Metro 2033

Cedar ran ahead, following the stallion. He struggled with his saddlebag to remove his pistol, nearly tripping over himself. With the weapon firmly in his aura he pointed it ahead at the old pony. He pulled the hammer back and shot. Each pull of the hammer and trigger was smooth. Until he emptied the weapon. Though due to his inexperience he did not aim down the sights, nor did he know how to manage recoil.


The captain was quick to dismiss bullet's rambling, thinking that it was just a ploy to get out of paying. "Then it's jail time for you-" then he heard the initial gunshot. It was close, and no mare had passed through his gate, however that ancient stallion looked really fishy. He bucked a giant bell behind him, a loud dull toned bell that would carry throughout the station to put it on red alert. He turned to bark out orders to his ponies. "Bookworm, Cheapskate! Investigate!" The two ponies galloped off into the chaos stricken station, leaving the captain to form a defensive perimeter around the great blast doors.

Cheapskate spotted the alleged shooter. "Down on your knees, suka!"



The station administrator, mayor, princess, her title was unknown as she'd only been casually referred to as 'boss', looked up from her typewriter to regard the strange mare entering her office. She was pretty, her immaculate grooming beguiled her true age. The admin herself looked to be about 30, suggesting she's spent her entire adult life living in the station. When the shot rang out, the two doorponies shut the plywood and pointed her hoof wrapped pistol at Victoria. "No. No we're not doing drills today."

Bullet heard the shot. It was rather close, but he knew that the assassin wasn't involved, unless she had doubled back after he had seen her in the marketplace. The captain hit an alarm bell, and began issuing orders to the guards around him.

"Now's my chance." Bullet thought to himself. While the captain was distracted, Bullet troted back to the marketplace in search of the strange pony. A pony screamed, and Bullet broke into a run. He rounded a corner only to find a burning house with two ponies standing in front of it. On closer examination, Bullet saw that both ponies were in the group that had arrived right before him. One of them, the dark green one, was shooting at some other pony running away from the burning house, but that wasn't important to him. Bullet though wether or not to ask the two ponies about the assassin, but decided to leave before he got shot. He continued combing the station in search of the mysterious grey pony.

Silver was not hit by the first shot, but it clued him in to watch for more, which he ducked and weaved to make it more difficult to hit him. His wings flared out, flapping and propelling him further and faster. His wings now out and his cape between him, his body was exposed. His vest and saddle had light padded leather for simple armor intended for physical blows. two belts of ammo for a rifle and shotgun were wrapped around him, the rifle being a lever action under his wing, and the double barrel shotgun strapped to his foreleg. Finally, his signature katana under his other wing.

He rounded the corner in time to run into the two guards sent to investigate. Silver leapt up high, his wings hardly able to do any flying with so many feathers missing. In one quick motion as he landed amongst them, he drew his sword and swung at one on one side with the intent to behead him, and his foreleg outstretched at point blank at the other, firing his shotgun. Just as quickly as he did it, he darted off to come cover just at the corner and out of sight, waiting for Cedar to round the corner, at which point he would jump said pony and give him a very hard buck to the head. He noted to avoid letting his spurs hit first and risk a fatality, as he still had a promise to fulfill.

--

Brown rushed to the house, tears beginning to form. The house was quickly going up on flame.

Mother might still be in there! She must be alright. She has to be- A flash and concussive blast nearly blew Brown off his hooves. The house blew open, destroying most anything left in the house. Some homes around it would find their walls filled with some holes and shrapnel, but did not destroy the others so much.

Brown didn't know if he even had much more emotional capacity. All he could think about was his mother in that house. Or what was left of it. He sat, dumbfounded, unsure what to do. Then he heard more gunshots. So much was lost, and what came of it now? Anger.

An abrupt slam; The infinite darkness of the barrel, so familiar to her, within which prowled Death with sickle keen; so true was it that 'anything which could possibly go wrong, does.'

Victoria, though alarmed, denied the mayor's weapon the opportunity to phase her. Commitment to her motives reduced what panic struck within her into a dilute irritation. She stood resolutely, rested her shoulders, and expressed a gravity which would coincide with absurd accusations.

