BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE- smack!

Rubbed my eyes. Yawned. Curled up in sheets. Nice. Warm. Didn't want to get up. Just stayed in bed for a while.

"Ashes?" Uncle Gate called out. "You up, yet?"

Groaned. Threw off sheets. Rolled off bed. Trudged out. Smelled coffee, smiled. Uncle in the kitchen.

"Hey, squirt! I almost thought I'd have blah blah blah-" rest was a blur.

I blinked and yawned.

He stopped. Sighed. Laughed. Held out a mug. "Just like your mother."

I smiled, took the cup. "Thank you."

Coffee. Nice, black, strong. Happy sigh.

Yawned again, Rubbed my eyes. Another sip.

"Zala said she'd be over later," Uncle Gate said.

I smiled again. “Mmm.”

“You know, you’re the only twelve-year-old I’ve ever met who likes coffee.” He chuckled. “Well, I just came over to check up on you. Oh, and your friends left a message for you. It’s sitting on your desk. Uh… well...”

Blinked at him.

“Sorry… I’ll… see you tomorrow, squirt.”

Gave him a hug. “Thanks Uncle Gate.”

Awkward like always. Love him anyway. He ruffled my mane. Left.

Sat on the couch. Strummed mom's guitar for a while. Felt my brain gradually start up.

Picked up the note from the desk in my room.

Ashes,

We’re going to the junk room today. Going to be there for a few hours.

-Zeed

It took me about twenty minutes to make sense of Zeed's chickenscratch. Poured some coffee into a canteen, put my glasses on and made my way out of my apartment and into the hallway.

Found them among a bunch of other ponies searching through the pile of junk. The Guards’ usual solution to having random things they don’t know what to do with. I often wondered where it all came from.

My friends waved me over.

"Ash! We found a cool strap for your guitar!" Diamond waved it around in the air.

I oooh-ed at it. The same shade of grey as my mane, with bronze-colored clips. I soon found it dangling off my muzzle, with Diamond giggling as her near-invisible magic faded completely.

"It looks good on you," Zeed giggled.

A light blush appeared on my face. I hoped it didn't show under my fur, but I smiled anyway and threw the strap across my shoulders. "Thanks."

"Still sluggy?" Diamond asked.

I nodded. "I'm waking up, don't worry."

“We haven’t found anything other than that strap.” She kicked over a stack of newspapers. “It’s kind of a sucky haul.”

“Dig deeper?” I asked.

