“A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.”

Now that we’d left that goddess forsaken place, my plan could finally get back on track. Dodge was another two days walk to the southwest, maybe even three if the weather turned bad again. Even if it didn’t, I’m not sure that it would be smart to attempt the trip in my condition, and the four hours rest I’d gotten was nowhere near enough for what I’d been through. I had to make a judgement call, and as I always knew time is of the essence, better safe then sorry was a more practical take on my plans.Awkward phrasing

“I don’t know about you Predious, but I’m thinking we bunker down for a while over there.” I pointed to the old farmhouse, hoping that inside would just be yet another run down ruin, and not filled with ghost foals, red eyed shadow monsters, or something less desirable than the two; raiders. “We’ll make our way to Dodge at first light tomorrow if weather permits.”

“I second that idea” Predious let out a yawn and craned his neck until it popped. “Provided the farmhouse is structurally sound that is.” As funny as the concept might seem, there were very few buildings in Equestria that were in danger of falling to pieces anytime soon, and the general rule was if it’s still standing, then it’s safe. Though, if there’s anything I hate more than fighting raiders, it’s finding the one exception to the safe building rule. Predious put a hoof to his chin and rubbed at it, ignoring the thick coat of mud he was painting on himself. “Yes… this farm does resemble it.”

“Resemble what?” I picked up my hooves as I walked, the wet sloshing they made as I trudged my way through the mud towards the farmhouse irritated me almost as much as Predious’s cryptic speech.

“I believe I have heard of this place in my travels.” He finally walked after me, shortly followed by the heavy spluts Iron Will’s hooves gave as he stomped through the mud. Awkward phrasing “Around forty years ago, this place was controlled by a notorious gang that would prey on merchants and travelers alike. That is to say until one of the merchants fought back and wiped the gang out. To my knowledge, it’s been unused since.”

“I could care less who used it, so long as they're gone now.” Just as I said this, a red bar popped up on my E.F.S. in the direction of the house.

“Well, story goes that nopony ever saw or heard from the gang again. Worst I’d say that’s inside is just a rad roach or possibly a feral dog. Harmless creatures if anything.” His words were well timed, stemming the need for me to grab my rifle, but still leaving me cautious. We finally reached the front porch and upon stepping onto the old wood, I was happy to see that the house didn’t fall over onto me. Not only that, but whatever was on my marker lay under the stairs in the cellar, its hatch bolted shut. Though, I figured we were safe from the thing as the red bar didn’t move, obviously it either knew that we were too much to fight, or it honestly didn’t care we were going to make ourselves at home.

“That’s nice to know.” Striding across the porch, I kicked at the door and watched it slide back as a heap of dust fell off. He was right, this place hadn’t been touched since those days. Nearly everything followed the doors example and was caked in a thick layer of dust. “Oh, I really hope the beds in this place aren’t covered in dust.” I whined and made my way up the stairs, listing as a few of them gave louder creaks than I would have liked to hear.

Once up there, I looked around, spotting an open room near the end of the railing and seeing that the bed inside looked like it’d been given the same treatment as every other object. I shrugged and made my way to it, reluctantly peeling the covers back with my hoof as my nose began to tickle. I wiggled it but it only got worse, throwing my head back in a sneeze that sent even more dust into the air. It was suddenly like I was out in last night’s blizzard again, and the room was nothing but glowing white motes floating around.

I stumbled from the room, content to give it a minute to settle before trying my luck again when I heard a high pitched scream. Instinctively I hoofed my rifle into my muzzle and took off toward the stairs. As I swung around the banister, I found that the cellar door lay wide open, and that the panicked whines of Predious were coming from below. I rolled my eyes and made my way down the steps, wondering in the back of my head where the hell Iron Will had wandered off to when he could have just as easily taken care of whatever this is.

“Storm, kill it!” Predious whined as I ducked down through the cellar entrance, finding that there was a large steel room hidden under the house. Predious was struggling to keep his hooves from touching the floor as he clung to the massive metal door. It seemed that what he was afraid of was one single, feral ghoul. Not even one in good condition either, seeing as it had to rely on scraping its chin on the floor as a means of locomotion, probably because its legs lay splayed out to its sides unmoving and most likely broken. I frowned as I spotted the dull shine of a circle on the monster’s skull just above the glowing eyes. I’d seen a few too many unlucky ghouls like this in my time to know this one probably started to go feral and somepony tried to put it down. Unfortunately, they’d fucked it up and the bullet got lodged in the ghoul’s skull. Who knows how long this thing’s been locked down here, but as I raised my rifle in my hooves, aimed, and fired, I could at least take solace in the fact that it wasn’t here anymore.

