It had felt like both five minutes, and an eternity at the same time. In reality, the last two hours of my life, were two of the greatest that I’d ever lived through. Ever. Splayed across Buck, I laid there incredibly exhausted from the experience. The both of us were panting lightly, covered in matted fur, and altogether spent. To be honest, my flank would probably hurt for a while, but like the hot chocolate, the pain had been totally worth the enjoyment. I wouldn’t have traded my time spent with Buck this morning for anything in the world.

That is, until there was a sharp set of knocks at the door.

“Bombay?” It was Hardcase’s voice. “Wake up, your recon duty starts in a half hour.”

“Okay.” I called out weakly, cringing as I hoped Hardcase didn’t decide to poke his head in. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like that was going to happen, as instead I heard him walk away and flick on the radio in the Rec area. As the rhythmic tunes of DJ PowerColt came through the walls, I gave out a sigh and shifted against Buck’s chest. “Oh what I wouldn’t give for a working shower right now…”

Buck’s warm face nuzzled against my cheek and neck as he ran his paws along my sides. “I wish you didn’t have to go at all.” He moaned softly as I felt a heated blush flare up across my cheeks. “But I agree, a shower does sound like a nice proposition.” After a moment, he leaned forward and gave my burning cheeks a gentle kiss before he tightened his paws around my sides and lifted me up. “However, I doubt you’d want to be soaking wet at the start of a four hour shift of recon duty in the frozen air outside.”

As he let out a groan and pulled himself up out of bed, he turned and set me down next to him. He gave out a series of whines as he stretched himself out a bit. Flaring my wings, I attempted to do the same, even though I was probably more relaxed and warmed up than I’d ever been in my life. Still, as I stretched, I watched him move. I couldn’t help but giggle to myself about how much I admired his form now. Hardcase was great to look at and all, but feeling the tone and strength of what Buck’s body had, had given me a new appreciation for just what was buried under all of his fur.

“What are you chuckling about?” He said with a smirk, turning and flopping back into the chair next to his glowing terminal screen. With a gentle sigh, he kept his ice blue eyes locked in a caring gaze onto my own. When I didn’t answer, he only shared a wide smile with me. “Ah, I see. Taking a moment to let everything sink in was something I’d done after my first time with Saxon as well.” Turning to his terminal, he reached up and gingerly used his claws to press a few keys.

That perked my ears. “Saxon?” I spoke as I reached up and patted at my mane. Wow, just a quick pat down and it felt like it’d gone every which way. “He was…” I forced myself to stop talking before I went any further. I’d just given myself completely to being with Buck. Why did I insist on bringing up his past right after I started to forge my own future with him?

“It’s alright, Night.” Buck answered as he kept his gaze on his terminal. “I don’t mind your curiosity. It’s only natural that you’d want to know more.” With a sigh, he glanced down at the keys on his terminal with a slightly dejected sigh. “But yeah, that was his name.” Picking himself up with a strong smile, he looked back over at me again. “Don’t worry about prying too deeply if you want to know something about me, Night. I want to be open with you, one hundred percent.”

“I know it’s hard.” I offered him as warm a smile as I could, and found him share it back. “Thank you, Buck, for feeling like you can trust me. Just know that I feel the same, and that if there’s anything you want to know...” Another set of sharp knocks on the door cut me off, and made me stiffen up as it gave me a bit of a startle.

“Come on, Bombay, rise and shine!” Hardcase called out over the radio in a sing-songy voice, “I even made some coffee if you need a pick me up.”

“Just… one minute!” I turned around and called back. Listening as Buck shifted in his seat, I turned around and ran right into his muzzle. I blushed as he pressed into a short kiss again, and worried that if he kept my cheeks this warm this often, Boiler might need to look for two new thermocyclers to keep Bertha from overheating constantly.

“There will be plenty of time for talking later.” Buck said as he pulled away from my muzzle with a quick lick across my snout. “For now however, a nice cup of coffee would be appreciated after expending all that energy with you.” Stepping past me, he reached up and flicked the metal door latch out of its ring, and swung the door open. The moment he did however, Hardcase’s unprepared form flopped through the doorway, and sprawled out onto our floor with a beaming, nervous smile.

“Oh, hey guys.” He almost couldn’t contain himself as he spoke under both Buck and I’s flat expressions. “Not to intrude too much, but I couldn’t help but feel that just possibly, maybe... you two are now a thing...?” His words drifted off as he softly clapped his forehooves together as he looked at us. “I mean, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but my post is pretty much above you two, and these container walls aren’t really that great at muffling sounds.” Giving a nervous giggle, his horn glowed as both Buck and I gave out sighs. Two steaming mugs levitated into the room in his magic, and he gave us a pleading look as he pushed them toward us. “Coffee?”

Unlike the amazing flavor of the hot chocolate I’d had earlier, I wished more than anything that the bitter after taste of the coffee Hardcase had made would hurry up and leave my muzzle. Sure, I felt like the cup I basicly slurped down without hesitation had given me an impressive boost of energy. However, I think that downing it all at once was probably something I’d hesitate to do in trying new things in the future. Geeze, what did Mom ever enjoy in that stuff anyway? In trying coffee, along with the beer I’d been able to try a while back, I was starting to question my parent’s choice in beverages.

A strong thermal pushed up from the glistening snowy hills underneath me, and helped to pull my mind back onto my appointed task. Delilah didn’t want me up here just to reflect on the oddness of recreational drinks. Tweaking my stiffly outstretched wings to best utilize the rush of warm air from below, I felt myself glide higher into the open skies…

...and right into the solitary cloud drifting above me.

“Hey!” The surprised and squeaky squawk that came from bumping it prompted me to cringe and try to pull myself away a bit. “Watch where you’re going, Dum Dum.” Hispano hissed from inside her fluffy white abode.

