Borderlands: The Stable hunters.by Wicked BassChaptersWelcome to calamity kiddosThis ain't no place for no heroDreams of a better pastThe "Doctor"An unexpected rescueSanctuaryThe theory of a madmareLyra'sbergWelcome to calamity kiddosSo you wanna here a tale,eh? One with untold riches,guns, psychos and a shitload of Dubstep? If not well then your gonna hate this story......... It all began not too long ago. When a company known as Derp began mining on this Hellhole of a planet known as "Calamity". They abandoned the planet once they mined all the resources they could find,leaving behind only some new residents for the planet to corrupt and a story.A story that would reach beyond the galaxy, a legendary vault made by the race which had inhabited the planet previously known as "Equestrians" they left many relics and ghosts of their lost civilization on Calamity and it was told that they developed a secure structure known as a "Stable" which was said to house some of the greatest treasures known to ponykind.Many ponies grew up with the tales of the legendary stable and most went out to seek it.These became known as the stable hunters, such as yourself. The alias corporation had also gotten word of this tale and moved their operations here,hoping to find the contents of the stable for themselves. Not taking the warning that the summer was coming from the locals meant most of the officials of the company made some tasty meals for the emerging fauna.What was left of the alias corporation fled leaving their workers behind for dead, and leaving the planet open for the invasion of the Hornperion corporation. The tales were confirmed true of the vault when four brave stable hunters with the aid of yours truly and an insane scientist, had opened the vault using a mechanism known as a Stable key,but were met with only disappointment from what lay inside.You see this vault was only a prison to a creature knows as a draconequus. Although nothing valuable was inside the vault, the opening triggered the growth of a priceless element "equestrium". It spread across the planet,growing at an extremely fast rate and became a well sought after item.That's where you come in. Your tale begins on a train with you, and your good friends:Twilight,Big Mac and Fluttershy....... "Hey. Wake up. Wake up! Dash!" I awoke startled "What?" "The Bus is here now,you have to get off"I heard a voice say. I assumed it was one of the guys and ignored it.I Looked outside and saw that the bus had arrived at a very modern looking building. The holographic billboard outside said 'welcome to paradise train station'.I didn't expect we'd be very welcome.We got off the bus and looked around.The beauty of the modern structures,the shimmering light on the fountains,the green grass freshly cut,the roads and pathways free from any rubbish.It reminded me of home,Before I joined the Crimson pegasai. We got off the bus,we stuck together as a group not letting our guard down and keeping a tight perimeter. The mission seemed simple enough: Hijack a train, kill all the guards,and locate and kill a mare called "handsome Applejack" who was aboard.This mare was not unknown to us though.She brought us here with promises of untold riches from the stables,etc. When we found out she had a price on her head that was bigger than any number she could come up with we decided to do the right thing and hunt her down and kill her. I enjoyed shooting the first Hornperion guard that looked at us funny right through the eyeball. I smirked as his comrade,covered in the brains of his friend began to tremble. He fired back at us but was quickly taken down by Fluttershy. " :)" A symbol appeared on her Visor.Fluttershy didn't speak much,but she seemed to let her sniper do the talking for her, or her Blade. Her sniper had a bunny spray painted on it with the words "angel" above it.I never understood why... We got into the station.The place was crawling with guards and robots.No civilian ponies,just the henchmen which meant we were free to go nuts.It didn't take more than 2 seconds before twilight used her phase....thingy, and disappeared. I had seen this once before when she becomes visible again ponies will die,and I mean a lot of ponies.All I saw was bodies being sliced in half and robots exploding in the period of about 10 seconds.The blood and organs cut up so much by the dimensional shift that they just evaporated formed a red mist in the air.I couldn't help but cough as I breathed in what was left of the guards. "Fuck! Twi,why do you got to be so sloppy with what you kill?!*cough*ever heard of keep it clean?"I snapped at her "calm down dash.What is up with you?" "Nothing. I just think you should warn us the next time you do that" I swear to fucking Celestia I don't get twilight sometimes. She probably thinks that just because she is a "siren" that she is better than everyone else. The station was empty now.We just had to wait a couple of minutes for the train to arrive.I used the time to reload my weapons:My hornperion assault rifle and a weapon I had made just for me,my alias 50 cal. light machine gun.We could hear the train approach but I heard somthing else... "Listen no matter what happens right now you have to get on that train!"that voice again but this time I saw a face in front of me."Please.I'll explain later but right now you must do exactly as I say." The train approached the station but only slowed down momentarily. We took our chance and jumped on the train just as it arrived. "Now. Let's go find applejack"Big mac said with a grin on his face End of Chapter 1 This ain't no place for no heroThe train's speed began to increase as we got further away from the station.......... Boom!!! "What was that" I heard twilight shout trying to be heard over the noise. I knew that feeling,felt that sound before.I saw the others having trouble keeping their hooves on the ground.That was a sonic boom.We were now going at full speed.It felt like the train began to slow down though. There must have been a stability field around the train or something.....We pushed on,the others now being able to move.We were in the second last carriage and there were three more ahead of us.We entered the next cart to find it empty. "Ugh.this is no challenge! I require more to kill" Fluttershy said in an aggressive and impatient voice.This seems awfully strange.I went to open the door but before I could It was ripped off, along with the wall by a 7ft tall pon13-cru5h3r Hornperion robot! "That's more like it"Fluttershy said with the :) symbol appearing on her visor again. "save some for me"Big mac said happily as he approached the machine tackling it straight to the ground. As the two fought the large metal beast,twilight and I made a run for the next carriage.There were guards,and some p0n3-r0b0t5 mk1 class robots inside.I loved how little of a challenge this would be I would enjoy killing applejack that much more now after her only protecting herself with a few armed guards and some toys.I cocked my gun and was ready for combat. "Hey assholes!"I paused for a moment and grinned evilly as they looked at me... "Drop it" I opened fire and took 'em all out with one clip,Their organs splattered all over the walls, and pools of blood forming as they lay on the ground. "Wow watch out we got a badass over here.Who let this bad boy of the chain?"Twilight said playfully to me. "Shut the fuck up. That was so much more badass than anything you could have done." I said annoyed at her insult. Big mac walked in with a robot's arm and a head."That was so fucking awsom...oh shit dude. Nice!" "yeah,yeah come on."twilight said tapping her hoof on the ground. Reloaded and ready to kick some ass we headed to the next door.Fluttershy dropped in from behind as we opened the door,she does that a lot.Applejack was sitting in the carriage,but there was something off about her.Only then did I notice the carriage filled with explosives! "oh.sorry I didn't mean to disappoint you buuuuuut. I'm the protagonist of this story my little ponies and I ain't gonna die so easily. Fasten your seatbelts 'cause your in for a bumpy landing."A voice said over the intercom Applejack turned around,revealing a corpse double.We all hesitated and began to back up..... "welcome to calamity kiddos" the last words I heard.The words that would seal our fate and begin our journey.The search for the mare without a face.Handsome Applejack. End of chapter 2 Dreams of a better pastWith a flash,everything I knew faded into whiteness,and then... nothing. This was all I could see,hear,feel,smell and taste.I tried to flap my wings but, I couldn't. I could do nothing.I lay their as my world slipped away from me. Everything I was going to do,places i'd see,people i'd meet. And what about all the things I had done..... My mind began to show the images It had collected over the years.I remembered my home.A cloud house, near Ponyville. My home planet.My home wasn't much.It was small, but it was mine.I remembered joining the crimson pegasai,hoping to serve and protect the ponies of the galaxy and do my duty as a solider,but that was before I was told I was being shipped off to calamity, to try and "sort out the unsortable hellhole" with an alias army of a mere hundred.We all knew we were there because they wanted to mine but were afraid of the locals interfering but we were all interested in the rumors of a stable on this very planet.that was what kept us here.I knew we were stuck.I knew that every one of us were imprisoned in our own minds,by what our superiors told us to do.I remembered the feelings that I had when I shot my commanding officer right between the eyes.My first kill.My hardest kill.The kill that set me free. When alias left,after discovering the activation of the vault the remaining pegasai outcast me and banished me from their lands.I may have set them free,but with no leader I knew they would turn on each other. I knew from that day what hell was. It was all too real and only the place where the word comes from could show me that.Being left alone on a planet where ponies go to die,to seek nothing,to chase false dreams.That is hell. Isolation,sadness, loneliness...I couldn't remember the last time I felt true happiness,true friendship after that.I was alone for 4 years.Some mares would go insane in four days but I kept on fighting.I knew I could feel those good feelings again.I was right to believe, as I felt those emotions stronger then I ever had before one faithful day when I stumbled across a town in the wastelands and went into the local bar.It was called "rarity's" .As I sat there, consuming alcohol to cure my sorrows.Three ponies sat beside me.Little did I know that I had just came across three ponies with a dream.A dream that we all shared equally .But now I felt it all fade again. All the emotions and feelings.I found it hard to wrap my brain around what was happening.My whole life. Gone......... "Oh great! some friends for me to party with!"A voice uttered in an excited and metallic tone. "Wha...." I tried to talk.I opened my eyes but everything was a blur.I saw a pink blob in front of me poking at my head.I tried to get up,but I collapsed as I was greeted back to the land of the living with pain meeting me there. "Whoa.Take it