The flashing yellow light and loud klaxons of the stable door opening startled me awake. I guess I fell asleep thinking about how to handle Silver’s slip-up last night. My friends Brown Root and Wilted Flower were the ones to greet us when the door opened. Apparently, Last Stand wanted his lackeys to be there, but Brown and Flower got them really drunk and took their place. Why Flower came in her body armor, I didn’t know. She always seemed to wear it. We had been greeted by drawn guns when they saw Silver Lining. This was expected since she was a pegasus. Second, no one knew she was in the stable. After a few minutes of tense introductions, weapons were put away and we were escorted to Big Boss’ office.

The scavenging company had made their headquarters out of an old barn on the outskirts of town. It was really the only building large enough to house all the stuff they found and all the weapons they owned. Amazingly, it was in decent condition with most of the original construction still in good shape. Big Boss kept his operating office in a small room built just inside the main doors.

The office was rather small, but then again it didn’t need to be large for what he used it for. It housed a desk, several chairs, and a small table with several clipboards on them. When we entered, Big Boss was seated behind his desk, which was unusually bare. Normally, it would be covered with piles of mission reports, requisitions, and sales logs. He must have been expecting us, but then again, that was not a surprise seeing as how we were working on his timetable.

“Welcome back, Dust. I hope your journey through the stable was an easy one.” I couldn't help but to scoff a little at that comment. “I guess not. I see you made a friend.” That last word was laced with some sarcasm. “You must be Silver Lining. Dust has told us about you, or more specifically, what you did for him in the stable. For that, I have to thank you. But, if I may, how did you end up in the stable and for how long?”

I saw the muscles in Silver’s body tense when Big Boss addressed her directly. She had also been very tense when she first met my friends, and whenever they tried to talk to her directly. “I’ve been hiding out there for several weeks. I’m trying to stay away from some ponies that are looking for me.”

“And who are these ponies?” Big Boss asked, arching his eyebrows.

“Ponies that want to hurt me.” Silver answered. That was an oddly nondescript answer. I was starting to feel awkward, being only a bystander to this conversation.

Big Boss looked aggravated. “Alright, let’s try this. How did you find the stable?”

“I was chased into Horseton by the ponies I mentioned before. I just stumbled into a cave and there it was.”

Big Boss grumbled, “And you just knew the code to open the door?”

Silver glanced at me nervously. “No, the door was already open.”

Big Boss leaned back in his chair. “Miss Silver, this will be easier for both of us if you just tell me the whole truth.”

“I am telling you the truth. The door was open when I got there. I closed it from the inside control panel.”

“Uh huh… alright, let’s try this. How did you get into the lab section? Or was that door open as well?”

“It was unlocked.” I could see her tensing up every time she had to answer a question.

“Big Boss,” I interrupted, trying to back him off a little, “she did save my life, twice, in the stable. She’s a good pony.”

“I do appreciate your input, Dust, and she may have earned your trust, but not mine. So Miss Silver, how do you know Muddy Waters?”

“I don’t, at least not well. He attacked me when he came into the lab I was hiding in. That’s pretty much it.” Her voice was slowly becoming quieter as the interrogation continued.

“And then Dust here came in....” his voice trailed off waiting for a response.

“Shortly after Muddy had struck me a couple times.”

“That’s all?” Big Boss looked skeptical. “Dust, how long would you say, at a minimum, Muddy was alone with her?”

“Huh? How long?” My head snapped towards Big Boss in surprise. I figured it would be Big Boss interrogating Silver. I never expected to get drawn into this part of the meeting. If I was going to be honest, Muddy was alone with Silver for at least a few minutes, by the time I left the one lab I was in, got to the other lab, and opened the door… and I had to remember that Muddy had more than enough time to hide by the time I got there. However, I never saw him enter the lab in question, so it could have been much longer than that. But could I lie to Big Boss? “A couple minutes, tops?” Yes, apparently, I could. Why I lied, however, I couldn’t figure out.

“Hmm.” BIg Boss was looking right at me and I didn’t like the look I was getting. “Alright, so Dust and Muddy fight and Dust falls off the ledge...”

