As I stared up into the bright, open, ambering skies above me, I’d wondered just how I’d come to be here.

The glinting snow on the rough mountain peaks shimmered in the failing daylight. The mountains themselves stood like imposing monuments that wore fragile white caps on them. The cold breeze that swung down from them through the lush pine trees chilled my exposed skin, as well as made the tall grass I laid in dance like the feathers of a great, living beast. Still, the warmth embrace of what little light there was left as the sun began to set behind the south western mountains. Even with the darkness of night soon to hit, the sight made the most serene feeling flowing through my body. Still one thing felt off, and it was repeating itself in my head over and over, keeping me from completely feeling one hundred percent relaxed.

How the hell did I get here?

In one of the most perverse feelings of Deja Vu ever, I sat up slowly and looked around to just where the hell I was waking up at. The bright, green lake in the center of where Cannon City used to stand had turned to a dark forest green without the bright afternoon sunlight shining down onto it. The muddy shoreline sat only a few hoofsteps away from me through the reeds and tall grass the lined the small lake. In looking around, I’d caught the glimpse of something only a few hoofsteps away to my side. Laying on her side facing away from me, was the resting form of Violet.

Pulling myself to my hooves, I straightened out my still chafing battle saddle and walked over to her. She looked to just be curled up and asleep, which was odd, because I couldn’t really be certain of why she would be sleeping right now. Or even why I had been asleep for that matter. The last thing I could remember, was that it had been mid afternoon when we were practicing with the Dizzitron, and…

“I must have passed out mid flight…” I muttered to myself, thinking about the second launch attempt. I remember everything going black and white, and her calling out for me, but… past that, there’s nothing. Without an answer, I reached out to her in hopes that she would know anything more than I happened to. Putting my hoof on her, I shook her softly.

“Ugh.” Violet moaned as I shook her. “It’s too early to wake up…” Rolling over toward me, she winced at a large gash that I’d just noticed sat above her right eye. “I’ve got just the worst splitting headache.” The gash looked like it was recent, and had bruised up quite a lot. And while it wasn’t currently bleeding, it had bled down over half her face. “Fuck… what time is it?”

I forced myself to close my eyes out of the fear I’d get sick. I’d never thought normally that I’d be the least bit squeamish, but… seeing her like that reminded me of how Rogue looked after the cave entrance had come down on him. Really, I never wanted to picture that moment in my head ever again.

“Sunset…?” I spoke slowly, turning away from the grizzly wound. Looking back over toward the darkening amber skies over the mountains, they transitioned the skies about to a deeper darker color. They dimmed as I watched, not fast, but slowly enough that I knew that we were heading for the velvety blue of night. “Are you alright?”

“Shit.” Violet grumbled. “Delilah is going to kill me.” Shuffling to get up, she walked up through the grass to my side. Thankfully, she’d chosen to put me on her good side as she rubbed at her neck. Now that she did it, mine felt oddly matted down as well. “What the hell were we doing?”

“I... can’t remember?” I said slowly. So, if I couldn’t remember, and she couldn’t… something weird must have gone down.

“I can.” The squawky, heavily accented voice of somepony came from above. Looking up into the nearest tree, I saw the outline of a large griffon sitting among the branches, staring at us with a single, sharp yellow eye visible to us. She looked a lot bigger than either Hispano or her Dad had been, and from her sheer bulk, a whole lot meaner. In her midnight blue talons, she held a very large, very mean looking gun with a drum magazine near the back. “You two kindly fell asleep down here so I could come and escort you back to Mr. Solomon.” I couldn’t quite place the accent, but it sounded just like some of the pegasi who’d visit from the cloud city around the ruins of where Stalliongrad used to be.

“Galina.” Violet gave a low growl as she spun around. “Still Solomon’s lapdog?”

“Do you two know each other?” I asked as I nervously stepped closer to Violet’s side. I guess I wasn’t the only one who knew a griffon who worked for Solomon…

“Dah.” Galina shrugged. “Better than being Delilah’s bitch.” She grunted, flaring her impressively wide wings and dropping out of the tree. Even for a griffon, her wings were massive compared to anything I’d ever seen on another pegasus. Then again, everything about her was huge. Hell, when she hit the ground, I could feel the tremors of it under my hooves.

Even for the split second when she was on all fours, she basically towered over Violet and I. Her snow white rear coat was covered in oddly spaced midnight blue spots, and the crimson plumage that hung down covering one of her unfriendly eyes was streaked with darker red accents that almost pointed right to her blue, eagle-like beak. If that weren’t enough, she was like Hispano’s father and covered in numerous scars. However, the ones that scoured wildly across Galina’s body ran in deep, parallel sets across her torso and neck. If I had to guess, they probably ran all over under the solid grey heavy combat armor she wore as well. All I could think in looking at the marks, was that must be what it looked like when someone like Buck got into a fight...

“How did you find us?” Like trying to stand tall against what might as well have been a mountain, Violet did her best to look imposing. Though, I’d think that mountains could hardly be impressed by anything that wasn’t as steadfast or as large as them.

“How you say…” She smirked, clicking her sharply hooked beak together a few times as she pointed her large gun at us. “A little bird told me.” With a snarl, she used her gun to point back toward the ruins of Cannon City. “Solomon has eyes on at all times.” Pointing her talons up to her piercing yellow eye, she squinted at us. “You should know, we always have advantage.” Shaking her gun again a bit more aggressively than before, she grunted brutishly. “Now, move back toward city. Slowly.”

The both of us sighed and turned around as asked. When I did, I accidentally bumped against Violet’s side. Stepping aside, I looked down and back to make sure I didn’t accidentally hurt her still braced and healing rear leg.

“Sorry.” I muttered, only to find my head grabbed between both her forehooves. She used them to shove my head downward and comb through my mane as if it contained the secrets of the wasteland.