“Oh, thank the goddesses.” Predious panted out, slipping from the door and holding a hoof to his chest. “That… thing was trying to murder me!” He let out a shiver and took a step out of the giant metal vault. “You saved my life.”

“And I should have let it murder you!” I took my hoof out of the action and gave him a good smack upside the head. “What, you forget how to use your legs? I could have died of boredom before it even got an inch closer.”

He gasped and covered his muzzle with a hoof. “You mock my fear? I’ll have you know that I am necrophobic, and have a crippling panic attack anytime those… things are around!” He prodded me in the chest as I chuckled with how ridiculous that sounded. “Hey, I don’t make light of your fears, do I?”

“No, that’s because I’m always too busy doing all the work to pay attention to anything that comes out of your muzzle.” I turned and took a few steps up the stairs. “You know, you could stand to be a bit more useful if you’re going to wander about. On second thought, just don’t wander about at all. We’ve got a schedule to keep and I don’t want to waste all my time saving your sorry flank, so lets get some rest.”

I stomped back up the stairs, making my annoyance obvious as every step caused just a little more dust to be kicked up. Not to have the same problem twice, I instead held my breath as I got up the stairs, moving in quick bursts as to not disturb any more of the agitating particles. When I reached the bed, I took as big of a breath as I could and curled my forehooves around the blanket, tearing it off and shaking it wildly before diving onto the bed, curling up under it as well as I could to keep the dust away. Even though I couldn’t tell what the stains that covered the moldy mattress came from, it was still a bed, and within only a few minutes of laying still, I managed to finally fall asleep.

I awoke with a yawn, stretching myself out on the bed as my healing injuries felt a little better from yesterday. The A.I. in my vision was curled up as well, little Z’s emanating from her muzzle as I wondered if a computer could get tired. Throwing the old blanket off, I went to hop off the bed, but paused as the smell of fresh cooking hit my nose. The thought that Predious was still up annoyed me, seeing as it was only… 9 a.m.?

“How the fuck did I only sleep for two hours?” I mumbled with another half yawn, lazily gathering my stuff. Those must have been the best two hours of my life, because I felt that despite my aches, I had so much more energy! Once we got on the road, we’d be back in dodge in no time at all so I could pick up some much needed provisions. My mane hung in a tangled mess across my muzzle, and the glint of light the mirror in the bathroom gave off made me want to fix it. So with my gear secured, I walked out of my room and down the hall, stopping when I heard a curious noise coming from the other bedroom.

I blinked as I watched Predious snore loudly on the rug of the other room, his muzzle laying across the pages of an open book. I pointed my hoof at him in disbelief as I ran through it in my mind. Once again, I swung my rifle around on its sling and hoofed it into my muzzle as I dashed down the stairs, nearly losing my hoofing halfway down due to a bad step. Recovering as my legs braced myself at the bottom, I spun myself, looking for the bar in my compass and finding that there were two pink colored ones next to each other. Both appearing non hostile, I remember that one of them must be Predious upstairs, but the other was our ‘guest’. So up to the edge of the kitchen I crept, stepping cautiously forward as the sounds of cooking didn’t let up.

“Come in, come in!” The raspy voice of a ghoul called out as I tilted half my head around the corner. The glowing ghoul gave me a toothy smile as he bit down on a pan, coaxing the sizzling meat he had cooked onto a plate. “You awoke just in time, the eggs are almost done! Go ahead and have a seat.”

Was this stallion serious? What, did he think that I was his long lost daughter or something, and he was just a half a step from turning feral? I let my rifle hang from its sling again, unsure if I’d actually need it.

“How did you get past Iron Will?” I swear to the goddesses, that machine is a bigger disappointment than this contract has been. I’m going to need for P.A.I. to either send it away, or to fucking rewrite its programming so it’s actually useful.

“Oh, your mechanical bull? Easy!” He turned from the sizzling pans and hoofed at the shredded labcoat he wore, showing me a small rectangular identification card that I’d seen all too many times down in that horrid labyrinth. “Got this little number inside a ministry hub out west. To be honest, I DID work for the ministries once, so it's not theft, more like... borrowing from a co-worker. Even though I didn't know the mare it belonged to, I was still sad to see that she died trapped under a fallen sparkle cola machine, but it’s a more common death then one would think!” He turned back towards the food and tossed some of the hay he had fried onto the plate as well.

