"Miss Blade, you sure these soft Stable Dwellers will be able to survive rule by somepony not of Stable origins?" One of Ice's bodyguards asked.
"My message got a reply, I am sure" Ice trotted up to the gate "Open up!" She yelled, hoping to be heard.
'Ugh,' thought Clarity. 'When's it time for a break? Nothing's gonna happen, nothing ever-'
"Open up!" Yelled a unseen voice from over the wall, it had to be someone out of the Stable, everyone knows about the smaller gate.
'Finally. Something's gonna happen. Time to butcher these fucker's, probably raiders or slavers. I know Zioko hates both.'
Clarity climbs on top of the wall, then launches herself onto the nearest of the ponies, brandishing her chainsaw and turning it on midair.
"HOLY FUCK!" Ice Blade called out, jumping away, pulling out an iron knife "Calm down! FRIENDLY!" She watched in horror as one of her guards was killed in front of her eyes.
"Stand down!" the other guard that was still alive said, pulling a pistol out of a holster.
The feel of adrenaline coursing through her veins was a well known one, especially when in the throes of bloody, brutal combat. The first pony didn't even see her coming as she sliced clean through his chest, the chainsaw falling in her grip, going straight through the pony.
Clarity heard yelling from the remaining ponies, mainly obscenities, though words like "FRIENDLY!" Got through.
"You expect me to believe that shit?!?"
Another pony was brandishing a knife, one drawing a pistol. She went for the pistol pony. "Eat fuckin' steel!"
Clarity brings the chainsaw around and then easily and deftly slices through his muzzle holding the gun, and he immediately falls limp.
"Your turn, fucker," acknowledging the last pony. "BRING ME A CLEANUP CREW!"
Ice Blade dropped her knife from her magic and began to gallop away "Fuck this, these ponies are crazy!"
Clarity sees the remaining pony tense up and begin to bolt, and gives chase.
"C'mon, don't be that way! Make it easier on yourself! I gotta take one of ya alive! Zioko's orders! Unless of course, you resist!"
Ice stopped. "Y-you aren't going to kill me? Good, maybe I can lead you once your leader retires, as I got a reply from a letter I sent earlier in the year." She turned around "Now, take me to him... or her, and we can begin negotiations."
That sort of stunned Clarity.
"You’re the ponies who want to lead this place? Zioko fuckin' hates slavers, and that outfits a slaver one if I ever saw one. You best shut up and follow me. And if you want to live, then don't act like a fucking slaver. Zioko will beat you to death with his hooves if he finds you are one. Only reason I'm helping you is 'cause we need a new leader. Zioko's term is up, and this bitch is gonna usurp 'im soon. Now watch the traps."
"Ow... Fuck" Ice got a small cut on her foreleg "Could've told me that beforehand." She made her way past the traps. "Now where is this 'Zioko' and who is said Bitch who will usurp him?"
"Zioko's with his wife. Sort of stressed out over this whole thing, he got your message and has been thinking of a way to stall. Tail, the usurping chick, is this mare who is one of the best leaders I've seen, but is corrupt in a faggot-y sort of way."
Many ponies stopped their work to look at the two ponies, and although Clarity being soaked in blood wasn't odd, the following pony was.
"I'm Clarity, by the way. You are?"
"Ice Blade, best knife in this part of the wasteland." Ice said, trying not to draw much attention. "Please lets hurry up to Zioko so that I can relieve him of duty so he can spend time with his wife."
"Nice name. As for Zioko... Rule one, don't piss him off. He is a destruction unicorn, and his bad side is coming out more and more. Down these stairs is the dining room, just wait there. I'm going to go get Zioko, he's in his bedroom with his wife, either... Y'know, or working. And rule two, try not to be a faggot about this whole ordeal. He doesn't like getting mad, but after what he's been through before he came her-... Shouldn't talk about that now. Anyways, down here."
"Note taken." Ice stopped at the bottom of the stairs, making enough room for Clarity to get past "Just... make sure he doesn't rip my heart out when you tell him who is here to meet about taking over rule for abit."
"I will. Now, stay here."
Clarity approaches a door near the end of the long hall, and knocks a few times.
"Zio? Ya in there?"
"Huh? Yeah. What is it? A little busy."
"A situation, someone wants to see you."
