Author's Note

This one sadly took me a while to write. Work has reduced the amount of effort I can dedicate towards this, but fear not: I am not planning on abandoning this.
Should you have any potential ideas, do tell me about them in the comments.

Chapter 11 - Ponyville at last!

Guardsman Stalwart Bulwark
Forest after ambush

I watched as Rex's head sunk low after he had muttered some words I couldn't make out. He seemed to be pretty happy though in spite of his...grievous injuries. One of his appendages was applying pressure to his excessively bleeding stomach wound. It was a stark contrast to what we had witnessed a few moments ago and a part of me wished to scrounge some medical supplies out of the truck, but another part of me figured it was pointless. I let go of the weapon I held and approached him to at least check on him. I leaned in close and saw his chest move at a slow although steady place, then saw his eyes look at me as a small smile took form on his face.

We should have acted much sooner and done much more, then he wouldn't be sitting against our truck in a puddle of his own blood and covered in all kinds of...filth, without describing it in much detail. I looked to my side and saw Aegis sitting on her haunches in front of Rex. Judging by her facial expression I'd say that she's taking this worse than I am, since something in me tells me that this isn't the worst that Rex had endured...somebody who fights like that must have gone to Tartarus and back. Aegis however took a liking to him and in a way I can see why, even if I can't quite put it into words. I quietly moved and sat down beside her to comfort her.

She leaned against me and rested her head on my side, she must be pretty tired. I saw how much magic she used during the fight, more than she ever did before. I looked at her, but didn't move as to not disturb her. I took a deep breath to get some tension in my muscles out that accumulated over the course of our battle. We all needed a moment of silence to calm down and collect ourselves in our heads after this. Though now the thoughts of having to write a report about all of this entered my head and I didn't feel like dealing with the paper shoveling ponies in the capital just yet, questioning how one of us had slain so many.

"Bulwark...," Aegis looked at me as she spoke quietly. "Is he going to recover from this?" She continued after I looked back at her.

"Of course Viggi, I am sure of it. He certainly looks like he could take it," I responded and held her closer to me.

Rex's head slowly turned up, revealing his bloodied face to us. He had coughed up some blood during this short exchange, but he still found it in himself to smile back at us. "That and-hrk-much more!" He said with more enthusiasm than I'd ever heard from the most invested career officer in the Guard. Rarely have I seen fellow guardsmen who yearned and found their place in the midst of battle, but to embrace it so openly is another degree of dedication. This reaction from him seemed to calm Aegis down a bit at least, no matter how morbid Rex was looking.

"I-I could use a healing spell heal some of those," She said quietly and pointed with a hoof towards some smaller wounds that Rex had sustained.

"Aegis, that's not a good idea. You already used so much magic, you are going to exhaust yourself," I spoke in a firm tone, though I felt that I wouldn't be able to convince her not to try it.

"I'll be-cough-fineeee, I just gotta lay down and take a longer breather," Rex said and smiled more, showing his teeth that were currently stained red.

Aegis looked at both of us and stood up. She had already made up her mind about this as her horn began to glow, though this time with a green light that was a distinct mark of healing magic. A green aura enveloped most of Rex's injuries, even the huge stomach one. I wasn't going to let her do this alone, so I got up and joined her in casting the spell. On Aegis' mark we poured more effort in to begin healing the flesh.

Both of us had our eyes closed as we focused on manipulating the flow of mana, this was our first time healing someone with such a unique anatomy after all. I could hear faint sizzling, but assumed it was bleeding spots being cauterised to prevent additional blood loss. Then the sizzling got louder and was joined by the smell of burning flesh which forced me to open my eyes. I saw Rex's fresh blood begin to boil as it came out, alongside the edges of his wounds being charred and looking worse than before. He was groaning and writhing in pain mere moments after we started the spell.

