The cool headwind that drifted above the treetops felt exhilarating over my wings. The lush green of the thick forests that ran along nearly every mountain as far as the eye could see, were a far cry from the ashen black remains of Four Peaks. Being out in the air like this was more than relaxing. No running from anything out to hurt me, just unrestricted gliding. It felt better than anything to me. Not only that, but every now and again, I’d hit a thermal and get an updraft that would help to keep me airborn without much effort at all. Now, if only there was something I could do about the chafing of my battle saddle against my inner thighs…

“Up ahead, I see it.” Violet called out, dropping down from above and leveling out at my side. Instead of her rifle strapped onto her saddle, she had a large, rectangular yellow box secured to it. At nearly half her size, my guess was it was some sort of energy weapon, but that was mostly based on the big Caution: Laser Radiation sticker still plastered on its side. Looking ahead of us however, I could see odd red and white fabric tangled among the numerous treetops up almost a mile ahead.

“What’s that thing on your side?” I asked, deciding that looking stupid was worth learning about it. You know, for if I might need to know the information in the future.

“Lidar system.” She smirked. Reaching over, she gave the metallic box a few good taps. “If we have to leave most of the salvage behind, I can use this to get its location marked on a map by bouncing some lasers off the nearby mountain peaks. Traders and the like will pay good caps for the location of some salvage.” Oh, that made sense. It’s not a weapon then, just a larger version of the construction surveyors that city services used back in Neighvarro. “Yup. Definitely isn’t a random satellite if it had parachutes.” She scrunched up her muzzle, narrowing her eyes as she looked ahead with a determined look. “Still. This doesn’t really make sense then.”

“Why?” I asked, beating my wings a few times to keep up my altitude. I’d hardly learned anything about Equestria’s space program back in school. A bit about the moon program where we beat the stripes to get hooves on the moon first, and a bit about satellites and such as well. But like most things in that section of the text book, it was mostly glossed over.

“Gravity. Anything in orbit needs fuel to stay up, or it falls back down.” She answered while we lowered ourselves and skimmed quickly over the tops of the trees at a good clip. “Fuel that would have been used up far too long ago to re-enter now.” As she spoke, a long black snake cut through the treeline off to our right. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the old highway we’d been traveling on wound it’s way right around this area. “Alright, looks like it’s going to end up being be about a quarter mile off the road, which means I dragged the Lidar out here for nothing.” She smirked again with a shrug, flaring her wings slightly. I did the same as the fluttering parachutes grew closer. “Going to be tough using the winch on the Runner to retrieve it, but I don’t doubt that Lucky could get to it.”

With a gentle glide, we crossed over the top of the first parachute. To say it was expansive wasn’t really the right word, as each parachute looked to be maybe sixty feet across. The three all together however, covered a large amount of the surrounding treetops, and created an artificial canopy over the craft laying down below. Among the fluttering fabric, I heard something peculiar coming from down below.

“Quiet…” I said, holding my hoof out and perking my ears. Circling over the top of the parachutes, I tilted my ear toward the grown to hear a bit better. “Listen.”

“Flight terminated.” The voice was faint, but it was definitely coming from below. “Life support malfunction. E.B.B. activated. Flight terminated. Life support malfunction. E.B.B. activated.” The artificial sounding mare repeated itself, looping again and again as both Violet and I listened in.

“Come on, let’s check it out.” Violet nodded downward, torquing her wings enough to start a soft glide. “Just keep an eye out.”

Nodding, I pushed myself into a shallow rotating dive as well, and dipped between the edges of the three tangled parachutes. Dropping under them proved to be a shock. The world dimmed from the sheer amount of sunlight that the three chutes blocked, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust. Below however, was the dark object I’d seen cannonballing itself through the sky. Sort of a blocky pear shape, it bore scorch marks all over its wide bottom. Out of its sides and from what I assumed was its top, three clusters of cabled wires sprouted like tentacles that stretched upward, reaching to hold onto the parachutes. In that moment, I felt my wing barely clip one of these numerous cables, just the slight hit made the wire undulate slightly and give off a worrying groan.

“Watch yourself. Who knows how well these cables will hold up after all that time in space.” Violet said as she weaved her way down. This place was like a vertical minefield. The sharp looking taut cables groaned under the strain of the odd object below weighing them down. Some of the cables already looked to have cut through some of the surrounding tree branches around here, and I didn’t want to know just what would happen if one were to snap while we were next to it. “Just what the hell is this thing?”

After a few more moments of ducking and weaving between the wires, I managed to glide myself to an open area between two of the chutes. From there, it was an easy drop to the relatively clear forest floor next to the alien like object. Landing among a large patch of moss, I found that the craft next to me was pretty damn big!

About ten feet long, the whole thing was less curvy than it looked barreling through the air. Instead, it held more of a conical bell shape to it rather than that of a pear. The top end of the bell was a foot and a half, which seemed to mostly be maneuvering thrusters and the like. The rear was about six feet diameter, and seemed mostly built to resist the extreme heat of reentry. Honestly, it looked like an old space capsule like the one they sent to the moon during the war. I may not have learned much about the space program, but I remember the pictures of something like this in my book.

Violet landed across on the other side of the odd spacecraft. The both of us took a moment to look over just what we’d found, trying to decipher just where it’d come from. Leaning in, I could just barely make out a bit of white lettering underneath the dark scorch marks along its hull.

“GLV-3KA LEO II…?” I called out over to Violet. “That mean anything to you?”

“A Leo II capsule?” She gasped as she basically lept into the air. “I remember them from history class! This is a midwar piece then! Is there a pilot listing under that?” Like a purple bolt, she flew across the hull of what I could now assume was some sort of piloted spacecraft.

It was odd for her to ask if it was piloted, as there were no windows or doors on it that I could make out. Before I could answer her at all, she’d dropped down next to me, furiously rubbing her forehoof at the scorched hull plates. To my surprise, with a little effort, the blackness lightened slightly, just enough to reveal some not quite burned away words underneath. Though, I didn’t actually get to read them, as the overexcited Violet leaned up close to them to get a better look.

“Ohmygosh!” She squeed quite happily before spinning around and pinching my cheeks between her forehooves again. “Stay here for a few while I go get the others! This is major historical salvage!”

“But…” I didn’t even manage to get anything more out before Violet bolted off into the sky. Really, it was a pleasure to watch her fly with such ease, just not away from me. However, it both hurt that she’d left me all alone down here, and that I’d never be able to fly like that. Still, for somepony who complained about being left behind at Fort Mac, she sure seemed eager to abandon me now.

"Flight terminated. Life support malfunction. E.B.B. activated." The computerized mare’s voice continued to repeat.

