I brought my revolver down, opening the cylinder and checking the ammunition. Six cartridges. Four fired. I have two shots left. I removed a spent cartridge, reading the text on the back face. .38s? That makes this a IF-38, then. Well. Fuck. I locked the cylinder back in and glanced to Dashie, who was nosing through a corner.

"Figures." Dashie trotted off. "This way towards the rally point."

"Are you... mad?" I moved after him.

"Yes, ma'am." Ouch... "I'm furious. What the fuck just happened back there?"

"I fucked up. That's what happened."

"No, Firefly." He turned to face me. "Choosing an apple fritter for breakfast after oh-nine-hundred is a fuck up. What happened back there is a level beyond 'fucked up.' You might have just gotten Team Two killed." I opened my mouth, but he cut me off. "No, we're not sure they're dead, but it's probably a safe assumption to say they're not having the time of their lives."

"Okay, okay..." I sighed. "What now?"

"Well... we continue the mission. You pointed out that we don't have the resources to mount a rescue for them. We advance to the rally point, wait the twelve hours we agreed upon in case Team Two gets free, and then we proceed to Baltimare Radio to make contact with the DJ." He looked to me. "Unless you have a better suggestion, Captain."

I sighed again. "Okay. Okay. I fucked up. You're right. Let's just go." He looked at me for a long moment. "Dashie?" His approach made me incredibly nervous for some reason. I stepped back, before he hugged me.

"Damn it Firefly." I leaned into the hug, and we spent a long minute there, just hugging.

"... okay... let's move." I noticed I had subconciously raised my tail, and I hurriedly put it back down, hoping Dashie hadn't noticed.

"Yeah, alright." Dashie stepped back from me, looked at me for a long moment, before setting off. "What do we know about the radio station?"

I glanced to Dashie, glad he found something else for us to talk about. "Honestly, not a whole lot. We're not even sure this is where Lunar Note is broadcasting from. It stands to reason though, that this might be a Steel Ranger base. It sounds like the sort of thing they'd hole up in."

"The Steel Rangers? That's just wonderful." I had to agree with Dashie's thoughts. "Think they're still sore about the incident?"

"Celestia, I hope not."

"I'm definitely not hearing an answer to my question there. Bet, yes, no?"

I sighed. "I'm gonna go with 'yes, the Steel Rangers are still pissed.' Five caps?"

"Better make it ten caps, boss."

Why does he continue to make these bets. "You're awfully optimistic."

He simply smirked in response. "One of these days I'll be right."

"So..." I smirked teasingly. "Tell me, Dashie. Why do you sleep around so much?"

He blinked. "Uh. What? That's a strange question." Ha ha, gotcha! His ears folded back.

"Well?"

"...I dunno if I want to answer that one, boss." ... Unexpected.

"Go on..." I dragged the words out playfully.

"Hold." He glanced down to his Pipbuck, then gestured for me to get down and slipped forward. I had to wonder how he was so damned quiet. I ducked down and wished my Pipbuck still worked, because I couldn't see anything on my EFS, and it was freaking me the hell out.

He crawled back to me. "Two radroaches in the room ahead."

"I could use my mag-"

Dashie interrupted me loudly. "No, you're not allowed to do that again."

"But they're just normal-sized radroaches, right? Not pony-sized ones?"

"No, Firefly."

"Fiiine, I won't crush them."

Dashie shuddered. "Let's just avoid them."

I considered for a moment, then nodded. "Find us a path around them?"

"There's so many blips on my EFS." He groaned. "Damn Pipbuck gives me just enough info to make me paranoid." He turned trotted to the west. "This should be the right way." He stepped into another room, then dropped to the ground as a shotgun went off where his head should have been. "FUCK! I hate this city!"

"Holy shit. How did you avoid that?!" He crawled to his hooves as I poked my head in, looking at the trap. It was an IF-9 with a box magazine. I freed it from its mount and removed the magazine. Because the world hates me, it was now empty.

"I felt the tripwire against my leg and I dropped. It was a fifty-fifty chance of coming from above and coming from the side and I chose correctly, I guess."

"That could have gone worse..." Ugh. "This city will be the death of us, I know it." I sighed, looking around as I continued through the building, levitating the IF-9. "Worst case scenario, this makes a decent club." I slid the magazine back into the weapon.

"I'd make a bet against you, but I might actually win that one." I glanced to him curiously. "Hey, Weld was looking for a pair of those, right?"

"...So he was. Any bets on what he'll do with it?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm not sure... there's kind of a limit on the amount of things you can do with two shotguns, right?"

"Sky's the limit, Firefly, sky's the limit. You're intelligent, but you're not creative."

"Uh... thanks?" I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult...

"You're naturally gifted. You don't have to deal with, for example, figuring out how to get dressed. You just use your telekinesis and you're done." Dashie smirked. "Not a bad thing, it's just a thing." Ouch!

...

And then I found myself on the ground with somepony lying on me. Why am I on the ground? Then I realized the pony on top of me was Dashie. Dimly my mind recorded a gun going off somewhere very close to us.

"Dashie?"

"You okay, boss?"

"I think so. You're lying on top of me." Something dripped onto my flank. "Dashie?" The weapons and other items I'd been carrying with me clattered to the ground around us as they fell from my magical field.

"I'm fine." He rolled off of me with a groan and I rose to my hooves. "Ow."

"Ow?" Then I noticed he was bleeding. "You pushed me out of the way?"

"Yeah. You're fine, right? We're fine." He tried to rise to his hooves and yelped, falling back down. "Nope! Scratch that, not fine!"

I sighed. "Dashie, you idiot... Thank you." I leaned down, performing my triage spell on his flank.

"You're the boss, boss. Gotta watch out for you, right?"

"See previous comment. You've got a bunch of little bits in here, but I can't tell what they are specifically." Dashie's Pipbuck lit up, bathing the area around us in a pale blue glow. "That's better. My medical spells aren't all that developed. I wish Cerulean was here."

"Well, he ain't here. So... see what you can do."

I sighed. "Right..." Can't fuck this up. Already fucked up enough today. "Where did it come from?"

Dashie looked around and pointed with a hoof behind me. I rose and trotted over to it, looking at what he'd pointed out. A revolver sat pointed towards where Dashie and I had been. "Why the fuck are there so many traps here!?" I levitated the revolver free of its mount and sighed as I saw that it had only been loaded with one round... which was now buried inside Dashie's flank. "The world hates me."

"Yeah, sure it does. Just like it hates everypony else, too. A little less complaining and a little more healing would be great, Firefly." Oops.

"Right, right..." I leaned over, feeling with my magic around inside the wound and removing pieces of bullet. "Uhh... I don't know if I can use my anesthesia spell on a localized area like this, and we need to keep moving, so... Close your eyes?" I frowned. "I don't know how many pieces this fragmented into..."

