Standing around it, I felt more like the whole crew was giving the scorched rubber tire a funeral than anything. The tire, while it had caught fire, wasn’t too badly damaged thanks to the quick work of those in town. Still, as all of us stood around it, I found myself unsure of what we were going to do now.

“Well, the good news is that the axle shaft is undamaged, and Bertha’s still stable when stationary, even without a front tire.” Boiler sighed as she looked over the damage. “Bad news is that the axle casing itself is cracked, which could lead to problems with the bearings unless it’s repaired. And if that wasn’t bad enough, all forty two wheel bolts sheared off in the blast, and will have to be replaced.” Looking up at the cracked axle casing, she grimaced and shook her head. “This wasn’t some lucky blast, this was well planned to take out every bolt.”

“So how long will the repairs take?” Delilah groaned, pinching her temple with her fetlock. She’d mostly recovered from the shock of seeing Bertha without a tire. Well, at least, the color had returned to her coat. I doubt anything could have removed the frustration she felt over it.

“The axle casing might be able to be welded back together fairly quickly, so a quick fix is my guess.” Hardcase spoke up. “And you did bring extra wheel bolts, right Boiler?”

“Well, I’d thought we had extra bolts, but I couldn’t for the life of me find them in the spare parts bucket!” She said, scratching at her horn before giving out a shrug. “I swear I packed away at least a whole extra set of them for the trip! I even triple checked the parts list before we hit the road!” With a scrunched up look, she sat down and crossed her forehooves. “I guess they got lost or left behind somewhere.”

“Well it’s not going to do us any good unless we have those bolts.” Violet called out from up on the Hauler. “I mean, it’s not like we can drive without that wheel on there, right?” She paused, looking concerned for a moment. “I mean, could we? No… probably not.” Shaking her head, her own question was forgotten as Happy cleared his throat.

“Can’t somepony here just make some new bolts?” Happy offered in a rare moment of actually contributing to a conversation. “They got a bunch of parts on these boats. One of them’s gotta have something we can use, right?”

“Hey, yeah!” Boiler smiled as she hoofed at Hardcase. “Didn’t you say there was some sort of blacksmith up here last year? I bet we could work out some sort of deal to get them forged up real quick!”

“Yeah, unless he’s moved, Spitzer’s forge should still be moored at the pier.” Hardcase nodded. “I don’t know if he’ll remember me, but he’s got the tooling on hoof for repairing the Cordite guys in town. It’s worth a shot, I’d say.”

“Yeah, but that would probably take quite a bit of time.” Violet offered from above. “And I don’t have to remind you, Solomon isn’t going to stop and wait for us to get back on the road.” Maybe it was just me, but Violet looked and felt a lot more nervous than normal. Honestly, I didn’t blame her. Ever stop so far had been a travesty for us, and so far, Destruction Bay wasn’t looking like it was going to be any different...

“And I can tell you, it’s probably going to take me all night to weld up that axel case already.” Boiler grumbled, kicking a bit at the fallen tire. “But that means nothing if we can’t secure the tire back onto her in the first place.”

“True,” Delilah nodded, “But with enough incentive, perhaps we could work out a deal to get them to work overnight on them. That, or bump us up to their top priority.” Sharply, she pointed to Hardcase, looking like she’d gone into full delegation mode. “Hardcase, why don’t you head down to the pier and see what you can work out.” Looking over, she pointed to Lucky, who until now, had only really felt like staring dejectedly at the fallen wheel, rather than getting involved in this discussion. “Lucky, you, Howitzer and I are going to talk to the Road Crew to see if we can get them to run any interference for Solomon.”

“What about Violet, Gearbox, and I?” Happy spoke up, only drawing a groan from Violet.

“Violet and Gearbox are to stay here and keep an eye out for Galina while Boiler works on fixing up that axle casing.” She grumbled before glaring at Happy. “You however, are to stay here and work on opening that safe.” That pulled an even larger groan from Happy than he’d gotten out of Violet. “And under no circumstances are you to leave and head to the brothel. Got it?”

“Yeah...” He grunted sadly and kicked at the mud under his hooves.

“Alright, Hardcase.” Delilah nodded as she turned back to him. “If you can’t work out a reasonable deal for the parts, you come right to me.” Turning and giving a light tap against the fallen tire, Delilah stiffened up. Standing up straight and raising her voice, she commanded our attention. “Without this, everypony here can see that we’re stuck here and vulnerable to another attack. I want all of you armed and on the lookout for trouble. I will not lose somepony to Solomon’s followers if I can help it.”

“Shoot Galina on sight, got it.” Hardcase spoke up with a smirk before turning to me. I’d stood and watched as Galina killed who she’d thought was Hardcase. No hesitation, no remorse, just like he’d act if he got the chance to kill her. And I didn’t blame him one bit. “Alright, you and the Doc should probably head downtown with us. The entrance to the H.M.S. Mercy is right next to where we’ve gotta go anyway, so we might as well stick together.”

“Alright, I’ll need a minute to grab my gear.” Turning away from the tire, I hobbled my way around the front of the Hauler. As I did, Buck moved with me, keeping pace to my slow speed.

“Are you going to be alright with this, Night?” Buck asked, the hesitation in his words saying more than anything about his want to head out now. “We don’t have to go deal with your injury right now if you don't want. It might just be better to wait...”

“I know, but I want to go.” Looking up to him, I tried my best to offer a sincere smile. “Look, I don't want to sit around and mope about my leg. Yes, it sucks that it's gone," That was the understatement of the year. "But if there's anything that will help me with it, it’s going to be on that ship, right?” He hesitated to answer me. “And besides, you were the one who wanted to stop by the Mercy, so we might as well tag along with Hardcase anyway. Safety in numbers and all.” Looking up to the sky, I found a familiar cloud sitting above Bertha. I don’t know if she was back already from finding her father, but still, I wanted her to come along with us. “But before we go, I’m going have a small talk with Hispano.”