"You will not shoot me at last," Victoria attested sternly. It was naturally understood that she would not otherwise be spared her life.

"My comrade, dear sister, lay your firearm at ease and the real propagator, not the business partner, shall be prosecuted." Her swift words were trailed by a great crash, denoting the collapse of some structure. If anything, the violent tremors facilitated the outcome of the mayor's confrontation, necessitating a decision.

If ponies weren't already scattering from the initial gunshot, they most certainly were now from the explosion. Ponies locked themselves in their own tiny bunk rooms while others ran and bumped into each other to get out of the way.


Cedar ran right past the fallen guards without noticing them. They were just obstacles to be avoided in his pursuit of the older pony. Out of ammo, he put his pistol back into his bag and sprinted after him to cover the distance. Somewhere inside of him, he felt that the stallion would cease his running around the next corner and wait to ambush. Instead when he came around the corner he jumped further to the side around the corner so he wouldn't simply get bucked in the head.


With the sound of the explosion, she lost her patience. She pistol whipped the fancy quick talking pony and exited her office. One of the outside guards stepped inside to keep a watch on Victoria while the mayor went into the station to organize the chaos.

Bullet was passing a row of houses when the explosion occured. He instinctly dropped to the ground and covered his head with his forehooves. When the shaking stopped, he got up and surveyed his suroundings. Ponies were running around in confusion as they sought shelter. There was still no sign if the assassin, so Bullet began troting towards the center of the station, hoping that the pony he was searching for would be there.

Silver was greatly irritated by Cedar throwing off his plan. No matter, he was only slowed down a few moments more and quickly maneuvered himself to make for the gate again, using a nice solid buck at Cedar to begin propelling himself. Hopefully that would throw him off long enough to get to and past the gate.

He rounded the next corner and began to half flap and trot up the stairs. The remaining three guards still there. He made no attempt to look hostile to them. Not yet. With all the panicking ponies running around, he figured he could get in real close before they knew what was up.

Once he got close enough with one close enough for sword range, the first thing he did was aim a hoof at the pony with dual automatics and fire his last shotgun round before swiftly slicing at the other pony's neck. Now for the third guard. Silver spun quick and quickly worked the lever action mounted on his side with his wing, firing four shots with four rapid cycles of the action.

Once the pony was down, he worked the door open and slinked out, running as fast as he could, a slight limp beginning to accompany him. Not before a bullet grazed his hat though.

--

Brown was screaming as he charged after Silver, not knowing what came over him. He didn't care about the dead guards he saw, or that Cedar was knocked aside. He wanted the pony responsible torn apart at the molecular level.

With his revolver in his aura, he ran after him, stopping at the bottom of the steps in time to see him finish off the last pony guard. Even with all his rage, he had the mind to take careful aim. His shot though, was just a hair high as it grazed his hat.

Brown screamed again in outrage and ran up the stairs, getting his mask out of the pack that was still on his back. He was thankful he did not have the time to take it off or he would lose this pony. Donning the mask, he shoved the door open and charged out into the open air after him.

The concussive force of the pistol body brought her, winded, to the floor. Victoria lay on her forelegs, sputtering as she attempted to reclaim her breath, and only accomplished such after the mayor had gone away.

"We'll see what helplessness is, yet." She muttered.

If the administrator was not to cooperate, the instinct of the diplomat would be to exercise even more patience. To see the ratification of her trade deal was, without question, more important than to dwell in sadistic notions. Indeed, to prudence and not revenge would she have to default, and she began thus by reassessing the situation.

Given the dynamic origin of each successive gunshot, Victoria observed that the pony by whom the station had been reduced to disarray was now being pursued, and intently so, by the guards. This much occurred amongst a myriad of shrieking and frenzied hoofsteps. The air meanwhile carried to her the scent of charred wood, surely indicative of housing set ablaze, and intermittent wisps of smoke were silhouetting against what light penetrated the seams in the door.

Nonetheless, she insisted, her objectives was salvageable; they had to be, as there existed no viable alternatives.

At length, Victoria endeavoured to meet the guard's eyes, pretendedly distraught.

"And I suppose you're going to harm me too, sir!" she remarked, albeit with assembled fraility and remorse as opposed to spite. Now rising tentatively to her hooves, Victoria wandered dangerously close to him.