It’s good to know that Iron Will has a gigantic flaw in his system that was fucking mass produced back in the war! My stomach grumbled loudly as I stood and watched the steaming food on the plate. “That's great and all, but what the hell are you doing here?” The smell of the food he was cooking was driving me crazy, but I needed to focus on the half feral, rambling ghoul doing the cooking in the first place!

“Same as you I suppose, trying to make a living off of the dead. Well, that is until I found you here.” He looked back and gave me a smile that didn’t make me any more sure he wasn’t drifting towards becoming feral in the next five minutes. “Ghouls don't so much need to eat or sleep, and I had a bit before I wanted to get moving again, so when I saw you resting upstairs I figured that it would be a nice surprise to cook you breakfast.”

“But I don't even know you.” This was just getting creepier by the minute. He didn’t appear like he had any ulterior motives to it, but the fact that he found me asleep, but didn’t kill me right then and there has to at least give some points to him telling the truth. “How did you figure I wasn't just going to come down here shooting?”

“Well you see, back when I worked for the ministry, I volunteered to be hit with this ray gun thing, and now I can see the future!” He beamed a bright smile as I struggled to process that. “Oh, and I can also see the 6th dimension, which I know really shouldn't be there, and at the VERY least shouldn't taste purple.” He gave a snirk and it finally hit me that he was being sarcastic. “Or I've been secretly following you for a week and now I can't resist the thought anymore of how tasty your soft and smooth flesh is!” Okay, that... was unfortunately a disturbing possibility and moved this conversation from sarcastic, straight on down to creepy town. “You have to ask yourself, do I need a good enough reason to make a simple breakfast for a stranger?”

I scoffed at that notion. “Yes, one at least good enough that other ponies wouldn't shoot you.” With as many unfriendly ponies, zebras, and monsters between them, you need a damn good reason to keep the lead from flying.

“Well, you haven't shot me yet, have you?” He smirked again as he turned away from tending the last pan still in use. While it was a good point, if it weren’t for the computer on my leg, and the fact that I just had the most amazing two hour nap of my life, I most likely would have gone in shooting. “The thing is, I was told that friendship is magic, and it really hit me here, and you know what happened?” He thumped at his chest a few times before he went into a coughing fit, ending by spitting a wad of black tar looking goop onto the floor. “That didn't happen, but what did was I felt good again! The kindness of friendship must return to the wastes if we are ever to go back to being civilized ponies.”

As he turned and bit down on the pan, I had to think to myself if there really was any point to trying to be civilized. Other than the fact that it would put me out of a job, would everypony really be better off if we all just sat around fires singing songs of friendship? The wasteland has a society and rules all of its own, and everypony works to make their lives better, so what would be the added benefit ‘friendship’ provides? Shaking the thought from my mind, I looked back to the ghoul, who was plating the eggs next to the other mouthwatering sides and the question of where he had found fresh eggs in the wasteland was gone. I just wanted that food.

He set the pan down and hoofed the stove off, lifting a forehoof and looking at the top of it in shock. “Well would you look at the time, I must be off or I’ll be late for my meeting!” In the blink of an eye, he had galloped out the backdoor and was sprinting off across the… now mostly dried fields as a cold wind blew in. “Remember, friendship is magic! Spread the word!” His shouts carried into the kitchen just before the door swung back and slammed shut with the wind.

I stood perplexed as the whirlwind of activity had thrown my mind for a loop. “Thanks… I guess.” My stomach churned as the smell of the hot food entered my nose, restarting my brain and pointing it directly at the food. “Well, no sense in letting the food to go to waste, I mean if it WAS poisoned, that was an awful lot of work to sell himself as friendly for no gain.” There was a soft creek that came from behind me, instinctively I pulled my rifle up as I spun around and aimed it.

It was Predious.

“What are you doing Storm?” He gave a small yawn and walked the rest of the way down the steps. “If you wanted my attention, you could have just asked. No need to go slamming doors.”

“She was talking with some weird looking stallion.” Pai chirped up and came to life in my pipvision, smiling as she bounced on her hooves. “He really needs to see a doctor about that glowing issue though, because ignoring it wouldn’t be very BRIGHT!” She facehooved right after she spoke. “Ugh! Who wrote these jokes into me!?”

