There was little fanfare from us when we’d pulled away from the summit of Filly Crossing. To be more specific, there wasn’t any at all. Honestly, that was probably a good thing, seeing as I really should be looking out for anypony around here who was giving us too much attention. Actually, I’d already almost been killed by two normal looking ponies in the last day, so if anything, it’s the normal ones I should keep an eye out for.

Shifting against the uncomfortable chafing of the battle saddle I wore, I knew that at least this time I’d be able to fight back...

Winding down the rocky cliffside path for the last hour had been nice and quiet. Delilah had everypony on station for the trip down, as some of the roads ahead were known to be quite treacherous. Even so, this side of the mountain was less rocky once you got about halfway down, and gave way to higher elevation forest valleys and sub-mountain ranges. As such, she’d had Hardcase leave the radio on out in the Rec section, so both Buck and I could react if there was a problem we needed to know about.

“Alright everyone,” Delilah’s voice crackled as it came over the radio. “We’re coming up on the first Road Crew checkpoint between here and the Ark. I want everypony to be at their best from here on out.” I was slightly confused as to what a ‘road crew checkpoint’ was, but seeing as Buck was the only one within earshot, and the only other one around here to not know about stuff this far south, I didn’t ask. “Some of you might not know, but Solomon hired a pony to try to kill Bombay back at Filly Crossing. He’s fired the first shot at us of this war, and it won't help us to hold back against him anymore either.”

“From here on out, treat everypony as if they might be working for him. Nopony leaves without another one of us at their side anymore, period. This includes going out to any towns for trading and the like.” Her voice was as stern as ever. Yet, I could hear how much it had changed. She cared about telling this to the others, and we could all hear it in her voice, I was sure of it. “You may know the truth of what we’re after now, but it's not going to make our task any less difficult to complete with Solomon coming after us.”

“I wish she wouldn't make it sound as if everypony is out to get us.” Buck sighed as he continued to type away at his terminal. I agreed that it did sound bad outloud like that, but it was really true. Hell, they still didn’t even realize that we were being followed by Hispano and her father. And now I felt guilty again for hiding that...

“Look at it this way, at least she didn't ask for us to shoot anypony that we suspect of it on sight.” I offered a nervous smile over to Buck from my bed.

“I guess that's true.” He shrugged and offered back his own smile. “I'm glad you've been more optimistic about things. For a while there, I was sure that you'd be convinced that the wasteland was only full of violence and strife.” Starting to lightly chuckle, I almost joined him in actually laughing. However, that was cut short when a set of rapid gunshots filled the air from outside. “I just had to say something.” Buck groaned.

“Bombay, make sure to get your gear on and get out back to Lucky.” Delilah’s voice came back in over the radio. “Doc, standby to provide medical treatment as needed.”

Pushing myself up to a gallop, I ran through the back of the Rec area and spread my wings wide. Shooting out of the back of the Hauler, I smiled as the cool air pressed up against my wings and caught me. Gliding out over Lucky and the runner, I tweaked my outstretched forelegs and wings slightly to softly bank me around. More gunshots from up ahead made me look over to investigate, and I brought my tail in line to keep me from drifting too much.

Up ahead, maybe a few thousand feet down the road, was a wide, snowy clearing full of old tree stumps and fallen logs. The edge of a thick forest sat across from the mountainside half of it, which had a few small log cabins built next to a line of bright orange construction vehicles. Between the cabins and the cleared land, sat a pair of square concrete bunkers. Sporadic automatic fire came from the bunkers, causing dusty lines of snow and dirt to kick up across various sections of the clearing.

Confused as to just what they were firing at, I came back around behind the Runner. I felt uneasy staring at the Dizzitron as I flared my wings to slow down, and yawed myself to drop a bit of altitude. I had to do this though, this was my job and I couldn’t let Delilah down. So even though I wasn’t sure I was ready, I committed myself. Dropping onto the moving bed of the Runner, I perked my ears as Lucky stuck his head out of his window.

“Get locked in already!” He shouted.

Rolling my eyes, I stepped up to the mechanism and hurriedly got myself secured into it. “Wait, is this on power level one?” I called back only a moment before the machine started to hum. I did my best to fight my instinct to panic. Instead, I leaned my head forward and bit down on my battle saddle controls as the spinning picked up. Of course since the last time I’d done that, the forged metal hadn’t really decided to taste any better.

As the world became a white and brown blur from the surrounding snow and rocks, I closed my eyes and waited. The crisp clank from the release mechanism sounded much clearer to me than it had when I’d practiced before. However, the dizzying spin was just the same as I’d remembered. After a few moments, I flared my wings and stuck my legs out. Opening my eyes, everything was… upside down.

Twisting my wings, I rolled myself over in panic. Letting myself straighten out, I felt the wind pick up under my wings again as I began to glide. Even though the gunfire below me was still a bit distressing, I couldn’t help but smile from the fact that I’d recovered from the launch all on my own!

“Nice form.” Violet called out as she swooped down from above. “Now come on, there’s work to do! We’ve got to kill those things before they reach the checkpoint!” Like a feather on the breeze, she pulled herself delicately end over end until she was pointing downward. Then like a purple bolt, she shot through the air.

“Wait! What are we fighting!?” I called out, pushing myself into a dive. It wasn’t as steep a dive as I’d been in on the ice sheet, but it was steeper than normal for me.

I tried to keep my eye on her as I started to speed toward the forest clearing. Unfortunately, I relented to controlling myself rather than wait for an answer from her that wasn’t coming. Pitching myself, I rolled and came down in a corkscrew pattern, repeatedly skimming down along the edge of the dark forest. As I did, I noticed dozens of dark, purple spotted shadows moving across the ground inside. I couldn’t see what exactly they were, but from the alien way they shambled around toward the clearing, I was sure I’d find out shortly.