"Things were not always like this. No, not when brother loved sister, and exchange was virtuous. Tell me, friend, do ya' not find my interests sincere? It's of a higher jurisdiction than mine to designate imports... I've wronged nopony."

Chaos reigned in the housing area until the mayor showed up and began bossing ponies around. The few pegasi floating around began to bat their wings hard to snuff out the flames while a couple unicorns tried surrounding burning wood in mini force fields to let the fires burn the rest of the oxygen in its tiny space. She doubted the fancy filly in her office had anything to do with this. If she knew who did all this, their heads would roll.


Cedar followed Brown out onto the surface, pausing to put on his mask and to pick up a fallen pony's Bastard. That pegasus wouldn't have any corners to hide in on the open streets.


The male guard backed and shook his head up as the mare drew closer, obviously uncomfortable with being so close to a mare so well dressed and spoken. He didn't know why she was here, but he definitely didn't mean her any harm. Not understanding most of what she said, he continued off of what he did. "No.. uh.. ma'am. I'm not here to hurt you. You'll have to uh... forgive the mayor... she's a bit of a uh.. of a uh... hardass."

Bullet was running through the chaos around him, his mind set on one goal: find the mysterious pony. More memories flashed through his mind as he looked first one way and then the other.

The panic had died down, only occasional gunfire here and there. The guards had deemed it safe to allow the body to be examined. Bullet slowly crept forward to the crowd surrounding the dead pony. As he pushed his way through the mass of bodies, he saw what he was dreading since the entire ordeal began. The dead pony was Bit Magnet, a prominent pony in Bullet's home sation. Her skills as a negotiator were well known throughout the tunnels. She was also Bullet's mother. Bullet screamed any curse he could think of to the stations ceiling, vowing that someday, he would hunt down this killer, and finish her off himself.

Bullet finaly had that chance, and he wasn't go to let it slip away from him. If only he could find the pony in question, then he could do what had to be done and be on his way.

Brown was blinded by the light at first. The surface being much brighter than underground, even with the scorched sky. There were ruined building about, layered lightly in snow. He knew that that pegasus was probably unable to fly with his wings so worn out and old. Yet he lost sight of him. A quick scan though showed a blood trail. Maybe Cedar got him.

Brown took a moment to catch his breath. He knew that he was raging with feelings right now, and that they would get him killed. His mother said it was a trait he picked up from his father. He prefered to take things more thoughtfully than emotionally. And right now it was proving to be difficult.

Just....a few more breaths...Just calm down...You will get him. He can't get far now. Cedar will be here soon too.

His mask was almost threatening to fog up on him, but he managed to calm himself enough to stop it. By this time Cedar had caught up and he pointed to the blood trail. "Let's get him." Was all the words he could find to say.

The trail rounded a few turns around what was left of some buildings before comming to an open area that looked to be what was left of a small school yard. There in the center, was him.

The old pegasus was leaning heavily to his side, panting and tending to a wound under his foreleg on his chest. He looked up to the two, grunting in pained annoyance. He made no attempt to run this time.

Brown approached him and held his revolver still, ready to fire. "Who...Who are you you monster?" He could not think of many better words, having his emotions begging to catch up to him. This pony who killed his mother.

"...Nothing more than another monster." His deep and tired voice replied. He coughed and weezed, clearly very winded. Brown did not know why he didn't realize it, but this pony did not have a mask on, yet he was still living and breathing. A closer look showed that some patches of his skin under his aged fur was showing a little discoloration and other unhealthy signs.

"...What are you?" Brown asked again, this time pulling back the hammer to try and coax a real response out of him. There was a long period of silence before anything happen. And what happen next no pony would have guessed.

"Wait! Don't shoot him!" A cream colored pony with short cut blue mane suddenly popped out from an uncovered manhole. Brown immediately recognized her, even with the short cut mane.

Shala ran up to them and panted, out of breath. "This...old geezer has a few more favors to pay off...."

A stoic governness was not so alien to her cause, thought she.

"You're heart is sweet, child," Victoria acknowledged cordially. The guard was, to whatever extent, impresionable - which translated to susceptible, and she was unhesitant to devour this allegiance. He was moreover younger than her by many moons, thus appropriating filial incentives.