"Ghhh...nghh- Stop doing- stop your magic... Aghh- please it hurts-" He said through clenched teeth. I withdrew from casting and shook Aegis to bring her out of focus. She stopped too, but looked at me confused as if she hadn't heard or smelt what was happening. Then her face turned green and she ran behind a bush, where she very loudly vomitted out whatever she had for breakfast today. I meanwhile looked back at Rex, his blood had cooled down and the sizzling ceased. I concluded that it was the direct effect of our healing magic or more accurately our attempt at it. I sat down and waited for Aegis to return.

Object C-04 "Rex"
Forest full of bandit corpses

OH MY FUCK, HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIIIIITTTAHHHH!- IT FUCKING BURNSSSSS AGHHHGGGHHG! MY THOUGHTS WERE OVERWHELMED WITH MY SILENCED SCREAMS OF TORMENT AS I HAD JUST EXPERIENCED MY FLESH BEING ROASTED. IT FELT LIKE THE BLOOD IN MY VEINS WAS TURNING INTO FRESH MAGMA THAT WOULD TURN ME INTO A HEAP OF CHARRED FLESH. I clenched my teeth and balled my hands into fists to keep as much of my pain from escaping through my lips as possible, not to act like a "tough guy" but to not accidentally attract something to our position. Gradually the agony began to wear off once they stopped doing their magic on me.

Just as I got out of my pain induced state of internal disarray, I saw that Aegis was returning from the bushes where she went to puke. Bulwark, as I should expect by now, maintained his calm face and demeanor in spite of what happened today. I felt beneath my palm that my wounds were pretty badly burned, but there was an upside to this: I wasn't bleeding anymore and this pain surge gave me a kick of energy. I slowly got up from the ground, using the truck to support myself as I straightened myself out. With a few swipes of my synthetic hand over my body I managed to get the worst bits of burnt flesh and boiled blood dust off myself to look less like a microwave accident.

Aegis sat down in front of me with a sombre look and a lowered head and ears. It was quite obvious that she was sorry for what had happened, but probably couldn't put it in any words. She looked so small and vulnerable despite wearing armour. It almost felt like seeing a pet who made a mess or was caught doing something it shouldn't. I took a few small steps forward and reached out to give her a few gentle pats on her head. She tensed up then loosened and even slightly rubbed her mane against my hand before I took it away. I looked towards Bulwark while Aegis got off the ground.

"We have to clean this up," He said while looking at the carnage around himself.

I looked around myself too and scratched my bloodied head. "How come? I say we just let them rot here, bandits don't deserve a funeral," Also it was Imperial policy to leave raider corpses behind as they were not worth the effort retrieving...and to scare off those who wanted to try their luck.

"And those driving through here don't deserve to be mauled by predators. We need to clean up or this road will be infested with those," He said while pointing with a hoof in the direction we came from. I looked around once more and noticed that flies began to gather over some of the fresh bodies.

"You are right," I conceded to him, it was his country after all and his argument did have merit.

"Aegis, could you bring us some body bags? They should be in one of the crates," Bulwark said calmly to her, to which she nodded and went to the truck's back.

She returned a few minutes later with the aforementioned body bags in her magical hold. She tossed some to Bulwark and I. He caught them with magic as expected and I grabbed them once they were in my hands' reach. I half expected them to be made out of some textile material, but those were standard looking black plastic body bags. Simple on surface, but very effective. I noticed however that they didn't have any handles for carrying them, not a big issue I thought.

The three of us split up and went different directions. Bulwark first chose to take care of the mess I left behind that rock with shotgun-blasted corpses, Aegis was already hard at work trying to carefully set the impaled bandit down on the ground to remove the spear, and I made my way over to the bandit leader's corpse. I looked down upon the headless body and smiled, it felt good to have silenced him and I felt the good vibes again when I kicked it, but the kick was mostly to get the corpse into a better position for the bag. I pulled the zipper open and shoved the body inside, then grabbed his head by his mane and dropped it inside. Some fresh blood poured out of the slashed neck, forming a puddle in the bag which the head landed in before I zipped it up
I lifted it up from the ground and tossed over my shoulder. I felt the head roll around inside the bag while I walked towards the truck. On my way there I stopped to check on how Aegis was doing with the impaled pony. She had managed to lower it to the ground, but seemed to struggle with pulling the spear out even with magic. I approached her and tapped her with a synthetic finger.

