Luna’s body heaved beneath Sarah and the woman’s breath caught in her throat as the strap around her waist slapped against her hips.

Then they landed and Luna let out an exhausted sigh. “I hate to say this Sarah but our new armours makes us much heavier then we were before,” the mare said in between gasps. “I don’t believe I will be doing any more long flights of that nature.”

“That’s fine Luna,” Sarah said as she dismounted, her movements surprisingly graceful now that she actually knew what she was doing.

The woman walked around to Luna’s front and reached into her pack to pull out a bottle of purified water which she then offered the mare who took it in her telekinesis and drained it with surprising quickness. Sarah raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on it. Instead she just gave Luna a kiss on the cheek before saying.

“You really have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Not true,” Luna replied, shaking her head. “I should be able to carry you, my armour, and that twice over before becoming unable to fly,” she said before she gazed down malevolently at the metal walkway before them. “This Wasteland’s lack of natural magic is... vexing.”

Sarah nodded and patted Luna’s neck comfortingly. “Hey, even if you can’t fly as long you used to, you can still fly. That’s more than anyone else I know,” she told the mare.

That is a trait common to roughly one third of Equestria, Sarah, Nim stated in her head. Being able to fly is not exactly a term of endearment in Equestria.

Not helping in any way, Sarah stated flatly.

“While it is nice for you to say such a thing Sarah, it does not change the facts that I am unable to be as useful as I should,” Luna said, shaking her head. “I still lack the ability to perform even basic teleportation.”

“You can... teleport?” Sarah asked with a small frown as she reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of snack cake boxes, one of which she tossed to Luna.

“Yes it is a moderately advanced spell enabling the user to travel from one place to another instantaneously so long as they can see or are familiar with it,” Luna replied before quickly tearing open the box with her telekinesis and devouring the sugar and preservative filled treat. “I belive that were I to attempt it now it would near kill me.”

Which is why you should not attempt it under any circumstances, Nim pointed out for Sarah whose mouth was too full of snack cake to speak.

“I hadn’t planned on it,” Luna said archly before glancing at Sarah. “Though if it meant the difference between your life and death then I may be forced to.”

“Hey... let’s not even think about that kind of thing; okay?” Sarah asked, a small frown on her face.

“Fair enough, I’d rather not think of it,” Luna agreed before she looked at the decrepit hull of the ship section. “I cannot believe this ‘Pinkerton’ man would live in such a place. Surly Donovan was wrong when he told us of this.”

“I don’t think Donovan was wrong,” Sarah said with a shrug. “He seemed pretty confident about it,” the woman added before frowning. “Do you want to come too or wait out here?”

Luna frowned for a moment before nodding. “I shall join you this time. There is no Harkness with his iron hard rules to tell me what is and isn’t allowed,” she said with a slightly haughty tone in her voice.

Sarah smiled, she liked it when Luna was haughty... it was strangely attractive. She shook her head and set off down the rickety, even by Wasteland standards, bridge until she reached the bulkhead door. Sarah gave it a tug and discovered that it was locked.

“Shall I cut our way in?” Luna asked from over her shoulder.

“No... this is where Pinkerton lives. I don’t think he’d want us leaving his door ‘open’ like that,” Sarah replied with a wry grin. “Just give me a second and I bet I can force this lock,” she added as she bent down slightly to gain access to the small keyhole. She quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a screwdriver and a bobby pin which she then stuck into the hole. Luna watched curiously as Sarah maneuvered both objects within the lock. It took her ten minutes and five bobby pins, but eventually the woman managed to force the door to open.

The interior of the room was full of junk, but something that immediately stuck out to Sarah was the scoped .44 magnum sitting on the table to her right. The very next thing she noticed was the armed fragmentation mine sitting on the box of ammo beside it.

Hmm... that will present some difficulty, Sarah mused to herself.

Not at all actually, Nim stated in a slightly condescending tone. Please remember the company you keep Sarah. Sarah frowned for a moment before understanding what Nim meant.

“Hey Luna... I need you to do something for me,” Sarah said, looking over her shoulder at the mare who was still outside of the room.

“Yes?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow. “What is it you need Sarah?”

“I need you to deactivate the mine over there,” Sarah stated, pointing at the landmine and stepping slightly out of Luna’s field of vision so that the mare could see the red disk. “Remember that you’ve got to press down on the red button on top to turn it off.”

“Right, I can do that telekinetically,” Luna replied as her magic wrapped around the object, pressing down the red button. Sarah grinned and walked over to the table, quickly grabbing the .44 and the small pile of ammo beside it.

“Good job Luna,” Sarah said with a grin as she put the magnum in her bag.

“It was hardly a challenge,” the mare said with a shuffler of her wings. “Thank you though.”

Sarah just smiled though it turned into a frown. “Hmm... why do I have the feeling that Pinkerton isn’t exactly in the mood for guests?” she asked.

“Perhaps he simply has a mirelurk infestation to worry about,” Luna observed.

“What makes you say that?” Sarah asked with a frown. By way of answering Luna just pointed towards the next room where a mirelurk seemed to be poking about within it. “Ah...”

Without further warning the mirelurk spotted them and let out a hiss and charged the pair.

Luna reacted first, Daybreaker launching itself from her sheath and impaling the mirelurk through the chest. To both her own and Sarah’s surprise the beast continued running towards them, unheeding of the rather large blade emerging from its back.