Covering what ground he forfeited in her advance, Victoria lovingly curled her neck over the plate adorning his mane. "'Tis no wonder why the mayor entrusts you, among others, with her security. And if I may, I beg you to regard me with the same confidence. Friend, won't you be a dear and put in a good word for me? You illustrate mutual understanding in the way you speak of your boss, you do. She's got to value the opinion of reasonable stallions," she persisted.

"I must see this deal through. There can be no other way for me," concluded the mare quite gravely.

With the fires contained, ponies (mostly) calmed, and wounded taken to the hospital, the mayor took a moment to compose herself. Until she saw the foreign foal running around. So she stopped him with a not so gracious trip. "Cut that out! What in blazes are you doing?!


By now the guard's rear was planted firmly against the plywood entrance. His muzzle held a furious blush from her bitter sweet words and her insistent touching. "Uhh... what deal... um.. ma'am?"


Cedar made his way up to the two ponies, Bastard held firmly in his aura, aimed dead at the murderous pegasus. The trigger was halfway pulled when Shala emerged. Under normal circumstances, Cedar would have sprayed the monster dead. However, with his adopted mother emerging from the manhole, he paused and turned to look at her. He didn't believe it was her, but any psychic influence the old stallion could muster would be rendered moot against his own heavily fortified mind. Anomaly this was not. His mother was alive.

"Cut that out! What in blazes are you doing?!" Bullet heard a voice shouting at him as he was tripped by an official looking pony. Bullet sighed in frustration that his search had been interupted.

"I'm looking for somepony," Bullet said, looking up at the pony who tripped him. "what's it to you?"

-Earlier-

"I'll manage. I still got some left in me."

Shala looked about her and sighed. "Brown is not going to forgive me. Cedar....is himself....Alright. Lets get this underway." She said and lowered her head, the axe floating up off the table. "I guess they wanted my head right?"

Silver nodded. "Shame that a shotgun blast makes it rather messy."

Shala took her axe and began to shave off her mane. "I'm going to miss this mane." She sighed as it came free, held together by the bow at the end. "This mane should do." She cut herself lightly on the foreleg and smeared some blood on it.

"I assume you thought of a means of escape. And to excuse the lack of a body."

"Yeah, the vent in the back. I spent some time making hoof holds in it and leading it to a ventilation room that has a door to the sewer. You will find me topside near the school yard. And a fire and grenade should take care of the body issue." She forced open the vent, a bag already in there packed with essentials. "I assume its my very favorite pony that wants me dead?"

Silver nodded and took out a shot shell. "Don't suppose you can offer me any easier way out."

Shala winced and shook her head. "...No...Try not to hurt too many."

Silver looked up to her, eyes narrow.

"...Right...Well you better try. Consider it part of our 'favors' you owe me."

"You press a hard chore." He grumbled.

"Oh shush lazy bones. You like to kill too much, calling yourself a monster and all. I don't suppose you fancy yourself the boogey pony too and scare children at night as well."

Silver grumbled and mumbled to himself. "..Scare children with your whiskey breath..."

Shala shot a glance at him and threw a grenade at him. He jumped and felt his heart race before seeing that it was not live yet. "Throw that behind you as you leave. Ill set a fire too. And whatever you do, you dont. Hurt. My. Sons."

Silver nodded. "I made the promise to watch out for them long ago...."

Shala smiled. "You have been an interesting and good friend Silver....Do me a favor and try to not get killed."

"One favor among many."


-Now-


Shala took them both in for a hug. "I'm so glad you two are okay. I heard a lot of gunshots." Brown couldn't help but feel tempted to some tears. The relief of seeing his mother was monumental. He nearly forgot to put away his revolver.

"Mother...I thought....What happen? You...He killed ponies! Ponies we knew!" Brown was feeling halfway stuck between happy and enraged. This pegasus had shot ponies he grew up around.

Shala winced and frowned at Silver. An action that made him look away. "That....is something i wish we could have avoided, but had we not done something to feign my death, we could have been in a lot worse shape. You see, a pony wants me dead because he figured out something. He found out who my husband is. And that in turn got a lot of other ponies mad. Long story short, it might be better for the whole station that I'm gone. That we are gone."