“Oh?” Buck laughed softly. “Given my suggestion some more thought?”

“What? No… goddesses no.” I forced my eyes closed and sighed, trying unsuccessfully to get the thoughts and images of that out of my head. “I was only going to go ask if she wanted to head out with us. That’s all.” As I gave him a flat look, he stuck his tongue out at me. “Oh, you weren’t serious. Har har.”

“Come on.” He said, swinging his arm around and scooping me up into his hold. “Let’s go get you geared up.” I was happy that he didn’t seem to mind my choice to go and help out. Rather, I was a bit surprised by it. “You know I love you, Night,” He said, forcing a bright blush across my cheeks at hearing that word again. “but you’re a bit too easy to poke fun at.”

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, fuzzball.” I rolled my eyes as I pressed into his grasp. “I love you too, Buck.” With a sigh, I relaxed and felt like I could stay in his arms forever. In a perfect world, that may have been the case. But this world wasn’t perfect, and even though it was recovering, it was like where we were at right now. In order to get past this setback, we all still had a lot of work ahead of us.

‘Downtown’ Destruction Bay was… odd to experience, to say the least. The semi-overgrown buildings and shipwrecks didn’t feel oppressive to me, and the old cobblestone under my three hooves, while worn, felt welcoming. It even had small bits of grass and plants growing out of it that didn’t look entirely dead, so that was a plus. Even as the darkness of night began to fall, the city only began to feel more welcoming, more alive. And even though I was still worried about how we’d fix Bertha, all of that was just a bit more muted under the feeling this place gave off.

Walking with the others down towards the harbor, my hobble kept us all moving slow, but that’s not something the folks in this town seemed to be. We were constantly having to move out of the way of hurried ponies. Just in the short walk down here, we’d had a hundred or so ponies moving past us just going about their evening lives.

Hispano had even given up hovering low as we moved along, and sat a good ten feet in the air just to avoid having to move out of the way all the time. As per the usual, she dipped and fluttered about the skies above us, full of an energy that never quit. I’d have to ask her one of these days just where all that energy of hers came from...

The sounds of laughter and music filled the city as the sun sank below the horizon. The sight of flickering bonfires, the smell of cooking food, and the buzz of excitement resonated through every street of this place. One by one, each of the buildings and ships flickered brilliantly as hundreds of lights lit them up in the night. Even the big ships in the harbor got in on it, beaming spotlights up into the clear evening sky.

“So,” Buck spoke up, looking over to Hardcase who was staring up into the skies above longingly. “You’ve been to this blacksmith before?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, glancing over to Hispano for a moment before dropping his gaze to Buck. “We stopped by for some spare snow chains on the first trip up here. Our old set wore out, and we weren’t sure if we’d need them to get over Filly Crossing or not.”

Looking ahead down the long road that ran toward the bay, I watched as the cobblestone road ended at the concrete berm that ringed the inner edge of the harbor. The old wooden pier that continued between the two huge ships in it’s place was larger than I’d expected. It was wide enough that there were carts parked on both edges of it, with ponies in groups ten or so across still able to comfortably walk down it.

A gust of wind rolled up to us from the water, bringing with it the stinging smell of salt that permeated everything around here. I shivered as the scent sank into my nostrils, and smiled at the odd giddiness of which it filled me with. I’d never thought that in my life I’d get to see the ocean. And while I don’t really know what about being here I cared about, the idea that it was something new was exciting enough that I enjoyed it on principle.

“Spitzer is… and odd, but agreeable fellow.” Hardcase spoke up. Pointing with his horn, he guided our gazes to a large, black ship moored about halfway down the docks. Parked in between a few mid sized ships, it stood out in both design and size compared to them. “He and his crew are probably the most reliable and trustworthy blacksmith’s you’ll find in the northern wastelands.”

“That’s pretty high praise.” Buck laughed. “But I’d still put my caps down on Rosey and her team of mechanics on the Inuvik to solve any problem.” Not that he didn’t say it, but I myself thought that Boiler had done a hell of a job already with keeping everything going on the convoy.

Hobbling forward with the others, I stopped for a moment as we reached the end of the road. Looking at the wooden pier ahead, I began to see just how old it looked. Granted, I knew it was two hundred years old, and I could clearly see hundreds of ponies moving along it, but the problem was that it looked two hundred years old. However, from the way that both Buck and Hardcase simply stepped on it without hesitation, I sucked up my irrational fears and hobbled on after them.

Most of the boards underhoof felt dry and gave only a little under our weight, even for being only ten feet or so above water. The outlying, worrisome boards that seemed a bit more rotten than the rest, seemed pretty few and far between actually. Giving a sigh of relief, I perked my ears and continued to listen in on their conversation.

“Rosey could solve a problem, sure.” Hardcase laughed with him. “But Spitzer and his crew will make any part, large or small, to any tolerance. Precision is their guarantee, or so their slogan goes.”

“Well…” Buck began, but paused as a large group of ponies in yellow coats walked by us. Behind them, they dragged cart after cart of glistening and still wet fish. Some of the fish didn’t seem to be a healthy color, and more than a few had fins or eyes that even I knew weren’t supposed to be where they were. Still, Buck watched intensely as the carts passed him. Poor guy, we still hadn’t gotten something to eat. “That may be true, but nothing can beat the precision of having these.” Buck said, holding his paws out and wiggling each digit.