"Well, what's the worst that could happen?" His voice sounded muffled, and I realized he had his teeth clenched.

"Uhh,.. I'm not a doctor. It could probably move around and cause more internal damage, or it might bring in an infection leading to..." I paused. "I don't even know."

"Ah. Try not to miss any fragments, okay?"

I sighed. "Right, I think I got all of them."

"You think?"

"I'm fairly sure I got all of the bullet in your leg."

"Well that's comforting."

"Damn it Dashie, I'm a security pony, not a doctor!"

"Yea, yeah. I wish Cerulean was here now."

"That makes two of us. Alright, I don't think this will hurt."

"Don't 'think'?"

"Well... yeah." I sealed up the wound with my healing spell.

"... ah..." He gasped as he looked over at his flank. "Oh I wish I hadn't watched that..."

I suddenly realized I was incredibly tired. "Celestia, I'm tired..."

"C'mon boss, we gotta get to the rally point."

"Yeah I know... just... lemme lay down for a minute." I yawned, curling up.

I glanced over at Dashie. "No, boss..." He glared at me. And then he reached over with a hoof. Huh?

Then backhoofed me in the face!

"Ow! What was that for?" I rubbed my muzzle.

"Gotta keep moving. Almost there."

I nodded, crawling to my hooves. "Right, right..."

We continued through the city, building by building, avoiding or disarming traps. After about an hour, we found ourselves free of the traps.

"The hell was with all those traps?"

"I dunno, boss."

"It feels like someone's watching us..."

Dashie stopped and turned in a slow circle, his Pipbuck clicking softly. "So many blips, I can't tell if we're being followed or not. Gives me just enough information to keep me nervous and edgy..."

"Wonderful. Let's keep moving."

"Sure." Dashie stopped, looked around, before setting off. His Pipbuck's ticking increased in intensity.

"You sure this is the right way?"

"All I know this is the way my Pipbuck's EFS is pointing me, and..." He paused, looking at his Pipbuck. "This seems to be the right way, yes."

"Well, what I meant was... are you sure this is a good idea? Remember training, DNFWSTIR?"

"Boss, we're in Baltimare. EVERYTHING is irradiated!"

"Right... alright." I glanced around, following him as he continued trotting.

A round... thing... flew out of a building past us, and we ducked down. It was spherical, perhaps the size of a foal's head, with four mechanical wings propelling it. A magical beam weapon lay slung across the underside, almost like a stinger from an insect. Several antennae emerged from the top and bottom of it. It ignored us as it continued buzzing past, blasting some annoying polka music.

"I've heard worse music." I glanced to Dashie.

I frowned. "What are you talking about, this music sucks."

"It's probably earth pony music." Dashie smirked, looking at where the construct had disappeared around a corner.

"... See previous comment."

We continued moving along, staying out of sight in case there were other spheres that weren't as stupid or friendly.

Finally, we entered a large, open square. A couple of buildings around had been destroyed, much worse than the surrounding area. "Do... you see those... shapes?" Dashie's Pipbuck started ticking even more intensely.

"What shapes?" Dashie glanced around.

"On the walls." I pointed them out. "They look like ponies..."

"...they look like shadows." For some reason, those shadows terrified the fuck out of me.

"I don't see anything to cast shadows?" I looked around and found nothing.

"I don't know. Let's just go." We continued through the square. Dashie's Pipbuck calmed down somewhat after we got a few blocks away.

"Still feels like we're being watched..." In the silence after that, I thought I could hear the hair-raising wail of a siren off in the distance.

"Shush Dashie." I glanced to him as we crossed to another building.

"Almost there, boss. There's the building across the street."

"Oh good."

LOCATION DISCOVERED: RALLY POINT ALPHA

"I can't believe you shot him."

"What?" I looked to Mend.

"The injured pony in the Stadium. Why did you have to shoot him?"

I sighed. "I already explained this, Doctor." Celestia damn it, Horn. "He was dying. Nothing you could have done would have saved him."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you a trained medical pony?" I shook my head. "Have you been practicing medicine for longer than you've been alive?" Also no. "What gives you the right to decide whether he lives or dies?"

"What gives you the right to force him to live as a cripple? Even if you could have saved him, he would have been unable to even walk without help." Something on my EFS moved, and I glanced to him as he opened his mouth to respond, shushing him. "Somepony's coming." I waved him to take cover and he glanced the way I had, before ducking behind something. "Princess Celestia!" Please say Princess Cadance.

"Princess Cadance!" Oh thank Celestia.

"It's Team One." I heard Mend muttering about something as Captain Firefly and Lieutenant Dash entered the room. Lieutenant Dash was limping and blood had dried on his flank.

"Oh good, you're here." Captain Firefly had a grouchy expression, and a shotgun and a revolver held in her magic.

"Ah... yes. It's nice to see you too, ma'am."

"Cerulean, get over here. Dashie's injured."

"What the hell did you stupid security ponies do this time?" He rose from his cover and trotted over to Lieutenant Dash, grumbling as he ordered the Lieutenant to lay down.

"I see you two also managed to escape from... ah... my father." The Captain looked to me, and I thought I could see worry in her expression.

"... That's one way to put it. He escorted us here so we could convey a message to you." She looked shocked. I brought up the message on my Pipbuck, playing it so the four of us could hear.

"Alright, Firefly. Both of us said a lot of things you're probably going to regret, but I want you to know that I still want you by my side. Everypony gets one chance - this is yours." Crimson sighed. "Tell the guards at the front gate you're from Stable 30 and that you wish to talk to me and they will bring you directly to me." Captain Firefly looked surprised and said nothing for a long moment.

"Captain?" I reached over and pressed a hoof against her shoulder. She jumped, looked around quickly, and shook her head, before looking to me. "We also brought your kit." I looked towards their saddlebags.

"Ah. Yes. Thank you." She trotted over to the saddlebags, levitating her equipment out and starting to get dressed.

Around this time, Mend had finished with Lieutenant Dash. "Alright then, who patched Dashie's flank up?" He looked to the Captain, midway through pulling on her Stable barding. "Was it you?" Lieutenant Dash sipped from a bottle of radaway with a wince.

"Ah... yes." The Captain looked mildly confused by his response.

"All things considered, you didn't do too badly, considering what you had. You missed a projectile, but he'll be fine, thanks to me." Mend glanced to Dash. Lieutenant Dash's looked to Captain Firefly with a worried look. "With that out of the way..." Uh oh. "What the fuck was that shit?"

"I fucked up. It won't happen again."

"No, no, you don't get to do that. That's a shitty excuse and you damn well know it. What. Happened. Back. There?"

"I don't know!"

If his tone could be given physical form, I could cut it and use it to chill tea. "Well... let's go back, shall we, 'Captain'?" The Captain frowned, glaring at him. "What did you do?"