“Won’t it shut up?” A voice from behind me spoke almost into my ear. In an instant, my mane and tail stood on end as I squeaked my surprise and nearly jumped high enough into the air to tangle myself among the wires. Turning around, I was met with Hispano’s smugly smiling beak. She had her flight goggles down over her eyes instead of on her cap, and oddly missing being strapped around her was her large cannon. Er… her sister.

“Celestia, Hispano!” I snapped at her. “You don’t have to always sneak up on me!”

“Hey, I don’t want to hear it when last time you literally ran into me.” She squawked and crossed her talons as she came in to land on her hind legs. Her words were confusing, but my brain and heart were still too busy trying to calm down from the scare that I couldn’t even respond.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, finally managing to say something at all again. Goddesses, so far half the times I’d seen her, she’d made me so damn angry. Which, was swiftly becoming the case again as she ignored me and instead turned her attention to the capsule behind me.

“I’ve been thinking, Dum Dum.” She said as she strode around my side. I facehooved at her blatant, but expected act of ignoring me, and turned around to at least see if she had anything constructive to say. “About what we talked about down in that bunker.” She spoke with more of an exactness to her words, like she had been practicing saying this.

“Bunker…?” Again with the baffling remarks. “What in Celestia’s name are you fucking talking about?”

More than anything I’d said to her since meeting her on the Inuvik, that got her attention. She spun around with her beak open, seeming to hang for a moment as her wide eyes looked at me in shock. I had no idea what had gotten into her. Really, I just had to assume that it was because so long as I’d seen her, she’d change how she felt about something from almost moment to moment. She definitely had the most eccentric personality I’d ever seen, to say the least.

“You really don’t remember then, do you?” She asked almost taking a step back in surprise. While she still didn’t make sense, I felt like this was distinctly not the way she’d seen this going. “But… why?”

Her words sent jolts of pain through my head. Not sharp or stabbing, but an ebbing pain that felt like it squeezed at me. It was the worst headache I’d ever had, coming on in a single instant. Part of me was beginning to understand that maybe she wasn’t talking crazy at all. Maybe she was talking about what I couldn’t remember. Reaching for my head, I groaned as the pain subsided slowly, and my vision blurred for a moment.

“Night, are you…?” She began.

"Emergency hatch release engauged." The soft voice of the computer mare spoke up from the capsule. "Please stand clear."

“Shit!” Hispano said, flaring her wings and pushing off. She barreled forward into me, sending the both of us tumbling to the mossy dirt a few feet back from where I’d been standing. Rolling over, I looked back to the capsule as the edges of one of the hull plates toward the back glowed red hot.

There was a sharp bang, and the glowing hull plate shot off through the air like a hot knife. It sliced through a few of the parachute cables at the top of the craft as it shot out, striking a tree across from us and sticking into it like a glowing axe. The already tense lines snapped with numerous, reverberating twangs as they whipped and scoured the dirt under them. Thankfully, none of them whipped over at us.

The computerized voice had disappeared just as quickly as the hull plate did, and it left both Hispano and I in an odd silence. Steam wafted out of the dark square hole now opened in the side of the black metal capsule. Both Hispano and I looked over to each other with what I was sure had been matching gawking expressions. Simultaneously, we both pulled ourselves back up, watching and waiting for something else to happen. It didn’t take long before something inside the craft moved toward the dark opening.

“Po krayney mere etot chertov kusok der'ma ne sgorit.” Slightly muffled, a squeaky voice emanated angrily from the inside of the capsule. Though I couldn’t understand the language it spoke, it wasn’t hard to tell when somepony was venting their frustrations. A sharp set of bangs came from inside the capsule, making me cringe slightly with each one. I was about to whisper to Hispano that we should probably hide, when a rage filled yell preceded a rectangular orange box flying out of the metallic ship. The foreleg sized box spun through the air as it flew a good few feet. With a clattering few bounces along the forest floor, the box split open, spilling its contents of silver metal tools across the mossy patch at my hooves. “Chertov neispravnost' korabl'! Bespoleznyy lodka!”

“Keep your muzzle shut, Dum Dum.” Hispano whispered as she leaned over and gave me a pat on the side with her talon. Looking over in confusion, I watched as Hispano cleared her throat. “Privet!” She called out so loud that I cringed. Was she fucking crazy!? “Vam nuzhna pomoshch'?” What even language was that anyway!?

From inside the capsule, a small, shiny glass sphere popped out of the hole. Inside that small sphere, was a pair of bright yellow eyes. They were attached to a head of course, one covered in brown fur, with a pair of triangular floppy ears and a thick white stripe cutting up the middle of her jagged muzzle. She looked almost like a Snow Dog, but… much smaller.

“Poisk i spaseniye?” The small dog said with a smile before pulling herself out of the capsule. Along with the odd glass bubble helmet, she wore a puffy looking bright blue jumpsuit that proudly displayed the logo for the old wartime Ministry of Arcane Sciences. Upon a second look, the suit was actually more bulky than puffy, and had numerous tubes and valves running all across it in odd places. Even the odd spiked tail of the Snow Dogs was fully enclosed, having at least one valve somewhere on the rubbery blue material. Along with the suit, she wore a pair of bulbous gunmetal grey tanks on her back. And oddly enough, a sort of large three barreled pistol was clasped onto her side, nearly half as large as she was. “Tol'ko dvoye iz vas?”

All over, I was confused. Again. Me, confused in the wasteland? What a fucking surprise.

“Do you speak standard Equestrian?” Hispano called out.

“Dah. Of course.” The dog said before stiffly saluting. As she did, her diminutive stature hit me. Goddesses, she must have been half my height even when standing on her rear legs! “Commander Laika, of the M.A.S. Cosmosphere division.” Reaching up, she used her gloved digits to fumble at a few of the latches on her bubble helmet. It unsealed with a hiss, and she pulled it off with a heavy sigh. “How long until the recovery crew arrives?”

A moment was spent in silence before I realized that Hispano was looking at me.

“O...oh!” I stammered, “They’re on their way and should be here soon.” I was fairly certain that it wasn’t part of the plan Violet had in mind, but hey, at least Buck will be happy to know that there indeed was somepony on this weird spaceship! Which reminds me. “So… what were you doing in that thing?”

“What?” Laika gave me a confused gaze, looking almost insulted. “Didn’t the M.A.S. brief you?”

“We weren’t told much of anything.” Hispano answered for me. Looking over to her, I almost couldn’t believe she would lie like that. Well, it wasn’t really a lie, as we hadn’t been told anything at all about this by the M.A.S. on account of them not existing anymore. Then again, Hispano seemed as resourceful as she was unpredictable. “Why don’t you fill us in on how you survived.” And really? I trusted Hispano’s instincts. Keeping my muzzle shut, I figured I’d see how this played out.

