---

My own personal hell.

I was on a guilt trip and I was hoping for Crystal’s survival. Overhearing the doctor’s who had brought her in really made me feel slightly more worried about the current situation. While the doctors seemed more honest, Ocean seemed more reassuring about a situation. But either way didn’t really help at all. And to top it all off, my search for Cyclone… but each hour we spent here, no doubt she was getting further away and if she was stationary, no doubt she would be in some trouble.

I began to ponder… was I saving too many ponies? All I was doing was keeping them from their destiny, just to let them live a little while longer. Crystal was my friend, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to her like that. But the ponies who I barely knew. Of course, death comes to us all on a certain day and time, but I felt like I was getting too much attention from doing something that ponies are able to do each and every day.

I didn’t want ponies to get hurt, but I always ponder if saving them is really was worth it. They never thanked me or anything, but I am glad the radio buck notices me at least and actually thinks I do well. The only ponies, who would even get close to thanking me, are the ones who want to kill me or enslave me. But instead they want to harm me of course.

I had made many enemies out here, and even friends which I was lucky to have. But ever since I came out here, I just felt like turning back and going home, despite it being too late to even get back inside Stable 30. The enemies I did make tended to be those who had power in their hooves -- those who could run entire colonies and destroy anypony who opposed them. They weren’t the best type of ponies to mess with, but I had more than enough reasons to hate their guts and they had enough reasons to hate mine.

Waking up the middle of the night, the room was yet again pitch black. However, it only took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust properly and when they did, I could see in the dark slightly. Climbing out of the bed, and feeling my body detach from the hard surface of the old mattress, I groaned slightly from the amount of relief I felt.

Crystal was looking slightly better. Her wounds were healing quickly and she sounded more alive than she did the day before. Now I could hear her breaths properly and she seemed to be moving around a lot more in her sleep than she did before. The mare hugged the pillow she was resting her head on, trying to make herself comfy in the stained and torn mattress below her.

I smiled, knowing she was going to be okay.

Something did catch my eye in the far corner of the room. Behind the other row of beds on the other side of the room was a bright glow beneath one of the beds and as soon as I did catch sight of it, I began to walk over to it, trying to make as little noise as possible. My hoofsteps did echo, but only faintly, it wasn’t loud enough to wake Crystal or to alert Ocean.

I took each step slowly, hoof after hoof, I made sure that I wouldn’t move too fast. Walking down one of the gaps between the beds, I noticed the glow now brightly shining onto the hoof that my PipBuck was on, showing the scratched metal that made the actual device and brightly reflecting off of the green screen on the face of it.

I went down onto my stomach, gently rolling out what seemed to be a memory orb. It was covered in dust and seemed a lot older than most. I blew the dust from it and began to wipe any remainders of large dust balls, or fragments that were left upon the small glass ball within my hooves.

There was no label on it, and the surface of the orb was slightly scarred as if the pony who did it was in a hurry or if they through it to the ground to try and hide it somehow. I glanced around the room to make sure no pony was coming, before lying back down onto my stomach and then accessing the memory.

---

I felt myself in an entirely new body, but in the same location. The room looked a lot more polished and newer than it did back in the present day. The walls were made of a slick, shining silver color, while the beds were not rusting or aged. They were clean and the mattresses looked fluffy and new.

My host wasn’t exactly happy. In fact, my host was depressed. My host was stood by the door, looking down both rows of the beds. Only one patient was inside of the room, and the patient was a pale aquamarine colored Unicorn. Her mane was a very light cyan color along with a small white part showing at both the front and back of her mane. It was the same with her tale.

The mare in the far bed on the left side of the room wore heavy spiked, plated armor on her, but most of the actual armor was broken and revealing some deep wounds around her belly and chest. She was attached a heart monitor which was constantly beeping and her weak eyes stared right into my host’s eyes.

I felt my host’s happiness suddenly drop.

What happened to her? It reminded me constantly of Crystal’s condition, nevertheless my host stood by the bed on the side that was closest to the wall. The injured and bloody mare looked up to my host, keeping her eyes on her while she smiled weakly. Her lips were scarred and covered in what seemed to be small particles of ashes. In some of her wounds were fragments of stone and dust, where each and every second, she looked slightly weaker.

