"Nothing you can make that can’t be made.
Nopony you can save that can’t be saved.
Nothing you can do but-”

TWANG!

Ashes’ eye twitched. “Friggin’ stupid string.”

“Ash, are you okay?” Mom asked. “You’re getting frustrated again.”

The young mare forced a grin. “Y-yeah. I’m okay. I just don’t have that many spare strings left.”

“You seem like you’ve been really angry recently.” Mom raised a knowing eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine!”

“Ye know yer in heat, right?” I said.

Ashes’ face turned bright red. “Uh... No?”

“Diamond, come on.” Mom gave me an exasperated look.

“What? If Ye kept hintin’ at it, she’d never ay gotten it. Seriously, how can ye nae tell when yer in heat?”

"At least I don't stink when I am." Ashes stuck her tongue out at me.

"Shut up! At least Ah dunnae get all frustrated over everythin'," I shot back.

"You do that anyway," She huffed.

"Hey! Stop fighting, you two." Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with a fetlock. "I know you're not used to this , but you both need to relax."

I deadpanned at my mother. "Mom... ye destroyed th' shower this mornin' because we ran out ay hot water."

"Yeah, and I heard you screaming about your tail when I came in," Ashes added.

"Then ye scared th' crap out ay Monkey Wrench when she came tae fix the showerhead."

Mom frowned. "And I'd rather you two not end up doing the same thing when you're older, and we can start by not fighting about silly things like who stinks."

Our ears went back, and Ashes and I grinned sheepishly at each other.

"Mostly because you both stink." Mom chuckled mischievously at our collective groan.

"I do not stink," Ashes grumbled.

"Yes ye dae." I covered my mouth to try and hide a snicker.

"How would you know?"

"Girls!" Mom yelled. "How about we go do something to take our minds off the frustration?"

I groaned.

"I dunno," Ashes sighed. "I don't really wanna do anything right now."

"Me neither."

Mom shrugged. "Okay. Fair enough. Don't worry, girls. You get used to it after a while."

"Ah still dunnae get how ye can't tell yer in heat."

