Fallout Equestria: Black Gold

The first day off my journey went by quickly, with no important events slowing me down. The first steps on my journey proved to be surprisingly ease, with only the occasionally wild ant or scorpion crossing my path, which I could bypass effortlessly thanks to my natural detection skill as well as the new EFS of my Pipbuck.

It had taken me quite some time to settle on my next moves, but in the end I decided that it would be the wisest choice to travel to the east first. That had mainly one reason.

Even though my tribe produced most of its goods itself , there were still things we couldn't create but still needed to survive. Because of that we had opened trade to a small settlement nearby. A small city called Karmatha, located only a few miles away, provided us with everything we needed. In return we shared parts of our yield, mostly meat or herbs. Caravans, traveling the waste near our homeland, made sure that the exchange of the goods was taken care of.

I hoped that I could upgrade my equipment in Karmatha, since I was still certain that I wouldn't be able to archive anything in  the long run with the things I had currently with me. My jumpsuit while rather comfy, didn't gave any real form of protection and my spear had already shown signs of weariness. Only Loyalty and the flask had proven really useful till now ans I was sure that those alone wouldn't do me any good ultimately.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the city to be honest. True we were trade partners, but only very few ever wandered over there and most of the traders weren't eager to share their stories with us. My grandfather had given me a few strips of paper he had called “money”. It seemed you could change goods against those things, neat huh? Just to be sure however I had settled on gathering herbs and other hopefully valuable things I could trade in for help.

Well I would know it soon, I already could catch glimpses of the valley the city was supposed to be in. Soon I would see the city with my own eyes.

I entered the city, following the paved path that had begun a mile or so before the actual city.

I wasn't sure what I had expected, but definitely more than what I had found. The city was mostly in a really ad shape, an old ruin still standing from before the day of death. Every where I looked, I only saw a maze of gray, broken and destroyed houses everywhere with debris, garbage and broken machines filling the streets.

Still I could see ponies walk through the streets, going after there daily business as if the city was still as intact as before the war. Foals were playing in the streets, running through the debris as if it was non existent or playing hide and seek in the old, broken buildings around me. I walked through the streets taken in everything around me and marveled at the determination of the ponies around, to live in such a dilapidated area.

While I worked I could make out ponies whispering and staring at me out of the corner of my eyes, but as soon as I looked at them they already had resumed whatever they were doing, pretending as if nothing ever happened. Frowning I ignored them, playing it down as curiosity about a new visitor to the city.

I continued my way through the city, looking for a shop were I could sell me wares or a sign indicating a place to stay, since I didn’t plan to leave the town before tomorrow.

The first shop I found was a small herbalism shop, where I sold a few of the plants I had found. In return I received a bag of bottle caps and, after being reassured by the owner and a few passerby that this really was the momentary currency in the wasteland and not just a cruel joke, I left the building to continue my way.

It took me a while, but finally I found a small bar that was also renting beds to visitors. I entered the building looking around in the small room I had walked into. I saw a few ponies sitting or walking around the room, a young mare walking around, handing out drinks and food and an old mare standing at the other side of the room preparing said things. I concluded that they must have been the owners of the small house.

But there was something else that drew my attention, something I hadn't expected to see here. In one of the corners of the room stood a zebra, who was busy sweeping the floor in an, admittedly futile, attempt to clean it. He was a grayish-white with black stripes, like all of his brethren. He had a short cropped mane and tail, the former styled into a miniature mohawk, considering his lack of hair.

Zebras... They were an unusual sight in the wastelands, as far as I knew, since they were the ones that started the war all those years before, resulting in the day of death. A lot of ponies still held grudges against them because of that, resulting in the fact that most of them tended to keep to themselves in fear of the consequences of an angry mob trying to let their frustrations out on them.

Of course, most zebras were excellent fighters, using a strange kind of martial arts I wasn't familiar with, but I doubted that that would protect them if a whole city decided to go after them.