“Well.” Commander Laika rolled her eyes and shifted herself uneasily on her legs. “Most of it is going to go over your heads. But in all likelihood, this was probably most of what they put out at the press briefing anyway.” Press briefing? This dog was making less sense than Hispano did just a minute ago. “The malfunction I experienced passing up through the exosphere blew most of my electronics, my life support, and refused to kill the second stage engine. I was forced to use manual controls to vent the propellent in the maneuvering system to attempt to guide myself onto a decaying elliptical orbit. I thought I had enough delta-v to get a gravity assist off the moon, but with minutes of auxiliary life support left I had to round a few of the numbers and hope for the best before activating the onboard cryo-stasis systems. About the only thing onboard this piece of junk that actually worked right, even if it was just one of Ratchet's prototypes.”

“Cryo-stasis?” I nearly flailed wildly from my confusion. “You’ve been frozen in space!?” That would mean that she’s not a Snow Dog like I’d assumed at all! She was a Diamond Dog from back during the war! No wonder she thought the M.A.S. still existed!

“What’s his problem? The M.A.S. invents things like that every day. I’m sure they’ve invented plenty of crazy shit since my mission.” Laika smirked and crossed her arms before pointing at me. All of this new information felt like it was jamming up my brain, and honestly, I just wanted the others to get back here already. “Anyway, how goes the war?”

Laika’s question snapped all the other thoughts out of my mind. An odd tickle built up in my throat, and without any indication of why to the others, I began to laugh. It wasn’t something soft, but came full bore through my lungs.

“Quiet down, Dum Dum.” Hispano cooed coldly.

I just couldn’t help myself. After all the trouble I’d gone through, after everything in my life had collapsed, here was someone else who was worse off. Finally, I got to see what utter confusion and ignorance looked like from the other side. For some reason, deep down, I found that unbearably funny.

“The… the war?” I spat at between gasping laughs. “Quick, Hispano…” Looking over, I found Hispano’s angry eyes glaring at me as if to wish to murder me alive. “Tell her how…” The world spun end over end and my head burst into pain. I groaned with a muzzle full of mossy dirt as I found myself on the forest floor without much of a good explanation as to how I’d gotten there.

“This isn’t funny, Night.” Hispano stood over me with her talon clenched tight. She was seething in rage, but that much was prevalent in her voice alone. “I know you may find irony in the situation, but it is not something you want going the wrong way.” The wrong way? With a sigh from her, Hispano leaned down to my side and tugged at my gun on my battle saddle. “You think you’ve had it bad adjusting? Think what telling her out here would have been like if you were in her place.” With a sharp click, I felt the attached gun leave my side. Racking the bolt as I looked up, I watched as Hispano held Commander Laika at gunpoint with my own gun. “Commander, I’m going to need to relieve you of your sidearm.”

“I’ve been more than accommodating already. Now I’m asking...” Laika said, slowly moving her paw back and wrapping it around the grip of her gun. Leaving it holstered for the moment, the look across the wartime Diamond Dog’s face was stone solid. “Eto vy dolzhny razoruzhit'sya.” She said, using her free paw to point at the gun in Hispano’s grip.

Hispano shook her head to that and didn’t budge. “You wanted news? How about news from your home?” Hispano’s voice was cold, colder than I’d ever heard it. Something about the way she spoke must have gotten to Laika, because she froze up hearing that. “But first I need to know you won’t act rashly. Please…” Hispano lowered my gun slightly. “Throw down your weapon.”

Laika carefully unholstered her weapon. She let it hang loosely in her paw, pinching its wooden grip between two of her paw digits. With a rocking motion, she swung it back and forth before letting go of it, tossing it lightly through the air. With a heavy thump, it dropped onto the mossy ground between the various tools that were scattered about from earlier. For a moment, none of us moved, and the world around us became unnervingly quiet. Ever so faintly however, I could hear the sounds of the convoy steaming along up the road.

“Tell me…” Laika’s voice was softer now, and she nearly shivered as she spoke. “What news is there of Stalliongrad? Has something happened there? Did the stripes finally push past the northern front lines into the city?”

Lowering my gun again, Hispano sighed. Turning to me, she made short work of reattaching it on it’s rigging. As she did, Laika waited patiently for an answer, though her wavering eyes darted back and forth to her discarded pistol a few times. I almost wanted to go for it, but I’m sure I’d have lost that race. That, and there was no need to cause a panic when things seemed to be calm for the moment.

“Look, before I leave this in Dum Dum here’s hooves, let me ask you one question.” Hispano said with a proud smirk across her beak. “Just how long do you think you were frozen in that thing?” Flaring her wings, She mirrored Violet in her take off. It was odd how she could do that, like she used all that energy from her personality to fuel her flight. Again, I was envious of someone who would always fly better than I ever would.

Looking back to Laika however, she didn’t look as impressed. Sighing, she pressed her paw against her face and sat down on the mossy forest floor, hard.

“What did she mean by that? I just want to know that my family is safe...” She almost whimpered. “Is that too much to ask?” I watched as she started to shiver and sniffle, holding her head in her paws. I didn’t know if it was because she had feared the worst before she left, or knew something was innately wrong because we hadn’t answered her. I wanted more than anything to help her through this, because I knew firsthoof how much having help makes a difference.

“I’m sure they…” I paused, nearly biting on my own tongue in an attempt to shut my muzzle. Before you say anything you or her might regret, why don’t we just let somepony else break the news to her? The droning noise of the convoy getting closer gave me the perfect opportunity to distract her for the time being. Looking back over my shoulder, I pointed back into the forest. “Sounds like the recovery team is almost here.”

I waited silently for the next few minutes as the ‘recovery’ team approached us. Every now and again, I’d turned back to make sure that Laika was okay. She’d slumped over onto her side, but was still shivering softly. I’d wanted to go over and comfort her, but stopped myself before I had the chance to screw things up. Thankfully, the crashing of branches nearby brought up a friendly face.

“Bombay?” Buck called out as he swiped effortlessly through the thick foliage on the way to the landing site. They were coming from slightly below me. Buck was down a small slope just past the outskirts of the parachute canopy, and only a couple hundred meters out from where I was. Behind him, I could make out Lucky and the Runner moving slowly forward over the now foliage clear path Buck created. What stumps that Buck left in the way, the heavy metal plow on the front of the four wheeled vehicle pushed right out of its way.

“Up here!” I waved over to Buck. “There’s someone up here as well! A survivor!”