"I made a bad decision. That's what I did."

Mend glared at the Captain for a long moment, before he spun and bucked her. Caught off guard and half dressed, the Captain fell back, awkwardly tumbling for several hooflengths. "That's not what I asked and you know it." I moved to put myself between him and the Captain as Lieutenant Dash went to help her up. "I probably shouldn't have done that. Oh well, too late! Now answer my question."

The Captain got back to her hooves as some blood dripped from her nose, groaning. "I killed a couple of Crimson's guards."

What? "Why?" Why- Hey, out of my head, Horn.

"I don't know!" Mend narrowed his eyes at the Captain, and Dash moved to put himself between the two unicorns.

"Oh relax Dashie, I'm not going to hit her again. If she cooperates... Out of my way, Wings." He looked to Captain Firefly. "Why don't you think a bit harder?"

"Look, okay, I fucked up. It won't happen again."

"Riiight..." Mend looked unconvinced. I had to agree with him... "Well, keep this in mind: if you ever do anything stupid like that again, I will leave you and go back to the Stable."

The Captain looked shocked. "That's dereliction of duty!" That... is treason.

"No, it's survival, you dolt! If I can't trust you to keep a level head when it comes to bigger, more powerful factions, I'm not going to follow you to my death."

"If you leave me, you'll be exiled from the Stable." The Captain's voice was low.

"In exchange for never having to deal with you or your Sombra-damned family again? I might just take it. I have skills, I can survive out here on my own. I'll stay, for now..."

"Very well..." The Captain sighed and looked to me. "Is there anything you'd like to add, trooper?"

"Ah... no, ma'am. I think Doctor Mend covered everything... but please don't do that again."

"Right then..." The Captain fell silent and resumed dressing. "Hey, where's my shotgun?"

"Oh, uh... Crimson said he was keeping it. Because you, um, killed two of his soldiers and all..." I frowned.

"Which is preferable to him killing two of your soldiers in exchange. Right?"

"Hush, Doctor..." I looked to Mend, who was looking at the Captain with an annoyed look.

"Don't tell me to shut up, Wings. Hey, boss-Horn, get over here. I need to make sure your leg isn't infected." The Captain nodded, levitating out a healing potion and taking a swig of it as she trotted over. "What did I say before we left? You're going to drink all of our healing potions." Mend levitated the Captain's suit up, checking her leg.

"No worries, I won't."

"Good, good, looks like your leg is healing up nicely." Mend snorted in response and levitated out a radaway. "Drink this. I don't know what the hell you two stupid security ponies blundered through, but your rads are through the roof." The Captain sipped it, and Mend coughed a bit dramatically as he stepped back from her. "Sombra's left testicle, you smell disgusting!"

"Oh, and you don't?" The Captain glanced to him over her bottle of radaway. "... no you don't. Why don't you?"

"Well, Red offered us a shower. You know, he probably would have let you shower, too, if you hadn't murdered two of his ponies." Cringe. "Wings here certainly enjoyed hers." Mend glanced at me with a lewd expression that made me feel dirty. "Half of the base probably heard her, too." Hey!

"Let's, ah... all calm down, everypony?" I felt my cheeks heat up. "I wasn't that loud..."

"Sure thing, Wings." Mend nickered and trotted off to look out a window. Team One quickly finished dressing and we set off.

The next few hours went quietly. We crossed through the city, encountering several of the flying spheres. Crimson had called them sprite bots. Finally we arrived at a point overseeing the Baltimare radio station and found it was... a Steel Rangers outpost. Some caps changed from Lieutenant Dash's hooves to Captain Firefly's.

The four of us settled down in the third floor of a building, watching from a distance. "You knew this was going to be a Steel Rangers outpost?"

"Just a hunch." Lieutenant Dash smirked over at me, passing his binoculars to Captain Firefly.

The Captain shook her head. "No, we didn't know, but we suspected it."

Fair enough." I considered that, then nodded. "So what's the plan? We stroll up and ask to come inside politely?"

Mend spoke up snidely. "Well, we're definitely not going to shoot our way inside." He glanced to the Captain. "Not that you won't try it. I don't need to remind you that shooting at these ponies is probably not a good idea. Right? Unless your grandfather happens to be the leader of the Steel Rangers..."

"Hush, Doctor." I reached over to press a hoof against his side as the Captain glared at him. He glanced to me with a displeased expression, but stopped talking.

"Since, as our medic pointed out, we're not going to be shooting our way inside, I think through the front door is the best way to go. We're here on legitimate business and I believe they'll let us in."

"What if they're still pissed at us over that time they tried to take over the Stable?"

"Wellll then we're fucked, I guess."

"You're awfully cavalier about that, 'Captain'." Hush, Horn.

"No use arguing over what we can't control."

"You may have a point there..."

"Let's move." The Captain rose to her hooves and lead the way down to the Steel Ranger outpost. We approached the base slowly and several more Rangers, some in power armor, some in light armor, appeared.

"What do you want?" One of the guards at the foot of the wall challenged us, operating one of the suits of power armor. They sounded like a mare, but it could just be a colt with a voice modifying talisman.

"We're here to see Lunar Note." Captain Firefly stepped forward a hoof length.

"Your kind isn't welcome here, Stable." I sighed. We're not getting in, are we.

He fell silent, and the other guard spoke up. "What business do you have with Lunar Note?"

"Our business with Lunar Note is private."

"Lunar Note is one of us. Her business is our business." Lunar Note is a member of the Steel Rangers? "I will ask you one more time before I'll ask you to leave; what is your business with Lunar Note?"

"The Stable Scout wishes to talk to Lunar Note. Convey that message and I'm sure she'd like to see me."

"The Stable Scout, huh?" The first guard spoke up.

The second glanced to her, and she stopped talking again. I guess the second one has seniority. "Standby, Scout." The power suit stopped moving, and I suspected there were conversations here we're not privy to going on. Not surprised. After a long moment, the second guard spoke again. "We have a task for you. The Baltimare police station has been locked down for a long time, and we've been unable to get inside. Open it up and we'll let you in to speak with Lunar Note."

"Why can't you do it yourself?" Cringe, Captain. "Surely somepony as powerful as you could get inside easily enough." Please don't taunt the nice power armored ponies.

"Take it or leave it, Scout. Doesn't matter to us either way. Now begone or be destroyed."

I looked to the Captain, and she nodded away from the radio station and turned, trotting down the hill at a carefully measured stroll. "It's getting dark." Obviously. "So we'll head back to one of the buildings and bunker down for the night while we figure out where the Baltimare police station is."

"We're going to do what they told us to?"

"Surely you'd prefer that to trying to shoot our way in, Doctor." The Captain smiled to Mend, and he grumbled.

"So maybe you can learn. Alright then, let's see where this goes." He glanced to me, and I shrugged, trotting after him.