While I was staring at him, the old mare from across the room looked and him and let out a furious shriek. "You idiot" she screamed, hitting him over the head, obviously a more symbolic gesture, since he didn't showed any signs of even feeling it. "What are you doing? I told you to clean the rooms in the back, not wasting your time in here. Go at once and don't come back until you're finished, got that?" The zebra bowed before her and trotted out of the room, leaving the mare behind who started to mutter something about "those damn tribals."

My ears perked up. That explained the strange looks. It seemed like most of this city, didn't liked us. I wasn't sure why, but I was sure that I would find out soon enough. But for now there was something different on my mind.

I walked towards the younger mare, I thought of as the waiter and cleared my throat to get her attention. She stopped what she was doing and looked at me quizzically. "Who's that zebra, that just left the room" I asked, pointing at the door he had left through

She looked at me, a strange look in her eyes. It was a look I had seen a lot of times, mostly when I talked to gramps. It was the look someone had who tended to precisely calculate every move they made, trying to get the utmost profit out of their actions. It was a look not unlike the one I had most of the time.

"Sorry" she said, starting to turn away from me. "Infos only for paying costumers."

I groaned. Of course they would try to take advantage of me. Well that's a game two can play. Sadly there wasn't much I could do for now ans so I had to play after her rules at the moment, however I definitely would find a way to turn the tables.

"One beer," I said pulling out a hoof full of caps. She nodded and went over to the older mare. Soon she came back and handed out the ordered drink.

"So" I began, roughly gesturing towards the door the zebra had left through. "About him?" She looked over to the door and sighed. "His name is Zikom. He came to city a few days ago, supposedly to find his sister, who he claimed to be kidnapped by slavers."

"Slavers?" I asked interrupting her story. " She looked at me and nodded. "Yes, it isn't very common for them to exist, but there are a few here and there. Don't worry, here in Karmatha we would never except anything like this."

"Anyway" she continued. "He claimed his sister was kidnapped and he threw a giant tantrum around city, trying to find her. When he hadn't any success, he came in here and started drinking. Once he had downed a few cups, he suddenly got violent, starting a fight and destroying half of the furniture in the process."

That would explain the somewhat rundown appearance of the local, I thought.

"Once he had calmed down, he apologized and we took him in as an worker until he finishes to work off  his debt."

I tilted my head, thinking about her story. It made sense. For a moment I was worried that despite her claims they actually would allow slavery in secret and Zikom was a victim of it. My worries weren't that baseless either, they did prove to me that they weren't really fond of tribals. Who to say that their hatred didn't take form in a rather serious way? I looked at the young mare and smiled. "Thanks for the info" I said.

“No problem” she said and started to turn around again, but stopped halfway. She looked at me, her face showing the same hard to read expression as before.

While a waited for her to say something, I studied her behavior. It was very subtle and would be hard to notice for most people but something about her movements threw me off. It seemed like she was trying to get a grasp of something. I guessed  that she was trying to determine if I was worth wasting her time on or not. Or maybe I was just seeing things. I was always told I had the tendency to over analyze everything, but my motto was better safe than sorry.

However the case, I just kept looking at her, waiting for her to make the first move. "White got the first turn", like my grandpa used to say.

"Say..." she finally said. "I kinda like you." I raised an eyebrow. "You're cute" she said with a smile. Forced, but I played along, and let a goofy grin appear on my lips. "Why don't you take a room here?" she continued. "Maybe we can talk later?"

The way she said "talk" nearly made me wince. I got a pretty good idea what she meant with that.  I weighted my options. This was either a trick to sell me a room, she was extremely open minded or she was trying to trick me in some kind of way and would try to take advantage of me as soon as I made a wrong move, probably trying to accuse me of assaulting her or something to get her way.

I wasn't sure if she was just sure of herself, or if she was just underestimating me. I tipped on the later, after all they didn't seem to have a high opinion on my kind. I hid my smile and looked at the mare an eager grin on my face. "It.Is.On!" I thought.

