“Hey Ash!” I cheerfully said as I walked into her living room.

The grey mare grinned at me, and hopped off her treadmill to give me a kiss on the cheek. “So, did you get them?”

I held out a small case in my hoof which she took in her own and carefully opened. “Thanks. I’ve been trying to get replacements for weeks.”

She took out the thin-rimmed glasses and donned them.

I smiled. “I still don’t get why you couldn’t just ask Knives. Or, you know… Mrs. Knives.”

She rolled her eyes. “Knives doesn’t know diddly-squat about glasses. She’d probably get the wrong ones.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her.

“She’s done it before.” She waved a hoof dismissively. “And Zala does enough for me already. She practically raised me.”

“I think she’d be willing to pick up a pair of glasses for you.” I smirked. “And this wouldn’t be a problem if you’d stop breaking or losing them or whatever you did to the last pair.”

The grey earth pony frowned. “Rifle smacked me in the face on the range. Snapped ‘em right in two.”

I smirked. “Uh-huh. Sure. The range run by the paranoid, self-safety obsessed Guards. You put the gun too close to your face again, didn’t you...”

“Hey, I’ve only been wearing these dumb things for a couple of months. I’m not used to shooting with them on. And for the record, I would have gone to get them myself, but the stupid secretary won’t give them to me when Doc Phoroptor’s not there.” She snorted. “And you know how hard it is for me to do... well... pretty much anything in the morning.”

“I do know. You can barely get up in the afternoon.” I giggled, and planted a kiss on her wonderfully soft lips. “You’d sleep till six if you could.”

She grabbed me in her forehooves and hugged me tightly, nuzzling my neck with a contented sigh. I smiled and hugged her back.

We stayed like that for a while.

“You have really soft fur, you know that?” She said. “You’re like a fluffy teddy ursa.”

I pulled away from her and frowned. “Did you just call me fluffy?”

She grinned. “Yyyyeeeessssss.”

I furrowed my brow at her. “I am not fluffy.”

She turned and trotted towards the couch, quite deliberately moving her flanks in a very much alluring way.

“Yes you are.” She said in a sing-song voice.

Determined to not be swayed by her sexy flank, I sat on my haunches and crossed my forehooves. “I. Am. Not. Fluffy.”

She sat down on the couch, gave me a mischievous grin, and moved her glasses down ever-so-slightly. “C’mere, Zeed.”

I gulped. Dear Luna, she’s a sexy egghead. “No. You called me fluffy.”

She moved into a position that belonged on a Playbuck pin-up, and patted the cushions. “You know you want to.”

I couldn’t deny that. In fact, I really wanted to jump on her and kiss her, but I was absolutely determined to not let that comment slide, so I turned away and closed my eyes defiantly. “No.”

I could almost hear her roll her eyes at me. The sound of her moving off the couch reached my ears, but I refused to move.

Then I felt her hoof run along the fur on my back.

Oh, sweet merciful Luna, not that!

I desperately tried to hold back a snort of laughter as the feeling continued.

“Are you really going to make me use both hooves?” Ashes asked. “I’ll do it if I have to.”

I said nothing, already having too much trouble suppressing my laughter.

“Okay!” She chirped.

Her tickle-assault resumed at double the speed, in every ticklish spot I had. I held it in until my eyes started to tear up.

When she licked my neck, though, it was just far too much, and I burst out laughing.

“Hah! Gotcha!” She cried.

I fell to the floor as she continued her attack. “Hahahaha! Ash cu- haha- cut- gehe, stop!”

“Say it! Say you’re fluffy!”

“No! I am not-“ She licked my neck again. “HAHAHAHA! Okay, okay! I’m fluffy! I’m your fluffy teddy ursa, now cut it out!”

She pulled away, and I rolled onto my back. She wore a smug, victorious smile. “Yes you are.”

“You’re lucky I love you...” I grinned, and kissed her. “You’re just a big meanie, you know that?”