The filly grinned. “Yup.”

~~~~

"Hey, Zeed," I said. "What's up?"

She gulped.

"It's been a while," I continued. "I missed you guys."

She dropped the paper bag.

"What, no 'hello'?" I joked.

She turned to face me, with a forced smile and her mouth open to speak, but then she stopped when our eyes met. Mine stayed on her face. Hers, however, moved on to the rest of me. Her reply was... eloquent...

"Uh... um... I... uh..." she swallowed. "You... uh... you look..."

Knives groaned and gave the zebra a gentle shove. "Zeed, just say something."

"MILF," Zeed blurted.

We all stared at her, Knives, Split, Raid, and the zebras and the zony who'd been trying to calm Zeed down.

I burst out laughing. "Did you just call me a 'MILF'?"

Her face turned bright red as Knives and the zony started snickering.

"Good to know I'm still hot." I smirked at her.

"H-hey! Who kept getting tongue-tied when they asked me out?" She snapped back.

I started laughing harder. "I'm sorry! I really shouldn't laugh!"

"Then stop," she said in a flat tone.

"I do appreciate that, though. Especially since it wasn't intentional." I wiped a tear from my eye and pushed my glasses up. "I missed you, ya know."

Her face reddened a bit. "You did?"

I nodded. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

"It's just..." she scratched her neck. "We never..."

"Zeed, even if we broke up, you're still my friend, okay?" I pulled her into a hug, noting and dismissing the smell of cigarettes. "We can talk about that later, but for now, I haven't seen you guys in three years."

She blinked in surprise. "You're not m-?"

"Zeed? Shoosh." I put a hoof on her muzzle. "Relax. We'll talk later."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're r-"

Her eyes popped open, then narrowed at me. "You just shooshed me."

I stuck my tongue out. "And you did it."

"Wha- I..." she twisted her mouth into a smirk, though there was still a hint of nervousness. "Touché."

"I thought you hated Prench?" I said.

She rolled her eyes. "I do, but that's not very Prench-y Prench."

I snorted a laugh. "Uh-huh, sure. So, who's everypony else?"

"Oh, well this is my dad, Nezan." She pointed to the stallion.

"Hi." He shook my outstretched hoof.

"This is Misty, my... stepmother."

The zony waved. "Hello."

"This is Kara."

The filly waved as well, a big grin on her face.

"And that's Vill, over there."

I followed her hoof to the heavily pregnant zebra asleep on a nearby bench. I blinked. She couldn't have been older than sixteen.

I turned to the others. "I'm Ashes. It's nice to meet you."

"Same to you!" Nezan grinned.

“So, uhhh… you guys… want a tour?” I shrugged.

“Sure!” Knives said.

Misty nodded. "Sound like a nice idea."

“Cool, just let me pick up Snow and my stuff and we can get going. Come on in.” I waved and hopped back into the theatre-turned-bar. I took mom’s guitar from the seat on the stage where I’d left it and hefted it over my back before heading backstage. It was a small room, with dressing rooms one side, broken make-up mirrors on the other, and a large sofa in the middle, facing towards the radio in the back.

“You done already?” Asked the corn-colored earth pony stallion sitting in a chair off to one side.

“Nah, I cut the show short. Old friends came to find me.” I trotted over to the sofa and looked over the back, finding a small, white ball of fluff with a teal streak sitting next to the hoofrest. I smiled.

“Old friends? What, from that Prison place?” Crunch carefully folded his book shut and put it on the floor.

"Oh no!" I cried out in a dramatic fashion. "I can't seem to find my filly anywhere!"

I threw a forehoof against my head and collapsed onto the sofa, resting my head on the fluff ball, making it squeak in surprise. "I guess I'll just sleep on this conveniently placed pillow while I wait."

Crunch rolled his eyes.

The little fluff ball started to squirm.

"Hey!" I said. "Pillows aren't supposed to move!"

"Momma! 'M nodda pillow, 'm a filly!" The 'pillow' said.

I sat up and gave the 'pillow' a suspicious look. "Are you sure? You look an awful lot like a pillow to me."

"'M nodda pillow, momma!" It protested. "I have wings, see!"

The 'pillow' held out one of its wings as proof.

I hrrm-ed. "I dunno... I'm pretty sure pillows can have wings."

“I have hooves!” It clapped its front hooves together. "Pillows don't have hooves!"

“But you’re nice and soft, like a pillow.” I poked its tummy, making it giggle.

“Fillys’r soft, too!” It stared at me with its wide amber-colored eyes.

“You know what? I think you’re right. You must be a filly.” I picked my daughter up and gave her a nuzzle. “I guess I’m just being silly, huh?”

She giggled as I ruffled her teal mane.

"You have a nice nap?"

"Yeah!" She cheered, her wings a-twitching.

Crunch rolled his eyes again. "Only took the whole show to get her to sleep."

I poked her nose. "Well, she’s just energetic, aren’t you, my little fluff-ball?”

She giggled and poked my nose with the tip of her wing. “Boop!”

I picked her up in my forelegs and hugged her, a smile on my face. “So, you wanna meet some of momma’s old friends?”

Her eyes widened as she gasped and nodded emphatically.

"Alright, then." She hopped around me with glee as I turned to the stallion in the chair. "Thank you, Crunch."

He stared at me for a moment before he shrugged. "Yeah, any time."

"You know, Split's waiting outside." I chuckled as I left the room. The stallion charged out of the former dressing room and out of the bar before I even got off the stage.

"Well, I guess he's really excited, huh?" I asked Snow. She responded with a giggle.

Making my way outside with Snow in tow, I found Crunch and Split nuzzling each other, with Zeed and her family talked amongst each other, and Knives and Raid in their own little world.

Zeed smiled nervously when she saw my daughter prancing along beside me. I smiled back and gave my little filly a nudge. "You wanna say 'hi', Snow?"

She happily pranced up to the striped mare with a big, adorable smile. "Hi! I'm Snow, and I'm two years old!"

Misty hid a laugh behind a forehoof.

"Uh... hi there Snow." Zeed said, a smile of her own starting to appear. "I'm Zeed. Nice to meet you."

"Aww, she's adorable." Knives trotted over and ruffled her mane, making her giggle. "She looks just like ye, Ash."

Snow squealed in delight. "Yay! I look like momma!"

I snorted a laugh. "I know. It's like looking in a mirror."

"Mah name's Knives. Aam one ay yer mother's old friends."

"Hi Miss Knives! I'm Snow!" My little filly repeated.

"Sae Ah heard. What dae ye like daein'?"

"Reading!" Snow cheered. "Momma says I'm a really good reader! And I can count to twenty!"

"Wow," Misty said. "That's a big number."

I let out a massive yawn that actually made my jaw hurt.

"Great," I muttered. "Need more coffee. So, anypony wanna head to my place?"

"You still on the edge of town?" Raid asked.

"Nah, I moved out and took over this pretty decent house on the west side." I smiled. "It's pretty close. I figure the pregnant mares could use a rest."

"How nice of you." Split chortled.

"Come on, Snow, we're heading home," I said to the filly currently prancing in circles around me.

"Yay!" Snow cheered. I barely managed to catch her tail in time to stop her bounding off. She scrabbled against the ground for a moment, not realizing I had hold of her. When she finally did, she stopped to blink at me in confusion.

"Slow down, silly." I let go and gave her a nuzzle. "Stay with me."

"A'kay, momma!" She hugged my leg, prompting everypony to go 'd'awww'.

"Vill, wake up." Kara gave the sleeping made a poke in her swollen stomach, making her jolt up and glance around with bleary eyes.

"Huh? Dad?" The young mare rubbed her eyes. "Mmm... how long was I asleep?"

"Not long." Kara said.

"Hi there!" I chirped. "I'm Ashes. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, uh... hello? I'm Vill." She grunted with the effort it took to lift herself off the bench. "Oof..."

"I'm Snow!" My daughter yelled, bouncing up and down in front of Vill.

The zebra laughed. "Hello, Snow. Nice to meet you."

"C'mon, Vill. We're heading to Hea-Ashes' place," Raid said.

