And here's chapter 2. Just remembered that I'll be doing this from Artemis' point of view, so I'm just gonna do this the way I should have. Different point of view than Little Pip's, the story will be just a little different. And, as none of the towns in the video games exist either, save for maybe one or two of them, I'll be taking a few of them to use, but changing them up just a little bit. You know, to suit my needs for them. As I didn't get any votes, we'll be going with my idea. They find one of Artemis and Melody's sisters in this town. Also, we're changing up the original story a little, since this is an alternate dimension after all, and we're getting another member of Lil'pip's group. So, here we go.
Chapter 2: Two Reunions.
Lil' Pip and I walked at the head of our little group, Calamity and Melody talking animatedly behind us. I wasn't quite sure what they had to be so excited about, after all Melody and I had just been permanently evicted from a place we loved by people we thought loved us. As you can imagine, I was being the stoic, pissed off, silent guy of the group while Calamity and my sister seemed to hit it off like a pair of love birds. At the moment, we were heading to the town of Megaton, renamed after it was destroyed by a Megaspell slamming into it but not detonating. Little Pip was curious to see what the Megaspells looked like. The best way for her to see one would be Megaton, and something other than that was drawing me to the town. I was completely unsure of whether or not that bomb might accidentally go off, however I wanted to give her the chance to see one and meet the people of Megaton. They were nice people, for the most part, if a little strange. "So... why are we going to Megaton again?" Calamity asked Melody for the fourth time during their conversation.
"Pip wants to see an unexploded Megaspell and that's the only place nearby that has one. We'll probably be safe... maybe..." She said and I sighed just a little. Pip looked at me for a moment before the two of us shook our heads and we walked onto the public street. I stopped a moment and put my arm out in front of Pip, looking up and down the road.
"Pip... draw Little Macintosh and keep it ready. The road to Megaton is swarmed with mutated creatures. Mostly mutated Sergals, things the locals have started calling Dark Claws. They're... definitely not something we should run into." I said and she nodded and pulled out Little Macintosh. Scanning the road as we walked, I could see the dome of Megaton not to far up ahead of us, but I could also see a pack of Dark Claws wandering along the road. They were far enough ahead that they wouldn't notice us easily, but if anything were to go wrong to draw their attention we'd be in trouble. "Freeze." I said under my breath and all four of us stopped moving. Calamity looked ahead and, naturally, his sharp eyes homed in on the Dark Claws directly ahead of us. Now, you're probably wondering about this time why his name was Calamity. Well... with a hoot and a holler, he lived up to his name as he flipped his two high powered rifles over his shoulders, gripped the triggers in his teeth, and took off into the air. I winced as I heard the Dark Claws roar, thankful only for the fact that there were no buildings they could jump from to get to him. What made my happiness die out was that the second roar was aimed directly at Little Pip, Melody, and myself as all five Dark Claws rushed at us. Calamity wheeled in the air and managed to cripple one with his rifles, taking off it's leg, but that still left four of them rushing at us, and my Realm Gauntlet was still recharging it's magical energy from the Big Boom I'd used to collapse the cave on top of the Chimeras.
The fact that even my Shotgun wasn't strong enough to kill these things in one shot had me itching to take off and ditch the non flying unicorn, whom my sister and I had saved in New Appleoosa, to save my own hide. My loyalty to my friends, however, kept me rooted in place as one of them reached me. Thinking quickly, I shoved my whole arm down it's throat, did my best to aim my shotgun towards it's heart and away from me, and pulled the trigger. The resulting boom had the things jaw clamping down on the gauntlet, thankfully shattering all of it's teeth, but it also put a gaping hole in its chest and scrapped buckshot across mine. A second explosion had the Dark Claw's head flying into a tree. Looking to my left, I saw smoke roiling from the barrel of Little Macintosh. Little Pip had blown the things head off with one bullet. "Guess Applejack knew what she was doing when she designed this tool." I thought to myself as I spun and smacked my shotgun barrel into the face of another Dark Claw. Melody's pistols rang out with twelve rounds, peppering the Dark Claw below her with incendiary rounds while she stayed safely in the air. Granted, with my strength, I probably could have easily lifted Little Pip and still whipped around my Shotgun, but we were safer on the ground where she wasn't trying to choke the life out of me while I shot. Growling as my Shotgun ran out of ammo, I flipped it around, gripping the barrel and swinging it around like a club, to great affect as another Dark Claw dropped like a rock from not just my blow to its head but a shot from Calamity's rifle. The genius that started the whole mess was keeping well out of reach.