“I know.” She replied with a quick nuzzle. “But I’m your big meanie.”

~~~~~

As Raid turned to leave, I put my hoof on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. “I’ll let you off for now, but you are going to tell us the rest of it.”

“Don’t worry. I will.” He replied with a nod and a sigh.

I watched as he sped off to… whatever was on the other side of the room. I withdrew my shades from my pocket and set them on my muzzle.

“Hundred caps says he’ll choke.” Stock chuckled.

“Two hundred says he won’t.” I smirked.

“Oooh. Somepony’s confident. You’re on.” She laughed mischievously. “Easiest caps I’ve ever made.”

“I can tell he’s not that stupid.”

“Heh... no, he can be pretty stupid sometimes.” She rolled her eyes. “For example… he often forgets to turn on his E.F.S. Ends up walking into trouble sometimes.”

I frowned. “I see. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“If he’s dumb enough to forget a vital tool, he’s dumb enough to not say anything to a mare he fancies.”

I continued to frown at her. “I’m not following your logic here.”

She grunted and shook her head. “Nevermind. Just forget it.”

I shrugged, pulled a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of my lab coat, which had somehow managed to stay completely intact since I grabbed it, and checked to see if they had dried out yet. To my relief, it had, so I lit it with a blast from my laser and stuck it in my mouth, happily inhaling the smoke.

“Can I bum one of those off you?” The undead pegasus asked.

I quirked an eyebrow at her.

She smirked. “Just because I don’t need to breathe, doesn’t mean I can’t. Besides, I like the taste.”

With a shrug, I lit a stick for her and hoofed it over.

We sat there for a moment, puffing smoke.

“So… Back to your… problem.”

My eyes widened, and a shudder went through my body as I remembered how… cold… it was.

“Oh, calm down.” Stock chuckled. “I’m telling you, it’s not as bad as you think it is.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s not normal.” I said, wishing I had a long mane so I could hide behind it.

“Yeah. Not normal. Doesn’t mean you’re a ‘freak’, as you so elegantly put it.” She patted me on the shoulder in a sympathetic way. “So you like one weird thing. So what? It’s not like you’re killing foals for the fun of it. Just relax.”

She snickered. “Although, it is pretty funny that a cold shower doesn’t really help you.”

I shuddered again, and sighed. “This is one of those things I can legitimately blame on my mother. That’s part of why it’s so damn weird.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Your mother did that to you?”

I nodded.

“What, did she throw you in a freezer whenever you were… well… you know…” She grinned and waved a hoof in a suggestive way. “Doing the thing with the stuff?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded, yet another shudder causing my face to turn red. “Then and whenever I was in heat.”

“Wha- Uh… What? Seriously?” She said, her jaw dropping open with shock, almost dropping her cigarette. “I was just joking… Goddesses… I’ve heard of bad parenting, but never stupid parenting. If I’d done something like that with my foals… Sheesh, I don’t think they’re ever have forgiven me.”

“Yeah, well I kinda haven- wait…” I blinked at her. “You have foals?”

“Yup. Well... had.” She let out a sad sigh. “My son died from taint overexposure and my daughter was ambushed by raiders.”

I put a hoof over my mouth. “Oh… I… uh… I’m so sorry…”

She frowned at me. “For what? That was probably before you were even born. I’m pretty sure you’re younger than thirty. Don’t apologize for it.”

“Well…”

Her frown turned into a warm smile. “Besides, they had three foals between them, and then they have four between them.”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Dunno if I have great-great-grandfoals yet, though. Haven’t seen them since I left Dream Valley.”

“Why’d you leave, anyway?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Me, Blue, and a bunch of others felt that Spectrum was getting… a little out of hoof.” She shrugged.

“What’s that mean?” I quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Can’t tell ya. Top secret.” She smiled. “Sorry.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at the ghoul. “Fine.”

We remained silent for quite a while, me shuddering every few seconds and trying very hard not to blush at the sensation of cold going through my system.

“You think it’s been long enough for one of those two to start talking?” I pointed a hoof at the door across the room.

“Hmmm… yeah. They should have started talking at-“

A shout and several gunshots echoed through the catwalk room. After about a second of staring in shock, Stock sighed. “Oh, crap.”

When she saw my confused look, she explained. “Remember what I said about Blue not turning his E.F.S. on?”

The memory played through my mind like a recording. “Oh, crap.”

Suddenly, Stock shot over to the door, and swooped inside.

“Hey!” I called after her. “What about me?”

Just as suddenly, she shot back, this time her face filled with fear. I frowned at her.

Then she swept me up and took me over to the other remaining door in the room, aside from the entrance, and the room Knives and Raid had gone into. I screamed in surprise, and clung to her hooves.