Looking up to the soft mass above me, I was still amazed that no one on the convoy had really noticed or cared about it. It was almost the size of a skybus, and keeping a mostly one to one pace with us. Still, the fact that I hadn’t even noticed it either until I bumped into it had to say something about it’s ability to hide in plain sight.

“Sorry.” I called back to her.

“Shhhh!” She hissed at me. “Don’t talk to me you idiot! Somepony might notice!” With a soft whump, I watched as a small, vaguely griffon shaped depression formed in the bottom of the cloud. “You’re supposed to ignore me.” Her more muffled voice came through the cloud as I was sure she was flopped beak down on it now.

I simply rolled my eyes and drifted a bit away from the fluffy cloud.

“Is that better?” I asked, keeping my eyes locked on the horizon ahead. Sure, somepony like Hardcase might look up at me and wonder why I was talking to myself, but come on. What’s the chances he’d know I was talking with a griffon who lived in the cloud next to me?

“Quiet!” Hispano hissed again, giving a frustrated grunt that brought a smirk to my muzzle. Plus, it was nice to annoy her for once. “You’re lucky my dad’s not here. He’d have shot you already for being so obnoxious.”

“Oh? I’m the obnoxious one now?” I cocked my eyebrow and felt as another thermal kicked up from below. Adjusting my wings again, I tried to keep myself from rising up too much. These rolling hills in this mountain valley really liked to give me a boost up! Still, I’d realized that other than on the Empirica, I hadn’t really seen her dad at all. “Where’s he been at anyway?”

A low groan emit from the cloud next to me again as Hispano finally got a taste of her own annoying medicine. “He’s already ahead in Carmacks. He’s been one step ahead of you this whole time.” As she spoke, her voice moved around a bit in the cloud. After a moment, I heard the soft clink and hiss of something inside that sounded like a… soda. “Solomon has him constantly running interference for you all in each settlement, just as you’ve been running against him.” After a surprisingly loud slurping noise, Hispano gave out a low belch. “Honestly, I’m surprised that you didn’t already figure that out.”

Wait.

“Did he hire somepony in the last settlement on Solomon’s behalf?” I asked her, beginning to wonder just how angry I should be with her right now. “Because I don’t really appreciate my friends and I getting shot at by some hired gunpony.”

Hispano did a spit take, and a bit of soda mist emit through the white wall of her cloud. “Wait, what!?” Hispano gasped as she both tried to keep quiet and keep herself from choking. “No! He’s been making sure that you can’t find a way to repair the part he sabotaged on your reactor! That’s all!”

“So you’re saying he hasn’t been trying to get me killed?” I asked, not sure what to think now. Her reaction did seem genuine, but that just means that she didn’t know what happened. He could have just not told her about it, given her obvious interest in me.

“No. That’s why my dad trained to become a medic…” She began to say, pausing for a moment before she sighed. “For being a talon, he enjoys the paycheck, but doesn’t really want to hurt or kill anyone. Something Solomon didn’t like when he hired him. But seeing as he was the only Merc in ‘Claw available, he was given the contract anyway.” She flopped against the cloud again, this time bulging out the side a bit. “The only reason he choked you was because he’s overprotective and afraid of me getting hurt.”

That made a lot of sense to me, but it still didn’t explain something. “Well then, if it wasn’t your Dad who set it up, who paid for that guy to try to murder me?” Folding my ears back, I didn’t even want to think about if we had somepony else shadowing us. Hispano and her Dad were fine, but while the others were oblivious to them anyway, what if I’d missed someone else who’d been following us?

“I... don’t know.” Hispano said softly. “Are you sure it wasn’t just some loony wastelander that attacked you?”

“Yeah, they wanted to make sure I know they’d been hired by Solomon before they attacked.” I said, looking around through the open skies. A few other wild clouds drifted around a little ways from us, but they hardly looked big or consistent enough to hide anyone sitting inside them. Hundreds of other clouds drifted more than a mile off to our position in every direction. I was beginning to feel like maybe I should be paying more attention to my job now than ever.

Looking ahead of the slowly moving convoy, I traced the road as it followed the contours of the various valleys. The steep snow covered forests and hills that ran between the slopes of the mountain range behind us felt much more diverse now that I looked at them. Thicker groups of trees obscured plenty of patches of the ground underneath them, while the dark shadows that various cliff faces projected over the ground had me squinting to see if anything hid in them.

“You alright there, Dum Dum?” Hispano asked, holding a different tone to her voice now. She sounded genuinely concerned for once. “You got all quiet on me.”

I smirked as I kept my eyes scanning the sections of forest just ahead of the convoy. “I thought quiet was what you wanted.” Another thermal from below pressed against the underside of my wings and carried me a few feet higher. As it did, a short burst of turbulent wind hit me in the face from ahead. With it, came an odd oscillating sound that made me perk my ears. “What’s that?” I asked more to myself than to Hispano.

“Sounds… like an engine.” Hispano replied before falling back into silence. Swiveling my ears around, I pitched myself to climb up again, hoping for another burst of wind to carry the sound to me again. After a few moments, another strong gust met me, and with it, came the louder sound of what definitely had to be an engine. “It’s a turbine engine. Possibly a rotary driven craft coming from the southeast. Maybe about ten o'clock from your heading.” She spoke up with a twinge of alarm in her voice. I’d heard that griffons were supposed to be unparalleled with the sharpness of their vision, but Hispano’s hearing had to be exceptional as well to pick that out even through her cloud walls.

Casting my glance to where she’d spoke, I squinted and looked on to the horizon. A pair of black dots traveled over the top of one of the jagged mountain peaks. It was only for a moment before I lost them among the tops of the far off trees, but they were definitely moving quickly in our direction.

“I’ll… be right back.” I said, pulling my legs back toward myself, and dropping into a sharp dive. Keeping my wings forced out, I snapped my tail in line as a rudder, and steered myself down towards the top of the Hauler. Gaining quite a bit of speed on the way down, I found Hardcase standing at his quad gun mount, his own ears perked up as he looked around.