"When he lands, remind me to kill him." Pip said and I smirked, whacking a Dark Claw that tried to sneak up behind her in the head with my revised club.
"Get in line." I chuckled and she smiled and ducked as another shot rang out from the direction of Megaton. The snipers in the towers had taken notice of the ruckus. Grabbing Pip's wrist, I motioned for Melody to head to Megaton. Calamity had already taken off in the direction of the Megaton's towers, and as soon as Melody was out of danger, I yanked pip close, wrapped my wings around the two of us, and slammed my gauntlet clad palm into the ground. The area around us seemed to slow down or freeze, even the tumble weeds and dust devils caught in the burst of my spell seeming to have been frozen in place. Pulling my wings open, I picked up a frozen Little Pip and raced for Megaton. As soon as we were out of the range of my spell, Pip went from being a solid stick of a pony to a limp, wriggling pony that wanted to walk on her own. I didn't obey her wish until we were safely inside the walls of Megaton, and only then did I set Pip down. Calamity and Melody were already inside, Melody harping at him for starting that fight and Calamity just grinning like an idiot. He'd had a blast. I growled a little and started towards him but Pip beat me to it and started whacking him on the head. I smirked at some of the words flying out of her mouth and only stopped her when the Sheriff of Megaton was within sight.
"Howdy strangers. Name's Iron-sights. Mayor, Sheriff, an' Judge of good ole' Megaton. Anything we can do fer ya?" He asked and I nodded and started to speak but Melody beat me to that as well, pulling out a picture of myself, her, and our two sisters and flying to questions about whether he'd seen either of them. When he finally got her to stop asking questions long enough to say one of them was staying in the local inn, it was finally Pip's turn to ask if he'd seen one of her friends. I was too distracted by the news that Melody and I might find one of our sisters in this town to hear if Iron-sights had seen Pip's friend, but Melody had already raced off to the inn. Turning to Calamity I told him to meet us at the inn later that night and we'd resume the search for Pip's friend first thing in the morning. He nodded and I took off after my sister, my coat billowing behind me, my wings outstretched and lifting me into the air, straight towards the front door of the inn. As soon as I landed, Melody was inside and from the shriek of joy she let out, I knew Iron-sights hadn't lied to us. Running into the inn, I stopped dead in my tracks. Sitting at a table not two feet from the stage was my big sister. Nyx, the Alicorn Princess of the Night. A smile spread across her face as she saw me and I walked towards her slowly. Everyone in the crowd was smiling and clapping at the tearful reunion, but one person saw the look on my face. I wasn't happy. I was furious. And I made that clear as soon as I reached her by yanking her from Melody's arms and shoving her up against the wall.
"You left us... for thirty years... alone in that castle while the bombs destroyed our home around us... you abandoned us... after promising mom you'd take care of us... how dare you leave us! Your own family! After mom died, you were the closest thing Melody and Radiance had to a mother, and you abandoned them!" I shouted and she hung her head.
"Yes... I left... I hoped to find a way to fix what the conflict had done... when I returned, I was so ashamed I couldn't bare to show my face to you or Melody... Or Radiance... and I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner, Artemis..." She said and I broke down into tears, Nyx pulling me to her and hugging me tight. The crowd oohed and awwed, but that only lasted for a second before the stranger that had seen my outburst spoke up.
