Overture - A Fallout: Equestria Story

Chapter Five: The Big Payback

"Daddy's girl's got some brand new cash, you're messing with reds, we're gonna kick your ass."

"-reported exodus of zombies out of the Z Quarter and into surrounding areas, so be wary out there, we wouldn't want any of you dear listeners getting hurt! And finally, the Super Seal infestation around the old Merriweather dock has been taken care of by the fine folks from Eclipse, with creative use of nets and flamethrowers. The results have been described as 'delicious'."

Ew.

"That's everything for this hour, this is Tremolo for Radio Bayside, and coming up we have the twangy sounds of Jet Shadow with the slickly titled 'The Mare With The Golden Hoof'. The sleeve says this was a movie theme, anypony ever seen a movie before? And don't you touch that dial 'cause we have a big announcment from Dorian Flash this afternoon, so stay tuned!"

The mare finished her chirping and the song began to play, it was twangy as promised. I wasn't really paying much attention to it, I was bemused by the whole thing about zombies? On top of everything we had zombies now? As in the dead walking amongst the living? What in Luna's name was all that about? That couldn't be real. And I didn't even know where to start with these 'Super Seals'.

"You coming, Silv? I don't wanna miss the announcement!" Make Do bellowed from the kitchen, rather impatiently I might add.

"Yeah, just give me a second!" I yelled back. I was still getting ready and I didn't really understand what the rush was.

Make Do was fine, the potion had done it's job and her dad was none the wiser, I think. She was still limping a little, but there weren't any healing potions left at the shop so there wasn't much we could do about that right this second. As thanks for errand running Make Do had spent a couple of hours sizing up a new padded jumpsuit for me to wear, since her Mr. Goldwing's armour was much too big for me, even if it was very protective.

Having a larger jumpsuit didn't make it any easier to get into as an Earth pony though. You try getting all four limbs into something and pulling it up, I promise you it's harder than you think.

Maybe I was making a little bit of a meal of it. We were meant to be going into town. Town. Because I'd gone out on my own Make Do had decided it was high time to actually get me out and about properly. I hadn't said anything, but I was not thrilled by the idea at all. Barnyard Bargains was disturbing enough and I had no emotional attachment to it, how was I supposed to deal with literally walking through the ruins of my life? I knew sooner or later I was going to have to deal with it, but I was rather hoping it would have been later.

Make Do was particularly antsy to get up and go. She'd spent all of yesterday indoors recovering and whatever this 'announcement' was had set her off all excited. If she was a dog she'd have been pawing at the door. Apparently she had some jobs in town I was going to help her out with and she needed a hoof bringing some things back to the junkyard. Why she didn't just take one of the dozens of carts that were sat outside I didn't know.

I could only hope we'd be coming home with something to eat that wasn't eggs.

I pulled the zipper on the suit closed and experimentally flexed and stretched. It was still a little bit tight, and quite stiff thanks to the padding Make Do had installed, but it was a lot comfier than the one I'd worn before. The Unicorn had even added a little holster-pouch-thingy to the withers so that I didn't have to walk around carrying a gun all day, which was nice. I was presuming we'd be seeing other ponies today, and it would be a horrible first impression if the first thing somepony saw was a weapon pointed straight at them.

"Your dad's not coming?" I asked, throwing my saddlebags over my back and meeting her by the front door.

"Nah, he's going out later anyway and he said there wasn't anything he needed to do in town." The mare replied, filling a saddlebag up with assorted junk and slinging it over her back, gun hung around her neck. "Oh well, more caps for us. Good to go?"

"Yeah, lead on."

What's a cap?

We'd been walking in companionable silence for a little while. The ground was damp, but it wasn't raining so that was a bonus I guess, even if the sleeves of my suit were already dirt splattered. Could have been worse, I guess. We hadn't been going long and were already most of the way through the now rather familiar old tunnel, light streaming through the exit. I'd spent the while time out mentally preparing myself to see the skeletal skyline again. I could still see it in my mind's eye, backlit by flashes of lightning, ruins clawing out of the ground, scorched and dead.

I shook my head. I was remembering it worse than it actually was, surely. The shock must have wigged my memory. Still I couldn't deny having a sinking pit in my stomach that only got worse the further we pressed on. I tried telling myself that it was just building, just places, just things. Maybe that would help compartmentalise my feelings about all of this. I had an attachment to the city, not all these ruins. It was different, I think.

If nothing else I supposed if we got split up for some reason I'd at least know where I was. The streets should still be the same, right?

Gulping as if to try and swallow my thoughts, I told myself that I was being dramatic and that this was an important first step in finding somepony to help me free Dandelion from the lab basement. This was bigger than me. For better or for worse, chances are I was going to be seeing a lot of Baltimare in it's current state, I just needed to get over myself. I mean, if we were visiting that had to mean ponies still lived there, right? It couldn't all be death and destruction.

"H-hey, Make Do?"

"All my friends call me MD, Silv, only my dad calls me Make Do." She smiled, warmly. "What's up?"

"Right, MD." I parrotted. Friends? I guess we were friends. "Baltimare... is it... is it bad? Up close, I mean?"

"I mean, it can be I guess, same as anywhere. Not where we're going though, I don't really feel like getting in a fight today."

I was simultaneously relieved and not. Striclty speaking that wasn't exactly what I was asking but it was nice to know we weren't going anywhere awful, but just the idea of avoiding certain areas for fear of violence wasn't nice. I know Baltimare had rougher areas before all this, but there wasn't anywhere I wouldn't have gone for fear of being attacked. I could only hope she meant the danger was from wild creatures.

Little huffed breaths left my mouth as we trotted past the ruined road ramp and past Barnyard Bargains, I kept half an eye on as we sailed on, wary of any roaches that might decide to try me again.

Weaving past potholes and shopping trolleys, the road turned right ahead, bisecting the woods either side and turning towards the city centre. The rubble of the collapsed overpass presented a bit of difficulty, I had to scale it carefully as even after all this time it was loosely packed and kept threatening to give way underhoof. Thankfully though we both made it over pretty uneventfully.

Here the trees started to thin out, giving way to empty fields ahead of some residential looking area. Behind that lie the city of Balrimare in all it's folly.

Bony and burned spires stuck out of the ground like thorns, a mockery of the skyline I knew, collapsed building leaning on each other and flattening the low rises below.

My breath hitched in my throat as I stopped and stared. It was like seeing it for the first time all over again. My home reduced to a charred corpse. How many ponies had died here? All this abject horror by the hooves of Zebras, and for what? Evil for evil's sake from a nation desperately clawing for any form of spiteful retaliation. And we all lost. Cowardly.

"You good, Silv?"

How I'd like to see what was made of the Zebra Empire after all this. I felt awful that the only small comfort I was trying to take in this dire circumstance was that the perpetrators would have it worse, but deep down I wanted it to be so. They deserved nothing less for what they did. It was absolutely unfathomable to me that they'd go as far to end the world, and if there was any justice in this world then given everything there'd be no traces of the Zebra Empire left, it'd be totally wiped from the world's surface, condemned, Zebras a footnote in history books, if anypony was even keeping track of history anymore... maybe I was the only pony who remembered now. Was that fitting? I wasn't sure. I was only even here in this hellscape because of this war, because of the Zebras. None of this would have ever happened-

"Silver, you okay?" I blinked as the Unicorn waved a hoof in front of my face. I realised I'd just been staring at the Baltimare skyline. She was looking at me with an odd look, a sort of combined concern and annoyance.

"S-sorry, I... Sorry, Make Do, it just a lot to take in, you know? Seeing the city again, I mean." I trailed off, again transfixed by what remained. "I can't quite put it into words. It's awful."

"Aw, it's not that bad, plenty of folk still call it home. Let's get a move on." She reassured, badly. "And call me MD, remember?"

She winked at me and carried on ahead. I slowly started following, still captivated by the skyline. It was like a train crash or something, I just couldn't tear my eyes away.

We left the road to cut across a large open field, brown and dead. Was 'scorched grassland' just a big thing here, or was this how most of Equestria looked now? I couldn't believe that a few crafty Earth ponies wouldn't have gotten to work getting the land living again. Even I could feel how sorry it was, and I didn't even work with plants! I get that living in a place like this gives a pony different priorities, but the earth was calling our for some serious TLC, and I couldn't be the only one to feel it. Surely everypony would benefit from getting the land healthy again? I would have thought that was something that would have been a priority, especially after so much time had passed.