“Hey!” I called out as I sped towards him. As I gave a slight bow to my wings, I pushed my legs forward and leveled myself out. Hardcase turned and looked up to me as I raced over Lucky’s Runner. “We’ve got incoming from the southeast!” I managed to get out before I zipped past overhead. Curving myself upwards again, I did my best to turn all the energy I’d built in the dive back into altitude. As I did, the oscillating engine sound became clearer the higher I climbed.

The closer they got, the easier it became to pick out just where the sound was coming from now. Not just from the obvious standpoint of closer is louder, but I watched as a trio of billowing black smoke trails skimmed across the snow capped trees that lined the closer valleys to us. From how the three smoke trails had a slight curve to them, it seemed like they were on an intersecting flight path that put them coming around right on our tails.

Looking down, I saw as Violet zipped out of the back of the Hauler, and dropped down into the bed of the Runner. Good, I wouldn’t be alone up here whenever these ponies arrived. Then again, having her take off and join me might present an aggressive posture toward them. Maybe these ponies were friendly like Commandant Tail End and his crew, and were just coming over to ask for some help from us!

The three craft were close enough that I could finally get a look at them, and what I saw didn’t so much make sense to me. The craft in the middle was what looked to be a Vertibuck. Well, if somepony stripped it down to little more than it’s frame and painted it rust red. large jets of fire poured out from the sides of each engine as the craft pulled itself through the air, roaring and running far louder than the normal arcano-spark engines should. To each side of the craft, sat single rotor craft that also looked to be running off the same sort of Vertibuck engine, but strapped to a scrap metal frame that held a single pony on it.

Looking over again, I watched as the single seater flying craft to the far right broke off and lined itself up ahead of the Hauler. With a high pitched shriek, a pair of bright red streaks shot hazy trails of smoke through the air from it’s sides. The two whistling rockets took wildly different courses from each other, one dipping down into the forest and exploding with a cocauginous roar. The other did a loop-de-loop before sputtering out in the air and exploding with a resounding crack!

Okay, not friendly!

The craft to the left changed it’s course and rose up higher into the sky. As it did, I went wide eyed as I realized that it had only corrected it’s course to aim for me. Shifting and rotating my wings, I tucked in my legs and rolled into a short dive. As I did my best to cut under the pony, quick bursts of automatic fire raked at the sky around me. With a snap roll back up, I leveled myself and cringed as the roaring mechanical flying machine soared past right above me. Shaking as my heart slammed against my chest in panic, I did my best to move my chattering teeth over my saddle’s bit.

Pulling back on the trigger bit to cock my sub machinegun, I pulled too hard and sent off a short burst into the clear air ahead of me. The loud reports of the burst made my ears ring for a moment. However, the roaring engine of the other craft overtook that as I looked back.

The dirty looking yellow earth pony riding on the open frame of the single seater craft that passed me had already swung around. A burst of fire to my right prompted me to strafe left. Immediately, a short burst to my left side made me rethink that. Looking back again, the psychotic grin plastered across his face as he squinted through his goggles at me told me that he was just toying with me. I didn’t have much time to lose this guy, so I had to do something.

Can’t go left, can’t go right. Only one way to go then. Rolling myself over, I snapped my wings closed and dipped into an almost vertical dive. The roaring engine of the machine behind me strained to pull the pony around as he overshot me. Flaring my wings, I rolled myself again and braced myself against the air rushing up over me. My wings bowed hard as they caught the air under me, doing their best to pull me out of the dive. As I pulled up however, the blaring noise of the pony’s craft above beat out the rushing of the wind again.

A set of thunderous cracks from below sent several whizzing rounds up past me, as Violet shot up into the air like a rocket all on her own. The craft behind me let out a crack and promptly exploded. The force of the blast battered at my wings as I was still struggling to climb out of my dive, and the white tips of the trees in the forest below were coming up mighty fast!

Snapping my tail in line, I strained myself to press down against the wind. My wing joints ached, and I whined as I felt like my legs would pop out of their sockets if I strained them anymore. However, the feeling of gravity pulling me downward lessened to nothing as my forehooves skimmed just barely over the tops of the snow covered trees. Breathing a sigh of relief, I cringed as the sounds of gunfire erupted from behind me.

Arcing my flight around and up from the forest, I curved back toward the Hauler. The Vertibuck-like craft had come down quite a bit, and a pony door gunner was firing down on Bessy. The quickly chattering rounds sent a line of sparks along the armor of the old zebra vehicle, but as it drew that line, it shredded the two rear tires on the left side. After a moment, the Vertibuck disappeared in a bright flash as Hardcase opened up on it’s side with his guns.

The brilliant multicolored explosion blasted the wreck of the craft into two halves, each one burning brightly as it tumbled down toward the ground. Beating my wings, I pushed myself to get back toward the convoy. The roaring engine of the last, now out numbered craft, left twisting trails of burning exhaust through the sky as Violet did her best to maneuver around it.

Eager to repay the help she’d given me, I lined myself up with it as I beat my wings, and let off a rattling set of rounds from my gun. I couldn’t quite tell where the rounds had gone, or if they’d done anything at all to the craft, but the pony piloting it certainly noticed that they were being attacked on both sides. The engine of their craft let out a thunderous roar as it took off in a straight line away from the convoy at an incredible speed. I’d first thought they were doing the smart thing and getting themselves out of here, but the craft slowly arced up into the air and came back around.

The craft itself glowed as it pulled itself straight through the air. Flames wider than any wings I’d laid eyes upon shot from it’s side exhaust ports like that of a giant phoenix. The craft tilted into a stiff dive, and aimed itself right for the heart of Bertha. I nearly froze up as I realized that I was too far to reach it quickly enough, and I had too poor of a shot with my gun to do anything. Violet however, dipped down into it’s path and flew directly towards it.