“You… came. Bon Bon, you actually came…”

The mare in the bed coughed after she spoke. I felt my host smile falsely, but nonetheless it was a smile. Inside, my host felt saddened and completely shattered from within. Like she had seen her get into this mess and now that she was staring at her bloody body which lay on the bed, my host tried to bite back the tears.

“O-of course I came, Lyra,” my host’s voice was shaky as sadness drowned out her voice. “I would never ignore you, especially when you’re as hurt as you are…”

Lyra smiled weakly, as she held her stomach wound. And I had felt my host cry inside. Like somepony had taken her heart and ripped it out violently to a point where she was lost for words. She sat down on the floor and held Lyra’s hoof before giving it a soft nuzzle. I felt the soft hoof touch my host’s muzzle, before she looked to Lyra again.

"T-this place isn’t helping me, Bon Bon,” Lyra coughed. “It never has helped me… they’re just dumping me in this room to die…”

My host bit down on her lip, trying to bite back the tears that she felt building up. Nonetheless it had worked, but my host’s sadness was building up inside her. The sight of her friend in bed, all bloodied up and seemingly on death’s doorstep really tormented my host’s emotions and many different thoughts popped into her head. Many relating to loneliness, despair, suicide, killing and revenge. I had never had these things come into my mind, but knowing that my host had been thinking these things… made me feel slightly different in myself.

“D-don’t say that, Lyra… the doctors are doing whatever they can,” my host choked out of herself. “I promise you… you’ll get better…”

“B-but they’ve left me alone in this room…” The mare in the bed groaned in agony. “W-war has gotten to their heads, Bon Bon. T-they think they help, but they don’t… they aren’t helping!”

I felt my host’s eyes fill up with tears, before feeling each tear released trickle down her soft cheeks. My host looked down at the floor; unable to speak anymore… it was like she was scared to say anything, as if she knew that Lyra would just say how bad the doctors were. It made my host begin to lose hope… I could feel it. And I knew exactly how my host felt.

My host was still trying to bite back tears, despite the tears were trickling down her cheeks. She shook her head slowly and wiped her hoof across her face to wipe away the tears. She looked back up to Lyra who was frowning at the sight of her friend crying to herself… and my host continued weeping.

“T-try and trust them, Lyra,” my host whimpered as each of the words left her mouth. “I’m beginning to lose hope -- and losing hope is the worst thing that could happen to me. If I lose hope, I lose you… I don’t want to carry that burden…”

Lyra lay back onto her bed and groaned as blood leaked from her wounds and onto the bed sheets. She winced in agony and looked towards my host with a painful expression. She grabbed the hoof of my host, before caressing it.

“I-it was never your fault, Bon Bon. I-if it’s not your fault, it’s not your burden,” Lyra choked from herself, before lying back in the bed and looking up at the ceiling.

The door at the end of the rooms swung open and a group of doctors walked in. All of them were wearing clean, white coats on them and all of them had caramel colored coats but differently styled manes and different colors in their manes and eyes. All four of them were stallions and they walked over to Lyra’s bed, looking sternly towards my host.

All of the doctors looked at my host dauntingly, and the front one moved closer to her slightly, lifting a hoof and pointing it towards my host before speaking with a strong, deep voice.

“Miss Bon Bon, you have been here far too long… we must ask for you to leave!” The doctor insisted, as he lifted his hoof and pointed to the door.

I felt my host’s eyes tear up again and this time, more water was in her eyes. More than one tear trickled down her cheeks and the sadness ever growing. She wanted to scream out, she didn’t want to leave Lyra, especially when Lyra was in this much pain. The doctors walked up to my host, but my host simply hugged the injured mare in the bed.

“N-no, I can’t leave her. Not yet!” I felt my host scream. “I want to stay with her!!”

I felt the doctors grab my host in an attempt to drag her away from the bloody mare that was lying in the bed. My host refused to let go and the doctors were somehow struggling to pull her away and the harder they tried to take her away from Lyra, the more damaged my host felt inside. My host kept struggling and made her grip to her friend stronger.

“L-let me go!” My host begged. “I-I want to stay with her… I need her!!”

My host lost her grip on Lyra’s hoof and then soon found herself being dragged away. She was kicking at the doctors and screaming, begging to be released as she was dragged along the tiles that were on the floor, trying to grab each one in resistance to being dragged away. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the group of doctors to take her away.