Maybe if I knew what I was doing then I could have done something, but as much as knowing the land was in my Earth pony nature, my talents lie elsewhere. I was pretty sure I'd be useless, especially on this scale.

We marched onwards, closing the distance to the city, the wide roads giving way to streets lined with old shops and stores. The number of old chariots and wagons had started to increase, burnt out carts, trashed carriages, even one caravan which rather gruesomely still had a charred skeleton inside. I tried to hurry past that one as quickly as I could.

I couldn't help but think of all those burned bodies I'd seen outside Barnyard Bargains. I wasn't exepcting to see any more corpses just lying around, it's empty sockets boring into my soul. "Goodness, that's awful."

"What's that?" Make- MD inquired, flicking an ear in my direction.

"T-there's a skeleton just left here in this carriage." I explained. "I saw more, too, outside the supermarket, it was dreadful..."

"Oh, yeah, there are a lot of those around. Pretty grim, but you get used to it."

'You get used to it'? We're supposed to just abide by stark remnants of the greatest tradgey the world has ever seen? These were living ponies[/i and they're being treated like they're litter. I thought that was absolutely abhorrent, everypony deserves a proper burial.

I suppose to be fair, everypony who would even think yo care would be dead and gone by now, and anypony around now, again, probably had more important things to worry about. It still didn't make it right, though. Not that there was much I could do about it, I was only one mare and as horrible as it might be, there were a lot of bodies scattered around. I couldn't even imagine the size of the graveyard that would be needed, or the time recovery would take.

Still though, surely enough time had passed? I couldn't believe that not one pony in the last 150 years had thought to clean up a bit.

On that chipper note, we turned a corner onto one of the city's main streets, or at least the tail end of one. I could see things getting closer, taller buildings slowly creeping up above us as we got deeper into town. We were drawing into a little roadside rest stop that appeared to be boarded up and crumbling. Ponies milled around a steady stream of grey smoke billowing out from a small campfire, and behind a little makeshift table, was sat a short-ish, plump looking bat pony mare with a muddy brown coat and slate grey mane. I'd never seen a bat pony before, so this was a surprise for me. She was kind of cute in a sort of fluffy way, like a baby fox or a cat or something. She was wearing an old stained apron and was busying herself with something of other as we approached.

That was something. This was the first time I'd seen anypony out and about just existing. I was actually a little bit excited.

"Heya, Ms. Fowl!" Make Do called out. The mare glanced over and waved happily.

"Good morning MD, thought I heard you coming! How's the leg? All okay, I hope." She said, large tufted ears folding flat. This must be the Ms. Fowl whose fence Make Do had fixed.

"Don't worry about it, it'll be right as rain soon enough." Make Do answered, giving said leg an experimental flex. "Takes more than a few dogs to keep me down."

I snorted.

"If you say so, dearie, just don't push yourself." Ms. Fowl replied, giving the unicorn a warm look before glancing to me. "And who's your friend here?"

"Ah, Ms. Fowl, this is Silver Sterling!" The unicorn said, gesturing to me. "She's, uh, she's new here."

"Hello." I said, nodding to the new mare. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, so polite! The pleasure's all mine!" She replied with a smile which showed off two little fangs, and a pair of very vibrant golden eyes. "My name's Tawny Fowl, but most folks around here just call me Ms. Fowl. My family run a little chicken farm a mile or so east of Make Do's house, but I spend most of my time here selling my produce, you're welcome to stop by any time!"

"I'm showing Silver around town, tryna keep her from getting lost." Make Do explained, before turning to face me. "This is the Coastal Junction Rest Stop, a lot of ponies heading Baltimare way stop here for food and supplies and stuff."

I nodded, that made sense, I supposed. It wasn't the prettiest place, but Ms. Fowl seemed pleasant enough, and I already knew all about her produce.

"Well, since you're new in town, how about an omelette for the road? My treat!" The bat pony mare asked, leathery wings flitting, looking at me with the sweetest, most genuine smile I'd seen in a very long time.

The last few days I had eaten nothing but eggs for all three meals of the day. Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, poached, fried, whatever. I absolutely could not take any more eggs. I'd literally just eaten a plate full off eggs before we came out! I'd be happy to never even see another egg as long as I lived.

But I couldn't make myself say no. Her smile was too genuine, the way she looked at me just beamed excitement to share her cooking with me, an earnest eagerness to share something she loved with a new friend. "Th-that sounds lovely." I croaked through a forced smile. Even thought I'd just met her, I had a feeling I'd be letting her down if I said no.

"No pony can ever say no to a Tawny Fowl omelette!" She beamed, walking over to the fire and setting up a pan. "I'll fix you one right up, it'll be ready in a jiffy!"

I grimaced as she cracked an egg on the rim of the pan. I was internally screaming as I watched her work. I just had to get through this and then hopefully cut off my relationship with eggs entirely.

It was light, it was fluffy, it was made from eggs. Have you ever had eggs? They're bucking incredible.

It shouldn't really be possible for somepony to make something so delicious with such rudimentary equipment and ingredients in a place so run down, and yet Ms. Fowl had done it. That thing was made with love. I think Make Do was a little bit jealous, Ms. Fowl insisted that my 'first one's on the house', and I think she wanted a free omelette too.

If ponies around here are anything like Ms. Fowl, maybe things wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting them to be. Granted the scenery wasn't holding much promise, but the ponies here so far had all been fine. Make Do was... odd, but seemed to be dependable and friendly, Mr. Goldwing was okay, I suppose, and Ms. Fowl had certainly made a lovely first impression. There had been a couple of other ponies I didn't catch the names of at the rest stop too, selling water and odds and ends. All amiable enough really.

We'd left the rest stop when it became Make Do wasn't getting free food, Ms. Fowl waved us off as we carried on down the road. Nice as she was I'm sure she still had money to make and probably didn't need Make- MD hanging around like a gannet looking for scraps.

Apparently we were heading for the Mascagni Trade Pavillon. It hadn't taken me long to work out by the route and street signs that we were actually going to the Sea Spray Pavillion. I had no idea why anypony had felt the need to rename it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued to see what has become of it. On a nice sunny day there were few places I'd like to spend my time more than Sea Spray, I was glad to know that it lived on, even if nice sunny days seemed to have gone with the balefire.

We cut East heading towards Horseshoe Bay. I could try not to think about it as hard as I wanted, but there was no getting around the fact that we in the city properly now. Westport if I wasn't mistaken, though admittedly I wasn't super familiar with this part of the city. The skyscrapers of downtown seemed to loom taller than ever, casting a dark shadow over me specifically, almost like they were mocking me. That said, there were still a few stragglers still standing proud. The Bronco Seltzer Clock tower still stood to the north of us, even if it was looking a little worse for wear. I wonder if any of the clock faces still worked? I doubt it, but things like that were built to last. Paying more attention to it, there was something on the roof of the tower too, some kind of scrap metal penthouse. Guess somepony had decided to call it home, for whatever reason.

"That's Dorian Flash's place, she'll probably do the announcement from up there." MD chimed in, apparently noticing where I was looking. "I can't believe I'm finally gonna catch one, so exciting!"

"What's the big deal with Dorian Flash anyway?"

"Uh, only everything! She's basically the only pony actually doing anything in this shitheap."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, there are so many ponies out there just doing things for themselves, vying for power or whatever, assholes." She elaborated. "Dorian's clique actually help out the little folks. She's the reason we even have regular trade caravans." She kicked a loose rock for emphasis, sending it tumbling down the road. "Plus she's loaded, she's always announcing these crazy games for big prizes, that's what I'm hoping for later."

"A crazy game?" I inquired, slightly perplexed.

"A big prize." She corrected, flicking her tail. "Maybe make things not so much of a struggle. Would be nice."

I didn't have much to say about that. It all seemed a bit strange to me, but what didn't anymore? I'd be lying if I said eccentric philanthropists weren't around before, perhaps for the better now more than ever.

We took a turn at a junction into Saint Augernon and I found myself staring at a whole walled off street. Well, kind of, it was more arranged rubble, but a deliberate arrangement nonetheless, reinforced with wooden boards and sheets of metal, old billboards and girders, it was about four times as stall as I was. Smatterings of razorwire guarded the top of the wall, not that it would do much to deter any pegasi. Or bat ponies, I guess. And it wasn't just the street that was blocked, it stretched on down crossroads, sectioning off an entire chunk of the city by the looks of things. A metal watchtower of sorts protruded over the top, and smoke rose from small fires behind. I could hear the echos of chattering, laughter and yelling as they bounced off the buildings either side of us. Whatever this was, it was something.