Brown blinked, still not sure what was going on. "...But...ponies are dead."

Shala sighed. "I know....But there are a lot more ponies than that that you could feel responsible for....Listen, we don't have time to discuss it here. They will be coming here soon and i can't be seen. I have to be thought dead for their sake. And lazy bones here made a rather nice red carpet for them to follow."

Silver coughed and was trying to wrap a makeshift bandage around his chest. The bullet had grazed him, but it was a very deep graze that had possibly hit a rib or two. "I'll be f-"

"Fine, yeah, just like that one time you got speared on a rusty pole, or nearly got crushed under that rubble, or had your wing shotgunned. And every time all you say is 'I'm fine' like some wanna be hardass. You need to whine more."

Silver looked at Shala and groaned. "Never whine like you do..." He mumbled and looked to the ground.

"Why, the arms deal, sweetie!" She exclaimed charismatically.

"Our industrial state would supply you and your administration with armaments better fit for emergencies. Fit to prevent this from happening." Victoria nodded to the outside. By then, the frenzy had calmed and only the directions of guards were audible.

She turned back to him, dipping her cheek in a maternal gesture. "How would you like that? A weapon proper to your handsome, impressive stature. Now, though, your contributions are vital to the culmination of our efforts. You wouldn't mind speaking on my behalf, would you, angel?" She took his chin in her hoof and coerced him to face.

She glared down at the stalker. "By station was just bombed, that's what it is to me, suka!" She turned her head toward the direction of the surface entrance when she heard the wail of a distraught from that direction. "My baby! My darling angel! Why?!" She quickly walked over and let out a mortified shrill scream that echoed out of the station, through the heavy metal doors, and out to the school yard.

Bookworm's mother held her son's decapitated head tightly in her hooves. Cheapskate's body laid unmoving in a puddle of his own and Bookworm's mixed blood. His jaw was gone as well as part of his skull. The few visible sections of fur on his head were seared black by the magical energies of such a shot. The mayor's scream was interrupted by a torrent of vomit that erupted from her mouth. Most ponies had never seen anything more than a scraped knee. Maybe some mutant scratches if loved ones were soldiers, but never anything as ghastly as this.


New guns sounded fantastic to him. Though this mare could tell him she was going to make him a gelding and she would find him equally agreeable. "No, I... I don't mind... ma'am."


Cedar looked back in the direction of their underground home as the activity within the station echoed up into the still wasteland. He slowly turned back to his mother, both trying to appeal to her as well as condemn her. "Bookworm, you gave him half of the books in his library. Cheapskate, he ran to Lily to get antibiotics for you when the hospital ran out and couldn't treat your chest infection. Cpt. Steel, who gave us both (him and Brown) a flask of vodka on our birthdays. Candlelight, who always made sure the lights in our home were charged. Rail Car, the colt who asked you to take him to the school dance because the other fillies were taken. They're dead now, Aunt Shala. They're dead." He took in a deep breath of air, his body trembling, though in what was impossible to tell as both his tone, face, and body language remained dead. "And little Shortwave next door... he has a nail stuck in his eye."

Bullet was about to make a jeering comeback, but the mayor had already moved on to examine the bodies of the guards.

"My baby! My darling angel! Why?!" She shouted before, letting out a shrill scream that made Bullet want to cover his ears. He got up and walked over to the bodies, and what he saw made him want to gag. He saw missing body parts from the guards that had confornted him when he had first come to the station, and though he disliked them, they had saved his life, and he felt a pang of sorrow at their loss.

"It's alright," Bullet said to the addministrator, trying to calm her down. "I'm sure he faced whatever did this to him as bravely as any guard would defending their station." He couldn't help but stare at the destruction and carnage around him feeling sick to his stomach.

Shala ceased her attempts to usher them along, looking up to Cedar, then Brown, before finally resting on Silver. Her eyes looked hard at him as she approached him. "Is this...true? Did you kill them all? Every single guard at that gate? Every pony, every one of them that we knew?"

Silver hardly moved from where he was, mostly keeping his eyes on Cedar and his gun still leveled at him. He took a moment to move his eyes to Shala and nod.

