on her good side was to do jobs for like when I was her bouncer for a week. "Yeah, well it's a pony eat pony world Rose, not much I can do about apart from keep shooting" Rose just sighed and pulled out her own weapon a small .32 pistol, and with it, she popped her head out and took another one down and ducked back down again "So do you two plan on dealing with these ponies or do I have to deal with it" Rose shouted angrily, I just sighed "Ok, when I say now I want you two to cover me, got that?" they both nodded "ok NOW!!" and with that shout, I pulled War off of my back and ran towards the closest sibling, and with one good whack he was down and without hesitating, I fired at two more, killing both, then Rose and Nova fired at two ore killing both as well and that only left one brother, the leader and without giving him a chance to aim, I leaped at him and with one swing he was knocked down to the ground gasping for breath but before he died, he said one more thing to me "We won't stop hunting you, one day one of my brothers or sisters will hold your head in front of the father and we will celebrate for weeks in pools of your blood" then he started to laugh but I shut him up with a clean cut of the head. After helping Rose deal with the bodies and putting the tables back where they belong, I sat back down next to Nova and Rose sat behind the bar in front of us as well “You alright?” I asked, he looked fine just had a few bumps and bruises “Yeah, I’m fine thanks, I owe you one” “Maybe buy the next round then we’ve even” he smiled and nodded to Rose who brought out three more ciders and placed them in front of us “So, want to tell me what that was about?” He asked before taking a big swig “Well, I may have killed one of their brothers on a bounty mission” “Was he the bounty target?” Nova looked at me with a confused look “No he just got in the way” Nova just nodded and turned back to his drink and Rose just looked at me with shock "All that over one brother, that's ridiculous" I just nodded in agreement and carried on drinking. After another hour of drinking Nova was pretty much close to passing out so I brought him back to his room which was conveniently only a few steps away from the bar, after I threw him into his bed, I looked around his home, it was nothing special various pictures of pre-war families that he hasn’t taken down, a bathroom, one bedroom and a front room with a couch and an old terminal which sat on a coffee table surrounded by Nova’s weapons and ammo, with nothing else to do I laid down on the couch and fell asleep. Not too long after I fell asleep I awoke in a black void with knee-deep black water and loads of voices speaking words I couldn’t hear, I started to move forward and as I walked further the voices got more clear “You’re not the only one,” one said in front of me “You need to be their leader again,” another said to the left of me “The Grim Reapers need you, they need their hammer” I started to back away “Who are you, who are the Grim Reapers, and what do you mean I’m not the only one?” Then a black pony shaped figure appeared in front of me, it had no eyes, no mouth just a black face with black sludge dripping from it, then it held its front hoof up to mouth and whispered, “All in due time my friend” and out of nowhere it pushed me back into the sludge and I woke up on the floor with a splitting headache. “Morning Hammer you want a sparkle cola?” It was Nova he was looking down at me with a cola in his hooves “Yeah ... yes please” after taking the bottle I drink about half of it and jumped back onto the couch, Nova then took a seat across from me “So may I ask why you are asleep on my floor instead of using the sofa?” “No, I was using the sofa, but I had a bad dream and I think I rolled off” “So, what happened in the dream?” Nova asked and I explained the very short, but confusing dream and he was as baffled as I was. “Yeah, I’ve got no idea what that means sorry Hammer” I shook my head “It’s fine” I then went to drink some more cola, but was stopped when there was a knock at the door “Who could that be?” Nova asked, I did not answer I just walked to the door and opened it and stood before was two of the mayor’s personal guard “Yes, can I help you?” I asked, one of the guards looked me directly in the eyes and spoke “Are you Hammer?” “Yes, why?” “The mayor wants a word with you about a new job” I was shocked why in Luna’s name was the mayor asking for me over a job “Ok I’ll head there now; I’ll see you later Nova” but Nova just nodded then we left. After walking with the guards for about 10 minutes we entered one of the larger buildings in the town and the main thing I noticed was that there was a different pony sat at the Mayor’s desk, typing on a terminal and shuffling through different bounty posters, I had met with the original mayor a couple times and he was a good pony, but now somepony else took his place “So, your Hammer?” He asked with a stern look on his face “Yes, that’s me, what do you want?” “Well my friend you are one of my best bounty hunters and a job came up that requires a certain pony with a certain skill set” he pushed a map towards me and pointed to an X on it “ this is the town of Knife’s edge, I got a message earlier that they are having a bit of a raider problem, while I would usually ignore this type of thing, I’m going to make this one exception because apparently they are being led by a Deadshot” every-pony just went silent and stared at the Mayor, the Deadshots were an elite group of freelance mercenaries that are pretty much a family, they don’t allow outsiders in and they are the best snipers around “Why in Luna’s name would a Deadshot work with petty raiders?” I asked “I don’t know, but if you could kill one of them, bring me back their armour and weapons, I could make quite a few caps from them and of course you will get a big cut and to sweeten the deal I can get you free armour and weapon repairs for a year how does that sound?” I pondered it for a minute yes free armor repairs would be great since it is so expensive nowadays and of course the caps would be useful “Fine I’ll take the job, but before I leave, I’m going to need more bullets and some quick repairs to my armour” “You will have to pay normal price since the job isn’t finished yet” I snorted at him “Do you want me to finish the job or not?” The Mayor growled under his breath and nodded to one of his guards and he dropped a small bag of caps onto the table, and I scooped it into my saddlebags and started to walk towards the door, but before I left I quickly turned and faced the Mayor “One last question, what happened to the old mayor?” The Mayor smiled “Let’s just say he had a bit of an accident” I nodded then walked away, I may need to talk to him about that when I get back. Luckily, the town armory wasn’t too far away from the Mayor’s home, it’s run by a mare named Sky Chaser apparently she used to be a part of the enclave, but not many believe her also she is very pricey when it comes to weapons and repairs when I walked in, she was sat down looking at a combat shotgun with most of the front part of the barrel being blown off, the shop itself was quite big with various weapons across the walls while all the ammo for them were behind Sky Chaser, also there were display boxes in the middle of the shop with what she called premium weapons, they were mostly anti-material rifles and plasma rifles. “Repairs or you here to trade?” She asked while still examining the shotgun “I need a quick look over on my armor and I also need some Revolver ammo” then she looked up and smiled at me “Ah hello Hammer haven’t seen you in a while what’s the occasion?” She asked while digging in her drawers for some scrap metal plating and some more bullets, I took off my armor which was just basic metal armor, and set it down on her desk “Just got a special job from the Mayor he wants me to kill a Deadshot” She quickly shot up and stared at me in confusion “He must be crazy right, Deadshots are practically impossible to kill” then she paused “How much is he paying you?” “He didn’t say how many caps, but he said quite a big cut also he said I could get a year of free repairs for my weapons and armour” Sky Chaser chuckled “Kill one of those mean bastards and I’ll give you free repairs for life” About five minutes later Sky Chaser pushed the armour back towards me “Well, there you go, I’ve managed to fix the holes and scratches but there wasn’t really anything major and I’ve only got about 12 revolver bullets left” I shook my head “Don’t worry about it Sky I can make do how much do I owe you?” She also shook her head “Keep the caps just make sure you kill that Deadshot” I smiled, put my armor back on, then left towards the town entrance and started my quest, Knife’s Edge was not too far away only about a mile, so I headed east and prepared for my ultimate challenge. From his window the Mayor looked on as Hammer walked away from the town, then there was a knock at the door and two guards walked in with another pony in tow “Ah welcome” The mayor exclaimed “So did you give him the job?” The pony asked “Yes, I did and just gave him some bullshit story about them being led by a Deadshot” The pony smiled “Good he was taking way too many of the bounty making the rest of us look bad, oh and he killed a bunch more of the burner brothers in the bar yesterday,” the pony said, but the mayor ignored the comment “Well one thing he doesn’t realize is that this is all a trick and hopefully the trap I set up will stop him” The pony cocked his head “So, what is the trap?” The pony asked “Well, we’ve been hired to kill him and take the hammer and take it to Celestia’s Rest, so we made up a fake town and it’s been filled with some of our bounty hunters and some gang members, the plan is to try and kill him while he’s supposed to be saving hostages” “But what if he wins and returns?” The Mayor laughed “Trust me Nova he won’t”.