easy there pony friend.You and your friends just survived quite the ordeal.I'm surprised your internal organs are still functioning at this point.But what do I know? I'm just a robot." "My.....Friends?"I was forcing the words out at this point.I allowed gravity to move my eyes to my left to see three blobs lying beside me. "Hey.I'm no doctor,don't let my charming good looks fool you.but I'd say you've got some cracked ribs.Yep.Most definitely. and....."I realized the pink blob was talking.It seemed to talk on and on even if it thought it was being heard or not. This little.....thing seemed annoying but it just saved my life so I guess I owe it.I had a ringing In my ears that muffled her sound a lot at least. ".....say it.And I know a good doc who could help you out.She's on her way here but she'll be disappointed that you're alive.But don't worry you're safe now friend" I couldn't hold onto my consciousness any longer.I passed out. End of chapter 3 Author's Note Coming from a guy who actually died (I was killed for an operation and revived.It's not really important but kind of helped with this) Anyway. The death scene was actually what I felt when that happened to me so that's pretty much what death feels like(not joking.I'm very serious).Sorry about the shortness of the chapter but It needed to be short (and it's getting kind of late too)I'll do a longer chapter in 4.Which will take about 5 days or so to do. The "Doctor""Now then you should be all fixed up now, and um...if you feel anything like dizziness, headaches, or internal bleeding, That's normal."A friendly voice said. I opened my eyes to observe my surroundings. What I saw was a very poorly put together, dimly lit homemade surgery. My head still felt very dizzy but I could see a mare standing in front of me with a scalpel and a blood covered apron. "Well, look who's back from the dead. Ha ha ha! Nice to meet you, I'm nurse Redheart, but my friends call me Dr. Red. Ironically I don't have a 'fancy medical license' but I can stitch you up nice and quick, and I keep the medical vendors stocked up so you won't die as much. Oh, I'm sorry. Where are my manners. What's your name?" "Um....Dash. My name's Rainbow Dash," I mumbled still trying to bring myself to stand. "Well nice to meet you Rainbow. Your friends are all waitin' for ya. I tell you, there a hoot and a holler, especially that Big Mac fellow. He told me the story about how he ripped a man almost perfectly in two. Now that takes skill" Oh god not that story. It was so fucking gruesome when I actually saw him do it. I didn't think I'd fucking be able to eat for a month. I tried to stand and look around. I saw my gear on the table and realized I was naked! I hovered in the air and used my hooves to cover myself. "What are you doing?!" Redheart said looking confused, "It's not like you need clothes. Heck, a lot of the residents on Calamity don't even wear clothes. You're a pony, so what's to be ashamed of? Your fur covers most of you anyway." I began to blush and dashed for my clothes. I got changed but actually felt a bit silly that I'd overreacted. It felt good to be back and fully recovered. There was a garage door that appeared to be the way out so I pushed the button to open it. I was blinded by the light of the sun as the door slowly opened. As my vision came back I was greeted by my three friends looking at me. Twilight and Big Mac looked relieved but, as usual, I couldn't tell what Fluttershy was thinking under that helmet. I looked around, the surrounding area was a small, broken down town with nopony in sight. Not exactly a welcoming sight, but it was better than a shitload of bandits. Suddenly I was greeted by a very familiar sound... "My pony friend you're ok! I was worried for a bit. There was so much blood coming out of you that I thought you weren't going to make it" There was a funny robot standing in front of me. This must be the one who saved me. "Allow me to introduce myself to you properly. I am a p1nki3-p13,but you may refer to by my local name pinkie pie. As my way of saying welcome take this class 19 heads up display module. Psst, I stole it from those Hornperion jackasses." I took the device "Hey put it to your neck. Be warned it might sting a bit dash," Twilight teased. I put the device on my neck and I fell to my knees. There was a needle that jabbed itself into my spine. I felt a flash of code cross my eyes as he H.U.D. turned on. Everything seemed.....20% cooler. It was as if my eyes were set to ultra high definition. I saw the world from a new perspective. This was great! I could see my ammunition, my damage threshold, and my items on hand and in my carrier bag. This would be one of the most useful tools I would ever come across and I can think of a thousand situations that this will come in handy. "Hey nice to see your all still alive and bucking. Any of you know what happened exactly?" "Yes. I was made a fool of my that asshole Applejack! She will pay for this! I am an assassin and I will not rest until I kill that son of a bitch! Nopony crosses me and lives!" Fluttershy shouted through her visor stomping her hoof on the ground "What she means to say is that Applejack tricked us. She'd anticipated us coming and rigged to train to blow. Just like the fucker she is." "When Y'all are done catching up are ready to head out?"Big Mac asked. "Yeah. I guess so. Thanks Pinkie pie for the.....thingy," I said not certain of what to say after being given such a gift. "You're welcome. And make sure to come back soon now. I still have to throw you a party. I do that for everypony around here," Pinkie replied cheerfully. I chuckled, mainly because of the lack of ponies in this dump of a town. I'd say these two get pretty lonely Redheart poked her head out. "Oh wait! Before you go. If you die you'll regenerate at one of those New-U stations there." She said pointing at a weird looking device implanted in the ground. "Ok bye," we said. I was getting tired of goodbyes. I couldn't wait for another "hello". As we left the broken down town and entered a very barren, trash-filled wasteland where the only sounds were gunfire, screams and the roars of the creatures looking for a fresh meal. I could see some skags eating away at what I assumed was a former resident of the town. Two words came to my mind. "WE'RE FUCKED!" End of Chapter Four An unexpected rescue"GET DOWN!!!" Big Mac shouted as he pushed us all behind a rock. It'd been two days since we left that town, wondering into The Badlands and I gotta say, this planet knows how to fuck with us. *BOOM!!!!*A grenade went off on the other side of the rock "God dammit Mac!! Just cover us while we advance!!" I shouted at him. We didn't just stumble across some regular bandits, oh no...we found Badass Bandits, with a Capitol 'B'! We retreated to a dried up gorge in the mountains, but since some deity hates us, we ended up stumbling into Their Freaking DEN!! "Oh sure. I'll kill 'em all, meanwhile you all can sit there lookin' like morons!!" Big Mac shouted back. "Oh the hell with it..." Twilight said as she vanished. "Ok let's go! Raaaagh!" Big Mac roared, charging in with his Gatling Gun strapped to his back. I reloaded my gun as fast as possible, staying low, while rolling my eyes. "Run, run, run as fast as you can, bitches!" I shouted as I poked my head out and started firing wildly at anything that moved. "I'm counted at thirty!" Big Mac shouted to me. "I'm on forty-four!" I replied laughing. I heard gunfire from above us. I saw all the remaining bandits fall to the floor. A figure jumped down from the top of the gorge and landed with a cloud of dust. "I'm at seventy-nine. Eat it losers." It was Fluttershy being competitive as always, but even I have to admit that entrance was pretty badass. The ":P" symbol appeared on her visor as we walked to the entrance. There was a weird sound and a flash of light and then Twilight reappeared. "Aww. Didn't save any for me?" The door seemed to be extremely reinforced. "They must be hiding something valuable in here," I said pointing out the obvious once again. "Well if it's valuable, we want it. Outta my way, I'm gonna see if anypony's home." Big Mac grinned wildly, revving the rotary mechanism on his gun. He opened fire and we dived out of the way. The combined force of bullet and explosion from the monstrous gun appeared to be doing some lethal damage to the door. All of a sudden the firing stopped. The door was bent in all directions and looked like it was about to fall over... "Knock, knock, anypony home?" Big Mac asked to whatever lay on the other side of the door. With that the door fell down with a massive thud. I noticed my H.U.D. acting odd. It became all static and then a beautiful blue pony with a wave-like mane appeared on the screen... "Oh good. Now you can see me. Look I need you to listen. There is a unicorn in this place who can help you. Seek her out. She can help you to find and open the stable. She will be easy enough to find I'm sure nopony boasts about being Great and Powerful like she does....Anyway know this. I'm your friend and I'm here to help you find Applejack and open the stable. Yes it exists and it is somewhere on Calamity. I'll contact you again when you have completed this task." "You ok Dash? You kind of zoned out there for a second," Twilight asked. "Probably just wondering what we will find in here. I'll bet it's money. Bandits love money!" Big Mac exclaimed. We walked in the new archway we had just made and looked around. It looked like an old Derp mining facility. There were stairs leading down that seemed to go on for a bit "Goodbye," Fluttershy said in an aggressive tone as she became invisible and disappeared. She'd probably go ahead to get some killing done as usual. "Well it's been fun and all but I'll see you guys when you get to the bottom!" I joked as I leaped over the railings and began to descend into the pit. I rushed down at a really fast speed. I loved the feeling of the air on my face. I almost left it too late to slow down before I reached the bottom. I landed with a plop and began to explore. I looted some lockers and boxes left lying around and then noticed a few details about my environment. This was a holding area. There were cells with prisoners in them and a small group of bandits guarding them. There were no screams so I assumed they were either dead, starved to exhaustion, or just too scared to scream. I knew this must have been what that pony I saw was talking about. I focused on taking the guards out first. I shot the first guard nice and easy through the head with my revolver, but had to take out the bigger guns when the shot alerted the other bandit guards. I managed to kill most of them, until I saw a Badass-bucking-Psycho! Those freaks of nature would tear me apart!! So as it stomped towards me I hid behind the closest wall. I heard a loud metal clink and peeked out. I saw Fluttershy in a sword fight with the three and a half legged Stallion. Effortlessly, she cut his front leg clean off and, seeing as he only had the three to begin with, he fell to the floor with a mighty thud. She quickly stabbed him through the skull multiple times to make sure she killed him. I also think it was because she loved to stab things... "It's a