When she finally put me back down on solid ground just past the doorway, I turned towards her. “Stock what the-“

There was a puff of dust from the wall behind me as another gunshot filled the air. I spun again to see that a couple of ponies wearing the spikiest clothing I’d ever seen were taking potshots at us from Knives’ and Raid’s door.

“They’re fine just caught now move please so you don’t die.” Stock said in a single breath as she pulled me out of the Bone Eaters’ line of sight.

“What?” I screamed.

“MOVE!” She zipped behind me and started shoving me forward.

We had found ourselves in another corridor. The floor was frozen over enough that I simply slid along on the floor as Stock pushed me. It would have been fun if it weren’t for the fact that I’d just been shot at.

“Stop!” I hissed as quietly as possible. “We don’t even know where we’re going!”

“Away from the guns.” She hissed back. “That’s where we’re going. They won’t expect us to go through here. We’ll be as unexpected as the Griffon Inquisition.”

“They saw us.” I replied. “And they can just go around.”

She stopped pushing me, and I continued to slide forward for a few yards before I slipped on the ice and fell flat on my face.

“Oh… Fuck…” She said. “You’re right.”

I tried to get back to my hooves, only to fall back over. I tried a few more times, becoming more and more frustrated. “Gaagh! I hate this stupid floor? I wish I still had my shoes on.”

“Wouldn’t that just make it worse?” The ghoul asked as she pulled me up. I looked at her and saw that she was keeping herself up by gently flapping her wings, and felt a pang of jealousy.

“They were rubberized. Tons of traction.” I grumbled. “What happened to Knives and Raid? Did you see them?”

“Bone Eaters captured ‘em.” She replied as she pushed me along the frosted floor. “They’ll be fine for now, but we need to get them out before something unpleasant happens.”

“Like what?” My hooves hit a dry spot on the floor and I fell forward again, smacking my chin and swearing profusely.

She pulled me back to my hooves again. “Probably something along the lines of a pit-fight.”

I deadpanned at her. “Seriously?”

“Yup.” She nodded. “Slavers tend to do that a lot. Apparently owning somepony means you get to throw them at other ponies you own.”

I stared forward for a second as Stock pushed me forward again. “I think I hate these ponies already. So, what are we going to do?”

“We’ll have to find out if we can get in through this way. Oh! Window.” She shoved me towards an opening in the wall, making me smack into the wall next to it, bashing my nose and falling on my face yet again.

I glared at her from the floor, and she tried to hold in a laugh. “Sorry.”

Using the window to brace myself, I pulled myself up into something resembling a standing position, and looked out. This room, like the last one, had most of its lower levels flooded with frozen water. It was a large, mostly featureless room apart from multiple criss-crossing catwalks and some steel girders that seemed to have no apparent purpose apart from obstructing my view. Through them, I saw a large group of spike-adorned ponies running around, most likely trying to figure out how to get to Stock and myself. I was surprised to see that half of them were zebras.

Entering the room from one side were the ponies who’d shot at us moments ago, herding an irate Raid, who was carrying an unconscious Knives on his back. He had a wide grin on his face.

“Why in the hell does he look so happy?” I asked incredulously.

Stock’s eyes widened. “What? Where is he, I can’t see him.”

I pointed towards the ultramarine pegasus.

“Oh, fuck. That’s not good.” She winced. “He’s got ‘The Look’.”

“Eh?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well… Blue has a tendency to… suppress his anger, and if you piss him off enough, he eventually snaps and it just pours out like a firehose on full blast.”

“Snaps?” I asked. “Whaddaya mean?”

The ghoul shuddered. “First, he starts… uh… I guess the best word for it is ‘vibrating’, and he starts smiling, kinda like what he was doing over there.”

I quirked an eyebrow and stared at her over the rims of my shades.

“Then his words get a bit mixed up. Stuttering, mostly, but I’ve heard him screw up his grammar. Like uh... quiet and quite” Stock frowned. “Occasionally he’ll start using words from random languages.”

“Oh, really…” I said incredulously.

“Then he starts giggling.” She shuddered again. “If you ever, ever, hear him giggling, back away from him very, very slowly. Chuckling is fine, he only does that when he’s scared, but if he giggles, run.”

“He starts giggling?” I said. “Are you kidding me?”

“You’ve never heard him do it. He starts acting like somepony from a slasher flick.”

“Let me guess, after that, he goes on a rampage?” I rolled my eyes.

“Sort of. It depends on who he’s pissed at. If it’s a friend, he’ll just start screaming at them.” Stock grimaced. “Last time I saw him do it he ripped a raider’s wing off and strangled her with it.”

“He wasn’t doing that when I was messing with him earlier.”