Silver interrupted, “Umm, thrown off.”

“What was that Silver?” Big Boss seemed a little thrown off balance by the interruption.

“Um, Muddy threw Dust off the ledge.” Her voice was starting to crack when she spoke.

“OK, so after Muddy allegedly threw Dust off the ledge…”

“Wait a minute… you don’t believe me?” She said with a shocked look on her face.

“Frankly, no. I don’t trust pegasi. Two hundred years of turning their backs on their former brethren can do that to you. Now, how did you get down to Dust without Muddy seeing you?”

Silver starting shifting her weight from one hoof to the other repeatedly. Poor thing. She continued answering the question, but her voice was now barely above a whisper. “At one point during the fight while Muddy was strangling Dust, I charged into Muddy to get him off of Dust. While they were recovering I flew down into the cavern to hide.”

“So, after being thrown,” the word was dripping with contempt, “Dust lands at the bottom of the cavern. Now what happens?”

“I dragged Dust into one of the darker corners of the cavern. I didn’t want Muddy to finish what he had started. I hid the two of us from Muddy the best I could. Muddy looked over the ledge looking for us. He couldn’t see us though, it is way too dark in that cavern.” A grin momentarily came to her face as she obviously took pride in successfully hiding us. However, it disappeared the minute Big Boss addressed her again.

“So Muddy is up in the lab. What happens now?”

“Well, Dust comes to and I keep him quiet. Muddy is up in the lab worrying about how he will cover this all up.”

“Hmmm…” Big Boss kept calmly looking at Silver. He seemed well practiced in interrogation. “Miss Silver, I assume you were in the lab when one of my ponies got there to fetch Muddy?” Wait, no one ever entered the lab?

Silver’s head immediately snapped toward Big Boss. Her eyes narrowed a little. “No one ever entered the lab after Muddy threw Dust off the ledge.” She must have picked up on Big Boss’ trap too. It felt like I was watching two ponies play chess, and my head was starting to hurt.

“Once you knew there were other ponies in the stable, why didn’t you come up and get our attention? Surely, you had to know that Muddy couldn’t do anything questionable in front of others?”

“I don’t know you ponies. You all could have been like Muddy.”

“So, then why trust Dust?”

“He tried to save me from Muddy. Even though it didn’t work, at least he tried.”

Before I could thank her, Big Boss continued. “So, somepony that you barely knew who happened to stumble into a questionable situation and accidentally stops an alleged beating immediately earns your trust?”

“Well, no, not exactly. It was the almost dying that did that. Enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Silver shrugged a little. It was at this point I realized my head had been moving back and forth between Big Boss and Silver like I was watching them play catch.

“One last question for you. How did you get Dust back into the lab? He was clearly unable to climb back to the cavern, and it’s not like he can fly.” He hesitated a little. Did he know? “And you hardly seem strong enough to carry him the whole way.”

“I guess the adrenaline of the situation kicked in and I got him there. Barely, I might add. If I didn’t help him, he would have died.” She glanced at me when she said that. She must have been more stressed than I thought since her cheeks were flushed.

Big Boss took a second to think. “Alright, now why don’t you two fill me in on what happened in the stable the second time Dust went in?”

We took turns and told Big Boss of our individual experiences in the stable. Big Boss patiently listened to each of our stories in turn. He seemed particularly troubled by the different ways that the computer had tried to kill us.

“So, Silver, can you please explain to me how you ended up on the safer side of the door when it slammed shut?” He was staring right into SIlver’s eyes by this point.

“Just luck I guess.” She shrugged.

“And why did the Mr. Gutsy not enter the room you were in, but seemed to immediately target Dust when he was in the hallway?”

“You ask that like you think I planned....Wait, you think I caused all this, don’t you?” Silver’s head dropped and she looked ready to cry..

“Well, yes. You were the only pony in the stable before my ponies got there. You had, by your own admission, been living in the stable for an extended period of time with no attacks on you. And when my ponies show up, ponies start getting hurt. So, yes, I think you are behind it.” I don’t know if he meant to raise his voice, but he did.