Shala recoiled instantly and in a quick moment, took out her axe and swung it, burying in between them all. "Bookworm, Cheapskate, Steel, Candlelight, and Rail Car. Silver. We have been over this. I should-" Shala groaned in frustration and walked away for a moment.

"Silver. You are in big trouble. Hell, you probably are simply ushering your death even sooner, not that you seem to care about that. I still need you though. Go and mislead the search party."

Silver looked to Shala, and then back to Cedar with the gun. Brown was confused and furious. "H-he just killed so many ponies! And you are letting him go?!"

Shala quickly snapped back at him, and gave Cedar a glare too. "This pony is a one of the few finest killers in this mess of a country. And he is my companion. I don't like what he does, but he did us a favor. If he didn't take the job then worse would be comming. A pony working for the Royalty would have come with many armed ponies and take us by force. And he would have leveled anypony in the way, no matter how sympathetic they may have been. Silver 'collected' on my death intend to stave off that. He needs to get my bloody mane to him to show that i am indeed dead or he might just tear up the place looking. He is the one is paying for it. The one who found out and is making it all public. You already know him as 'The Judge'. And I'm sure you have heard of his style of 'justice'."

Brown looked between Silver and his mother. He honestly had only heard a little about this 'Judge', but he knew his mother wouldn't stretch things. "But...he still killed those ponies!"

"Brown! This can be argued later. Cedar! Lower the gun. Silver! Go mislead the search party. No more killing or I will personally see to killing you myself. If you have a chance, go turn in my mane, or meet us back at 'the place' later on."

"But...but he will run." Brown said, looking to Cedar and Shala. Brown never thought himself as a cold or vengeful pony, but those ponies he knew were friends. And now this pony was about to walk off.

Shala was having none of it. "This pony here is the reason your education was paid for. Why the water system could be replaced. And why we had enough medical supplies to stop that outbreak. We both found the alcohol needed to pay for those things, and I am only partially responsible for the effort. Now we have to get moving NOW since if i am seen, then all is spoiled."

Brown blinked, unsure what to say anymore. He had not seen his mother so worked up and conflicted with him. He did what he normally did and played it safe. Nodding he moved on to where his mother beckoned.

Silver still stared at Cedar. At the gun aimed at him. He almost reflected the dead stare that Cedar had, only this one was much more tired. Both physically and mentally.

"Cedar?" Shala said. "Please. You know I don't want any more ponies hurt."

"Good," she replied satisfactorily, nuzzling at the guardpony before pacing about the office. "Do your duties, then, such that I may serve your needs. D'ya suppose I'll be able to speak again with the administrator soon? I - "

A wretched howl momentarily interrupted her words.

" - I, for obvious reasons, must make haste. Your brethren are very valuable to us, ya' know; heavens forbid we let another join the fallen," Victoria remarked with inaudible disregard.

So considered she, in the time allotted, how the mayor could possibly receive her in a more genuine light. It was absolutely necessary to win her favor in order for Victoria to execute the full extent of the Party's will. And how she intended to do so, hard and better in the instruction.

The mayor couldn't hear Bullet over the sound of herself throwing up again. She lurched forward, stepping her boots into her own vomit and soldiers' blood as she made her way up to the checkpoint. "That...ugh.... *burp* murderer had best be dead... or I'm going to have somepony's hea...." She stopped speaking when she saw that the entire checkpoint had been wiped out. She couldn't handle it anymore. She fell over backwards and down the stairs. Several other ponies raced up to help her. A paramedic team quickly dispatched to help her, and the other guards who seemed to still be alive.


The guard simply nodded, prepared to just let her leave when his twin outside kicked firmly on the office wall. "You're not going anywhere, lady. Not without the boss's say so. Now settle in for the long haul, she just got carried to the hospital."



Cedar listened to his mother. To him it sounded as if The Judge was the orchestrator of these events. Silver was just a puppet. He knew there had to be some dark reason as to how his mother had attracted the attention of the Royals, perhaps something she did on one of her expeditions. Whatever it was, it brought food into their home and made himself and his brother two of the most well off ponies in the station. He would not ask why to delay them any longer as it did not matter.