Ashes groaned. "I just don't! Leave me alone, it's embarrassing enough as it is."

~~~

"He's taking you to a scrapyard?" Zeed hmm-ed thoughtfully. Tapping on the ground with a forehoof. "Seems fitting for you."

I smiled and stretched out on the blanket that we'd lain out in front of Misty's tent. "Aye. That's what Ah thought, too."

"You excited?" Misty chirped.

"Ay course Ah am! It's a scrapyard." I giggled at the thought of all the junk I could find. "And Aam goin' wi' Zim, sae it's even better."

"Well, it'll be nice to see you stop being so awkward now," Zeed said.

"Unless something goes... wrong... heh..."

My ears went back, and my face fell a bit. "Y-yer one tae talk about bein' awkward."

Zeed rolled her eyes. "Relax, Knives. I doubt Raid'll be a jerk. He's been nice enough so far."

"Ye said tha’ about th’ last one," I sighed.

She scratched the back of her neck. "Okay, true, but still... he's not too bad in comparison."

"Thanks fer th' confidence," I muttered.

"Sorry. Uh... want me to help with your mane?" She shrugged.

I smirked at her. "Since when've ah ever done anythin' wi' mah mane? Besides, what would Ah dae it wi'?"

"Really?" She quirked an eyebrow at me. "Who was it that recently re-wove a crap-ton of metal into her mane?"

"Ah was more worried about filin' mah horn, actualleh." I touched the appendage with a forehoof. "Ah got th' gunk off, but it's still pretty sharp. Need tae find a-"

Vill interrupted with a loud snort. Glancing over, I saw that the young mare had fallen asleep in her seat, cradling her head in her forelegs.

"Poor mare musta been exhausted." Misty said.

Zeed laughed. "Wish I could just fall asleep like that."

"Yer still havin' trouble sleepin'?" I blinked in surprise.

The zebra deadpanned at me. "Knives, I've had a grand total of six hours of sleep over the past five days."

"Oh, wow. Really?" Misty hissed in sympathy. "That can't be fun."

"It isn't. It makes my mood swings worse." The zebra sighed. "I have too many dumb problems."

I gave her a gentle pat on the back. "It's alright, Zeed."

"I have a few sleeping potions if you'd like." Misty said, patting her belly. "This little monster has been keeping me up all night for a while, so I, like, stockpiled a whole bunch."

Zeed's eye lit up. "Really? Oh, please, please, please! I could really use one."

"Sure, I'll go get one." The blue zony grunted as she pushed herself out of her cloud-chair and stretched her wings. I hadn't noticed how short she was before, shorter than Zeed even. "Be right back!"

Vill murmured something, and my face shifted to a frown.

Zeed scooched closer to me and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Why'd you bring her along if you don't like her?"

"Zim insisted." My eyes rolled. "And we didnae want tae risk her exposin' us tae any ay th' other slavers."

"Are you sure she was one of them? She doesn't seem the type." Zeed glanced at the mare.

"She was hangin' around a bunch ay them, and she had nae collar, sae Ah can only assume she was." I idly tapped the blanket. "She's just sae damned whiny."

"She's not that bad."

"Try travelin' wi' her fer a few days." I harrumphed. "And ye only met her this mornin'. How-"

"Here it is!" Misty flew back into the room and dropped a large purple bottle onto the table, making Vill wake up with a start. "It's pretty strong, so, like, don't drink too much at once."

Vill wiped some of the drool off her mouth and yawned. "Mmm... how long was I asleep."

"An hour. You feeling any better?" Zeed asked.

"Yeah! Much." Vill said with a cheerful trill, a smile on her face. "I always feel better after a nap."

"I know that feeling." Misty grinned. "Ya ever fall asleep standing up?"

Vill blinked. "You can do that?"

"Yup. I keep doing that." The zony chuckled. "I can't stand still or I start to doze off."

"I don't think I could do that. Every time I'm standing still my foal starts kicking." She stood to demonstrate, and pointed to her belly, giggling. "See? It's like it's having a party in there. What are you doing, you little crazy?"

"Oh wow," Misty laughed. "How far along are you."

With a roll of my eyes, I hopped onto my hooves and trotted towards the melon-wagon thing. "Aam goin' tae go an’ see if Zim's ready."

"See you later, Knives." Zeed waved. "Have fun."

The pegasus, along with both Nezan and Kara, were playing games with the vinedogs. The blue stallion was laughing happily and throwing a stick, which the vinedogs would chase after. His mane was freshly re-dyed and his jacket kept his wings hidden once more. I was disappointed to see them both hidden.

"Uh... is he alright?" I asked the two zebras.

"I don't think he's ever had a pet before." Kara laughed. "It’s kinda funny."

"Knives, check this out! These guys are gnarly!" He patted one of the green vinedogs on the head, and it rubbed itself against his hoof, its lower jaw splitting as it made a panting noise. "Who's a cute doggie? You are!"

I snorted as I struggled to hold in a laugh. The dog rolled onto its side as Zim continued scratching it and panted even more, flailing its four front legs about while one of its back legs kicked.