Her rifle barked shot after shot at it. Sparks erupted from the hull of the machine as it streaked towards the convoy. I watched as the pony pilot of the machine got up and bailed out of their seat, screaming as they dipped through the flaming exhaust on their way toward the ground. Still, Violet shot, moments away from being run down by the burning craft. Her rapid shots hammered the machine until it burst in a bright explosion, and the whole thing disintegrated in a black cloud of smoke and wreckage. I watched as Violet torqued herself around the speeding debris before she was obscured by the thick cloud.

Most of the wreckage came down with a metallic squelch behind the Runner, while some of the burning debris bounced off the cargo containers and space capsule still strapped onto the back of Bertha. I breathed a sigh of relief as for now the Convoy was finally safe. Catching the glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye, I watched as a fluttering off-white parachute drifted down into the treeline a ways behind the convoy.

Looking back over, I saw that Violet was slowly dropping herself down onto the deck of Bertha, and I decided to head back to tell her what I’d seen. The last thing we needed was whoever that was parachuting down to come back and jump us while we tried to recover from the attack. Flapping my sore wings, I pushed myself to gain some more altitude before dropping into a steady glide toward the convoy.

Approaching around the backside, I was a bit distressed to find that my landing zone in the rec area, now included a convenient dark line that led straight toward my container. I couldn’t quite be sure, but from the way it looked, I hoped that it wasn’t blood.

Flaring myself on approach, I dropped down just in time to see Hardcase throw open the door to his container, and dart across directly into mine. With my hooves coming down hard enough that I dropped right into a trot, I only mildly tried to stop myself. As I assumed I would, I smacked against Gearbox and Boiler’s container, finally coming to a staggering stop as I took a step back. Shaking off the rough landing, I turned and looked into my container.

“Tell me she’ll be alright.” Hardcase pleaded.

“I’m fine, I promise.” Violet groaned, giving a pained whimper as she writhed uncomfortably on my bed. Lines of blood pulsed out from where a large piece of rusted metal had embedded itself. “Doc here will patch me up,” She winced, holding at the jagged metal before looking over to him with a nervous smile. “Right?”

“Yes, she’ll be fine.” Buck spoke up as he held his paw out and shoved Hardcase out of my room, and straight into me. “But I need space and concentration for this. I’ll get you when I’m done in here.” He grunted, turning and swinging the door shut. As he did, I caught his glance over to me, and he gave me a short, affirmative nod before he closed it completely.

“Oh thank the goddesses.” Hardcase sighed, slumping back against me. I braced myself against his added weight on me before reaching up and giving him a pat on the side. “Skyraiders have always been a fear of mine with her.” He said as he pulled himself back onto his hooves. “Thank you for helping her out up there.”

“I didn’t do much.” I said, only receiving a firm shake of the head from him. “I mean, she helped me out there more than I helped her.”

“Still,” He said, leaping forward and wrapping his hooves around me in an abrupt and awkward hug. “You did more than I could. You’re lucky, to still be able to fly…” His words dropped off into a remorseful whisper. It puzzled me as to just why he’d said that, however, a crackle from the radio perked both our ears.

“Hardcase, come in.” Delilah’s voice chimed in over the radio. “Give me a status report.”

Walking over to the radio, he picked up the receiver in his magic with a smile. “Violet got a bit banged up in the fight, but the Doc’s fixing her up. Happy to report though that all Skyraiders have been taken care of, Ma’am.” He looked at me, and as I shook my head no, he froze up. “Actually, hold that thought…”

“No, that’s not true.” I spoke up, prompting a fearful look from Hardcase. “I saw the last one that jumped pull a parachute. They’re somewhere back behind us in the trees now.” I waved my forehoof towards the open back of the hauler, prompting him to look out that way.

“Actually, Bombay says one managed to parachute down into the forest behind us.” He spoke into the receiver, gaining a stiff and more solid look across his muzzle as he did. “Permission to hunt them down, Ma’am?”

“Howitzer and Boiler are going to have to repair and replace two of the wheels here on Bessy.” Delilah called back with more than her usual amount of annoyance in her voice. “You have a half hour until the repairs are complete to find and kill that bastard. If you can’t locate them, or they run, you are to return back to the convoy. Got that?”

“Yes ma’am.” Hardcase nodded and set down the radio receiver. Looking over to me, he wore a cold expression on his muzzle. “You and I are going to hunt down that cowardly bastard on hoof. Give me five minutes to grab my gear, and I’ll meet you down by the Runner.” Turning back toward his room, he grumbled as he trotted into it. “We’ll show that bastard what a mistake it was to go after us.”

Giving a hesitant nod, I didn’t exactly feel like Hardcase was doing this to protect the convoy. I couldn’t say I blamed him for it, as I wasn’t too happy that these ponies had decided to attack us in the first place at all. Though, I had a feeling that it didn’t actually matter to Hardcase if this pony was unarmed, scared, or running away. He was out for blood, and willing or not, I was going to have to watch as he killed this pony.

Standing in the bed of the runner as we rolled back along the road, Hardcase and I scanned the interior of the forest just off the road. Lucky hadn’t enjoyed the idea that we were bringing him along on our little ‘hunting trip’, but Hardcase had the final say. Not only that, but Hardcase also had the biggest and oddest damn gun I’d ever seen. He held it at the ready in his levitation as he stood on the top of the slowly driving Runner. Along with it, he wore a blue jumpsuit that looked armored, and a pair of black saddlebags were slung over his back. The welding helmet flipped up on his head was the one that Boiler normally used when doing repairs on the reactor, and I wondered just why he’d worn it out here.

The large weapon in his magical grasp caused him to sweat as he hefted it up. The whole thing was about as long as he was, and consisted of a pair of widely spaced, long tubes that ran the whole length of the weapon. Both of them sat linked together onto what looked like a power armor mounting point on it’s underside. Lining the back quarters of the long tubes were a few odd switches, and two V-shaped lines of linked together sparkle batteries that ran down most of the length of the weapon. The batteries themselves gave off a light hum every time he shifted the focus of the weapon, and sometimes they let out a snap of energy into the air at random. At the end of each tube, extended a pair of long metal, chrome spikes that formed a sort of rectangle pointing away from the user.