"Fortune City, first stop." MD announced with a smile. "Stick with me through the gate, they know me here."

My hooves clacked against the broken (but relatively clear) tarmac road as we approached a large metal gate, flanked either side by large stallions with equally large guns. They were wearing some dubious looking patchwork barding and also old, threadbare police caps for some reason.

They weren't paying that much attention until the one on the left noticed us and pointed us out to the other, both of them scrambling to attention and pointing their guns at us. I almost stopped in my tracks but MD carried on unfazed, so I gingerly followed behind her. After a few moments, the one on the left squinted out way, gave his colleague a friendly shove, and both of them lowered their weapons, causing me to sigh in relief.

"'Sup MD, didn't know you were swinging by." The stallion on the left schmoozed. He was a large Unicorn with a mauve coat, mostly hidden by armour. "To what do I owe the pleasure, come all this way to see me?"

"As if." The other sorted, a white earth pony. "Why would she waste her time with you when she could have a real stallion?" He shot her a greasy smile and waggled his eyebrows.

Was this for real right now?

"Oh, shove off Twinkle." MD groaned.

"Hey, that's Officer Star to you." He said. The other guard snickered.

"Oh, so cold now?" MD feigned hurt for a second before turning to the other guard. "And you can shut up too, Bitsy. We're just passing through, but I got a little business to settle with Violene."

"You're way less fun when you're sober." The earth pony complained, rolling his eyes. "Maybe your pretty filly friend there is more fun?"

Oh Celestia no.

"Hey there, beautiful." Officer Star said, attention now solely on me. "Not seen you around here before, what's your name?"

"Do you guys ever get laid?" Make Do said with a flat look. "Just open the damn gate."

"Spoilsport." The earth pony replied. Regardless, they did as she asked and opened the gate with us. "Just be sure to spend some more caps while you're here. If the 'business' you're taking care of is anything like the last time, the mayor'll be thrilled."

It looked like a jolt of electricity ran through Make Do, just for a split second. The froze and tensed up ever so briefly, before adopting more of a sagging posture. Very strange.

"Can we not talk about that?" Make Do groaned, ears flat. "It's not gonna happen again, anyway."

"Whatever."

"Have a great day, cutie." Officer Star said to me as we walked by, giving me a wink. "I'll see you around."

I felt my face involuntarily scrunch up as soon as the words left his mouth. Slimeballs.

"Asses." MD mumbled to herself in unknowing agreement. The gate shuddered closed behind us, and I took a good look around.

Ponies everywhere. The yells and hollers of an open market flooded the air, legs trotted in all directions, stalls and vendors lined the street. As far as I could tell this place was a good few city blocks, and even the buildings looked like they were in better shape than the ones outside the walls. They weren't dormant and empty either, ponies lived here, ran shops, actually lived rather than survived. This wasn't the rampant chaos I'd seen so far, apart from the age of everything and the attire some of the ponies here were wearing, this could have been an actual town from before the balefire. If you ignored the apocalyptic backdrop, anyway. It was hard to escape the ever looming presence of the crumbling skyscrapers.

The smells of mystery foods danced around, intermingling with the smoke of barrel fires. I may have been tempted to find out what was cooking if I wasn't full of omelete. A few street food stands stood not too far away, mingling with other vendors. I couldn't make out much of what was on sale due to the bustle surround the stalls.

"Okay, I've got a little work to do, shouldn't be too long, and we can leave out the other gate, saves us backtracking." Make Do spoke, pointing over the crowd in front of us. "Take it all in, just keep up and stay alert. Fortune is pretty rife with pickpockets. And sometimes worse."

Well, that was sounding less promising. I stepped in closer to the mare, for my own security. Safety in numbers and all that.

"I've not got anything to steal, Make Do." I nervously intoned.

"That won't stop them trying." She replied. "And I said call me MD."

We cut into the throng, weaving between ponies going about their day, sometimes jostling, almost like a crowded dance floor. A lot of them were wearing barding or rags, most of it looking homemade. Not many of them paid us much mind as we navigated around them, save a few annoyed glances and grunts. I'd apologised after bumping into a couple at first, but quickly realised it wasn't worth the effort. Most of the ponies here seemed busy or in a hurry, but I couldn't help but notice a few just loitering or hanging around a fire pit. I wasn't one to judge, I didn't have a job either, anymore.

Just what did ponies do for money now, anyway? I know MD said she was a scavenger, and there are evidently ponies still running shops and trading, even armies of some form, but something told me that there weren't exactly a lot of 9-5 office types around anymore.

The crowd started to thin out after a few minuted of uncomfortable passage, and we thankfully emerged out the other side into a more open area.

The street was clear and wide open, lined with occupied buildings, at least if the lights and sounds coming from within them was anything to go by. Some were still boarded up, I could hear hushed conversations from the alleys between buildings. There were fewer ponies here, and the ones that I could see were mostly just hanging around, a group sat on a building stoop, a couple standing in the gutter, even a fee crowded around a small bonfire throwing dice, loudly hollering and jeering. All of them sparing us some kind of look, maybe an upward glance, but a look nonetheless.

I could see now that a lot of these buildings had been either repaired or repurposed into shop and businesses. We passed a couple of bars, a weapons shop, a place labelled as 'Dorian's Helping Hoof', and apparently several casinos. On both sides of the streets. A lot more casinos that a place this size really needs.

Actually, now that I was paying more attention, there was something off about this place. Glancing down an alley as we passed, I could spy a group of ponies all sat around a barrel fire, playing some kind of card game. Further along the street there was another group playing dominoes or something similar on the pavement, one of them eyeing us warily as we approached.

"Hey MD, what's the deal with all the gambling here?" I asked, frowning. "Isn't five casinos on one street a little excessive?"

"Vice economy." She answered simply, turning to face me with a sly smile. "Fortune's built off of gambling, as the name implies. It can be a fun place to be after dark if you've got the caps for it."

"That's... interesting." I knew Las Pegasus was built off the same idea, but that was a whole city. To try and execute the same idea in a place so small was just ridiculous. "Does it work?"

"Well enough to keep them going I guess, town's been around since before I was so it can't be all bad." She replied. "Why, you wanna play? 'Cause it'd probably cost you less to just let me wipe the floor with you at blackjack." She slyly smirked.

"Um, no thank you." I said, shaking my head.

There were a lot of ponies milling around outside the buildings. The ones that weren't engaged in games were slumped against walls, I could hear the sounds of a fight echoing off the walls of a nearby alley. I grimaced as we carried on past. I couldn't see anything, but from the sound of it somepony was going to be hurting in the morning.

I clocked on that MD was flitting her eyes back. Turning her head just a little, tacitly trying to glance behind her, watching our blind spot. I tilted my head quizzically, she nodded towards an alley in return. I dutifully followed her into the dimly lit passage, walls boxing off the daylight. The bustle of the town faded into the background as our steps echoes off the close walls. Three sets of hoofsteps, and I couldn't see anypony in front of us. MD sighed and rolled her eyes before stomping a hoof to the ground. "Can I help you?" MD grunted, stopping in her tracks and whipping her head around. Behind us was a scruffy looking old unicorn stallion, gaunt and weathered, wearing tattered rags. I had no idea how long he'd been following us, or how long MD had known we were being followed.

"Spare a cap?" He spluttered, spittle flying from his gap filled mouth.

"No, sorry pal, can't help you." She snorted.

"Aw, you sure? See, me and the boys all heard about your last visit, we figured you'd have plenty to go around." He pressed, taking a small step towards us. I took a step back away on instinct.

"I got nothing, I can't help you, get it?" MD pressed back, voice raised.

"Oh bullshit, moneybags!" He shouted back, pulling a large metal pipe from under his clothes and making towards us. "Now fork it over, if you want to keep those pretty legs of yours working!"

I stumbled backwards as he advanced. Make Do, however, stood her ground, floating out her shotgun from its concealed position under her saddlebags and pressing it to the stallions throat, stopping him in his tracks. "You really want to try this, old man?" She jerked the gun barrel into his neck as if to emphasise the point.