“Yeah.” Hispano cooed from above, drifting down again and finally calming down a bit. Dropping onto the pier next to me, she came down hard enough to make the boards under us groan. “I feel sorry for you ponies, not knowing the joys of having independent digits.” Hardcase simply rolled his eyes before his horn glowed. Hispano gave a soft squeak as she was wrapped in his magical aura and picked right up off the dock. “Hey!” She snapped, flailing her talons at him wildly. “Put me down!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He gave her a sly smirk. “Why don’t you use your ‘independent digits’ to help if they’re so great?” With a wide smile, he dropped his hold on her and let her flop back onto the dock.

Buck gave a few snorts, pulling my attention up to him. He scrunched up his muzzle in annoyance and stuck his tongue out. Giving a whimper, he raised his paw up and covered his nose.

“You alright, Buck?” I’d never seen him do that before.

He looked down at me and sighed. “Yeah, you’ll smell it in a minute.” Pausing, he grunted and seemed to deflate. “Or not. I keep forgetting you ponies can’t smell all that well.” Raising a claw, he pointed to the pair of smoke stacks on the large black ship we were headed for. Into the sky rose two billowing black clouds of smoke. “Consider yourself lucky for that. Ugh, it’s worse than the bilge room back on the Inuvik…”

As we approached the ship, I marveled over just how oddly designed it was compared to something like an Enclave Raptor. It’s bow rose up at a straight angle, higher than most other ships around here seemed to. In fact, the ship itself was almost two hundred feet long, which was double that of all but a few of the other ships docked here. It’s wide, tire lined upper hull had a bulbous shape to it, almost curling up around it’s main deck. A rounded, riveted metal first level was surrounded by charcoal black porthole windows, matching the dirty and gritty feel of the ship at large. The upper deck however, was lined with strips of a surprisingly brightly stained wood, and the brass fittings around the wheelhouse and clear portholes nearly sparkled in the harbor lighting. Along with that, the bold white lettering spelling out H.M.S. König were contrastingly clean to most of the rest of the ashen black ship.

“Yeah, the smells can bother some of the townsfolk here. It’s why they’re moored all the way out this far on the dock.” Hardcase called out as he turned and trotted happily up the gangway onto the ship.

We all followed him onto the odd ship, cringing as he cranked the round bulkhead latch around with a sharp squeal. The old door groaned in protest as he pushed it open, and without hesitation, he walked into the dark interior. Buck, though obviously perturbed by the smell, still moved closer, but turned and waited for me to hobble my way across the gangplank before continuing. As I did, Hispano jumped up and fluttered across the air, quickly dipping inside the ship ahead of us.

Sure, both Buck and I had wanted to head straight for the Mercy. But I couldn’t deny that I was at least a little bit curious about this place. The way Buck hesitantly made his way on board before me, proved that he too was at least willing to check it out as well, even past the foul smell that bothered him.

As we got ourselves onto the main deck, the heavy clanks and knocks of metalwork resonated through the open door, as well as a few voices with Hardcase’s mixed among them. The closer I got to the door, the hotter I felt the air got. Not just in front of me, but even the decking felt like it was baking on it’s underside. Taking a few more hobbling steps, I made my way through the bulkhead with Buck right behind me.

The spacious interior was poorly lit, and only a single, buzzing fluorescent ceiling light above us provided any illumination to the room. A few old chairs sat to my left, along with a rusty metal table with old magazines on it. To my right, sat a few more chairs that faced an old metal desk. From the way it was set up, I got that this had to have been a reception area for their business. In one of the desk chairs was Hardcase, who was sitting across from a furred mass that sat behind the desk.

“Wunderbar!” A loud voice proclaimed from behind the desk, making me seize up mid step and nearly jump in fear. “Bruder, iz so good to see you!” The large furred mass stepped forward around the desk, almost immediately reaching out and snatching up Buck as he stepped inside.

Buck looked like he froze up, going stiff as two semi-large arms wrapped around him and squeezed him tightly enough that his hind paws left the ground for a moment. From the comparable size of the stranger, to the nearly glowing golden eyes and wolf like pattern of fur, I had to almost immediately assume that this was another snow dog. “Let me take a look at you.” The stranger laughed, breaking off from the awkward and tight hug.

Stepping back under the fluorescent light, the stranger’s fur was definitely quite a bit fluffier than Buck’s, and his coloration held lots of brown and black to it. However, his golden eyes weren’t like Bucks eyes at all, in that the golden sections of them filled his entire eye, and only the darker pupils of them broke up the solid color. His large and stocky build was mostly comparable to Buck’s, he was indeed a bit smaller, and his forepaws weren’t nearly as large. I could make out the jagged peaks and dips along the stranger’s broad muzzle, and watched as he sniffed the air around Buck intently. After a moment, his muzzle split into a wide grin just as Buck seemed to finally understand what was going on.

“Ah, der schiff hund! From ze north you say…” The stranger began, pausing to give a few more sniffs. “From an Arktika class icebreaker? Very interesting indeed!”

“That… that’s incredible!” Buck smiled, laughing as he looked over the odd dog before us. “You could tell all that through smell? In a place that stinks this much?”

“Vy yes! I am quite amahzing!” The stranger laughed, reaching up and rubbing at his head before a grunt from across the room gave us all pause.

Looking over, there was another dog standing in the doorway that led further into the ship. A lithe dog that was taller than even Buck was, glared across the room at the stranger. The new dog however didn’t look to have long fur like Buck or the other stranger, having short fur like Rosie had back on the Inuvik. The black and rust red coloration on them was striking, and the sharply pointed muzzle and cropped ears gave them an aggressive look.