pity he wasn't skilled. He could have proven a worthy challenge," she said. Clearly her lust for violence wasn't being satisfied, so I backed up a bit in case she got any ideas. "The area ahead has been scouted. There were no survivors. I looted everything too." "Ok I guess....I'm gonna go ahead anyway. I think we should find a release for those cells" I heard something drop behind me and turned around. There was a cracked open skull of a pony lying on the ground, a part of its spine was still attached and it was covered in blood. I knew it had fallen from the staircase. I got sick in my mouth a bit but against my better judgment looked up. I could hear Big Mac laughing and a lot of gunfire and screaming. I saw Twilight phase beside me. "Hey everypony. Did you miss us?" I didn't answer I just rolled my eyes and smirked while walking. There was a big room at the end of the cells. That was our best bet in finding the cell release. I flew in and looked around. My H.U.D. actually highlighted the release for me so it was easy to find. I pushed it and all the cell doors opened. Twilight stood on top of the cells and shouted down to the prisoners. "Alright everypony. You're free. Take whatever you can salvage and get the hell away from here. There is a city you'll be safe. It's called Sanctuary. Head there and you will be fine." "I don't need to listen to you! I'm far more powerful then you 'Stable Hunters', I was just caught off guard is all," A boasting voice replied. Twilight teleported down to her. "Look sister, I'm a siren. So don't talk to me about power, or I'll turn vaporize you faster than you can say sorry!" I flew over to the two of them quickly. "Hey! Calm down Twilight. I need to ask this pony something. What is your name mare?" "Me? Why I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! Why does it matter to you?" She asked. I knew this was the mare I was looking for "Do you know anything about the stables by any chance?" I needed to make sure... "Why, of course! I studied them as my profession with my partner Audiobook. Until he got jealous and left me." "Aren't those the tape recorders? I think this pony is loco in the coco," Twilight whispered to me. "It doesn't matter, I think she can help us find Applejack and the stable. I've got a feeling!" I whispered back. "Ok then. Can you help us find the stable?" Twilight questioned. "Of course, but first, in return you must escort me safely to this 'Sanctuary' you speak of. I require accommodation after Applejack....well she blew up my home." "Deal!" I said shaking her hoof. "Ok stairway's clear! Earth Ponies and Unicorns up this way." Big Mac shouted proudly, his fur covered in the blood of his enemies. "You better be right about this Dash," Twilight said. I hoped I was too. If not this was going to be a long trip. End of chapter 5 Author's Note I'd like to give a big thanks to Isumo1489 for editing the story for me :) Thanks so much for the help SanctuaryThe road to Sanctuary was harsh. This place was home to Big Mac and Twi. Me? I didn't have a home, not on this planet anyway. There were little to no clouds, no need for a Pegasus pony such as myself here, especially now that the Crimson Pegasai were gone too. I was just reflecting on the past week, what with all the craziness and odd happenings, when static appeared on my H.U.D. Once again, the beautiful blue pony appeared before me. "Good. I see you found who I was talking about. I should have told you this earlier but I assumed you knew by now. Applejack is looking for The Stable too. Look, I don't mean to rush you, but Applejack has had enough of waiting for The Stable entrance to appear. She's already begun to drill a massive hole into the planet's crust to directly access The Stable. I can't stop her, but it will take her a long time to do it. You need to be aware, however, that time is still of the essence. I'd say you have maybe three to four months, at the most. Get Trixie to tell you everything she knows about The Stable and soon......Good luck." As she disappeared from my eyes, I began to think. 'Who was this pony who kept contacting me? Was she some sort of Deity? Or a protector of The Stable? Some rival faction against Applejack maybe? And why, of all ponies, would she help me?' I wanted answers! "You ok Dash? You look kind of....out of it," Twilight said, giving me a concerning look. "Yeah. I'm fine.....It's just....nothing." "Hey. We've only known each other for a few months now, but I think I know when there's something troubling you. You've been like this for a week, and it's beginning to worry me. If it's about Applejack, I know how you feel. We almost died because of her, and that would be enough to traumatize anypony. Try not to think about it much. Just focus on The Stable for now for the sake of us all." "Ok Twi," I said bleakly. I couldn't let them know I was seeing and hearing a pony on my H.U.D. with no user signal, no ID, no trace or even profile. They would think I was crazy...well, more crazy than anypony has to be to continue on this rock anyway. I was in a tricky situation...still, better than them looking at me like I'm a Bandit. *Bang!* Speak of the devil, or in this case, the Bandits. Another car rammed into ours. "Goddamn Bandit ponies!!! Just fuck off! I'm on the gun, I'm sick and tired of these assholes by now!!" Big Mac said climbing into the gunner seat. Me and Twilight started firing at them, and killing the side passengers while Fluttershy took the wheel. "Shit this is getting pretty rough! Fluttershy how long until we're at Sanctuary?" Twilight shouted over to Fluttershy, trying to fire at the same time. "Not long," Fluttershy said in an almost bored manner. Big Mac shot at the enemy driver's seat, and put several bullets into the cabin's ponies. "Nice! Take that you sons a bitches!" Their car began to swerve left and right, finally careening off by itself into a nearby rock, exploding on impact. Me, Big Mac, and Twi cheered in victory. I noticed that Trixie had been huddled in a ball, and just now stood up with a look of anger on her face "Oh are you all so barbaric?" Trixie questioned loudly. "Most of those 'Bandits' were former colleges of mine you know. Granted I would never talk to them because I despise social interaction...and also because Audiobook got jealous when I did, but I still respected them. You're no better than the locals. Pure monsters!" "Now you look here Trixie! I don't care whether you live or die. It's all up to how we feel about you as a group, and right now things aren't looking so good for you!" Big Mac threatened, one eye twitching as one hoof reached for his gun. "Look I don't want you to die, so just stay down and keep your mouth shut," I said sternly to her. She saw the serious look in my eyes and sat back down. The car did an almost perfect 180 degree spin, and we were all flung to one side. I landed on top of Trixie, Twilight on top of me, Mac luckily missed us by a good margin. I banged my head, but it was nothing I couldn't shake off. "We're here," Fluttershy announced. She let out a distinct chuckle, the first time I'd heard her laugh, and it was disturbing. We got out of the vehicle and walked toward Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Fluttershy drove on into the city, likely heading to a hanger for repair. This was the last bastion of resistance against Handsome Applejack, home of the Crimson Alicorns...aaaand anypony who hates Applejack. This city was a great example of how the Derp corporation tried to introduce ponies to a new environment on Calamity, and how they all almost lost their sanity in the process. It had been a long time since I'd been here. I almost forgot the feeling of an actually functioning, all-pony society. There was a very famous building just north of the center of town, where the leaders of the Crimson Alicorns resided and planned their assaults on Applejack. I'd never met any of them, but they were supposed to be some of the greatest Stable Hunters who had ever lived. The ones who opened the first Stable. "Hey, follow me. I know a place where she can crash," Twilight said pointing at Trixie. We walked towards the buildings. I noticed where Fluttershy had 'Parked' the car. Twi and Big Mac walked over and popped their heads in quickly. Fluttershy joined us inside. "Hey Braeburn, how's it hangin'? You still working on those modifications to my baby?" Big Mac asked the oil-soaked pony, who's head was in the bonnet of a car. He looked up and saw us "Why shoot Mac. Y'all can't expect me to be so fast on something this beautiful. You got to treat her gentle if you want her to purr," He said stroking the side of the car. "Who's that feller there with y'all? " "Oh, this is Rainbow Dash, and that other mare is Trixie," Big Mac said smiling. Braeburn approached me, "Nice to me ya! I'm Braeburn," he said shaking my hoof violently. "Hello," I replied with my hoof still violently being swung up and down. I tried to stop him, but he had a surprising grip and strength for a grease-pony. "Anyway, we're gonna head up to the base now. Give us a shout if you need anything," Twilight said trying to rush us out as fast as possible. We walked to the center of town, headed to the Crimson Alicorn's building. I was confused at first, but realized that Twilight had mentioned a 'base', not a home. We walked inside, and it wasn't exactly what you would call a stronghold. It was very makeshift and untidy, and I hadn't even seen the second floor yet!! Trixie pushed past me. "Well........Where am I staying?" "Here, you can have this area," Twilight said outlining a corner of the room with her hoof. "Well, this is hardly a home, but I'll make do with it. I assume you want me to tell you about The Stable?" Trixie asked. "Not yet, just give us a second. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy. There's a few ponies I'd like y'all to meet," Big Mac said leading us upstairs. We entered a room with a holographic map in the center. The walls were covered in posters and complex technology. I saw a purple and green dragon sleeping in a lounge chair in one corner, holding a bottle of cider. There was a beautiful and stunning looking white unicorn male, with an amazing blue and cyan mane looking out from a balcony just across the room. This had to be the war room without a doubt. "Shining Armor!" Twilight called out to the blue pony. He turned around. "Twili!!" He exclaimed with joy galloping to her, and giving her a hug. He looked at Fluttershy and then me. I blushed as he examined me. "Who are your friends?" He asked. "Oh! This is Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Guys, this is my brother, Shining Armor," Twilight said. "And this is Spike. Spike get up!" she shouted, pushing him with her hoof. "Wha? Where? I don't wanna go," Spike moaned, head turning away from the noise. "Ugh. Never mind. This is his pet Philomena," Twilight pointed her hoof at a majestic looking bird. It was a phoenix, very rare and beautiful to look at. "Welcome, Stable Hunters, to the Crimson Alicorns," Shining Armor said to us. It just fully clicked in my mind what was going on, why Twi and Mac had seemed familiar somehow. "Wait. You're one of the founders Twilight? Your one of the Stable Hunters that opened the First Stable?" "Yup. Me, Big Mac, Shining Armor, and Spike all opened that Stable as a team. We're the Original Stable Hunters." "Remarkable," Fluttershy said in a soft tone. "Enough chit-chat, time to get serious. Applejack is still trying to locate The Stable, so we still have more than enough time to prepare," Shining Armor stated in a serious tone. "Actually, Applejack found the entrance already, and from what I gather, she plans to drill her way into it instead of waiting for it to reveal itself." I said this knowing I'd just dug a bit hole for myself. "What?! Where did you get this information? This will be a massive problem, totally pushes our plans ahead of schedule!!" Shining Armor exclaimed. He took a deep breath, Twilight's hoof on his back rubbing gently, "but even if Applejack reaches that Stable there is still hope. She doesn't have the Stable Key so there's no way to unlock it's power." Shining Armor appeared to be stressed about the information, running a hoof through his mane while Twi tried to keep him calm. I wanted to tell him otherwise, but it was the truth as far as I knew. Besides, better to operate on the assumption that Applejack was winning, then think were ahead when we weren't even close. "Ok, we need answers, and now would be a good time to ask a certain unicorn what she knows," Twilight said with a devilish grin. end of chapter 6 Author's Note Thanks again to Isumo1489 for editing :) The theory of a madmare"Tell us everything you know!" Twilight shouted at Trixie, holding herself back from putting a bullet in her smug brain. "Do you always treat your guests like this? I am a mare of status, of fame, and yet you treat me like a frog that was sexually rejected!" Trixie said looking sternly at us all. "Wait what? A frog? Is there something wrong with that brain of yours or did I hear you wrong?" Twilight asked looking extremely confused. "This is getting us nowhere," I said sighing. The rage was beginning to build up inside me. I rammed at Trixie and shoved her against the wall. I could tell I was hurting her, but that was just making it more satisfying. "TELL ME ABOUT THE STABLE NOW!" I shouted pushing harder. "Ow! Please stop!!" Trixie said, having to force what air was left in her lungs to say so. She was struggling to move and I could see I was choking her, but I still didn't stop. "JUST SAY YOU'LL TELL US AND I'LL STOP!!" I shouted, getting more and more impatient with this ungrateful pony. "O................k," she gasped as I moved away from her. "Now what do you know?" Twilight asked again. Trixie regained her breath for a minute and replied. "Ok. I know this. The Stable is an unbelievable source of power. Although when the last one was opened, it did contain the God of Chaos. The element that began to grow all across the planet afterwards actually sort of proves my point. Equestrium has some of the most unusual physical properties of any element known to ponykind. From what I hear, a new Stable has been found by none other than handsome Applejack. This also proves both my 'I hate you Trixie' theory and my 'Many Stables' theory. The 'I hate you Trixie' theory implies that there is a god watching over me, and that he makes my world a living hell and drives people away from me... rather than the occasional vomiting at the sight of certain ponies. The 'Many Stables' theory states that there was not only one Stable, but hundreds if not thousands of Stables waiting for a vessel to open them. This vessel being the Stable Key. I have no idea what is held inside these Stables, but they may be linked to a number of things: The near-extinction/almost-complete disappearance of the Alicorn race, why are there Sirens, the growth of Equestrium, why my hooves ache after a long walk in a pool of blood, it could mean anything...and everything... " "Ok what's this about a new element?" I asked interested by her information. "Well, before I was captured, I had noticed a large amount of Hornperion mining operations in odd areas where an odd purple material was being extracted from the ground. Naturally curious, I snuck in and stole some of the material that had been refined. Having several P.H.Ds, thus, I could tell that this was a completely foreign element to the world of science. As it was mostly found near old Equestrian artifacts and I overheard some of the miners talking about it, I began to call it 'Equestrium'. I have no idea what it does, but apparently a lot of companies have been purchasing it from Hornperion. It's been happening ever since the stable opened, which would explain how they got so rich so fast. It must be powerful if so many ponies want it. Any more questions?" "Do you know anything about the location of the Stable Key?" Twilight asked. I looked at her, as she has a similar look to my own. I could tell she found this as interesting as I did. I looked at Big Mac quickly too. He was tweaking his Gatling gun, and didn't seem to have much interest in what Trixie was saying. I couldn't see Fluttershy so I assume she left. "No, I can't tell you where it is, but I can tell you who has it. I had obtained the key after the Stable had been opened, but then there was the incident at New Ponyville, and Applejack came to me personally...almost killed me trying to obtain it. With my body broken and my mind in bits, I could do nothing as she beat what was left of me. I eventually passed out and somehow survived, by divine intervention it seems. That was the last I saw of the key. I don't know what she said fully, but she mentioned something about it needing to be charged." "Oh shit!" I heard a voice say from the stairs. It was Shining Armor. "This changes everything! I need to leave, and find out Applejack's plans or we won't even have a chance. You four, I need you to do a little job for me. You will need to go to a place rather far from here, and bring everyone to Sanctuary. It's the only place that will be safe now. You're going to a little town called Lyre'sberg." "Sound's friendly," Big Mac chuckled. "There's a boat not too far out from here. Your H.U.D. will display its location. It will take you there safely, and hopefully help you get back. Good luck," Shining Armor gave us a graceful hoof-salute, and we went off back upstairs to prepare. "Lyre'sburg here we come!" I shouted. Us, the four adventurers on a quest to save the day, for some humble townsfolk. Sometimes I feel like this stuff happens deliberately, but that's impossible...........right? End of chapter 7 Lyra'sbergBoats weren't my style. I could handle massive g-forces and spinning and speed of the air but the tossing and turning of a boat made me want to hurl. It was better for everypony that I flew above. I'd been trying to get my head around this whole situation for some time now, but for a up to that point I'd just been rolling with it. There was so much to think about and the fact that nobody else seemed to mention anything only made it more odd. Just who was this mysterious blue pony i've been blindly following, and why was applejack so obsessed with unlocking the stable? I flew straight into a cloud while i was daydreaming about how all of this was connected. "I need to focus." I said to myself blushing hoping nopony else saw that... I could see land now and sped ahead to scout out the area the guys would have to wait to get started. There was a blizzard but from what i could see the place seemed rather barren. looked like no sane pony for miles and I honestly couldn't blame them. I descended and landed on the outskirts of the town. Silence. The only thing that could be heard was the chilling howls of the wind as the blizzard continued to rage nonstop.I continued further in and looked around for any signs of pony life. There stood a large figure near a wall of a cliff that the town was positioned beside. I wasn't sure if i should have be concerned with it though as it seemed to keep it's distance from me. I knocked on a door of one of the snow covered houses. Despite how dull and depressing this place seemed the snow made it rather nice to a point. There was no answer at the door. I began to hear a transmission on my hud... "Hello fillies, colts and bandits, this is handsome Applejack. A group of evil stable hunters have arrived recently on the planet and i'm offering a huge pile of dough to the person how kills them or turns them in. 500,000,000 bits dead 1,000,000,000 bits for them alive, so i can have a little fun with 'em first. Our surveillance bots recently spotted them on a boat headed towards lyre'sberg so happy hunting." "Shit" I said to myself. I received another transmission... "A BILLION BITS!!! FELLAS GO SHOW THESE STABLE HUNTERS A WARM WELCOME!!!" I wasn't sure who this pony was but it sounded like he was eager to kill us.I feel like it's always the same routine with these guys and it always ends the same way with them dying and nothing gained...I decided to warn the others "Hey guys.did you...." "yes....we did....and we're almost there now. Where are you?" Twilight replied "I went to scout ahead.Seems like nopony's here. Why did your brother send us here when there's no one to..." "sorry to interrupt your conversation but this town is not deserted. I'm still here meet me at my current accommodation here so i may give you a proper introduction. i'll give you the location now." a posh-sounding voice interrupted. "Guess I spoke too soon. where's everypony else?" I asked. "not now. wait until we meet in person then we talk" A snow storm had began to brew as the other's arrived. The white snow cloaking the town and restricting our vision. We went together to the house marked out by the mystery pony, but the gate was blocked. we stopped and waited for somepony to notice us. I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye and looked around. There was a large white figure standing just out of sight. I couldn't make out what exactly was, but i was approaching fast. I pulled out my gun and shouted. "You there. Stop or i'll shoot." The others turned around to me but figure didn't stop. as it was getting closer it became more clear to me this wasn't a pony as it was using only 2 legs... of 6? "Bullymongs!!!" Big mac shouted as he opened fire. More of the creatures began jumping out of large crevices in the wall "Great. More of them. Would you mind taking care of them while I open the gate for you?" The mystery pony asked. "Doesn't look like we have much choice." I replied blowing one of their heads clean off. Author's Note The moon and the sun rely on each other like yin and yang. As long as there is day there will always be night and as long as there is night the day will come. This is a great reflection of good and bad and how one cannot exist without the other. That said I do not believe Luna is bad, evil or anything like that, in fact the only reason she turned was due to being misunderstood and dark forces feeding on her negative attributes when she was in a negative state. So given the opportunity in current form she'd never bring eternal night... Just a random fun-fact/rant I thought i'd put in for getting so many story views :D thanks everypony for the support and i'll try to keep posting chapters! Should try not to set a date however as I never seem to meet them.