The stallion swallowed and the glow around his horn faded away, letting the makeshift weapon clang loudly to the floor.

"That's what I thought." MD said flatly, pulling the gun away but keeping it trained on him.

"Fuck you, asshole." He spat, rearing up and turning back down the alley and disappearing around the corner.

"Whatever." MD huffed, putting her gun away.

I was an uncomfortable combination of frightened and bewildered. Was that at attempted mugging? It was over almost as quickly as it had started. How long had that pony been stalking us? I'd been totally unaware the whole time, for all I knew he could have been following us since we came through the gate. MD had clearly picked up on it, though, and didn't even seem that phased. I wasn't sure how she wasn't even a little shaken that somepony was willing to bash us in over a 'cap', but I guessed she'd been around the block so to speak. Was MD really prepared to shoot a pony? She'd pointed a gun at me a few times, but never actually fired. I had hoped in the back of my mind that it was only a deterrent, I don't think I could handle seeing anypony actually getting shot. Corpses were grisly, but witnessing a murder doesn't even bear thinking about.

"Come on, let's keep moving before he comes back with friends." MD gestured, pointing her snout back the way we came. I did as I was told and followed her as we trotted the same path as the stallion, but turning the other way back out onto the street.

"W-what was that all about?" I pressed, keeping a nervous lookout for anypony else who might try and approach us. I glanced down to make sure my pistol was still there.

"Somepony tryna make some quick cash. Not that I've got anything worth his while." She sighed. "Remeber what I said about that not stopping them?"

"It sounded like he thought you were rich." I prodded. MD softly nickered at that.

"Oh, look, we're here!" She announced, ignoring me and diverting course towards a shabby looking, nondescript, squat concrete building. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be getting in off the street, away from any more encounters.

MD nosed the door open and I followed in after her. The interior was messy, not quite as 'thrown together' looking as MD's place, but it had definitely seen better days. The wooden floor was very well worn and covered in stains, pits and splits. The walls were dirty and the ceiling was flaky, but at least it looked like somebody had tried to keep the place clean. There was a large wooden counter in the middle of the room, and a couple of old looking chairs under the storefront windows, which were miraculously intact, if well past due for a cleaning. Behind the counter was a very large noticeboard covered in scraps of paper, but I couldn't make out anything written on any of them.

"Hellooooo?" MD yelled, tapping a hoof on the counter top, which I thought was exceptionally rude. It seemed to have done the job though, as I could hear something stirring from the room behind the counter. The side door swung open, and a large, very vibrantly purple unicorn mare stepped out, looking particularly unimpressed to see us.

"Oh. It's you." She said, kicking the door closed and trotting to the counter, leaning on the surface and resting her head on her hooves. "What do you want?"

"Uh, to finish the job? I got all the things requested in here." MD said, gesturing to her saddlebag.

"Oh, goody, hopefully you'll be out of my mane quickly then." The mare said flippantly, bringing out a worn looking binder from under the counter and flipping it to a marked page. "Vacuum tubes?"

"Yep." MD nodded and pulled the flap of her saddlebags open, levitating out a load of pretty shiny and fresh looking glass thingies. "Two 12AT7s, four 12AX7s, and four 6L6GCs, all tested and working. What are these even going into, anyway?"

"Don't know, don't care. Just give them to me, then you can get paid and go away." The mare said, tapping a hoof impatiently.

"Fine, whatever." MD rolled her eyes and placed the tubes down on the counter, the mare picked them up and put them below, along with the binder.

"And your other contract? Ministry data retrieval? The client has been waiting a while for that." She asked, looking over her snout, rapping a hoof impatiently.

"Uh, that's going to have to be a negative on that one Violene, I ran into... complications." MD replied, giving me a very awkward sideways look. I smiled a sheepish smile in apology.

"Fucked it, alright then." Violene sighed, crossing out an entry in the binder. MD stared flatly at the ceiling.

"Okay, the vacuum tube job is all paid out, 200 caps total, your share is 125." She said, fishing out a small paper bag labelled '100', and open a small tin with her magic. She floated out a load of bottle caps? They looked like bottle caps to me. "And that's the 25."

I tilted my head in confusion. This had to be some of the wackiest bartering I'd ever seen. What good were bottle caps? I could only assume that MD had a use for them because she seemed more than happy to take them. Her hoof was batted away before she could grab them, though. "And what do you think you're doing with those?" She huffed.

"Taking my pay, what else?" MD frowned, rubbing her hoof.

"I don't think so, if you'll remember the contract for the data retrieval job —which I know must be quite taxing for you— that job paid half in advance. Now unless you have some caps to give back, I'm going to be keeping this as part of your repayment." She explained with a slimy grin, clearly reveling a little in this exchange. "And when can I expect the rest of the money back?"

"Well, the thing is, it wasn't really my fault that I couldn't finish the job, so..."

"Oh, but you were still more than happy to blow all the caps at The Black Caviar, no? What was it, everything on red or did you whittle it down on cheap booze and slots? Perhaps you should have thought for a second before flushing all the money away and you wouldn't be having this problem now." Violene laughed humourlessly, looking at MD down her snout. "I knew you were stupid but this is rich even for you."

"Screw you!" MD snarled through gritted teeth, nostrils flared. I genuinely couldn't tell if she was about to do something rash. I was incredibly uncomfortable being stuck in the middle of this.

"Now now, luckily for you I have a job here that specifically requested you. And since I'm so fair and just, I'll let you take it, even though you just came into my shop and disrespected me. I suggest you take it." Violene said cooly, holding a folded note in her magic. "So why don't you take your little friend there and get to work. I'm not a charity and I doubt the client is particularly interested in waiting. Honestly you're lucky I don't just blacklist you on the spot."

MD snatched the note away and shoved it in one of her pockets, snorting as she did. "Come on Silver, let's get out of here."

"Oh, Silver, is it?" Violene called after me, my ears perking to attention. "Do be wary around Make Do, she's got a bit of a problem with running her mouth, I'd hate to see you dragged down with her. And Make Do, a 'thank you' would be nice."

"Go to Tartarus you hag!" MD yelled back, slamming the door wide open and storming out.

"Hey, wait for me!" I called, pushing the door closed and cantering to catch her up outside. MD was already trudging down the street. "What just happened?"

"So much for buying supplies. Bucking Violene!" She hissed. "I hate that her so much, who does that bitch think she is?"

"I-I mean, from what she says it kind of sounds like you took the money."

"The job paid in advance, that was payment!"

"Yeah but usually when somepony pays part in advance it's because they expect the job to get done." I pointed out. "Did you read the contract?"

"Oh no, don't start with this." She borderline snarled, clearly frustrated. "Of course I read the contract! In fact I could march right back and finish the job right now if I hadn't already agreed to help you with the other pony in the basement! So don't even start!"

I recoiled a little, those words were pointed. I think she could tell I was a but stung because she softened slightly.

"I'm sorry, I just hate dealing with Violene." She sighed, pausing and staring up at the sky. Honestly finishing the job hadn't crossed my mind since we met, I'm mad I forgot about it. Gonna need a way to pay this off quick."

"What if we cloned the data? So you could complete the contract and we'd still have a copy to work with?" I suggested.

"Nah, now that I know what the data actually is, I don't think it's a good idea to give it out to just anypony. It's probably best that we get it to a scientist or mage or something as soon as we can. Besides the write port on this thing is busted." She rebutted, gesturing to her PipBuck. "It needs a full service, but it's not like there's any certified PipBuck technicians just wandering around the wasteland."

"Well, what about that new job?"

MD huffed and pulled the crumpled note out from her front pocket, almost pantomiming the degree to which she didn't want to do it. She scowled at the piece of paper, scanning it over before crumpling it up and shoving it in her saddlebags.

"Any good?"

"I guess." She kicked at a loose pebble as she spoke. "More data retrieval, needs doing today. Pay is... alright."

"So why don't we start with that and work it out?" I offered. "We can split it up from one big problem to smaller ones, it'll be easier to manage that way."

"Sure, I guess that makes sense." She conceded, punting the pebble away. "Guess it'll still be work experience for you, too. Maybe if we scratch the pavillion and head there now we'll still be able to catch the announcement."

"See, we can do this!" I encouraged, smiling at her. "Let's get this done, listen to the announcement, and then we can work out the best way to get this all payed back." She'd helped me out, the least I could do was help out in return. The circumstances may have been pretty vastly different (I'd like to think I wasn't so wreckless with my finances), but I knew what it was like to owe money, and it wasn't pleasant.