“Wait, no… I can’t believe… Why would I… I would NEVER do that” I could almost see Silver’s brain working overtime.

“So says you. Well, regardless of whether or not I am getting the whole truth,” I noticed he was looking right at Silver when he said that, “You two have given me a lot to think about. But before that, Dust, what do you have to show me?” His tone was a little ominous. But then again, it was life or death we were talking about here, specifically, my life or death.

I was still a little shaken after watching the previous grilling of Silver. I opened up my saddlebags and removed everything I had scavenged from the stable.

“First, we have about 10 spark batteries.” I placed each battery on his desk.

“Hardly anything to get excited over.” He was right, but I was going to take my time. I almost died for this stuff. And I still may.

“Next, we have an assortment of tools and random electronics parts.”

“Dust, are you trying my patience on purpose. Do you have anything worth showing me or not?”

“Alright, how about this?” I tossed the water control chip onto his desk.

He picked up the chip and spun it between his hooves. “Looks like you did what I asked. Very good, very good. This should get us a lot of caps. It looks like it wasn’t a mistake...”

I cut him off. I was on a roll so I thought I would finish off with some flair. “And, for the big finale,” I drew out each Pip-Buck one at a time and placed it on his desk with a thump, “1, 2, 3, 3 Pip-Bucks. And the tools to work on them.”

I could see the gleam in his eyes. He picked up each Pip-Buck in turn and hoofed the activation switch. After trying all three, I saw his face sink a little. “Three non-functioning Pip-Bucks? Well, better than nothing I suppose. We can sell the working parts for caps, at least.”

My heart sunk. “Wait, none of them work? One functioned inside the stable.” I picked up each Pip-Buck and tried the switch. The third one turned on and showed me the booting screen again. “See, I told you.” I handed it to Big Boss. Once it left my touch, it turned itself off. “What the?”

Big Boss turned the Pip-Buck around in his hooves. “Very surprising. It seems this Pip-Buck is programmed to only respond to certain ponies. And it seems you are one of those certain ponies. These were very rare models, specially made for VIPs. I’ve only heard of one other that was found. When they tried to bypass it, it nearly killed the technician. The odd thing is, how is it programmed to work for you? You’re not 200 years old are you?”

“I’m as surprised as you are,” I shrugged.

Big Boss nodded. “This day just keeps getting more and more interesting. Dust, do you think you can cobble the other two together into something that will work?”

“I don’t know for sure. I’d need to see if I had the right parts between the two of them. I could try, but no promises. I’d never had my hooves on a Pip-Buck before.”

“Would you kindly try to fix the other Pip-Bucks, please? You may use one of the workstations outside. Let me know when you’re done. And Miss Silver, I assume you’ll want to stay with Dust?” Silver nodded very quickly. “I figured.” It was obvious he was still not comfortable around the pegasus.

He called for his assistant to walk me to one of the workstations with the two broken Pip-Bucks. Silver followed closely behind and sat down next to me and just watched me work. Using the tools I picked up from the stable, I took apart both Pip-Bucks and managed to piece one back together totally. I took a deep breath before hoofing the activation switch. When I was greeted with the brohoofing, smiling pony, I exhaled. I separated the extra working components and tossed the broken ones. Silver and I walked back over to Big Boss’ office and knocked.

“Come in, Dust,” he called out.

“I finished the Pip-Buck, here you go.” I placed the now-working Pip-Buck in front of him. “And here are a bunch of extra parts. I figure you could sell them for a pretty cap. Am I done here?”

“Dust, I understand that you are angry with us and I do personally apologize for sending you back into the stable. Last Stand will be pissed you made it out at all, but a lot of the others will be thrilled with what you did. You have exceeded what was expected of you so, as far as I am concerned, the matter regarding the alleged theft is closed. But, I will need to discuss the situation regarding Muddy and you with the other leaders. Please feel free to get settled in town. I know your house blew up, so I took care of a room at the boarding house for you. Silver, I also took care of a room for you, in appreciation for saving Dust. I will get in touch with you once I have more for you. Why don’t you both get checked out by the town doctor to make sure you’re OK.”

“Thank you Big Boss.” I nodded. “C’mon Silver, let’s go.”