“Ah, well, maybe not zat amahzing. You smell just like my last customer is all.” The stranger began again, reaching out to grab Bucks paw and shake it. He nodded to the dog in the doorway. “Zat is Hilde, my half sister. She does her best to keep me an honest hund on zis ship.” Smiling, he looked around at the odd collection of us he’d accrued in his office. “I am Spitzer. Forgemaster, machinist, and now a good friend of Captain Marigold. If zat’s why you are here, she needs not worry, I will have those spare parts for your ship soon enough!”

Buck stiffened up at that. “You… know the skycaptain? How?”

“She came in yesterday!” Spitzer laughed, “Did you not come with her? Or see her plane on ze back of ze Fairy Flight?” So it was a skycraft that I’d seen on the ship’s catapult! “Zis is certainly interesting!” Spitzer spoke before pausing as he looked down at Buck’s paw. Reaching out, he grabbed and raised it closer to his muzzle. If I wasn’t so sure that Buck had no interest in this guy, I’ve have felt a bit jealous at the move. “My, your breed certainly has amahzing paws!”

I almost cringed as much as Buck did when he pulled his paw back slightly. “It's not a breed trait, sadly.” He laughed nervously, quickly putting both of his paws out of sight behind his back. “Genetic instability us northern Snow Dogs suffer from, due to intermixing with southeastern hellhounds. It’s a flaw some of us from the Inuvik suffer from.”

“Ah, Teufelshunde.” Spitzer nodded before stepping back around behind his desk. He pointed to the chairs, offering us all a seat. Though, as I’d expected, Buck didn’t take him up on the offer. Me? I’d rather stand anyway. Hispano however, quickly fluttered over and sat down in the old seat with a comfortable flop. She really knew how to get comfortable fast it seemed. Spitzer shrugged and looked back over to Buck. “Don't have many hellhounds back home, but sweet Celestia, ze forging zat I could do vith a pair of zose on me!”

“Not many hellhounds back home?” Buck’s ears perked as he brought his paw up and tapped on his chin. “You didn't suffer any mutations from the balefire? You mean... you’re still regular diamond dogs? How? How many of you are there back where you come from?” He paused, looking lost in his own racing thoughts for a moment. “Where do you even come from? I have so many questions for you…”

“How did ve survive in Germaneigh? Because ve are hard working Handel Hunde, of course!” He let out a rousing laugh as I struggled to understand anything he was talking about. From the way the even Hardcase was looking confused, I could tell that we were all quite lost. “Ve built more zen just Behelfsmäßige Luftschutzräumen!”

“Spitz, speak in common Equestrian for our guests,” Hilde spoke up sharply from the doorway. Funny, she didn’t have the same odd accent that Spitzer did. “If you’re fine in dealing with them, I’m going back to work on the Inuvik order.”

“Sure thing, sis.” Spitzer nodded to her before turning back to Buck. “Ah, forgive me my friends. So easy to fall back into old habits around such good company!” Raising his arm, he offered for us to head through the door Hilde was in. “Come! Join me in ze forge and let me tell you of our home in das Heimatland!”

“Ugh.” Hispano grumbled, flopping herself completely in the plush chair she was in. “If I knew it was going to be this boring, I wouldn’t have come with you.”

“Night?” Buck spoke up as he put his paw on my shoulder. Looking down at me, he offered a nervous smile. “I know that we need to get to the Mercy, and you might not want to stay here, but I’m… interested in hearing what he has to tell me. There wasn’t any real information on the Diamond Dogs ancestral homeland, and…” Balancing on my only other two hooves, I reached up and softly closed his muzzle.

“I understand.” Nodding over to the door that lead to the forge, I tried to offer my own smile back to him. “Go and learn. You can tell me all about it later.”

“Thank you for being understanding, Night.” Buck sighed before reaching down and pulling me into a warm hug. “If you don’t want to stay here, you can go with Hispano to get some food, or head on over to the Mercy to get things started with them. I’m sure they’ll have a few tests to run.” I watched him tense up as he glanced over to Hispano, who seemingly perked up at hearing what he was saying. “Once Hardcase has negotiated for what we need, we can come find you two afterwards. I still want to take you over to the Mercy and get your leg checked up.” He’d admitted that he’d been jealous and overprotective of me, so I knew how hard this must have been for him. It was something I was happy he was willing to do for me, and I’d have to make sure to thank him for it later.

Right about then, Hispano’s stomach let out a gurgle that could be heard over the metalworking inside the ship.

“Grub sounds good.” She sighed, pushing herself up from her chair. “Alright, Dum Dum, let’s go.” Making sure her sister was still securely resting on her back, she adjusted her leather flight cap before reaching out and forcefully taking my hoof. “Come on, we don’t have all night!”

Flailing for a moment, I was tugged out the ship’s doorway and away from Buck. I felt myself get hoisted right off the deck and up into the air by my hoof. Looking up, Hispano was hardly breaking a sweat to pull me skyward. The further we got away from the ship, the bigger the smile that spread across her cheeks.

Spreading my wings and flapping, I tugged my hoof away from her. To my surprise when I stiffened my wings to glide, I felt more stable in my flight than I’d ever been. Shifting slightly, I could feel as the weighty submachine gun from my saddle acted as a counterbalance to the fact that I was one leg lighter on that side.

“Huh, look at that.” Hispano cooed as she dipped down and flew beside me. “It seemed that all you needed to do was lose a little weight before you finally got the hang of flying right.” Groaning at that, I facehoofed. However, when I did that I felt my flight shift suddenly. Scrambling, I put my forehooves down under me for stability again, immediately regaining control. “Then again,” She continued, “maybe that was just a fluke.”