“What, when you kept stabbing needles in his ass? That wasn’t mad. That was irritated and stressed-out.” She shook her head. “It takes a lot to piss him off enough for it to show.”

“So what pissed him off this time?” I asked incredulously.

“Oh, that’s probably because they hurt Knives.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I hope she’s okay.”

I moved around to get a better view of where they were taking Knives and Raid. “Luna’s frosty flank, I hate this place. There’s catwalks and... and these stupid girders everywhere. I can barely see anything.”

“Well, there’s a question for the ages. What is with Canturbury and catwalks?” Stock said. “They couldn’t think of a better way to get across something? Is it because they both start with ‘c’? Cookie starts with ‘c’, why couldn’t they just make those?”

My incredulous expression changed to one of confusion at the sudden and random change of subject. “Uh…”

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it time and time again.” She smirked. “Don’t try and make sense of Canturbury. You’ll just hurt yourself.”

I stared blankly at her.

“Trust me. According to most of the pre-war ghouls I’ve talked to,” She continued. “Even before the war, everypony in Canturbury was insane. Almost everything they did was ‘spur-of-the-moment’. Just don’t think about it, and you will be a lot happier.”

“O…kay… then…” I said, turning back to watching the activities below us.

“Alright… shotguns… looks like they’re using beanbags. That can be either good or bad, not sure which.” She mused. “All very low quality, though. Ooh… especially that armor. Even raiders take better care of their stuff.”

While she examined the Bone Eater’s equipment, I carefully watched the direction in which they took Raid and Knives. A reinforced door labeled ‘open testing’ opened up at one end of the catwalk they were on, and snapped back shut after they’d gone through.

“Why?” I asked with an exasperated sigh. “Why does this have to be difficult?”

“You’re the one who wanted to get those two alone,” Stock whispered. “So don’t go blaming me.”

“HEY!” Part of the window just in front of me exploded in a shower of concrete chunks.

I yelped in surprise and fell backwards, sliding across the icy floor once again. Stock took the opportunity to start pushing me along towards the end of the corridor, despite my protests.

“Okay, we need to find out where they’re keeping their slaves, then we need to find the weapons storage, then we need to figure out how to get the one to the other.” Stock said with that gravelly voice of hers.

I blinked. “So… we need to start a slave revolt?”

“Exactly!” She chirped.

“Why is that your first plan?” I craned my neck to deadpan at the undead mare.

“Because the wasteland needs some good done to it, and I really don’t like slavers.” She replied. “Good enough for ya?”

“What, we can’t stop to think of a better plan?”

“You can stop if you want. I’m going with mine,” She snorted. “Either with, or without you. Besides, aren’t you looking for your marefriend? What was her name… Ash?”

“What? No, I’m looking for my dad. I don’t even know where-” She suddenly stopped moving again, leaving me to continue sliding and collide with the door at the end of the hallway and, once again, fall flat on my face. “I SWEAR TO LUNA, I WILL BREAK YOUR DAMN NOSE IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN!”

“No time!” She responded in a frantic manner as she forced the door open, breaking a good chunk of ice off the floor.

I was glad to see that the floor in the next hallway beyond it was completely dry and not coated with copious amounts of ice. I carefully made my way through the opening, and relished the feeling of being able to stand on my own four legs again. Taking a look at the floor I was standing on, I saw that there were multiple colored lines painted along the tiles. A blue one lead through the door we’d just popped out of. With my eyes, I followed it into another branch of the t-shaped corridor. I was extremely annoyed when I saw a zebra at the end of it, adorned with spikes like the rest of her friends.

“Well what the fuck do we have here?” She sneered. “A ghoul and a stripy traitor.”

“Traitor? I’m not a traitor.” I said. “I don’t even know you.”

“Oh, yes you are.” She grinned a very unpleasant grin that told me she would do horrible things to me if she caught me. “You’re fucking canned goods. Your lucky ass got into a stable. I can smell it on you.”

“I’ve never even set hoof in a Stable!” I cried indignantly.

“Your fucking kind abandoned the rest of us. Thought you were better than us.” She growled. “Left us to rot in the wasteland.”

“Whaddaya mean ‘your kind’?” I said. “You’re a zebra too!”

“But we stayed out here, instead of cowering IN A FUCKING BUNKER!” Then she jumped at me, screaming. “I’m gonna fucking gut you, you little bitch!”

“Gaagh!” I narrowly dodged the madmare’s attack, only to have part of my mane snag on one of her shoulder spikes, which made my head snap down in an extremely uncomfortable way. Ignoring the pain, I reached down to my upper right leg to grab my laser in my teeth.

My vision went black for a second.

I suddenly found myself lying on the floor.

A gunshot rang out, and I heard somepony scream out in pain. There was the sound of ponies yelling.

What just happened? I couldn’t tell whether I thought that or said it. Did something hit me?

Slowly, I managed to bring myself to my hooves. I found it difficult to see straight. I felt like I was about to vomit. What was the word for this? Oh, right. A concussion, I think. What was I supposed to do for those?

“Zeed! Move!” Somepony called out.

I automatically dropped back down, and felt somepony trip on me, landing on the opposite side of my body. I looked to see the other zebra glowering at me from her new position on the floor.

I felt the back of my head with a forehoof, only to wince in pain and pull it back away. It was covered in blood I figured somepony must have hit me in the back of the head when I wasn’t looking. What the hell was I doing before that?

I blinked a few times to try and clear my head.

“Damnit Zeed!” Somepony grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and started dragging me.

The other zebra jumped to her hooves and charged at me. I panicked and delivered a buck to her face, sending her reeling back and holding a bloody nose.

A door closed in front of me, and a familiar face appeared. I stared at it for a moment.

“Alright, come on, we need to go.”

“Did something hit me?” I asked.

“Oh for… You asked that six times already!”

I put a hoof to my aching head and closed my eyes. “Ugh… I… I can’t think… straight. Um… Think I’m gonna- urp-“

I threw up.

“Holy shit… you alright?”

“Potion… Need a potion.” I searched through my… pockets? Yes. Pockets. I pulled out a red vial and poured it into my mouth. Within seconds the fuzzy feeling in my brain started to clear.

There was another bang behind us, and a ping sound emanated from the door. “C’mon, Zeed. We gotta move. Now.”

“Stock?” I put a hoof to my head and winced at the throbbing sensation. “What the fuck hit me?”

“Wha- She knocked you over and curb-stomped you is what hit you. Why are you acting weird?” The ghoul stared at me incredulously.

“Fuck off. I think I have a concussion. Oooh… crap that hurts…” I groaned in pain.

“Come on!” She yelled insistently.

“GIMME A FUCKING SECOND!” I screamed, the volume making my own head throb and causing me to grimace from the pain.

With an irritated growl, the ghoul shoved a chair under the door’s knob, pulled a large case out of her saddlebags, and swiftly removed its contents. As I slowly regained my senses, she began to assemble what looked like a very large rifle. Glancing around, I saw that were were in what looked like an office meeting room. Most of the chairs around the table held the skeletons of ponies who’d died sitting in them.

By the time the foggy haze over my thoughts had lifted, and the pain in my skull had subsided, She had finished piecing together the monstrous gun, and was firing it at a near-constant pace. As I looked at it, I was amazed by its sheer mass. Hell, I was amazed it hadn’t broken the battle saddle that let her use it. From the speed it was going, I could tell it was an automatic weapon, but judging from the holes in the door we came through, it didn’t seem particularly accurate.

“The hell is that thing?” I asked.

She spat out the bit and gave me an annoyed look. “Fifty-cal machine gun. Expensive as all fuck. It’s about time you finished. Can we get going now?”

The door in front of us popped open, revealing several Bone Eaters, whose mad grins turned to ones of disbelief as Stock opened fire on them, effectively tearing them to pieces. The ones who managed to avoid the barrage promptly dodged behind the nearest cover.

“Uh… yes. Let’s.” I said, and followed her back out into the corridor. All the while, she continued laying down suppressing fire.

I was then sent lurching forwards when somepony bucked me in the ass.

“Don’t you trot away from me, traitor!” Screamed the mad zebra from before, who took several steps back to prepare for another charge.

Stock tried to turn around, but the massive gun caught on the walls, leaving the pegasus unable to go any further. She swore loudly, and turned back to her suppressing fire.

As the other zebra slowly approached me, her face filled with rage, I managed to get my gun out.

“Oh, look at you, with your little toy.” She licked her lips. “I’m gonna have fun with you, traitor.”

She leapt at me, and I took a shot. The beam of energy struck her in the nose, making her scream in pain. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep her from slamming me into the wall.

With one hoof, she held me against the wall by the throat. She had a manic grin on her charred face. “I’m gonna enjoy this!”

Her other hoof, apparently decorated with as many spikes as the rest of her body, flew towards my face.

In sheer panic, I kicked her in the crotch. The blow made her hoof go wide as she squeaked in pain, the spikes embedding themselves into the wall, getting her stuck fast. The rest of her dropped to the ground, as she whimpered and covered her aching bits with her free hoof.

“GO!” I screamed to Stock, only to notice that she was already halfway down the corridor, which held surprisingly few dead slavers. With a sigh, I punched the zebra in the mouth, and trotted off after my friend.