A few minutes into our search for a building, a sprite bot came buzzing out of a building to our left, blasting its annoying, tuba-filled music... and then stopped. It went silent, bobbing there in place, until a tinny voice came out of the speaker. "Hello!"

"Open fire!" Captain Firefly yelped and screamed.

Shit!

I drew my beam pistol and opened fire. A moment later, it was sitting on the ground, smoking with a dozen holes through it.

"... Uhh... overkill?" I holstered my weapon, looking around to the rest of the team, lowering their own weapons.

"Who could even think of such a thing?" Lieutenant Dash grinned as he trotted over to it, pulling several pieces out of it and tucked them into his saddlebags. "Think fast, Wings."

"What?" I caught the spark battery with one of my wings as he tossed it at me and tucked it into one of my pouches. "Oh, thanks."

"Riiight... that was a waste of ammunition." The Captain sighed, looking around as she holstered, slung or otherwise put away the veritable armory she'd just drawn.

"Should we be concerned somepony is trying to contact us, and you just shot their messenger?" Mend apparently had not opened fire with us.

I frowned. "... That's a good point, Doctor."

The Captain nodded. "Right, let's keep moving."

We found another building, an intact two story on a street of similar two story buildings this time, and settled down on the second floor after fortifying it, in the off chance the Crimson Raiders came back. We blocked the back doors and other entrances to the second floor, so the only way up was the stairs by our camp, and cleared a path to the roof. Dash put a small hole in the roof of the corner for smoke, and we covered the windows.

Captain Firefly sighed. "Right. I'll be... here, laying down. You take care of setting up camp." She levitated her helmet off, setting it beside her as she laid down.

Mend lost no opportunity to mock her. "Kay then, let's let the earth ponies and pegasi do all the hard work, right? Just like old times, huh, your queenness?"

The Captain sighed again tiredly. "Please shut up, Doctor. Don't make me make that an order."

"Sure thing, Captain Landmine."

"Mend." I glared at him.

"Yes, Wings?" He smirked back at me innocently.

"Please shut up. Please, shut up. Please, just shut up."

"Right, right, Wings." Mend seemed to get the hint, because he dropped the snarky tone and looked around.

Lieutenant Dash glanced to me, and I smiled back to him as I trotted over, stage whispering to him. "It's like we're babysitting a couple of foals." He grinned and seemed to get some amusement from that I wasn't aware of, but hey, he grinned. It's something. The four of us fell silent. I lead Mend to secure the building, going from room-to-room.

We returned to find camp all set up, and Dashie heating up some food for us, which I gratefully accepted. It seemed to revive Captain Firefly, and she shook herself awake, rising to her hooves. "Right, not done yet. Still gotta do the debriefing."

"Sure, boss."

"Okay..." The Captain laid down next to Lieutenant Dash, and he offered her his leg with his Pipbuck, which she hugged and spoke into. "Stable Thirty, reconnaissance log, Day Three and after-action report for Baltimare Radio meeting. Captain Firefly leading, Lieutenant Rapid Dash, Security Officer Pumpkin Blitz and Doctor Cerulean Mend participating." After a short pause, she continued. "Begin." Then she looked to me. "What happened since last night?"

"Well, a couple of hours after you went to sleep, Serenity - thats... uh. Captain Nimbus' other daughter, I guess?" ... Cringe? "Attacked us and captured us. It was a well planned out attack, they came from three different directions. Even if all four of us had been awake and waiting for them, I doubt we could have fought them off." I glanced to Mend to see if he had anything to add. He shrugged.

"Do you know it was Serenity that lead the attack?"

"Yes, ma'am, I saw her myself."

The Captain nodded. "Right then... Go on."

"Well, we woke up across from Captain Nimbus." I paused. "I guess he's King Crimson now?"

Captain Firefly winced. "Don't remind me."

Lieutenant Dash smirked at her. "You've had worse wake ups."

"Ugh, see previous comment." She covered her head with her hooves.

"Soo..." I glanced around. "Let's see... met Captain Crimson, met Lieutenant Azure, Serenity." I looked to Team One. "What happened after Lieutenant Azure took you two away?"

Lieutenant Dash thought for a moment. "Crimson told us about his troops. Highlights, hrm... water talisman producing clean water." He glanced to me. "I'm guessing you two found that out the fun way."

Mend quietly snickered, and I felt my cheeks heating slightly. "Shush Doctor."

"Sorry miss, I didn't mean it that way." Lieutenant Dash continued. "He told us about what happened after he left the Stable. He challenged the leader of the bandit clan that had attacked the Stable to individual combat and... somehow won." He shrugged.

I considered that for a moment. "That's awfully ballsy."

"Or stupid." The Captain spoke up with an annoyed expression.

"Sometimes there's a very fine line between the two." Surprisingly, Doctor Mend spoke up in Crimson's defense.

"Are you starting to warm up to 'Red', Doctor?" I smirked at Mend teasingly.

"No." For once, Mend was rather short.

"Riight then..." The Captain sighed and continued. "Shall we continue?"

Lieutenant Dash nodded. "He was interested in Overmare Lily's demise."

Mend perked up at that. "Oh?" He narrowed his eyes. "I know Red keeps grudges, but I wasn't expecting him to still be that pissed about that."

"What?" The three of us all stared at Mend.

"...Shut off the recorder and I'll explain."

The three of us looked to the Lieutenant's Pipbuck, then back to Mend, then the Captain turned off the recording. "Alright. Explain."

He sighed. "... I didn't actually expect that to work. Alright. Back when we were your age, Red, Range, Saph and Aimpoint - she was a damn fine pegasus mare, a good shot - were all junior officers in Security. I was one of them, but not in Security. One day, Red and his partner Aimpoint went down to patrol the underbelly of the Stable. Something happened and Crimson returned carrying Aimpoint's body. Overmare Lily promptly put out a gag order on discussing the incident. I never heard what happened, but scuttlebutt said the Overmare was to blame for it." He sighed and glanced around. "Kay, you can turn the recorder back on."

"... Uhh... wow..." The three of us shared looks.

"By the way, I think that gag order is still in effect, so if you're curious, watch who you ask back at the Stable. Range might know more, I think. She knew Red better than I do."

"Right..." Dash and Firefly shared a look. "Uh, where were we..."

"You were turning the recorder back on before you forget to." Mend's snide tone returned. Wonderful. I tossed him a sideways look, and he smirked slyly.

"Oh! Right." Dash turned it back on.

"After that happened..." The Captain continued.

Dash interrupted her. "Oh! He told us he settled in a Ministry storehouse."

The Captain glared at him, and I snickered a little bit, shutting up as she turned her withering glare on me. "Right... Ministry storehouse?"

"He never elaborated. Probably military of some sort." Mend yawned and rolled over.

"Equestrian Army, maybe?" I wondered aloud.