“G-goodbye, Bon Bon… I love you…”

My host was thrown out of the room and into the wall opposite the door. The door to Lyra’s room was slammed shut and locked, but my host got back onto her hooves and began to slam on the door with pure fury and sadness, knowing Lyra would not make it.

My host was bawling tears and rapidly slammed each of her two forelegs against the wooden surface that now began to splinter her hoof. My host didn’t care for the sharp pain that was growing in the wounds that were being inflicted on her flesh, she just wanted to see Lyra again and unfortunately, she couldn’t.

“Open this damn door, I can’t leave her!!” Sadness, fury, confusion. Different emotions within my host’s mind collided as she banged against the door in hope that the doctors will let her back in. But they did not come back.

The begging continued onwards, until my host grew tired and when she did, she collapsed to the floor, where her hooves had so many splinters, her hooves were now leaking blood from them and the sharp pain in the hooves was starting to numb.

---

The memory soon ended there and I found myself back in the dark room I was in originally. Abruptly finished like she wanted no pony to see it. However, I could feel Bon Bon’s pain. She was my host and the pain she was going through was both physically and emotionally. The worst kind of hell somepony can ever go through.

And Lyra -- her friend. Suffering from wounds somepony cannot simply heal… and Bon Bon could only watch her friend suffer. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t… no matter how hard she tried. The memory itself was many years before now of course, many years before my ascendance from Stable 30.

I got back onto my hooves, and then heard the door open behind me. I glanced back to see Dodge standing at the door with a grin. The amber light from the corridors flooded in, blinding me slightly but Dodge proceeded onwards. He was wearing a battle saddle and the battle saddle contained two heavy loaded combat shotguns.

“Are we about ready to go, Torn?” Dodge’s voice echoed in the room softly as he dropped the question. “If you want to find your sister, I suggest you get all your belongings and we head out.”

I kept quiet and nodded softly, throwing the memory orb out of sight and back underneath the bed. Dodge turned to leave, but before he did, he stopped at the doorway and then put a Stetson on his head.

“I’d wake Crystal if I was you… remember what we’re out here for, Torn. When we find your sister, we’ll stop the Enclave from attacking Stable 30 and then after that, we’ll find someplace and settle down,” Dodge stated with a soft tone to his voice. “Sound like a plan?”

Dodge soon left on that note, and with that, his hooves echoed throughout the facility as he left, soon fading out before silence once again dominated. Looking down at the mare that was asleep, I soon shook her gently to wake her up. She didn’t wake up after the first few shakes, but when she did eventually wake up, she began to stir before awakening properly. She looked up at me with a tired look in her eyes.

“Come on, Crystal…” I whispered softly, showing a reassuring smile into her eyes. “It’s time for us to leave…”

Once we had collected our items from the facility’s storage room, we soon headed out of the facility. Crystal and I were grateful, but didn’t give our thanks nor say our goodbyes. We didn’t have enough time. If we were to get to my sister, then we’d have to head off as soon as possible…

The memory orb I had viewed earlier however gave me a little background on what this place used to be like. The doctors were strict and the treatments were even worse no doubt. I still felt the pain that my host felt inside of me, and I understood how they felt. Crystal was my friend… one of my closest in fact and I was worried she wouldn’t make it. Luckily, she lived through it and if she hadn’t it would have crushed my heart no doubt.

We left with no word nor even a whisper. We just left the large underground compound, finding ourselves inside of a dark but seemingly open cave. The huge door that had closed behind us was now locked after a loud thud was heard within the circular, rusted and battered door’s mechanism. Above the door was a glowing green sign which stated the name of the facility itself.

Old Vermillion Community Base.

Dodge walked from the darkness with his grin, and the party behind him followed him. Every single one of them were in one piece luckily enough and to be honest, if any of them died, it wouldn’t make things any better for any of us. Violet, Cyber, Swift and Dodge. All of them standing in front of Crystal and I.

“It’s good to see you both made it out!” Swift exclaimed, doing a small loop in the small open space he had. “We were beginning to worry, especially when the small mare who had been treating you both said we couldn’t visit!”