“Shut up, Hispano.” I grumbled, and deadpanned to her. “Let’s just go get something to eat.”

With a giggle, Hispano’s energy seemed to rush back into her, and like a bolt she was off. I felt exhausted just watching as she zipped about the night sky with boundless energy. While Buck felt jealous of her spending time with me, I felt jealous of her just being able to fly as well as she did. Not only that, but I was jealous of her boundless energy, optimism, and confidence in what she wanted. The more I watched her, the more I felt like Hispano was uniquely out of place here in the wastes.

If that was a good thing or not remained to be seen, but for now at least, I was glad to have met her. Even if at times she was still annoying, she was loyal to a fault, at least partially willing to listen, and bluntly honest most of the time. Really, she reminded me of the kind of friend I’d always wanted up above the clouds.

We’d found a good enough place to grab some food inside the remarkably intact hull of an old ferry that had washed up on the roof of one of the overgrown ruins here. The open center interior had once been able to hold a dozen or so carts and motorwagons on it’s parking deck, but had since been converted to a sort of restaurant and bar combination. The old hulks of the long abandoned vehicles had been stacked to the ceiling along the edges as makeshift walls, with the doors of an old bus being used as the front entrance to the place.

The inside of the old ship was well lit with dozens of fluorescent lights still buzzing up above us. However, the wafting smoke from the fact that almost everypony in here was smoking, certainly made this air in this place hazy. A dozen or so full tables sat scattered among the parking deck, with the back ends of a quite a few motor wagons arranged around the edges of the place as makeshift booths. A pony in a ragged wartime suit sat at the far corner of the place, softly playing a slow tune on a dusty piano to the dozens of ponies who talked, laughed, and ate at the nearly packed restaurant.

“Two? This way, please.” A haughty sounding mare in a grimy waitresses outfit looked down her muzzle at us. Turning, she led us to a booth in the corner of room across from where the bar sat. Hispano giddily fluttered her wings and nearly flopped herself onto the plush bench seat of our booth, using her talons and paws to knead and fluff at the seat under her before finally sitting down on it. As she did, she stripped her sister from herself and propped her up in the seat next to her. I however, hobbled myself to the seat across from her and took my time to clamber up onto it. Unlike her, unfortunately I couldn’t just dump my battle saddle just to get more comfortable.

“We’ll need a minute.” Hispano chirped, flailing her talons at the mare. “So scram, skedaddle, give us some space.” While I was busy getting comfortable, the mare who’d shown us over simply rolled her eyes and walked away. “Geeze,” Hispano sighed, “I thought she’d never leave.”

“You didn’t have to be so rude about it.” I muttered as I stuck my stump out to the side, relaxing as it felt a bit more comfortable than sitting directly on it. Wiggling in that pose for a moment, I finally felt like I’d gotten comfortable. Reaching out to the two menus that had been left on our table, I was about to grab one. Instead, Hispano swiped them both away from me before I had a chance to even get my hoof close to it.

“Of course I don’t have to be nice about it either. It’s more fun this way anyhow.” She smiled brightly at me as she pulled the two menus against herself. “Seeing as how I’m pretty sure I’ll be paying for this, I’ll order for the both of us.” Flaring her wings, she bounced on her seat a few times, hopping a bit higher with each bounce. “Stay here for a moment while I go give them our order!”

Without any time to object, she flew off across the room, eliciting a few startling gasps from some of the patrons she zipped over. Grumbling, I slumped in my seat and flopped my head back against the old motorwagon’s headrest. As I did, I looked up to the second floor walkway that ringed the parking deck.

More than a few well dressed mares stood looking down over the railing above, each one wearing a flashy dress, and from what I could tell, quite well done make up. Two of them noticed I was looking up at them and giggled at me, talking to each other before offering me a soft wave. Waving back to them, I was distracted enough that I missed the flutter of wings beside me.

“What are you looking at?” Hispano’s squawking voice made me jump up out of my seat with a whimpering squeak. I found her deadpanning at me with her talons folded in disappointment. “And here I thought you said you only had an eye for stallions.”

“I do!” I shouted and flailed my hooves at her before looking around to find that more than a few eyes around the restaurant had turned to me. Sinking back down, I landed on my seat again and did my best to press myself back into it. Maybe if I tried hard enough, I could sink so far into it that even the embarrassment I felt couldn’t find me. “It’s not my fault, they were the ones trying to catch my attention and wave at me.”

“Of course they were, that’s their job.” Hispano rolled her eyes before taking her place across from me.

“What do you mean, that’s their job?” Looking up at the mare’s, I watched as one of them blew a kiss to a stallion sitting at one of the center tables. The stallion reached out and feigned grabbing the kiss, pulling it close to his chest with a bashful smile.

“You didn’t think this place was just a restaurant, did you?” From the way Hispano said that, something in my mind clicked and I began to realize just what they were. “Oh, you’re so hopelessly naive, Dum Dum!” Laughing, I can’t believe that I didn’t realize that this place was also a brothel. “Good thing you you saw them first and didn’t look across the way. I might have been in real trouble with you then.”

Like an idiot, I looked across the room to the second floor above the bar. Standing almost directly across from the three mare’s above us, were three well dressed stallions. A pink coated earth pony flashed me a smile, and batted his eyelashes before blowing a kiss toward me. I flinched as Hispano snapped her talon out into the air next to me, shooting the stallion a glare and shaking her head.

“Geeze, a little overprotective are we?” I asked, reaching up and pushing Hispano’s talon down. “Look, I’m happy with Buck. But what we need to talk about, is where we stand.”