"Ministry, not Army." I prodded Mend. He jumped and glared at me, rubbing his side where I poked him.

"Eh, we'll figure it out later. Nothing else happened, really." Dash sighed and looked to Firefly. "... Nothing we haven't already discussed at extreme length."

I looked to Mend and he, surprisingly, had nothing to add. I looked back to the Captain and he spoke up. "Well... Extreme, yes. Excessive, not yet." I sighed.

"Please drop it, Doctor."

"Of course, miss." He gave me a pleasant smile that I immediately questioned the sincerity of.

"Soo... what happened to you two, Pumpkin, Cerulean?" The Captain smoothly changed the topic away from her.

I frowned, looking up. "Well, Lieutenant Azure took us to a room where Captain Crimson could talk to us. He..." I paused for a moment. How to put it. "Told us that the normal punishment for killing some of his soldiers was blood for blood, but... offered to spare us if we agreed to carry a message to you." Captain Firefly and Lieutenant Dash shared a meaningful look, and Firefly winced. "I don't want to know. He let us rest and recuperate for a couple of hours. Shower, food, replaced Lieutenant Dash's armor plates, our damaged equipment and spent ammo. Kept Captain Firefly's shotgun." Captain Firefly glanced to the replacement shotgun laying beside her.

"They escorted us to the rendezvous point where we met up with Team One." I paused for a moment, eyes closed, recalling the trip there. "These aren't just some ponies with a lot of guns, these guys are trained to use both guns and tactics. They're not idiots, and they're not to be taken lightly. We don't want to piss these ponies off, because I genuinely believe these ponies could take the Stable in a fair fight."

Mend nodded. "I hate to say this, but I agree with her. Red's troops are good."

I continued. "You finally arrived at the rendezvous point, ah... the two of you discussed the Captain's earlier command decisions."

Of course Mend couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Ha, what a wonderfully diplomatic way to phrase it."

"Please shut the fuck up, Horn." I prodded him roughly. "You're not helping."

"Whoa! Wings' got some claws to her!"

"Please stop talking." I prodded him again, hard.

"Yes, ma'am." His tone implied he was toying with me but I was tired of him fucking with me. I sighed again. I prodded him a third time just to make sure, digging the sharp edge of my hoof into his side, and he shifted uncomfortably. Success!

"I would really appreciate it if you'd stop causing shit just to cause shit. We've all had a long and difficult day, and you constantly bringing our mistakes up or just being sarcastic for the sake of being sarcastic is not fucking helping."

His expression changed to something that suggested I may have actually gotten through to him. "Alright, I'll shut up." I prodded him a fourth time, not as hard as before.

"You're good at fixing ponies. That's what you're good at. You're really good at fixing ponies. I'm really good at hurting ponies. Please don't make me show you." I prodded him, digging my hoof in again, and he shied away from me. Good. Gooood.

"Trooper Blitz!"

"Sorry ma'am." I bowed my head. "That was out of line. I apologize, Doctor." He glanced away.

"I understand, I went too far. My apologies." Mend glanced around to the rest of the squad. Success! ... I think.

"Riiight..." Lieutenant Dash spoke up to redirect the conversation. "So then we headed to Baltimare Radio, which is a Steel Ranger outpost, we learned. They demanded we go open the Baltimare police station before they'd let us in. So we're bunkered down here for the night."

"That sounds about right..." The Captain yawned.

"There was the sprite bot that tried to talk to us." I glanced to Mend, and he hurriedly found an incredibly fascinating spot on the ground in front of him.

"Oh, yes, there was that, wasn't there." The Captain nodded again. "Alright ponies, here's what we do. We'll hold here for sixteen hours. We're getting stressed out..." She glanced to me and Mend, then sighed and looked down at herself. "We're getting sloppy and we're making mistakes. We take a sixteen hour rest period for our sanity. After that, we proceed to the Baltimare police station and open it up for the Steel Rangers. Any questions?"

I had none. Mend was staying quiet. Lieutenant Dash had one, fortunately. "Do we actually know where the police station is?"

"I suspect our Pipbucks have it stored. Pumpkin?" She looked to me, and I looked down to my Pipbuck, calling up the map.

"Yes, ma'am, it's right here." I extended my hoof over to let her see. "We're not far from it. I don't have any recent data, but we know where it is, at least."

"It's something, I suppose. Alright then. Team Two is on first watch. Team One will take second, Team Two will take third watch and Team One will take fourth watch."

"Yes, ma'am."

The Captain turned the Lieutenant's Pipbuck off and gave off a huge yawn. "I'll see you ponies in three hours or so..." She rolled over and didn't even bother to release the Lieutenant's hoof from her hooves as she immediately dropped to sleep, still in her armor. Lieutenant Dash looked around, then shrugged, crawling out of his armor and battle saddle while still managing to keep his hoof with the Captain's.

I leaned over and whispered to him, "I won't tell if you don't." He looked to me, confused for a moment, before he smiled at me. Ahhhh, he likes her. Hrmm... "Sleep well." He nodded and curled up against the Captain. I rose and dragged his bed roll over to him, then returned to my position. Doctor Mend looked to me, and increased the distance between us nervously.

I looked to him, and he sighed. "I'm sorry."

"You already apologized, Doctor."

"No, I didn't. I said 'I'm sorry'. That doesn't mean I apologized." He sighed again. "I dislike... Crimson." I noted his use of Crimson's name, not his nickname. "He brings back bad memories. He married Saph - that's Firefly's mother, if you didn't know - and then took her brother and left her, stuck her with Firefly. She hasn't been the same since."

I frowned, confused for a moment. Oh! "... you loved her?"

He frowned as I said that too loudly, and the two of us looked to the sleeping Team One. Captain Firefly's ear twitched, but otherwise they remained asleep. He stayed quiet for a long moment, before he sighed sadly, ears drooping. "Yes, I did. We dated for a time, but she'd always loved Crimson."

I nodded and reached over to press my hoof against his shoulder. He froze up, before realizing I wasn't hurting him. "You understand."

"No, I don't, not firsthoof, but I empathize. I met Tawny and we just hit it off. She was my first partner and..." I sighed. "Enough about my relationships. I'm sorry your relationship had to go that way."

He nodded, cheering up slightly. "That doesn't excuse my actions today, but it explains it."

"It's probably a good idea to keep your personal and professional lives separate. That's why I don't date my coworkers." I smiled. "... well, and that nopony's interested. And I'm already taken anyways." I frowned. "...and Colonel Range would shit a brick if I started boning a squadmate." I snickered at the mental image that came with that. "Ouch."

"That sounds painful." Mend grinned at that. "You can thank Crimson for that." He sighed. "When Crimson left and Saph started drinking, Range went from being the assistant armorer to being stuck with adminning all of Security." He frowned. "I've been talking about that time a lot, haven't I? I sound whiny."