"Sure, I would like that" I said aloud, letting my eyes wandering over her body, staying in the role of the dumb, horny tribal. She was quite attractive, nice shaped body. Yellow coat, pale pink mane. "What's your name?"

She smiled at me and said "Smiley. See you later, sweety." And with a wink she was gone.

Ladies and gentlemen? Let the games begin!

After Smiley had left, I went over to the old mare standing at the counter and rented a room, receiving a key for one of the more private rooms. Smiley must had already arranged things for us.

I stored my unnecessary equipment, namely my spear, and left the building. I still had something left to do, the main reason why I had come here. I still wanted to upgrade. For that I had decided I would visit an old friend of the tribe. Tuner, a regular trade partner of the tribe had his own shop in this town, what better place to start my efforts than there?

It took me a while to find his shack, but with a lot of asking around and relying on the map function of my pipbuck, I finally found it.

I knocked at his door, eager to meet him, but it seemed like me luck had run out. Nobody was answering the door, no matter how often or vehement I knocked. That could mean two things. Either he was walking around town somewhere and I just had to wait for a awhile until he would return, or he was away with a caravan at the moment. I knew that our tribe wasn't the only settlement around here and Tuner would be an idiot if he wouldn't trade with the others as well.

I weighted my options. I could either wait here and hope he would return or go and try my luck elsewhere. I thought about It for a while, but decided it would be best to wait at least a little longer.

After the third hour had passed I had to admit that he probably wouldn't come home any time soon. I pushed me up from the wall I had leaned against and looked up. The sun was already setting and it wouldn't do me any good to try anything now. Not to mention that I had to go back for my date with Smiley.

Actually that was something I was looking forwards to. I was eager to know what exactly she wanted from me, by now I was pretty sure it wasn't anything physical.

I started walking towards my room, maybe a little bit faster than I had to.

I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I wasn't really in the mood for anything right now. I was just tired, craving for sleep to come, but as much as I wanted to, I wasn't allowed to let my mind to be clouded. I still was waiting for Smiley to come by and I needed a clear head for the upcoming battle. Unfortunately she never specified when she would come and so all I could do was wait in here, with nothing to take my mind off of my boredom.

I tried a few different things to keep me occupied, but nothing really worked. I wasn't in the mood to read, not to mention that the only books for miles around where mostly burned or unreadable from decay. My pipbuck wasn't a big help either. I had hoped that my radio would be able to catch up on anything, but it seemed that there wasn't any signal around here. A real shame, I really would have liked to hear something from that strange DJ Pon-3 fella I had heard so much about.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I noticed that it was probably part of her plan; to wait for me to get sleepy and as a result less observant. It was a pretty effective strategy and even if I wouldn't admit it, I felt its affects beginning to take roots.

In the end I decided that I needed to do something or I really would just drift off. I stood up from my bed a walked over to my clothes, which I had taken off for the night.

I pulled out Loyalty and unsheathed the weapon, admiring the pale light breaking on its blade. I started at the blade, transfixed by my own reflection and let my thoughts drift.

First I thought about Gramps, Jade and the rest of the tribe who were waiting for my return. I wasn't gone for long, but I already started to miss them.

Next my thoughts drifted to the mysterious object I was supposed to find. I wished that they had given me more informations about it. How was I supposed to know where exactly it was kept in the old home? What did it look like? What would it do? How could it help us?

Finally my thoughts turned to Tuner. I had hope he might have known something about the mysterious artifact since he was well educated about the technologies of old and maybe he had already heard of something like that?

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the door behind me open.  I slowly turned the grip of the knife using its reflective surface to look over my shoulder. I saw Smiley standing in the door-frame her gaze locked at my back. I lowered the weapon, took a deep breath to get into character, and turned around smiling.