"Let's go then, we can cut through the other side of town, saves us fighting the crowd."

"So, where exactly are we going?" I asked, cantering alongside the Unicorn.

"Sewerside, it's a little shithole a couple of miles northeast from here."

"Sewerside?"

"Yeah yeah, I know." She rolled her eyes. "But that's where the caps are today."

Hearing 'caps' yet again caused my ear to twitch. "Do you get paid in bottle caps?"

"Usually, yeah." She nodded.

"Why?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Beats me, it's just what everypony uses."

"Why?"

"I dunno, Silv, I'm not claiming to understand why things are the way they are, I'm just showing you how it is."

This seemed... silly. What exactly was so bad about bits that collectively they were replaced by the cheapest, flimsiest, most worthless metal possible?

"And how many 'caps' do you need to pay back to Violene?"

"5000 minus that 125." MD answered, clicking her tounge.

Ouch. Okay, maybe worse than I had thought, but not totally unmanageable.

We were coming up to the perimeter wall again, and I could already see the gate. Not as big as the one we came in through, but still hard to miss. There was a rather bored looking guard sat in the crumbling ruins of an old store with some kind of wooden scaffolding on the roof, and across the street there was an old stallion sat next to a table hawking something or other to nopony inparticular. The guard's ears perked up as we approached, she stood up and trotted out to meet us.

"Well well, if it isn't MD, how ya doin'?" She asked with a thick, southern drawl.

"Tacit." MD nodded.

"Ah ah ah, I'm on duty, it's Officer Blue, even to friends." She replied with a smile. She was a large and well built earth pony, and had a pale sandy coat and a grey mane with a muted green streak running through it. Her eyes fell on me as she finished talking. "And speaking of friends, who's this?"

"Silver, Tacit. Tacit, Silver." MD said, gesturing between both of us.

"Howdy, I'm Officer Blue, can't say I've seen you 'round these parts before." She said, adjusting her cap.

"Yes, well, I suppose I'm new to the area." I smiled. It wasn't technically a lie.

"Well, it's nice ta' meetcha." She grinned. "I'm usually posted on this here gate, so you'll probably see me around."

"And on that subject." MD butted in. "Mind opening the gate up? We got places to be."

"Sure, sure, you just make sure to come back and splash some caps around again, ya'll are the talk of the town!"

MD groaned. Officer Blue tilted her head in confusion, but didn't press any further. Instead she walked back over to the gate and swung it open for us, waving as we passed. Now back outside the walls of Fortune, I didn't know if I felt any safer or not. I guess we were technically back our in the wide open, but also the only time I'd actually felt in any real danger was within the town walls.

"Safe travels!" The mare called out as the gate closed behind us with a clunk. There were no exterior guards on this entrance for whatever reason. I could see Officer Blue's head peak over the top of the wall, apparently for one last wave from the wooden frame. Makes sense that they'd have some kind of viewing platform if they weren't going to have anypony outside.

We set off again down the street, turning off at a crossroads and making our way north, I think. The road was in noticeably worse shape than inside of Fortune, but I guess that was to be expected. Just ahead of us was a group of ponies coming the other way, presumably heading into Fortune. There were four of them, two out in front with weapons, one behind them, and... something was pulling a cart. It looked like a cow, broad and lumbering, sickly like a lot of the creatures I'd seen so far, but it had two heads.

Two heads. How did that even work, biologically speaking? I gawped as we passed each other, one of the heads giving me an intense side eye.

"Hey, maybe we could get you a job with a caravan!" MD says. "Pretty stable work if you can get it."

"Yeah... maybe..." I said aloud, not paying particular attention to her, still transfixes by the multiheaded bovine. Clearly I had a lot more to learn about before worrying about my potential future employers. Priorities and all that.

We were trotting along what was once a coastal road, but was now just a massive collection of potholes. Somewhere off to my right was the beach, but the weather had taken a turn for the murky and it was difficult to see down to the shoreline. This must have been a scenic route at one point because there weren't nearly as many buildings lining the road. The skyline still loomed over us to the left, but we were just far enough away that there was still wide open space.

I assumed that this was a path less travelled, because I couldn't see anypony else on the road. Although to be fair, I hadn't seen all that many ponies outside of Fortune at all, just a couple of stragglers and caravans, and hearing the distant pops of a faraway firefight at one point. I stuck close to MD after that.

We walked in amiable silence, and it wasn't long before we came upon a little bridge. However, rather than carrying on over it, MD veered off the side of the road, heading towards the embankment. I followed her cautiously, paying extra attention to where I was stepping, I could really do without slipping and rolling down the slope.

After a little while the muddy ground gave way to old concrete. It looked like were were walking into a storm drain, for some reason. There were a few little scrappy shacks set up under the bridge. It became clear that the middle of the bridge had collapsed, explaining why we were coming down here in the first place. The shacks were set up surrounding the pile of rubble from the fallen roadway, and a little crudely painted wooden sign read 'Welcome to Sewerside'.

"See, told you it wasn't as bad as the name sounds." MD chirped.

I spared a glance around. Make Do wasn't exaggerating when she said it was a little town. I'm not even sure you could call it a village. There wasn't really all that much here, four or five small shacks, a larger one on the far side, and a small pen full of mud. It looked like they were growing vegetables or something. There wasn't anypony around at the moment. It was a little depressing to be honest.

"I suppose it'd be hard for it to be as bad as it sounded, because there's nothing here." I commented unimpressed.

"Yeah, there's not a whole lot to look at. Wicked bar though."

"I'll take your word for that..."

"Anyway, building's just on the other bank there, should only take me five or ten minutes to get what we need." MD said, gesturing to a building on the other side of the storm drain. It was a bland, beige-ish building, four storeys tall. Apart from broken windows and chipped paint, it didn't seem to be in that bad a state. There was a billboard on the top, but whatever it was advertising had long since deteriorated to the point of being unreadable.

MD started scaling up the opposite bank, I stuck close behind her. It was pretty hard to get proper purchase on the concrete, but we just about managed.

We came around the front, revealing the shopfront. 'Steady Step Auto-Farriers' the sign over the door read. There was a huge rusted horse shoe hanging from the roof, and I didn't entirely trust it not to fall off. It really didn't help that it creaked in the breeze. The sooner we were out of it's way the better.

"This place was mostly picked clean ages ago, so there's not a lot to hunt around for. Still, might be worth having a look around while I get the data off the terminals, test your scavenging skills!" MD explained as she shouldered the front door open and trotted inside. "I'll head up to the offices, you- ACKH!"

I jumped back in shock as the butt of a floating gun made itself acquainted with MD's face. She splayed out on the floor, but she wasn't down and out just yet. She grabbed her own gun with her magic, but a large, uniformed stallion delivered a swift kick to her temple that sent her sliding across the ground. She was groggy but still made for her gun before another smack finally knocked her out cold.

He turned and looked at me, the gun he used to hit MD swinging around in his magical aura. I was frozen to the spot. What was I meant to do? MD said this was supposed to be an easy job!

"Hey, there's somepony else with her!" He bellowed.

"Shit, grab them too!" Another voice called back.

He took this as a cue to actually aim the gun at me, and then he started stomping towards me. Oh fuck, oh shit, what was I supposed to do?! There was a big pony coming to get me, and he really wasn't far away. This was very, very bad!

Gun! I have a gun too!

I craned my neck down and shakily grabbed the pistol out of it's holster, but by the time I looked back up, he was right in front of me. The gun he was carrying raised up over me. My eyes went wide and I shook my head 'no', but he ignored me, and the weapon came down on my head.

Everything went black.

I've had killer hangovers before, I've fallen and hit my head before, but this was on another level. It felt like my skull was cracked open. Tartarus, for all I knew it was cracked open!

I forced my eyes open and tried to raise a hoof to my head to inspect the damage, but I couldn't budge an inch. I tried again, attempting to pull my forelegs forward, but it was no good. My legs had been tied. Oh Celestia, I'd been kidnapped! I'd actually been kidnapped!

Thoroughly panicked, I started looking around to see where I was. I didn't recognise anything, not that I could see a whole lot. It looked like I was in the back of an old covered cart, and if the creaking and rocking were anything to go by, I was on the move. I tried to shout, scream, anything, but quickly found out I'd been gagged as well. Gods above I hoped whatever they'd stuck in my mouth was clean.