"Huh? What is it, Rex?" She looked at me and asked.

"Hold onto this for me for a moment," I replied and gave her the body bag I carried, which she now held above ground with magic. My attention was then turned towards the speared pony on the ground. With one hand I gripped and lifted the corpse on the spear by grabbing its shaft right below the tip, while my other hand firmly gripped the pony's neck. The spear was covered in blood and various tissues belonging to its victim, making it slightly slippery in my hand. I pulled the spear up while simultaneously pulling down the bandit by the neck. There was some resistance present, probably the ribcage or some other bone that was struck, but it didn't prevent me from pulling the weapon out, now freshly coated in even more blood. I set the corpse down, which now had a pretty big hole going through it, and retrieved my body bag from Aegis.

"Thanks for...that," She said with in slightly nauseated tone and took the spear from me. I stood beside her as she packed the bandit and into the bag, then took it from her and tossed over my other shoulder. Together we walked to the back of the truck, where she put the spear away in the far back of the cargo bed, then used her magic to take the body bags I carried and set them down beside the weapon. She sat down by one of the crates and wiped her forehead with a hoof, from a spectator's standpoint she looked cute while sitting like this, the way those ponies sit reminded me of how pets like dogs or cats sat, though I felt that she was also pretty tired.

The sounds of something heavy being dragged reached my ear, so I turned around and saw Bulwark pulling a pile of body bags from behind the boulder. I swiftly jogged towards him and upon getting closer saw that he had used his magic to bind the bags together with some sort of...magic rope. He held its end in his mouth and this way pulled the bags. I moved behind the pile and helped him out by pushing them. It was initially hard to find a good spot to apply force to, but I found a spot where the bodies were packed enough to make a semi-solid surface. With my help the bags reached the truck much faster, just as Aegis hopped off the cargo bed. The magic rope disappeared right after and I couldn't help but think about how flexible and useful it must be for those ponies, kinda like an additional limb that can do so much and it didn't even have to be attached to the body.. Though this brought another question to my mind, what could the other pony types do? Did they have their own magic?

The two ponies worked on getting the body bags that Bulwark brought inside the truck, meanwhile I turned my attention to the pegasi who were a damn menace to me not too long ago. First I worked on the pegasus I so gloriously de-winged as he attempted to dive attack Aegis. With one hand I opened a body bag just for him and with the other tossed the ripped off wings inside. Their muscles were still tense as if they were still connected to a living creature. Once the feathery wings were inside, I grabbed the dead pony by the scruff of his neck and placed in the bag, zipping it up after. I then did the same thing to the other killed pegasi, though they had their wings still attached, albeit somewhat damaged from the fighting and subsequent crashing to the ground.

With those ponies bagged up, I made my way to the first ponies I had slain. The corpse of the pony I had strangled was already beginning to undergo post-mortem changes. His eyes were becoming cloudy and what little skin I could see through the fur or hair was becoming pale. I carefully picked the corpse up and lowered it into an open body bag as to not accidentally cause it to release any...nasty surprises all over my hands.

After that I looked towards the pony whose spine and head I had ripped off. Blood was no longer trickling from its open head wound, though flies were beginning to swarm the exposed flesh. They buzzed around and were probably having a feast of their lifetime, that is until I swatted them away with my right hand, I didn't plan on bagging up a bunch of insects after all. I made sure to retrieve the missing bits of the dead bandit, its spine and head, from the corpse that was right beside me. I thought about shoving it all back inside, but decided to put them in the bag separately. While at it I took care of the other body, removing the spear from its head and shoving it in a bag just like the others.

A few more trips to and from the truck and we had cleared up the area, even taking the bandits' weapons with us. I kinda wanted to keep one of those as a sort of souvenir, a reminder of fighting my first fight alongside non-human sapient companions...but I didn't have anywhere to store it...so taking one would be for nothing. Oh well, I had a feeling that I'd have many more opportunities in the future for souvenir taking...hopefully in more fortunate circumstances than a bandit fight. I tossed the last body bag into the truck during this train of thought and approached my escort.