~~~~

"This is your house?" The stallion yelled.

I snorted a laugh.

"Ash, why do you live in an abandoned hardware store?" Zeed asked.

"'Cuz it's big and I wanted space for Snow." I grinned. "There's also places to hide if things go pear shaped."

"That happen often?" Raid flew up to the roof to take a look at the 'Curry's Goods' sign above the door.

"Not yet, but we haven't been attacked in a while." I swallowed the bit of nervousness that thought caused. "It... never mind. Yeah, if it happens, they're there. A couple offices in the back that I'm using as bedrooms..."

I snorted when I caught sight of Snow, who was flapping her wings as hard as she could trying to join Raid in the air, grunting and hopping up and down.

"You having trouble, Snow?" I asked.

She gave me a pleading pout, whimpering and nodding.

I pulled her into a hug. "Aww, it's okay. You gotta be patient, okay."

"I'd offer a chunk of my cloud, but I don't have it on me at the moment." Misty said with a smile.

"Chunk of cloud?" I gave her a questioning look.

"Yeah, I've been keeping it held together since I left Dream Valley. A lot of foals used clouds to learn how to fly without gaining much altitude," she explained. "Their wings usually can't bring them up very high, and their weight keeps the cloud down, so they just hover along on the ground."

"It's actually pretty funny to see," Raid said.

"Could we talk inside, please?" Split sighed. "My fetlocks are rather sore at the moment, and I'd like to sit down."

"Oh, right. Aheh..." I trotted up to the formerly automatic door and pushed it open, revealing the well-lit interior.