Did he mean Ocean? If he did, I’m sure she was saying it for our own good… she wanted us to recover. And if I’m completely honest, having all of them visit while I was recovering wouldn’t have helped. They did notice my eye, but made nothing of it. They didn’t laugh, but they did gaze at it for a short while as if they felt sorry for me or were going to burst out laughing.

“How’s the new eye?” Violet asked, stepping into clear view. Her armor was now stained with the blood of those she had possibly killed while Crystal and I were being taken here. It would be no surprise either if that was what it was.

“It’s fine,” I bitterly responded with a nod. “Nothing’s broken it yet but I’m pretty sure something will soon.” I chuckled after saying that.

Violet chuckled also before responding in a dull tone of voice. “If you say so.”

The surroundings consisted of many different rocks within the wall and ceiling and they were unevenly placed. Some of the larger rocks in the darkness were coated in a light coating of moss, while some of the smaller rocks were coated in some of the dust that came from the base we had just left.

“Where we of to next?” Cyber called out, “I’m guessing it’s straight to Sunnyvale from here… right?”

“Indeed it is and we are not resting now until we get there,” I walked passed Dodge, into the darkness of the large cave we were in.

I began to walk ahead into the cave, hearing each of my hoofsteps echoing softly as they made contact with the rock below my hooves. It wasn’t too dark; there were some cracks in the ceiling of the cave allowing some of the sickly green sunlight to shine its way into the cavern. The large cavern was wide and open, and the ceiling was rough like any other cave. Large spikes from some of the rocks hung from the ceiling, sharp and cracked.

There were small patches of grass on the ground where dirt was. The dirt mainly sat in some of the small, thin cracks that ran along the ground and all the way along each passageway in the cave. Mushrooms were tucked away in corners where they glowed a bright, radioactive green color from some of the radiation that had leaked its way down here.

As I dug deeper into the darkness, I heard my companions follow me closely. I heard a large crack of a bone below my hoof, and as I heard it, I felt bone smash below my hooves. I knew it wasn’t mine. The bright green light from my PipBuck lit up a small portion of the ground, and the sight of skulls and other bits of skeleton ponies came into view. Bones from the legs and spines were seen sprawled onto the floor, covered in dust and splintered as the bone was decaying.

There was stained blood on the floor, where ponies had been killed by something. Teeth were found on the floor, some were shattered while some were still intact but slightly cracked.

Continuing onwards, a dim light was soon seen at the end of what seemed to be a long tunnel. I began to pick up the pace as I saw the light, and soon began to trot quickly. My hoofsteps were now echoing loudly, and the sound of my companions hurrying to keep up with me was also heard from behind me.

“Look, I see light!” Dodge’s voice called from behind me. “Hopefully this will take us closer to Sunnyvale!”

I wasn’t building my hopes up for that. We grew closer by each step we took towards the light, and I was running my fastest and the closer we got to the light, the brighter it got. The light itself was a dull grey color, not quite the same color as the sunlight, but it was light nonetheless.

“Hold on, stop!”

I heard a voice call from behind me. I stopped suddenly in my tracks, just as we were coming to the end of long tunnel. The young, oak colored buck trotted ahead, and my companions came to a halt behind me.

Crystal walked to my side, before stopping by it and I noticed her stare at him as if she was thinking he was stupid for going out into the open. The buck however continued onward until he met the light and was out in the open.

“What is he doing?” Crystal whispered to me. “Is he an idiot going out into the open like that? He could get himself killed!”

“Don’t worry; if there’s any trouble, we’ll be sure to handle it!” Violet called from behind. I glanced back at the mare that spun her Minigun which sat on her own battle saddle which was attached to her armor.

“But if there is trouble, we won’t know exactly how many of the buggers there are!” Cyber called out, standing beside Violet and looking at her sternly. “Swift and I can only handle two at a time when we’re on our own, and I’m sure all of you cannot handle more even when we’re all together!”

Silence yet again dominated, and I glanced back to the young buck standing in the open. He was pacing left to right as if he was checking for anypony or even any sign of our destination. He ventured even further out, and it seemed like there was small hill on the other side and it didn’t take long for him to get out of view. And then silence was once again on us as his hoofsteps left the cobble and touched down on soil.

The sound of the wind from outside was the only thing that was audible other than my own breaths. And the wait for Dodge seemed to take sometime, and the longer it took the tenser for us all it was waiting. I felt the urge to go up and check on where he was, but he told us and specifically me to wait down here.