That must have lit a fire under his tail, because his ears perked and he worked even harder to move forward. His long claws easily rended through everything around him as he worked in the swinging of his arms to his movement, helping him almost run forward through the forest while clearing it. In around thirty seconds, he’d cleared his way right up to me, leaving Lucky to slowly creep over the new path on his own. Buck smiled to me as he crested the hill, and I returned it, genuinely happy to have someone else I knew here.

His smile however, dropped when he saw the shivering body behind me. “She’s having a seizure. How long has she been like this?” He asked, rushing past me over to her. Tilting her further onto her side, I could hear as the small dog choked and coughed. He could tell she was in trouble just be looking at her? He looked up to me with a panicked expression as he held her. “What was she doing before you found her?”

“She said she was frozen...” I said, suddenly realizing that I’d made a mistake. “I… I thought she was just crying or something. She’s only been like that a few minutes, not long.” Had I known something was wrong, I would have flown her back myself! “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“It’s fine.” Buck said as he quickly scooped the small dog into his paw. “Come on, I’m going to need your help with her when we get back at the Hauler.”

“So will she get better?” Violet sighed.

The three of us stood over Buck’s bed, watching as Buck stuck an IV through a small hole he’d cut in her spacesuit. I still felt horrible in having left her there like that. Apparently her seizure had something to do with the fact that she’d been frozen. A sort of ‘revival sickness’ that Buck had only read a theory about in a book once.

“Yes.” Buck nodded, groaning as he stepped back and took a seat in his desk chair. “Though, she may have more seizures before she regains consciousness, which might not be for some time” Looking to me, he spoke sternly. “If that happens, Night, I’ll need you to keep her on her side while I tend to her, alright?” Sighing, he sat back in his chair and rested his head against the container wall. “I’ll try to find something that can be used to help keep her propped on her side in the meantime.”

“Okay.” I nodded. He was the expert here, and I wanted to do anything I could to make up for my lack of action earlier.

“So then,” Buck looked back to Laika. “She has no idea what’s happened? Of all the time that’s passed?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Hispano suggested that we be carefull…” I gasped and clamped my muzzle shut. Oh goddesses, it just slipped out! I didn’t mean to say her name!

“Hispano?” Violet asked, stepping forward next to me. “You mean there was somepony else out at the crash site?”

Shit, shit, shit! Think of something, Night, before you screw this up and Hispano kills you for slipping up!

“Uhhh… yes.” I nodded. Who would be somepony who could just happen to be flying by? “They were… a courier.” Couriers flew between all the Enclave outposts up above the clouds, they had to have something similar down here, right?

“A courier.” Violet deadpanned at me as if the words out of my muzzle had come straight out of a foal's fairytale. “In the middle of nowhere?”

“She uh…” Fucking get yourself together! “She was going up to make a delivery at Fort Mac when she saw the crash in the distance.” Goddesses, please tell me she’ll at the very least believe me!

“Night…” She facehooved hard. Here it comes, the point at which everything breaks down! “You can’t just talk to random strangers. Ponies are dangerous out in the wastes! I’d thought you of all ponies had learned that by now!” That… went better than expected.

“She was unarmed!” I managed to retort. Just because I lied didn’t mean I couldn’t defend myself. “Besides, I had something a little more pressing to worry about!” Pointing over to Laika, Violet gave in and hung her head.

“Just, be more careful next time.” She turned herself around and headed out the open door. “I’m going to see how recovery is going with that capsule.” With a flutter of her wings, she took off and zipped out from the back of the Hauler.

Huffing behind me, Buck shifted on his chair again. “So. Yet another unwitting soul comes to the wasteland from the sky.” Turning around, I watched as he leaned back with a smile. “A Diamond Dog hero, none the less.”

“A hero?” I asked, turning and sitting down on the edge of my own bed. “What do you mean?”

“I read about Commander Laika when I was studying in the Inuvik’s digitized library. Not only that, but all the dogs know her tale.” Buck smirked as her looked over at me with a soft gaze. Slowly, he turned his eyes to the resting Diamond Dog on his bed. A smile slowly stretched across his jagged muzzle. “She’s a legend to our race, but her story was a cautionary tale.” His smirk dropped, and her seemed to hang on that thought.

“Back during the war, Equestria wanted to prove their scientific might to the Zebra empire. They had several programs going at once to try to provide some sort of breakthrough before the Zebra’s could do the same. They were mostly aiming to get the title of ‘world’s first’ for pretty much anything to pad morale for the war.” Buck crossed his massive claws across his chest, and closed his eyes. “However, this came at a time when they were turning against the other races who they thought might be persuaded to join the zebra’s cause. Turning against and evicting the races who thought that ponies were their friends, even if they didn’t always keep up the best relations.”

“But… the Diamond Dogs were our allies…” I spoke up. “The history books didn’t mention any fighting for the zebra’s, or any evictions for that matter. Only how your kind helped to rebuild Hoofington after it was burned, or helped to build the transportation networks across Equestria.”

Buck let out a forced laugh. “The history books you’ve read won’t tell you anything about how the pony government forced us Diamond Dogs from our homes. Clearing us out of our own tunnels and caverns just to give them to Stable-Tec and the Ministries to be filled with concrete and steel for use of their stable projects and research facilities. Sure, they hired us to dig their tunnels for their trains, or construct their subways. But once that was done, we were always cast aside again.” Opening his eyes, he looked over to Laika. “Still, among all of our outrage, a runt from Stalliongrad stood up to make our voice heard.”

“Why would they listen to her?” I asked. I had no idea that was how Buck’s people had been treated in the past. How it would feel to be kicked out from your home by those who you thought were your friends. It was something I feared Delilah wouldn’t hesitate to do if I screwed up again.

“Laika was… is a prodigy.” Buck shook his head. “By age four, she’d mastered Equestria’s standard education. She’d graduated from college with a doctorate in theoretical physics by age eight. All this in a time where most Diamond Dogs struggled to get a grip on the common Equestrian language at all.” I felt my jaw almost drop to the floor, hanging there as Buck looked over to me. His mood picked up as he looked at me, smiling as he continued. “Diamond Dogs mature at a much faster rate than ponies. But still, she was such a sensation to the pony world. Her intellect even caught the eye of Twilight Sparkle. At the time, Miss Sparkle was just getting her Ministry of Arcane Sciences up and running.”

“The Twilight Sparkle?” I shook my head. “But, Diamond Dogs can’t do magic. Why would she have been interested in Laika?”