Snow immediately ran inside with a happy squeal, followed by the rest of us, with me last.

Zeed and Knives both laughed a bit, while Raid sort of gawked at the short shelves of crates lining the walls. A set of living room furniture sat near the door to the 'offices'.

"Looks like ye made yerself right at home, Ash. Ye acshully managed tae fill half a room wi' junk."

"Well, really most of that is ammo and gun parts," I said matter-of-factly. "Mostly taken from the city's... previous residents."

"Wow. You got all this from them?" Raid let out a long whistle.

"Yeah, they had a- Snow! Don't do that!" I rushed over to pull my foal away from the box she was trying to open. I knew it was locked, and probably empty, but I didn't really want her figuring out how to get into ammo crates just yet.

"But momma..." she gave me her best wide-eyed pouty-face.

"Snow, I told you I don't want you playing with the boxes." I hugged her and nuzzled her cheek. "I don't want you getting hurt, okay?"

"Okay, momma." She snuggled into my chest.

"That's so unbelievably sweet," Split said.

"Hey, don't think I haven't seen you talking to your belly." I snickered when her face turned red.

Knives sighed in a frustrated manner. Raid put a wing over her shoulder and pulled her against his side.

"So, Raid... of all the ponies you could have met in the wasrmteland, how'd you end up meeting two of my old friends?" I asked with a smirk.

"I saw them wandering around the Mall and asked them to help me with a job." He shrugged. "Knives asked me to come with them. She technically hired me as a bodyguard "

My smirked widened. "Just 'bodyguard', huh?"

Knives blushed, making me laugh.

"Well... I volunteered for that." The stallion grinned.

"Eeew!" Kara yelled, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "Why is everyone so groty? Ugh..."

Nezan gave her a nudge. "You want to help me with the dogs?"

"Please!" The filly said, trotting out the door with her father.

Misty chuckled. "I remember when I was like that."

"Same here." Split sighed. "Never liked colts until I was fourteen."

"Aren't you glad you found me?" Crunch poked her side with a mischievous grin on his face.

Split sighed happily and rubbed her bloated stomach. "Yeah. That I am, you blithering imbecile."

The stallion frowned. "Hey!"

Raid and I both started laughing, quickly joined by Snow.

I found myself interrupted by a yawn from my own throat. I rubbed my face, the fuzzy feeling of 'not-enough-sleep' coming over me.

"Momma! Momma! I wanna start the coffee!" Snow yelled.

I smiled at her. "Okay, okay. Calm down. You guys want anything while I'm in the-"

There was a loud bang, one which I immediately recognized as a gunshot. Almost reflexively, I grabbed Snow and threw her on my back, ready to bolt, making her squeak in surprise. In the same motion, I spun the combo on the safe under the couch and swiped out a pistol and ammo with my other foreleg. My heart pounded in my ears.

Split and Crunch both did something similar, drawing their own weapons from their saddlebags and taking a defensive position, with Crunch closer to the front. Even Raid whipped his shotgun out from under his jacket.

Everypony else just stared at us in confusion as we focused our weapons on the door. After a moment, Misty and Vill took cover behind a shelf, while Knives drew some custom sword, and Zeed pulled out a worn-looking energy weapon.

After several moments of staring threateningly at the entrance to the building, Raid flew over and poked the door open. After peeking through, he slipped out.

"Sae, what are we daein'?" Knives whispered.

Nopony answered.

“It’s alright!” Raid flew back into the door. “Somepony just saw a bloatsprite and panicked.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief and put the safety on the gun, carefully placing it back into its safe, locking it in place and hiding the magazine separately.

I craned my neck to look at my foal and bent down to my knees. “You can get down, now Snow. It’s okay.”

“A’kay.” She hopped off my back and pranced around for a moment..

“What the hell was that?” Zeed asked.

“I… uh…” I blew out a puff of air. “Sorry. Gunshots usually mean a fight.”

She shook her head and trotted towards the door. “Luna’s moon… guess I can't blame you there. That was... phew... I’ll be back in a bit.”