“Night, I don’t care what you say.” Hispano growled. Reaching up, she snapped her leather cap off and slammed it down on the table. I’d never seen her so angry before, and I was so shocked that I froze up. “I know that you may care for him now, but I told you, I’m not going to let this go!” Taking a few heaving breaths, Hispano began to relax a bit. Not much, but for how tense she’d become, but I could see her gaze soften slightly as she glared at me.

“You may think I’m too young, or that you may not like me the way that I’ve come to like you.” She spoke softly for as angry as she looked, but I could tell that she wasn’t trying to hide anything with her words. “The thing you have to understand, is that while I’m willing to wait for you to feel the same, I won’t stop feeling the way I do in the meantime.” A sadistic grin pulled across her beak, and to be honest, it scared me a bit. “I’ve thought over what you said back in Carmacks, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get you to even give me a shot. I’ll get to know your friends, I’ll help out with whatever you need me too. Hell, I’m fine with you caring for Buck as well as me! I mean, he seems nice! I don’t mind sharing if you don’t! So long as that’s what it takes to have any sort of chance of you changing your mind.”

“Hispano, I…” While I knew this was coming, I wasn’t sure what to tell her now. Even if I told her that I’d never even consider being with her, with how much it’s seemed to weigh on her, I wasn’t sure she’d listen anymore.

“Shut up, Night. I’m saying I want to be around your friends. I’ll do anything you want me to.” She snapped at me. Pressing her talons down between us, she stood on her seat and leaned across the table toward me. “Make me an offer.”

“W-what?” I gasped, pressing myself further back against the seat behind me. “Hispano… I don’t know what you’re asking for…” As I spoke, she flared her wings and snapped her tail around at her side. This was getting way out of hoof far too fast for my liking.

“I’m not asking, I’m telling you,” She grunted, reaching out and prodding sharply against my chest with her talon. “Make me an offer, and I’m yours. So long as the other’s know you own me, they’ll be fine with me being around.” Grasping at my chest, I froze up as she wrapped her claws around my mother’s tags, using them to pull me closer to her. “Hire. Me. Night.”

“Wha…” I froze up. “You want me to do what!?” I snapped at her. Reaching up, I swung my forehoof at her leg and tore it off of my mother’s tags. Hispano recoiled at the gesture, looking genuinely surprised. “Did you plan to bring me here with that in mind? You think I’ll be alright with this if I pay for you? HAH.” How could she even think I was the naive one? “I wouldn’t even pay to spend a night with any of the stallions here. What makes you think I’d be alright with paying for a night with you?”

Hispano went wide eyed at that before smacking herself in the face with her talon. “Not like that you moron!” She shouted while wearing a brighter blush then I think I’ve ever had. Reaching down, she grabbed at my shoulders and pressed her forehead against mine. “I’m a Talon Mercenary you dolt. Hire me!”

Oh… Oooooooh!

Letting out a long sigh of relief I felt a bubbling laugh force itself up my throat. “Oh!” I gasped before spitting out a giggle into Hispano’s confused face. “See, I thought… that you…” Laughing, I couldn’t help myself as I realized just how badly I’d misread all that. With her own sigh of relief, Hispano let go of me and landed herself on the table. Turning around, she hopped down into her seat with a huff, crossing her talons and sitting there with an annoyed glare as I tried my best to reign in my hysteria.

“It’s not funny, Night.” She muttered softly. As much as she tried to hide it, I could hear the pain in her voice. “Talon’s take their contracts seriously, and doing this goes against the contract my own father has. You have no idea how much of a risk this is for me. And as much as he can be a controlling jerk sometimes, I… I don’t want to leave him by himself. Being a successful Talon is all he wants from me because I’m all he has left in the world.” Looking down at herself, she reached up and grabbed at the broken compass that she wore strung around her neck.

“Oh, Hispano.” I sighed, finally finding the strength to kill the laughter I had. “You know you don’t have to sign on with us, or quit being a Talon, right?” I know that she wanted me to hire her on, to give her a reason at all to stay, but she didn’t need it. “There doesn’t need to be a contract or whatever to be friends, or to get to know the ponies on Delilah’s crew.” Looking at her, I watched as my words slowly pulled her gaze off the compass in her talon. “I was wrong about what they’d think. I thought that they’d be suspicious of anypony they saw, or figure out why you were following us. But Hardcase doesn’t seem to care, and while Buck might be a bit jealous, he’s willing to get to know you as well.”

“You don’t understand, Night.” Hispano sighed and pressed back into her seat like I had only minutes ago. “I’m the daughter of a Talon Merc, and training to be one myself. I can’t just ‘hang out’ with others. I need a reason to be there.”

“Says who?” I laughed again, this time making her eyes go wide in confusion. “You told me that in order to live down here in the wastes, all I had to do was make myself useful and ponies would stop giving me so much shit.” Leaning forward, I reached out and hoofed at the leather flight cap Hispano had left on the table. Pushing it closer to her, I smiled. “Who says you can’t make my friends like you by showing them how useful you can be?”

Reaching out, Hispano slowly took her flight cap into her talon and looked down at it. As we sat in silence, I watched her think things over. For the first time, underneath all the snark and bubbly energy, I got to see the real Hispano. Someone who was deeply concerned about how those around her looked at her, and how her father viewed her. She may have already known more about living in the wasteland than I ever will, but she was still on her own out here as well. I had made plenty of friends in Delilah’s crew, but so far, she’d only had me. Right now, as much as I hadn’t wanted to give her false hope for down the road, I could still help her out in plenty of other ways.

“But…” I sighed, pulling her gaze back up to me. “If hiring you is what makes the difference in being friends, then I’ll do it.” I know that I’d have to talk to Delilah about it, but I don’t think she’d argue against having another pair of eyes on the crew. “Just… know that I can’t really pay you anything. Like, at all. At least, not until I get paid again.”