"Fine. I'm coming." The scraping of a chair across a floor is barely heard. The door opens. "What is it Clarity? Who is here? Really busy with this Tail pricked, busting my ass to find a leader."
"It's her," Clarity says, pointing a hoof at Ice.
"Who's that? She doesn't live here, I know that. And why are you covered in blood this time?"
"Her name is Ice Blade. She's here about that message. And for the blood... No reason, just... training."
"Clarity, you know you can't lie to me."
"Fine. She arrived unannounced, figured she was a raider. Sliced her buddies up, probably should've got Considerate or you over there but..."
"While I can't say I'm pleased, thank ya for coming clean. Now lets go talk to that mare," Zioko said while smoothing his dark blue mane.
"Yes, now can we speak about my time here as the 'ruler’; While my body guards could have served as guards before they were slaughtered, I would be happy to instate a strict training regiment for the military." Ice blade said, glancing over the details as if they happened every day.
"Nice to meet you as well. Sorry about your... Companions, but we have a policy of killing those who come to our walls when we aren't expecting anyone. A caravan was expected last week, a slaver caravan. Are you with them? I don't care for slavers if they're the kind of filth all of the ones I have met are. And if you don't mind me asking, how did you know we needed a new leader? A caravan, maybe? Those wastelander pricks might have said something about it."
"I have contacts everywhere in this reigon of the wastes, I'm sure one of them mentioned you needing to retire soon. Regardless, you seem to have gotten my letter as you knew somepony was coming to lead you. Also, I am working in a Slaver base, I keep them informed of raider camps, they go in overnight and fit them with slave collars, they get me food and water. Really most of the slaves in the area are former Raiders.
Zioko acknowledges what she has said.
"I personally would shoot most every slaver, but ones that take raiders are acceptable. And it isn't so much I NEED to retire as it is that our law dictates that each Overpony is selected by the previous one, and a term is 1.5 years. I may serve again at a later time, but only in a few years. Anyways, I must ask this. What is your cutie mark? There are other things I must know, but that is a good of a place as any to start."
Zioko turns and asks a pony to fetch meals and drinks for 3.
"It is something I don't prefer to talk about. How is the situation here?" Ice said, trying to change the subject.
"That's understandable. Mine honestly doesn't make much sense, me mostly using my intellect and linguistic ability. I do... get angry though, which I almost always regret. Anyways, things here are mostly fine except for a problem with a fu-... A rather unpleasant meeting with a wastelander caravan. I personally wanted to blast them to bits, as they demanded goods and a profit of over 1500 caps on 1000 worth of items, much more than they were worth. So I marched Clarity and the rest of the militia up, and told them that they could leave, and we commenced to seize everything we wanted of theirs. As you have heard or can tell, we don't eat meat or fish. Most of us have before, me included. But I simply believe it to be barbaric in all but the most dire of circumstances." Zioko shakes his head. "I only ate it when- well, that's a story for later times. What do you think of this place? 63 ponies in about 1.5 years, not a single casualty. Oh, here's our food," Acknowledging a mare levitating 3 plates and cups.
"Hmm, this seems... okay for an entree, but you have never tasted food that takes real courage to hunt. Trust me when I say it, the taste will be the best you have ever eaten." Ice blade grabbed the plate and cup in her magic "Now, a wastelander caravan had left here, and were extremely rude... I'll make note of that" Ice grinned.
"I understand, I just... Have had a bad experience with meat," a sullen expression falling over his face.
"Anyways, you are here for a reason, why did you choose to come here? Why do you want to lead? Nopony does anything out of goodwill anymore; I learned that immediately after leaving the Stable."
"No offense, but growing up in a Stable leaves ponies in a much softer state of being due to the worst types of injuries are being beat my security teams with batons. I came here because my contact in this area let me know of the area. I read up on stables-from my limited library-and I saw that the overmare or overstallion served for one and a half years before an 'election' and as it seems this town has no need for elections, I decided to extend a hoof in hopes of a long and prosperous one and a half years." Ice blade reached out with her hoof.