“Like medicine in my case, you don’t need magic to be good at certain things.” Buck groaned as he picked himself up off his chair. “Science is the same, and some of Laika’s ideas were, as Twilight Sparkle put it, so incredibly fantastical that they might one day change the world.” Reaching out, Buck curled his paw around the IV bag hanging off the sturdy medical stand he had bolted to his desk. Pulling himself closer to it, he inspected it as he continued. “Her ‘necessity’ to Equestrian science allowed her to influence the Equestrian government to change their position on how Diamond Dogs were treated.”

“So, she used the opportunity her unique position afforded her to change the state of current affairs?” I asked, pausing as I finished to reflect how even if everything in my life had changed, right now? It still felt like I was in school. Only this time, I was hearing about actual history, instead of something cut, tailored, and fed to me by the Enclave.

“That is correct.” Buck nodded at that. “She got the government to provide us with new homes on reserved plots of land. Protection against unfair treatment when it came to the jobs we took up in the wartime economy.” With a look back behind him, he sat back down and eyed over Laika. “But, when Laika went up on that first rocket to the stars? Everything changed.”

“What happened?” I felt like a young colt again at bedtime, eagerly waiting for what happened next in the story being told to me.

“Something went wrong with the rocket launch. It went up... but never came back.” He snorted and looked to me with a look of heavy annoyance. “My people claimed sabotage, but it was already too late. Almost overnight, things went back to the way they were before Laika. Some of us left the cities, and some even left the reservations we’d been given, refusing to work for or around ponies any longer. They just wanted to burrow away from the world and it’s pointless war. Turned out that even for them, it wasn’t far enough by the time the end of the war happened.”

“I… I see.” I couldn’t believe that we could have done that to them.

No, that’s not true. I knew that it was exactly what we could have done. Hell, even my race had closed up the sky on the last day. Even if our intentions were to shield Equestria from the Zebra’s missiles, I can’t deny that part of it was that we only cared about ourselves. All of our loyalty to Equestria, was gone in that moment. Honestly, with all that I know now about the wasteland, I can’t believe that I’d ever thought that there was any loyalty in keeping ourselves locked away for so long.

“It was a long time ago, Night.” Buck smiled and looked up to me. “Don’t let history cloud your mind into thinking that things aren’t better now. Everypony is equal down here in the wasteland now.”

“Are they?” I asked, pointing to Buck’s claws. Instinctively, he curled his massive paws up and pulled them close. “You’re right, things are better than they were. Still doesn’t mean that ponies are any less selfish and horrible than they were back then.” Offering as comforting a smile as I could to him, I was happy to see him mirror it. “Change is hard, but I have to believe that if we can be friends, then there’s at least some amount of hope. Right?”

Buck nodded. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Thank you though. It means a lot to hear you say that.” Looking back over to Laika, he looked down to his paws. “I do hope she wakes up soon however.”

“Yeah.” I sighed, flopping back onto my bed with a sigh. “Besides, we’ve got a long trip ahead of us, and I’m sure you could use someone to talk to who isn’t as dumb as a brick like me.”

“I’m fairly certain that you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for, Night.” Buck spoke up as I closed my eyes. “But if all else fails, like Violet pointed out while you slept, at least you’ve got your looks to fall back on.” He chuckled to himself as a felt a warm blush on my cheeks.

Another day coming to an end. Another day that I hadn’t screwed up anything on this trip. Still, I couldn’t help but feel better about laying there in my bed. While I’d missed the fact that Laika needed help, I’d still done something to help her out at all. On top of that, maybe Buck will feel more comfortable with someone of his own race around. He’d already started to open up to me when I asked him about his family. Maybe now I’ll be able to see a whole different side of him. As I sat in thought, a sharp yawn found it’s way out of my muzzle.

Well, that was all a worry for another time. For a future me that isn’t so damn exhausted. Because right now, what I could use was a nice, long nap.

Much to my surprise, the next few days seemed to fly by. The endless cracked blacktop highway wound through the various forested mountain valleys, and over countless streams, rivers, and ravines. Everypony on the convoy went about their business without much discussion, and things seemed to stay relatively quiet.

Crew dinner time was one of the few times we all socialized, even though I didn’t really ever participate. Baring asking my opinion on a few things that seemed more like them trying to use me to settle old arguments than actually caring what I thought, they hardly said much to me at all. Though, it was nice to be included I supposed.

Yes, things during the day were slow. Hardcase sat on lookout, seeming happy when I joined him up top the few times I did. Violet spent most of her time in the air, scouting ahead of the convoy as she got back to the job Delilah had brought her along for, instead of foalsitting me. When she wasn’t scouting, she was too busy pretending to be an astropony sitting in Laika’s space capsule. Which of course, had actually been chained up onto the backside of the ice hold. Speaking of the ice hold, I avoided Happy for the time being, even though I still wasn’t sure what he did down in the ice hold all day. It was better to be bored and curious, than risk making things awkward again.

Boiler would end up talking my ear off about all the different things about her job she wished were easier, even though most of the things she spoke of were mechanical terms that flew way over her head. And the one time that I flew back out to Lucky, he ended up sitting there in an awkwardly tense silence for about fifteen minutes until I left. He didn’t seem to be very social at all, mostly brooding in silence I’d found. Guess I know who to visit if I ever need some quiet time around here.

At the opposite end, I didn’t visit Gearbox up in the driver's cab. It wasn’t because I didn’t find him interesting, more out of the fear that his already relaxed state meant that any distraction might cause him to forget he was driving and run us right off the road. As for Bessy, the wheeled zebra tank in the lead? I avoided hanging around there because distracting Delilah was liable to get me kicked off this crew, and distracting Howitzer would mean leaving Bessy defenceless. Not that Howitzer was much better than Lucky at being social anyway...

Yes, everypony went about their jobs as normal as could be while the hours came and went. However, starkly opposite to this, both Buck and I ended up mostly sitting around and doing nothing most of the time. Well, that’s not true. Buck spent most of his day monitoring Laika’s condition, with me helping him out when her seizures would return now and again. Still, after our talk about Diamond Dog history, I don’t think either of us quite knew how to strike up a conversation again. He’d engrossed himself in his terminal, and as I pointed out, I lounged about Bertha most of the time.

Today however started off different. While we’d hit the road early, Hardcase hadn’t yet gone up to his observation post at the mounted AA gun up top. Instead, he sat at the radio in the rec area, fiddling with it’s controls as he ate a bowl of stale sugar apple bombs cereal. I watched him from my bed, curious as to what he was doing messing with it. After a moment however, the speaker on the set gave a crackle. Perking my ears, I listened in intently.

“...oming from the south, I’ve got more of the news you can use on the latest happenins’ from that crazy town of Hoofington.”

“Sweet, we’re in range again.” Hardcase muttered through a muzzle full of sugary cereal, smiling as he turned the volume knob up on the radio. The deep voice of a stallion filled the air, and held my complete attention.