I blinked. “Where are you…”

If she heard me, she didn't respond, as she continued out the door.

"Where's she off to in such a rush?" I asked.

“Probably goin’ fer a smoke.” Knives said, putting her sword on her back once again.

"Zeed smokes?" I said with a bit of disgust. "Since when?"

"Couple years."

"Eugh." I grimaced. “At least I know what that smell is.”

“Glad Ah can’t.” Knives rolled her eyes. "Didn't ye need take talk tae her?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Split? Could you watch Snow for a bit?"

"'Course." The mare said.

I took a deep breath, glanced at Snow, and went out after Zeed.

She was, in fact, smoking outside, a look of relief on her face as she drew on the stick.

With a roll of my eyes and a smirk, I easily snuck up behind her. I got close to her, moved to her ear, and yelled. "BOO!"

She nearly jumped out of her skin, almost swallowing her cigarette and coughing out smoke. I giggled a bit as she caught her breath, gasping and wheezing.

"Don't do that!" She yelled.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just..." she exhaled. "You scared me is well."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." I smiled at her.

We were quiet for a while. Zeed took another draw.

I scratched at my mane in a nervous manner.

"So, uh... your daughter's adorable." She coughed.

"Yeah." I smiled. "She is isn't she?"

"Uh... is... is he the... father?"

"Well... yeah. Who else would it be?".

"Oh... right..."

Another awkward silence.

“You… do know I’m not mad at you for anything, right?” I said. “I mean, you had every right to get mad at me.”

“No I didn’t.” She grumbled.

“Yes, you did. I freaking cheated on you, Zeed.” I pinched the bridge of my nose with a fetlock. “That’s really bad.”

“It wasn’t intentional.”

“That doesn’t-”

“Do you remember how many times I screwed something up between us? You didn’t blow up at me. You never said you hated me. You didn’t even get mad at me. You just… gave me a playful swat on the nose and let it go,” She yelled. “But you mess up once and I start screaming at you like… like you just blew up Equestria or something, I dunno.”

“Zeed, most of the things you messed up on weren’t even that bad. I CHEATED on you. That’s kind of a huge freaking problem. Doesn’t really compare to… heck, I can’t even remember any of your screwups because they weren’t a big deal.”

“I told you I hated you!”

“I know you told me that, and yeah, it hurt,” I yelled. “But considering what I’d just done, I kind of think I deserved it."

"You didn't deserve to have me screaming my head off at you!"

I sighed and covered my face with a forehoof.

"I... I'm sorry, Ashes. I always just... I always took you for granted." She hung her head. "We could have worked it out..."

"Maybe, if we had the chance."

There was that silence again.

She blew out another puff of smoke.

"Zeed?" I put a hoof on her shoulder. "I forgive you. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what you think you did, but if it makes you feel better, I forgive you. I don't blame you, I'm not mad at you, and I don't hate you, okay?"

"I... I..." she sighed, but a smile found its way onto her face. "Thanks, Ashes."

I sighed as well, though in relief.

"Ash?"

"Huh?"

"I forgive you, too."

I smiled. "Thank you."

We became quiet again.

"Huh... guess I was worried about nothing..." Zeed laughed. "That was... that was just so..."

"Easy?"

"Yeah."

"I told you."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did."

"Shut up, Ash." She rolled her eyes at me.

"Zeed... I really am sorry."

"Would you do it different if you had the chance?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't think of one, thoughts of Snow's smiling face running through my mind. "I... don't think... it's... no... I'm sorry, but... I... Snow... I just... don't think I can actually answer that, but... probably..."

I bit my lip and glanced at the building. "I think Snow is worth a lot of the trouble..."

She sighed. "So no fairy tale ending for 'us'? Ah well. I can't blame you for loving that adorable little ball of fluff."

"Thanks."

At least the silence wasn't so... angsty this time.

"I gotta admit, I'm kinda surprised that you had a pegasus."

I laughed. "So was I. First time I was glad I wasn't in the... in the..."

My jaw cracked as I let out a long yawn. "Ugh... getting tired."