I struggled for a little bit, but it was no good, these guys clearly knew what they were doing. Which was terrifying. Even a half baked kidnapping attempt was scary enough, but a professional job? Who knew what else these ponies were capable of?

What did they even want from me? The stallion seemed surprised to see me when he knocked MD out, so they clearly weren't after me. But why did they want MD? And why did they knock me out too?

MD! Where was she? I couldn't see her, had they taken me alone? Oh Celestia this was worse than I thought. What could I do by myself? I started tearing up as my mind inevitably jumped to the worst possible conclusion. The cart jolted and something sharp jabbed my right between my shoulders. Something was behind me, something hard. I prayed that it wasn't somepony pressing a gun to my back, but I just couldn't tell.

Tears welled up in my eyes, trailing down the side of my face to the wooden boards below. I'd have been gasping if I could open my mouth. I wanted to go home. Home home, before any of this, before the death and destruction. Away from this horrible future.

Another bump in the road caused whatever was behind me to stab at me again, hard. I moaned and scrunched my eyes closed. The rocking of the cart slowed and then halted, it'd stopped. I kept my eyes fixed on the tarp flap, terrified of who or what might be coming for me.

"Hey, it's Cosmos, open the gate!" A stallion shouted from outside.

"What's the password?" Another yelled back from somewhere further away.

"Buck you! Open the fucking gate or Swarfega will tan your fucking hide!" The first stallion retorted.

"Alright brown nose, keep your tail on!" Another replied, a mare this time.

"Don't make me come up there!" The first shouted again, apparently getting angrier by the moment.

"And what, make you do some actual fucking work for a change? The gate's open when it's open!" The mare scoffed. There was a big clank and an odd whirring sound, followed by the creaky sounds of protesting metal.

"Actual fucking work? That's rich coming from you, all you do is sit on your ass all day! I've been out there busting my balls to get this job done!" The first voice snarled.

"Oh wowee, big stallion managed to catch a little filly! What, like I'm meant to suck your dick about it? Fuck you, get inside before I lock you out."

"Just you wait, I'll be talking to your CO about this!" The first voice said as the whirring stopped and the cart started to move again.

"Hah, like he cares! I'm not scared of you."

The cart slowly jostled forwards and the whirring sound started again, the light from outside faded down. Wherever they were taking me, I was inside now. The cart shuddered and rattled, moving past clangs and vague conversations, shadows playing on the light shining through the aged fabric covering the bed we were in. My imagination started to run again. There's not much scarier than not knowing, and I had absolutely nothing on my side in this situation.

After a few very long minutes the cart stopped again. There was more yelling to somepony working another door or gate or something, and with a now decidedly slower roll, the cart passed inside, the already dull light filtering through the fabric now giving way to darkness. We stopped for the last time, and I could hear the sound of hitches, clips, clacks, and hoofsteps. Somepony was coming to the cart door, my eyes tracked the sound of their movement as they slowly made their way around.

The sickly glow of pale olive coloured magic pulled back the fabric flap from the back of the cart. Cast in shadow, a tall, grimy looking Unicorn was stood in the gap, a smaller Earth pony mare behind him. They were both dull shades of brown, and they were wearing matching black clothes. He had definitely been through it, his face was marred and battle hardened, missing one ear and having stitches across his brow. My breath hitched in my throat. I couldn't do anything but stare.

"Hello, Make Do." He said, with a hideous grin. He was missing both his front teeth. Make Do? They've got the wrong pony! His smile gave way to confusion when he saw me. "Who the fuck is this?" He asked, turning to the earth pony.

"Fuck if I know, the guys picked her up with the prisoner." She replied unenthused, sounding not so much lethargic, as so much disinterested. The unicorn's smile slowly crept back.

"Ah, you made a friend?' He sneered. "Good, you're going to need the help after we're through."

I struggled as his horn lit up again, except I didn't feel the touch of his magic. The green hue was dimly lighting the cart from behind me, dragging something forward. A bewildered looking MD slowly levitated over me, tail dragging across my barrel. She was in here with me the whole time? Selfishly, I was a little glad to not be in this situation alone. He carelessly flopped her to the ground, I heard her hit the floor but didn't see her below the cart bed.

"Okay then, let's get moving. Swarfega's expecting you."

His magic aura grabbed at my throat and pulled me to the edge of the cart bed. I struggled to breathe as he dragged me off and to the floor, falling in a heap beside MD, rolling onto my side and groaning in pain, stars popping up in my vision. Her face was swolen and bruised, and she seemed out of it, like she'd just woken up. The unicorn's glow danced around us, releasing the binds on our hooves. I only now noticed and inhibitor ring on MD's horn.

"Ghet hup." Said the mare, words slurred as she jabbed a pistol into the nape of my neck. I sharply inhaled and shakily struggled up.

"On your hooves, wouldn't want to keep the boss waiting now, would we?" The stallion said, grabbing MD's ear in his magic and drawing her forwards as she growled in protest, stumbling over herself.

"Moovf." The mare said. I didn't need to be told twice. I limped forwards, sniffling and shaking.

The stallion led us through a grimy looking building, maybe once some kind of carriage factory in another life. It was crumbling but had clearly been somewhat maintained and repurposed, the floors free of debris and walls patched, long dormant machinery stripped for parts and removed, replaced with what seemed to be spaces for bunks, shooting ranges, piles of crates and old electronics.

There were other ponies here watching us being escorted. Mostly Earth ponies, all wearing black jumpsuits, most with guns. A militia?

We turned a corner and the unicorn kicked open a door, leading us outside. The ground was soggy and the path we were on was well worn. Ragged canvas tents lined the way either side of us, flapping in the breeze, and up ahead were what looked like bleachers built from rusted scrap. There were more ponies with guns milling around here, it looked almost like a courtyard of some kind.

Public execution sprang to mind, and my mind went blank. I was sweating profusely and jittering with adrenaline. The cool metal of the pistol was still pressed against my fur. I didn't dare make a single wrong move. I wanted to beg, for mercy, to be let go, to tell them they'd gotten the wrong pony, but I couldn't remove the gag from my jaw.

MD was trudging her way behind the Unicorn, ear still firmly in his grasp. As we got closer to the courtyard, I noticed that there was a group of ponies watching us as we made our way towards them, maybe a few less than a couple of dozen. They were talking to a bright green Unicorn wearing a peaked cap, who seemed to be watching us intently, cigarette hanging limply from his lips. I really didn't like the way he was looking at us. Smirking almost knowingly. He was sat on a large crate, tracking us as we closed the distance. As we drew closer it became clear we were being led directly to him. MD was thrown to the floor, and before I had time to react, a swift buck to the flank sent me following her, both of us ending up in a dirty puddle. I came up breathless, cold, dirty water dripping from my chest and neck. The stallion pushed himself from his perch and trotted over slowly, intently, lowering his head to MD's level and giving her a cold facsimile of a smile.

"Hello, Make Do." He croaked, blowing a cloud of smoke in her face. She scowled at him as best as she could, but I could see the fear in her eyes. He held her gaze for a moment before turning to me, dead yellow irises boring into me. "And you brought company, how pleasant."

For what felt like forever he stared right into my soul, close enough that I could almost count the strands of hair in his mane. He had a very large scar running all the way down his face, notching his top lip. He was wiry and tall, even his horn was long, almost looking like it'd been sharpened to a point. His gaze was piercing, there was no light behind his eyes. I didn't realise I was holding my breath until he turned away, snorting.

"I'm sure you're wondering why these fine ponies to brought you in today. Truth be told I'm a busy stallion so sometimes I forget the small details. It's a good thing I've got this kind officer here to remind me precisely why we wanted to see you today."

"Breach of contract, Swarfega sir." Barked a gangly, if surprisingly well groomed looking unicorn.

"Ah, that's right, breach of contract." He parrotted. "Breach of contact, thank you officer."

He turned and paced infront of us both, slowly going back an forth in a small circle.

"See, by my reckoning it's been about three weeks since you were paid for a data retrieval job. Now, that's the best part of a month, isn't it Miss Do?" He turned to face her, head low, looking her right in the eyes, snout to snout. MD could do nothing but stare back. "Officer Bantam, could you kindly remind me of the exact wording specified in the contract, please?"