“Night…” She sniffled, reaching up and brushing her talon under her watering eyes. “You’d do that? For me?” Nodding to her, I felt a bit of relief wash over me as she gave a soft laugh. With a single bound, she hopped over the table and slammed against me, knocking the wind out of me. “Oh thank you.” She whispered into my ear, squeezing around me tightly enough that I was pretty sure I felt a few ribs starting to crack under the pressure.

“Ahem.” The dull voice of the waitress mare spoke up from our side. “Your food has arrived.”

“Seriously lady? Just leave it and go already!” Hispano snapped, not letting off from her hug one bit. “Seriously though, Night. You thought I wanted you to pay for me to sleep with you?” She laughed and thankfully loosened her grasp around me sides. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Yeah, sorry.” I gasped, thankful that I could breath again. Giving her a few pats on the side, I snorted as a ridiculous image fluttered into my mind. “Could you imagine though? You all dolled up in make up and in a pretty frilly dress?”

“In your dreams.” She squawked as she pulled herself back and spread her wings. “You’re the only one around here who could even pull off being a whore anyway.” Winking at me, she fluttered back over to her side of the booth before sticking her tongue out at me.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I said with a smile only a moment before the delicious smell of food drifted into my nose. With a loud gurgle, both Hispano’s and my stomach’s decided that it was their turn to speak up. Looking down, I was happy to find that there was some sort of large, steaming vegetable in front of me instead of the large slab of meat on a plate that Hispano was drooling over. At least, I think this bright orange bowl thing is a gourd type vegetable…

“Squash with brown sugar. It’s simple, but you’ll like it, trust me.” Hispano smiled as she reached forward and grabbed her meat in her talons. “At least, the last pony I’d spent the night with liked it a lot…” She giggled before tearing into her meat with a voracious set of grunts and pleasured moans.

Looking down at the steaming plate in front of me, I shrugged and figured that it was better than having meat again. Digging in, I was happy to find that I did in fact enjoy the taste of squash, but more so, I was happy to know that Hispano was contented. While I knew she still wasn’t going to give up going after me, she’d at least have the chance to make some more friends. And I was sure that couldn’t hurt her in the slightest.

“Hey, Night!” Hardcase called as Hispano and I circled around the docks from the cool night skies above. He and Buck quickly trotted back across the gangplank from Spitzer’s ship and over into the center of the old dock. Both Hispano and I turned ourselves and arced down, coming in for a landing. Hispano of course came down as she had before, hitting the old wood at between a trot and a gallop before slowing herself. Me however? I’d sort of forgotten that I couldn’t really do that anymore.

Hitting the dock, I tried to go into a trot, but tripped up on account of not having all the necessary legs to do that anymore. Whimpering, I tumbled and came down hard onto the old wood. With a splintering snap, the dry boards under me gave way, and I felt myself go weightless. Fear filled my mind as I dropped under the dock, heading straight for the rocky water below. My fall snapped to a halt as my submachine gun got caught on one of the broken boards. As stars filled my vision, the sound of the boards that caught me slowly giving out didn’t do much to quell the fear that I was still going to end up plunging down into the water.

“Night!” Buck gasped, leaping forward and quickly reaching down for me. Even before I had a chance to realize what had happened, Buck’s enormous paw reached down and scooped me back up to safety. “You have to be more careful.” He sighed, pulling me close against his warm chest.

“Yeah, sorry.” I whined, shaking away the rest of the stars in my eyes. “Still getting used to this whole ‘only three legs’ thing.” Reaching my forehooves around him, I hugged him tightly, thankful that once again he’d been there to save me. “Thank you, Buck.”

“Alright, now that Night isn’t in danger of getting hurt yet again,” Hardcase began in a way that I was pretty sure was a not-so-subtle nod to the fact that bad things keep happening to me for some reason. “I’d like to bring up the fact that soon enough, we’ll all be heading out to a place where he’ll have plenty of chances to do just that anyway.”

“What?” I asked, not sure if I was still confused from my horribly botched landing, or if I’d missed something altogether.

“Spitzer can’t bump up more than half our order higher than the one he’s got for the Inuvik, or the other regular orders for the other townsponies.” Buck sighed. “So he’s made us a deal. If we can go and get him a certain item, he’ll be willing to help us.” At that, he cringed and shifted uneasily on his paws. “However… said item was supposedly stored away in the old naval ammunition depot a couple miles or so to the north. And unfortunately for us, it’s also a known feral ghoul sanctuary…”

“Woo! Finally some action I can get in on!” Hispano called out and jumped into the air. As she did, she flared her wings and swung her cannon effortlessly around into her talons. With her normal exuberant energy, she grasped the heavy bolt on Suiza and racked it with a delighted squeal. “When do we leave!?”

“At dawn…” Hardcase said, now leaning away from her on his hooves. “Wait, who said you were going with us?” He asked, eyeing the overly excited griffon with a nervous smile.

“Well, you were the one who said ‘we’ would go, and ‘we’ kinda implies all of us!” Hispano giggled, swinging Suiza around in her talons. “Besides, Night already asked me to come along with you all, and you’ll need all the help you can get.” Flapping her wings softly, she came back down and landed with a grace she’d missed until now. Turning her gaze over to me, she shifted her eyes up to the unimpressed look of Buck as he deadpanned at her. “I know you might not know me yet, but admit it, you need my help anyway.”

“Fine.” Buck sighed, still holding me tensely in his arms. “But before all that, we’ve got a doctor’s appointment to get to.” Looking down to me, I could see that Buck was less than happy with Hispano’s sudden enthusiasm to join up with us. I knew it was asking a lot from him to have her around, but he had to know that we’d all be safer on this next job with her around anyway.