As I looked at the weapon, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the fluttering fabric of the parachute caught high up in one of the trees.

“Look.” I called out, directing Hardcase’s gaze to the hanging cloth. The two of us looked at it, finding that the harness it connected too had been left empty and hanging a good twenty feet above the ground. At that, Hardcase gave a good stomp on the roof, prompting Lucky to stop.

“Alright, Bombay, let’s go.” He grunted before turning and hopping onto the hood of the Runner. Jumping off onto the road, he carefully swung his weapon along with him. As he did, he flicked a few switches on the gun, and the feeling of static swept through the air around me. Hopping down out of the bed, I trotted across the asphalt road and into the hoof deep snow off to the side of it.

The forest around here wasn’t very dense, and some of the trees here didn’t seem to be the kind that kept their leaves through the cold seasons. Advancing through the snow toward the tree with the chute tangled in it, it was easy to see the set of hoofprints trailing away from it. A thin line of blood followed the oddly spaced tracks as they led deeper into the forest, and I had a feeling that maybe one of Violet’s shots had found their mark on the pilot after all.

“Good, they’re hurt.” Hardcase grunted as he trudged past me. His heavy steps kicked at the tracks he now followed, and he looked around stiffly as he seemed to leave me behind without a care. “They won’t get away.” Pushing himself into a light trot, I turned and followed him.

“Remember what Delilah said?” I asked, trotting up along side of him. His annoyed glare matched what hers had been when I’d confronted her about the ice. “If they’re running, we just need to leave them.”

“Yeah, and I’ll stick to that so long as we don’t find them.” He grumbled. “It’s something you have to understand, Bombay. These ponies are raiders.” He spoke about them like that was supposed to mean something to me. “Sure, the Yaks that attacked us on the ice sheet were raiders, but they’re the tamest you’ll probably ever find. You haven’t seen what raiders are actually like.”

“Then tell me.” I said, keeping my ears perked and swiveling around as we crunched through the snow. The line of blood was at least consistent as we followed the tracks. I’d be hesitant to lie in saying that if I had an injury that left a trail like that, I’d want to try to stop the bleeding as fast as possible.

“Raiders are the lowlife scum of the wastes. Those Bramble wolves back at the checkpoint are worth more of your pity than Raiders.” Hardcase smiled coldly as he spoke, keeping his eyes locked on the trail of blood and hoofsteps. “No morals, no logic. Raiders will kill anypony they find just for the fun of it. No emotion, no remorse. They’ll kill and eat you if you even show them a moment’s hesitation.”

That seems… wrong. Solomon was ruthless, but he had a goal he was striving to achieve through any means necessary. The hired gun who tried to kill me may have had no remorse about it, but that was supposedly his job. On top of all this, killing and eating ponies!? No pony could ever be that insane, that psychotic.

“They think with one mind. One idea that they share between them that extends between every sex, race, and creed.” Hardcase kept talking, raising his voice as we walked together. “They are the broken ones of these lands, gluttons for rage, misery, and exuberant hatred. They feed on it, thrive on it.” From out of the saddlebags he wore on him, he drew out a set of goggles. As he floated them up around my head, I noticed that the lenses on them were as pitch black as the visor on his welding helmet was. “And the kind we’re chasing are the worst kind of them to even exist.”

So… Hardcase had officially stepped over from wasteland history lesson, to the feeling of old world zealotry against the zebra nation. As his magic flipped another set of switches on his rifle, a set of electrical arcs pulsed through the long lines of batteries, and a gaining whine charged the air between us with even more static. So much that arcs of it ran across both of our skins, and my mane started to frizz outward slightly. Over the small snaps of electricity, I could hear the cackling laugh of a pony from up ahead.

Following the tracks, we’d come into view of a wide, leafless tree that sat at the entrance to what looked like a thicker part of the woods. Sitting at it’s base, with a bleeding leg that was twisted the wrong way, sat a mare whose wide eyes could’ve been seen even from where we were a hundred feet away. In an odd reaction to seeing us, she sat there and laughed to herself hysterically.

Her mane and tail were twisted and matted. She had open sores and coatless patches all over her body that couldn’t have been from the fight. She looked mangy, wild, and above all, full of irrational exuberance. Hardcase held out his hoof to me before we got any closer; and as he aimed his enormous gun at her, the mare cut her laughter and gave us a confident, but toothless grin.

“Ain’t you somethin special ta find meh all the way out in tha middle a nowhere.” The mare spat at us as she held her broken leg out toward Hardcase. “Yah overcompinsatin’ fer somthin’ with that there toy? Cause yer’ missin’ somethin’ else perhaps?” She giggled, “I ain’t afraid! Go ahead. Do it. I dare yah even!” Laughing again, her oddly deranged look was blocked as Hardcase’s magic slid the goggles down over my eyes. “Do it, or I’ll crawl over there, take yah gun, and fuck you with...!” She tried to scream out.

I was about to reach up to remove the goggles, when the whine from Hardcase’s gun picked up. The darkness in front of me was removed by a thin arc of light that projected between the two tubes on his gun. It grew brighter and hotter over the course of a split-second before it even got too bright to directly look at. I watched as the mare next to the tree disappeared in a flash, as what looked like a crackling sheet of plasma burst out in a widening arc in front of Hardcase and I. It was as if somepony directed the energy from an entire battery of anti-dragon cannons from a raptor into a single rolling burst of energy, and then let it dissipate as it traveled away like an expanding fabric sail made of intense light.

As the darkness in my goggles returned, I felt something odd. Static ran across my dry coat, and under my dry hooves. Reaching up, I pulled my goggles up to find that for forty some odd feet behind us, the ground was devoid of snow. The roots of trees, rocks, and dirt behind us were all completely dried by the intense light. The arc projected in front of us however, was nowhere near being just dry.