Even as I wonder how long she had been up, I just rolled my eyes at that, no longer caring. “If you don’t like it, couldn’t you just get rid of that coding?” I reslung my rifle and walked over to the delicious breakfast, taking in a deep whiff of the luxurious treats before me.

She changed my layout to blue. “But… it’s part of what makes me special.” Then it shifted to gold. “I don’t ask YOU to change your coat color just because I think grey is boring.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore, sending the annoyance of both her and Predious to the back of my head as I dug into the plate. Oh goddesses it tastes so much better than it smelled, and… did he use spices on it? This is the best meal of my entire LIFE.

“Hey… Storm?” Predious’s voice pushed at the back of my mind. “That smells really good… any chance you can share?” I stopped and scrunched up my muzzle with a whine. It was so delicious, and there was about half of it left, I just wanted to keep going and leave the useless jerk to fend for himself.

With a small sigh, I took a step back. “Go on, take the rest.” I hated the idea of giving a prisoner something as good as this, but in the interest of Friendship as the ghoul suggested, I guess Predious isn’t the worst guy I could be treating better. “But make it quick, I want to head out before the weather takes a turn for the worst.

He hoofed at the air dismissively as he walked over. “The weather’s been clear since yesterday morning and I don’t think we’re due for another storm for a while.” He licked his lips and leaned in, starting to take small bites of the food.

“The fuck are you talking about? That snow storm yesterday came out of nowhere.” I shook my head and walked for the door. If he wants to act ignorant, he can. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s still my job to turn his ass in. If we make good time, they might even pay me a bonus for getting him there in a timely fashion.

He swallowed the food in his muzzle and shrugged. “I know you were asleep through all of it, but yesterday was a pretty nice day. The ground dried up nicely and I got a ton of reading done.” He took another small bite, the end of his muzzle curling into a smile. “This is quite tasty!”

“WHAT?” I threw my hooves up and onto each side of his head, forcefully turning him towards me. “I slept ALL day?” He nodded slowly and chewed at his food. I let go of him and danced nervously on my hooves in a light panic. “Get your shit together, we’re leaving now.”

“But…” He looked back at the food longingly. In an action he probably didn’t appreciate, I kicked out my forehoof and hit him right all stallions sweet spot. He let out a shocked gasp and I quickly hoofed the plate to his muzzle, sliding the rest of the food in.

“Oh look, you’re finished. Now let’s fucking go.” I pointed my forehoof to the door and watched as he nearly choked on the food, coughing and sputtering as he glared angrily at me.

My augmented vision shifted to blue as Pai frowned. “You didn’t have to hurt him.”

“Yes I did, because now we can leave.” I snapped back. “And you’re certainly one to talk after what you’ve done to ponies over the years.”

She shifted to red. “They were all selfish and had it coming!” everything swapped back to blue. “We were all alone, and nopony wanted to help.” Her image layed down curled up. “If you don’t like how we treated others, why don’t you treat your friend any better than we did?”

“He’s not my friend, he’s a prisoner.” I stamped my hoof on the floor as Predious slinked away, stomping up the stairs as he went. “He’s part of a contract, and if I don’t turn him in, do you know what it makes me?” I did my best to stare at her. “It makes me a liar.”

She shifted everything to pink again and got to her hooves. “He stayed with you, helped you out when you were hurt, and this is how you repay him?” She shook her head. “If that’s how you treat the ponies around you, then you can just leave me in the next suitable body you find. I thought we could be like sisters, but I guess you’re just too absorbed in yourself to care.” She flickered away and took the rest of the display with it.

“Dammit, really?” I sat and lifted the pipbuck up, finding that it was completely dead. “You’re overreacting Pai, you have no idea what life is like out here.” I waited for her to come back, but nothing happened.

Predious came back down the stairs with his gear on and walked into the kitchen with a furious look on his face. “Fine, let’s go.” His magic swung the old door open and he trot down into the field.

“How the fuck did I become the bad guy in all this?” I muttered to myself as I got up. I pushed open the kitchen door as I walked up to it, trotting out after him as Iron Will came around from the front of the house. We were a day behind schedule and had to make good time if we were to make it to Dodge quick enough that we might not run into any unsavory types. The last thing I needed was to run into another bounty hunter looking to take my claim because I overslept.