Banking back around toward the bunkers, I’d learned sooner than I’d thought. A pair of black and purple looking spotted dogs sat gazing at me from behind some of the snow covered logs that were being shot at. No, not dogs. Dog shaped, but bigger. Maybe wolves, like from the pictures that had been in my biology textbook? Though, I don’t remember spotted wolves being a thing in there. Regardless, if they were a danger to the checkpoint, I’d have to take them out. One grenade should do it.

Pitching myself upwards, I wiggled my tongue across the grenade trigger and waited until I’d drained enough speed. With a sharp pull, I felt the mechanism strip one of the grenades from my harness and drop it through the air. Leveling myself out, I looked down at the falling weapon as I drifted toward the bunkers as the convoy finally reached them. The small apple shaped grenade hit the log square between the two wolves, before it exploded with a sharp crack.

I felt as the small blast wave pushed against me, and stabilized myself before banking around to look at the results of my first ground attack run. Drifting on a shallow glide, Violet dropped down with me with a worried look across her muzzle. I gazed down as the blackened and splintered backside of the log came into view. A small, smoldering crater sat where the grenade had gone off, and in it, were a few shredded and burning plant vines. However, there were no wolves...

“That was a nice two for one kill, but I doubt that they were the only Bramble wolves out here.” She spoke with a sigh, changing her gaze over toward the treeline.

“Two for one kill?” I asked, looking back down at the crater. “But… where’s the bodies?”

“Shit, I keep forgetting that you don’t know.” Violet gasped before looking at me. “You remember being taught about Timber Wolves back in school?” She asked, prompting a confused nod from me. “These are Bramble Wolves. Northern cousins to them, and made entirely out of thorny bramble vines. Hence the name.” Reaching out with her forehoof, she forced my head toward her. “Do not let them touch you. Ever. Understand?”

“Sure…” I asked, eyeing back at the forest that was fast approaching us. With how many I’d seen moving around in there, I was feeling a whole lot less confident at getting anywhere close to it. “But, just to tell you, I saw a lot more coming from in there.”

The both of us banked to the side as we approached the treeline, and Violet went wide eyed as the both of us saw dozens of glowing purple eyes tracking us across the sky from in the shade of the forest. One of them stepped out into the clearing ahead of us, and tilted its head up. It gave out a low, droning howl until it’s whole body began undulating. The pitch increased until it became a near screech, and the wolf became nothing more than a mass of wildly flailing vines.

Yeah, that’s something I never would have wanted to let touch me anyway!

Violet and I pulled up, banking around towards the Convoy. I looked ahead, watching as the stripes on the side of Bessy’s turret rotated around. The cannon on top swung over, sitting in line with the lone, howling wolf for only a moment before it fired.

The blast wave from the cannon shell’s explosion actually caught under my wings and lifted me a bit into the air. The ringing from both the shot and the explosion deadened my hearing, and looking around, I found Violet already had turned back around toward the numerous wolves now running out of the forest and across the clear cut area.

The bunker machine guns behind me opened up again. Even though I couldn’t quite hear them, I watched as lines of snow and splintering wood kicked up across the open land. Amazingly as I banked back toward them, I watched as their black and purple viny forms flattened themselves almost completely along the terrain, and their rope like legs flailed like large whips. Their vines would grab onto something ahead of them, and sharply pull themselves forward. It was the most frighteningly disturbing thing I’d seen yet in the wasteland.

Dipping into a soft glide, I picked up a little speed as I flew toward a large mass of them. Between the flattened mass, I couldn’t tell if there had been three or four when I pulled the trigger and dropped another grenade down. This time, I pulled up and banked myself around in a wider arc to get a clear view of the blast. I watched as the wolves themselves watched the dropping grenade with great intrigue.

Interestingly enough, one of them used one of their incredibly long vine legs to reach up and grab around the apple shaped weapon while it had only fallen about halfway down to them. It held it there for another second before the grenade exploded with a sharp crack.

Surprisingly, the small weapon’s blast won out over the ringing in my ears momentarily. While the log had protected me before, the mid air blast sent shrapnel from the grenade zipping through the air around me. I felt as a piece slapped against the submachine gun at my side, and as a few smoldering pieces cut through my tail. The wolf that had grabbed the grenade however, lost it’s long tentacle, but had saved itself and the others. Turning myself back toward the convoy, I furiously beat my wings to gain more altitude, as well as more time to think. Okay, how am I supposed to fight a monster that can cheat and just grab a grenade out of the fucking air!?

Another resounding shot from Howitzer’s cannon shook the air and blasted me sideways. I groaned as the air was forced from my lungs, and I struggled to keep myself from dipping into too sharp of a dive. Giving a gasp for air, I maneuvered myself back toward the Convoy while I looked back to where Howitzer had hit. The four that I’d meant to kill with the grenade weren’t there anymore, nor was the pair of logs they’d been near, or the dirt under them. Guess they couldn’t stop something like that.

That gave me an extraordinarily bad idea.

Flapping hard, I pushed myself to get back to the Hauler. Hardcase up on the Hauler’s quad roof mount joined the machine guns in the bunkers under me. The three points continued to rattle away rounds, and a the very least keep the wolves from advancing too quickly across the open ground. The ringing in my ears returned as the open reactor deck came into view just as Howitzer fired another shot into the monsters. Flaring myself and coming in fast, I came down hard on the steel floor right next to Boiler, and found my unbalanced self flopped onto my side.

Without warning, I felt a pair of strong legs wrap around me and pull me back up to my hooves. Looking up, I found Boiler shouting at me without having a chance to beat out the ringing in my ears. Instead of let her continue, I put my hoof over her muzzle and spit my saddle’s bit out.

“I need you to load up one of those cannon shells again!” I spoke, not able to hear myself as I did so, but watching her cringe all the same as I yelled in her face. “Like you did on the Ice flats!”

She started to speak again, shaking her head and trying to explain her point without me able to hear a damn word she said.

“I can’t fight the Bramble wolves with simple grenades!” I shouted to her, successfully cutting her off. She went wide eyed and put her hoof on my chest.

I watched as she mouthed what I was pretty sure was ‘Bramble wolves’ before she tapped on my chest and turned around. I didn’t know what she was saying as she galloped over toward the munitions storage cage. Running in, she grabbed a hoofful of small white cylinder style grenades and hobbled back over to me with them. She pointed to them before making the motion to load them up in my saddle with quick nodding.

“No, I need something bigger! They’re made of vines!” I yelled at her. “Grenades won’t work!”

She rolled her eyes and shoved one of the white cylinders at me so I could read the label. In bright red letters, I wasn’t sure what most of it meant, but the middle word caught my eye more than anything.

Fire? That might work against plants! Hoofing it back, I nodded franticly and presented my side to her. For somepony without the precision of levitation or the flexibility of feathers, she made short work of removing my last normal grenade, and attaching three of the white incendiary cylinders to my side. She gave me a pat and pointed to the open side of the hauler when she finished.

“Thank you!” I called out just before Howitzer let loose another of his shells. Galloping to the edge of the deck, I flared my wings again and banked myself around back toward the battle. Looking over, the fight against the encroaching wolves was not going well, and a few dozen of the shambling masses were more than three quarters of the way to the bunkers.

I watched as Violet performed a high speed pass on them. Her gun fired again and again as she strafed over them. The shots did little to harm the monsters, but they turned their attentions on her rather than moving forward. Their flailing vines raked at the air dangerously close under her, and I tried to gauge their reach as best I could.

Beating my wings hard, I climbed as fast as I was able. Muttering under my breath as I panted from the exertion, I cursed my own flat feathers. Still, I managed to climb higher and higher. And though my wings were starting to ache from the punishment I was giving them, I was still happy they’d gotten me this far. They must have grown stronger just with how much I’d had to use them in the wasteland so far!

Leveling myself out, I bit down on the trigger assembly, and adjusted myself to glide toward the far edge of the battle line. Torquing my wings, I curved myself into a banking turn, and set myself to drift across the length of the encroaching lines of shambling creatures. With a sharp pull, I dropped the first grenade. Waiting for only a single moment, I pulled again and sent the second grenade falling. By the time I pulled the trigger for the third, the first one reached the ground.

With a soft pop, rather than a blast, a cloud of red gas exploded around the ground. The second grenade fell until it was caught a few feet off the ground by one of the wolves. However, it too exploded with a blast of colorful smoke that enveloped the creature and it’s nearby companions. The creatures under the last one simply flattened themselves against whatever was nearby only a moment before the third grenade’s cloud enveloped them with another pop.

Even from my height, I could feel the warm thermals being generated by the rising clouds. I banked around back toward the convoy, watching as the first cloud began to thin. In it, I could see flickering fires all across the ground. Writhing and blazing masses of vines slowly burned to a crisp in front of me, while the Bramble Wolves that had been behind those caught in the blast turned themselves and hastily advanced back toward the forest.

The lines of fire being laid down by the bunkers came to a stop as the last of the invading wolves disappeared again into the dark forest. A few of the ponies in the concrete buildings came out from the various hatches built into them, looking quite relieved. They looked up into the sky, giving bright smiles and waves to both Violet and I. I spit my bit and laughed to myself, as I couldn’t help but feel good about doing something useful for once.

Violet swooped down and took her place next to me. She spoke up with silent words that I couldn’t hear, but her smile felt comforting at least. I pointed up to my ears and shook my head, to which she nodded and seemed to understand. Waving for me to follow her, I banked around and headed toward the Hauler again. We took a wide path around, coming over Lucky in the runner before lining up with the Rec area. Gliding in, we both had a slow approach as we came down, dropping onto the floor with heavy hooves.

Immediately, Violet spun around and put her hoof on my chest. She held her hoof up for me to wait, and I nodded. Reaching up to her ears, she popped out a foam pad from each before turning and trotting over to my container’s door. I sighed, as I realized that ear protection might have been useful in the fight. Though, how was I supposed to know I’d be right next to the blast of Howitzer’s gun? It was loud back on the ice sheet, but not that loud.

Then again, I was much higher, and was moving much faster at that point…

Buck stepped out with a small ear dropper daintily held between two of his claws. The purple fluid in it looked like it was drawn out of a health potion, but as long as it gave me my hearing back, I didn’t care what it was. With a fuzzling crackle, Buck dripped a few drops into each of my ear, and the world around me became a whole lot louder again.

“Oh goddesses, thank you.” I sighed, flicking my ears a few times and listening as the glorious sounds of the wasteland met me again.

“Well, you didn’t die!” Violet laughed as she gave me a stiff pat on the back. “And thanks to you, those Bramble Wolves won’t be attacking this place any time soon.”

“Bramble Wolves, you say?” Buck said, perking his ears as he headed back into our room.

“Yeah. Why, you heard of them up in Inuvik?” Violet asked as we both watched as Buck slipped on his medical yoke and grabbed his duffle bag from under his bed.

“The digital library on the Inuvik had a book on northern wildlife that I’d studied up on in preparation for this trip.” He spoke up as he walked back out towards us. “It should be interesting to see how they have fared or mutated over these last two centuries.” Moving forward, he was stopped by Violet’s outstretched hoof.

“Just be careful in looking over their bodies. Avoid their thorns at all cost, Doc.” She spoke in such a serious manner that I was starting to get the feeling that even dead, these things weren’t safe at all.

“I know all about their thorns from the wildlife book.” He grumbled back at her with an annoyed sigh, using his massive forepaw to shift her leg off of him. “Their intoxicating venom can contain enough fermentation to put a foal’s life in danger, but it will hardly affect someone with my metabolism.”

“Not anymore, Doc.” Violet sighed and stepped aside. “But by all means, touch away.”

“Fermentation? Thorns?” I asked, just as obnoxiously blunt as ever. Though, this is about something dangerous after all. I should probably know the sorts of things I’ll need to avoid in the wasteland in the future.

“Their thorns contain a potent type of fermented venom, made in the purple flowers that you saw growing all over their vines.” Violet spoke up. Reaching over with her wing, she gave me a sharp jab with it as she spoke. “One prick from a single thorn on their vine has enough potent alcohol to kill even an adult minotaur in minutes.” With that, she turned and glared at Buck.

“So what you’re saying is…” He gave a nervous laugh as he rubbed at his neck. “Look, but don’t touch.”

“Yeah, something like that.” Violet rolled her eyes, dropping them down onto me as she finished. “Anyway, Bombay. I’m pretty sure we should go talk to the Forepony here with Delilah. Might give us a discount if you’re there to remind them that we just saved their asses.”

“Okay.” I nodded before turning to Buck. Giving him a soft smile, I reached out and gave him a pat on the side. “Be careful, alright?”

“Yeah.” He smiled and reached up. “Though, it’s odd to hear that from you, as it’s usually me telling you that.” Again, he ruffled my mane with his massive claws before stepping past me and heading down into the ice hold. Looking out past him, I followed Violet as she spread her wings, and the two of us took flight yet again.

Landing softly next to Delilah, Violet and I found her facing off with a trio of oddly dressed stallions. The three of them wore flannel shirts over their burly earth pony forms. Orange and white reflective vests sat over each one’s flannel shirt, and the bright orange hard hats that adorned each of their heads had a crudely painted red diamond on it. Fixed to the hat’s sides like fabric ears, were a pair of bright orange flags that flapped stiffly in the cold wind.

“Hey, kid. Thank’s for the assist.” The stallion in the middle spoke up as he nodded to me with a smirk. “Good work with that fire. Maybe we could have a talk in a few about buying some of those grenades off of you?”

“Sorry, we need all our supplies.” Delilah interjected before turning and pointing to Violet and I. “These are my two recon scouts, Zoomer and Bombay. They’re my chief means of advanced protection on this trip, and I need them as well equipped as they can be.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” The stallion gave a dismissive wave. “The Bramble wolves have just been acting strange ever since the clouds cleared up is all. However, I’m sure they’ve learned their lesson with that show you put on.”

“One can only hope.” Delilah snorted and pressed her glasses up on her muzzle. “So, Forepony, about getting clearance for my convoy?”

“Yeah, I can give it to you, but I got word over the wire from my union rep a week ago that the price has gone up to fifty caps.” The stallion shrugged, turning and waving for his two friends to run off. “With the clouds gone, the wild weather’s been wreakin’ havoc with the roads. It’s going to start costing us a lot more resources to keep them maintained.”

“That is unfortunate, but understandable.” Delilah grumbled.

“However, as Forepony, I think I can authorize a little deal with the others for a bit of a discount. You know, on account of helping us out of that bramble wolf bind.” He gave a lax look about, like he was avoiding even looking at anything that resembled responsibility. “The normal toll price sound good to you folks?”

“Sounds acceptable to me.” Delilah smirked and stiffly held out her hoof. “Pleasure doing business, Forepony.”

Foreponies? Union Reps? What the hell was all this? Dad had complained about the forepony at the shipyard being a ‘whiney featherbrain’, but even then I didn’t really understand what was going on. Looking over at Violet, she caught my confused look and leaned over to me.

“I’ll explain later.” She whispered into my ear before turning and watching as one of the oddly dressed ponies trotted past us with a paint bucket.

I turned and watched him. Carefully, he set the bucket down on the asphalt next to Bessy, biting down on the handle of the paintbrush stuck inside of it. Pulling it out, it dripped of red paint. With a quick slash against the zebra painted tank, he left a red mark across its front. Putting the brush back in the bucket, he picked the bucket itself up again, and moved on towards Bertha.

“Alright you two, get ready to get going. We’re on the move again in ten.” Delilah said as she stepped up beside me. “Good work out there, Bombay. Switching to Incendiary was a good idea.”

“Actually, that was Boiler’s idea.” I replied, watching as my words didn’t affect her expression one bit. Not that I expected them to.

“Still, you dropped them, so you get the afternoon off.” Delilah nodded before trotting off toward the Hauler. “Besides, I don’t want you getting overconfident with your one win.” Her words only had a few moments to sink in, but they sank deep. This was only one of many fights we’d probably see on the way down, and that alone was both frightful and humbling to think about.

Violet snorted next to me, shoving me playfully. “I’m not even mad that you get the day off.” Giving me a pat on my side, she too trotted forward. “You’re still green, but that wasn’t bad for your first go at things! Go ahead and relax your wings.” She called out, looking back at me with a smirk. “You coming or what?”

With a wide smile, I picked up my hooves, and headed back for some nice relaxing rest.

We’d been on the road for another hour now, still heading down the long, winding road that trailed through the various mountain valleys on the southern side of ‘The Last Bastard’s summit. Everypony had gone back to business as usual on the convoy, and now that we were moving again, I’d finally felt I could enjoy the time off I’d earned. So, I’d laid down on my bed, stared at the ceiling of my container, and let my thoughts drift as a solid realization wrapped itself around me like the warmth of the rainbow rug I’d curled up under.

Home. That’s what this place felt like to me. I may have only been with the crew here for a couple of weeks, but something incredible had happened in that short period of time. I felt accepted, liked, and cared about in a way that I didn’t really understand until recently. For most of my life, Mom and Dad were the only ponies who I could even say loved me at all. Now? I may not have had love, but I had more friends than I could have ever dreamed of.

“So, you aren’t going to even answer me then.” Happy sighed as he sat in the open doorway. He’d been lucky to come in when Buck was downstairs tending to a burn that Boiler got from restarting the reactor to get us moving again. However, that just meant that I needed to bide my time until he returned. “You know, I knew you were going to pull some shit like this. Should’ve done the job myself.” He shook his head and gave out a huff. “And you know what? I actually thought that you were going to be one of the cool ponies on this trip.”

“Yes, because it would have been ‘cool’ to rip off ponies who didn’t have anything to their names to offer.” I’d said quickly. A smile instantly flashed across my muzzle as I did. It felt good to speak my mind for once and not worry about it. Turning over in my bed, I found his flat expression to be nearly a copy of his mother’s on most days. “Look, if caps are really all you want, I’ll pay you back for it once I get paid.” Oddly enough, he shifted to a look of surprise when I said that. “Yeah, that’s right. I’ll cover their debt.”

“No, that ain’t cool.” He grunted and crossed his forehooves. “It’s more than just about the caps, it’s the principle of the matter.” With a huff, he blew his greasy mane down in front of his eye. Annoyedly, he bat it out of the way with his hoof. “You come to live with us, you are supposed to be loyal to us. Got it?” Oh, so that’s how it was supposed to be? I don’t think he realized that this was exactly what I’d just gone through with his mom. “Selling out to somepony outside the convoy is insulting to the hospitality my mother’s given you. You might as well work for Solomon.”

That hit a nerve with me. “Can I ask you something?” I could stand being called a coward, or a liar. I could stand for being called out on screwing him over in the deal. “Have you actually ever seen Solomon?” As the words came out of my muzzle, I could remember in vivid detail the calm look on Solomon’s face as he came back from murdering Prince Salal. I could see the sharp, determined look that he shared with the gunpony who nearly killed Buck and I down in the medical rooms of Filly Crossing.

“Well, no...” Happy Trails trailed off as he looked caught off guard by the question.

Shifting over on my bed, I got to my hooves. Canting my head as I talked, I glared at Happy. “Violet and I watched as he killed a deer with his own two hooves for trespassing on their own land. I’ve seen who he’s hired to protect him, willing to murder others without question.” I stepped off my bed, keeping my eyes locked on his. While he looked slightly unnerved at me, he held his ground and sat there as I walked closer. “I was the one nearly killed by a mercenary working for him in Filly Crossing. I was the one out there fighting those Bramble Wolves earlier.”

“And during all this, where were you? You haven’t left the convoy without your mother once since we’ve left the Empirica. Why is that? Maybe it’s because you’re afraid to leave your safe haven here?” Standing an inch from his muzzle, I felt like I could just give him one good swing and break his jaw the same way I did to Solomon. “You think it’s insulting to do somepony a kindness, even if you don’t know them? You’ve only heard the stories of what Solomon is capable of from your mom, where I’ve seen what he can do.” He wasn’t worth a fight.

Happy simply smirked, keeping a level head as his gaze wandered over my own. “You can talk a big game, but that’s all this still is to you. A game.” Rolling his eyes, he got to his hooves and took a step back. “I’ve lived in the wasteland my whole life. You’re still just some kid from above the clouds. You’ve had a taste, but you don’t know what it’s actually like down in the wastes. You will though, soon enough.” He gave a few stiff laughs as he turned and walked toward his room. Even as the Hauler beneath our hooves gave a shake on the uneven roads below, his hoofing was far steadier than mine. “You’ll come around to my side of things, Bombay. Just you wait and see.”

I glared at him as he walked back into his room and shut the door behind him. It wasn’t until then that I felt the haze of anger in my mind lift. My knees felt like they were about to buckle, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Still, I’d stood up for myself against him. I felt a pride in that, and I couldn’t help but think that Mom and Dad would be proud of me as well. Turning back around, I trotted over to my bed and climbed onto it again. With a relaxed flop, I laid back down and resumed staring at the ceiling. However this time, my forehooves wandered up to my neck, and pressed hard against the silver tags still hanging around them.

I only had a minute’s peace before the container door across from mine opened up. Looking over, I’d wondered if Violet was already back from her patrol. Instead, from out of it, Hardcase trotted over to me with a nervous smile.

“So, that must have been a fun conversation.” He spoke as he stopped just inside my doorway and rubbed at his neck. “Still, I’m glad to see that you’re not letting him get to you like he did your first few days on with us. Most of us think he’s just jealous of all the attention you’ve gotten from his mom.” Looking over in the direction of his container, he lowered his voice a bit. “Give him a bit more time, I’m sure he’ll warm up to you.”

“Yeah.” I sighed and maneuvered myself to sit up a bit. While he wasn’t really a good guy, the rest of the crew didn’t really seem to have that good of a rapport with him either. So I began to wonder just what Happy being ‘warmed up’ to somepony really meant. “So, what’s up?”

“Hmmm?” Hardcase looked over to me with a puzzled look. He gasped and gave a small chuckle after a moment. “Oh, right.” Looking at me, he paused as the creaking of metal came from the Rec area. Waiting to speak, I heard the heavy steps of Buck approaching. “Good, you’re here too, Doc. How’s Boiler?”

“Oh, just a minor burn on her foreleg was all.” Buck sighed as he hoisted his medical duffle bag off from around himself. With a smile, he squeezed himself past Hardcase and into the room. “She should be fine so long as she keeps the bandage on it for the next day, and keeps applying the salve I gave her.” With a light flop, he laid down onto his bed as well. “What brings you down from your post and over to our humble room?”

With that, Hardcase stepped inside our container. His horn flashed and swung our door shut behind him. “It’s something you both need to know.” He spoke up as both Buck and I perked our ears and sat up completely. “Since we’re getting things out in the open,” Nervousness crept into his words, and his eyes darted about between Buck and I. “As well since Bombay basically found out about it the hard way…” Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. “Violet and I are married.”

An awkward silence filled the air as both Buck and I didn’t really know what to say. For me, I was fighting the resurfacing memories of walking in on them going at it. However, knowing he didn’t share those memories, I could only assume that Buck didn’t know what to say at all. He cupped his chin with a claw for a moment, moving to say something, before stopping himself and simply going back to thinking.

“I just figured that you both deserved to know.” Hardcase broke the silence as he looked to the floor with a smile. “Seeing as the Doc will need to know if her or I are ever hurt seriously. Until then however, keep our relationship on the down low. Delilah doesn’t want it to cause a conflict of interest for the crew down the line.” Looking over to Buck, I found him nod, sharing the sincere smile that Hardcase wore. “And you, Bombay.” I looked over, finding his bright blue eyes almost glowing at me. “You deserved to know so you can stop subconsciously pining over how unavailable I am, and go after someone you already know actually cares for you back.” As he spoke, he gave me a quick wink before looking back over to Buck with a sigh. “Anyway, I’ve got to get back to my post for now. Feel free to come on up for a chat anytime.”

Our door shut behind him in his magic after he left, and the latch flipped around and into place with a solid click. In his absence, both Buck and I fell back into the previous uncomfortable silence before almost simultaneously flopping back onto our respective beds.

Even though I was still somewhat curious as to why both Hardcase and Violet kept their relationship in the dark, I couldn’t help but feel irked. I know that he was happy with Violet, but… insinuating that I should care about Hispano just because he believed I had a crush on her? Why couldn’t I just find some stallion to come in and sweep me off my hooves already, and save me from the embarrassment of being so awkwardly alone?

After a few moments more in silence, a soft snoring filled the air. Perking my ears and looking up, I found Buck had passed out on his bed. The poor guy had been awake taking care of Laika and I since even before Klondike, and he deserved some quality rest. Giving a soft sigh, I wiggled myself back into the center of my bed and pulled the rainbow rug over me once again. With my mind empty of important thoughts, I went back to staring at the ceiling again. Trying to find that warm feeling of home.

With a sharp snort, I woke up.

“Goddesses, when did I fall asleep?” I murmured to myself as the Hauler gave another rough shake again. Lolling my dry tongue around in my muzzle, I gave a sharp yawn and opened my eyes. The light outside our container was bright enough that it made me squint, and a chilled burst of air worked its way in through the open door from the rec area. Standing at the small makeshift kitchen tucked along the side of Gearbox and Boiler’s container, Buck stood there humming to himself. He had one of his claws dipped down into something steaming away in a ceramic mug.

“Good morning.” Buck said softly, not looking up from making stirring motions in the cup. Wait, morning? “You know, I’d always heard Pegasi were heavy sleepers.” He laughed as he finally looked over to me with a smile. “Never really believed it until I lived with one.”

“Is it really morning already?” I asked, giving a light stretch. As I did, I looked down at my barrel to find that the bandages I’d had wrapped around it had been removed. Wriggling myself over, I moved to look down at where I’d been shot. A raised pink circle was all that remained of the once life threatening injury, and stiff bits of coat had already begun to grow on it. Again, Bertha shook slightly as we rolled down the road, and it jarred a thought into my mind. “We’re moving a bit early, aren’t we?”

“We never stopped.” Buck said as he gingerly picked up the steaming mug from the counter and walked back over to our room. “Apparently, without the refrigeration on the Ice hold running, we’ll be able to get more time on the road before Boiler needs to shut down the reactor for cooling.” Walking up to my bed, Buck stopped short and held the mug out to me. “Here, drink this. Be careful though, it’s hot.”

Still a bit groggy, I did my best to sit up on my bed. Reaching out, I grasped the ceramic cup in both hooves. The warmth it radiated felt divine compared to the cold air that streamed in from the outside. There were plenty of times I could thank the goddesses for how insulated pegasi were, but even so, there were just some days that it didn’t feel like it was enough. Bringing the hot liquid to my muzzle, I looked down and gave a short sniff at it. It looked like the coffee Mom used to drink, but smelled... odd to me. Tilting the cup and taking a healthy sip however, whatever it was hit me sharply.

I nearly choked as the bittersweet flavor of it was overwhelming. The boiling feeling on my tongue and inside the roof of my muzzle made me whine as I almost regretted trying the steaming drink. Buck laughed as my eyes teared up from the burning feeling, but then something amazing happened. I couldn’t deny that after the pain, had come one of the most delicious aftertastes I’d ever experienced.

“What… is this?” I said, halfway between curiously asking, and wanting to air-cool my tongue with the frigid outside air. Looking back down at the steaming drink, I wanted more of that amazing aftertaste. But… was it worth the cost of burning my muzzle again? Lifting the cup up, I took another sip, and was rewarded with the same painful burning, and the same glorious aftertaste. Yes, yes it was worth it.

“That, is hot chocolate.” Buck groaned as he moved to sit down on the edge of my bed. As he did, he leaned back and propped himself up against the container wall. Still smiling, he looked over to me and nodded to the cup. “I’m surprised you’ve never had it before. The Enclave didn’t have things like that before the food shortage?”

Looking down at the cup, I couldn’t really be sure. “I don’t know?” I shrugged and thought about the coffee Mom would drink. She’d only even had it because it was a luxury that soldiers were allowed to buy on base, and she’d sometimes sneak some home with her when she was on leave. “I’ve only ever really had chocolate a hoofful of times in my life that I can remember. Mostly for my early birthdays.” Taking another sip, I started to focus less on the heat, and more on the flavor of it. “I like it though, thank you.”

“You should consider yourself lucky.” Buck sighed and gave off a disappointed grunt. “Most dogs can’t handle chocolate at all. Our systems aren’t really built to process it.” With a shrug, he glanced over to me. When he did though, I could see a sort of sorrow held in his eyes. “I’m glad you can get some enjoyment out of it.”

Looking back down at the cup, my heart sank. Again, he’s done so much for me already on this trip. And what have I done for him? I got him that medical yoke, yeah, but that was before all of the times he had to care for my injuries on this trip south. For trying to show he’s been right about being kind to others, I’d basically neglected doing anything at all for him.

“What do you get enjoyment out of?” I asked softly before taking another drink from the hot mug. He perked his stiff triangular ears at that, and his soft smile crept along his jagged muzzle. “I mean,” I continued, “what did you do on the Inuvik for fun?”

“I assume you mean other than enjoy my work in the infirmary?” He answered in a soft, yet hesitant way. I gave a short nod before he continued. “Well, I mostly spent time reading the digital library, or helping my mother with my brothers and sisters.” From the subtle way he slumped at that, I knew how much he missed them all. “I didn’t really have a lot of time between those things for anything ‘fun’.”

Taking another sip of my drink, I didn’t believe him. “You had to have something you did to unwind and de-stress other than read. Anything… at all?” Even though I didn’t have a lot of time between school and homework at home, I still found time to unwind with short glides in the evenings. Or, on nights where I didn’t have enough time to fly, spend some quality time ‘thinking’ about some of the stallions at school I had my eye on. Which actually, was something I hadn’t really had the alone time to do here so far. And like a bad itch, it now came roaring back to my nethers as I sat here. Thank the goddesses for the freezing cold weather outside!

“Well,” Buck sighed, his smile growing wider across his muzzle as he thought to himself. “It’s a bit embarrassing to say...“ A bright blush fell across his cheeks as he spoke, looking over at me nervously. “I had decided one day to follow my sister’s advice for once, and make a friend. It turned out, that one of the maintenance dogs assigned to the deck the infirmary was on was a perfect candidate. We’d both recently gotten our jobs, had late night shifts most of the week, and sometimes found that they could be a bit slow and boring for both of us. After a few weeks of nightly chats, we grew to be quite good friends.”

My ears perked as I realized that he was opening up to me about something personal to him. Much like the talks about his family, or Snow Dogs overall, I enjoyed listening to him finally let go. This was something I could easily do to help him relax, and I wanted to hear everything he had to say.

“So, what did you two do?” I asked, scootching myself a bit closer to him and taking another sip of my now cooler drink. “Did you play board games? Talk about things that happened on the ship and whatnot?” From how fast ponies on the Emperica had learned about what happened with Rosey and I in the arena, I could only guess that gossip moved twice as fast as anything else on those ships.

“Nothing so mundane, actually.” He chuckled, covering his face with his paw as his cheeks burned brighter. “He and I got a bit more... intimate during the more dull moments of the night. It was a hell of a great way to de-stress, let me tell you that.” Letting out a gasp from my muzzle, I almost dropped the cup in my hooves at that. “Goddesses, I’ve never told another living soul about what we did. Not even my sister.”

I couldn’t believe it. Literally, I froze up at hearing that as my mind went blank. I felt light headed, and this time, the cup in my hooves slipped out and fell to the floor. The loud noise of the porcelain shattering on the floor shocked me out of my state, and I looked around nervously before looking down at the hot chocolate stained floor. After a few moments, I think I finally caught up with things, because I felt Buck’s warm paw on my side.

“Are you alright, Night?” He looked down at me with more than a small bit of concern in his eyes. “Did I say something that made the memory talisman act up again?”

“I… no, I’m fine.” I formed the words slowly, blinking and trying to force myself to get back in the moment. “Just suprised by that is all.” Looking at him, I felt a soft smile crawl across my muzzle. “Thank you, for sharing that with me. It means a lot that you trust me with something like that. Something you’ve never told anypony else.”

He smiled, seemingly relieved with my answer as he gave out a soft laugh. “Hardly something that would send you into shock I’d hope.” Reaching down with his claws, he picked at the various pieces of the shattered cup, scooting them all together. As he did though, he paused and seem to deflate his mood a bit. “Besides, it was years ago now.”

The way he said that, reminded me of our talk about friends before. Before I could stop myself, I opened my muzzle again. “Was he the one you said that things didn’t end well with?” With Happy and Delilah recently, I knew I spoke my mind without much regret. Now however, I cringed as I watched the words sink in, hoping that I didn’t sabotage every bit of trust I’d built up with him.

“Yes, actually.” Buck replied with a nod as he pulled himself up. With a gentle movement, he leaned himself back up against the wall, and looked up at the ceiling sadly. “I wasn’t happy when he’d taken interest in another dog onboard. I tried to convince him to stay with me over her.” Shaking his head, I could see the pain he still felt. “I should have just enjoyed the time we had together and been happy with it. Instead, I pressed for something more, and it just pushed him farther away from me.” He sniffled, and raised his claw up to his muzzle. “Goddesses, I was an idiot.”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up...” I said softly. I felt light headed and angry just thinking about it. Buck had just wanted to be happy, he tried to hold on to what he had when he’d finally found it. “But you weren’t wrong to try to convince him. You’re kind, and caring, and you deserve to be just as happy as anypony else!” My legs shook under me as I spoke, wanting, begging me to move. I could feel myself all over coiling like a spring, filling with a tenseness as I talked. “That’s why I asked you how you relaxed. I want to repay the kindness you’ve shown me. I want my friends to be happy.”

“Night, I am happy.” He smiled and reached down. Cupping under my chin with his claw, he pulled my wavering eyes up to his. “You may be a pawful some days, but you’ve done plenty as a friend to keep me happy on this trip so far.”

Right then, it hit me. I’d been turned down by stallions in school. I’d oogled over both Salt and Hardcase, and had my thoughts of them shot down. But in all that, I’d missed the one guy who’d actually been there for me. Buck didn’t care that I came from the sky. He didn’t care that I was an idiot down here in the wastes. Buck cared for me not just as a friend, but for me as me. Maybe it was part of something that Lilac was talking about, maybe not. I don’t know, and I couldn’t really put this feeling I had into words. Sitting here right now, listening as he opened himself up to me, I felt more like I was the me I was always meant to be. And right now, that was a me who wanted to be with him.

I shook my head. “I can do more.”

Like with the rending snap of a stretched out rubber band having given way, the world turned into a blur of motion. I didn’t understand why it felt like I moved on my own, but it didn’t feel like a choice to me, rather than a force all it’s own. My own consciousness took a back seat as emotion and instinct took over everything that I was in that moment. As it did, I was left suspended in a perfect clarity of thought about the last two weeks with Buck. He and I were one and the same. Two beings ashamed of our imperfections, having left our homes to make new ones, all to end up finding someone else who shared our ideals. It wasn't love, and it wasn't lust. But all the same, I knew it was exactly what I wanted.

In the blissful moment when my muzzle met his, I felt like the missing piece of the puzzle that was my life had finally been found. He’d been here for me, time and time again. He cared for me like nopony else had. And even so, every time he’d done it, I’d missed it like an oblivious idiot. Sitting there, draped across his furred chest with my muzzle pressed against his, time felt like it had come to a complete stop around us.

However, pulling off of his muzzle, I looked down at Buck with watering eyes as he simply sat still. Maybe… time had actually stopped? It was then that doubt started to creep into my mind about my actions.

“I…” I began to say, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

Buck blinked a few times, turning his gaze up to me. His own eyes wavered softly as tears formed and rolled down his cheeks as he looked at me. Slowly, he reached his massive forepaws up, grabbing around my sides. Under my tightly hugging hooves and even against my chest, I could feel his own muscles tighten up. Leaning forward, he opened his muzzle slightly and pressed it against mine again.

The feeling of sparks and fireworks going off all over me consumed my being, and I all but melted into his furry chest and tight grip. I knew it was only for a few moments, but my mind blanked again, and only came too when he pulled away from me to breathe again.

“I…” He panted softly, flopping his head back against the metal container wall as he looked dazed. “I didn’t know you felt that way about me.” The bright blush he’d had before returned as his wavering eyes found mine again, and almost immediately, I felt my own blush radiate back to him. “I’ve been wanting to tell you for quite some time now…” His warm smile felt like it carried the brilliance of the sun on it now. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “But, I really like you, Night. From the first day we traveled together, I knew I wanted to get to know you. I just… never really knew how to start, or what to say.”

Tightening my grip around his chest, I pressed myself against his warm neck and gave a huge sigh of relief. I could feel that underneath me, Buck was more relaxed now than he’d probably been in the last year. Funny thing, was that I was pretty sure the same went for me as well. Well, all of me was relaxed now with the distinct exception of the part that was relying on the cold to stay relaxed. A heated kiss and a giant pile of warm fur however, had quickly convinced it otherwise.

Speaking into his warm neck fur, I couldn’t help but smile. “I want more than just to know you, Buck.” My words made his body stiffen a bit. “I want to be here with you, for you.” Pulling my head back a bit and giving him a soft peck on his still rosey cheek, only a flash of fear went through my mind as I thought about letting myself go so far so quickly. Still, I giggled as I dropped my voice into a whisper and decided to buck my fears, and refused to let my rational mind speak for me anymore. “I want to de-stress with you.”

“I… I want that too.” He spoke softly. The smile that pulled across his muzzle eliminated the fear I’d felt before, and he held on to me tightly as he pulled himself to a standing position. He cupped around me and held me against his chest before we turned around and I was laid down on his bed.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sure what to expect for my first time being with anyone. But I knew that here and now, I wanted to be with Buck. I wanted to make this work, to be with him, to make him as happy as he’s made me. Because I felt something for him, even if I didn’t realize it until today.

For the first time in the wasteland, or in my life at all. I’d known that for at least the foreseeable future, I wouldn’t be alone any longer. Like I’d said, being down here, I’d had more friends than I could dream of. Now I had something more than that.

I had Buck.