"Are we ready to go now?" I asked both Aegis and Bulwark.

Bulwark gave our surroundings a quick glance. "Hmmh, this will have to suffice. The ground is soaked with blood, wildlife will still come. However, soon enough they will find that there isn't much here for them," Aegis gave a confirming nod after Bulwark was done talking.

I decided to take his word for it, he knew this area much better than I did and I didn't feel like finding out what other creatures are hiding here. Especially not when I look like a DiY firing practice target dummy that came out of a butchery, I was lucky enough that the magical mistake the two ponies made had given my body a bit of a necessary kick and getting into another fight would just waste all that. I took a breath while rubbing my chin with my synthetic hand and looked at Bulwark.

"How about I take the wheel for the rest of the route? You two used plenty of magic and I saw you using it for driving, Bulwark. I don't know how it exactly works, but I doubt exerting yourself more will be good for either of you," I concluded after presenting my argument and looked towards the driver's cabin.

Bulwark and Aegis looked at each other and then back at me, both with raised eyebrows.

"Do you know how to drive?" Aegis asked in a curious tone.

I chuckled and crossed my arms out of amusement. "Aegis, please. Do you think I'd be asking if I didn't? Well...I don't "know" how to drive per se, but the ability to do so is kinda...programmed into my brain...on top of many other things," I said with a slight smile near the end and uncrossed my arms. The ponies in front of me didn't seem too eased by this answer.

"Hmh, you will get the whole seat and wheel dirty...hmm...," Bulwark said while visibly contemplating something. He took a glance at Aegis, who did the closest thing to a shrug that she could. "Alright, you can be the driver for now. I'm not sure if you will fit, even if there is plenty of space there. Be careful with the clutch, it might be a bit stubborn," He spoke to me and hopped into the back of the truck, leaving Aegis and I outside.

Aegis looked towards Bulwark and made her way to the passenger seat while I went to the driver side. I opened the door and hopped in, being careful to not get the remains of my tail stuck somewhere uncomfortable or accidentally slam one of my floppy hands with the door. I had to sit slightly hunched over the steering wheel due to my height. The pedals were, as I should have expected, made for hooves rather than feet as they were more like squares rather than rectangular shaped. The-

"Oooop!" I exclaimed in surprise as the seat I sat on lowered itself.

"Here you go, should be more comfortable," Aegis said to me and pulled a magazine to read through out of a small compartment. She must have adjusted it for me, how nice of her.

I put my left hand on the steering wheel and stepped on the clutch, then turned the key. The engine coughed for a moment before finally starting up. I sighed in relief, now knowing that the fight hadn't damaged any essential parts. I shifted to reverse with my right hand and carefully maneuvered our vehicle to face the direction we came from. Aegis occasionally glanced at me with a hint of wariness in her eyes, though she stopped doing that once I finished the maneuver.

"How about we turn on the radio? Some music to go with ought to soothe our nerves a little bit and make the ride more pleasant," I asked my passengers and fiddled with one of the truck radio's knobs.

"There should be an Octavia or DJ Pon-3 broadcast around this time," Remarked Bulwark from the back.

"Let's see what your artists have to offer," I said approvingly and fiddled with the frequency knob a bit more. A couple seconds later I caught a signal that wasn't just static and occasional words that were constantly cut off.

"Good evening Equestria! I hope you enjoyed our broadcast thus far, because we got more where that came from! Coming up is a very much underrated, in our humble opinion, track by Pon-3!" A very enthusiastic voice spoke on the radio while I shifted into first gear and pressed the gas pedal, moving us forward.

"Open your ears for "Taking the Rave Path", chosen by yours truly Nerz of Crystal Skies Radio!" The host's voice went silent, replaced by the sound of music gradually fading in. I shifted into second gear, then third, as we gained speed on the forest road. Already I could hear subtle electronic beats and synthwaves, full of energy that hit the spot just right. I stepped on the gas more and shifted gears higher, then higher again while bobbing my head to the dubstep track.