"Yeah, you have." He winced. "At least you're honest."

"Honesty is what I do. When I'm not patching up ponies, anyways." He smiled, then glanced to Team One. The Captain's nose twitched and she shifted to hug the Lieutenant's hoof closer.

"Speaking of squadmates dating..."

Mend shook his head. "Nope."

"Nope?"

"Nope." He smirked. "Not goin' there." It was a nice smirk, and I was glad to see it. "Too many fuckin' issues with her family and their relationships." His smirk shifted to a worried look as he watched the two of them sleeping. "Sombra, I hope they're not screwing." He shivered. "Range would shit a brick, and she likes Firefly and Dash. So, Wings, tell me about your partner."

"Tawny?" He nodded and I rose to my hooves, stretching my wings out. "Ahhh, that's better... She's the mare I was with when we left."

"I couldn't help but notice her, when she was basically throwing herself at you. Clingy much?" His snide tone returned, and he winced.

"Hey! That's not nice." I frowned.

"No it wasn't, but it seems that way."

"You're an asshole. She's just... kind of friendly."

"Friendly, huh?" He snickered, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Sorry, habit."

"It's not a nice habit."

"Never said I was nice, miss." He smirked at me.

"Your bed side manner sucks."

He snickered. "I know. But that's why I'm here, instead of back at the Stable tending to foals' scraped knees and boo boos."

"You're kind of screwed up, you know that?"

"You bet I do. But then again, you intentionally joined a group who's very purpose is to willingly throw yourself into danger again and again. So that makes two of us, no?"

I considered that. "That's an unusual take on Security."

"True, though."

I nodded in agreement, echoing his words. "True, though." I curled up, resting my head on my hooves, thinking about that. Mend took my silence as a reason or excuse to bury his muzzle in a book, which I didn't argue with as I idly watched all the red bars on my EFS. Just enough information to keep me paranoid...

Three hours later, Lieutenant Dash woke up, noticing Captain Firefly was still hugging his hoof. With his free hoof, he dug something out of his saddlebag and set it in front of Captain Firefly. "Ssssh," he smirked at me. I glanced to Mend, who shrugged and went back to his book. I looked at the item. It was a pair of blue wings on either side of a yellow thunderbolt, inside of a ring. Oh! The Wonderbolts logo. Some of the Stable history texts had spoken about them.

I shrugged and rose to my hooves, taking to wing and turning in place to do an EFS scan with a frown. There could be a team of ponies getting ready to attack us and I wouldn't be able to separate them from everything else in the city. I sighed. "Just enough information to keep me paranoid." Mend looked to me with a concerned look, and I shook my head, dropping to my hooves and trotting around the room.

A half hour later, I woke Team One so they could take watch and we could get some rest. Captain Firefly yawned cutely - ugh - before noticing the statue. "Uh... what is this?" She leaned down, focusing on it.

"It's a Wonderbolts emblem, ma'am." I shrugged and prodded Lieutenant Dash to wake him up.

He yawned and stretched. "Mornin' Pumpkin."

I glanced down to my Pipbuck. 0023. "So it is." I frowned. "Ugh, I have been awake far tooo long."

"Somehow, I don't think your day was a bad as mine..." Dash grinned at me as he rose to his hooves. "You didn't almost lose your head to a shotgun tied to a door, did ya?"

"When you put it that way..." I smiled back to him. "Did you sleep well?"

Captain Firefly grumbled in response to my question. "No, I could have slept for at least another six hours."

I smiled, then winced as I bit back a sarcastic comment about the Crimson Raiders and her command decisions yesterday. I glanced over to Mend, surprised he would pass up such an obvious opportunity. He looked to me with a nervous look, before shaking his head and returning to his book. "Good morning, Firefly."

Captain Firefly rose to her hooves with a groan. "Ow. I thought I learned this in Haven."

"Don't sleep in armor?" I smiled at her.

She nodded, yawning again. "Don't sleep in armor." She groaned, stretching to wake up.

The next half hour went along quietly. We chatted. Finally at 0100 Mend and I turned in to sleep for the night after stripping off our armor.

An indeterminate time passed before I was awoken. According to my Pipbuck, it was about three and a half hours. According to my body, it was about five minutes.

"Your turn, folks."

I groaned as I rose to my hooves, looking at my wings and noticing their disarray. "I did not sleep for anywhere near long enough."

"Welcome to Security, Pumpkin." The Captain tossed me a wry smile.

I groaned again. "Of course, ma'am." I settled down and started to pull my feathers into some sense of organization.

Mend grumbled as he woke up, waving a hoof in Captain Firefly's direction. "G'way, mare. It's too early to get up."

"So it is, but here we are." Captain Firefly seemed more relaxed than she'd been since we left Haven.

I smiled to her. "Are you feeling better, Captain?"

She nodded cheerfully. "Yes. We needed this break."

I considered for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah..." I gave up on my wings for the moment and settled for pulling them in against my sides, groaning as I stretched again. "Sombra, do I neeeeeed to peeeee..." I glanced around. "Where are we, uh, going?"

Dashie rose to his hooves. "I'll show you." I think I can pee on my own... oh, wait. Buddy system. I nodded.

"Lead the way, sir."

His cheek twitched, and his smirk fell for a moment. "This way."

Huh? "Should I not call you 'sir', uh...?" I trailed off, suppressing the urge to call him sir while asking if I shouldn't call him sir.

He sighed as he lead the way out. "No, it's not that. I'm still getting used to it." He headed out what I assumed had been the 'back' door of the building. "Being called 'sir' is so... military to me. My parents were cooks and engineers, not soldiers. When I first met Firefly, I never expected to end up here, leading a military expedition in an irradiated hellhole of a city."

"That's an interesting point there..." I considered, looking at Lieutenant Dash. "I grew up in a military family, so this is exactly where I expected to end up." I frowned, considering possible what-ifs. "So yeah, I guess I'm a generation jarhead."

"A... what?" Dash looked to me in confusion as I slipped behind some rubble to pee.

"Doctor Mend called me a generation jarhead yesterday. I'm guessing it's someone who's been in the military for a few generations... just like my family."

"Huh, not that nice."

"No, Doctor Mend isn't a nice pony. He's a good doctor, though."

"That's a good point..." He trailed off.

"So, you and Captain Firefly, you're not... an item... right?"

He took a long moment to respond, then he sighed. "No, we're not together. Hold on a second."

Ahhh that is soo much better. I sighed contently, zipping my suit back up, and emerged from the rubble to see Dash marking the side of the building with some signaling chalk. "What are you doing?"

He took a long moment to respond while he finished the drawing, a crudely drawn blue gear with nine cogs - the Stable-tec logo. He tucked the chalk back to its pouch, then turned to talk to me. "While you were sleeping, Firefly and I discussed creating safe houses in Baltimare in case we need somewhere to rest. This one's a decent place, so we'll make this the first one."