After Silver walked out the door, Big Boss cleared his throat. I turned around and he pointed his hoof at his eyes and then at Silver who was still walking away. I simply nodded and then caught up with Silver.

After leaving the doctor’s office with relatively clean bills of health(we both had previous injuries that were still healing, after all), we made our way back to my old shack. I hadn’t seen my shack since the day it blew up. There wasn’t much left. Collapsed and broken fragments of lumber, pitted and charred, stood at odd angles to each other. It still smelled like smoke. Whatever the blast didn’t destroy initially, the fires afterwards most likely burned to a crisp. This was probably one time I was grateful I was an operative on a special assignment. There was really nothing in the shack that had any emotional value. But Muddy and I had stockpiled a collection of medical supplies and weapons, just in case things went sideways.

I started digging through the debris, grateful for once that the shack wasn’t that large. Unfortunately, it looked like Muddy cleaned out the shack first. No surprise there. He had several hours here while I lay presumably dying in the stable. None of our little supply caches were here.

“Dammit! I yelled and stomped the floor. My hoof went right through the floorboard and sunk in up to my fetlock. My hoof stopped moving and there was a clanging sound.

“What the?” I pulled my hoof out of the hole and peered into the opening. There was a small metal box hidden under the floorboard. I started stomping at the floor to make the hole larger.

“Dust? Did you find something?” Silver asked from the other side of the used-to-be shack. She seemed a little calmer than compared to her questioning in Big Boss’ office.

“Yeah, looks like something is hidden under the floor.” I finally made the hole large enough and pulled a small metal box out. I placed it on the floor and kicked it open. A small book fell out.

I picked up the worn tome. It was a simple book with a plain green cover. It was obviously a very old book, but was in reasonable shape. I flipped through the pages and saw a multitude of hoof (or mouth)written journal entries. The writing appeared to be Muddy’s and he appeared to have started it shortly after we got down here.

“What is it?” Silver asked while trying to look over my shoulder.

“Looks like a journal of the pony who lived here before us. Must have hidden it and forgot to take it when he left.” I felt bad lying to her, but I didn’t know where her loyalty lied. I threw the book in my saddlebags and lied to Silver, “Maybe I can rip out the written pages and sell the blank book for some caps. Alright, looks like Muddy got everything. Let’s go to the boarding house.”

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell right asleep. I was startled awake by knocking on my door. Before today, I was either knocked unconscious or sleeping on a floor somewhere. Sleeping in a bed was a pleasure.

“Wha? Huh? Who is it?” I called out still groggy from my nap.

The gravelly sounding voice of my friend Wilted Flower answered. “Dust, it’s Flower. Big Boss needs ta see ya now, alone.”

“Ugh, OK, give me a minute,” I grumbled back. What in the goddesses did he want now? I quickly threw my armor back on and opened the door. “What does he want?”

“Wouldn’t say. Just said ta get ya and get ya back there, pronto! Let’s go.” Why was she wearing her body armor to deliver a message. I had a sinking feeling in my gut.

I apparently had slept most of the afternoon. The daylight was starting to diminish as we made our way back over to Big Boss’ office. Flower left me at the main barn door once we got there. “Good luck.”

Luck? Why would I need luck? I turned to look at her and ask her, but she had already left and I couldn’t see where she went. How did she do that?

Big Boss’ door was open and he was sitting behind his desk. I knocked. “Big Boss, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, I did Dust, please have a seat.”

“Um, ok.” I planted my rump on one of the chairs opposite his.

“The other leaders and I have discussed your… situation. Needless to say, we are all a little concerned over the events from the stable, regardless of which version of events we believe. Most ponies believe you did nothing wrong. But then assuming you are telling the truth, then we need to know why Muddy would try to kill you.” Welcome to the club. “Do you have any idea why?”

“I wish I did, Big Boss. We’ve been friends for a few years and we’ve never had problems, that I’m aware of anyway.”

“Hmm, that’s disheartening. I do not like mysteries.” His forehead furrowed. “Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I asked to see you?”

“The question had crossed my mind, yes.”