"R-Rex....maybe slow down a little?" Aegis asked me with a degree of worry in her voice. She even put her mag down and held onto whatever was closest to her hooves. "The road is quite shaky he-aaaah!" The truck jumped up and shook for a short moment, but that didn't affect my driving in the slightest.

"Just relax, we gotta make up for the time we have lost!" I said with a smile and shifted to a higher gear once more as the radio song increased in speed and volume. My synthetic arm carefully turned the steering wheel to avoid the worst of the spots on the way, but our truck still shook. We passed by row after row after row of trees faster than any of us could count, the surroundings around us had grown visibly darker as evening hours descended upon us. I flipped on the lights to avoid driving in unfavourable conditions and to not cause a crash. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel and hummed along with the beats, immersing myself fully while driving.

With my eyes glued to the road, I saw that we were nearing the end of the forest. I was relieved that we'd finally leave this dark shithole and for good measure stepped on the gas some more in line with the song beginning to near what I'd its climax. Our metal box was rattled some more by the odd branches and uneven surfaces, leaving Aegis using her magic together with her hooves to hold onto stuff. Bulwark meanwhile didn't make any remarks at all, perhaps the corpses kept him occupied.

"We are heading back to the bridge, yeah?" I shouted over the music to ensure my passengers could hear me well.

"Somebody has to take care of that tree after all! Chances are that if we are lucky, then the bridge's crew will do it for us or report it!" Bulwark shouted from the back in response to me just as we drove out of the woods.

The road here was considerably more even and I begun to slow down a bit as the song playing on radio came to an end, replaced by the soft sounds of classical music with violins being the main instrument. Aegis slumped over on her seat, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. I chuckled in my thoughts, good thing that this is just a combustion engine truck and not an Imperial ATV, the speed would have ended her. I did gently pat her back however in hopes of it making her feel better...aaand I think I just left a bloody mark on her armour...

The aforementioned bridge began to appear on the horizon, but I felt that something was off about it. I couldn't quite see what just yet, but looking at it gave me quite an unnerved tingle. I raised a finger and pointed in the bridge's direction.

"Looks like we are getting close to our destination," I said and kept looking towards the stone construct.

"It looks a little...normal?" Aegis commented in a quiet voice, almost as if talking to herself. "Wasn't there supposed to be a building crew here?"

"Maybe they wrapped up the work already?" Bulwark peeked his head into the driver's cabin as he spoke.

"Then there would at least be some leftover materials or other marks..." I responded to Bulwark and slowed down, then shifted to a lower gear. "Something tells me that this bridge is fine as it is..." My hands tightened around the steering wheel as I uttered those words, having already formed a potential conclusion in my head.

"Let's pull up there and see if we can find anything. You have to stay here though." Bulwark said in a slightly agitated tone, to which Aegis nodded. I understood why he wanted me to remain in the truck, primarily because I was pretty much a blood golem. My response was a simple shrug, a "if you say so".

However this plan soon went to the shitter. The construction pony we saw earlier today was there, but he began running away as soon as he heard and spotted our slightly battered vehicle. This wasn't the behaviour of a normal worker, certainly not of someone who helped us by pointing out a way around. That pony knew something and I feel like he had something to do with those damn brigands. He jumped into the river, knowing we couldn't follow him easily like this. I smacked the horn in frustration and groaned, then turned to Bulwark.

"Bulwark, please hand me something blunt, I'm going after him," I said in a firm tone to him.

I stopped the car by the bridge and stepped out of the truck. That pony was already a decent chunk away from us, but I the river certainly didn't make it easy for him to waddle through. Suddenly a wrench appeared in front of me at my upper hands' level, held in the air by Bulwark's magic. I immediately grabbed it with my right hand and flipped it, then put my abilities to use and ran after him, digging small holes in the earth with my toes.

This was nowhere near my true possible speed, but I was faster than him and that's all that counted. With every passing second I got closer to him, with each passing second my desire to grab him and extract a confession grew bigger. I just knew he was involved in this too and that made his life forfeit for me, but I also knew that my escort would frown upon this. Once in range, I chose to jump after and tackle that pony into the water.