"What's its name?" I asked Kara.

"The big red guy is Schwann, the one with red stripes is Hooke, the one with red spots is Mendel, and the one with bright blue stripes is Carver."

I looked as she pointed to each dog. Zim was playing with Carver, and Hooke and Mendel were chasing each other around, but Schwann was nowhere to be seen.

After a moment, Zim gave carver one last pat on the head, and turned to me with a smile. "You wanna get going?"

I smiled. "Aye."

He grabbed two sets of saddlebags from the side of the wagon and hoofed one to me. "We got a few potions and some bandages just in case, a few towels, your machete, your grenade rifle, my shotgun, a toolkit, and plenty of space for scrap. You still have that pipbuck, right?"

"Aye." I chirped, slipping the bags onto my back. I pulled on my mane and exposed the small metal pocket I'd woven into it near the base of my skull. "Aam glad its been forever since Ah got mah mane cut. Ah couldnae dae this if it were any shorter."

"Huh." He tapped his chin. "Cool."

"Well, we ready tae get goin'?"

He bowed with a dramatic flourish. "Mi'lady."

I rolled my eyes and laughed as he started trotting down the street in a similarly dramatic fashion.

"Watch out for the giant rats!" Nezan yelled. "They're vicious little bastards."

I nodded, and waved back to him.

"Sae, how big is the place?" I hurried until I was side-by-side with Zim as we walked into Bladesville.

"Huge. You could probably turn it into a small city if there were any buildings in it."

"There aren't?" There were a large number of ponies, and a few zebras, milling about the place. I wondered how many of them were from Raftwater.

"I think it used to be a parking lot." He frowned. "Canturbury seems to have a lot of those."

An excited grin spread across my face as we started up an incline. "An entire parking lot full ay junk?"

"Yup. And it's all for the taking. Some of it is refuse from when Bladesville was cleaned up, but the rest was there already. There should be plenty of useful stuff." He smiled. "You got any ideas what you're looking for?"

"Nothin' specific, but If ye see any lawnmowers, tell meh."

"Lawnmowers?" He blinked.

"Aye. Ah've been tryin' tae find some lawnmower blades fer years." We moved past a set of broken buildings, with ponies peddling wares from the holes in the walls.

He blinked again. "You were looking for a lawnmower in a prison?"

"We had multiple levels and rooms full of junk. We never did find out where it came from." I hummed thoughtfully. "'Course, now that Ah know there's still ponies livin' out here, Ah think they were bringin' it in from outside."

"Uh... why would they do that?"

"Nopony ever accused th' Guards ay bein' smart." I snorted. "Excludin' themselves. Th' only exceptions were Ashes and Gate."

Zim frowned. "That name sounds familiar. Odd. You said she's your godsister, right?"

"Aye. She wa-" We rounded the corner and my jaw dropped. "Och sweet Celestia... this is the scrapyard?"

Before me was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. Gigantic mountains of scrap and junk, piled almost two stories high. Broken auto-carts, medical machines, and farming equipment littered the stacks of refuse, a seemingly endless paradise of junk and hidden treasures.

"Och, goddesses..." A smile spread across my face as I caught sight of some of the equines looking through the junk at the entrance. "It's beautiful...."

"Glad you like it." My date smirked, and nudged me with an elbow, offering me the same limb. "Shall I escort thee in, oh fair maiden?"

"Och, that would be delightful, good sir." I giggled and took the outstretched limb. "How far in does this gae?"

"Pretty far. Where do you want to start?"

I tapped my chin for a moment. "Over there. Th' stack wi' th' auto-cart oan top."

"Sounds good to me." He smiled. "So, what did you actually do in the prison?"

"Uh... well... Ah kinda just fixed things." I frowned. "Officially Ah was a 'sewer technician', a.k.a. plumber."

He grimaced. "Sounds fun.

I shrugged, and yanked a wad of bent scrap metal out of the stack to inspect it. "Ah dunnae think it's as bad if ye have nae sense Ay smell. Ah usually kept a bottle ay mouthwash at hoof, though."

"Oh, that had to suck." Zim grimaced, looking up at me from another stack. "I'm guessing you didn't really have much choice?"

I snorted a laugh and threw the wad away. "Nae even close. Clothesline begged her mother tae put me somewhere unpleasant." I bit down on a piece of metal to test it.

"Sounds like my nephew." He chuckled.

"Ah just went wi' it, though. What about ye? What dae ye dae fer a livin'?" I said as i placed a small ball of electrical wires went into my saddlebags.

"Eh... mostly odd jobs until I got roped into the soldier's guild. Then it was mostly guard work."

"This stack doesnae have much... let's try that one." I pointed to a pile of junk further into the maze. "Anythin' interestin' happen as a guard?"

He tapped his chin with a wing for a moment. "Well... there was one time..."