"Smiley" I said with a big grin on my lips, trotting over to her. "I'm glad you came." She put a smile on herself and looked at me. "I said I wanted to talk didn't I?" "Of course you did" I said, waving her inside with a hoof " I was still worried you might have decided otherwise."

We went over to my bed, the only real furniture in the room apart from a small shelf in one corner of the room, and sat down. I tried to measure her behavior, but soon found that my mind wasn't working clearly. Point for you, sweetheart.

We talked for a while chatting about this and that, no one of us saying anything of importance in the process. I had gone into autopilot halfways, only answering with "hmm" and "yes" and banal phrases, and wishing she would finally cut to the point.

My attention returned when she stopped talking and stared at me. I stared back, looking into her eyes and waiting for her to make the first move.

Suddenly she leaned in and kissed me. My eyes went wide and I panicked for a moment before getting myself back under control. That had surprised me. Had I miscalculated her behavior? Was she really just after a quick number? I wouldn't say no if that was the case, but my gut-feeling told me that there was still more to come.

I tried to lean forwards myself, returning the kiss, but as suddenly as she had kissed me she pulled back looking away from me.

I looked at her quizzically, studying her. She kept looking away from me, no matter how hard I tried and her whole  appearance seemed somewhat ... down.

"I'm sorry" she said unexpectedly, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I'm sorry" she repeated I can't do this." I was still saying nothing waiting for her to continue.

She turned her back towards me, sniveling slightly. "Just give me a moment please." she begged me. "Are you alright?" I asked her, the worried expression on my face half played and half serious concern."Yes..., yes" she said looking to the side. I knelt down before her, gently forcing her to look me into the eyes. I just hoped my training wouldn't betray me now.

"Hey, you can tell me." I said gently. She looked at me torn between hope and fear.   …. there was still something off about all of this.

"It's just.... My last coltfriend. He was an asshole" she said, the last word coming strangely stocking, as if she had to overcome something to say it. "He treated me like  his property and beat me whenever I didn't obey him. I hoped I could finally overcome his influence, but..."

I looked at her  chewing at my lower lip. This time I was not pretending anything. I was on dangerously thin ice here. If what she said was true, me playing with her like this would have very serious consequences. I had to be very carefully about my next moves.

I looked her into the eyes, real concern for her in mine. "Who was he?" I asked. She shivered. "I'm not sure..." she began. I interrupted her at once. "Don't worry. You can tell me" I reassured her. She seemed a little uncertain but finally nodded. "It was a stallion who worked here in the town. His name is … Tuner."

It took me a great amount of concentration, not to start laughing. Got you, Missy!

Tuner. You might remember what I said? That he was a trader, and that he was coming to our tribe sometimes? What I didn't mention was that he was a very close friend of my gramps. In fact he was one of the traders that was there when he had lost his leg and he was the one who had convinced them to help him to get his new one. Ever since he was a close friend to us and later, after I was born, something like a far away living uncle for me and Jade. It was entirely impossible that what she said was true, so why was she lying?

I kept in my role, playing the worried suitor. "What happened to him?" I asked.

"I'm not sure" she replied, looking away. "Last time I heard of him he went to the lower city and build a gang there. I'm scared what will happen to me when he comes back."

That was it. That was the reason she had done all this. She wanted Tuner gone and she hoped, that I was dumb enough to do the dirty work for her. I had to admit, she was cold-blooded. Not everypony could have made up such a story and play it so convincingly like she did, just to get a job done.

Maybe I would fulfill her wish. I was looking for Tuner anyway and, if I found him, I could tell him about what was going on. There was only one problem, his location.

The lower city, how she had called the place was the area where the hunter and mercs lived. Most of them were trained killer and all of them were very unfriendly to tribals, even more so then the rest of the city. I would need a good plan if I wanted to survive there.

But for now I had to deal with Smiley.

"Don't worry" I said, giving her a cocky grin. "I will end this for you". Her eyes went wide. "No! I could never..." "Don't worry. I can handle this" I said hugging her.  "You'll see, tomorrow at this time your problem will be gone." "Thanks" she whispered in my ear.