“You’re missing a patch of your mane…” She said, pulling my head around before shoving it down again. This time, it was far enough that my muzzle was forced into a patch of old, dead grass. “Did you always have that scar there?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I mumbled out from around the grass stalks. “Can I have my head back?”

“Dah. Give the mare her tiny head so I don’t have to shoot either of you for wasting time.” Galina grunted, sounding like mom did whenever I asked her to buy my something that I didn’t really need. Wow, wasn’t she just a barrel of fun. If the two tank stallions and this griffon were any indication of the rest of Solomon’s party, I could do with never meeting them. Ever.

And hey, my head isn’t that tiny!

Looking back to retort, I stopped myself when I noticed that the big gun in her talons was still frighteningly pointed at me. Deciding that discretion was the better choice of actions, I shut my muzzle tightly, turned around, and began to walk again.

We were escorted around the edge of the lake back towards the ruins of the city. I couldn’t exactly be sure, but the closer we got, the more I’d wondered if Violet shared my concern for just might have happened to Lucky. Had he been waiting here for the whole afternoon? Why hadn’t he come and found us? My mind lined up a relatively solid theory for that. Maybe was he captured first by Solomon, and our lack of memories had to do something with Solomon overall?

The flickering lights of a fire danced across all the dark facets of the ruined town ahead of us, ushering away the long shadows formed by the setting sun. The firelight came from up around the corner of the half-building at the lakes edge of the ruins, along with the thick scent of burning wood. It was not at all an unpleasant aroma, unlike the forge fire in Fort Mac, but it was still something that felt like it assaulted my senses with its sheer thickness. Rolling my tongue around in my shut muzzle, I could almost taste the gritty tasting fire ash collecting on it.

Trotting closer to Violet as we rounded the backside to one of the ruined buildings at this end of the crater lake, we moved into a cramped, trash filled alleyway. Kicking through the two century old refuse that had sat abandoned in the tight space for two centuries, the edge of a large bonfire came into sight from ahead. It’s wild, shifting flames licked up at the darkening skies, throwing off bright embers that matched the fiery wild clouds that drifted slowly the far off mountain peaks. Even from just gaining line of sight to it, the intense heat that the blaze gave off felt good compared to the relatively cool of the evening air.

“Hey, Landslide.” Galina called out with a shrill squawk, “We’re coming into camp.”

“About damn time.” The annoyed grunt of a gruff sounding mare mirrored the frustrated tone of Galina. We were greeted by the voice again as we headed around the corner. “Woah there, what the hell did you do to them?” The voice hadn’t come from a mare at all, rather, a quite tall female Minotaur with an all black coat. While Galina had been large, she didn’t have glistening mounds of muscles like this minotaur did. My attention was broken when she belted out a heavy laugh as soon as she caught sight of Violet.

“I did nothing.” Galina huffed as she pushed up behind me. I found the barrel of her gun jammed uncomfortably hard against my neck and maneline. “They were found this way, yes. Now I must take them to Solomon.”

“Laugh it up, Jess.” Violet grumbled as she prodded at the minotaur’s overly toned, muscular waistline. Faster than I could have thought, the Minotaur’s massive arm swung downward. I recoiled further into the gun against me as Violet’s forehoof was grabbed, and she was yanked a few feet into the air.

“I will laugh all I want.” With a sadistic smile that seemed out of place on her large, square muzzle, she raised Violet up to eye level before continuing. “Because for you, there’s no level of abuse against you that I won’t enjoy.”

“But… babe… why?“ Violet pouted with a snideness that I knew would only get a pony deeper into any trouble they were in. “I love you, Jess.”

I was confused as to just what the hell was going on, but when hadn’t that been the case so far? But it didn’t really matter, seeing as this ‘Jess’ reach and grabbed onto Violet’s still bound and healing rear leg. Violet’s fake pouting turned into real pain as the enormous fingers wrapped around her squeezed at the braced leg. She whimpered as the sound of fabric tightening forced the thought into my head that the next sound I would hear from her leg was another snap.

“Yeah, feels good, right? Almost like what I felt like when you left, traitor.” Jess muttered and leaned close. “Don’t you ever mock me again. Scratch that, you don’t ever speak to me again. Got that?” With a snort strong enough that it fluttered even my mane from the ground below her, Violet whimpered and nodded. “Good.”

With what seemed like an effortless action on her part, Jess casually tossed Violet to the side. I watched Violet collapse onto the ground, whining and holding her leg which I hoped wasn’t actually broken again. With another sharp snort, she brought her stern and judgemental gaze down to me, waiting for me to act or say something. I kept my muzzle shut tightly and leaned away from her as much as I could. As she stepped back toward the building she’d been leaning against before we arrived, I felt like I could finally breath a small sigh of relief. Looking over to Violet however, I found her burning glare locked onto Jess before she winced and held her leg tightly.

“Would you two idiots stop breaking my concentration?” The high pitched and nasally voice that filled the air was just about hooves on chalkboard irritating. It forced my ears down flat against my head, and was coming from the open face second floor of the building of what had once been this town’s fire station. “Cora said that there were a bunch of loony tribals running around in these woods, and I can’t get these turrets set up with your constant pointless yammering.”

“Hah. Tiny Floof needs quiet? I do not think she knows what loud is.” Galina spoke up sternly. It was a great feeling to have the barrel of her gun removed from the back of my head. It was another, not so great feeling when she shot it up into the air however. I didn’t even have time to jump on my hooves before my hearing had turned into a dull ringing whine. Thankfully, it the ringing bled off quickly, and the obnoxious smell of cordite hanging in the air sank into my nose. One annoyance traded for another I supposed.

“You stupid featherbrain!” The shrill voice beat out the dimming ringing in my ears, and I looked up to see a small, fluffy head pop out from the floor above. I’d only seen a picture of a sheep in my textbook before, but this new person looked close enough that I guessed that’s what she had to be. The small, white woolen head sported a flipped up welder’s mask that barely contained the fluffy and oil spotted wool coat it sat on top of, and her vibrant orange eyes burned like rings of forged iron pulled fresh from the furnace. “You think being reckless is funny!? You could have killed me with that shot!”