“Reports of all out war coming to the old jiving tech town seem to be pouring in as the factions around the ominously named ‘core’ are setting up to fight it out over who gets to be King of the Hoofington scrap heap. Or if what I’ve heard is correct, Queen, as word on the scene is that the hip cat heroine ‘Security’ and her band of merry misfits are poised to join the fight as well. Smart money’s on that mare, as she seems to know how to really jive among all those squares in the old city.”

The voice on the radio was entrancing. I’d never heard anypony with as deep or smooth of a voice as this stallion had, and I almost stopped breathing as I hung on his every word. Never mind the fact that the Enclave government radios were forcibly tuned to one station, the radio hosts never had any personality anyway. This pony… I could get lost in his voice.

“Anyway, that’s enough shop talk from this stallion for one hour. I know why you folks tune in up here, and it’s to hear the freshest tunes and jive jams that DJ PowerColt comes at you with every day. This is Factory Radio, with new music manufactured and broadcast to you northern wasters daily. Here’s a little something I cooked up after a fever dream I had a few moons ago. You cool cat’s enjoy, and remember to keep those dials tuned right here for more new music every hour.”

Some sort of oddly rhythmic music came out over the speakers. A relaxed beat that started with small bits of classical instruments, which was nothing special really. Shortly however, it grew into something entirely different. The music seemed to repeat a heavy bass tone mixed in with various electronic noises, all weaved together with the old wartime music I’d always listened to before. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. I watched as Hardcase bounced along in his seat to the rhythm, looking over to me with a smile before getting up and starting to outright dance to the music.

“What is all that noise?” Buck asked, getting up from his chair and walking over to our open door. Looking out, the two of us watched as Hardcase didn’t hold himself back, rocking to the electronic beat and seeming lost in his own world of dance.

“I don’t know…” I said, finding myself bouncing along on my bed to the beat as well. “But I kind of like it.” I’d never really been one to even having given dancing a thought at any point back in my old life, and yet, I felt like I needed to try. I had an opportunity to get up and experience something new for once, and I was going to try it! Springing to my hooves and out into the rec area, I tried to mimic the moves that Hardcase was doing. In all reality, I was making myself look like an idiot, but the laughing and continued dancing from Hardcase only encouraged me to try harder.

“It’s DJ PowerColt!” Hardcase said mid twirl on his hooves. “His station broadcasts all across the northern wastes. New music all the time.” He kept up his oddly rhythmic dancing, keeping my eyes so focused on his perfect undulating form, that I almost stopped hearing him. “Nopony knows how he can be so creative, but nopony really cares. All his shit’s too catchy to ignore!” Wildly smiling, he looked over to Buck without even breaking form with his dance. “Come on, Doc! Shake that tail!”

Before I knew it, I looked over and caught Buck’s large spiky tail swaying to the beat as well.

“I must admit,” Buck smiled and nodded in admission. “It is remarkably different than the standard wartime music I grew up with.” As he swayed to the beat, I danced my way over to him. Hoofing around his paw with a smile, I pulled him out of our room. He laughed as he relented, joining Hardcase and I in swinging to the beat. And in that moment, the boredom of the last few days fell away. I felt alive again, and nothing could take away this feeling as the three of us danced our cares away. After a couple minutes of carefree dancing, the music fuzzed out as the radio gave a sharp crackle.

“Hardcase, check in.” Delilah’s bored voice called over the headset.

Yes, nothing could take that good feeling we all felt away except for Delilah. Her voice could drain the optimism and enjoyment out of anything it seemed. Still, Hardcase straightened himself out and walked back to the receiver. Firmly, he picked up the mic in his magic and cleared his throat.

“Yes, Delilah, I’m reading you.” He said, his backside still slightly swaying to the sadly absent beat.

“Looks like we’ll be arriving at Klondike in a half hour.” She stated without any real enthusiasm to her words. “I need you to make sure Buck gets Laika ready to transfer over to the town clinic before he and Bombay report in for casting alongside you.”

Looking over to us with a nervous smile, that killed his subtle dancing completely. “I read you. I’ll let them know.” Sighing, he reached out to the radio and put a hoof on a few of the switches. “Hardcase, out.” Flipping the switches, the radio fuzzed and turned off, dropping us all into silence.

“What’s casting?” Buck asked, stepping back towards our container. With a relaxed sigh, he leaned up against it.

“So, neither of you have ever heard of Klondike?” Hardcase sighed, nodding for me to take a seat on the squeaky sofa that sat against the wall. I shook my head before doing as he asked and taking a seat on the old couch cushions.

“I’ve heard of it,” Buck spoke as he rubbed at his chin, “However, only by name. I know nothing of the town itself.”

“Well, back during the war, they flew out a whole bunch of movies studios from the Applewood hills and built an entire mock town in the secluded north.” Hardcase’s grubly annoyed tone as he began didn’t exactly make me excited for what he had to say about this place. “All the PSAs and propaganda films of the war were written, shot, and edited there by the Ministry of Image, who were fully funded by corporate backers like Stable-Tec, Solaris Inc, and Robronco.” Sighing, Hardcase sat back down in his radio chair and seemed to deflate. “The end of the war didn’t affect the film crews and stars who were filming up here.”

“What about the fallout from the Balefire bombs?” Buck asked. “The magical radiation fell across the whole world.”

“Yes, well, Stable-Tec being a founder of Klondike, meant that they built a full sized functioning stable up here for use in filming their own commercials and other productions.” Hardcase rolled his eyes. “The ‘fake’ stable 555 ended up saving almost a thousand ponies. However, they were at a loss with what to do with themselves when they re-emerged after a few years, pretty much once the short lived northern radstorms stopped. So, they simply picked up where they left off.”

“What do you mean? They just went back to filming things after the end of the world?” I asked, not sure what good it would do to just keep on going like that.

“Well, when faced with the end of society as you knew it and nowhere to return back to down south. What else would you do?” Hardcase shrugged. “Regardless, over the years, the elitist and egotistical actors became fed up with the ‘unoriginality’ of the writers and ‘bothersome’ other crew, kicking all six hundred of them out into the wastes. Hell, even a few actors that objected were ‘fired’ as well. The remaining actors all took up ‘characters’ in the town and continued to act things out through improv on their own. Even their foals nowadays have all grown up with two names, having to act everything out everyday as they carry on like nothing ever changed in their perfect fake town.”

Facehoofing, Hardcase didn’t sound too happy about it. “I mean, I know a thing or two about acting out a character. But it’s infuriating when you do something as simple as ask where a bathroom is, to then be told that you speak in an odd way and have them ask you if you come from out of town when they know you’re just passing through.” Yeah, so far, I wasn’t really liking the sound of this place. “They despise the fact that they don’t ever get a chance to show off their characters to anypony, and drag out any interaction to an infuriating level. They eventually end up going on and on and on with monologues and the like.”