"Pretty brave, boy... approaching one of the only remaining Alicorns in existance so brazenly." Turning to look at him, I froze. He was as tall and wide across as I was, but the armor he was wearing was nearly identical to the armor my father owned. This man, whoever he was, was the Wolf Warrior, sitting here in little ole Megaton, smoking a cigar. The cigar was the first thing that told me he wasn't my father. The second thing was his face. He wasn't familiar to me. He wasn't a wolf, a pegasus, or a unicorn, nor was he an earth pony. For all I could tell, this Wolf Warrior was a zombie. Or a zombie of a Chimera because he seemed to have horns sticking from the top of his wolf head, which part of his mouth was missing, having rotted away. His eyes were a shade of crimson that only my father would have had, if he'd become Shadow Heart. That left two possibilities. Either this... thing... was Shadow Heart turned into a true monster... or it was a Draconequis with a more lupine feature to its face. Melody moved over close to us and Nyx tried to move herself between the Warrior and myself but I stepped up to him and got right in his ugly face, nearly gagging on his stench and the stench of his cigar.
"I don't know who you are old man, but that armor your wearing very well may belong to my family. I demand that you remove it at once. On the Authority of the King of the Shadow Wolf Clan." I said and he threw his head back and laughed. It was common knowledge that one of the first places hit was the central hub of power for the Shadow Wolf Clan, killing everyone. The only ones spared that explosion were myself and my father, and as far as I knew, our old friend Luna Nightwind who passed on two years later. As far as everyone in Equestria knew, my father was killed when the Pink Cloud was released on Canterlot, which left me as the only remaining Shadow Clan Wolf.
"The Shadow Wolf Clan is gone, boy. You may be the last of them, but without a viable female to breed with, your clan will die out with you." He took a large drag from his cigar before leaning forward and blowing the smoke in my face, causing my eyes to water and my lungs to freeze up, forcing me to cough. "And from what I can smell, the only viable females with sufficient wolf blood is that one right there behind you. Your dear little sister." He said and I growled and was about to pounce on him when Nyx, out of seemingly no where, produced one of our father's swords and pressed the blade to the Warrior's throat.
"I suggest you step away from my brother and leave Megaton, Wolf Warrior. Your services will no longer be required. I am here and reunited with my family." She said and he huffed and backed away, walking over to the table he was sitting at and putting the helmet on. That's when I knew the armor he was wearing was a fake. My father's armor had a full helm, this Warrior, this fraud, had a half helm with only a visor and the neck and head guards. The half helm was clearly so he could continue to smoke his cigars.
"Brave boy. Be wary the next time we cross paths." He said before striding out of the inn. As he left, Little Pip and Calamity walked in and looked around. When Pip spotted us, she pointed us out to Calamity and they walked over to us.
"Nyx, meet Little Pip and Calamity. They're our newest companions and possibly the bravest ponies we know." Melody said and Nyx smiled.
"Yeah... brave when one of them isn't being stupid..." I said under my breath as I plopped into the nearest empty chair. The patrons sitting at the table quickly got up and walked to a different table. Nyx chuckled and sat down next to me with Melody on her other side. Pip and Calamity sat across from us and I turned to them. "So, what's the plan. What news on your friend Pip?"
"Well, it's good and it's bad... see, I found out while I was talking to Iron-sights, that this town houses a roving bandit group on a regular basis. The good news is, they aren't here now. The bad news is... Velvet's with them..." She said and I winced just a little. What I heard was that they were on their way back and Velvet was either held captive or was with them willingly, which very nearly made her a bandit in my book.
"Well, she can't be with them willingly, nopony would willingly work with bandits or raiders. And I've met these guys' leader. He's a slaver, he sells ponies, or whoever he can get his hands on, for a profit. Unless she's got a special skill that would make him keep her, she's probably been sold to the highest bidder." Melody said and I looked at her. I remembered a band of bandits coming through New Appleoosa once when I was under the weather, but to hear that their leader had spoken to my sister... made me want to tear out his throat with my bare hands.