“Fuck!” Sarah shouted as she dived away from the beast’s swinging claws.

She hit the metal ground with thump and rolled to her feet, her shotgun in her hands. Sarah pulled the trigger rapidly and emptied a pair of shells into the crab mutant’s face. The mirelurk stumbled backwards and Luna yanked Daybreaker out of its chest releasing a stream of blood. Thankfully, that seemed to be enough to take the beast down because it’s body fell to the ground with a clang.

“Well... that was harder than I expected,” Sarah said as she got her breath back. It was harder to roll in the Ranger’s armour than she’d grown used too and took more of her energy.

“Yes...” Luna said as she brought Daybreaker up to float before her eyes. She looked at the blade critically for a few moments before shaking her head. “I suppose we should carry on?”

“Yeah, let’s,” Sarah agreed as she quickly reloaded the shotgun.

The pair started forwards, Sarah crouched in front with Luna weaving Daybreaker above her head at the ready. They made it around three feet down the hall after the next room before Sarah held up her hand to hault.

Set up in the middle of the hallway was a tripwire that had yet to be tripped which was attached to what appeared to be attached to nothing. Of course, that only made it more likely to set something off. Sarah frowned for a moment, not entirely sure how to deactivate it.

There, on the metal stake, Nim instructed after examining the device for a moment. Remove the wire from there and the trap will cease to work.

Sarah nodded and quickly went about doing so. When she had finished and felt confident that she hadn’t screwed up, mostly by the lack of explosions, she started forwards again. It was stop and go like that for the next several minutes as Sarah and Nim worked to disarm traps with liberal use of Luna’s telekinesis until they finally reached the door they’d been looking for.

Sarah stepped through first and found herself facing down the barrel of a combat shotgun in the hands of a very gruff looking old man.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked with narrowed eyes. “And more importantly, what the hell do you want from me?”

“Sarah, Sarah Summers,” Sarah said quickly, doing her best not to stutter. “I’m here to talk to you about the android!”

“Android? What android?” Pinkerton asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The one you have helped escape,” Luna said as she walked into view behind Sarah, her horn glowing as she wrapped her magic around the shotgun and wrenched it out of the old man’s hands. “And we will thank you not to point guns in our direction,” she added with a glare.

Pinkerton stared first at his floating gun and then at Luna his face taking on something between wonder and absolute infuriation.

“That shouldn’t be possible!” he exclaimed. “How in the hell are you doing that?!”

“Magic,” Luna said dryly. “Now then we were-”

“And what are you? How can you talk?” Pinkerton demanded, forgetting about the floating gun for a moment. “You look like the love child of a bird and a unicorn!”

Luna grit her teeth together. “I am an alicorn. I am not part bird, I am part pegasus... though at least you did not call me a horse...” she said before trailing off. “Regardless, this line of questioning is wasting time!”

Pinkerton continued to stare at her for a moment before shaking his head. “Fuck it... I’m too old for this kind of thing,” he grumbled before turning back to Sarah who was doing her best to look serious. “What do you want?”

“We’re here about the android who you mind wiped,” Sarah said. “And before you ask, we’re not working for the asshole looking for him.”

“Then why bother with it?” Pinkerton asked with a frown before angrily adding. “And give me my shotgun back you impudent horse!”

“Alicorn,” Luna corrected and moved the shotgun farther away from him.

“I don’t care if you call yourself a God damned pegacorn, just give me my bloody shotgun!” Pinkerton replied angrily.

“No,” Luna replied evenly and was about to move it even farther out of his grip when Sarah patted the side of her neck.

“Luna, give the man his gun back,” Sarah said with a sigh. “Though if he goes pointing it at us again feel free to take it again.”

“Very well...” Luna grumbled as she dropped the shotgun into Pinkerton’s rather annoyed hands. “Happy?”

“Very,” Pinkerton said with a roll of his eyes. “Now then, you want to know about the android and you’re not working for that asshole who’s after him... so why in the hell do you want to find him?”

“Well... mostly because we’re worried about him,” Sarah answered. “I mean, if we can find him then I’m sure one of the groups with more people and experience can too.”

“So let me get this straight... you want to find the runaway android because you’re worried that someone else is going to find him because you could find him,” Pinkerton said flatly.

“Err... yes,” Sarah said slowly.

When he puts it like that... it sounds rather convoluted, Nim commented with a frown.

“Bah, whatever,” Pinkerton said with a shake of his head. “Look, all I really cared about was the fact that I got to experiment on the android. You can find him pretty easily if you go over to that terminal and go through the records. I kept everything documented.”

“Okay...” Sarah said as she eyed the man. “You’re not going to try and stop us?”

“If you want to ruin that man’s life then that’s your decision not mine,” Pinkerton said resolutely. “Just don’t come running to me if it comes back to bite you in the ass.”

Sarah frowned and went over to the computer, quickly pulling open the files labeled ‘android’. She rapidly tapped through them, speed reading through paragraph after paragraph, word after word. Then her eyes widened and she turned to look at Luna who had been reading along with her.

“I don’t believe it...” Sarah said in a startled voice.

“It’s... Harkness,” Luna said, her eyes wide with shock. “Oh... dear.”

Author's Notes:

A shorty which will lead to a longer one.