“The other leaders and I discussed the situation as I had already indicated. But we also came to a decision. I have bad news and good news.” He inclined his head a little. “The bad news is that we no longer have a spot for you on one of our scavenging teams. Last Stand doesn’t want you back and none of the other teams want you due to the questionable circumstances that still surround you.”

It felt like the floor had fallen away from underneath me. I had been working for the company for almost the entire time I’ve been down here. And now they are just turning their backs on me? I slumped in my seat. “Wow, um, just wow. Didn’t I prove myself by going back in alone to clear out the utility wing? Isn’t that what the suicide mission was about? I can’t believe you are firing me after I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me?!?”

“Dust, calm down. I never said you were fired,” Big Boss said in a calm manner, completely opposite of my mood right now.

“Then what the fuck are you saying?”

“I said you were no longer working on a scavenging team.” I’m sure my face belied my confusion. “I have an offer for you. The other leaders and I want Muddy back. We feel that there are now too many questions concerning his actions in the stable. In that vein, we are sending out a team to bring Muddy back. We feel that your knowledge of him will be invaluable...”

“Big Boss, I don’t know much. Muddy didn’t say anything too useful before he kicked me into the cavern in the stable. And I couldn’t find anything in the remains of our shack. I don’t see…”

Big Boss interrupted me. “You have a very bad habit of jumping to conclusions, don’t you?”

I felt my cheeks get hot as they probably flushed. I am not a smart pony sometimes. “Sorry, Big Boss.”

Big Boss grinned a little. “What I was going to say is that we have decided to send out a team to bring Muddy back. Your knowledge of him will be invaluable, so we have decided to offer you leadership of that team.”

“Oh….OH!. But wait, I thought the leaders didn’t trust me?”

“Well, they don’t, at least not to send you back into another recovery with possible loot. But we all feel that you are uniquely qualified to be in charge of this mission. You are personally vested in the outcome and you know him better than anyone else in town. You’d be perfect for the job.”

He made a very good point. I had a lot of questions that needed answering and Muddy would be the only pony to give them to me. Seeing as how I wouldn’t be working my normal job, I needed something to do to earn my keep. This would allow me to address all of my concerns. But, did I really want to go hunting for someone who would probably try to kill me the instant he saw me? I really had no idea what I wanted to do.

“Do I have to make a decision right now?”

“Well, I suppose not. The search team leaves tomorrow morning, whether you decide to take me up on this offer or not. They leave early in the morning. They will not wait. If you decide to take me up on my offer, meet here at first light to get outfitted and to meet your team.”

I wandered around Coltington for about an hour thinking about the offer Big Boss had made me. I was no closer to making a decision than I was an hour ago. I was also starving. I swung by the boarding house and picked up Silver, who was also starving.

The inside of Coltington’s “diner” was nothing special. Again, much like the rest of town, it was a conglomeration of corrugated metal paneling and salvaged lumber. The odor of various grilled meats and stewed vegetables filled the air. There were only a hoofful of tables and Blue Plate, the unicorn chef, was behind the counter with his stained apron on. I ordered the stew, which was usually made from a random assortment of pre-war canned vegetables. Silver was going to order the Daily Special, until I told her it was usually radroach meat. Her face got pale and she ordered the stew as well. I guess neither one of us liked eating meat, to which other ponies had gotten accustomed. We also both got a bottle of Sparkle Cola. Ahh, the carrotty goodness!

After getting our bowls of food, we sat down at one of the tables in one of the corners. The food smelled delicious, but then again, I hadn’t had a real meal in a couple of days. I dug right into the bowl of what appeared to be carrots, peas and corn in brown broth. It didn’t really matter what the vegetables were specifically, it tasted good enough. Silver poked at the bits floating in the water.

“Sumfin wron wiff your food?” I asked through a half-full mouth.

“Dust, didn’t your mother even teach you any manners?”

I swallowed all the food I had in my mouth. “Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “So Silver, what are you going to do now that you left the stable?” I asked between scoops of food.

“I don’t know, I figured I’d just hang around Coltington, maybe get a job. Of course, that’s assuming that Big Boss leaves me alone.”