“One of us needs to go check on where he is…” Crystal softly stated, lifting a hoof slightly. “I mean, what happens if he is in danger?”

“I agree with Crystal,” Violet added with a stern tone. “And I personally think Tornado should be the one to do it!”

“Yeah!” Swift called from behind, before flying over and landing in front of me, looking at me in the eyes. “You of all ponies should go check since you’re the leader of this small posse you put together!”

Me? Seriously? Just because I was the leader, I was meant to go? I wanted to object, but I knew if I did, I would cause some major problems that may just cost the life of Dodge if he happened to be in danger.

“And you have a PipBuck!” Swift soon added, with a grin as his eyes focused on the device fixed to my leg.

Oh come on now! A PipBuck makes no difference! Sure, it’s quirky and has some nice features, but it makes zero difference.

I inhaled a sigh and then rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’ll go check. But you all stay here, got it?”

I took a deep breath and soon began to drag myself towards the light slowly, with each of my hoofsteps echoing in the cave as I took each step. Something told me Dodge was okay, and I was pretty sure that he was anyway. But it didn’t really hurt to check at all.

Getting closer towards the end of the tunnel, Dodge ran his way back up the hill and stood at the entrance with a grin. I stopped in my tracks and stared up at the buck, seeing him looking down at us with a grin before raising a hoof. Well? What had he found? Was there a way to Sunnyvale or was there nopony trying to kill us?

“It’s all clear, and Sunnyvale is within sight and it isn’t that far away!” Dodge said optimistically. “It’s quite the distance away, but it is the only possible direct route we can take!”

“And what exactly do we have to go through?” I questioned, raising a hoof and a brow.

Dodge was quick to answer me and keeping his optimistic tone to his voice. “Flower Berry Gardens… it’s a dangerous place, but once we’re through, it should be a smooth run to Sunnyvale!”

I glanced back down to the others who were waiting in the darkness with a nod to signal for them to come up, before continuing up to Dodge slowly. The clouds outside were pale white as now the sunlight was covered up by the thick clouds. They were thick, but not too polluted. Not as polluted as before and the dust that gently glided through the air danced in the soft breeze I felt blow its way into the tunnel.

I soon reached Dodge and stood by his side, and he looked to me with a grin before placing a hood onto my shoulders. “We’ll be there soon and if your sister is there, you can reunite with your family once again!”

I smiled at this.

BANG!!!

A loud gunshot was heard within the distance, and as it went off, a hole was punctured into Dodge’s neck. The large hole that was created was by the crevice around the shoulder blade and the bullet itself created an exit wound on the other side. He began to cough up blood through his mouth as it spurted out of the hole created in his throat. As he choked on blood, he stumbled around, nearly collapsing down the hill and as he swayed from side to side, he soon collapsed back into the tunnel.

Dodge was on his side, choking and spitting blood. I quickly went down to him and held him in my arms, trying to cover up the wounds to stop the blood from coming out. But blood kept rushing its way out onto my hooves as he struggled and wiggled around, gasping for air and as he gasped, the sound of blood getting caught up and bubbling was heard.

I felt nothing but shock, and as he began to go into a sort of pain seizure, another shot went off, only just missing me. I dragged him back into the tunnel and as I did, the party rushed their way up the tunnel and stood by him. I attempted to keep him still, looking towards Crystal with my eyes full of tears.

“Crystal, pass me some bandages!!” I called to her, trying to hold Dodge down who was now suffering. “Please!!”

Crystal searched her bag in a panicking motion, while Swift, Cyber and Violet stood there, just staring at his flailing body as the blood leaked from the large puncture in his skin. It was as if Swift, Cyber and Violet knew there was no way on saving him but just remained silent about it.

I felt more tears build up in my eyes as I watched the young buck begin to lose his life slowly. He gripped me by the collar of my Stable jacket which was now getting covered in blood from the wound in his body. His mouth began to quiver and move violently as if he was trying to speak.

“H-here!” Crystal’s shaky voice stated as she threw magical bandages down by me. I quickly grabbed them in my bloody hooves. My hooves were shaking violently, as I attempted to keep a firm grip on the on the bandages, but they kept slipping from all the blood that my hooves was coated in.