"Well, then let's get some coffee in you!" She spat her cigarette on the ground and stomped it out, a grin on her face. "S'what we came here for, right?"

I couldn't help but glance at her backside as she pranced back into my house, humming to herself. I giggled and followed her to find everypony drinking from hot mugs of coffee.

To my non-surprise, Snow galloped up and hugged me as soon as I stepped through the door.

"Momma! I made stuff!" She pointed to the kitchen.

"Oh, really?" That's..." I yawned again. "That's very nice of you, Snow."

She giggled as I hugged her back.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked to see Split offering me a mug. I took it gratefully, wrapping my fetlock around the handle and taking a sip.

"So how long are you guys staying, anyway?" I asked my old friends.

"Well, we're actually goin' tae find mah dad. Apparently he's in the deep mists," Knives said. "But Ah think we're headin' tae Loss first.”

“Loss? Really? With a pregnant mare traveling with you?”

“Hey, you were wandering around Canturbury when you were pregnant.” Raid pointed out.

“And I’ve been going on trade routes with Nezan,” Misty said.

I gave her a confused look. She lifted up her duster to reveal her bulging stomach.

“Oh… huh…” I blinked a few times. “Okay, two pregnant mares, that’s not much better.”

“Well, we do have a wagon with us,” she continued. “But still, it’s not like it’s impossible.”

“Fair enough.” I shrugged and took another sip of coffee.

“Also… I like to think I’m pretty good with going for long distances.” Vill smiled. “I delivered all kinds of stuff in Raftwater.”

“You’re from Raftwater?” I asked in surprise.

“Well… no. I just lived there.”

“Aye, she was one ay th’ Bone Eaters.” Knives scoffed.

I glared at the zebra, suddenly feeling suspicious. “Really, now… If I remember correctly they’re slavers.”

Her eyes widened, and she waved her front hooves in front of her in w nervous manner. “I-I-I didn’t do anything like that! I swear! I mostly just ran messages back and forth! I never made enough caps to buy slaves anyway, even if I’d wanted too, really! A-and I did work for the slaves, too...”

She gulped.

I hrrm-ed and shrugged. "Alright."

She heaved a sigh of relief, placing a hoof on top of her stomach.

"So, when are you guys heading out?"

"Well, we were kind of hoping you'd come with us," Zeed said.

"What? Why?"

"Well... it's just that... well..." She scratched her chin for a moment. "Come to think of it, we never really thought this through."

I frowned.

"Well, we didnae expect her tae have a foal, either." Knives shrugged. "Ah couldnae blame ye if ye said 'nae'."

I grimaced. "Well... I didn't say that..."

I glanced at Snow, who stared back with her wide amber eyes and a happy smile.

"I just have more than one pony to think about, is all, so... maybe." I hugged my daughter. "I'll have to... well, I'll have to think about it."

Zeed's face fell, just a little bit, but enough that I could notice.

Snow noticed it as well, apparently, as she struggled away from me and galloped over to give the confused mare a hug. After a moment of staring at the fluff ball wrapped around her middle, she laughed.

"I like you, Miss Zeed!" The foal yelled.

"Awww. I like you too, Snow," the mare replied.

"You're soft and fluffy, too!" Snow added.

Zeed frowned as she caught sight of me holding back a snicker. "Great. Just great. I am not fluffy."

Snow's ears went back and her face slowly turning into a pout as she pulled away. "'M sorry, Miss Zeed."

Zeed stared at her for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh, caving in to the cuteness. "Fine... I'm fluffy."

Snow squealed happily and once again wrapped herself around Zeed's leg.

The mare glared at me. "You taught her that, didn't you."

I shook my head. "Nope. Not at all."