The short rocks we were huddled against were not the most comfortable of cover to use, but they did deflect the bullets that were being sent our way. Of course this had to happen today. Everything was quiet for two hours, and wouldn’t you know it, bam, raiders. I hoofed the action closed and fed a fresh round into my rifle, glancing over at Predious who just glared at me angrily. That stallion could really hold his anger over my earlier actions, and it really didn’t help that I knew he could be doing something more productive in this fight, but he wasn’t.

The shooting stopped momentarily and I grunted, pushing and spinning myself up out of cover. I fired at the rusty remains of a skycarriage, punching a few holes in it until I heard a loud yelp from the other side, the muddy brown pallet of a pony fell out of his cover and held his leg. The raider bit his tongue as he muffled a scream, a thick trail of blood came from his forehoof while I took this opportunity to mercifully end his pain by way of a headshot. A blur of movement from the other side of the carriage prompted me to drop back to the ground, another set of shots sparked off the rock as I fell behind it.

“You know, you could be helping.” I muttered to the useless pony next to me. Sticking my hoof into my pouch, I wiggled it around, looking for a couple of loose rounds to stick into my gun but coming up short.

“I don’t know what I could ever do, as I’m just a simple prisoner with no emotional needs whatsoever.” He was playing a drama queen and I really didn’t have the time for it right now. “I helped you before, Storm, and I got nothing in return. Why should I care anymore what you need?”

Another few shots chipped away at our cover. “How about the fact that if I die, you do as well!?” I growled as I viciously shook my hoof in the saddlebag, looking for any hint of just a single goddess damned bullet! “You like living, don’t you?”

The heavy stomps of Iron Will as he finally caught up to where we were drew my attention. His luminous blue eyes shifted to red as a few bullets sparked across his chest. He vented a blast of steam as his legs compressed and he leaned forward. Knowing where this was going, it was really amazing now that I could watch without the fear of him running me through, the pistons in his legs gave a small hiss as they set in place.

They fired with a mechanical clang and he charged forward, each step propelling him at an amazing speed. Predious and I barely had enough time to get up and turn around before he plowed straight through the rusty carriage. The raider let out an agonizing scream as he was skewered and thrown into the air by Iron Will’s steel horn, hanging there for a moment before landing with a meaty crunch onto the dirt. I wasn’t sure what I had just watched transpired, but I knew that it was both awesome, and a damned good thing he was on our side.

An emerald flash came from behind and overhead, catching my eye as the shape of a pegasus lined up their saddle and let off a pair of distinctly high pitched shots at Iron Will. They struck the dirt harmlessly as something nagged at me from the back of my mind. I knew a green pegasus with weapons like that, but from where? The green bolt took off straight up as Iron Will snatched at her just a second too late. I caught only a glance at the ribbed rifle slung on the mare’s battle saddle and her identity came back to me.

“Iron Will, she’s friendly!” I hopped up over the rock in front of me and trot out to him, the pegasus now looping around for another attack. Iron Will turned to me as his eyes changed back to blue and he nodded, crossing his arms as I tried to flag down my old acquaintance. Flaring her wings, she stopped her dive, transitioning to slowly hovering down to us. I cupped my hooves around my muzzle and shouted up to her. “Been a while, hasn’t it Pallet?”

Though technically adopted into the family when she was little, the green pegasus was Harmony’s older cousin from up north. When Harmony first moved to Dodge, Pallet used to come down now and again and help her babysit me. As I grew older, she came by less and less, only swinging by when one of their family’s caravans swept into Dodge, and of course I took up bounty hunting and crossing paths with her became a rarity.

“Yeah it has. Making your way back to Dodge?” She dropped down in front of me and reached out, pointing at Iron Will. “See you got yourself a bodyguard.” She looked at the remains of the skycarriage and raider. “Very… efficient?”

I laughed and walked up to her, throwing a hoof around her neck and pulling her into a hug. “Yeah, it’s a long story.” I looked back to Predious as I heard him trotting towards us. Letting go of her I stepped back and took her in, seeing that she’s got plenty of new scars on her coat. “But yeah, we’re on our way back to see your cousin. You heading that way, or heading back north?”