~~~

"And then she just stood there wi' this horrified look on her face."

Zim kept on laughing, leaning against the stack with his forelegs wrapped around his stomach. "Oh, oh Celestia, I can't breathe! Hahahaha!"

"She kept makin' th' same gaggin' noises th' rest ay th' night." I finished.

"That's-aheh... that's horrible!" He laughed.

"Aye, but it's still pretty funny." A smile found its way onto my face again, and I threw the last piece of scrap in the stack I was checking into my almost full saddlebags.

"Where... where did you even get... get enough propane for that?" Zim gasped, his laughter gradually dying down.

"We stole a big canister from th' kitchen supplies. They used it fer th' fancier cookin' at th' Guard's cafeteria." I rolled my eyes. "Arrogant bastards. Here, let's try this pile over here.”

He chuckled as he followed me to the new stack. "Yeah, I can guess how you feel. The higher-ups in Spectrum could get pretty uppity. Oh, hey, is that a lawnmower?"

"WHERE?" I spun to see where he was pointing, and a wide grin spread across my face at the sight of a large, bright red, magically-powered lawnmower. From the looks of it, it was fully intact and half-buried in junk. I let out a delighted squeal and rushed towards it. "Yes! Finally! I can finally make- hey! It's stuck."

I yanked on the handle with my forelegs, but it stayed where it was. I pulled harder, it continued to resist. I tried pulling away some of the junk surrounding it, but that wouldn't move either. Grumbling, for what was probably the hundredth time in my life, about my weak magic, I gave the lawnmower another tug.

"You want some help?" Zim smirked.

"Ye- Aye! Th' damn thing," I hit it for emphasis. "Isn't mov-AAAAAH!"

The entire stack suddenly collapsed on top of me. As Zim yelled my name, I found myself buried in an avalanche of junk and darkness within seconds. It stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"Knives! Knives, are you okay? Say something!" I could hear the pegasus frantically rooting through the refuse. "Knives!"

"Owwww... Ah think Aam alright." I moaned from among the junk. "But there's somethin' pokin' meh in th' ass. Ah really hope it's just a broom."

"Can you move?" His question was accompanied by the sound of more shifting junk. There was a low groaning noise beneath me.

"Aye. Need tae get mah leg out ay this thing and... hah! Got i-" I was suddenly hit with the gut-wrenching feeling of falling as the ground dropped out from beneath me. I screamed in terror as I fell through the new hole in the ground, accompanied by some of the junk that was left in the stack.

Just as suddenly, it was over, and I hit the ground with a loud 'oof', then got showered with detritus and broken chunks of asphault.

"Knives?"

"Still-ow. Still okay! Ah landed oan mah ass again, but Aam still okay." I let out a small laugh and immediately gasped in pain. "Ow. Ah take that back. Nao mah back's hurtin'."

Zim breathed out a sigh of relief. "Hold on. I'll be right down."

I winced in pain and looked up to find that the sky had turned into a ceiling. One with a large hole and a blue stallion looking at me. I couldn't see much else past all the junk around me. "Take yer time. Aam nae goin' anywhere."

After shifting some junk out of the way before he dropped to the ground beside me. I grunted as I sat up and brushed some dust off my chest before taking his outstretched hoof.

"Och..." I rubbed a hoof along my spine. "Goddesses that hurts... where's th' lawnmower?"

"You're worried about that?" He gave me an incredulous look. I nodded. "Uh... I think you landed on it."

I glanced behind me to see the lawnmower, now buried in more junk than before. An annoyed groan left my throat.

"Great. Thanks fer comin' down tae get meh." I said.

"No problem. Do... don't you want to check for injuries?" His voice took on a worried tone.

"Well... could ye make sure mah back isn't bleedin'?" I rubbed my spine again.

He nodded and turned his pipbuck's light on. After shining it on me, he made an unpleasant noise. "Nope. You're good."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia. Ah'd hate tae ruin this date by gettin' mahself hurt."

"Pfft. Screw the date, I'd hate to see you get hurt."

My face reddened a bit, but I smiled. "Same tae ye."

"So you wanna get that lawnmower out?" Zim grinned.

“Hell yes!” I said resolutely. “Ye grab that side, Ah’ll grab this one. Ah really just need tae get th’ blades.”

He nodded, and with a count of three, we heaved the lawnmower out of the junk. I squealed with glee at the sight of my prize.