"That's not a bad idea."

"All done?"

I nodded and lead the way back into the building to find Captain Firefly reassembling her revolver. Looking around, I noticed that the inside of the building did look a bit neater. Over the next half hour, we idly chatted. Mend took a look at Dash's flank and Firefly's leg, making sure they hadn't become infected before the two of them curled up for their rest period at 0500.

"Ugh, it's too early. I should still be asleep." As soon as Team One fell asleep, Mend resumed his bitching, glancing out at his Pipbuck. "Hey, Wings. Y'know what?" He looked up at me and I immediately disliked his expression without knowing what it meant. "I don't like ponies touching me, so I'd appreciate if you didn't touch me again, ever. Deal?"

I blinked. "Oh, really?" I grinned, leaning forward to invade his personal space, just a little. "I don't like your constant bitching and complaining, so... I'll make you a deal." He leaned back uncomfortably. Gooood. "If you agree to keep in line - don't bitch and complain much, don't bring up our fuck ups too often, don't be a disagreeable ass like you've been all damn day - and I won't touch you again. Deal?"

He frowned, glaring at me. "... Deal." I spat on my hoof and offered it to him. His disgusted look amused me. "... I'm not touching that, but I agree to abide by your terms."

I snickered. Gotcha. "Oh, one more thing - I don't appreciate lewd comments about my sex life. Don't do that again." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah, sure, fine. You have no idea how disgusting that is, you know." I looked to him with a confused look, and he elaborated. "Spitting on your hoof like that to shake it."

"Do I care?" I stuck my lower lip out at him.

"No, surely you don't. Look, I know medicine isn't your thing, but there are things called 'germs', and..." He sighed. "You know what? Never mind." He threw a hoof in the air with a sullen look. "Fuck it. Forget I said anything." He dug a book out of his bag and started reading it.

Oops. I may have pushed him a bit too far. I frowned and rose to my hooves, cleaning up the room we slept in, clearing floor space and just neatening up the room.

After about an hour, he stopped to look at me suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Captain Firefly decided we should start setting up safe houses in Baltimare in case we need somewhere to rest, and this is a good place, so I'm cleaning up for the next team that stays."

He considered, shook his head, before closing his book and rising to his hooves. "This is ridiculous, but alright. What are we doing?"

Over the next two hours, we cleaned up most of the first floor, fixed - or at least stood up - most of the furniture and tossed everything that couldn't be salvaged into the basement. Anything that could be salvaged from the basement was brought up to the first floor, and we ended up rifling through the personal belongings of the ponies who had once lived here. It had been a store, with the proprietors living above the store. Most of the wares had been stolen over the past two hundred years, but the building itself was in good condition.

Eventually I wandered upstairs and started cleaning, going into a room. A messy bedroom contained a bed with... two skeletons lying on top of it. "Oh." I shivered and stepped back out of the room, using my radio. "Mend?"

"What is it?"

"There are... bodies... up here."

"I'll be right there." He sounded nearly as disturbed as I felt. A moment later, I heard him trotting up the stairs. I waved him over with a wing, and he stepped inside. "They're dead."

"Well said, Doctor Obvious." I followed him inside, looking at the bed.

He winced. "Yes, I know..." Two skeletons lay on the bed, a unicorn and an earth pony. "They're mares." I noticed a pair of revolvers on the the bed. One lay between the two; the other rested in one's jaws. "Poor, poor souls." I noticed matching holes in their skulls.

"How do you know?" I looked to the skeletons closer. They just looked like bones to me.

"The pelvises are larger and shaped differently than a stallion's, wider and deeper. The bones are slimmer and more rounded. It must have been a romantic death..." He sighed. "The world is ending and everpony is dying, so we'll kill ourselves. It will be sooo romantic." His voice started off sincere before dipping into mocking sarcasm.

"Oh." I bowed my head. The sound of Mend using his magic surprised me, and I looked up to see him freeing the guns from their bodies.

"What? They're not using them anymore."

"Taking after Lieutenant Dash, I see..."

His brows furrowed, then he smiled in acknowledgement. "We should give them a memorial."

That isn't a bad idea. "Do you have any suggestions?" I guess?

"Moment of silence, burn the bones, scatter the ashes on the ground. Standard Stable remembrance ritual."

"We don't know their names, though..."

Mend frowned at me. "Does it matter?"

"No, I guess not. Let's wait for Captain Firefly to wake first."

He nodded in acquiescence. "Mmm, alright."

We continued cleaning the second floor. Looking through the house's contents, I found their names.

I frowned, glancing around on my EFS. "I feel like we're being watched."

Mend snorted. "It's probably just..." He frowned and trailed off, drawing his revolver.

"Just what?" I cocked an ear, scanning the area around me with my EFS.

"Nothing. I'm just feeling paranoid too. Last time you said that, Red's troops showed up."

Oh. I considered, then nodded. "Yeah, alright."

"I'm not an idiot, after all."

"If you say so..." I smirked at him, and he frowned back.

Half an hour later, I went to woke Team One. "Morning, Captain. It's 0903 now."

Captain Firefly yawned loudly as she woke up. "Ahhhh..." She rose to her hooves. "There we go. I neeeeeeeeeeded that..." Her voice cutely spiked in pitch as she yawned midway through speaking. "There we go. Anything happen while I was out?"

"We cleaned up." I considered. "We found some bodies."

"Bodies?" The Captain frowned. "Should I be concerned?"

"No. They're long dead. Doctor Mend suspects they're prewar ponies who committed suicide when the bombs fell." The Captain nodded. "He suggested we give them a memorial."

She nodded again. "Not a bad idea. Lemme wake up first." She yawned and turned to rummage through her bag, producing food and drink.

After eating and waking up, Dash and her headed upstairs to survey the safe house. "You've been busy, I see."

"Thank you, ma'am." I pointed to the bedroom. "Doctor Mend removed the bones and flipped the mattress, but..." I shivered. "Even if you slept alone in that bed, you wouldn't be sleeping alone."

"Ugh, ew. Thank you, no." She cringed in agreement. "We should just get rid of the mattress, if you ask me."

I nodded. "Hey, Horn!"

He yelled back from another of the rooms. "Hey, what!"

"Captain Firefly wants the mattress where we found the bodies downstairs."

"Well, tell Captain Landmine she can do it herself!" Captain Firefly and I followed the sound of his voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Wondering why we're yelling in a place like Baltimare."

I thought about that. "... that's a good point."

He turned to Captain Firefly, launching into conversation without any preamble. "So I'm thinking we take the bones outside, say a few words, immolate the bones. Discuss."

She looked to Mend for a long moment. "Sounds good. Any suggestions for words?"

"I dunno, you're the Captain here. Aren't speeches your thing?" I glared at him, and he had the decency to look mildly apologetic.

"No, that's Hot Range's area. Shooting ponies is more my thing." She winced at that. "Phrasing. You get my point."

"Oh shush Firefly, shooting ponies is Hot Range's thing and you're the most diplomatic pony here and you know it." Dash trotted into the room after us.

"No, bucking ponies in the dick is Range's thing." Mend chipped in. "Firefly is shooty-er."

"Shush yourself." She glanced to Dashie sideways, and he smirked. "Right..." Captain Firefly glanced down to her Pipbuck, then over to his. "It's 0930 now. We'll head out at 1300. Until then, we're staying put. Mend, Pumpkin. Can you two plot us a path to the police station?"

"Yes, ma'am." Mend winced, but nodded in agreement.

"When you get that done, get some more rest. I have a feeling this little quest the Steel Rangers are having us do isn't going to be easy." She turned to Lieutenant Dash. "Dashie, look through the building. See if you can locate any supplies for trading and leave some basic supplies for the next team to divert here."

"Sure thing, boss." He nodded. "And what are you going to do?"

"What any sort of competent leader should do - absolutely nothing at all!" She grinned. "I'll float around, come up with some words for the memorial and check up on our gear."

"Mkay. Doctor, c'mere. Let's figure out how to get to the police station." Mend grumbled, but trotted over as I lead the way downstairs. The two of us curled up with our Pipbucks in the room where all of our gear had been set up. After mapping a few different paths through the city, we went to sleep.

I was awoken some time later, approximately two hours according to my Pipbuck, and I pulled my armor back on.

"This thing is a piece of junk!" I glanced over to see Captain Firefly frowning at the shotgun she had found. "I want Firefly's Fury back!"

She named her gun? Cringe. "A piece of junk shotgun is better than no shotgun at all, ma'am." She laid down on her haunches, shotgun levitated in front of her.

"Debatable." She removed the magazine and racked the bolt to eject the chambered cartridge, catching it and tucking it back into the magazine. "Is it better to have a better gun that shoots sometimes, or an inferior gun that always shoots?"

"That's a good point." She set the magazine aside as she pushed the back of the upper receiver forward and pivoted the barrel up around the lower half. "Oh you poor gun, what did they do to you?" She sighed sadly, levitating the bolt and recoil assembly out, splitting them apart into their base pieces. "Look at this!" She held a piece up, and I looked at it closely. "The firing pin should have been replaced ages ago!"

"Have you been talking to Sergeant Slate too much recently?"

"... never mind that." She sighed again and reassembled the gun neatly, loading it and racking the bolt with a metallic thunk. "So, even if this doesn't work, at least I have my pistols."

"That's why I prefer beam weapons, ma'am." I looked to my beam pistol's bit, hanging from my front. "No recoil, no moving parts, much less likely to get dust or contaminants inside. Of course, there's no dirt here to get inside." I stamped a hoof against the carpet, kicking a small cloud of dust up.

"Spark batteries are better used for powering lights or something, though, instead of a weapon."

"Sure, if you're not a Stable pony with access to spark battery recharging stations. Spark batteries can be be recharged, shotgun shells or pistol cartridges can't be as easily reloaded."

"Yeah, alright. Let's just agree to disagree on this." I smirked as she set her shotgun aside. "Right then..." She glanced down to her Pipbuck, before grumbling. "Pumpkin, time?"

"1233, ma'am. Shall I summon the colts?"

She considered, before nodding. "Do it."

I switched my comms to the squad channel. "Lieutenant Dash, Doctor Mend? Captain wants you in the main room." I received a comm click, presumably from Dash, and an annoyed grumble from Doctor Mend. "They're coming now." She nodded and yawned, digging out a healing potion and a shot glass. "You've been drinking a lot of healing potions, ma'am..."

"I'm also recovering from having a leg removed, Pumpkin."

I winced. That's true, but... "You've still been drinking quite a lot of them."

She nodded and turned to face me with a suddenness that surprised me, and pointed the bottle at me. Uhh... "Y'know what, you're right. I have." Oops? "We've all been a bit ... jumpy, and this makes me move faster and think better."

"Are you sure that's it?"

She nodded. "It won't be a problem."

"If you say so, ma'am..." I frowned, considering that. I think Horn is right. Dash and Mend arrived to end the conversation, and Captain Firefly turned to the two of them.

"Right, let's break camp and get ready to move. We get back on the road for the police station at 1300. Any questions?"

"That includes the memorial, right?" Mend looked concerned about that.

"That's correct, Doctor." She looked to Dash's Pipbuck, and he held it up for her. "We'll start the memorial at 1250. That's about twenty minutes from now. Get ready, eat, pee if you have to, whichever. Be ready to move out at 1250. As you were." She yawned, stretching. "If you'll excuse me, I have to pee..." She turned and trotted off towards the back, Dash following a pace behind.

I looked to Mend, and he shrugged. "Sooo... gotta pee?" I grinned at him.

"No." He turned and busied himself packing his stuff into his saddlebags.

"I found their names, by the way." He looked over to me with curiosity. "Ice Dusk and Caramel Candy." He smiled and went back to packing.

Twenty minutes later found the four of us outside, behind the building, the doors sealed behind us. Mend had laid the skeletons side by side.

Captain Firefly spoke quietly. "We don't know who you were, but surely you didn't deserve the deaths the world offered you." Mend lit the bones with his magic, and small puffs of smoke curled to the sky. The four of us bowed our heads in respectful silence for a long moment. "Good bye, Ice Dusk, Caramel Candy. May your souls rest in peace."

Captain Firefly stepped back, looking around at us, and nodded. "Right then, let's move, folks." The four of us set off. "We have a police station to visit."

Author's Notes:

<Notes>
Fallout Equestria: Stable Scout needs you to upvote! No, really. People can't see a story's rating until it gets 15 upvotes, and that probably leads to more than a few people simply passing on it. Do comment if you enjoy this. Feedback is especially preferable, but simple ego stroking will suffice.

I'm also looking for someone to draw some cover art for FOE:SS, if someone is willing. I have character designs, colors, image ideas and possibly even money, but limited artistic skills.

So, where is Firefly and her minions headed next? The prewar police station, of course! What will she find there? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT. Of course, this being FOE:SS, "next week" means "next month or so." Still, point remains.

<Credits>
CrimsonVixen - for the suggestion about Overmare Lily and Crimson. (the names are unrelated)
Shenanigans - for various editing suggestions. His fic, Fallout Equestria: Joker's Wild, is ridiculously silly in all of the right ways and you should take a look at it, because it is awesome.
Relentless and belmor - for being awesome, letting me bounce ideas off them and for writing the incredibly awesome Fallout Equestria: Frozen Skies.
TK "Gigantic Dickasaurus Rex" Knorr - for more suggestions and things.

e: revised on 03.05.16