That reminded me of something. “Delilah said we had to volunteer with casting? Are we going to help the town out with something for the actors?”

“Sort of. Originally, Delilah took a different rout on the way up to the Inuvik, missing this place and hoping to throw Solomon off our trail. Lucky, Violet and I however had to run back through here to set up a deal with them for this afternoon.” Hardcase groaned. “Delilah want’s to pull a few favors from the town to slow down Solomon again, so we have to join them for the day as characters. We’re going to casting once we arrive in order to be placed in roles the will ‘fit’ us.”

“I see.” Buck said, stroking his chin again with one of his large claws. “I assume then that we will be placed wherever our talents lie, to both help out the town and to fit our roles.” Which made sense. Though… that’s going to make things hard for me. What role do I play if I don’t even know what I’m good at?

“No.” Hardcase said flatly. “Like I said, they hardly get outsiders up this far north past random trade convoys.” He shook his head before slumping down against the radio table. “We’re going to be fought over and bid on for our roles like slaves.” Sighing he banged his head on the table a few times. “It’s the most demeaning and embarrassing thing to be bought like that.”

“You’ve had to do it?” I asked slowly.

He nodded. “The first time Lucky, Violet, and I came up through here? We stopped for the afternoon in Klondike. In order to stay at all, they forced us to spend the night. The price, was that one of us had to be characters. They chose Lucky to do it, but as he stood on that stage getting fought over like that… he broke down into tears from how much it reminded him of what his brother and him went through as slaves. I volunteered and took his place instead.”

“These ponies hardly sound civilized if they force this upon their guests.” Buck scoffed as he pushed himself off the wall. “Still, once we’ve got a roll, I guess all we have to do is last the night.”

“That’s harder than it sounds, Doc.” Hardcase said, sitting back up. “You might get placed as a night watch pony for the town gates if you’re lucky. However, you could also get to be the town mechanic who has to fix something before we leave.” Looking down, he took a deep breath. “And don’t think you can break character. Staying in character is the law around here, and unless you want to spend a week in the town jail, let’s just say you better hope you fix what needs fixing.”

“And we can’t just, you know, skip this place?” I was afraid that I already knew what the answer was going to be.

“No.” Hardcase shook his head as I knew he would. “Delilah needs this from us, and so we’ll do as we’re asked.” Looking between Buck and I, he shrugged. “Keeping Solomon delayed helps us in the long run, so we’ll do it with a smile, alright?” He forced a smile across his muzzle. “Now, get your things together and get ready to rub noses with some of the most obnoxious ponies who’ve ever graced the wasteland. And let’s hope that as characters, we don’t have to do that literally…”

“Welcome to Klondike!” An incredibly overdressed, dust colored stallion called out as Buck, Hardcase, and I made our way down the stairway to the ground from Bertha. The stallion himself was overweight, had what was obviously a combover underneath his smaller than average cartoonish top hat. If that were ridiculous looking enough, he wore a large white sash across his chest that boldly exclaimed MAYOR across it. “As Mayor, let me be the first to welcome you fine folks into our humble little town!”

Lined up and down the sidewalks of main street, were dozens of well dressed and… well, oddly dressed ponies. Wow, Hardcase wasn’t kidding about taking things seriously. Almost all of these ponies looked like they belonged in the pictures of the old days that I’d seen here and there. Matching polka dotted dresses that went almost down to the rear fetlocks on the mares who wore them, which seemed a bit excessively uniform to me. Then again, most of the stallions who weren't wearing some sort of tradespony outfit, wore identical pinstripe pants that were held up by trouser suspenders. All standing out as they were, even in their plain clothes, they almost looked like an army rather than townsponies. It was an eerie sight on it’s own, only made worse by the plastic looking forced smiles across all of their faces.

“Thank you for accommodating us, Mayor.” Delilah called out as she climbed down off the striped hulk of Bessy. “However, we picked up someone in need of medical care along the way. Do you mind if my Doctor sets her up in your clinic before he heads off to casting?”

“Sure thing, Ma’am.” The mayor belted out an obnoxiously loud laugh. “We here in this perfect little town of Klondike are always happy to help the good folk of Equestria. That is,” He paused, turning around to the lines of ponies along the sidewalks. “So long as we ask them what, folks?” He called out to all of them.

Everypony in unison turned and pointed down the street. It took me a moment to see the large faded billboard still propped up on the valley hills outside of town. It showed a cartoonish stallion and mare smiling with a foal next to them waving happily. The words across the top of it were more faded than the bold ones at the bottom, but still legible. 'Equestria has a new standard of community perfection to work towards, and we all need to pitch in!' Which simply oozed of Ministry of Image propaganda. However, as I read the bottom text, I was joined by the entire town shouting it at me.

“What would you do for Klondike?” The towns folk shouted as one before diverting into celebratory yips and shouts. Yeah… this place just went from Oddville to Creepytown in mere moments.

“Come on, folks!” The mayor shouted to the celebrating ponies. “Everypony head on down to the casting hall! We’ll begin casting auditions in ten minutes!” Turning back to us, the jubilant and rosey cheeked mayor deadpanned. “Alright, you have ten minutes to get your doctor’s patient set up at the clinic.” Eyeing at Delilah, a sly smirk crawled across his short muzzle. “So, is our agreement still in place?”

Delilah gave a stiff nod. “Yes, Mayor.” Turning to us, she held her hoof out. “We will be heading out from town in about an hour, but these three will be with you for the day.” Wait, they were leaving!? “We will be leaving our chase vehicle here along with it’s driver overnight as well. They will catch up with us tomorrow morning.”

“Splendid.” The mayor smiled and looked over to us. “Three new actors… how delightful.” He giggled at us before Delilah got his attention by tapping her hoof on the pavement a few times. “Right, as for your end of the bargain. The next convoy we see will be delayed due to… unforeseen mechanical issues. You have my word.”

“Then it seems that our business is concluded.” Delilah said, getting a nod from the Mayor before he turned and walked off. Turning towards us, Delilah’s eyes didn’t wander to anyone other than me as she spoke. “Alright, follow their rules. Don’t get into trouble, and Lucky should get you all back to us by tomorrow evening.” Narrowing her eyes, now I knew she was speaking to me. “Is that clear.”

Nodding sharply, I stood up as straight as I could. “You can count on me, Ma’am.”