With a couple kicks, I snapped off the two sides of the blade, leaving only a metal stump, wrapped them up in a towel, and stuffed them into my bags, a huge smile plastered on my face.

"Mah life is complete." I sighed happily.

Zim snorted a laugh. "Uh... okay, then? Wanna get out of here?"

I looked up at the hole in the ceiling, then took a good look at the place I'd fallen into. I was instantly reminded of the Prison, with the wide corridors and sterile grey walls lined with only partly functional running lights. At the same time, I was reminded of the Stable under Raftwater.

"Why nae explore down here?" I shrugged.

"You wanna explore a stable? Well... I am kinda curious how nopony noticed this before." Zim scratched his mane for a moment as he thought. "I guess we could. We should be careful, though, Stables can get pretty fucked up."

There was a loud cracking noise, and the light from the ceiling disappeared.

We both sighed.

"Why am Ah nae surprised?".

"So, Knives, enjoying our date, yet?" He said in a dejected manner.

"Och, it's nae that bad. Ah've had worse." I snorted. "Ah've had much worse. Let's see if we can get out ay here."

"Right behind you." He said.

"HALT. THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA." A robotic voice roared through the hall, accompanied by the sound of motors.

"Oh, great. Robots." Zim groaned.

"Oh, wonderful! Scrap metal!" I chirped, whipped out my grenade rifle.

"WARNING: SEDITION DETECTED. PLEASE GO TO YOUR ROOM AND ENJOY A NICE, PLEASANT MEA- ZEBRA PRESENCE DETECTED! WEAPONS FREE!" The robot sped around the corner, it somewhat resembled a pony with wheels instead of hooves, with a Gatling laser and a rocket launcher on its back.

"Okay, apparently they're racist robots."

"RACISM DOES NOT REGISTER. SURRENDER AND DIE ZEBRA SCUM."

"What? I'm not a ze-ACK!" He ducked as a missile flew over our heads, sending debris throughout the hallway. "Knives? We should r-"

My response came in the form of a volley of grenades to the robot's torso. The sound was almost deafening, but several sections of the metal plate were now heavily dented.

"Or fight. I'm fine with that." He drew the shotgun from his back and started firing.

The robot sparked and sputtered under our fire, not even getting a chance to fire back. Eventually, something inside it caught fire, rapidly filling the hallway with smoke. I began coughing as the smoke filled the hall.

"Is... khaff... is it dead?" My eyes were tearing up.

"No, I can still hear it- kha, khah moving." He moved his jacket over his mouth. "Maybe you should shoot again?"

Thoomp-bang!

The smoke billowed out further, sending both of us into another coughing fit.

I barely heard the sound of the robot's laser revving up before Zim slammed into me, pressing me against the wall. A volley of red lights appeared over the spot I'd just been in, followed by a lone missile.

"H-H-H-H-H-HALLLLLLT! I-INNNT-T-TRUD-DDDDDDDDD ALERT!" A salvo of badly aimed missiles flew down the corridor, making us duck again as they sent junk flying everywhere. "THIS IS A RESTRI-RESTRI-RESTR-WEAPONS PRIMED! PRIPRIPRI WEAPONS PRIM-"

I growled and launched another few grenades at it. "Shut up and die already!"

"ZEBRA SCUM! ZEBR-WEAPONS PRI-PRI-" its rolled unevenly out of the smoke, straight towards us, its head sparking and twitching in a violent manner, one of its front legs blown completely off. I jumped on its back, drew my machete, and smashed at the base of its neck, while Zim fired careful shots at the intact front leg.

After making a large dent in its neck-plate, I pried the thing off, and started ripping out cables and gems haphazardly. Eventually, the robot stopping shouting, though it kept trying to drive itself deeper into the junk pile.

I yanked out one last wire, and cheered as the damn robot finally stopped. "Yes! I am awesome!"

Zim laughed. "That you are."

I grinned at him, my face reddening. "Thanks. And now to strip this stupid thing for parts!"

"Let me get its weapons. I know a buck in the Soldier's Guild who'll buy them for a ton of caps."

