9 Years Ago

A few weeks had passed since Raindrop showed me her Cave of Awesomeness. I crawled into the hideout and found Raindrop playing with a wooden sword she got from her trunk. I always saw her playing with it, but never knew what it was for. She spotted me out of the corner of her eye and waved.

"Hey! Ever used a sword before?" She asked me and I shook my head. She ran over to the trunk and pulled out another sword, levitating it over to me. I took it with my magic and examined it. "These aren't real swords, so it won't hurt if you get hit by one. Well, it'll still hurt, but not as much." She explained.

We spent the next half hour practicing with the swords, Raindrop giving me pointers as we did. Eventually, we decided to take a break. We sat down on the mattress and just read magazines from the pile. We continued like that in silence for a few minutes until Raindrop spoke up.

"Hey, Bunny... can I... tell you something?" I looked at her, wondering why she seemed hesitant before nodding. "I already told you how my mom left me with dad, right?" I gave another nod. "Well, I had always wondered what happened to her, so I asked him about it. He said she told him she was going to the Frozen North." I cocked my head, having never heard of the Frozen North. She noticed my confusion and chuckled.

"Right, you don't know it. The Frozen North is a place really far away from here. Apparently it's supposed to be really cold there." I nodded in understanding. "I-... I want to go meet her." It took me a few seconds to process what she just said.

"You want to leave the ranch!? What about the others!?" I expressed my shock.

"I don't mean now! I'm still young, and I'd never make the trip on my own! Someday, though... I want to see her in person." She clarified. "And it's not like I'm gonna leave everyone behind, either. I'd come back!"

"...Why do you want to see her?" I asked after a few seconds. She thought about it before answering.

"Well... she's family. You should always care about family, right?" I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I considered everyone on the ranch my family. My only actual relative had been my father and neither of us had cared about each other at all. So instead of answering, I just shrugged.

"I didn't tell dad about this. Can you please keep it a secret? I'm planning on telling him before I leave, just not now." She begged, and I nodded. She smiled and went back to reading. I turned back to my magazine, but all I could think about was what she had said. Raindrop was my best friend. What would happen if she left? Would she really come back? What if she changed her mind? Would I ever see her again? Would I lose my best friend?

I shook the thoughts out of my head. I shouldn't be so possessive of Raindrop. I didn't want to lose her, but I also wanted her to be happy. I can't force her to stay if she doesn't want to. Besides, she won't be leaving for a while, right? I didn't need to worry about it right now.

I turned back to the magazine and read in silence. The rest of the day was uneventful.

Present Day

I had already taken care of the two raiders patrolling around the building. I watched the two guarding the entrance from behind cover, waiting for Cat to get into position. I planned for us to attack from the sides so that they wouldn't notice us until it was too late. I would charge them from the left side while Cat would charge in from the right. While I waited, I took another look at the factory.

It was a rather large brick building, though going by its height, I'd say it only had three floors. A couple smokestacks poked out of the roof, no smoke coming out of them. There were a few windows on the top floor, a couple of them smashed. The rest of the building was covered in decay. Above the entrance was a rusted sign that said "IRONSHOD FIREARMS: SAN PALOMINO BRANCH".

Soon, I saw Cat poking his head out from around the corner and readied my cleaver. As soon as I charged, Cat did the same. As soon as I got close, the raider noticed me in the corner of her vision.

"Wh-!" That was the last thing she said before I buried the cleaver in her brain, life quickly draining from her. "WHAT THE FU-!" The other raider shouted before Cat sank his teeth into his neck. The raider struggled in Cat's grip and I quickly swung the cleaver into his head, finishing him off.

"Nicely done." I gave Cat a nod. After searching the bodies and finding nothing worth taking, we moved to the entrance. "Now, let's go find your owner." I said confidently, and he let out a happy bark. We had the element of surprise, which gave us an advantage. I pushed open the double doors and looked into the room before me.

What greeted us was a sort of reception lobby. There was a front desk on the side with a broken terminal sitting on top of it. There was also a doorway that led into another part of the factory. On the back wall was an elevator that seemed to be out of order. A couple of couches had been pushed to the side of the room opposite to the front desk.

In the center of the room sat a table, with four raiders sitting around it playing poker. They all turned to look at me and Cat.

"Uh... hi?"

"KILL 'EM!!!"

The raiders all drew their weapons and the two of us dove back outside, narrowly avoiding the hail of gunfire. I took out my pistol and slipped into S.A.T.S, targeting the head of one raider. My first shot missed, but the second one hit him square in the face and he dropped dead. One of the raiders, a unicorn, moved one of the couches with her magic in front of them, giving them some cover. If they thought that would save them, they were wrong.

I pulled out a molotov and my lighter from my bag, lit the cloth, and chucked it behind the couch. I could hear the raiders' screams as the fire burned through their flesh, signifying that I had hit my target.

So much for the element of surprise.

We moved back into the lobby and ducked behind the front desk. After waiting a bit, a couple more raiders burst into the room and observed the carnage.

"Oh, looks like some fresh meat came out to play! This'll be fun!" I heard one of them say before cackling like a maniac. They ran outside to search for me, and I took the opportunity to search the corpses. A bit more ammo and a grenade, but nothing else of note.

I heard hoofsteps from outside getting closer and dove back behind the desk just before the two raiders returned. I activated S.A.T.S and targeted both of their heads. Two shots were fired, and both of them hit their marks. The first raider dropped dead, and the second raider's head exploded into bits of gore, leaving a bloody mess. After finding nothing good on them, I moved to the door that led into the factory.

Instead of just stupidly barging in like before, I only opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Inside were conveyor belts, workbenches, and weapon parts that were too old and rusted to be useable. Above, I could see walkways for observing the floor below. There was a door towards the back that, going by the sign next to it, lead to the stairs, and my way up.

A bunch of raiders were arming themselves, preparing to deal with their latest intruder. It looked like there were a few ponies being held in cages in the back, but not enough to be all of the settlers. The rest must be somewhere else. I would have to deal with the raiders if I wanted to search the rest of the building.

I burst through the door, blindly firing in the direction of the raiders as I ran to cover behind a conveyor belt. I don't think I managed to kill any of them, but I heard a couple of them yell in pain, so it was good to know I at least hit something. I loaded in a fresh clip as soon as I was behind the conveyor belt. Peeking out from behind cover, I could see at least five of them, but there were definitely more I couldn't see. A bullet whizzed by my head and I ducked back down. I pulled out my hunting rifle, thinking I needed something with a bit more kick.

Just as I was about to take aim, one raider was dumb enough to leave cover and move closer to me, intent on finishing me. I was about to shoot him when Cat ran in and bit into the raider's throat, ripping it out. Another raider poked her head out from behind a column to try and shoot Cat, but I took her out before she could pull the trigger, the bullet hitting her right in the eye and coming out the back of her skull.

Cat ran to cover beside me, and I fired another round into a raider's chest. I noticed there were two more raiders in the room, leaving five raiders left. Four if the raider I shot in the chest didn't get back up. A raider tried to run to better cover just as S.A.T.S replenished, and I targeted her legs. The first shot missed, but the second shot knocked her off her hooves, and I fired another round into her to finish her off, this time without S.A.T.S.

"RAAARGH!!!" As I reloaded, two of the raiders had managed to sneak their way around the side and came charging at me, one with a pistol and the other a machete. Cat was on the one with a pistol in a second, but Mr. Machete managed to tackle me before I could whip my rifle around to shoot him. I grabbed the machete with my magic mid-swing, trying to stop it from making contact with my face. The raider had the advantage, though, and kept pressing it closer to my face.

While he was focused on trying to kill me, I levitated out my cleaver and swung it into the side of his head. His body slumped over me as his brain shut down and I pushed him off. The final raider had seen an opportunity with us being distracted and ran over. I barely managed to aim my rifle at him in time, and we both pulled our triggers.

I got very lucky.

My shot hit him in the head while his grazed my right cheek. If his aim had been just a bit more on point, I would've been dead. I got up and examined the remains of the fight. The one I shot in the chest remained unmoving, clearly dead. The bullet must have hit his heart. I let out a sigh of relief and the adrenaline seeped out of me.

That was too close.

It didn't sound like anymore raiders were on their way, but that didn't mean the building was clear. "Good boy." I gave Cat a pat on the head and went to retrieve my cleaver from the raider's head. It was pretty deep in, so I tried to tug it out. The handle snapped off the cleaver and the blade remained in his skull. I was gonna need a new melee weapon.

I looked at the machete the raider had been wielding. It looked rather sturdy and well maintained, and the blade was even serrated. It was a major improvement over the cleaver. I tossed the handle and slipped the machete into my saddlebag. I also grabbed the other raider's pistol. I could use it to repair my own. I also felt my cheek, specifically where the bullet had grazed it. It would scar, but it was very little and barely noticeable.

Cat and I ran to the ponies in cages, about four in total, and freed them. They were all covered in cuts and bruises, clear signs of torture. Unfortunately, it seemed one of them was already dead.

"Y-You're... freeing us?" One of the ponies asked. I gave her a nod and she began crying.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She quickly wrapped her hooves around me in a tight hug.

"Uh... no problem?" I wasn't sure how to respond to this. Was I supposed to hug her back or something? I settled on a quick head pat. She released her grip on me and smiled. It was then that they all noticed Cat, clear recognition on their faces.

"Do you know this dog?" I asked them and one of them, an older stallion, spoke up.

"Yes, the little filly that owns him was taken as well. She might be upstairs with everyone else." He said, and Cat let out a happy bark.

"Please, you have to help them!" The mare pleaded.

"Don't worry, I'll free them. Do you need help getting to safety?" I asked.

"No, we should be fine. We'll make our way back to Sunset Estates. Thank you! We owe you so much!" The mare gave a final thanks and the group made their way to the exit, taking some of the weapons off the raider corpses for protection. Smart.

I decided to search the other bodies, since no pony else seemed to be coming. Not yet at least. As I did, I found myself thinking about how our infiltration had gone so far. I quickly came to a realization.

None of this would have been possible without Cat.

I probably could have taken the two guards by the entrance myself, but it wouldn't have gone so smoothly. As soon as I had attacked the first guard, the other would have had a chance to shoot me. I probably would have survived the bullet and killed him after, but it still would have hurt, and it would have meant using up valuable medical supplies. Plus, the gunshot would have alerted the rest of the building.

Yeah, I know we alerted them ten seconds later anyway, but it's the thought that counts.

If Cat hadn't provided backup during that fight, I would have been screwed. The two that ambushed us would have finished me off if he hadn't taken care of one. He really was a big help. I remembered what Watcher had said about needing friends.

...Wait, did Watcher know-?

*BANG!*

A shot rang out from above and just missed me, knocking me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see a raider on the walkway taking potshots at me with a rifle. I rolled out of the way of another shot, leveled my pistol at her, and fired, hitting her in the throat. I'd say that was a good shot, but I had been aiming for her head. Still, it did the job.

She had been leaning over the walkway's railing, so her body slumped over and fell to the ground with a thud. I used her hunting rifle to repair mine, and took some ammo.

I did a quick body count in my head. So far, we had killed eighteen raiders. I wasn't sure how many there were, but that had to be a large chunk of them dead. This place was big, but not that big. I moved to the door leading to the stairs, and Cat followed.

The stairwell wasn't anything special, just your average stairwell. Like I had suspected, there were three floors.

I cautiously made my way to the second floor and told Cat to stay while I checked to see if it was safe. I entered and found myself in a hallway filled with the usual raider decor. Lewd graffiti was sprayed across the walls and body parts hung like decorations. There was even a piss stain in the corner. A couple bear traps lay in the hallway, which I disarmed easily.

There were four doors in the hall, one leading to the walkway above the room I was in earlier. Another door led to the mare's restroom, while the one next to it led to the stallion's. Behind the final door was a janitor's closet. There was also an elevator door which I assumed was connected to the one in the lobby downstairs.

I decided to search the stallion's restroom first. as soon as I opened the door, a raider with a spear sprang out at me. I narrowly dodged her attack and took out the machete, keeping my distance. I avoided a couple more thrusts from her spear before swinging the machete and taking her head clean off. Her headless corpse fell over as blood poured from her neck. The machete was already proving to be very useful.

The grimy restroom had nothing of note, other than a pony skeleton in one of the stalls. It was pretty much the same for the mare's room, except for when I searched the final stall. I opened the stall door and heard a familiar beeping sound. I immediately spotted the land mine sitting in the toilet. Instinct took over and I bolted out of the room. I slammed the door behind me just as the mine exploded.

Cat burst into the hall, most likely having heard the explosion. After scanning the area and seeing no threats present, he looked to me with concern in his eyes.

"I'm alright, Cat. I just got caught off guard." I reassured him. I had to take a few breaths so my heart would stop racing. I opened the door and looked into the restroom. The stall was completely destroyed.

Raiders and their damn traps.

There wasn't anything else on the second floor, so we moved up to the third and final floor. I peeked inside with my one good eye and saw what looked like an office space. At least it used to be, before the raiders moved in.

Several cubicles had been torn down and terminals that were either smashed or out of power sat on the desks. More graffiti and body parts decorated the place. I could see what looked like a smaller room in the back, which I assumed was a private office. In one corner, I could see more ponies in cages. There were also a few more raiders left, as well. They were all huddled around each other, discussing something.

"You go check." One of the raiders said.

"No, you go check! If he isn't dead, I'm not gonna be the one who gets jumped!" Another raider argued. They must have thought the land mine might have killed me. I counted the raiders, seeing there were seven left. There might be one or two more in the private office, but if there was, I couldn't see them.

I took out my last molotov, lit it, and chucked it towards the group. Only two of them saw it in time to get out of the way. The other five burned. I ran to one of the desks for cover as the remaining raiders opened fire on me. Pulling out my pistol, I fired in their direction. One of the raiders dropped after four shots to the chest. The other raider took cover behind another desk, so I waited for him to poke his head out. Instead, he threw a grenade in my direction. I grabbed the grenade with my magic midair and threw it back.

"OH FU-!"

*BOOM!!!*

Limbs flew out from behind the desk. I waited for the slight ringing in my ears to stop before exiting cover. Not seeing any other threats, I called Cat into the room. I moved to the private office to check if there was anypony else hiding in there. Before I could open the door, it swung open, smacking me in the face. A large, muscular earth pony wearing a leather spaulder and wielding a sledgehammer had burst through.

Before I could react, he swung the hammer straight into my back, forcing me to my knees. I could feel the bone crack as the hammer impacted.

"You think you can just barge into my place and shoot up my gang!? You're gonna pay for this, motherfucker!" He was about to bring the hammer down on my head when Cat ran in and dug his teeth into the raider's leg. The raider let out a scream, dropping the hammer. I took the opportunity to stand back up and grab it with my magic. Just as the raider managed to kick Cat away, I swung the hammer straight into his other foreleg.

A loud crunch echoed as his leg broke and he dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. I didn't stop there, though. I swung the hammer down onto his head. I kept doing so, over and over, until his head was nothing but a gory paste. After it was done, I dropped the hammer and caught my breath. Another close call. I wiped some of the blood off my face and gave Cat another head pat.

I examined the leather spaulder the large raider had been wearing. It would need a little bit of patching up, but I could take care of that. I slipped it onto my foreleg, getting a feel for it. It fit rather well, actually. It was much better than any of the regular raider armor.