Her eyes brightened up with the news. “Well, feel free to ride along with us then! Short Staff and I are on a delivery run to her to deliver some special parts.” She scratched at her mane as she scrunched her muzzle up. “You have any clues why she needed power armor parts? See, the Rangers in Manehatten are willing to pay quite a hefty amount for reinforced, buffed piston tubes, seeing as they are fairly rare.” She nodded for me to walk and talk, turning and starting towards the rolling hills a short ways off.

We struck up a quick pace, walking past the two morons who had decided to ambush us. I looked at her and tossed my mane from my eye. “Yeah well it probably has something to do with that fact that the rangers down there have been trying to annex the whole region.” Predious had joined up on the other side of me, his ears were turned attentively to listen even though he still had his grumpy look on. “Still, could be for them, could be for an ex ranger, hell it could just be somepony that likes to collect shiny things!” I shrugged, having seen weirder stuff in the wasteland.

She laughed at that. “True, it could be, though I hope she’s getting paid a great deal for them.” Her smile diminished slightly as she turned her jade colored eyes to the sky. “It’s been getting harder to do these runs this last year. Every time we leave now there seem to be more raiders, monsters, and machines looking to kills us. I’ve got a pretty bad feeling that our spotless track record is going to go up in flames one of these days.” She looked to me and forced her smile. “I hope these parts really do help her.”

“So do I.” I mirrored her concerned look, knowing full well what she’s been talking about. Just about every bar and inn I got to, ponies are talking about how bad it’s been getting. I would say that they need to toughen up, but after last night, I’m pretty sure there are plenty of other things in the wasteland worthy of their fear. “But enough about that, how have you been?” I waggled my eyebrows and nudged her. “Found yourself a nice stallion yet, or are you still on that mare kick from a year ago?”

She blushed and looked away. “That was just a fling… I just got swept up in the moment.” She stammered with a squeak unlike any I’ve heard from her before. “But no. I know I know, a mare my age needs to find a special somepony, but honestly, I don’t know if I can.” She bobbed her head as she thought. “I mean, lets just say you didn’t have to work as a merc anymore…”

“Bounty Hunter.” I corrected her.

“Whatever.” She threw back playfully. “Lets say you found yourself a stallion who made enough caps that you didn’t have to work anymore. Do you honestly think you could give all this up and just sit at home?”

I mulled it over for a moment before giving her my answer. “I… I don’t think that’s who I am. Sitting around would drive me insane after a day, I’d have to be working.” That was a funny thing for me to say. Who am I? After what happened down in that facility, I’m not even sure what I am at all anymore. I shook my head to clear it, looking back up at her. “Well let me ask you this, you’re a mercenary…”

“Bodyguard.” She corrected with a smile.

“Whatever.” I chuckled. “Why not just find another pony in your line of work? Then you know he’d be there with you the whole time!”

“One problem with this honey, the reason you don’t travel with other bounty hunters is probably the same reason us caravaners don’t travel together.” She sighed, and shook her head. “I don’t think I’ve seen another caravan up close for years, so getting to know one of them? Not going to happen.”

“Excuse me, Miss.” Predious spoke up, making me cringe. “Might I inquire where you found those gauss rifles?” He gave her a dumb grin as we walked, but only until he saw my annoyed gaze.

“Oh these?” She lifted her wings and looked to the pair of high tech guns. “They were my mother’s. Yeah, it’s a bitch to find the ammo, but there isn’t anything like it when it comes to effectiveness.” She looked at me and returned the sultry gaze I’d given her earlier. “So Storm, this guy your special somepony?”

“Predious? Goddesses no.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes, ending up looking to him as he deadpanned. “He’s just work, that’s all.” I sighed and looked back to her. “I’m having just as much luck as you in the love department, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been trying.”

“Maybe bars aren’t the place you should be looking then.” Predious mumbled loud enough to annoy me, I’m sure on purpose.

I laughed and swung my gaze back to him again. “And you’re the very font of love advice? A guy who locked himself in a library surrounded by the living dead and ghosts.” I leaned closer to him as his grimace deepened. “Tell me, did they have a book in there on how to avoid getting bounties placed on your own head? Or how about one on how you can make yourself useful in a firefight!”

“Storm.” Pallet called out and nudged me with her wing. “I didn’t mean to start an arguement, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, whatever. I shouldn’t have let it get to me.” I swung my neck to look at her again, feeling a stiff pop and sharp pain jolt through it. Never again am I going to stand in the middle of a conversation. As we crested the top of the hill we had been climbing, the back end of the wagon I saw stuck out in the open sat in front of a small campfire. A tan stallion was tending to the boiling pot hanging over it, and the sweet smell of corn permeated the air around him.”