"Yes, she's an adorable little fuzz ball all on her own." Split rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a foosball, I'm a filly!" Snow yelled, hopping off Zeed again and puffing her cheeks out at Split.

~~~~

"Alright... mass storage orb, test number one." The dark yellow earth pony adjusted the helmet on his head. "You ready, Rude?"

"Stop calling me that," the orange stallion growled.

The yellow one rolled his eyes. "Are you ready or not?"

"Yes. Get on with it."

"How about you, Twine?"

Wretch's host nodded merrily. "Ready to go, sir!'

"Right. Flip the switch!" The orange stallion pointed dramatically at Twine, who flipped the switch with a smile.

Rude began frantically writing on a clipboard as the orange stallion's face rapidly shifted between various expressions. His entire body twitched a few times before Twine flipped the switch back down. The stallion collapsed onto his side, breathing heavily.

Twine bent over him and poked his side. "Doctor Benchmark? Are you okay?"

He groaned. "My entire life just flashed before my eyes. Good. Means we're close."

Rude scoffed. "I can't believe they're funding this."

"Neither can I, but they are." Benchmark stood back up and cracked his back. "Okay... let's check..."

He stumbled forward a bit and shook his head. "Let's... bucket..."

Twine pulled a bucket out from behind her and held it out to Tray, who took it and immediately emptied his stomach into it.

"Welp..." he said. "There's my lunch... hello, lunch."

The other ponies present grimaced.

"Ahem... as I was saying, let's check the orb." He wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead. "To the machine!"

Rude rolled his eyes again, and pulled a black orb out of the device connected to Benchmark's helmet.

"Black, huh?" The orange unicorn rubbed his chin, humming thoughtfully. "I really hope that doesn't say anything about me. Time for testing!"

With that, he snatched the orb and tapped it against his horn, immediately collapsing.

Rude facehoofed. "Twine?"

"Yes?"

"Can you take that stupid thing to the Psych facility before he wakes up?" The yellow unicorn pinched his brow. "I have to watch him while he's doing this."

"Which one?"

Rude growled in frustration. "The closest one, I don't care! We just don't need this moron killing himself with this crap."

Wretch felt her host remove something from her head, and jolted up into her own body, looking around as she realized the memory had ended. She wiped a bit of drool of her face.

Wretch looked at the memory orb sitting on the desk beside her. Rubbing her head, she placed the ball in her saddlebags and shut the door to the room labelled 'Archives'.

"Map, map... l need a maP..." she muttered as she rummaged through the open drawers, adding to the piles of papers that were already scattered across the floor. "Come on!"

She opted to rip the drawer out and put it on top of the desk, continuing to look through it.

"Boo!"

Wretch screamed and threw a pile of papers at the voice before pointing her shotgun at it.

Xixixix stared cross-eyed at the barrel of the gun, a grimace of surprise on his face.

"Uh... hi!" He said.

"You scared the shit out of me," Wretch growled.

"Goddesses, I hope not."

The mare blinked a few times and grimaced. "Eugh. Disgusting."

She rubbed her head and groaned. "Where's the 'Psych facility'?"

"Up near Common."

Wretch growled. "Wonderful. We're going to Loss, then. I'm tired and really need to get some sleep."

"Uh... 'kay. Can you stop pointing that at me?" He gave the gun a tentative poke.

Wretch glared at him for a moment before shaking her head and pushing him aside as she moved through the door.

"Rude, much?" He protested.

“I’m trying to get something done, thanks!” Wretch screamed, spinning to face him with a wild glare. “Unlike you. You seem to exist for the sole purpose of being annoying.”

“Well… yeah, I do, but you’re still rude.” He huffed.

Wretch’s eye twitched, and she rubbed a hoof across her face. She stormed out with one last glare.

Xixixix took out his notebook and pencil and began writing.

“No patience. Starting to look like familiar symptoms, but she’s not quite that crazy. Considering how she keeps talking about her 'mission', it might be some sort of ‘ancient prophecy’ type thing.” He tapped his chin with his pencil. “Not likely, but something along those lines. Further study is needed. Gotta keep an eye on Green. Don’t need the poor foal hurt.”

He read over his notes again, nodded in satisfaction, stowed the writing implements away, and headed out the door.

~~~

No stat changes.

`

To-Do List:

Active Quest:

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:

Yet again, I fail to meet my own self-imposed deadline. Good on me.

Hope it's not too bad, but at least its here! Yay!

Happy belated Thanksgiving, early Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukka, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays.