So, the alicorns have the heroes surrounded. And they are annoying again. But suddenly, EXPLOSIONS! A big badass pony in a suit of armor charges in and starts blowing the alicorns up, before he gets taken out by one of his own rockets.
Apparently he has a reputation as an alicorn killer but an alicorn takes him out with his own rocket launcher? Huh?
Anyway, now it's up to Littlepip to save the day, so she takes a Party Time Mint-Al and devises a plan to get rid of the remaining alicorn: distract her with the memory orb and then line up a headshot with the sniper rifle.
Okay, you'll recall my complaints about the thing in chapter 6. Okay, so it seems the Indy Ploy is her speciality. But the problem is that this here, is a smart plan. Her plan to assassinate Deadeyes was smart. Her talking Monterey Jack out of holding her up was smart. The thing in chapter 6 was stupid. That is the problem. Now, moving on with stuff that isn't forever ago.
Velvet is pissed about Littlepip taking the drugs (why does she even carry them in her case if she objects to it) and starts patching her and Calamity up. After every boring action scene we'll be treated to a boring healing scene, it seems.
Anyway, the Steel Ranger cannot move because his armor is dented. He says that it's useless to try to heal him. He's dying, but at least he can be happy because he died helping the Stable Dweller. Oh joy. More hero-worship of the main character. And of course, Littlepip is annoyed at this.
Y'know, the other day I re-watched the Firefly episode "Jaynestown," which actually covered a somewhat similar idea - guy is being hailed as a hero and it bugs him. That did it better, though. Jayne had a bit breakdown in front of everyone. All Littlepip does is... get annoyed.
And come to think of it, I was also considering comparisons between Littlepip and Malcolm Reynolds. They're both dicks who are only kept in line by a somewhat shaky morality and the better influences of their friends, whom they treat like crap. They also have a sardonic sense of humor. Mal wins, however, because he's actually funny.
Anyway, Littlepip figures that the technology on the suit is very similar to her own Pipbuck. However, she does not have the master key or whatever, but SteelHooves blunderously informs them that it's in a nearby stable. He tells them not to bother, but if he really wanted to just die he wouldn't have mentioned anything at all, and you know what? I don't really care.
They head for the ponyhole that contains the entrance to the stable, all the while Littlepip is crashing because she's off her drug high. And here comes the Drugs Are Bad side plot.
When she wakes up, they're at the entrance of the stable, and Littlepip uses a bit of ingenuity to open the voice lock. They enter the stable to find that everyone inside is dead. Gee. Didn't see that coming.
Littlepip also notices that Calamity seems to have the hots for Velvet, and she goes sputtering, and then we get angst about how she's in love with Velvet and OH FUCKING BOY.
Then we get snark between Velvet and Calamity which obviously means they want to bone each other and fuck it moving on.
Littlepip leaves them alone while she looks around for things and starts looting. She returns and finds that Velvet is mighty pleased that they actually have a decent stock on medical supplies now.
This stable appears not to have an Overmare, and indications are that it's run directly by Stable-Tec. Then the turrets start to attack the party...
Wait, why did it take this long for the security systems to kick in? Whatever, don't care.
Anyway, Littlepip takes out the turrets and they listen to the radio, where DJ Pon-3 is extolling her virtues again, but questioning her judgment in regards to saving raiders. Whatever. Littlepip then goes to start mixing drugs. She finds some logs the logs and finds that it seems that the stable itself has been horrifically killing the ponies off, and all indications point to Stable-Tec doing it themselves, For the Evulz. Anyway, Littlepip gets OUTRAGED as she reads and Velvet has to put them away.
They find a note that indicates that Vinyl Scratch had been in this stable, not killed in Manehattan, and they find the room where they were having their three-month survival party.
They come across one final message, from Scootaloo, explaining that the stable is not run by Stable-Tec, but by a supercomputer that would "remove the pony equation." After a kid broke the water talisman with a BB gun, the computer made the decision to "reduce the population by 0.2%," and decided that the population of the stable was the most expendable. Woo, "computer gone bad" thingy. Littlepip then despairs because she can't murder someone about this.
Littlepip views the memory orb, which reveals that Applejack had a boyfriend named Sergeant 'SteelHooves' Applesnack... wait, the story's revealing that already? I mean... okay, they aren't exactly spitting out "he's a ghoul from the war" but... I figured it'd wait a while.
Also, Twilight chews Pinkie Pie out at the party, because it turns out that Pinkie Pie is a drug addict! Great. Having failed to endear me to its principle cast of characters, the story proceeds to muck around with the canon characters. Well, I won't complain about that too much, given I'm writing a story where Twilight and Princess Celestia commit genocide.
Also, for a chapter titled "SteelHooves," the titular character doesn't do a lot.
And for typos I find instances of tense confusion and forgotten quotation marks.
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