I dug through my saddlebags, giggling with glee as I withdrew a wrench and a crowbar, and climbed on top of the robot once more.

I nearly dropped my tools when an eerily happy robotic voice roared through the corridors.

"Alert! There is an incident on level one. All civilians return to your quarters immediately. Task force is en route now. Your overmare will alert you when the crisis is over. Until then, please enjoy some of the wonderful food this stable provides. Thank you."

"Creepy." I sighed as the message repeated itself. "Ah can see where this is goin'."

"Same. Run like hell?" Zim asked hopefully.

I gave the broken robot a sad look, but turned back to my date and nodded.

~~~

"Left! Go left!" I screamed.

"HALT!" A horde of robots chorused behind us. "SURRENDER AND BE DESTROYED!"

I launched a few grenades behind me, not bothering to try and aim. Zim held me in his forelegs as he literally flew through the corridors, barreling through any robots in our way.

"Left again!" I yelled. "OH SHIT! BACK BACK BACK!"

With a yelp, Zim ducked away from a volley of laser fire, and zipped back the way we'd come.

"What is this, a maze?" Zim whinnied. "Why is it so damn dark in here?"

"Open door up ahead!"

"Thank Celestia! It's the overmare's office!" The pegasus flapped harder. "Let's hope it holds. Knives? I'm gonna slide you across so I can close it behind us. Ready?"

"Wait wha- ACK!" He suddenly released his grip on me, and my momentum kept me going through the door. My hoof caught of the threshold, and I ended up tumbling into the wall.

"Sorry, sorry, so-HOLY SHIT!" He barely managed to sidestep a laser blast, and started frantically started pressing the button to close the door.

When said door dropped down from the ceiling, he hit the emergency lock, and both of us sighed in relief. The room was filled with the sound of missiles pounding against the door.

We stood there for a while, catching our breath. My heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of my chest.

The room was a small, simple office, with the back wall lined with computers and a locker, a ring-shaped desk in the middle with another computer and a fairly nice office chair, another door leading to a small apartment, complete with a kitchen. The lights weren't particularly bright, but they were functioning enough that my normal eye could see clearly enough.

Zim and I glanced at each other for a moment. Both of us were covered in scratches and scorch marks, his hat and jacket were full of holes, the latter of which was spouting random green sparks as it repaired itself. After almost an hour of flying, I was surprised the buck didn't look all that tired. At some point the bandage on my ear had fallen off, and I felt itches and stings all over my body, a low ache in my back.

Apart from all that, though... we were just fine.

We both let out a relieved chuckle. Then we let out another. And another. And another. Eventually, we simply burst out into full-on laughter.

We kept on like that for a while until our laughter gradually died down into chuckles again.

We just stared at each other's eyes, grins on our faces.

"You okay?" He asked.

I nodded. "Aam fine. Aam tired and mah back hurts, but Aam fine."

"This... wasn't really what I had in mind when I asked you out." He chuckled nervously.

"Aye, Ah figured that. Ah'll be honest with ye..." I sighed. "This is, sae far, th' most interestin' first date Ah've ever been on."

His ears went down. "Yeah. I can imagine."

"It's also th' most fun Ah've ever had."

He blinked at me. "Running from killer robots and being trapped in an office is 'fun'?"

I grinned. "Apparently."

"Uh... you know they can still probably break in, right?" He looked at the door. Thuds still emanated from the other side.

"Dae ye know anythin' about computers?" I pointed towards the desk.

"Not really, no."

I trotted over to the machine and started tapping away at the keyboard. "Crap. It needs a password."

"Oh... what are we gonna do, then?"

"Well, Ah guess we could just keep on tryin' tae hack our way in..." I leaned back in the chair and stretched out my spine a bit. "Goddesses, mah back's hurtin'. It's goin' tae take a while."

We were left with silence as he stood beside me and watched, the only sound being my tapping on the keyboard. It seemed like it lasted forever, but for some reason, I didn't really mind, and there was a small smile on my face.

"I'm gonna see if there's anything edible in the kitchen. Want anything?" Zim said.

"Anythin's fine wi' meh," I chirped. "Ah could use a quick snack."

"Out of curiosity, what did you need lawnmower blades for, anyway?"