Welcome to calamity kiddosSo you wanna here a tale,eh? One with untold riches,guns, psychos and a shitload of Dubstep? If not well then your gonna hate this story......... It all began not too long ago. When a company known as Derp began mining on this Hellhole of a planet known as "Calamity". They abandoned the planet once they mined all the resources they could find,leaving behind only some new residents for the planet to corrupt and a story.A story that would reach beyond the galaxy, a legendary vault made by the race which had inhabited the planet previously known as "Equestrians" they left many relics and ghosts of their lost civilization on Calamity and it was told that they developed a secure structure known as a "Stable" which was said to house some of the greatest treasures known to ponykind.Many ponies grew up with the tales of the legendary stable and most went out to seek it.These became known as the stable hunters, such as yourself. The alias corporation had also gotten word of this tale and moved their operations here,hoping to find the contents of the stable for themselves. Not taking the warning that the summer was coming from the locals meant most of the officials of the company made some tasty meals for the emerging fauna.What was left of the alias corporation fled leaving their workers behind for dead, and leaving the planet open for the invasion of the Hornperion corporation. The tales were confirmed true of the vault when four brave stable hunters with the aid of yours truly and an insane scientist, had opened the vault using a mechanism known as a Stable key,but were met with only disappointment from what lay inside.You see this vault was only a prison to a creature knows as a draconequus. Although nothing valuable was inside the vault, the opening triggered the growth of a priceless element "equestrium". It spread across the planet,growing at an extremely fast rate and became a well sought after item.That's where you come in. Your tale begins on a train with you, and your good friends:Twilight,Big Mac and Fluttershy....... "Hey. Wake up. Wake up! Dash!" I awoke startled "What?" "The Bus is here now,you have to get off"I heard a voice say. I assumed it was one of the guys and ignored it.I Looked outside and saw that the bus had arrived at a very modern looking building. The holographic billboard outside said 'welcome to paradise train station'.I didn't expect we'd be very welcome.We got off the bus and looked around.The beauty of the modern structures,the shimmering light on the fountains,the green grass freshly cut,the roads and pathways free from any rubbish.It reminded me of home,Before I joined the Crimson pegasai. We got off the bus,we stuck together as a group not letting our guard down and keeping a tight perimeter. The mission seemed simple enough: Hijack a train, kill all the guards,and locate and kill a mare called "handsome Applejack" who was aboard.This mare was not unknown to us though.She brought us here with promises of untold riches from the stables,etc. When we found out she had a price on her head that was bigger than any number she could come up with we decided to do the right thing and hunt her down and kill her. I enjoyed shooting the first Hornperion guard that looked at us funny right through the eyeball. I smirked as his comrade,covered in the brains of his friend began to tremble. He fired back at us but was quickly taken down by Fluttershy. " :)" A symbol appeared on her Visor.Fluttershy didn't speak much,but she seemed to let her sniper do the talking for her, or her Blade. Her sniper had a bunny spray painted on it with the words "angel" above it.I never understood why... We got into the station.The place was crawling with guards and robots.No civilian ponies,just the henchmen which meant we were free to go nuts.It didn't take more than 2 seconds before twilight used her phase....thingy, and disappeared. I had seen this once before when she becomes visible again ponies will die,and I mean a lot of ponies.All I saw was bodies being sliced in half and robots exploding in the period of about 10 seconds.The blood and organs cut up so much by the dimensional shift that they just evaporated formed a red mist in the air.I couldn't help but cough as I breathed in what was left of the guards. "Fuck! Twi,why do you got to be so sloppy with what you kill?!*cough*ever heard of keep it clean?"I snapped at her "calm down dash.What is up with you?" "Nothing. I just think you should warn us the next time you do that" I swear to fucking Celestia I don't get twilight sometimes. She probably thinks that just because she is a "siren" that she is better than everyone else. The station was empty now.We just had to wait a couple of minutes for the train to arrive.I used the time to reload my weapons:My hornperion assault rifle and a weapon I had made just for me,my alias 50 cal. light machine gun.We could hear the train approach but I heard somthing else... "Listen no matter what happens right now you have to get on that train!"that voice again but this time I saw a face in front of me."Please.I'll explain later but right now you must do exactly as I say." The train approached the station but only slowed down momentarily. We took our chance and jumped on the train just as it arrived. "Now. Let's go find applejack"Big mac said with a grin on his face End of Chapter 1
This ain't no place for no heroThe train's speed began to increase as we got further away from the station.......... Boom!!! "What was that" I heard twilight shout trying to be heard over the noise. I knew that feeling,felt that sound before.I saw the others having trouble keeping their hooves on the ground.That was a sonic boom.We were now going at full speed.It felt like the train began to slow down though. There must have been a stability field around the train or something.....We pushed on,the others now being able to move.We were in the second last carriage and there were three more ahead of us.We entered the next cart to find it empty. "Ugh.this is no challenge! I require more to kill" Fluttershy said in an aggressive and impatient voice.This seems awfully strange.I went to open the door but before I could It was ripped off, along with the wall by a 7ft tall pon13-cru5h3r Hornperion robot! "That's more like it"Fluttershy said with the :) symbol appearing on her visor again. "save some for me"Big mac said happily as he approached the machine tackling it straight to the ground. As the two fought the large metal beast,twilight and I made a run for the next carriage.There were guards,and some p0n3-r0b0t5 mk1 class robots inside.I loved how little of a challenge this would be I would enjoy killing applejack that much more now after her only protecting herself with a few armed guards and some toys.I cocked my gun and was ready for combat. "Hey assholes!"I paused for a moment and grinned evilly as they looked at me... "Drop it" I opened fire and took 'em all out with one clip,Their organs splattered all over the walls, and pools of blood forming as they lay on the ground. "Wow watch out we got a badass over here.Who let this bad boy of the chain?"Twilight said playfully to me. "Shut the fuck up. That was so much more badass than anything you could have done." I said annoyed at her insult. Big mac walked in with a robot's arm and a head."That was so fucking awsom...oh shit dude. Nice!" "yeah,yeah come on."twilight said tapping her hoof on the ground. Reloaded and ready to kick some ass we headed to the next door.Fluttershy dropped in from behind as we opened the door,she does that a lot.Applejack was sitting in the carriage,but there was something off about her.Only then did I notice the carriage filled with explosives! "oh.sorry I didn't mean to disappoint you buuuuuut. I'm the protagonist of this story my little ponies and I ain't gonna die so easily. Fasten your seatbelts 'cause your in for a bumpy landing."A voice said over the intercom Applejack turned around,revealing a corpse double.We all hesitated and began to back up..... "welcome to calamity kiddos" the last words I heard.The words that would seal our fate and begin our journey.The search for the mare without a face.Handsome Applejack. End of chapter 2
Dreams of a better pastWith a flash,everything I knew faded into whiteness,and then... nothing. This was all I could see,hear,feel,smell and taste.I tried to flap my wings but, I couldn't. I could do nothing.I lay their as my world slipped away from me. Everything I was going to do,places i'd see,people i'd meet. And what about all the things I had done..... My mind began to show the images It had collected over the years.I remembered my home.A cloud house, near Ponyville. My home planet.My home wasn't much.It was small, but it was mine.I remembered joining the crimson pegasai,hoping to serve and protect the ponies of the galaxy and do my duty as a solider,but that was before I was told I was being shipped off to calamity, to try and "sort out the unsortable hellhole" with an alias army of a mere hundred.We all knew we were there because they wanted to mine but were afraid of the locals interfering but we were all interested in the rumors of a stable on this very planet.that was what kept us here.I knew we were stuck.I knew that every one of us were imprisoned in our own minds,by what our superiors told us to do.I remembered the feelings that I had when I shot my commanding officer right between the eyes.My first kill.My hardest kill.The kill that set me free. When alias left,after discovering the activation of the vault the remaining pegasai outcast me and banished me from their lands.I may have set them free,but with no leader I knew they would turn on each other. I knew from that day what hell was. It was all too real and only the place where the word comes from could show me that.Being left alone on a planet where ponies go to die,to seek nothing,to chase false dreams.That is hell. Isolation,sadness, loneliness...I couldn't remember the last time I felt true happiness,true friendship after that.I was alone for 4 years.Some mares would go insane in four days but I kept on fighting.I knew I could feel those good feelings again.I was right to believe, as I felt those emotions stronger then I ever had before one faithful day when I stumbled across a town in the wastelands and went into the local bar.It was called "rarity's" .As I sat there, consuming alcohol to cure my sorrows.Three ponies sat beside me.Little did I know that I had just came across three ponies with a dream.A dream that we all shared equally .But now I felt it all fade again. All the emotions and feelings.I found it hard to wrap my brain around what was happening.My whole life. Gone......... "Oh great! some friends for me to party with!"A voice uttered in an excited and metallic tone. "Wha...." I tried to talk.I opened my eyes but everything was a blur.I saw a pink blob in front of me poking at my head.I tried to get up,but I collapsed as I was greeted back to the land of the living with pain meeting me there. "Whoa.Take it easy there pony friend.You and your friends just survived quite the ordeal.I'm surprised your internal organs are still functioning at this point.But what do I know? I'm just a robot." "My.....Friends?"I was forcing the words out at this point.I allowed gravity to move my eyes to my left to see three blobs lying beside me. "Hey.I'm no doctor,don't let my charming good looks fool you.but I'd say you've got some cracked ribs.Yep.Most definitely. and....."I realized the pink blob was talking.It seemed to talk on and on even if it thought it was being heard or not. This little.....thing seemed annoying but it just saved my life so I guess I owe it.I had a ringing In my ears that muffled her sound a lot at least. ".....say it.And I know a good doc who could help you out.She's on her way here but she'll be disappointed that you're alive.But don't worry you're safe now friend" I couldn't hold onto my consciousness any longer.I passed out. End of chapter 3 Author's Note Coming from a guy who actually died (I was killed for an operation and revived.It's not really important but kind of helped with this) Anyway. The death scene was actually what I felt when that happened to me so that's pretty much what death feels like(not joking.I'm very serious).Sorry about the shortness of the chapter but It needed to be short (and it's getting kind of late too)I'll do a longer chapter in 4.Which will take about 5 days or so to do.