“What do you mean, leaves you alone?”

“Dust, we’ve been followed since we left his office earlier.” Was Big Boss just having her followed, or if it was meant for the both of us. She glanced up from the carrot-like chunk she was trying to scoop up with her spoon. “Where did you go a little earlier when you left the boarding house?”

“Big Boss wanted to talk to me about the situation with Muddy. It seems they are going to drop the allegation that I’m a thief, mostly anyway.”

“That’s good… but you don’t look happy,” she said. “What’s the bad news?”

“I don’t really have a job anymore. Even though they believe that I’m not a thief, they still don’t trust me because of what happened with Muddy.” I decided to keep the bounty hunting a secret for now.

“Oh Dust, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I’ll find something. You have no idea how valuable someone with my skills is. I’ll probably have a new job in a few days. May not be in Coltington, but that could be awkward anyway. So if you stick around Coltington, are you worried about the ponies you’re hiding from?” I asked.

“I figure if I hang around town, they can’t get to me easily,” she responded. “Safety in numbers?”

“Mind if I ask who is looking for you? I know you didn’t want to tell Big Boss, but will you tell me?”

Her movements slowed as I asked the question. She took the food into her mouth and chewed it, albeit very slowly. She swallowed her mouthful, “Dust, I really don’t want to talk about that. It wasn’t a pleasant part of my life and I’d rather not discuss it… at least not now.” She sighed deeply.

“Don’t you trust me? Or is everything you told Big Boss a lie?”

“I do trust you.. just not with that. It is very painful for me, OK? I would appreciate it if you don’t bring it up again.” Silver shifted in her seat. I was making her uncomfortable.

“Alright, can I at least ask you about exactly what happened between you and Muddy before I walked in the lab?”

“Dust, there isn’t anything to tell. Muddy walked in a couple of minutes before you. He got a couple of shots in and then you walked in.”

“So, where did all those injuries on your torso come from?”

“DUST, ENOUGH!” The few patrons there were all turned to look at us. Even Blue Plate stopped what he was doing to look.

“Alright everypony, nothing to see here. Turn back around.” I called out to the entire room. Everyone went back to their own meals, but you could feel them trying to slyly glance our way.

“Dust, I am going to say this one last time. I do not want to talk about anything from before we met. If I feel ready, and that is a huge if, then I will talk to you about it, but not until then.”

The next few minutes were spent in awkward silence as we worked on our meals. I broke the silence. “I was offered an interesting opportunity by Big Boss. I didn’t bring it up earlier because I don’t know how I feel about it, but I need to bounce it off of somepony. He has asked me to lead a team to go find Muddy and bring him back to town to answer for his actions.”

She nearly choked on the morsel she had in her mouth, “Are you sure that is a good idea? I mean, he did try to kill you already, twice. What will stop him from killing you outright now?”

I noted that her first reaction was to dissuade me from looking for Muddy. However, she did have a point. Muddy was better than me at hoof-to-hoof combat and anything dealing with weapons. I wasn’t going to be able to beat him head on. I was either going to have to outsmart or outnumber him. “What if I said I’ll have a team with me?”

“I guess that depends on who is on the team?” she asked.

“Well, um…” Shit… I forgot to ask who the team was. I facehoofed myself, hard. “I am not a smart pony sometimes.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, you didn’t ask?” I simply shook my head back at her. She shook her head at me. “Dust, I think you should just let him go. He left without killing you. If he really wanted you dead, he would have made sure you were dead, don’t you think? Going after him will just get you killed for sure.” Still trying to talk me out of it. “Besides, you’re safer here with all your friends and the rest of the town.”

She had another point. But I had other considerations to worry about, and they were things I couldn’t discuss except with only one other pony. Muddy was my Special Operations partner and we were responsible for each other. If something was wrong, he needed my help. There was also our facilitator, Midnight Ink, to worry about. He was the only pony I knew of in the Wasteland that knew the truth behind Muddy and me, and he was in danger as well and would need to be warned. And if Muddy was beyond help, then I would have to make sure he was put down. I don’t know why, but I felt that I should probably be the one to take care of that.