He lowered his weapon as if to put it away, then with a baring of his teeth and a growl he swung the gun into the side of Silver's head, aiming to knock out teeth. With the action complete all hostility left his face. He reached down to take his mother's mane into his hoof. He peered down at it and stared as if the locks held a universal truth. He levitated it into his own bag and touched masks with his mother before turning away to walk back to the station. "Pony blood will be spilled today."

Bullet stopped talking as he saw the mayor vomit again. He walked up to the checkpoint to see the extent of the damage, but he wasn't prepared for it. Nothing had survived the attack.

"Oh my..." he didn't finish the sentence as the mayor colapsed, and fell back down the stairs leading to the checkpoint. Paramedics were quickly called to tend to the mayor.

"What pony does this?" Bullet said to himself. He had seen some pretty nasty things in his life as a stalker, but nothing could compare to the damage of this attack. Bullet watched the paramedics tend to the mayor. He walked back up to the checkpoint, and after putting on his mask, out onto the surface, to at least try to clear his head. He saw a pony walking towards the station enterance.

"Hey!" He shouted to the pony, "we may need some help over here!" Bullet readied his pistol in case there was any trouble.

No one made much a move to aid Silver as he took the blow to the head. He caught himself and spit some blood, but no teeth. He watched Cedar go before collecting himself and looking to Shala.

"Dammit Cedar! This is not the time to recklessly go on a vengence streak! Your going to have to ride all the way up to the capital station and you will be only killing yourself! Save it for later." Shala goaned in annoyance, knowing that that tone could only mean Cedar was not going to stop. He would be in the line of sight of the station rather too soon if he kept going. "God dammit. Silver...."

Silver only nodded. He knew that it meant he would have to keep an eye on him. He quickly sped off, in a different direction, intending to stay out of sight of the station and find alternatives to seeing what Cedar was doing.

Brown took a few steps after Cedar before Shala stopped him. "Brown. Not you too!"

Brown looked back to his mother and shurgged hesitantly. "I am not...But...I'm kinda worried for him."

Shala felt relieved he was not driven the same way as Cedar, but still she couldn't have him go yet. "Cedar won't be able to leave until the next hoof cart gets back. Until then, come with me....Its...important you know why I am wanted....Then we can worry about getting back your brother when he calms down."

They both moved off through the rubble with Shala leading the way to a more secure place to stay. A place she made with this situation in mind.

---

Silver skimmed along cover, barely in sight of the station entrance. He looked back to see that Shala and Brown were now out of sight. Now all he had to worry about was Cedar. Keeping an eye on him as he went to the station entrance. Getting back in would be tricky. He might have to try to sneak in the ventilation. But if he was safe inside, he could just get himself hidden in the tunnel on the way out of the station to make sure he didn't lose him.

With smile turned bittersweet, Victoria forced an indifferent nod and regressed back to within the interior of the office.

"Right then. There is yet time, it seems, before business will be procured," she addressed to the guard with whom she had been speaking, deliberately ignoring the hostile twin.

The mare stared fixedly to the mayor's empty desk, apparently held in a moment's thought, before engaging the guard once more.

"But you will keep a mare company, yes?" she asserted as she presumptuously returned to his side.

"Forgive me; I still do not know your name! I am Victoria," She preluded with an articulate curtsy. "We may or may not have a while, so may you tell me about yourself? Of the station, the governness, perhaps?" She was primarily interested, of course, in the latter two subjects.

Cedar largely ignored Bullet as he made his way back home. He even went as far to begin shutting the door with him outside. If Bullet didn't react quickly enough he'd find himself stuck outside. The other ponies at the station looked at him expectantly, but noticed that Brown wasn't with him. He silently strolled past, not answering any of their questions, as was to be expected. He made his way down into the markets, levitated his saddlebag off his back and dumped its contents onto the table of the general goods stall owner. "Fifteen shots of moonshine and a pipe bomb."


Just as the guard was about to speak the plywood door was pushed aside to reveal a rather imposing scarred stallion. "The mayor isn't feeling well so you won't be able to see her today. You can go down into the markets and you can sleep in the jail if you don't find the floor comfortable enough. Don't try to escape either, the other guards know what you look like."