After checking the office one final time, we rushed to the cages. Unfortunately, I could see that some of them were already dead. We started setting ponies free, each of them thanking us and hugging loved ones. I checked each of them one by one, looking for Cat's owner. None of them looked like the filly from the picture.

I then noticed Cat sitting at one of the cages. He was hunched over one of the dead settlers, whimpering. I felt a pit in my stomach and went to get a closer look at the body. The body was small, clearly that of a child. I looked at the child's face, recognizing the filly from the photo instantly. Cat kept nudging her, desperately hoping she would get up. I sat next to him and wrapped my hooves around him, embracing him in a hug.

We were too late.

I sat with Cat for a bit longer before making sure the settlers could get back to their town safely. They said they would take the bodies of the dead and bury them there, including the filly. After that, I began searching for info on the McGuffin. I found what I was looking for in the private office. The office had apparently been for the pony who ran the factory. The terminal on their desk still worked, but it was protected by a password.

I wasn't great when it came to hacking terminals. I could do it if the encryption wasn't too difficult to bypass, but if it was more advanced, I wouldn't have a chance. Luckily, this terminal happened to be easy to access. As I worked, I downed a healing potion to fix the damage done to my back.

The password was "Guns". Really creative password for a gun factory.

There were several files on the terminal, but only one stood out to me. It was a personal log written by the pony in charge.

We just got word from the higher-ups about a big project that the Ministry of Wartime Technology is working on. They are calling it The McGuffin. Apparently, even the Ministry of Arcane Sciences is involved in its development. They are also requesting the aid of several weapon manufacturing companies, Ironshod Firearms included. While we aren't going to be directly involved in the production, we will be providing any resources they need.

I have no idea what this thing is for, but if they need so many ponies working on it, it really must be huge. The reason they contacted us specifically is because we were closest. The project is being created in an underground lab way out here in the desert, so anything we provide goes straight to there. They said the location is top secret, so instead of us delivering the resources, they'll be coming to pick them up. Either way, I can tell this is going to keep us very busy.

Ok, this made my search a bit more complicated. Instead of just searching other factories or warehouses, I had to track down a secret lab. Plus, it turns out there was another ministry involved in The McGuffin's creation. What in Equestria were they making this chip for?

I checked the quests on my Pip-Buck to see if there was an update.

Quest Completed: Cat's Out of The Bag
- COMPLETED: Find Cat's owner

It feels more like I failed that quest than completed it.

I switched over to the other quest.

The Great and Powerful Plot Device
- COMPLETED: Find clues to track down The McGuffin
- Find clues for the location of the secret lab

Once again, I had no marker. Great.

Guess I'm headed to New Pegasus.

I'd actually never been to New Pegasus, even back when I still lived here. It was pretty much the main reason anypony comes to the San Palomino. Still, I never found a reason to go. I left the office and found Cat, still clearly depressed about his owner. I wished I could do more for him.

"Hey, boy." I got his attention. "I think you should have this." I took out the toy cat he gave me and levitated it to him. I figured he would want it to remember her by.

"I can take you back to Sunset Estates, if you want. I'm not gonna force you to leave your home." After I said that, he picked the toy up in his mouth and lifted it up to me.

"...You wanna come with me?" I said, taking the toy back. He barked in response. "Ok then, guess it's you and me." I stuffed the toy back into my saddlebags and we left the factory together.

It felt nice having friends.

We were halfway back to the town when some terrible yet familiar music filled my ears. I turned in the direction of the sound to see a sprite bot. I figured I should give Watcher an update. I had some questions for him anyway.

"Yo, Watcher. You there?" I spoke to the sprite bot. Cat gave me a curious look, probably thinking I was crazy. I didn't blame him. "Helloooo~? Watcher? You there, buddy?" I waved a hoof in front of the sprite bot. Static noises came from it and it stopped playing the music.

"Oh, hello, Bunny." He spoke. "Did you find anything in the factory?"

"You could say that." I answered.

"I see you took my advice." He said, noticing my armor and Cat. "You don't seem like the social type, so having a pet instead of a pony is a good fit for you." Cat let out a bark, still trying to make heads or tails of this mysterious talking sprite bot. I decided it was time to stop beating around the bush and ask what I wanted to ask.

"Watcher, did you know there were raiders at the factory? And that they had prisoners?" Watcher remained silent. I took that as a yes. "You could have just told me, y'know. I still would've helped them." He remained silent for a bit longer before replying.

"...To be honest, Bunny, you didn't strike me as the heroic type when we first met." He rebutted.

"Well, I at least would have liked to know about the raiders."

"Either way, you found what you were looking for, right?"

"Eh, sort of." I began to explain. "I know the MAS had something to do with The McGuffin, and that it was made in a lab. Other than that, still no leads."

"Oh... well, do you at least have a destination?" He asked.

"I was gonna hit up New Pegasus next. It's big, so I'm sure to find something."

"Good to know you have your head on your shoulders. It seemed you meant it when you said you had experience." He continued. "Anyways, my time's almost up, so good luck with your search."

"Wait! There's one more thing I wanted to ask." Watcher remained and I took a breath.

"In the town the raiders attacked, I found a body. It was... well... not normal."

"...What do you mean?" Watcher asked, now curious.

"He had eyes like an animal. He wore this red and black cloak, and he also had a creepy skull tattoo on his neck. The stuff he had on him was way better than any of the raiders. Do you know anything about it?" I left out the part about seeing the same cloak years ago. Watcher seemed to think about what I said.

"The skull tattoo... did it have horns and glowing red eyes?"

"Yeah, it did." He went silent again.

"That pony was most likely with the Martyrs of Despair. You should stay away from them. Trust me, they're bad news."

Gee, that doesn't sound ominous at all.

"What's their deal?" I ask.

"They're a cult of ponies who are willing to do anything to bring pain and despair to others, especially if they're innocent or defenseless." He said with all the disgust a robotic voice could muster.

"What makes them any different than raiders?"

"They do it in the name of somepony they call their 'Mistress'. They also seem to be better trained than raiders, and even have better equipment, as you mentioned earlier. I don't know much more than that I'm afraid." He said. "Anyways, I'm out of time. Remember, stay away from them, ok? They're dangerous."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks." After I said that, the sprite bot made more static noises and resumed playing the crappy music. I looked at Cat, who had a look of curiosity.

"Guess we'll have to keep an eye out for them." He barked in response. We continued on our way towards Sunny Sunset Estates, and I couldn't stop thinking about the Martyrs of Despair. Did a group like that really exist? If so, why did my dad have one of their cloaks? Was he one of them? It would certainly explain his treatment. None of that explained the eyes on that corpse. Why did he look like that? Was he born like that, or did something do that to him?

I wasn't going to get answers by just dwelling on it. Hell, I didn't want answers. I just wanted to find The McGuffin and go home.

I just wanted to forget.

Author's Note

Another chapter down. Sorry this one took longer than the others. I worked on the first three chapters almost non-stop, so I got them done pretty quickly. I took a break before staring to work on this one. There's also another reason it took longer, though.

When it comes to Bunny's backstory, I have the whole thing planned out in advance, so I know what to write. As for the present day, I only have a general idea of what's going to happen. The secret lab that was mentioned in this chapter? I didn't originally plan for that. The idea just popped into my head while writing. I also hadn't planned for Bunny to go to an Ironshod Firearms Factory. I knew he would meet Cat and free settlers from raiders, but I didn't know where that would happen.

Basically, updates probably aren't going to be super frequent. I did come up with some good ideas for the future while writing this chapter, though, so hopefully the longer wait between chapters will be worth it. That should be all for now.

Thanks again for reading!