“Silver, let me ask your opinion on something. Do you think I should tell Big Boss that Muddy is a pegasus?” I had been pondering this for a while now. I don’t know if it would help or hurt. Being a pegasus, or consorting with pegasi, immediately made you an enemy of most Wasteland ponies. But then again, if Muddy was going to ditch the entire earth pony facade, he might be wandering the Wasteland as a pegasus and if they were looking for an earth pony, well that wouldn’t be very helpful. And, of course, he could out me as well.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea Dust. If you do that,” she leaned in close and whispered, “then he may do the same to you. His reputation is being questioned now, but you have just made a big step in saving yours. Besides, how would it look if it was known you were lying to everyone this whole time about him?” She leaned back and resume a normal volume. “Why would you do that anyway?”

“Well, I’m assuming Big Boss will want to get his hooves on him. Whether or not I go, the more information he has the better.”

“I guess. I still think it would be a foolish thing to do. I say just let it go and try to get a new start here.” I looked up and looked right into her eyes. I hadn’t been able to notice in the stable, but her eyes was the same shade of blue as the sky above the clouds. I could get lost in those eyes… dammit, not now!

“Silver, I do have a question for you. How did you open the door to the stable? You need a code for the external controls.”

“Oh that? That was easy. The group I was with, we came across a Stable-Tech sales office a while back. One of the terminals was still active and had the entry codes for all the stables in this part of Equestria. Unfortunately, the file was somewhat corrupted and we only got a hoofful of codes.”

“So you lied to Big Boss?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, yeah, I didn’t want him knowing that I had information on other stables. Something tells me that if he knew that, he’d never let me leave town unless I told him everything. Even then, he may keep me around to make sure I was telling the truth.” She grinned a little, taking obvious enjoyment from pulling the wool over Big Boss’ eyes.

“Interesting. How many other stables are there in the area?” I asked… maybe if I could get Big Boss some leads to more stables I’d get more credibility back.

“We were able to save only 3 codes. The problem is all we had were stable numbers. The locations were kept in a different file we couldn’t access.”

Damn it, why can’t anything ever be easy? “Silver, I don’t mean to pry… what happened to the rest of your group?’

I saw her mouth for into a small frown and her eyes and ears dropped noticeably. “They were all killed.” I was about to say something, but she added, “Including my family.”

“I’m so sorry Silver, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s alright, Dust, I know.”

We finished the rest of our meal in silence.

It was dark after we finished eating, so we made our way back to the boarding house and went to our respective rooms. After locking the door behind, I removed my armor and placed it next to the bed. I slipped into the bed and pulled the sheet up over my body, reveling in the comfort of a real bed again. Staring at the ceiling, I started trying to figure out what I was going to do.

The ceiling did not reveal its thoughts on the matter, even after an hour of intense questioning. I kept glancing over at the saddlebags, wondering about the contents of the journal I had found. “Fuck it, I can sleep later I guess.” I said as I reached over into my saddlebags and withdrew Muddy’s journal. I was curious to see what it had said and I probably wouldn’t be getting any sleep until I did. I flipped it open to the first page. Muddy’s writing was unusually neat, considering we had to use our mouths to write.

The first entry was shortly after we moved into Coltington:

“I’ve never kept one of these before so I don’t quite know where to start. I guess I should say that I needed somewhere to write down my thoughts. I tried talking with my partner Dust, but he’s a bit of an egghead and seems to be taking this whole Wasteland thing a little poorly. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it down here. I miss all the comforts of home and some of the shit we are seeing down here is unreal. I guess I have to endure this, though, if I am ever going to become a Wing Commander like I was promised by the General. I guess I can endure anything as long as it means getting my life’s dream to come true. At least the General sees the promise that my other commanding officers did not.”

First of all, where does he get off calling me nerdy? Secondly, how was he going to become a Wing Commander? He gave up his commission in the Enclave armed forces when he joined Special Operations just like I had.