~~~

“Okay, now what are we doing?” I asked. “I thought we were running.”

As we continued racing through the hallways, corridors, and a ridiculously unnecessary number of water-filled catwalk rooms, the Ghoul had stopped to check every single door she came across. Most of them led to something akin to a broom closet, others led to more meeting and/or break rooms. Surprisingly, only one of them had led to any room that actually held anything science-y, which didn’t really make any sense, considering that this was supposed to be a research facility.

“Weapons. Armor. Slaves. Whatever.” She replied as she pulled her head out of yet another broom closet. “We need something to help us get to Knives and Blue, and if we happen to run across *them, then that’s even better.”

I deadpanned at her. “Didn’t we bring a bunch of weapons with us?”

She rolled her eyes. “No. Why would we go and do that?”

“So we don’t have to go and find weapons?”

“We’re not trying to be one-mare armies here.” She said. “We can’t carry around an entire armory apiece. Besides, are you any good with an assault rifle?”

“… No…”

She nodded, and continued searching once more. “Besides, that’s my shop inventory. If we use it all, I’ll have nothing left to sell.”

“Shouldn’t we at least find a map or something?” I asked.

She guffawed. “I’m amazed we found this place on a map.”

“The hell does that mean?”

“This is Canturbury, Stripes.” She chuckled. “You have to just go with the flow. If you plan too much, everything will go down in balefire.”

“Uh… huh… Well maybe we should stop searching every door, at least.”

Ignoring me, she opened yet another door. “Aha!”

She stepped through the door with a wide grin, and I followed after her. I was surprised and more than a bit annoyed that we’d found a room filled with racks upon racks of weaponry. Although, even I could tell that most of it was in a bad condition.

Stock pulled a burlap sack out of her saddlebags, and started to stuff pistols into it.

I sighed. “Why is their weapons storage in the middle of… You know what? Never mind. I don’t care.”

“Now you’re getting it! Welcome to Canturbury!” Stock grinned.

“We’re really doing this aren’t we…” I said.

Stock paused her search, and tossed me another sack. “Here, start grabbing ammo.”

I frowned. “How about this, you grab pistols and ammo for those, I’ll grab rifles and ammo for those. So, you know… if one of us gets caught, we’ll still have weapons.”

“That’s a great idea!” She said cheerfully. “Great use of your noggin!”

I rolled my eyes and started dumping guns into the bag.

Soon, we were off, moving through the hallways as quickly as we could with our heavy loads.

“Now all we have to do is find the slaves, break them out, and we’re good to go!”

I sighed. “How did I get into this mess, again?”

“Uh... I dunno. Why’d you leave your... Prison, right? Why’d you leave that?” The ghoul had begun to check in random doors again.

“Because the last riot left us in a miserable hellhole, and we didn’t want to get caught up in another one.” I grimaced.

“Well, there’s your answer.”

I sighed. “And somehow, this is still better than being in there.

“The wasteland is fun sometimes.” Stock grinned. “Enjoy it while you can.”

~~~~~~

Green let out a long, loud yawn. She looked around, and from the light leaking in from the ceiling, figured that it was sometime in the morning.

She looked around and saw Wretch staring at herself in a mirror, holding one of her eyes open with her magic.

“Uh… G-good morning…” Green said.

Wretch glanced at the filly and smiled. “Hello Green. How are you feeling?”

“I… I…” Slowly, a smile spread across Green’s face, and she rubbed a hoof across her eyes. “I feel a lot better, actually.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Wretch turned back to looking at her eyes.

Green furrowed her brow in confusion, and figured that she might as well ask the question on her mind. “Um… what are you doing?”

“My eyes changed color.” The pink mare replied.

Green looked at Wretch’s eyes, noticing that they were the same pale blue color as they were when they had first met. “They did?”

“Yes, they used to be violet.” The unicorn replied. “I can only assume that he needed to fix them, but couldn’t put them back to normal.”

Green blinked her own orange eyes. “Uh… He?”

“At least they can pass for normal.” She continued, not hearing the verdant filly, and only confusing her further. Then she smirked. “So, are you hungry again?”

As if on cue, Green’s stomach let out a load groan, making the filly turn bright red with embarrassment.

Wretch laughed warmly. “It’s alright, Green. I imagine you didn’t get fed a lot.”

Green shook her head in a solemn manner.

“But with how much you keep eating… I can’t help but wonder where you put it all.” Wretch teased. “At the rate you keep going, you’ll end up fat.”

Green snorted a laugh. “Nuh-uh. I’ll probably stay skinny forever.”

Wretch grinned. “Oh, you’re definitely feeling better. Yesterday you were too scared to say anything. What changed?”

Green tapped her chin for a moment. “I dunno. I just feel… better.”

“Wonderful! So I guess you’re up to getting back on the road, then?”

Green nodded, and happily following the older mare out of the scrap-metal shack, practically prancing along the road.

Wretch smiled at the filly’s change of mood. It was far less depressing than having her mope about and act paranoid around Wretch.

“Uh… Wretch?” Green’s voice held only a hint of her usual nervousness.

“Hmm?”

“Is it… Is it okay if I fly?” Green asked hopefully.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” The pink mare tilted her head curiously.

Green gasped. “R-really? Bark never let me fly. He always tied me down to a heavy rock or something. I… you’ll really let me fly?”

Wretch nodded, and the pegasus filly squealed with delight. She immediately took off, soaring through the air as the unicorn watched.

“This is the best day ever!” Green shouted as she felt the wind blow through her feathers, the wind whipping her mane around.

Wretch shook her head and smiled as she watched the filly enjoy the air.

-----
Footnote 1: Diamond Knives
EXP 50%
~~~
Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri
Level up! (11)
Energy Weapons: 97

Perks:
Future Mare (2/3): Your love of comics has given you insight into the use of lasers, plasma, and rail-gun type weapons. You gain +5%(+10%) critical chance and +5%(+10%) critical damage per rank of this perk.
~~~
Footnote 3: Raid (???)
EXP 60%

`
Quests:
Active Quest:
O’ Father, Where Art Thou?: Infiltrate or assault the Bone Eaters’ base near Bladesville.

Other quests:
Sifting through the dust:
1) Find information on the location of Ashes.

2) Find information on the location of Obsidian Knives

3)–Find information on the location of Nezan Kazdri

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the lateness, folks. Life caught up.

Unfortunately, life is currently holding me hostage, so the next chapter will also be around a week late.

Anyways...

I figured that it was about time that Zeed caught up on the leveling thing.

Oh, and I may, or may not, update the other chapters to have the author's notes in this convenient little box-thingy here.

*Voice of Herbert ‘Daring’ Dashwood*

Tune in next time for: Escape from the Bone Eater Halls!

-Delakirus

Thanks to Kkat for Fallout Equestria, and Somber for Project Horizon. Thanks to Matkingos for making sure this doesn’t suck as much as usual. Thanks to whomever reads this, and again, critiques are very much welcome.