"Aaaah!" He screamed once he felt my body crash into his.

I grabbed him by the collar of his neck fur and dragged out of the river and onto the side where our truck was. I let go of and looked down at him, towering over his currently meek form. His eyes went wide and his body shook in cold and fear. My hand itched to swing at him, the desire to knock his teeth out with a good blow became bigger and bigger. I wanted to cave his skull in so that he could join his comrades in damnation. The wrench was already high in the air, ready to descend upon him....but I yielded. He kept on shaking however, even as I lowered the weapon I held...and for right reasons since I still planned on dragging him back.

Upon reaching our truck I saw that Aegis took over the driver's spot, but Bulwark wasn't on the passenger seat. She briefly glanced at me and saw that I brought the delinquent physically unharmed, her expression became filled with a degree of relief. She probably thought we had enough corpses for today. I moved to the back with my wiggling catch and hopped in. Inside I found Bulwark tying the bags to each other with ropes.

"This will keep them from rolling all over the truck," He said immediately after I got in, as if to preempt any questions.

"I brought us a live catch, got any spare rope for him?" I asked and set the pony down on the ground, keeping one eye on him in case he suddenly decided to make a run for it.

Bulwark's horn glowed for a second and then he tossed a coil of rope at my feet with one end smoldering. From the looks of it he cut this length off from a bigger coil using his unicorn magic. I grabbed it and got to work restraining our captive. First I tied his front legs together, then the hindlegs. I used separate pieces of my rope for tying those down, which I obtained by asking Bulwark to cut them for me after measuring out how much I needed. Whatever was left of it I used to tie both pairs of legs together, the rope going along the middle of his body which made it look like a bridge between cliffs. I stood him up on his legs to check how effective it was. He wobbled for a second then fell over.

"You can spare him the cruelty, Rex. We will need him in one piece to interrogate," Aegis spoke from the front, then started the truck and drove us over the bridge. To nobody's surprise, it didn't collapse despite what we were initially told. I looked out of the truck, watching the stone bridge fade into the distance farther and farther away as the truck picked up speed once more. I sighed and hoped that we'd make it to our destination before we get surrounded by darkness.

A few more hours had passed, the night was upon us and with it came the hooting of owls and chirping of whatever was jumping around in the grass. Our prisoner was trying to get some shuteye despite his uncomfortable position, with rather mixed results. I peeked into the driver's cabin to see what was on the road ahead. Exactly in that very moment I spotted a pink wooden sign with colourful lettering saying "Welcome to Ponyville!" Seeing that got a slight chuckle out of me.

"We'll have to make a quick stop by our guard station. You can get cleaned up and then we'll continue on hoof," Aegis said to me and slowed down upon driving past the sign.

Our truck pulled up at a small brick building on the outskirts of the village. I hopped out of the truck and looked at it. At first glance I wouldn't have the slightest idea that this was supposed to be a guard station. There were no signs or recognisable markings which could easily be interpreted as related to guards being stationed here. Aegis turned the engine on and quietly made her way towards the entrance door, meanwhile Bulwark passed the prisoner into my hands by lifting him to me with magic. I held that pony over my shoulder and entered the supposed guard station, being careful to not accidentally smack mine or his head against the small door frame.

The entrance led to a reception room, which had a simple desk, white walls and office furniture scattered around the room. All in all it was a rather bland and very generic room. I moved towards the desk and watched as the two ponies behind me entered the room while carrying their helmets with them. Aegis set her helmet, and the letter that Princess Celestia gave me, on the desk. Bulwark placed his beside Aegis' and turned to me.

"Give him to me. Aegis will show you were you can clean yourself up," He pointed with a hoof to the prisoner I currently held. I nodded and placed him down on the ground in front of Bulwark, then turned to Aegis and followed her out of the room. We entered a small hallway with a staircase at the end of it. She walked ahead and stopped beside a wooden door.

"The shower room is inside, it should be big enough for you. You'll find some shampoo and whatever else you might need, but please be careful to not clog the pipes...they are quite old," She said to me and left me alone, heading back where we came from.