I stared at the wall, my face cold and expressionless. I was sure she had a similar expression at the moment.

I leaned against the cold stone walls of the building behind me. I was observing one of the old pubs in the lower city. Since the citizens here were rather hostile to tribals, even more so than their brethren in the upper city I had opted to watch their hideout from afar. I had enhanced my eyesight with my magic, giving me the ability to see the building as if I was standing right in front of it.

I also had dropped my vault suit, deciding that it would attract to much attention, not to mention that the ponies probably already had heard of the tribal in the vault suit, and I didn't need to complicate my mission any further. On my side hung a small silenced pistol, a present from Smiley to keep me save. Since it was my only useable weapon apart from Loyalty, I decided it couldn't hurt to take it with me.

While I was watching the building, one particular question kept spinning around in my head. Why here? Tuner was never the type to join a gang nor did he seem to fit in with any other of the locals. But there was no mistake.

Of course I didn't purely made my assumptions on the word of a mare that had tried to manipulate me and who didn't seem to shy away from any method to achieve her goal. But no matter who I questioned, from the shop owners to the bar owners to the foals playing around in the streets, they all told me that he was last seen here.

Once the sun started to set, I shook my head and let out a deep sigh. "Well," I thought  "Let's get this over with." And to no one in particular I added " Shall we?"

I was sneaking through the streets of the rundown neighborhood, paying attention not to make any noises in the darkness. I had enhanced my eyes with my spells, but you never could be careful enough. Most of the inhabitants of this area were skilled hunter, trained in trailing and hunting down anything, and with  no doubt anyone, so mistakes were unacceptable. Luckily a quick glance with my heat vision, combined with the detection abilities of my pipbuck was normally enough to bypass any guards.

My goal was an old building deep in the heart of the area, an old factory, specialized in producing guns and armor. I had heard Tuner was last seen in there, making his the right place to start my search for him.

It took my a while to go there, having to wait for guards to resume their routes or to bypass debris that was blocking my path, but finally I was standing in front of the great gates of the factory. I was watching them, studying the patrol routes of the guards around the great building. After a while I had found out a familiar pattern and readied myself to enter the building.

As soon as the first guard turned his back to me, I run forwards, ducking behind cover and waiting for him to clear my path. I kept playing that game for a while, always moving whenever the guards weren't looking my way, it reminded me of an old foals play we used to play, just with a much higher stake at risk.

With enough patience and timing I finally managed to reach my goal. I sighed with relief and gave my surroundings a quick scan. Nothing on my Pipbuck, nothing on my vision. Good.

I left the alleyway I had ducked in behind me, and walked over to one of the old emergency exits, working my magic on the lock. Literally. I wasn't going to try anything fancy and try to pick it, but instead checked the door for stability and, once I found a weak spot, used the silenced weapon to shoot the lock open.

Squeezing myself through the door, I soon stood inside the old building, everywhere around me long dead machines and furnaces. I walked through the abandoned halls, my jaw dropping in awe.

I had grown up in my tribe and even thought I had heard of buildings like this, to see them with my own eyes was daunting. I didn't even knew it was possible to build things like that, not to mention in this scales. The ponies of old must have been geniuses.

While I was walking around the floors, not really paying attention to my surroundings my ears suddenly perked up. I had heard something. Slowly I kept walking, following the noises.

What was that? It sounded like voices. Shouting ... and laughing ... and ... crying?

I was still a long way away from my goal, but I could begin to catch glimpses of what they were saying.

"No, please. I ...". A mare? I heard a foal cry. "Shut up. I don't ... " Male, slightly older. ".... over there. I want ..." another male, this one clearly much older, and if I interpreted the sound of his voice right, used to giving orders.

I finally had reached the door the sound was coming from and looked through it. I was standing on a small catwalk over a large store hall, which was illuminated by a dozen or so spotlights standing all around the room.