"Velvet Remedy? She's your friend? That means you're the Little Pip that allowed her to get here by taking off that pip buck." Nyx said and Little Pip looked at her. "Yeah, I know her. She sings here from time to time. The bandits are going to be here tomorrow and she'll be with them. She travels with them willingly but only as a medic. If they get sick, she tries to make them better as best she can." Pip frowned at that. She'd fought bandits that were trying to kill her the moment she walked out of her Stable. I understood her hesitance to want to believe that her friend was willingly helping bandits.
"So we have a game plan. When they arrive, we slaughter the bandits and rescue Pip's friend." I said and the four of them turned and stared at me.
"Artemis... we might not need to out right slaughter them. Maybe we can just get them to release her." Melody said and I looked at her. She had a gentle heart, but even she knew that letting bandits live meant they'd kidnap someone else, and I wasn't about to let that happen. My every intention was to end bandits and raiders for good. To put Equestria back to the way it was before the war, before the bombs, and before everything went horribly wrong. She could see in my eyes that I had no intention of letting the bandits leave this town, one way or another.
"We have to get Velvet away from them first." Pip said and everyone else at the table nodded.
The next day I woke up, surprisingly comfortable, to a racket downstairs. The inn was packed with guests who'd been traveling all night, some were raiders, some were just survivors looking for a place to stay over night. Our sleeping arrangements were strange, but made sense. Melody and Pip bunked together, Calamity took the floor and I got the other bed. That was determined by Calamity not wanting to end up waking up in an awkward position. As for Nyx, she'd went to her own room after getting our rooms set up for the night. Getting up, he stepped carefully over Calamity as he walked out of the room and looked over the balcony. The bandits had arrived late last night, and standing on stage was possibly the most beautiful mare I'd ever seen. Her hair was pure white with red and golden highlights and her skin was a perfect shade of tan. The moment she stepped up to the microphone, I was sure I was gonna fall in love. Her voice was like an angel. As she sang, he listened for only a couple hours before going back into his room and shaking Pip and Melody awake. "Girls, they're here. Velvet and the bandits that have her." He said as he pulled on his shirt. The minute Pip heard Velvet, she was out of bed pulling on her shirt. It was all I could do to chase her out onto the balcony and keep her from running downstairs to her friend.
"Let go of me Artemis!" Pip shouted but I held onto her arms and when one of them looked up I turned my back and pulled Pip against me, pretending we were just a couple who'd just woken up and came to hear the music.
"Pip, think, if you go down there right now they'll kill you. We need to plan. Devise a strategy. Plan. We'll get her out of here safely and un-noticed... and I hate to say it... but when we're gone, I'm sending this entire city to hell." I said and she looked up at me, fear evident in her eyes.
"You can't... Artemis, you can't just... kill all of these people... They're all innocent, Artemis..." She said and I shook my head only slightly. "I won't let you kill them Artemis. There has to be another way." She said and I sighed. There was another way, but I wasn't sure I wanted to share it with her. I could use my gauntlet to transport the bandits to a completely different realm, but it was slightly risky. He stretched just a little before taking her arm and leading her downstairs. They took a table directly in the middle of the stage and she looked up at her friend. As they listened, Nyx, Melody and Calamity soon joined them, Calamity keeping one hand on one of the triggers for his guns. Nyx watched Velvet sing, but even Artemis noticed that Velvet's eyes were locked on Pip. As soon as her set was done, Velvet walked off stage and out the back behind the curtains. As soon as Velvet was out of sight, Pip and I stood up, me gesturing two Nyx and Melody to keep Calamity seated and ready. I grabbed Pip's arm and led her around back stage, straight to Velvet.
"Miss Velvet Remedy." I said as we walked up to her. She turned and looked at me and her eyes stopped on Pip.
"Oh Velvet!" Pip shouted before she ran to her friend and hugged her tight. The look on Velvet's face, however, made me think that maybe, just maybe, she didn't want to be found.
And there's the chapter. They were reunited with both Nyx and Velvet. Next chapter, well... I suppose we'll be getting Velvet away from the bandits as well as moving on farther. Um... yeah. Enjoy.