Galina simply gave out a throaty, squawking laugh that echoed among the dark ruined town around us. Jess the Minotaur on the other hoof, simply sighed and dragged her enormous hand down across her face in exasperated annoyance.

“Quit your laughing you incompetent moron!” The small sheep growled and pulled her head back over the edge. “Don’t make me come down there and…”

“And what?” Galina interrupted her with another laugh, “fluff me to death?”

The furious sheep disappeared from view before the grinding of a few metal bits from the building above turned into a soft, constant sputtering. From over the edge, the sheep’s head came back over, holding something long and thin in her muzzle. As she bit down on whatever control bit the object had, the small puttering motor that sat just past the side of her muzzle revved up. With a whine almost as shrill as the sheep’s voice, the motor spun the wicked chain of blades strung around the weapons to a speed where only a line of glittering silver metal greeted us. My legs almost gave out at the sight of the motorized chain blade, and even Galina went silent at the obnoxiously uncomfortable noise it made.

There was a small flash from the room above that caught my eye. It must have caught the sheep’s as well, because she backed off the bit of the weapon, letting the small sputtering engine drag the chain to a complete stop. She disappeared from sight again, and the sound of the engine died altogether.

“If I may interrupt but a moment, Miss Lamia.” Another voice cropped up, but this time it was of a stallion’s in tone and demeanor. “Mr. Solomon is very grateful for the excellent work you have been provided.” The way he spoke wasn’t as loose as the others, feeling more structured and proper. To me, it sounded a lot like the high society jerks who came from canterlot in all the old movies I’d seen back in Neighvarro city. “If it would be acceptable, I will take the prisoners from your work area to meet him as requested.”

“Yeah yeah, take them.” The small sheep replied quickly. “How about those two useless lugs? Going to take them as well before they call down those tribals on us, or am I going to have to give them a shearing they’ll remember?”

“Well, with no prisoners around, I see no reason for them to stay.” The proper sounding stallion said before clearing his throat. “Though, I supposed if they do stay, Mr. Solomon wouldn’t be against having to spread the shares amongst one less breathing party member.”

“Calm down, was only joke. Besides, we have been here for hour already.” Galina grumbled, shifting herself around behind me. I found myself fumbling with my hoofing as I was forcefully shoved out of the way by the enormous griffon. Raising her gun in the air, she shouted out into the evening air. “Besides, there are no tribals!”

I, along with all of the others, fell into a long and silent pause. Even Violet and I craned our ears to listen for any response from the wilds. I don’t know why, but I felt like Irony really missed a chance to strike her down for showing such hubris. Sadly. That would have required me to have had any sort of luck in my life these past few days.

“What is all this noise!?” The rage filled voice of yet another stallion echoed out from the open door on the old mechanic shop up the street that Lucky had entered earlier this afternoon. Looking up the street to where the Runner had once say, I had to wonder if he hadn’t driven it into the garage to wait, only to be captured as well. “If that’s you again, Galina, I would be very unhappy you were wasting time instead of patrolling like I hired you for.” Wait, something was off with this. “Rook, if you are done relaxing, I would suggest you escort my guests into the trailer.”

His trailer? Galina had been hired by him? Not going to lie, but the pit in my stomach grew about three sizes with the realization that the voice I’d just heard was Delilah’s rival, Solomon. I already knew we were going to meet him, it had been inevitable. But it’s one thing to know you will, and another to feel like you’re literally about to step into a world of overwhelming unknowns.

With an arcane pop and flash, I found a proper looking unicorn stallion standing right beside me. Other than the slightly worn, but well pressed three piece suit he wore, his off white coat was spotless. His jet black mane and mustache were impeccably trimmed to be both short and sharp. The bored look in his turquoise eyes was just as plain as the simple black bastion shaped cutie mark on his lithe flanks. However, the one thing about him that really stuck out, was the cybernetic limb that replaced his right foreleg at the shoulder. I’d seen some simple prosthetics that the enclave offered their veterans, but this one looked to be solidly built out of numerous brass and copper tubes, but still simply latched together in places with a few linch pins.

The unicorn stallion’s horn glowed softly for a moment before engulfing me in light. With an odd squeezing sensation and a disorienting flash, I found myself standing on the plush orange rug of a quite long, tubular shaped room. After a few moments, another pair of arcane flashes apparated both the unicorn and Violet to my side.

We stood in what was probably the cleanest room I’d ever stood in. Stark white walls with long oval, inset windows shone with an impossible luster under the opulent white lighting strips that seemed almost molded across the arched ceiling. A muted orange shag carpeting ran across the floor and around the various furniture that, like the lighting, felt almost molded right into the walls. A semi-circular seating booth with a plump red leather bench surrounded a marble white table off to our left, and a pair of plush looking chairs sat to our right. Past the two quickly narrowed down to what must have been the front of this… vehicle? A steering wheel and glowing control console sat behind a large, open and spotless windshield that stared out of the dark interior of the repair shop’s garage. On the control console near the steering wheel, was what looked like a set of letters and numbers. I almost missed them as I took everything in, but the orange stylized lettering that spelled out EM-50 was embossed under the various dials and gauges for the vehicle.

“What the hell is this thing?” I found myself asking. Really, I need to get a better handle on speaking my mind out loud…

“This would be Solomon’s private living quarters.” The proper stallion spoke up again, almost sound as if the act of telling us bored him greatly. “You would do best to not make it filthy during your… limited stay.” With another flash, he was gone into thin air, leaving Violet and I alone in this strange place.