Each second I wasted trying to keep hold of the bandages, the closer Dodge got to death. I held him yet again, in an attempt to wrap the bandages around Dodge and as I wrapped it around the first time, he grabbed me yet again by the collar, now leaving a smear of blood on my neck and then looking into my eyes with a stare.

I stopped bandaging him up and I stared into his eyes with nothing but tears, before his eyes rolled back after one last breath left his mouth. Dodge was now dead. And now his body which was coated in blood was now as dead still… literally. The large wound that started from his neck and led down onto his chest let out a few last squirts of blood. I stared down at his wounds in horror, completely silenced.

N-no! Dodge was dead… and now there was no way to save him. If I had just acted faster, if I had just maybe prepared myself for this, then none of this would have ever happened. None of it would have and if I saw this coming, I would have prevented it from happening.

Crystal sat beside me and soon pulled me into a gentle embrace as she rubbed my back. All I did was let my tears flow into her coat as my eyes were fixed onto his corpse. I soon tightly closed my eyes and silently sobbed into Crystal’s fur and then I wrapped my hooves around her, pulling her in even closer.

“I’m so sorry…” Violet spoke, yet again keeping a stern accent. “Dodge was a brave soul and unfortunately, his soul taken… I’m sure he’s at peace now…”

Cyber and Swift sat down close to his body, before searching his bag. I noticed them as I opened my eyes. What were they doing? Were they just going to rob him? The tears that flowed from my eyes seemed endless, but nonetheless I cried softly, and I was completely unable to speak.

I felt like it was my fault that my friend died… my fault. I let him go out there alone, and I didn’t help him at all until it was too late. Why him? Why not me?! Why couldn’t I die instead?! Why couldn’t I give my life for him?! I-I want to die because of what I have caused!

I closed my eyes, before hearing something roll to me. Opening my eyes again, I saw a memory orb with the name ‘Dodge’ labeled onto it. I blinked, sniffling slightly, before taking it and looking at it.

“I found it in his saddlebag,” Swift stated and then looked down at his corpse. “When you have time, I advise you look at it, Torn.”

I gave Crystal the orb and then she grabbed it, before placing it into her saddlebag before wrapping her hoof around me once again to keep me in the soft embrace that she held me in. And I yet again wrapped my hooves around her. Violet walked up towards the light, and all I did was watch. I kept silent once again… I felt too broken and too guilty to even speak a word.

Violet stared out into the wilderness and soon Swift slowly walked his way up to Violet, before taking his place by her side. I looked at them, my tears of pain filling my vision, making it slightly harder to see what was ahead. But my vision soon did clear as they trickled down my face.

“I suggest we get moving now… it’d be for the best for us and I’m sure Dodge wouldn’t want us to sit here mourning his death,” Violet groaned before glancing back at me. “Are you both coming or not?”

Releasing myself from Crystal’s grasp, she let me go willingly and I stood back onto my hooves, staring down at the corpse of Dodge. His eyes were still open, but the eyes were rolled back into the skull. But before I left, I reached down and closed his eyelids and then looked up at the mare that was standing at the entrance, staring out in the Wasteland.

I soon walked back up, now the blood that stained the Stable Jacket drying into the blue and yellow material, soon making it change into a red tinted blue and yellow. It was slightly damp, but it was beginning to dry. I wiped the glass base of my eye to wipe any blood that was on it off of it.

Walking up to the exit of the cave, I looked out into the long stretching plains of the Wasteland; large open areas with broken, dead trees were seen. Frames of destroyed houses and crumbling roads were in the distance, and the large clock tower by a small, ruined town with a fairly large fence built around it. The soft mist lingered throughout the entire Wasteland was tinted a faint white color.

It was just Crystal, Swift, Violet, Cyber and I. And now I didn’t want to lose anypony else, and I was planning not to… and if I did, I knew I would not last out here with my weak emotions…

---

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Strong at Heart -- your speech has been improved by 20% making you access special dialogue options which allow you to know more about a certain pony.

New perk: Quest perk! -- Together Until The End -- you and your companions can now bond together to make an unstoppable force of death, therefore your speciality with weapons in all areas has improved by 30% for the next quest.

Current level: 15

Next Chapter: Chapter Seventeen: Friendship Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 49 Minutes