The ground directly under the weapon, the trees, rocks, and even the mare herself, were all a simple smoldering black color. The arc extended forward twice as far as the cleared path behind us, and ended up being twice as wide. I stood in a silent state of confusion as I didn’t understand what exactly I’d just witnessed.

Then Hardcase gave out a chuckling laugh. A laugh that built into one like we’d just listened too before it was burned off the face of this existence. Looking over, I found that his mane had poofed up straight with the static discharge of the weapon, and his face was covered in a black soot, probably like mine now was as well. While I could only stand in awe at what I’d just witnessed, He giddily danced on his hooves. Actually, he danced around in a circle before trotting forward towards the blackened remains of the mare. Looking closer at her, I noticed that she looked a bit different than before.

“It worked!” He gasped as he flipped up his helmet before stepping up toward the mare to look her over closely. “Complete carbonization by way of condensed plasmic thermal exchange! Vaporized the organics right out of everything in the discharge range!” He smiled, looking over to me and waving me over excitedly. The odd change in his demeanor had worried me, and even though I was curious, I was hesitant to answer him. Rolling his eyes, he pressed his hoof against the mare’s broken leg. To my amazement, the leg crumbled into dust before my very eyes. “See, she’s not going to hurt you. Now come here, you’ll find this particularly interesting.”

Slowly, I stepped forward. The ashen black ground reminded me of Four Peaks, but it felt different. The dirt felt like chalk, cracking and crunching underhoof in a way that sent shivers up my spine. Approaching the mare, I took a look at her body again, and found that it wasn’t just slightly different than before. This mare hadn’t even been a pony.

“Note the holes along her limbs. The thick chitin plating on her back.” Hardcase spoke as he pointed to various sections of this… thing. “The horn can be hidden under their magic, as can their wings, but they are still usable to them when disguised as another pony. Well, so long as they aren’t damaged.”

“Disguised?” I said, having the realization of what he was saying this mare was hit me like an out of control skywagon. “Wait, this is what Salt is? This is a changeling!?” I gasped and pointed to the body of the odd mare. Getting a quick nod from Hardcase, he went back to looking over her… him… it.

“Not… exactly the breed, but yes. There are plenty of different hives out there. All sorts of different breeds and types.” He said as he reached up and flicked at the ashen changeling’s horn. The hit wasn’t hard, but it made a wide crack split the dead changeling almost in half. Grunting he stood up and took a step back. “Funny thing is, the other skyraiders probably didn’t even know what she was.” Hefting his gun up, a loud snap drew my attention back toward it. I watched as Hardcase stripped all two dozen sparkle batteries at once off of it, and levitated them into his Saddlebags. “No matter. They probably don’t even care that she’s dead anyway.”

“So, all raiders are like this?” I said, standing up and taking a step back from the corpse. “I mean, not changelings, but… completely and irreversibly insane?”

“Going raider isn’t something you can normally come back from.” Hardcase sighed, looking back and nodding for me to follow. “It’s happened before, but it’s a rare sight to see. Hell, Brushfire, the mare you replaced on the crew? She was ex-raider.” He shrugged and moved up to a trot as I followed. “But she’s the only case I’ve ever met. Even then, sometimes she took a bit too much pleasure in defending the convoy.”

That’s great and all, but it still didn’t explain a whole lot. “But… how does a pony even become…” I looked back, cringing as I pictured how poor her health looked before she died. “Why would anypony want to live like that?” None of it really fit.

“Madness, depression, necessity, instinct.” Hardcase answered as we stepped from the dry dirt, and into the muddy slush at the edges of the weapons rearward melting effect. “Going raider isn’t a choice, it’s just what happens when you lose all hope for the future. Something inside you breaks, or was always broken. Nopony who lives in the wastes plan to go raider. It just… happens to some folks. Worse thing is, it’s a whole lot more common the further south you go.”

Well that certainly was… depressing. I couldn’t really imagine how anypony could be driven to become anywhere as crazed or fanatical as he described them as. Still, that changeling showed no fear, no remorse in the face of death, just like he’d said. It worried me, that he said that they were more common down south as well. Maybe they weren’t all as bad as he’d made them out to be? Then again, maybe they are, and I’d make the mistake one day of thinking that they would be worth my pitty.

“So,” Hardcase spoke up as we continued trotting. “You doing alright there, Bombay?” Up ahead through the trees, I could see the outline of the runner pop up, and I started to relax a little bit. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you’ll see soon enough that what I did to that mare was a mercy to them.”

“What did you do to that mare anyway?” I asked, eyeing over his enormous energy weapon. “I’ve never even seen a weapon like that before.”

“Other than burn almost four hundred caps of sparkle batteries in one shot you mean?” That brought a wide smile to his muzzle. “Well, you were curious the other day what I was working on in my room in Filly Crossing, right?” How did he know!? “Now you know why I hid it away when I left the container. It’s too dangerous to just be left out in the open.” That… was an understatement. I don’t even want to think what this could do if it went off inside Bertha.

“I’ve been inventing things like this for years, as just a hobby, mind you.” He grunted, hefting the large weapon across his back so he could show it off better to me. “This is the S.F.G., a new type of energy weapon of my own design, and so far the only weapon of my design to work as intended!” He waggled his eyebrows before spinning the weapon around. With a click, his magic pulled away the coverings to the large silver tubes that ran the length of the weapon, revealing a mess of copper wires and cables inside. “I use the two sets of Sparkle batteries wired up in series to generate a powerful electromagnetic current that flows from one end of these coil tubes to the other. They run up through the magical amplifiers, and are directed into the focusing arcs on either side of the weapon.”

“That’s… great.” I said, not really getting a word of this. “But… how did you get it to do…” I struggled with how to put it. How does one describe what looks like a giant arc of burning plasma rolling out like a wave and turning everything it touched into ash?”