"Five days from acceptance. Half of payment made up front, half to follow upon receipt of goods. Advance to be returned in the event of non-completeion, Swarfega sir."

Oh no.

"Thank you, Bantam. Five days. Isn't that interesting? That's a damn sight less that three weeks, wouldn't you agree?"

MD glared at him, eliciting a single, bone dry chuckle. Suddenly he swung a mean right hook straight to her face, sending her crumpled back into the puddle below. I winced instinctively, squeaking, scared out of my mind. He stood above MD for a moment before pulling her up out of the mud, holding her by the jaw with his magic. "Three weeks, Make Do, and we paid you in advance! Now call it naieve if you'd like, but it seemed to me like we were doing you a favour, giving you all those caps prior, PRIOR! To completing the job. Now tell me was the other half not incentive enough or did you really think that we'd be too stupid to care? Maybe you thought you'd stick us, hm? Or maybe you just chose to ignore the non-completion cause?"

He tossed her aside like litter, splaying her out sideways on the floor as the crowd looked on, swiftly stomping down on her. I looked from face to leering face, nopony was shocked by this. Some of them even looked bored. This was nothing to them.

"Your reputation preceeds you, you know. When the broker told us that it was the great Make Do who'd picked up the job, I have to say I was relieved, glad that we'd be in good hooves. You can imagine my disappointment when we were left high and dry. Now not being able to finish the job is fine, it happens, but most ponies would have the common courtesy to return the money."

MD was roughly brought back up to her hooves by one of the ponies who brought us here, gently swaying in place. My heart was beating out of my chest as I watched this Swarfega pace slowly and deliberately.

"Still, it was good of Violene to play ball in getting you to us. Bad news for you is you've fucked around with the wrong ponies, Miss Do. It's one thing to run off with our money, but to not even have the decency to lay low afterwards is almost insulting. But, hey, you know what happens to ponies who fuck around, don't you?" He turned around and bucked her in the ribs, MD yelped through the gag, tears streaming down her face. Two stallions in uniform held her up as Swarfega unleashed a flurry of blows to her barrel, her muffled groans dissipating into the air. With one final double legged strike to her chest he calmy stood back. "They find out."

I was almost choking on my own fear by this point. This was torture, plain and simple, in broad daylight! I stood quivering, being as still as I could manage, deathly aware of the weapon still pressed up against me.

"I'm not an unreasonable stallion, Miss Do. We paid you good money for a service you didn't provide, I'm sure you can understand why I'm a tad upset. It's hard for us to play our part right when there a snakes like you around letting us down. Gentlecolts." He nodded to the stallions holding MD in place. They let her go, and she flopped limply to the mud. Swarfega lowered himself almost to her level and pressed a pistol to her head, clutching it with his magic, forcing it against her skull. Keeping the gun in place he turned his head to face me. "Now who might you be, hm? Business partner maybe? Wife? Whore?"

He thrust the barrel of the gun against MD's temple, pushing her head. "Whoever you are, I hope you really take this all in. You know what they say about stupid games and stupid prizes." He pulled her head up by her mane and repeatedly pistol whipped her across the jaw. I could see some of the dirty white fabric of the gag in her mouth start to stain red.

I wanted nothing more than for this to all stop. He was going to kill her, and Celestia knows what they would do to me.

"Well, stranger, I'd really hate to have to give you the same treatment as Miss Do here, especially as by all accounts you've got nothing to do with this whole situation." He addressed me, gesturing to MD's beaten and bloodied face. "But that doesn't mean we can't treat this as a warning, does it? And hey, I wouldn't be sending much of a message if let you get off totally scott free now, would I?"

My vision was blurred with tears. I had no idea what he meant by any of that but I knew that none of it was good.

"You see, it's to Miss Do's immense great fortune that I can't just kill her, as much as I would like to." He continued, turning back to MD. "See, if we're not getting the service we paid for, we need our deposit back. Plus intrest, of course. Can't run an army on ideals alone"

MD unsteadily rose up to a sitting position, swaying and bleary.

"Of course, Make Do has proven to be less than trustworthy, so we can hardly have her running around free as the wind, can we?" He smiled at us both, before carefully removing MD's gag, keeping his gun trained on her the whole time. "Now tell me Miss Do, you're a business owner so I'm sure you can see where we're coming from, what would you do in my situation?"

"Fuck you and the cum soaked bitch you rode in on." MD grunted, spitting out blood. "You Red Rein fucks don't deserve shit."

"Wrong answer." He grunted, wrapping the gag around her neck and pulling, causing her to choke.

I tried to cower away, turn and hide, close my eyes, but foreign hooves held me in place by force. Why was this happening? Why didn't she just give them the data?!

"Your friend here looks scared, Miss Do, can't say I blame her. Come on now, I'm not going to hurt you, I have no particular qualms with you." He laughed. "Shit, I don't even know who you are! I have to say though, you keep... unfortunate company."

"Screw- you, guh, let us- go!" MD gurgled, futilely wriggling to get free. Swarfega rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to her.

"Come now Miss Do, I'm just accommodating our guest!" He sighed. "Besides, you're hardly in any position to be making demands."

The glow around his horn intensified as his pull on MD's neck grew tighter, her eyes growing wilder as she desperately panted, unable to free herself from the makeshift garotte. He was killing her!

"As I was saying-" He interjected, unmoved. "Since you're a proven scab, I've not got a lot of confindence that you'd make this fuck up right by your own devices. Bantam, be a dear and fetch us a couple of those collars Ripple has been working on, won't you?"

He dropped the rag just as MD's face was starting to turn blue, shuddering as she sucked in air. The stallion 'Bantam' trotted off to who knows where as Swarfega paraded in front of us both.

"I take no pleasure in this, I really don't." He shook his head before stubbing out his cigarette on MD's neck, eliciting a breathless yelp from the mare. "I hope you've been paying close attention stranger, I'd hate for you to find yourself in Miss Do's position."

I whimpered. MD was not in a good way, her face was swolen and her mouth was bleeding, she was shaking and heaving on the floor, covered in cold, wet mud. This was sick. These ponies were sick.

"See, we have a mission, and unfortunately it's ponies like Miss Do-"

"FUCK- YOU-" She yowled.

"You're stubborn, I'll give you that." Swrafega grunted, coming down hard on her back, bending her backwards and pushing her down further into the mire. "Where was I? The mission- ah Bantam, much obliged."

Bantam trotted over with a couple of drab looking metal boxes which appeared like they've seen better days, dented and paint flaking.

"Now then ladies, here's how things are going to go. It's all well and good me telling you you're going back out there to get our money back, but Miss Do has already proven she has absolutely no respect for the binds of her contract." He taunted MD, pulling her by the scruff of her neck up into a semi-standing position. "I could send one of our fine mares or stallions out to accompany you to make sure the job is done, but they've all got better things to do see, that's how come we hired you in the first place. But these, well that's a different story." Swarfega grinned. "Officer Bantam, would you kindly leave me those boxes so I can show our guests here how we keep ponies in line."

Bantam placed the boxes on the floor in front of us, and with a flick of his horn Swarfega unlatched the lids on both of them, turning his attention to me as he did.

"Now, I don't really know who you are so this is nothing personal between me and you, but Miss Do here has proven herself an enemy of the cause. And you see, the friend of my enemy is my enemy."

Swarfega's horn lit up again, and from the inside of the boxes he pulled out two chunky looking metal collars. MD's eyes went wide.

"We've tried the velvet rope, you've had the iron rod, now for the bridle. One of our magitech whizzes modified these, all rigged to go but with a programmable timer. Didn't see much use for them at first, but you know what? I think they'll be perfect for this job. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what they are." He groused. I had no idea what he was talking about, but MD was shaking her head.

"N-no, no no! N-n-not this! I-I can-"

"YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" Swarfega roared, a sudden and stark departure from his cool and disconnected act. "You had your chance, you have had more than enough time! You do NOT get a say in this! You chose the path you chose, and this is where it got you. Stupid games, stupid prizes! Guards, hold them both please."

I was roughly forced down onto my haunches, magic firmly planting all my hooves to the ground and keeping my head facing dead ahead. I had no idea what was happening.

"Violene tells me that you took our pre-payment straight to the casino, so I'm sure with your winnings you won't have any trouble scraping enough up to pay us back, say, oh I don't know, 750% of your initial fee?" He pondered as MD's eyes went wide. "Now, I'm not unreasonable, I'm not expecting a miracle, a week should be more than enough-"

"A WEEK?? No no, that's no way enough time-"

"You have had MORE than enough FUCKING time. You'll have a fucking week." Swarfega snapped. "A week, 168 hours. I suggest you both make note of the time and get your shit together."