“So what was it Pallet, just some…” He spoke as he turned around, pausing mid sentence as I raised my hoof and waved. “Storm?” He laughed and brushed his brown and gold mane from his face. “Wow, it has been forever. Good to see you!”

“They’re heading for your sis as well, mind if they ride along?” Pallet asked giddily, the memories of the times we would all hang out years ago flooded through my mind.

“I don’t mind it.” He shrugged, turning to the brown lump next to the cart. It took me a second, but I realized that it was actually the laying form of a two headed brahman. Shortstaff pointed back to us as he spoke. “Murial, Martha, do you mind pullin them along till we hit Dodge?”

One of the heads looked up with a smile as the other one looked like it was sleeping. “Oh don’t be silly, Mr. Short Staff. The two of us don’t mind pullin a wee bit of extra weight, don’t ya know. We’re just glad ta have Miss Pallet watchin over us.” Now that I think of it, every brahman I’ve ever spoken to has that same funny accent, but I’ve never heard a pony with it. I turned my ears back as I heard the heavy stomps of Iron Will coming up the hill, the large machine stopped up top with us, looking around to survey the area. “Oh my goodness, I certainly don’t mind if he’s goin ta be comin along with us. Quite a looker he is!”

I facehoofed from how weird that came out to be and decided that I didn’t care. “So!” I looked over to Short Staff, who also couldn’t take his eyes of the large machine. “Do we leave after lunch?” I smiled as the thought of food set off my stomach. Seeing as I didn’t eat anything since before Ponyville, and the fact that I slept all day yesterday, a small helping of breakfast didn’t quite seem to hold me very long.

He nodded and levitated a ladle into the soup, stirring it slowly. “Yeah, sure! I wasn’t expecting you so there isn’t much to go around, but what the hell. You’re like family.” His eye twitched and his grin widened. “Family that totes around a giant freakin metal minotaur!” He had devolved into one of his usual obsessively curious states. “Where did you find it? What is he made of? How is it powered? I mean come on, he’s a giant freaking minotaur! This is so cool!”

“Long story short? He followed me out of this giant underground science place run by this oddball A.I. who’s now stuck in my pipbuck.” I shrugged and watched as he walked up and nearly salivated all over the enormous machine.

Pallet put her hoof on my shoulder, and with a panicked look, she glanced down at my pipbuck. “It was WHERE?” she grabbed my forehoof and pressed at the buttons on my pipbuck. “Where is it, I have to know if it came from an Orchard.”

I pulled my hoof away from her in confusion. Why did she look scared? “Orchard? Are you alright Pallet, your coat is turning pale.”

The pipbuck came on with a flicker and the interface shifted to pink as the small filly popped into the display. “Hello! My name is Pai, administrator of the W.O.L.F. Orchard. Who are you?”

Pallet took a step back, stumbling and sitting down. “Goddesses… it’s true.” She took a moment to gather her thoughts as I wasn’t sure what to do, choosing to just sit there silently as things unfolded. “You… you're an artificial pony.”

“Yup yup! And you are a pegasus!” Pai bounced around in my vision as she talked. “I’d love to have wings like you! I could soar through the air and do tricks and stuff! It would be so awesome!” I cringed as her voice squeaked through the pipbuck’s speaker.

“That’s great, but what did your facility specialize in?” She leaned close as she spoke. I noticed Predious leaning a bit closer to me as Short Staff didn’t seem to hear a word of this. “Pai, was it? Your facility didn’t happen to have any clones in it, did it?”

“Sure it did!” Her voice blasted through the speaker as Pallet went white as a ghost. “What a silly question seeing as you seem to know Project Harmony personally. What I don’t get is why everypony keeps calling her Storm. Is it like a nickname?” Pai gasped. “Pai is MY nickname!” Pai started to ramble on as Pallet looked more confused and distressed than any other time ever.

“Pallet, apparently I’m not who you think I am.” I started talking slowly, not exactly sure how I was going to explain all this, or where to start. “But as I said, it’s a long story.”

“Good” Pallet nodded softly. “because we’ve got to speak to Harmony when we get to Dodge. She’ll need to hear it.”

Author's Notes:

1/10/2014 An edited version of this chapter has been posted. Please leave comments on what you think! =D