“Ah. The primary focusing arcs are tuned to polarize and create a magnetic arc once the coils hit their peak magnetic charge. Though it’s not perfect, it’s a proprietary design I’ve theorized for a while that I at least know works now.” He nodded as we trotted back up towards the Runner. “Actually, it’s effect is similar to a phenomenon you can see on the sun, so I mirrored that in the name.” He said, pointing to the underside of the weapon. Spraypainted crudely underneath, I had to squint to make out the words, but there they were.

I remembered in science class that we’d gone over how Celestia’s radiant sun works. Physics and science held it together, even without her magic to guide it, and it’s own gravity and magnetic field kept it going. The instabilities in it would sometimes cause bursts of plasma to shoot out along it’s own magnetic field lines, and shoot far into space. Or at least, that’s what the Enclave science books had said, and I’m taking everything I’ve learned in them with more than a few grains of salt these days.

“I see. But, I do have to ask... why did you build it?” I asked as he carefully maneuvered the weapon into the back of the Runner. He set it down so as to wedge it between the back side of the runner’s cab, and the backside of the motor of the Dizzitron. “I mean, with as much of an arsenal as we’ve brought with us, why do you need something like that?”

He paused as he reached for the door. Freezing at my question in a way that I hadn’t really expected him too. Looking down at his hoof, he gave out a deep sigh as he shook his head.

“Look, I know it’s going to sound weird, but…” Looking over at me, he gave me the same look he’d had when he was running over to check on Violet before. “I’ve had this sinking feeling ever since we left on this trip up north, that things are going to take a turn for the worse. That something is going to happen one of these days, and I’m going to lose Violet forever. I’ll build a goddess damned megaspell if that’s what it’ll take to keep it from happening.”

“You… are afraid that she might die on this trip.” I said, simply rephrasing what he said in my own voice. For some reason, when I did, I could feel a knot form in my stomach. What if… what if Buck was killed? What would I do? Hell, he’d been shot multiple times by that gunpony…

“Night?” Hardcase said softly. Looking up, I watched as he turned and pulled me into a tight hug. “You’ll be fine. Buck will be fine.” He said, giving me a pat on the back.

“Yeah.” I nodded, trying to force myself to believe his words. “Violet will be fine too. I know she will be.” Giving him a few pats of my own, he nodded before letting go.

“Alright. Well, what say we head back now? Maybe grab something to eat once we’re all settled in again?” He gave me a nervous smile, trying to sweep the creeping fear he felt back under the guise of his carefree attitude.

“Yeah.” I said, forcing my own smile as I pictured that instead of that changeling back there under the tree, it was the ashen form of Buck under it. “That sounds great.” As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get that picture out of my mind now. Not when I climbed into the cab of the Runner with Hardcase. Not when we’d gotten turned around. Not even when we’d gotten back to the Hauler again, and I could see Buck standing and waiting for us on the back deck of the Rec area.

Buck had been someone who I cared for more than anyone in my life, and until now, it hadn’t really hit me just how much of a risk that was. The thought of losing him at all made my blood run cold, and even the sight of his warm smile did little to change that. One thing, above all else that I wanted to talk to him about this evening, were if he shared these newfound fears. I wanted to keep our budding relationship open, and make sure that he knew my concerns.

I just hoped that Hardcase was wrong about the feeling he’d had. That it was just a passing feeling, and that there was nothing more to worry about. Because if he was right, and something did happen to Violet? I would know in that moment that Buck would be next. And if I lost him? I don’t know what I’d do.

Laughing softly under my breath as we pulled up behind the hauler and parked, I knew exactly what I’d do. It’s as easy as the fact that mentally, after already losing everyone else I’d ever loved, I’d snap.

That’s how I’d go raider.

Finally moving again on the road, Delilah had informed us all that thanks to the extra time on the road today, we’d be pulling into Carmacks late this afternoon. She’d also lamented how that even though it had taken the half hour she’d estimated, it was unfortunate that repairs to the tires on Bessy took longer than she would have liked. But after two weeks on this crew, hearing that from her didn’t surprise me at all. It was almost as if Delilah couldn’t be happy without knowing that once again, something hadn’t worked out exactly how she’d planned it.

“Again, sorry for the interruption earlier, folks.” DJ PowerColt’s smooth voice held my complete attention as I relaxed, sprawled across the couch next to the radio as Hardcase boiled up some delicious smelling stew on the kitchenette stove. “Seems like some sort of solar interference knocked us off the air for a minute or two, but whatever it was has thankfully passed.”

“No shit.” Hardcase smiled and looked over his shoulder at me. “The S.F.G.’s burst was powerful enough to affect them all the way from out here? It’s got some serious electromagnetic range on it.” Well, what did he expect when he basically channeled the power of the fucking sun towards something? Then again, that did read that it was the S.F.G. Mk IV. I wonder what happened to the other three prototypes…

“Might as well give all you hip colts and rockin’ mares some of the latests happinin’s from around the wastelands.”

Oh, the news! Back above the clouds, I could care less about the news broadcasts, as they were mostly about changes to the government, or just general P.S.A.’s. However, in listening over the last few days, I’ve been learning that there’s been a lot going on the last few weeks down here in the wasteland.

“It’s been confirmed from multiple trusted sources down south, that the ghost of Route fifty two has finally found peace at the end of the road. Things down along the old highway that stretches from the coast over past the ruins of Salt Lick City, seem to be recovering after the appearance and encounters with the pink ghost. Most of those affected by the strange event, have agreed that things in the region might now be taking a turn for the better in her wake. It’s nice to see that a little innocence among the desolation and despair in the wastes, can go a long way in reminding ponies of the good that they are capable of in their lives.”

That was an odd report to say the least, but I didn’t mind that. If things were looking up for one section of the wasteland, then I had to be happy for them. From how Klondike might recover in the future, to even the departure of the Inuvik setting sail for the south again. I couldn’t help but think that maybe overall the wasteland was recovering. And with the evaporation of the cloud cover and Enclave government, I could only hope that those Pegasi settlements who were struggling before, might now have a chance to recover as well.

“From further south across the border in the wastelands of Caledonia, there seems to be an old fashioned political shake up in the wartime city of Dise. Details are sparse, but it seems like the whole city is looking at a civil war between the different factions controlling it, and the fragile armistice that’s held in the city for this long has been crumbling after either an attempted, or yet unconfirmed assassination of one of the faction heads.”

“Well, that certainly didn’t sound better than the other story.” I muttered under my breath, pulling myself upright on the couch again. As I did, the soft click of the locking latch to my container met my ears, and the door swung open. Out from it, Buck breathed a heavy sigh before looking over to a wide eyed Hardcase.

“She’ll be fine.” He spoke up, almost relaxing as much as Hardcase did with the words. “I managed to fix most of the internal damage caused by the debris, but I didn’t have enough supplies to get her closed up completely.” Shaking his head, he traced a line up his side with one of his claws. “Had to finish up the old fashioned way. She’ll need to take her time to recover, and not pull out any of her stitches. Looks like Night and I will have to share a bed for the next couple of days before she can be up and about again.” Not that sharing a bed was a downside to me in the slightest...

“I’m just glad to hear that she’ll be alright.” Hardcase gave a soft smile before trotting up to Buck and giving him a tight hug. “Thank you for saving her, Doc.”

“No problem?” Buck looked over to me with a nervous smile, giving Hardcase a few soft pats on the back with his claws. He looked down to Hardcase and pulled the squeezing stallion off of him carefully. “It’s my job to do that here, you know.”

“I know.” Hardcase nodded, turning around and heading back toward the stove again. “But she means the world to me. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

Looking over to Buck, he looked to the floor and nodded as well. Slowly, and with more of a worried look than I’d ever seen him with, he looked over to me. I think in that moment, I knew that Buck felt the same way about me. And then that moment passed, as his sharp, triangular ears perked and he gave a few quick sniffs at the air.

“What is that amazing smell?” Buck asked, nearly salivating on himself as he looked over to Hardcase.

“Oh, just my wasteland famous Hearty Stew!” Hardcase smiled as he pulled the spoon out of the pot he was working on and did his best to waft the smell towards us. “It’s just about ready if you want to grab some bowls for us all.”

“Sure.” Buck smiled and stepped over toward the kitchen. Fumbling through a few of the cabinets secured to the wall, he retrieved a stack of bowls from inside and presented them to Hardcase. “Where did you learn to make something that smells so delicious?”

“It’s something I learned to make on my own for Violet.” He smiled, taking the bowls in his magic. “It always seemed to cheer her up on a cloudy day.” Pausing, he shrugged. “Well, a cloudier than usual day back then.” Doling out a few helpings of the soup, he filled up four bowls with it. He levitated a bowl to both Buck and I, before taking the other two close to him. “Hey, Doc? Do you mind if I go in and share it with Violet?”

“Yes, so long as you don’t have her sit up too far for it.” Buck nodded and stepped aside to let Hardcase by. As Hardcase trotted happily into our room, Buck let out a groan and stepped over toward the couch. “Mind if I have a seat with you?” He smiled softly at me.

Of course, I nodded and scooted myself over to give him enough room to sit down on it. Though, he was a big enough dog that he ended up taking up most of the couch all by himself. I didn’t care, mind you. Flopping against his side, I blushed brightly as he leaned over and gave me a soft nuzzle along my neck. Letting off a long sigh of my own, I sat and relaxed against him as much as I could.

“You know,” He began softly. “Seeing Violet like that, and how Hardcase was so worried about her…”

Reaching up, I put my hoof over his muzzle, knowing that he was just concerned about what Hardcase had mentioned as I had been. He looked at me with a sad gaze, but he knew I understood his concern.

“I don’t want to worry about ‘what ifs’.” I said softly. “While those thoughts worry me, I want to enjoy what we have now.” What happened with Violet was something none of us had expected, but now that the fear was there for me, I knew it would never go away. It was going to be a risk, but nothing was going to change that now. So I had to ask myself, why did I have to spend time worrying about it then? I just needed to focus on what mattered now.

He nodded as his normal warm smile returned, and he reached his paw up around me. Pulling me in close to him, he’d brought both of our bowls closer to our muzzles. Taking in the deep delicious smell of the warm stew, both of us reached up and decided that it was time to dig in.

Taking a healthy slurp, I was delighted that it wasn’t of the ‘burns like lava’ consistency like the Hot Chocolate had been this morning. And I was quite happy at the chewy mass of incredible taste in my mouth. Goddesses, this thing was better tasting than both the soup up in Fort Mac and the curried veggies in Filly Crossing combined. As I savored the rich but odd flavor, I received a short chuckle from Buck while he still had his muzzle stuck in his bowl.

“I see you found the good stuff.” He slurped, licking bits of dripping stew off of his jagged jawline. Nodding, I dove back into my own stew, easily finding another lumpy mass of deliciousness to chew on. “Know what that is?” He asked, prompting me to stop and think about it. Actually, I couldn’t place the flavoring of it. Shaking my head only prompted another stiff laugh from Buck, and I was starting to become a bit concerned.

“Welcome to the amazing world of being an omnivore.” He said, giving me a soft pat on the back as I was immediately more confused than ever. “It’s not quite as good as fresh salmon, but Radboar bacon is some of the best meat you can find out there.”

Looking down at my stew, I let the half chewed mass dribble back into my bowl. Even though it had tasted far better than anything else on my trip so far, all I could think was one thing again and again about the curse of learning about living in the wasteland.

Goddesses… why me?

Author's Notes:

Since I haven't said it in a while, I wanted to once again thank Kkat for giving us Fo:E, and for letting us all muck around in the universe with our own stories.