Moving in his sickly glow, the collar passed under my chin. Once it sat at the base of my neck it clamped closed uncomfortably tight and beeped twice. It was heavy and restrictive, cold against my fur.

"All set. They're linked and arcanolocked by the way, so no funny business. One goes, you both go." He smirked, drawing a hoof across his neck. The implication hit me like a ton of bricks and made me feel physically ill. "Oh, and Violene kindly told us where you live, so don't even think about trying anything. A week. Bring back our money and just maybe I'll do something about those collars if you catch me on a good day. GO." Swarfega shouted. The hold around my body released, and I sagged down. MD stumbled, unstable on her hooves. The guards all stood back, smirking and jeering. Now free to move I pulled the gag free of my mouth, gasping.

"M-MD, w-w-what is this? What's happening?" I bleated, tilting my head to try and get a better look at the collar.

"Swarfega you ass, a week is not enough, I-I-I can't possibly-" MD started.

"If you don't like it, you know what the other option is." He replied, once again perched on the crate. "Now, I said GO! Unless you want me to set those things off now."

"Fuck fuck fuck!" MD stammered, panic starting to set in. "Silver we have to go."

"W-what's happening? P-please tell me, I'm scared."

"Not now. Come on, we have to move-agh!" MD was limping, struggling to walk properly after the battering she'd endured.

"What's going on? A-are you alri-"

"SILVER. We're leaving, NOW." She was practically dragging herself back the way we'd been walked in, desperate and laboured, grunting and groaning. "W-we have to get, ack! Out of here."

I was planted to the spot, overwhelmed. Fear, confusion, the almost expectant stares from the sadists in the crowd. Swarfega bridged his forehooves and was staring down his nose at me like I was an idiot. I was frozen.

"SILVER, FUCKING MOVE!" Make Do shouted furiously. I'd not heard that tone from her before, it sort of snapped me out of my stupor. I ran over to her and she led me back through the door. "You move when I tell you to move, understand?" She said, pointedly, as if I was a misbehaving child. "Fucking Swarfega, fucking Red Rein, FUCK."

I followed as she staggered towards an open gate, a guard laughing as we approached. We crossed out of the compound and out into the open, a derelict industrial area that was heavily fortified, maybe the Canter area? MD did not stop, struggling along the potholed road away, swaying and grunting the whole time. My mind was racing, just wanting go put distance between us and what had just happened.

After a little while of running MD started to flag, legs buckling in a plot of open ground, collapsing. "F-fuck, adrenaline's wearing off."

I was too out of breath to reply. I hadn't noticed it until she said it, but I had been running on pure adrenaline too. I wobbled for a moment before falling to my haunches, putting all my weight against what was left of an old power pole, panting and trembling, head pounding, ears ringing.

A few scrapes aside I didn't seem too worse for wear. My temples were throbbing, but I had no way of seeing what condition my head was in, I'd have to take a look later. It felt like everything was where it should be, at least. No missing teeth and ears still present, anyway.

MD was not looking so hot. She was covered small cuts and bruises, battered and blodied, filthy, and her lighter eye was swolen shut. Her whole snout was dark red with blood, trailing down her chin to her chest.

"Stars, are you okay?" I asked. I didn't really know what to say, she obviously wasn't okay.

"F-fucking Violene." MD huffed, spitting. "I can't believe that bitch is working with those pricks!"

"What in Equestria is going on? W-w-what was all of that? What is THIS?!" I asked, pulling at the horribly uncomfortable metal collar. They both beeped in response.

"STOP!!" MD yelp, quickly sitting up. I pulled my hoof away and the beeping stopped. She sighed in relief. "Luna's teats..." She ran her hooves through her mane, breathing in deeply, eyes closed.

"Shit. Shit shit shit!"

"MD please, what in Tartarus is going on?"

"What's going on Silver is that I've seriously fucked us both and if we don't get our shit together we're both going to wind up without a head." She said flatly, if deflated.

"W-w-w-what do you mean 'without a head?'"

"I mean if I don't get those bastards the caps they want when they want these collars are gonna explode and leave both of us absent from the neck up." MD sounded a lot more stern now. "That's what I mean. We need to get to work right now or we're going to... die."

Instantly blank. Sheer blind panic hit me like a tidal wave.

"Look, I know this is-"

"MD get this thing off of me, I don't want to die!" I started desperately pulling at the collar, causing them both to start beeping angrily again.

"SILVER CALM THE FUCK DOWN YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US BOTH!" Make Do roared, grabbing my forehooves and forcing them back down. The beeping again stopped. "Celestia above Silver, they're rigged to blow if you try take them off! We're linked, if you lose your head, I lose mine too."

"C-c-calm d-down‽ Make Do there's a bomb around my neck!" I wheezed, on the brink of hyperventilating. "How the F-FUCK am I supposed to calm down‽"

"Because we're going to take care of it, okay?" She snapped back. "You just need to calm down and let me think for a second!"

"Oh Celestia, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..." I was literally a walking bomb, telling me to calm down wasn't going to cut it.

"Okay, 750%, it was what, 7000 caps? "Okay, okay, we've got seven days all we need is like uh... 53,000 caps. Yeah, 52,500... Shit shit shit shit."

Make Do started breathing heavier, pushing herself up and pacing in a very small circle. I watched her nervously.

"FUCK!" She screamed, bucking the power pole, narrowly missing my head and sending splinters flying. "FUCK THAT'S SO MUCH MONEY!"

I cowered back as ahe continued kicking with apparently scant regard for me. I may not have known her very long, but this was a side to Make Do that up until now I had not seen. Angry and desperate, the pony who so far had been directing me through this grim new world now in an absolute state, lashing out and ultimately directionless by the sounds of things. To both our detriment. This was the first time since the first day I'd first woken up in her home that I felt afraid of her. Not just wary, but scared.

With a final buck the pole gave way, rotten wood snapping and collapsing down between the two of us. I wordlessly looked back and forth between the pole and Make Do. She was panting, head low.

"No, I am not letting those assholes win." She snorted. "Silver, we have work to do. Let's go. And can you get this thing off of my horn?"

I didn't dare move. She glared at me.

"Silver, come on let's go, we don't have time, we have to lose these things in seven days, get a move on."

I studied her for a moment, mind racing, thinking about the time I'd spent with her. I had allowed myself to get close to Make Do by virtue of her being the first pony to find me, but realistically the only reason I was in this horrific mess was all because of her. Could I really trust her to get me out of this when she was the only reason I was involved?

"Silver-"

"No."

"What?"

"No, whatever you're doing, I-I'm not going." I said. "I never asked for any of this, to be here, I'm only here because of you! I only have a bomb around my neck because of you! I'm so scared right now, I don't need you making things any worse." I was angry and afraid, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. "I never wanted any of this! Why should I go with you after you dragged me into this? I've been kidnapped a-and assaulted! I'M WEARING A BOMB! Oh stars, I'm going to die, I'm actually going to die!"

Make Do grabbed my snout and held my face inches away from hers, not unlike Swarfega had done to her.

"You listen to me Silver. You owe me, okay? I saved your life, I took you in. I helped you out. You ARE only here because of me, if I hadn't have found you, you'd still be rotting in that basement. You're GOING to help me out, or we both die, you understand? There is no other option."

In the time I had spent with her, I had never heard Make Do's voice be so cold. It was a calculated, callous tone with intent behind it. She was unblinking, deadly serious, looking me dead in the eyes, not allowing me to look away, scowling at me through my tears

"You're helping me, or both of us die, is that crystal fucking clear?"

She let go of my face. I stood up, not breaking eye contact. It was like I was talking to a different pony. There was no warmth to her, she barked orders like a bad cop, angry at a situation she'd engineered herself into. I had the same time she did but I didn't know where I was or what to do. I had lost what little equipment I had when I got knocked out. Without her I literally had nothing. I didn't have a choice.

I was too scared to say anything. This was all wrong but I couldn't even begin to express what I was feeling right now. Why was this happening to me?

"Come on, we're going home, we can start there. And help me get this suppresor off." Make Do said, gesturing again to the ring on her horn. "Please don't tell my dad about any of this."