"You think that's the worst injury in a Stable? Ours was... To put it lightly... Fucked up. Half the ponies are insane, or else we would still be there. They went and became a heavily armed raider team, and in the days before we left, there was basically a civil war. So many good ponies died. We also didn't even choose to leave then. To the second, 200 years after the Stable door closed, it reopened. All power was shut off immediately. Do you know why I hate slavers so damn much? After all this shit happened, most of the sane ponies dead, I had to join with a group of slavers. I hated it. They would kill ANYPONY who didn't either become a slave or join them. One day, as we had captured some of my own FRIENDS from the Stable, I noticed he had more meat than usual. I thought nothing of it, but by the next day I realized something. My friends weren't in the cages. They FED ME my own FUCKING friends! I was more angry than I had EVER been in my life. I freed all the slaves, and ran to the cart which served as our armory. I levitated every damn gun we had and killed every one of the bastards. I almost died from being shot a few times with small arms, and DAMN did it hurt. I limped off, having no food, water, or weapons. I had lost so much blood I was on the verge of passing out, and I knew if I did, I would be dead. I barely made it to the edge of the area controlled by the Stable, the sane ponies. They healed me with quite a few potions, and my wife was unbearably shocked at what I had to do. She had stayed at the Stable, with my son. If those damn slavers knew where the remnants of the Stable were, they would have killed ALL of them. Even now, I don't know if my own fucking son is alive. I won't let my wife or my baby who are here be hurt. So I and ponies like Clarity shield these people from the worst of the Wasteland, the raiders and the slavers. They didn't ask for this. Most of these ponies are innocents. I will die before I let one of them!" Zioko sighs, and facehoofs.
"S-sorry... I didn't mean any harm in that statement. I was just voicing my opinion... I'm sorry for your loss... I'm just glad you weren't killed. Now... Is there anything else you need to tell me before we can talk about when I take over?"
"Its fine. I've just been getting mad a lot easier lately. So much to do. Anyways, I have an idea. You may lead this Stable for one month. If I believe you are qualified, you may finish your term. If you're as useless as one of those plasma casters, then your out. You may still live here, but as nothing more than a citizen. Also, if I believe your working with slavers or any other group of factors, then I will beat you to death with my own hooves. Got that? I don't mean to sound hostile, but there's not really another applicable way to do this." Zioko rubs his head. "I need a drink. Maybe we have some tuber beer left. Love that stuff."
"Understood, show me to my room and I can begin my term tomorrow" Ice levitated her plate to the table "Give it to a foal, not that hungry today."
"One last thing, if I may. Miss Ice. Would you like to meet my dear wife?"
"Sure, what better way to get to know the populous better. Plus knowing the family of the Overstallion would be a good thing." Ice got up from her seat.
"Splendid. And I'm not the Overstallion anymore. Your the Overmare now. Anywho, follow me to my room, and be quiet, my son may be asleep."
Zioko walks to his door and peeks in.
"Dignity? Someone would like to meet you. Come out and meet her."
In a moment, a purple mare emerges from the room.
"Hello! I'm Dignity. You are?" Says she, smiling all the while.
"Ice Blade, New Overmare by tomorrow. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
A bright sparkle lights up her eyes.
"Really? All of this stress will be gone from us? We can finally relax?"
"Dignity, she was the one who sent that message a couple of months ago. Now, Ice, I'll fetch Clarity to give you a tour. I'm going to have a good nights rest for the first time in months." Zioko waves for Clarity, who is sitting at the table after cleaning up a bit. He and Dignity then go inside their room and shut the door.
"Well Ice, that went better than I expected," Said Clarity, walking up to Ice.
Ice let out a chuckle. "Oh, it went way better than I imagined it would go;I'm surprised he didn't kill me when I said I stayed at a slaver base."
"He probably wasn't too happy, but he reads ponies like a book. That's one reason we trust him. Now, he'll probably insist on giving you his room, as big as it is. Your choice to take it or not. But I wouldn't go in there for... at least a few hours. If you knew him, he is ecstatic right now. May want some alone time with Dignity, y'know, those two probably have so much weight lifted off of 'em they feel like flyin. Anyways, you should introduce yourself to some of the ponies, I'll show you Zioko's circle of friends later, but it isn't many ponies. Mainly me, Lemonscrape, Wilde Card, Lycaeon, Water, and Graknorke, though I think he has a friend who isn't one of the 'originals'. Now, we have a extra set of steel barding if you would like, Zioko would sometimes wear it when talking to a caravan. Now that area over there..."