The "Doctor""Now then you should be all fixed up now, and um...if you feel anything like dizziness, headaches, or internal bleeding, That's normal."A friendly voice said. I opened my eyes to observe my surroundings. What I saw was a very poorly put together, dimly lit homemade surgery. My head still felt very dizzy but I could see a mare standing in front of me with a scalpel and a blood covered apron. "Well, look who's back from the dead. Ha ha ha! Nice to meet you, I'm nurse Redheart, but my friends call me Dr. Red. Ironically I don't have a 'fancy medical license' but I can stitch you up nice and quick, and I keep the medical vendors stocked up so you won't die as much. Oh, I'm sorry. Where are my manners. What's your name?" "Um....Dash. My name's Rainbow Dash," I mumbled still trying to bring myself to stand. "Well nice to meet you Rainbow. Your friends are all waitin' for ya. I tell you, there a hoot and a holler, especially that Big Mac fellow. He told me the story about how he ripped a man almost perfectly in two. Now that takes skill" Oh god not that story. It was so fucking gruesome when I actually saw him do it. I didn't think I'd fucking be able to eat for a month. I tried to stand and look around. I saw my gear on the table and realized I was naked! I hovered in the air and used my hooves to cover myself. "What are you doing?!" Redheart said looking confused, "It's not like you need clothes. Heck, a lot of the residents on Calamity don't even wear clothes. You're a pony, so what's to be ashamed of? Your fur covers most of you anyway." I began to blush and dashed for my clothes. I got changed but actually felt a bit silly that I'd overreacted. It felt good to be back and fully recovered. There was a garage door that appeared to be the way out so I pushed the button to open it. I was blinded by the light of the sun as the door slowly opened. As my vision came back I was greeted by my three friends looking at me. Twilight and Big Mac looked relieved but, as usual, I couldn't tell what Fluttershy was thinking under that helmet. I looked around, the surrounding area was a small, broken down town with nopony in sight. Not exactly a welcoming sight, but it was better than a shitload of bandits. Suddenly I was greeted by a very familiar sound... "My pony friend you're ok! I was worried for a bit. There was so much blood coming out of you that I thought you weren't going to make it" There was a funny robot standing in front of me. This must be the one who saved me. "Allow me to introduce myself to you properly. I am a p1nki3-p13,but you may refer to by my local name pinkie pie. As my way of saying welcome take this class 19 heads up display module. Psst, I stole it from those Hornperion jackasses." I took the device "Hey put it to your neck. Be warned it might sting a bit dash," Twilight teased. I put the device on my neck and I fell to my knees. There was a needle that jabbed itself into my spine. I felt a flash of code cross my eyes as he H.U.D. turned on. Everything seemed.....20% cooler. It was as if my eyes were set to ultra high definition. I saw the world from a new perspective. This was great! I could see my ammunition, my damage threshold, and my items on hand and in my carrier bag. This would be one of the most useful tools I would ever come across and I can think of a thousand situations that this will come in handy. "Hey nice to see your all still alive and bucking. Any of you know what happened exactly?" "Yes. I was made a fool of my that asshole Applejack! She will pay for this! I am an assassin and I will not rest until I kill that son of a bitch! Nopony crosses me and lives!" Fluttershy shouted through her visor stomping her hoof on the ground "What she means to say is that Applejack tricked us. She'd anticipated us coming and rigged to train to blow. Just like the fucker she is." "When Y'all are done catching up are ready to head out?"Big Mac asked. "Yeah. I guess so. Thanks Pinkie pie for the.....thingy," I said not certain of what to say after being given such a gift. "You're welcome. And make sure to come back soon now. I still have to throw you a party. I do that for everypony around here," Pinkie replied cheerfully. I chuckled, mainly because of the lack of ponies in this dump of a town. I'd say these two get pretty lonely Redheart poked her head out. "Oh wait! Before you go. If you die you'll regenerate at one of those New-U stations there." She said pointing at a weird looking device implanted in the ground. "Ok bye," we said. I was getting tired of goodbyes. I couldn't wait for another "hello". As we left the broken down town and entered a very barren, trash-filled wasteland where the only sounds were gunfire, screams and the roars of the creatures looking for a fresh meal. I could see some skags eating away at what I assumed was a former resident of the town. Two words came to my mind. "WE'RE FUCKED!" End of Chapter Four
An unexpected rescue"GET DOWN!!!" Big Mac shouted as he pushed us all behind a rock. It'd been two days since we left that town, wondering into The Badlands and I gotta say, this planet knows how to fuck with us. *BOOM!!!!*A grenade went off on the other side of the rock "God dammit Mac!! Just cover us while we advance!!" I shouted at him. We didn't just stumble across some regular bandits, oh no...we found Badass Bandits, with a Capitol 'B'! We retreated to a dried up gorge in the mountains, but since some deity hates us, we ended up stumbling into Their Freaking DEN!! "Oh sure. I'll kill 'em all, meanwhile you all can sit there lookin' like morons!!" Big Mac shouted back. "Oh the hell with it..." Twilight said as she vanished. "Ok let's go! Raaaagh!" Big Mac roared, charging in with his Gatling Gun strapped to his back. I reloaded my gun as fast as possible, staying low, while rolling my eyes. "Run, run, run as fast as you can, bitches!" I shouted as I poked my head out and started firing wildly at anything that moved. "I'm counted at thirty!" Big Mac shouted to me. "I'm on forty-four!" I replied laughing. I heard gunfire from above us. I saw all the remaining bandits fall to the floor. A figure jumped down from the top of the gorge and landed with a cloud of dust. "I'm at seventy-nine. Eat it losers." It was Fluttershy being competitive as always, but even I have to admit that entrance was pretty badass. The ":P" symbol appeared on her visor as we walked to the entrance. There was a weird sound and a flash of light and then Twilight reappeared. "Aww. Didn't save any for me?" The door seemed to be extremely reinforced. "They must be hiding something valuable in here," I said pointing out the obvious once again. "Well if it's valuable, we want it. Outta my way, I'm gonna see if anypony's home." Big Mac grinned wildly, revving the rotary mechanism on his gun. He opened fire and we dived out of the way. The combined force of bullet and explosion from the monstrous gun appeared to be doing some lethal damage to the door. All of a sudden the firing stopped. The door was bent in all directions and looked like it was about to fall over... "Knock, knock, anypony home?" Big Mac asked to whatever lay on the other side of the door. With that the door fell down with a massive thud. I noticed my H.U.D. acting odd. It became all static and then a beautiful blue pony with a wave-like mane appeared on the screen... "Oh good. Now you can see me. Look I need you to listen. There is a unicorn in this place who can help you. Seek her out. She can help you to find and open the stable. She will be easy enough to find I'm sure nopony boasts about being Great and Powerful like she does....Anyway know this. I'm your friend and I'm here to help you find Applejack and open the stable. Yes it exists and it is somewhere on Calamity. I'll contact you again when you have completed this task." "You ok Dash? You kind of zoned out there for a second," Twilight asked. "Probably just wondering what we will find in here. I'll bet it's money. Bandits love money!" Big Mac exclaimed. We walked in the new archway we had just made and looked around. It looked like an old Derp mining facility. There were stairs leading down that seemed to go on for a bit "Goodbye," Fluttershy said in an aggressive tone as she became invisible and disappeared. She'd probably go ahead to get some killing done as usual. "Well it's been fun and all but I'll see you guys when you get to the bottom!" I joked as I leaped over the railings and began to descend into the pit. I rushed down at a really fast speed. I loved the feeling of the air on my face. I almost left it too late to slow down before I reached the bottom. I landed with a plop and began to explore. I looted some lockers and boxes left lying around and then noticed a few details about my environment. This was a holding area. There were cells with prisoners in them and a small group of bandits guarding them. There were no screams so I assumed they were either dead, starved to exhaustion, or just too scared to scream. I knew this must have been what that pony I saw was talking about. I focused on taking the guards out first. I shot the first guard nice and easy through the head with my revolver, but had to take out the bigger guns when the shot alerted the other bandit guards. I managed to kill most of them, until I saw a Badass-bucking-Psycho! Those freaks of nature would tear me apart!! So as it stomped towards me I hid behind the closest wall. I heard a loud metal clink and peeked out. I saw Fluttershy in a sword fight with the three and a half legged Stallion. Effortlessly, she cut his front leg clean off and, seeing as he only had the three to begin with, he fell to the floor with a mighty thud. She quickly stabbed him through the skull multiple times to make sure she killed him. I also think it was because she loved to stab things... "It's a pity he wasn't skilled. He could have proven a worthy challenge," she said. Clearly her lust for violence wasn't being satisfied, so I backed up a bit in case she got any ideas. "The area ahead has been scouted. There were no survivors. I looted everything too." "Ok I guess....I'm gonna go ahead anyway. I think we should find a release for those cells" I heard something drop behind me and turned around. There was a cracked open skull of a pony lying on the ground, a part of its spine was still attached and it was covered in blood. I knew it had fallen from the staircase. I got sick in my mouth a bit but against my better judgment looked up. I could hear Big Mac laughing and a lot of gunfire and screaming. I saw Twilight phase beside me. "Hey everypony. Did you miss us?" I didn't answer I just rolled my eyes and smirked while walking. There was a big room at the end of the cells. That was our best bet in finding the cell release. I flew in