“Yeah, well I’m going to get comfortable.” Violet spoke up with a hearty smile to me before trotting across the fuzzy floor. Without hesitation, she trotted into the well stocked kitchenette that wrapped almost all the way around the back side of the trailer, only opening to a doorway the hid a large bed and bedroom beyond. Violet opened up the chromed refrigerator that sat next to the doorway. Even from where I stood in the relative middle of this trailer, I could feel the blast of cool air hit me when she opened it. Looking back at me, she nodded her head inside. “Want a sparkle cola?”

I shrugged and pondered over the wound still open above Violet’s eye. Every part of me wanted to recoil, but my brain was too preoccupied trying to figure out just how she’d gotten it. It had to do with why we can’t remember anything, I could just feel that they were connected. It was… frustrating, because I knew I should remember!

The sharp clicking of a locking mechanism from the side of the trailer next to me was followed by a soft hiss. The sealed door that lead to the carpeted steps trailing down from next to where I stood opened, and before me was who I assumed was Solomon himself.

“Oh, hello there.” Solomon smiled as he stepped up the stairs.

Like the interior of this place, his coat and mane were of a sparkling and flawlessly white luster, though his mane was cut short and rigidly ran from his his head down his neck. The only things that weren’t immaculately bright on him, were the black, crescent shaped marking directly in the center of his broad forehead, and his deep purple eyes. He was just… too clean, too perfect looking for what I’d seen of the wasteland so far. Climbing the stairs with a long stride, he came up to the interior and stood over me imposingly.

He wasn’t more than an extra foot higher than me, but I think I could finally appreciate just how different Saddle Arabians were from us ponies. His long, thin legs were moderately muscled compared to the Saddle Arabian I’d nearly killed the other day in the tank. His muzzle was only slightly longer than that of a pony’s, but held a decidedly more gentle shape to it than the relatively solid and blocky feel a pony stallion’s had.

“Allow me to introduce myself.” He began to say with a relaxed look about himself.

However, Violet had other plans.

“Bombay, meet the douchebag who wants to destroy Delilah’s town.” She spoke with such disdain that it nearly visibly radiated off of her. As she closed the refrigerator, she walked back over to my side and unfurled her closed wing toward me. Held inside of it tightly, was an unopened bottle of Sparkle cola that held beads of condensation along its length. Holding my own wing out, I took it from her and passed the chilled beverage into my forehooves.

“Yes, well,” Solomon grunted before he pointed over to the table booth towards the front of the vehicle. “That’s certainly not what I intend to do. Allow me to explain.” Violet thought it was apt to take him up on the offer for seating, and so without knowing what we’d gotten into, I followed her.

The seating for the booth was extremely plush. Almost to the point that I wondered if there were actually well made clouds under the fabric. Scooting around on it, I managed to make myself comfortable, while Violet took a seat on the other side of the table from me. Placing her cola against the lip of the table with her hoof, she gave it a few taps with her wing until it opened up with a popping fizz. Doing the same, I found that the cap readily came off and scattered across the marble table and over to Violet’s side.

Solomon walked over to one of the plush chairs across from the table. I don’t really know what it was, but the way he walked just exuded authority. Maybe it was the way he held his head high, or the way his long legs had a sort of strength to them. Maybe it was the way he swished his tail around that bold, firm, and round flank…

I eeped as I was kicked from under the table. “Bombay.” Violet grunted with a judgemental glare. I swear I hadn’t meant to oogle at him! I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately.

“So, now that I have you two comfortable,” Solomon spoke up as he climbed up into the chair. I was assuming that the chair had been built for ponies, because even if he wasn’t too much bigger than a pony, he still barely managed to squeeze his flank into it at all. “I was hoping we could be civil with our discussion.”

“What’s this about?” I asked before bringing my cold sparkle cola up to my muzzle. Taking in a deep sniff, I could practically taste the carroty flavor of the sugary drink just through its aroma. I don’t know why, but something about being cold always made the flavor of Sparkle cola really pop.

“What is this about?” Solomon nearly snorted in surprise. It caught me off guard, and from the way he was giggling, I feared that I’d missed some context. “You signed onto Delilah’s side without knowing what you were even fighting for? I’m not quite sure if that’s the boldest decision I’ve ever seen made, or the most daft.”

“Well, I didn't really think there would be any fighting…” I muttered softly. Seriously. If I’d had known two days ago what I do now? I don’t think I’d ever have even left the Inuvik.

“No fighting?” Solomon laughed again, however, this time it felt a bit more forced than a second ago. “How delightfully naive.” Looking me over, he eyed at my wings and cupped his chin delicately with his forehoof. “Let me guess, you are one of those who only recently came to the wasteland from the clouds.” I nodded, which only drew a smile across his muzzle. “How wonderful.”

“Can we skip past all this bullshit, please?” Violet spoke up before taking a quick draw off of her cola. “Why are we here?”

“Such hastyness, Miss Violet. While it certainly fits most cloud herders, it doesn’t suit you.” Solomon shook his head and looked over at her. “It has been quite a while since we’ve had a chat as friends. Do you ever miss it as much as I do?”

“Sure. But what I don’t miss, is how you still seem to think that you’re entitled to things that don’t exist. How you’re inclined to kill without reserve to take what you want.” Violet grumbled before chugging down the rest of her soda. With her soda having disappeared down her throat, she quickly sat up straight. She screwed up her face for a moment before releasing a loud belch right toward Solomon. “You've been to Brahman Beach. You know she's not sitting on a shipload of goods to sell. If she were, we wouldn't even be up here in the first place. Stop bothering Delilah and just go home.”

“Oh, I'm not so sure that's quite true.” He let out a heavily forced laugh as he shifted uneasily in his chair. Leaning forward, he narrowed his eyes and pointed out the front windshield. “I know that Delilah is hiding the ARK’s location from me, and I will find it out one way or another. I promise you that.”

“That’s what this is about?” I spoke up, suddenly finding all eyes on me. Shrinking back into my seat, I offered a nervous smile. “Continue?”