I entered the supposed shower room, only to be met by darkness...the lights weren't turned on. Figuring that it would be moronic to install a light switch, I took a step back into the hallway and looked around the door frame for one. What I found was a button at around my waist's height, so I leaned down and pressed it while looking towards the shower room. The lights inside flipped on row by row, revealing a few shower heads with barriers between them. I entered and closed the door behind me.

Guardsman Stalwart Bulwark
Ponyville Guard Outpost, Jail

I turned the key in the lock and checked the cell door to ensure that it was properly locked. The cells here were usually empty, mostly due to the nature of our assignments and the presence of a separate guard station within the village itself, but today we have a fresh detainee. I'll have to ask Aegis about what to do with him, we aren't exactly equipped or staffed to keep him here for long. His encounter with Rex left him in a near-catatonic state, staring towards the jail entrance and mumbling something about a Tartarus-forsaken beast. He does seem to gradually get better, meanwhile I am just happy that Rex brought him relatively unharmed.

I entered the jailor room and retrieved a folder containing our holding cell log, then sat down at a small desk inside and began filling out a simple form to keep track of who we have here. My magic helped me rummage through the pony's personal items to allow me to fill in his identity, though finer details like occupation or current place of residence were amongst those pieces of information I couldn't find out. I sighed and moved on to writing a hopefully palatable report for our superiors to swallow.

The jail entrance doors opened wide and I heard a pony approach the room I was in. "Knock, knock," Aegis' cheerful voice came from behind the locked door.

"Come in, Viggi," I responded to her and flipped to a fresh page for my report.

The door opened and she came in, holding a bloodied bag in the air beside her. "Already submerged in paperwork? This could wait until tomorrow, after we get some sleep," She spoke to me as she approached the desk.

"My memory is still fresh, might as well be done with this right now," I said to her an set my pen down. "What do you have there anyway?"

"The head of the bandit leader. I figured we should check out bounty board to see if there are any mentions of him there. Such a well prepared band must have a few warrants after them," She continued said to me and placed the bag in a nearby bucket. "Where did you hide the key?"

"You are right, I didn't even think about that..." I nodded in agreement and opened a drawer. Inside was a small key, which I promptly tossed to Aegis. She took the key and used it to open a locked metal cabinet, a sort of spot where we kept things we didn't know where else to put away...and the bounty board.

"Do you see anything?" I asked her while continuing to write.

"Oh my, this is going to be quite the payout," Aegis said in a surprised tone. "It only states the approximate amount, but even that is quite a lot. A couple thousand Bits at least, probably more for taking out the rest of the band,"

"Would you mind turning in the bounty in Ponyville then? You could take Rex to his destination while at it," I looked up at her and suggested.

"I'd rather turn it in tomorrow, after you are done with the protocol. I'll happily take Rex however and then come here to help you with things," She said while closing the cabinet once more.

"That would be greatly appreciated," I said with a smile and watched as she left.

Object C-04 "Rex"
Guard Station

I left the shower a clean man, a fresh man, a man with a few visible wounds that would probably start bleeding if I moved the wrong way, but I digress. My point is, I finally got a proper clean up, one that didn't involve being sprayed down using a hose and cold water while chained. Warm water and some proper, albeit simple, washing supplies. All of this and I even managed to not clog the old pipes that Aegis mentioned, despite ridiculous amounts of clotted blood being washed off. I'll probably have a weird metallic smell to me for a few days, but that's temporary. I tried looking around for a towel, but found none and ultimately left the shower room dripping wet...and still without clothes. I'll have to find some soon enough, as much as those ponies are unbothered by this...I'd rather cover myself up a bit.

I left the hallway and waited by the station entrance door for someone to come to me, while occasionally glancing around the room to see if there was a clock somewhere. Alas, no dice...and no clock to read time off of. One of the doors leading out of the reception opened and Aegis came out of it. She smiled upon seeing me, presumably because I didn't look like a gore golem anymore, however that smile was short-lived as she saw my not completely healed wounds... mainly the stomach wound. It wasn't bleeding, but I still had a small crater there.