and looked around. My H.U.D. actually highlighted the release for me so it was easy to find. I pushed it and all the cell doors opened. Twilight stood on top of the cells and shouted down to the prisoners. "Alright everypony. You're free. Take whatever you can salvage and get the hell away from here. There is a city you'll be safe. It's called Sanctuary. Head there and you will be fine." "I don't need to listen to you! I'm far more powerful then you 'Stable Hunters', I was just caught off guard is all," A boasting voice replied. Twilight teleported down to her. "Look sister, I'm a siren. So don't talk to me about power, or I'll turn vaporize you faster than you can say sorry!" I flew over to the two of them quickly. "Hey! Calm down Twilight. I need to ask this pony something. What is your name mare?" "Me? Why I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! Why does it matter to you?" She asked. I knew this was the mare I was looking for "Do you know anything about the stables by any chance?" I needed to make sure... "Why, of course! I studied them as my profession with my partner Audiobook. Until he got jealous and left me." "Aren't those the tape recorders? I think this pony is loco in the coco," Twilight whispered to me. "It doesn't matter, I think she can help us find Applejack and the stable. I've got a feeling!" I whispered back. "Ok then. Can you help us find the stable?" Twilight questioned. "Of course, but first, in return you must escort me safely to this 'Sanctuary' you speak of. I require accommodation after Applejack....well she blew up my home." "Deal!" I said shaking her hoof. "Ok stairway's clear! Earth Ponies and Unicorns up this way." Big Mac shouted proudly, his fur covered in the blood of his enemies. "You better be right about this Dash," Twilight said. I hoped I was too. If not this was going to be a long trip. End of chapter 5 Author's Note I'd like to give a big thanks to Isumo1489 for editing the story for me :) Thanks so much for the help
SanctuaryThe road to Sanctuary was harsh. This place was home to Big Mac and Twi. Me? I didn't have a home, not on this planet anyway. There were little to no clouds, no need for a Pegasus pony such as myself here, especially now that the Crimson Pegasai were gone too. I was just reflecting on the past week, what with all the craziness and odd happenings, when static appeared on my H.U.D. Once again, the beautiful blue pony appeared before me. "Good. I see you found who I was talking about. I should have told you this earlier but I assumed you knew by now. Applejack is looking for The Stable too. Look, I don't mean to rush you, but Applejack has had enough of waiting for The Stable entrance to appear. She's already begun to drill a massive hole into the planet's crust to directly access The Stable. I can't stop her, but it will take her a long time to do it. You need to be aware, however, that time is still of the essence. I'd say you have maybe three to four months, at the most. Get Trixie to tell you everything she knows about The Stable and soon......Good luck." As she disappeared from my eyes, I began to think. 'Who was this pony who kept contacting me? Was she some sort of Deity? Or a protector of The Stable? Some rival faction against Applejack maybe? And why, of all ponies, would she help me?' I wanted answers! "You ok Dash? You look kind of....out of it," Twilight said, giving me a concerning look. "Yeah. I'm fine.....It's just....nothing." "Hey. We've only known each other for a few months now, but I think I know when there's something troubling you. You've been like this for a week, and it's beginning to worry me. If it's about Applejack, I know how you feel. We almost died because of her, and that would be enough to traumatize anypony. Try not to think about it much. Just focus on The Stable for now for the sake of us all." "Ok Twi," I said bleakly. I couldn't let them know I was seeing and hearing a pony on my H.U.D. with no user signal, no ID, no trace or even profile. They would think I was crazy...well, more crazy than anypony has to be to continue on this rock anyway. I was in a tricky situation...still, better than them looking at me like I'm a Bandit. *Bang!* Speak of the devil, or in this case, the Bandits. Another car rammed into ours. "Goddamn Bandit ponies!!! Just fuck off! I'm on the gun, I'm sick and tired of these assholes by now!!" Big Mac said climbing into the gunner seat. Me and Twilight started firing at them, and killing the side passengers while Fluttershy took the wheel. "Shit this is getting pretty rough! Fluttershy how long until we're at Sanctuary?" Twilight shouted over to Fluttershy, trying to fire at the same time. "Not long," Fluttershy said in an almost bored manner. Big Mac shot at the enemy driver's seat, and put several bullets into the cabin's ponies. "Nice! Take that you sons a bitches!" Their car began to swerve left and right, finally careening off by itself into a nearby rock, exploding on impact. Me, Big Mac, and Twi cheered in victory. I noticed that Trixie had been huddled in a ball, and just now stood up with a look of anger on her face "Oh are you all so barbaric?" Trixie questioned loudly. "Most of those 'Bandits' were former colleges of mine you know. Granted I would never talk to them because I despise social interaction...and also because Audiobook got jealous when I did, but I still respected them. You're no better than the locals. Pure monsters!" "Now you look here Trixie! I don't care whether you live or die. It's all up to how we feel about you as a group, and right now things aren't looking so good for you!" Big Mac threatened, one eye twitching as one hoof reached for his gun. "Look I don't want you to die, so just stay down and keep your mouth shut," I said sternly to her. She saw the serious look in my eyes and sat back down. The car did an almost perfect 180 degree spin, and we were all flung to one side. I landed on top of Trixie, Twilight on top of me, Mac luckily missed us by a good margin. I banged my head, but it was nothing I couldn't shake off. "We're here," Fluttershy announced. She let out a distinct chuckle, the first time I'd heard her laugh, and it was disturbing. We got out of the vehicle and walked toward Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Fluttershy drove on into the city, likely heading to a hanger for repair. This was the last bastion of resistance against Handsome Applejack, home of the Crimson Alicorns...aaaand anypony who hates Applejack. This city was a great example of how the Derp corporation tried to introduce ponies to a new environment on Calamity, and how they all almost lost their sanity in the process. It had been a long time since I'd been here. I almost forgot the feeling of an actually functioning, all-pony society. There was a very famous building just north of the center of town, where the leaders of the Crimson Alicorns resided and planned their assaults on Applejack. I'd never met any of them, but they were supposed to be some of the greatest Stable Hunters who had ever lived. The ones who opened the first Stable. "Hey, follow me. I know a place where she can crash," Twilight said pointing at Trixie. We walked towards the buildings. I noticed where Fluttershy had 'Parked' the car. Twi and Big Mac walked over and popped their heads in quickly. Fluttershy joined us inside. "Hey Braeburn, how's it hangin'? You still working on those modifications to my baby?" Big Mac asked the oil-soaked pony, who's head was in the bonnet of a car. He looked up and saw us "Why shoot Mac. Y'all can't expect me to be so fast on something this beautiful. You got to treat her gentle if you want her to purr," He said stroking the side of the car. "Who's that feller there with y'all? " "Oh, this is Rainbow Dash, and that other mare is Trixie," Big Mac said smiling. Braeburn approached me, "Nice to me ya! I'm Braeburn," he said shaking my hoof violently. "Hello," I replied with my hoof still violently being swung up and down. I tried to stop him, but he had a surprising grip and strength for a grease-pony. "Anyway, we're gonna head up to the base now. Give us a shout if you need anything," Twilight said trying to rush us out as fast as possible. We walked to the center of town, headed to the Crimson Alicorn's building. I was confused at first, but realized that Twilight had mentioned a 'base', not a home. We walked inside, and it wasn't exactly what you would call a stronghold. It was very makeshift and untidy, and I hadn't even seen the second floor yet!! Trixie pushed past me. "Well........Where am I staying?" "Here, you can have this area," Twilight said outlining a corner of the room with her hoof. "Well, this is hardly a home, but I'll make do with it. I assume you want me to tell you about The Stable?" Trixie asked. "Not yet, just give us a second. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy. There's a few ponies I'd like y'all to meet," Big Mac said leading us upstairs. We entered a room with a holographic map in the center. The walls were covered in posters and complex technology. I saw a purple and green dragon sleeping in a lounge chair in one corner, holding a bottle of cider. There was a beautiful and stunning looking white unicorn male, with an amazing blue and cyan mane looking out from a balcony just across the room. This had to be the war room without a doubt. "Shining Armor!" Twilight called out to the blue pony. He turned around. "Twili!!" He exclaimed with joy galloping to her, and giving her a hug. He looked at Fluttershy and then me. I blushed as he examined me. "Who are your friends?" He asked. "Oh! This is Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Guys, this is my brother, Shining Armor," Twilight said. "And this is Spike. Spike get up!" she shouted, pushing him with her hoof. "Wha? Where? I don't wanna go," Spike moaned, head turning away from the noise. "Ugh. Never mind. This is his pet Philomena," Twilight pointed her hoof at a majestic looking bird. It was a phoenix, very rare and beautiful to look at. "Welcome, Stable Hunters, to the Crimson Alicorns," Shining Armor said to us. It just fully clicked in my mind what was going on, why Twi and Mac had seemed familiar somehow. "Wait. You're one of the founders Twilight? Your one of the Stable Hunters that opened the First Stable?" "Yup. Me, Big Mac, Shining Armor, and Spike all opened that Stable as a team. We're the Original Stable Hunters." "Remarkable," Fluttershy said in a soft tone. "Enough chit-chat, time to get serious. Applejack is still trying to locate The Stable, so we still have more than enough time to prepare," Shining Armor stated in a serious tone. "Actually, Applejack found the entrance already, and from what I gather, she plans to drill her way into it instead of waiting for it to reveal itself." I said this knowing I'd just dug a bit hole for myself. "What?! Where did you get this information? This will be a massive problem, totally pushes our plans ahead of schedule!!" Shining Armor exclaimed. He took a deep breath, Twilight's hoof on his back rubbing gently, "but even if Applejack reaches that Stable there is still hope. She doesn't have the Stable Key so there's no way to unlock it's power." Shining Armor appeared to be stressed about the information, running a hoof through his mane while Twi tried to keep him calm. I wanted to tell him otherwise, but it was the truth as far as I knew. Besides, better to operate on the assumption that Applejack was winning, then think were ahead when we weren't even close. "Ok, we need answers, and now would be a good time to ask a certain unicorn what she knows," Twilight said with a devilish grin. end of chapter 6 Author's Note Thanks again to Isumo1489 for editing :)