~~~

"You... why... well, we're damn grateful y'all took care of her, but why in the hell did'ja have ta bring'er over here?" Amaretto stared at the mare currently tied up and sitting in front of him.

The zebra blinked. "Proof of the deed, I guess."

Wretch's eye twitched. "You guess? I had to carry her all the way here because you guessed?"

Green hid a giggle behind her wing.

"Well, soooorry! I'm not used to doing random things for people." Xixixix rolled his eyes. "I usually just do whatever I want."

Wretch's eye twitched a bit more, and she growled, rubbing her temples as she tried to understand the striped stallion. "Why am I bringing you along again?"

Xixixix smirked. "Because I know more about stuff than you do."

The other ponies present watched with mild amusement as the zebra continued to annoy the pink mare. The older Barkeep nudged Green to get her attention.

"You okay, Green?"

"Yeah. I don't... I didn't like hitting her, but..." The young pegasus smiled. "But I'm really happy that I could help you guys. You were really nice."

Barkeep couldn't help but smile back. “Thank you. I’m guessing you’ll be leaving soon, then?”

Her son’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Green bit her lip as she thought for a moment. “Maybe? I... I don’t... actually know what Wretch is doing...”

“Well, if you ever need some help, just go find a Barkeep and tell them Five sent you. Or you could just come to Common." The pregnant mare smiled. “It would be nice to see you again.”

Green nodded, a smile of her own spreading across her face. “Thanks Mrs. Barkeep.”

“It was my pleasu-”

“DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!” Xixixix suddenly screamed, attracting the stares of nearly every single pony in the area. He glanced around in mock confusion and smirked at Wretch, who had her hooves over her ears. “What? Oh, gee, why’s everyone staring at me? I wonder.”

“What is wrong with you?” Wretch hissed.

“I think I made a list once. There were quite a few instances of the word ‘mxdfs’.” He shrugged. “It’s probably because I’m an impossibly bad typist, However... if you take into account the fact that I research mayonnaise in my bedroom, collect waffle irons, and have shortened my name down so that it doesn’t include the letter ‘Q’, you can make a pretty good guess as to what’s right with me.”

Wretch blinked. “Wat?”

“Exactly.” The zebra smirked again.

Wretch shook her head in a desperate attempt to forget his words and started to trot off. “No. No, no, no. I’m not doing this. Shut up. Why am I letting you travel with me, no don’t answer that, I know the answer, just stop talking, please.”

Xixixix’s smirk vanished as the mare faded out of sight. He hrrm-ed and tapped his chin with a forehoof. He stuck a hoof inside his tail and pulled out a notepad and pencil, quickly jotted something down, and placed the items back into his tail.

“I may be nuts,” he growled. His eyes narrowed. “But you’ve got more issues than all of Canturbury, Ms. Fake-Eyes. Hey, Green, you coming?”

Green blinked.

Barkeep the Fifth bent down and whispered in her ear. “Maybe you could just stay here?”

Green shook her head. “Um... no thank you... I... I kinda... want... to stay with... Wretch... I think.”

“Alright. But if you ever need us,” the mare repeated. “For anything. I’d hate for you to get hurt, okay?

The filly nodded. “Okay... thank you.”

She gave the mare a quick hug.

“I’ll see you later, Green!” the younger Barkeep called out.

“Let’s go. The foal’s kicking me in the stomach again.” Five sighed. “Amaretto, your son’s are way too active sometimes.”

“Ah know, darlin’.” The stallion chuckled.

~~~

Footnote 1: Diamond Knives

Exp: 85%

~~~

Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri

Exp: 10%

~~~

Footnote 3: Raid (???)

EXP: 52%

`

To-Do List:

Active Quest:

For whom my heart does beat:

-Go on a first date with your crush, you lovebird, you!

-Oh, and get out of the Stable, moron.

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:

Busy busy busy. So damn busy. With the stupidest crap, no less.

Thanks to Kkat for making an amazing sandbox, Matkingos for cleaning this pile of junk up as much as he can, and you people for actually taking the time to read it.