In the center of the room stood a group of ponies, frightened and battered. All around the room other ponies were standing, trailing guns on the group in their midst. On the catwalk across from me stood an old stallion, dressed in a fancy black suit, or at least what you could fancy in the wastes, and ordered around the ponies standing below.

One of the stallions on the group in the middle tried to run away, before one of the guards shot him in the leg, sending him to the ground, before walking over to him and dragging him back towards the others, who jolted away in fear.

I let my gaze wander over the ponies in the center of the room and noticed two of them immediately. The first one was Tuner, a bronze coated earth pony with a rust-colored mane. The other one was a female zebra. Zikom's sister maybe?

I watched the scenario before me play out and snorted. It seemed the citizens of the lower city were much more tolerant to slavery, than there neighbors in the upper city.

While I observed the ponies below me, I was wondering if I should help them now or retreat and come back with support. I didn't needed to think long, before the decision was taken away from me, teaching me two important things at the same time.

Number one: Never let your guard down in a hostile area. Number two: A Pipbuck only shows enemies in front of you....

I felt a heavy object collide with my head, before I dropped down to my knees, opening the door fully in the process. I just had time to see the perplexed expression on the well dressed pony and the shocked one on Turners face, before I dropped down completely, the world around me going blank.

I awoke, a burning pain at the back of my head giving me headaches. I just sat here for a moment, waiting for my vision to clear up. As soon as the room wasn't spinning anymore, I looked around.

I was sitting in a small room, a single light from the ceiling illuminating he room. My legs were bound together, making it impossible for me to move, and I was stripped of all of my belongings.

I really, really, really hated my luck.

I decided it would be best to wait and see what would happen. In the meantime I could try to lose my bindings a little.

I tried to wriggle around a little, fearing that to much movements could draw attention towards me. Not that there was anyone, whose attention I could attract, but better save than sorry. When that didn't show any result, I tried rougher movements, trying to rip the ropes apart. I didn't make me any hopes, and the ropes on their part kept sure to confirm my doubts.

While I tried fighting my way out of my bonds, I wondered why no one was around. Why did they bring me here? I didn't have to wait long before the door opened and the black clad pony with two bodyguards by his side came walking in.

He looked at me -I had had the bright idea to stop my effort when he had come in- and walked over towards a chair across from me. He took out an old briefcase from his pocket and pulled out a small cigar. Next he pulled out an ornamented lighter and starting lighting his tobacco. I looked at him, taking in his sight now that I got a good look at him. He was fairly plain looking, gray coat, white mane and black suit. He could be anyone from anywhere. In short he was completely plain and inconspicuous.

He took in a deep breath and gave me a look over. "So my friend" who are you and what are you doing here?"

I quickly got in role, flinching as he spoke to me and keeping my head low, lightly quivering. Perfect! I kept my head low, seemingly to frightened to talk.

"I asked you question" he said with unconcealed impatience. He was clearly not used to not getting his will.

I sniffed away my fake tears and answered with a trembling voice. "Brownie" I said, opting for a codename. It was silly but the only think I could come up with at the moment and at least my coat-color was correct. Remembering the second part of his question I continued. "I was looking for a place to hide, Sir." I said, a light trembling in my voice.  “I visited the town and the inhabitants started hunting me. I got scared and run away, landing here.”

Not good, that might be a bit to much. Don't overdo it boy, I silently berated myself.

“And you accidentally just wandered past my guards, miraculously meeting no one and just strolling in on our secret meeting hall” The old stallion said, obviously not believing anything I said.

"Yes?" I said worried. Dammit I forgot about that. But that's the problem with improvising, you might make slip ups like that. Well I had to play with the hand I was given. "Like I said, I hid, Sir. Whenever I noticed someone coming close  I just stopped until they were gone. When I finally entered this building I was so in awe I didn't notice where I was going, I swear it is the truth." I said pleadingly. Technically it was, just not all of it.