The theory of a madmare"Tell us everything you know!" Twilight shouted at Trixie, holding herself back from putting a bullet in her smug brain. "Do you always treat your guests like this? I am a mare of status, of fame, and yet you treat me like a frog that was sexually rejected!" Trixie said looking sternly at us all. "Wait what? A frog? Is there something wrong with that brain of yours or did I hear you wrong?" Twilight asked looking extremely confused. "This is getting us nowhere," I said sighing. The rage was beginning to build up inside me. I rammed at Trixie and shoved her against the wall. I could tell I was hurting her, but that was just making it more satisfying. "TELL ME ABOUT THE STABLE NOW!" I shouted pushing harder. "Ow! Please stop!!" Trixie said, having to force what air was left in her lungs to say so. She was struggling to move and I could see I was choking her, but I still didn't stop. "JUST SAY YOU'LL TELL US AND I'LL STOP!!" I shouted, getting more and more impatient with this ungrateful pony. "O................k," she gasped as I moved away from her. "Now what do you know?" Twilight asked again. Trixie regained her breath for a minute and replied. "Ok. I know this. The Stable is an unbelievable source of power. Although when the last one was opened, it did contain the God of Chaos. The element that began to grow all across the planet afterwards actually sort of proves my point. Equestrium has some of the most unusual physical properties of any element known to ponykind. From what I hear, a new Stable has been found by none other than handsome Applejack. This also proves both my 'I hate you Trixie' theory and my 'Many Stables' theory. The 'I hate you Trixie' theory implies that there is a god watching over me, and that he makes my world a living hell and drives people away from me... rather than the occasional vomiting at the sight of certain ponies. The 'Many Stables' theory states that there was not only one Stable, but hundreds if not thousands of Stables waiting for a vessel to open them. This vessel being the Stable Key. I have no idea what is held inside these Stables, but they may be linked to a number of things: The near-extinction/almost-complete disappearance of the Alicorn race, why are there Sirens, the growth of Equestrium, why my hooves ache after a long walk in a pool of blood, it could mean anything...and everything... " "Ok what's this about a new element?" I asked interested by her information. "Well, before I was captured, I had noticed a large amount of Hornperion mining operations in odd areas where an odd purple material was being extracted from the ground. Naturally curious, I snuck in and stole some of the material that had been refined. Having several P.H.Ds, thus, I could tell that this was a completely foreign element to the world of science. As it was mostly found near old Equestrian artifacts and I overheard some of the miners talking about it, I began to call it 'Equestrium'. I have no idea what it does, but apparently a lot of companies have been purchasing it from Hornperion. It's been happening ever since the stable opened, which would explain how they got so rich so fast. It must be powerful if so many ponies want it. Any more questions?" "Do you know anything about the location of the Stable Key?" Twilight asked. I looked at her, as she has a similar look to my own. I could tell she found this as interesting as I did. I looked at Big Mac quickly too. He was tweaking his Gatling gun, and didn't seem to have much interest in what Trixie was saying. I couldn't see Fluttershy so I assume she left. "No, I can't tell you where it is, but I can tell you who has it. I had obtained the key after the Stable had been opened, but then there was the incident at New Ponyville, and Applejack came to me personally...almost killed me trying to obtain it. With my body broken and my mind in bits, I could do nothing as she beat what was left of me. I eventually passed out and somehow survived, by divine intervention it seems. That was the last I saw of the key. I don't know what she said fully, but she mentioned something about it needing to be charged." "Oh shit!" I heard a voice say from the stairs. It was Shining Armor. "This changes everything! I need to leave, and find out Applejack's plans or we won't even have a chance. You four, I need you to do a little job for me. You will need to go to a place rather far from here, and bring everyone to Sanctuary. It's the only place that will be safe now. You're going to a little town called Lyre'sberg." "Sound's friendly," Big Mac chuckled. "There's a boat not too far out from here. Your H.U.D. will display its location. It will take you there safely, and hopefully help you get back. Good luck," Shining Armor gave us a graceful hoof-salute, and we went off back upstairs to prepare. "Lyre'sburg here we come!" I shouted. Us, the four adventurers on a quest to save the day, for some humble townsfolk. Sometimes I feel like this stuff happens deliberately, but that's impossible...........right? End of chapter 7
Lyra'sbergBoats weren't my style. I could handle massive g-forces and spinning and speed of the air but the tossing and turning of a boat made me want to hurl. It was better for everypony that I flew above. I'd been trying to get my head around this whole situation for some time now, but for a up to that point I'd just been rolling with it. There was so much to think about and the fact that nobody else seemed to mention anything only made it more odd. Just who was this mysterious blue pony i've been blindly following, and why was applejack so obsessed with unlocking the stable? I flew straight into a cloud while i was daydreaming about how all of this was connected. "I need to focus." I said to myself blushing hoping nopony else saw that... I could see land now and sped ahead to scout out the area the guys would have to wait to get started. There was a blizzard but from what i could see the place seemed rather barren. looked like no sane pony for miles and I honestly couldn't blame them. I descended and landed on the outskirts of the town. Silence. The only thing that could be heard was the chilling howls of the wind as the blizzard continued to rage nonstop.I continued further in and looked around for any signs of pony life. There stood a large figure near a wall of a cliff that the town was positioned beside. I wasn't sure if i should have be concerned with it though as it seemed to keep it's distance from me. I knocked on a door of one of the snow covered houses. Despite how dull and depressing this place seemed the snow made it rather nice to a point. There was no answer at the door. I began to hear a transmission on my hud... "Hello fillies, colts and bandits, this is handsome Applejack. A group of evil stable hunters have arrived recently on the planet and i'm offering a huge pile of dough to the person how kills them or turns them in. 500,000,000 bits dead 1,000,000,000 bits for them alive, so i can have a little fun with 'em first. Our surveillance bots recently spotted them on a boat headed towards lyre'sberg so happy hunting." "Shit" I said to myself. I received another transmission... "A BILLION BITS!!! FELLAS GO SHOW THESE STABLE HUNTERS A WARM WELCOME!!!" I wasn't sure who this pony was but it sounded like he was eager to kill us.I feel like it's always the same routine with these guys and it always ends the same way with them dying and nothing gained...I decided to warn the others "Hey guys.did you...." "yes....we did....and we're almost there now. Where are you?" Twilight replied "I went to scout ahead.Seems like nopony's here. Why did your brother send us here when there's no one to..." "sorry to interrupt your conversation but this town is not deserted. I'm still here meet me at my current accommodation here so i may give you a proper introduction. i'll give you the location now." a posh-sounding voice interrupted. "Guess I spoke too soon. where's everypony else?" I asked. "not now. wait until we meet in person then we talk" A snow storm had began to brew as the other's arrived. The white snow cloaking the town and restricting our vision. We went together to the house marked out by the mystery pony, but the gate was blocked. we stopped and waited for somepony to notice us. I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye and looked around. There was a large white figure standing just out of sight. I couldn't make out what exactly was, but i was approaching fast. I pulled out my gun and shouted. "You there. Stop or i'll shoot." The others turned around to me but figure didn't stop. as it was getting closer it became more clear to me this wasn't a pony as it was using only 2 legs... of 6? "Bullymongs!!!" Big mac shouted as he opened fire. More of the creatures began jumping out of large crevices in the wall "Great. More of them. Would you mind taking care of them while I open the gate for you?" The mystery pony asked. "Doesn't look like we have much choice." I replied blowing one of their heads clean off. Author's Note The moon and the sun rely on each other like yin and yang. As long as there is day there will always be night and as long as there is night the day will come. This is a great reflection of good and bad and how one cannot exist without the other. That said I do not believe Luna is bad, evil or anything like that, in fact the only reason she turned was due to being misunderstood and dark forces feeding on her negative attributes when she was in a negative state. So given the opportunity in current form she'd never bring eternal night... Just a random fun-fact/rant I thought i'd put in for getting so many story views :D thanks everypony for the support and i'll try to keep posting chapters! Should try not to set a date however as I never seem to meet them.