I scanned several other entries and did not notice anything interesting until one from a few months ago:

“I made it halfway through. Several more months and I will be back up at the fort training for my flight wing. And not soon enough. Dust will not stop complaining. I hate the Wasteland this, I hate the Wasteland that. It’s driving me nuts. It seems like he’s expecting to be down here for a while. I try to tell him that we’ll be getting out of here soon, but he keeps telling me it doesn’t work that way. Whatever, stupid pony.”

Stupid pony? Who does he think he is? I was definitely gonna talk about this with him if I ever ran across him again. Wait, was I really that whiny?

I kept scanning until I got to a weird looking entry. It was from about a month ago. The writing was messy and dark. It appeared he was rushing through the entry and pressing down really hard on the pencil.

“Goddesses be damned! That fucking liar! The General is a fucking liar! I spoke with Midnight today during our routine report. I mentioned that I was getting excited that we’d be leaving soon. Midnight looked at me funny and explained that we were posted down here indefinitely and even if we did return, we would never return to normal service. And if we tried to return without authorization, we’d be dewinged and branded as Dashites! The son of a bitch lied! I’ll never be a Wing Commander! Fuck that pegasus! Fuck all pegasi! Fuck the Enclave! Fuck the Wasteland! I will find a way to get what I want! Get what I deserve! Get even!”

Is this what caused Muddy to snap? The writing seemed visceral and unfiltered. I would be angry too if I found out someone had dangled my life’s dream in front of me, lying the whole time. There was one more entry left in the journal from a couple of weeks ago. The writing was was once again neat and clear:

“I found something interesting in the ruins of Horseton today. There was even a small surprise waiting for me inside. My new toy should help me deal with some of the issues that have arisen lately. If only they knew. This should at least be a small start to my path back to glory!”

What the hell was Muddy talking about? A surprise in Horseton? Did he find the stable before anyone else? New toy? Was he referring to Silver? Issues? Path back to glory? I laid my head down on the pillow and started to think about what the journal could possibly mean. My head only started to hurt.

My mind first went to Silver. What did I really know about the pink pegasus? All I knew for sure was that she had been hiding in the stable from somepony, or ponies. Who they really were I had no real clue. She was obviously afraid of them, that much was clear. True, she did save my life, twice: once when I was pushed off the ledge and when I was about to face off against a Mr. Gutsy. She very easily could have left me to die either time, but she didn’t.

But then there were questions I had that didn’t have answers. Who exactly was Silver hiding from? Were they the same ponies that had injured her? Had Muddy injured her? Why did she save me, a perfect stranger? Was it simply in appreciation for saving her? Or was there more to it than that? And why did she decide to leave the stable with me? And what was with the random thoughts I’ve been having about her? I barely knew her… has it really been that long since I’ve been with a mare? Is that all it is?

The most glaring was how did Silver know Muddy’s real name? We were not supposed to break cover for any reason whatsoever. So they apparently knew each other better than Silver was letting on. But that doesn’t explain why Muddy would break protocol. Then there was his journal which raised even more questions. I realized that I had not spent as much time listening to him as I should. Why was he under the impression we would only be down here for a year? Why did he think he’d become a Wing Commander? Was he really promised all this? From what I read, he was lied to. There really was no going back, at least not anywhere near the way he seemed to believe it would be.

Maybe the answer to all these other questions would explain probably the most important question I had… why had Muddy tried to kill me twice? We had been basically inseparable since we had been teamed up for training. I didn’t think we had any major arguments, so why did I seemingly become the focus of his aggression lately? Or was I just a convenient target?

Finally, my mind drifted to the General. Why had he lied to Muddy? Or was he lying to me? Or maybe, he was lying to both us? But why? Why did he have to lie at all? Ugh, my head was starting to pound. I laid my head down on the soft pillow and closed my eyes to clear my thoughts.

My thoughts drifted back to Silver and I fell asleep picturing those sky blue eyes...

Level Up!

Skills : Speech 25

Perk Obtained
Scrounger : You are getting good at this “salvaging” thing. You will find 10% more caps and ammo when searching ruins for salvageable material.

Author's Notes:

Thanks for those of you who have stuck around. If you are worried about the story never leaving town, don't worry... this is the last chapter that takes place entirely in Coltington for the near future... the real journey starts next time.

Thanks again!