"Should I bring a first aid kit? Some bandages?" She said in a concerned tone.

"No, I'll be fine," I said and looked down at myself. "I have had worse," I looked back at her and smiled confidently then yawned.

"I hope you aren't just acting tough, the Princess will have our flanks if something happens to you," She said unamused and walked past me. "Follow me, I'll lead you to your place of stay," Aegis continued and left the station. I reacted after a second and jogged out to catch up.

We took a pedestrian path which led out of the station and onto a sidewalk leading to the town of Ponyville. Evening descended upon us rather swiftly as our surroundings became darker and the moon gradually came into view. I had a strange feeling that there was something wrong with it however, as if it stared back at me. I scratched my head and turned my attention towards the road, just as the streetlights flipped on. They were spread out and not very bright, but bright enough to light up the area around them. They were certainly of an older design, perhaps gas lights? Definitely nothing comparable to LED lights and not on the same level as other modern lights. Their overall design leaned towards what I'd describe as baroque, but with lots more colours and "life" in them, just like about everything with those ponies.

Most of the houses in town had their lights flipped off, blinds closed and a few of them even locked their shutters. A few houses deeper in had their lights dimly lit, enough for it to spill out into the street a little, however there were no ponies or people other than Aegis and I outside. I suppose night life isn't much of a thing here then. Speaking of houses...they lacked any form of conformity. They were all different shapes, sizes and scattered all throughout with no visible divisions into neighbourhoods, very disorganised and inefficient. The houses seemed to be mostly built out of wood, but an occasional brick building did show up, in either case they often had pink elements on their outer layer and roofs were often covered with straw. It reminded me of various missions where I was assigned to some outer colony of the Empire, very similar vibes but with less colours than here. It made me miss the tall spires of Wenkwort...

As we navigated the long paths around Ponyville, the destination of our travel became clear. A pink castle settled atop a crystal tree. A magnificent sight even in the dark, however it must be even greater once sun shines down upon it. The crystal tree looked somewhat chunky and spiky, it wrapped around the walls like grown vines. A "branch" functioned as a platform for the castle's balcony and the crystals themselves were made up of various shades of blue. The castle grew out of the tree's crown, it was shaded pink and looked smooth compared to the tree. Naturally, as is in style with royalty, it was finished off with gold. Gold doors, railings and such. However I couldn't tell right now if it was actual gold or perhaps an imitation. What I did know is that we were approaching the entrance...

"Watch your step," Aegis exclaimed just in time for me to stumble on the stairs and almost fall onto my face.

"Thanks, I'll try," I said while clutching onto the railing which I used to regain my footing, then carefully walked up the chilly golden stairs...this time with my eyes not glued to the wonderful architecture.

"This is it, I presume?" I looked at and asked Aegis who stood beside me.

"Mhm, she'll keep an eye on you from now on. Please do visit us sometime soon," She said to me with a smile and knocked on the door with a hoof.

"One more thing, she will probably be very excited. Be careful," She stated right after knocking, to which I raised an eyebrow.

"One moment please, I am coming!" A female voice spoke from inside the castle. My ears twitched as I heard faint sounds of collapsing piles of books. Aegis didn't seem to pick anything up though. Sounds of hooves clopping against a hard surface reached me soon after, only to disappear after she presumably got onto something softer. I looked around and fidgeted with my synthetic arm while waiting.

My fidgeting was disrupted my the large door creaking open and sending light straight into my face, which was uncomfortable at first as my eyes were already adjusted to the dark. I half-covered my eyes with a palm and watched as the entrance opened, seeing a silhouette of a pony with a horn and wings inside. Was this pony just like Princess Celestia? The doors opened wider while I dwelled on this, revealing a purple pony, slightly taller than Aegis, right in the middle of them. She had a wide smile on her muzzle and looked happy, though her mane was rather messy.

She stepped outside while looking us over. Suddenly her eyes locked onto me, widening in a cartoonish way as this happened. Then out of nowhere...she fainted and flopped onto the ground.