Violet laughed before Solomon could speak up. “You know why she’s up here.” Violet pressed against me to allow her to angrily jab her forehoof toward Solomon. “She’s trying to save her home. My home. Why can’t you just leave us be?”

“Yes yes, water from ‘special ice’ and all that.” Solomon grunted. “How many times must we recite these lies?” Rolling his eyes, he looked away from Violet and over to me. “How about your friend here? Has she bought into Delilah’s stories as well?” Something about the way he asked unnerved me. I don’t know if it was the direct tone he’d taken, or just how he was smirking at me, but I was beginning to regret ever oogleing his flank. Why did I have to even be brought into all this?

I sat there for a moment staring at him oddly before I realized that he was waiting for me to answer the question.

“I… uhm…” I stammered, not liking this one bit. “She told me that the boat was stolen before the war. Why would she…”

“Disappointing.” Solomon spoke over me and sat back in his chair. With a sigh and an uncaring wave of his forehoof, he turned his gaze away from me. “I was really hoping to finally bring an end to all this running about.”

“Well, no pony’s making you follow us.” Violet grumbled and rolled her eyes, crossing her forehooves as she adjusted herself in her seat. “Feel free to go home at any time.”

A sharp knock on the door to outside pulled all our attentions. From the stairwell, the proper looking unicorn from before walked up the stairs and looked over to us.

“I apologize for the interruption, sir. But it appears that Miss Galina has escorted an envoy of the local tribe to you.” He spoke boredly, his expression hardly changing from a mix of ‘I’m still waking up’ tired, and ‘oh goddesses, this day will never end’ apathy. “He requests an audience with you to discuss the terms of our eviction.”

“One moment, Rook.” Solomon offered with a sincere softness that took me by surprise for as bold as he’d been so far. Turning to us he offered a courteous nod as he propped his forehoof against his chest. “I’m sorry, but you simply must excuse me. Business before pleasure, I always say!”

Climbing out of his chair, he quickly looked his immaculate form over. With a few pats along himself, and a quick run through of his forehoof through his mane, he gave a sigh of relief and walked to the stairs. He straightened himself up, and formed a wide, kind smile across his muzzle that felt entirely forced to me. Stepping down, he followed the proper stallion outside.

Both Violet and I looked at each other for a moment before clambering out of our seat. The two of us moved over toward the other side of the vehicle, basically standing on the plush chairs just to look out the window behind them.

Galina hovered in the air with her gun resting over her shoulder. She was looking over three odd looking ponies as they walked across the old, empty maintenance garage floor. With the failing light outside making it hard to see, both Violet and I had to rely on the flickering firelight from the bonfire to make out what was going on.

“Deer.” Violet whispered to me.

“What?” I whispered back, leaning closer to her. I wasn’t sure why we were whispering, but I figured that I should get used to just following what she does.

“Those three down there are deer. From a primitive village by the looks of it.” She said, using her hoof to point at them. Looking through the glass at them, I could kind of see just how non-pony like they looked. Sure, they stood about pony height and on four legs, but that’s where the similarities ended. They all had tannish white coats, with a black stripe running down their spine and up their short, bristling tails that jutted out from their flanks. Most obviously different, were the racks of white horns they had growing out of their heads. The deer in the center had all sorts of bits and bobs hanging like decorations from the multiple branching tips.

“As prince Salal, son of Lord Rubus, I demand that you leave.” The deer in the middle spoke up at a near yell. The way he stood up as he spoke mirrored the way that Solomon did, and the angry look he carried made me wonder if that’s what Solomon looked like as well. “You walk upon the hallowed place of my people’s ancestors.” As he spoke, the two other deer next to him swung the makeshift spears they held in their muzzles to point at Solomon. “We do not forgive transgressions such as these so lightly, so consider you and your party lucky.”

“Now now, I do not have any weapons trained on you, and I had no idea my crew and I were trespassing. We only sought shelter here for the night.” Solomon’s speech was calmer and more level headed than he’d been with us. It felt… wrong. “Now, why don't your guards lower their weapons, so we can talk about this as civil beings should?”

“Guards.” The prince spoke, looking at those who came with him. “Lower your weapons, but do not let them relieve you of them.” The two next to him did as his asked, spitting out their crudely build spears into their forelegs and holding them upright. Turning back toward Solomon, he offered a small bow. “Is that acceptable for a discussion?”

“Quite.” Solomon smiled to the prince before looking up. “Galina, if you would.”

A pair of roaring blasts emit from Galina’s enormous gun, making both Violet and I nearly jump to the ceiling. Half of one of the guard’s chest exploded down onto the floor, while the other guard turned around just in time to get everything above his jawline eviscerated into a fine red mist. I’m guessing that the prince was frozen in just as much shock as we were at what had just gone down, because past watching his former bodyguards slump to the floor in bloody heaps, he didn’t move an inch. Not even when Galina landed next to him and rammed her gun barrel against the back of his neck.

“You... you said we would be civil!” The prince stammered, shaking either out of fear, or out of rage. Either would have an appropriate place right now, because both were things I was starting to feel.

“Hah.” Solomon laughed as he strutted up to the prince, standing even prouder than before if that was even possible. “A primitive such as yourself could never be civil.” Looking to Galina, he nodded at the prince. “Hold him still.”

“What?” The prince gasped. To his credit, he tried to fight against the sharp talons that grabbed around the base of his neck. “Unhoof me!” He choked out as Galina’s claws pressed inward hard enough that I could see thin lines of blood drip down along his coat. His struggling was admirable, but against a griffon built like Galina, he was only going to tire himself out.

“I'm the civil one here, you would do well to remember that.” Solomon spoke as he sat down just in front of the struggling Prince. Reaching his forehooves up, he wrapped his fetlocks around one of the two horns on the Prince’s head. “As the civil one, I will permit a savage such as yourself to live. However, I will take this antler from you so that you will always be reminded of your place.”

The prince whimpered and struggled as Solomon twisted and pulled at his prized horn. “No, please!” He whined, crying out with each sharp jerk that Solomon gave. “Mercy, I beg of you!”

“If I may, sir.” Rook spoke up calmly from behind Solomon, immediately pulling his attention to the proper stallion. “You might try using a saw. Perhaps the one that Lamia owns.”

“No, no.” Solomon grunted with a wide smile across his muzzle. Each tug he gave was more rough than the last, jerking the prince’s pained face around erratically. “Just need to… apply some… leverage!” He growled before adjusting his hooves on the horns and tugging downward.

Even from twenty feet away and behind the glass of the vehicle, Violet and I winced at the loud snap that filled the air. The prince’s body went ridged and fell to the floor, twitching while his still antlered head and neck sat oddly angled in Solomon’s hooves. Even from here, I could hear the sickening gurgling that the prince gave as his body desperately clung to what little life there was left in it.

“Huh.” Solomon spoke up though light pants. Unceremoniously, he dropped the prince’s still antlered head to the floor and took a step back. “I guess you were right about needing the saw. Those antlers are really stuck in there.”

“Indubitably, sir.” Rook said with as much enthusiasm as he’d held this whole time.

“Galina?” Solomon said as he stood back up and wiped his hooves across the old cement flooring a few times. “Put that thing out of it's misery quietly and then clean up the others.” Pointing to the twitching and gurgling form of the prince, he shooed it away with his hoof. “Make sure all three of the bodies are visible for any onlookers out there. They shall think twice before sending another party out.

“Would be my pleasure.” Galina nodded and slung her gun around herself.

“And Rook, my friend.” Solomon turned to the proper stallion with a soft smile. “Go make sure that Lamia and Jess know what has happened. I want them ready for if the rest of the tribe feels like committing mass suicide, to happily obliged their wishes. Help them with any preparations they might have if they require any.”

“Yes, sir.” Rook gave a formal bow. “As you wish.” With a bright flash, he teleported away.

With Solomon turning and trotting back up towards where Violet and I were, we both scrambled back over to the booth.

“We have to get out of here!” I pleaded with her, still whispering. I really don’t want my neck snapped today…

“Well do you have any fucking ideas!?” She snapped back with her own harsh whisper.

The confident hoofsteps of Solomon fell steadily against the carpeted stairs. With a refreshed look about him, he strode inside as proud as ever, and shared a wide smile with us.

“Sorry you both had to see that dreadful affair.” He sighed, pointing back to the booth beside Violet and I. This time, neither of us were very keen on taking up our seats again.

“You're every bit the monster I remember you being.” Violet snorted and offered nothing short of a glare that would have sent me running were it turned on me.

“Nonsense.” He laughed and dismissed the comment. “I am merely preemptively protecting those I've hired. Those primitives have no business in telling me where I can and cannot be. They're lives mean nothing to me.” Cocking his eyebrow, his smile fell away to reveal a more disdainful expression. “Even your life, the life of Delilah's prized pegasus, are worth more than the lot of them.”

“Why? You're just going to kill us as well, aren't you?” Fucking shut your muzzle, Night! Before you get yourself killed for being stupid!

With a snorting laugh, Solomon nearly doubled over in laughter. “Oh no, my dear girl.” He giggled, falling onto his flank and covering his muzzle as he laughed. “I wouldn't kill you. That’s not how any of this works! There are rules to all of this, my dear.” Composing himself a bit, he gave a few final chortles before sitting up straight. “Maim you however? Only if you make me very very angry.”

“What?” I asked flatly. “Rules? What’s the difference between us and that deer out there!?”

“It’s just like Delilah told you, Bombay.” Violet grumbled. “He can't break the peace first. Neither can we.”

“Your marefriend there is correct. Business is not like war. There are rules to it, to keep it from being one big messy brawl down to the last pony.” With a sigh, Solomon stood up tall again and brushed past me, walking back toward his chair. “Everypony in my crew signed on with the knowledge that we will not fire the first shot. We will not instigate a fight, Miss Bombay.” Sitting back down with a squelch in the chair, he seemed to take a moment to get comfortable before offering an annoyed glance toward me. “That however, as I hear it, does not seem to be above your ideals.”

“I didn’t…” I stammered. “it was an accident!” He had to understand that I didn’t know those two with the tank worked for him!

“It was sabotage.” He offered back sharply, glaring at me and prodding at my chest with his hoof. “Your ‘accident’ will cost me five hundred caps from what you did in Fort Mac. Five hundred caps just to bail out my mercenaries.” With a twitch across his eyebrow, his expression seemed to fall to a more calm one, like somepony had just let all the pressure of the anger he held out of his face. “However, it is something that can be forgiven, for a price…”

“Bombay's loyalty is not for sale, so drop it.” Violet chimed in, stepping both forward and against me. Raising her wing, she clasped it around me. Even through my battle saddle, I could feel her warmth pressing into me. “Now I suggest you let us go.”

Solomon smirked at that, leaning forward towards me. “Everypony has a price.” His eyes peered deep into mine, and I almost found myself lost in the lavender flecks that sparsely lined his deep purple eyes. “What do you want? Caps? Slaves? Power? I can grant you anything you desire. You just have to agree to join me in this endeavor.”

“I said drop…” Violet stomped in furious retaliation. However, she only made it that far before Solomon reared up in his seat and landed a backhoofed strike across her cheek. The hit sent Violet sprawling from my side and down onto the carpeted floor, a thin line of blood dribbling out of her nose.

“Shut your muzzle unless spoken to, lowly cur.” Solomon bellowed out.

Something inside me snapped. Maybe it was the fear of being killed at any moment, or the shock of seeing Violet get struck down like that. For one reason or another, I’d finally had it and decided enough was enough. It was time to make another stupid decision on my part.

“Fuck you.” I grunted. The response must have caught Solomon off guard, because he didn’t budge other than to look at me like a confused foal. I reared up as well, yelling out as I swung my own forehoof up at him. The strike I lashed out with landed squarely under his chiseled, long jawline with a meaty thump. The strike hurt. A lot. I don’t think I’ve ever hit anypony as hard as I’d just swung. However, I knew Solomon was hurting more when the second loud crack of a bone today met my ears.

Solomon’s head snapped upwards, and he went rigid in his seat. As my heart beat out of my chest, my mind was screaming at me to keep going. Just jump on him and strangle out whatever life is in him until he’s a cold corpse. However, the soft moan from Violet ripped my mind away from those thoughts.

“Shit…” Violet moaned as she slowly picked herself up off the floor. She wobbled a bit as she did, and without thinking, I reached out to steady her. It wasn’t until she looked over at Solomon before I think she realized just what had happened. “Did…? I think you knocked him out cold!” She giggled giddily. “Oh, he’s going to flip out about this when he wakes up again.”

Yes. When he wakes up, he’ll be properly angry to at the very least maim us now that you just broke his jaw. Smart move yet again, Night!

“We should go.” I spoke up, looking over to Violet in panic. “Right now.”

I think that as slow as it was to come back to her, reality set in and she realized what she’d said. “Yeah, come on!” She said, roughly pushing past me and heading down the stairs. “Keep your voice down out here.” She waved for me to follow. As I did, she stopped at the doorway and looked around. “We'll backtrack to the lake and take off from there. Hope you’re not too tired to fly, because we're going to wing it straight back to the convoy.”

Nodding, I could only hope that I could even get off the ground wearing my battle saddle. Trotting as silently as we could around the large, tubular vehicle we’d been in, Violet and I made our way to the back door of the garage. Slowly pushing open the door, we both cringed again as it gave a metallic squelch as it opened. Poking her head out and looking around, she looked back to me and nodded before slipping out.

Following her, I noticed that the sun had completely fallen, and the thousands of stars above us twinkled silently in the night sky. A few low clouds lazily drifted about the skies above, and I’m sure Violet was thinking the same thing as me in looking at them. So long as we could get up there and in one piece, we’d be home free. However, even if things didn’t go smoothly, and we had to make it back to the Convoy on hoof through the dark and creepy forest? It was still the preferable option considering what would await me here when Solomon woke up.

“Please, just let this work…” I muttered to myself, following Violet out into the dark shadows behind the ruins of Cannon City. I didn’t do much praying to the goddesses before I came down here, but seeing as we could use all the help we could get? I was really hoping for a miracle here.

A loud shouting came from outside of town toward the highway. What must have been hundreds of bellowing voices filled the night as Both Violet and I ducked down into some nearby bushes. Turns out, they were bramble bushes, but any cover, even painful cover, is still advisable to being found.

We listened as the shouting was drowned out by the rapid reports of gunfire filling the night. Muzzle flashes lit up the old ruins around us like an old world slide projector as Solomon’s defences started to take effect. Violet tapped on my side and helped me out of the bramble. This was our chance, our miracle to get is out of here. As I thanked the goddesses for listening to us as we ran, I still couldn’t help but feel sorry for all those who Solomon would murder tonight.

And I could only hope that after he woke up, he’d show me more mercy for what I’d done to him than he gave to the prince back there...

You know that tired old pegasus joke that goes ‘oh boy, I just flew in from where ever and boy are my wings tired!’? Yeah, I wish it was only a joke right now. Beating my tired wings furiously, I regained a bit of my altitude. Seriously, I was fairly certain that when I managed to get back to the convoy, my wings would probably just fall off from overuse. Still, at least the frigid night air here between the mountains kept most of me numb enough to keep going.

We’d been flying for nearly an hour in silence, though, not by choice. Once we’d gotten a few minutes out from the one sided battle that engulfed Solomon’s camp, we’d attempted to strike up a conversation. Before we could even get into anything, however, Violet spotted a whole flock of those crazy bat things that I’d seen my first day below the clouds.

“Seriously, Bombay. We have to be near the convoy, I promise.” Violet spoke up, though honestly, I could hardly hear her over the pounding of my own heart. Looking over at her, I offered what little of a nod I could without changing my course too much. Even for somepony who was good at flying, she seemed to be feeling the strain of the flight as well. “Here, let’s grab a small breather.” She pointed down toward the old highway.

Spiralling down slowly, the both of us opted to land off the side of the road toward the bushes. The soft ground there offered a less noisy landing than on the cracked pavement, and an easy enough escape if we had to either take flight again, or dive into the plants for cover. Once I hit the ground though, my wobbly legs gave me just enough strength to lower myself into a laying position.

“I want... to die…” I gasped out, letting my wings limply hang at my sides. At the very least, the night air was crisp and cold. Actually, the one thing I was glad for more than anything, was that it wasn’t snowing. Looking up into the dark night sky, the waxing crescent of the moon was just climbing above the distant mountain peaks. A bright dot moved across the sky quickly, and for a moment I focused on it’s oddness. Shooting stars normally left a trail behind them, didn’t they?

“Yeah…” Violet panted lightly as well, raising a forehoof to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “Damn this altitude is killer…”

“Huh?” I asked, barely having the strength to look over at her. Still, I didn’t care what her answer was, really. I was on the ground now, and nothing was going to get me to move again before I was ready.

“Nevermind.” She waved her hoof as she sat down. “You’re used to all the… thin air up here.” As she finished, she let out a long sigh and a groan as she lowered herself to the pavement like I had. “Goddesses that feels good.” Letting her wings lay as well, she softly smiled. “For somepony who was convinced he couldn’t fly very well, you’re certainly going better than expected.”

“Thanks…” I nodded and flopped my face down against the pavement. The smack against the rough surface stung slightly, but the freezing cold of it against my face felt divine. “I’m just glad… we’re away from… there.” Slowly but surely, my racing heart was beginning to slow in my chest. Thank fucking Celestia for that.

“Yeah.” She nodded and lowered her own face to the pavement. “If I never saw Solomon and his crew again, it would still be too soon.”

Solomon. He certainly lived up to being someone nearly as intimidating and straight up ruthless as Delilah made him out to be. Though, the others seemed to be an odd assortment with him. Most of them I could see as probably being nicer folk had they not been working for him. Which, on that note…

“So…” I groaned out as I strained to lift my head. Endurance flying really does a number on all a pony’s joints, doesn’t it? “What’s the history between you and Jess?”

“Landslide, er… Jess and I?” Violet groaned, keeping her face planted as well. “Back when I first got exiled to the wasteland, I tried to reinvent myself. To be as far from who I was above the clouds as possible.” She sighed before shifting her head to the side. Using her hooves, she shoved herself ever so slightly and flopped over on the pavement. “I found myself in this little failing dump of a town named Bridleshade, a place a bit east of Vanhoover. Folks there were nice enough to me, but the only one there who actually seemed like they gave a crap? That was Jess.”

“Jess.” I said, finally in control over my lungs again. “The giant, angry minotaur.”

“One and the same.” She sighed. “Things were nice, we had some fun times. Along with the comforts of having somepony around who didn’t hate me, she helped to me get back on my hooves out here more than anything.”

“So, what happened?” Seriously, though I’m glad she’s not on Solomon’s side, one had to wonder how Jess had come to hate her so much.

“I didn’t like her friends.” She moaned, slowly forcing herself to roll back over. “Back then, I wish I’d have shot Solomon right between the eyes.”

“So, you stopped seeing her because you didn’t want to be friends with Solomon?” Well, at least she’s an impeccable judge of character to have known Solomon was a bad deal from the start. Makes me a little more glad that she believes in me, even though I’ve been nothing but a fuckup.

“Not… exactly.” She spoke slowly. It was an odd enough break in her voice that I forced myself to look over to her, even though my neck objected to being moved at all. I found her offering a nervous smile. “Let’s just say that… I got a job offer shortly after. A job far down south working for a certain Donkey…”

“That explains why she called you a traitor.” I sighed.

All I could really hope is that at some point down the road, I didn’t make an enemy like Jess. The idea of being alone down in the wasteland scared me. And not the type of alone where friends could help, but the sort of feeling that you’re a single soul just watching the world around you move on without you. I don’t know why, but something in how she said that just brought to light a fear I never knew I had. I didn’t want to be alone in my life.

“So then, did you ever find somepony else?” I asked, not sure if I was pushing my luck in drudging up the past.

“I… uhm…” Even in the darkness, I could tell that she was blushing. Sure, it was more due to her stammering, but it still made me smile for the moment. “I did. I have a husband, back in Brahman Beach.” Looking over to me, she gave me a very sincere look. “Sorry… if that’s disappointing to you… or is it not?”

“I’m… only really into stallions. Mare’s just don’t interest me.” I squeaked. It had been my turn to blush now. It felt weird, being so open down here. Well, unless I’d just massively insulted her by insinuating I couldn’t possibly be into her. “Not to say that I totally wouldn’t be into you if I were interested!” Smooth, Night. It was also nice, not having to hide yourself from somepony down here, even if you were going to make a complete fool of yourself being, well, you.

“I’d thought you’d might be that way.” She giggled softly.

“What?” I asked before immediately facehoofing. “Solomon.”

“Mhmm.” Violet nodded. “Plus, Hardcase told me about how you were staring at his ass the the other day.”

With a groan, I flopped onto my side. “I didn’t ask to be attracted to anypony at all, I swear.”

“You’ll find someone who will feel the same down here, Bombay. So long as you keep your eye out for them.” Violet gave a whimper as she stood back up onto her hooves. Even though her wings were still held limp, she stretched out her legs a bit. “You’ll just know it when you feel it in your heart.”

Well, if that wasn’t the cheesiest thing I’d heard in awhile. Still, I could trust her on this. She had vastly greater experience down here than I did, and if she said it would happen, I had to hold out on hope. Right? I just needed to stop thinking about this, right now, before I got myself confused about things that aren’t important right now.

“So, what do you think happened to us?” I started, quickly remembering that a change of subject normally requires some sort of context. “This afternoon, I mean.”

“I think… you passed out because I set the Dizzitron too high.” She gave an apologetic sigh and shook her head. “Then I must have grabbed you and couldn't stop or something. Then, I don’t know, hit a tree or something to cut open my eyelid like this.” Touching the wound above her eye, she winced again.

“But... we were both asleep all afternoon…” I said slowly. Goddesses, the more I thought about this, the more I felt a sharp pain forming in my mind. I was going to give myself quite the headache if I didn’t figure this out soon. “Lucky was just in the ruins. Why didn't Lucky wake us? Why would he leave?”

“We'll have to ask him when we get back. Now come on.” She spoke up, slowly walking herself to the road. “We’re going to walk for a bit, give our wings a bit longer to rest.”

“I think all of me wants a bit longer to rest.” I groaned, trying to get myself ready to get up.

“Yeah, I know.” She said, walking over to me. Without asking, I found her hoof wriggle under the back strap to my battle saddle and yank. Using her help, I managed to get my shaky legs underneath me. “But there will be plenty of time for rest when we get back to the others.” Turning down the road, she started to walk along the soft grass, keeping her hooves off the pavement. Looking back, she tossed her head for me to follow. I wanted to go, really I did. It’s just, when all of you is hurting, it’s hard to find the motivation. “Come on, Bombay, keep up. Unless you want to miss the look on Delilah’s face when I tell her you knocked Solomon the fuck out.”

Well, I guess if there ever was a good enough motivation to move, that’d be it. Setting off after her, I knew that this would be a long and uncomfortable walk…