“Good.” She said dismissively before finally looking over to Buck. “Get Laika set up as best you can. Their doctors should take care of her just fine until she recovers. She can decide what to do and where to go whenever she wakes up.” Looking over to Hardcase, she cocked her eyebrow and grew a smirk of her own across your muzzle. “Remember, it’s only a day, Hardcase. Now, you and Buck get things sorted and get going.”

“Yeah.” He nodded and offered a nervous smile of his own. “I’ll do my best to help Bombay adjust. Try to keep him out of trouble.” Turning around, he followed Buck back up the stairs of the hauler to get their things.

That brought Delilah’s gaze back onto me. “Remember, don’t screw this up and I’ll consider removing your probation.” Nodding again, she sighed and looked to relax. “Alright. One last thing, Night, and listen close.” She said, leaning in closer to me. “I’ve already told Hardcase this, but I don’t trust this place.” Gee, I wondered why that was. Maybe because the ponies here all seemed mildly insane. “Hardcase has mentioned before that they treat guests like slaves, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the Mayor tried to pull the same ‘mechanical’ issue on the Runner to keep you all here longer.” She eyed me over her cat-eye glasses, giving me a stone faced expression. “Keep an ear up for anything going on, and find a way to get to Hardcase or Lucky should something go wrong.”

“Okay.” I nodded as she took a step back.

“Good.” She went back to eyeing me as she turned her muzzle up at me. “You’ve been doing well these last few days. If you keep it together for your time here, you can expect to take over half of Violet’s recon shifts by the time you get back to the Hauler.” Reaching out, she prodded me sharply with her forehoof. “But that’s if you keep it together.” Swinging her hoof out, she huffed. “Now go. The sooner you start this acting fiasco, the faster it can be done and over with.”

Nodding, I turned and looked around. Down main street, a few of the well dressed towns ponies were still milling about as they slowly made their way towards one of the side streets. Deciding that it was as good a place as any to start, I pushed myself into a trot and walked across the open street toward them.

Looking around, I took in just how strikingly well kept this place was. The storefronts were all painted with bright colors, painstakingly ornate painted shop window borders depicted the general items that could be found inside. Bright red roses and yellow tulips for ‘Sunflower’s Floural Boutique!’, manedryers and curling irons for ‘Sassy’s Salon’. Across the street, nuts, bolts, and various tools decorated the windows of ‘Tiny Timber Building Supplies’, which was oddly chosen to sit next door to the ‘Dreamland Diner’. All of it felt so unreal with how… normal it all looked. Hardcase was right, nothing much changed for these ponies with the end of the world.

Looking further up the street, the blocky blue and white face of the Klondike Police Department had a single pony standing in front of it. Wearing impeccably well kept and pressed blue uniform, the grey coated mare standing at the door looked incredibly bored. Still, turning towards her, I figured that if anypony knew this town, it had to be somepony in law enforcement. Even if they were only acting like a police officer.

‘Excuse me, miss?” I called out as I trotted up to her. Turning her head slowly, she eyed me over before cocking her eyebrow slowly. “I’m new here and looking for where Casting is?”

The earth pony mare gave out a bored sigh, raising her hoof and pointing toward the street where all the milling ponies were walking down. Halfway down the street, past another few shop buildings, was the flashing lights of what looked to be an old theatre. I facehooved looking at it, feeling incredibly stupid for not guessing that acting ‘auditions’ would take place in an actual theatre.

“Thank you.” I sighed, going to turn around when I stopped myself. Looking back at the bored looking mare, I had an odd question come to mind. “Do… you like it here? I mean, no offence, but you don’t look quite as… enthusiastic as the other towns ponies.” I gave her a nervous smile, hoping that she didn’t mind the intrusive question too much. Instead, she simply shrugged, going back to looking out across the street with a thousand yard stare. “Well,” I said, looking down at the name badge on her breast pocket. “Officer Minty. Thanks for the help.”

Waving goodbye to her, I turned around and made my way across the street. As I did, I found myself joined by Hardcase, who saddled up against my side with a smile. I looked at him, confused at the odd turn of enthusiasm.

“That mare you were talking to? Officer Minty?” He whispered as we walked. “Oh, she’s a real hoot around here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, keeping my voice down as we trotted past the mares I saw earlier. There were younger than me, the unicorns among them carrying schoolbooks in their magic. They giggled among themselves as we passed them by, Hardcase simply rolling his eyes at them.

“Ol’ Minty there is Ex-raider. Had her tongue cut out by her own clan, so she can’t speak.” Hardcase giggled. “It drives all these idiot actors nuts when she’s around, because they can’t play off her role at all. But she’s good at throwing out the riff raff, so they keep her around.” Tapping me on the side, he looked back at her with a smile. “Goddess I hope I get paired up with her. It would be the easiest twenty four hours to spend in this place.”

I didn’t want to open my muzzle, but… it always seemed to happen anyway. “And the worst?” I said slowly.

Approaching the Theatre, Hardcase stepped away a bit and smiled. “Just do your best to act friendly to those you want to be paired up with.” Waving to a few more blue uniformed police ponies up ahead who were milling in front of the theatre, he flashed a wide smile. “Just stand up straight and smile with confidence. Acting even before you get a part just might make the difference between a night of bliss…” Looking back to me, his grind twisted nervously. “And a night of hell that drags on forever…”

Approaching the double doors to the old world theatre, we found the doors opened for us. A pair of smiling, well dressed red and black ushur ponies greeted us and waved us in. The green coated ushur mare standing behind the concession stands to the right was about my age, and giggled as we trotted past her. Inside the well kept theatre lobby was another mare in usher clothing who greeted us. However her clothes were a solid matte black, matching her black coat almost completely in tone.

“I’m Radiant Podium, the Showcase Theatre’s manager. I assume you two are here for casting?” The well dressed unicorn spoke in such a soft, respectful voice that it caught me off guard. With a smile softer than velvet, she held her hoof out to her side as we nodded. “Excellent. Let me show the two of you backstage so we can get you ready for the show.” Nodding to ponies at the doors, they both turned and let them slowly swing shut behind us. “This way, if you would please follow me.”

The heavy wooden doors shut behind us with a solid thump, and in the back of my mind, I knew that we’d just crossed the threshold of no return.

Author's Notes:

Forgot to add this in when I posted it, but many thanks to PlagenShiki for all the great work he's done in the past for me. He's got his own story that he's been writing, Fallout Equestria: Icicle, that has to do with Miss Ratchet, the inventor of the cryogenics systems that have been appearing in all my stories, including this one. Anyway, go give his stuff a look!

And while I'm saying it, thanks to Kkat, Somber, Mimezinga, No One, and all the others who have done fantastic Fo:E stories that have done nothing but help inspire me to continue my own!