"And what about this, boy?" he asked pulling out Loyalty. I cursed inwardly, I should have left that home. "This is a rather unique knife" he said pulling it out of its sheath. "I haven't seen any like it before."

"It's a heirloom, Sir." I said keeping close to the truth. "My grandfather forged it himself and he gave it to his son, my father, who gave it to me." OK maybe that wasn't true, but hey whatever helped me to survive.

The old stallion looked at me doubtfully. "I don't believe you kid he said pointing Loyalty's tip at me. "And even if I did you saw something you shouldn't have. Either way we have to deal with you. Luckily for you one of my merchandises was damaged just a while ago, I believe you saw it? You know what? Why don't you take his place?"

Before I could say anything he gave a quick gesture to his guards and I was dragged out of the room. Finally I could see where I was. I was still in the same room I was before I was knocked out, they just had me dragged to a small office connected with the catwalk on one side and a ladder going down on the other.

The two guards pulled me towards the other ponies standing in the center of the room. I could see Turner trying to stand up to come to my help, but with a nearly unnoticeable shake of my head I gestured for him to stay down. I wanted to be incognito just a little while longer. Luckily Tuner was long enough around my gramps to notice even such a subtle sign and he stopped moving.

The two guards cut through my ropes, releasing me from my bounds. It wasn't necessary for them to bind me down, since all the guns pointing at me would keep me in place, and left me behind with he rest of the group.

I waited for them to bring a little distance between us, before I stood up and walked deeper into the crowed, closer to Tuner and to my surprise the zebra. Well he did show that he was more open minded then most and with no doubt he would try protect her. I wasn't sure if not without him they would try to take their frustrations out on her? She did seem a little roughened up, so it might not be impossible.

Once I was close enough for them to hear me I started talking. "What happened to you?" I asked, deliberately ignoring all pleasantries. Time was of the essence.

"I was looking for loot I could sell to one of the towns around" Tuner said, cutting right to the important parts as well. "Then my lights went out and I awoke here. Do you know where we are? And more importantly why are you here?" "Inside an old gun factory, deep in the lower city" I said. He cursed. "Then it will be to late, we will be far away by then." "Concerning you're second question; I was looking for you. I was sent on a mission by my tribe and I hoped to get some equipment at your store."

Tuner laughed weakly, gesturing around him. I'm sorry but I'm quite sure I won't be selling anything soon. Heck, I'm not even sure if I will sell anything ever again."

"Do you know what they are planing with us?" I asked, looking at all the ponies in the room. "I think they are going to sell us down in Dent."

I winced.

"Yeah that won't be nice." Tuner said. "Dent's a real hellhole. Everything full with drugs and addicts. Not sure what they have in plan for us there though." I nodded, staring into space.

Then I noticed the zebra still close by Tuners side and listening to our conversation. "Who's that?" I asked pointing a hoof at her.

Tuner looked around at the zebra and back to me. "I don't really know. Just a slave like us. She didn't rally talk but all the others were ignoring her and I thought she could use some company.”

I looked at the mare before me, the other zebra in the bar coming back to my mind. While I mustered her I went over the facts I knew about him. Was looking for his sister, claimed she was kidnapped. Well when I looked around me I was sure that would count for her. Hmm, it was worth a shot.

I looked at the zebra and asked: "Excuse me, do you have a brother? Kizom or something like that?"

Her ears perked up "Zikom?" she asked. I nodded.  "Yeah him." "How do you know him" she wanted to know. So I told her. About his search, his rampage and his current fate. She shook her head and let out a sigh. "Idiot" she muttered.

"Excuse me" I said. "I might have missed it, but I'm pretty sure you didn't tell us your name, did ya."

She looked at me silently. I waited for a response but nothing came. Still I kept eye contact and waited patiently. I was about to give in and just ignore her when she opened her mouth.

"Kyala" she said before turning away from me, ignoring all further attempts to get her attention. I grinned weakly. I was going to like her.