“Don’t worry about her, she’ll be helpful.” I said, moreso trying to convince myself of that fact more than Buck. From the way he snorted and only cocked his eyebrow, I was pretty sure he knew that as well.

“It’s not her I’m worried about, Night.” He said, pulling me closer again. “Anyway, let’s get that leg of yours checked up on before it gets too late.” Nodding, I relegated myself to sitting in his arms for now. As I did however, I noticed that Buck never truly relaxed as we began to walk. I know that the last day had been stressful for him, but I hoped that after we finished in here, I could do something to help him relax.

“I’ll try to stay out of trouble tomorrow.” I said softly, again trying to convince myself of that more than anything. Nestling into his arm and chest, I felt as Buck took a deep breath and rubbed at my back.

“I hope so, Night.” He spoke softly, “I really do hope so…”

This place made my head hurt.

“Alright, well, everything looks good so far.” The nurse who was looking me over spoke up. Using her magic, she lifted the surgical mask she wore up and off her muzzle as she removed the cold metal stethoscope end from my side. “The doctor will be in shortly to give a look over your leg.”

“Thank you.” Buck nodded from his seat in the corner of the small examination room. We both watched as the nurse turned and left, shutting the door and leaving both Buck and I in silence. Hispano had gone off to find her father again, and Hardcase went to explain tomorrow’s job to Delilah. Since they’d left though, I’d expected Buck to voice his concerns over things. But even with all the chances he’s had to speak up, he still remained silent.

Functionally, this room was the same as the one I’d woken up in on the Inuvik. However, it felt more impersonal than Buck’s office had, and I couldn’t quite place why. Flopping back onto the examination table, I squinted at the intense fluorescent lights that hung low over me. The odd buzzing they gave made my ears twinge, and the various other sounds that this ship gave off seemed a lot more intense than anything I’d heard on the Inuvik. Still, there was an odd ebbing in my head that I could just feel from this place. And it was that ebbing that was giving me a headache. Knowing that, I wanted a distraction of any kind.

“Tell me, Buck,” I spoke up, glancing over to him. “what’s got you so upset?” Looking over at me the way he did, I knew Buck still didn’t want to talk about it for some reason. “First you tell me you’re worried about dying without a legacy. Also, I can understand that you’re slightly jealous of Hispano, even though I have no intention to be with her. But, what could possibly make you not want to talk to me about what’s on your mind?”

“Because I’m scared, Night.” Buck spat out before putting his head in his paws. “We’re going out tomorrow to a place full of dangerous creatures, right after you almost lost your life on the road, which was in turn almost after you lost your life in Filly Crossing, which again was right after you were nearly killed in Klondike.” Rubbing at his tired looking eyes with his paws, he shook his head and slumped. “Hell, you almost fell through the dock outside! Is it really not that obvious why I’m afraid of you going out tomorrow?”

He was right. He’s not even the only one to have pointed it out, but… I’m not the luckiest pony around. Time and time again, things just tend to go from bad to worse around me, and normally those with me tend to get hurt as well. Worse than that, I know I’d just be lying to myself in saying that nothing bad is going to happen again tomorrow. Or the next day, or the day after that.

“At first I’d thought it was just the wasteland being just as bad as everypony had said it’d be.” I sighed, looking back up at the bright lights above. “But I know I’m jinxed. I have to be.” Just saying that made my headache get ten times worse, forcing me to close my eyes tightly.

“No, no, Night.” Buck sighed as I found his warm paw grasp at my forehoof softly. “I didn’t mean to imply anything like that. I’m sure you aren’t the cause of any of this...”

“Yeah, sure.” Pulling my forehoof from his grasp, I reached up and pressed it against my aching head. “I’m sure you’re right, and it’s just a string of bad luck just happening to line up to repeatedly nearly get me and those around me killed.”

Before he could retort, the door to the room opened up, and I looked up to find a red unicorn stallion wearing a labcoat trot in.

“Alrighty there, good evening…” The doctor paused as he looked over at Buck, focusing on the medical yoke I gave him that hung around his neck. “Oh, yes, well you must be his normal physician then.” With a nervous smile, the doctor reached out his hoof to Buck. “My name’s Dr. Myotomy, and I see that you’re in today for a check up on a limb?”

“Yes,” Buck nodded, taking the doctor’s hoof between his paws and shaking it firmly. “I performed the procedure earlier today on…” Buck was cut off by a loud slam from the ceiling above. All three of us looked up there before a low electrical hum came through the metal above that felt like a dagger being shoved into my head. I’d be fine to never have a headache after this for the rest of my life. Is that so much to ask? I wouldn’t know over how much this now pounding headache sucks.

“Sorry for the noise. We’ve been hard at work trying to repair some of the medical machinery damaged in the attacks last month. If you hear more noises like that, it’s nothing to worry about.” Dr. Myotomy spoke up with a smile and a dismissive wave of his hoof. Looking up, he gave a small pause as he stared at the ceiling. “Though, I do hope the Magical Resonance Imager works this time around. We’ve been trying to get it warmed up tonight because we have more than a few patients here who need it.”

“Excuse me, did you say it’s an MRI machine above us?” Buck spoke up sharply. Looking over to him, he was now standing up at full alert, and wore a worrying look on his face. Getting a nod from the Doctor, Buck nearly turned white. “Call up there now and keep them from turning it on. Night has an implant in his head that could react very poorly to having a magical field of that intensity turned on in this proximity.”

Almost as he said that, the aching in my head intensified once again. That pit in my stomach that always showed itself when something bad was about to happen? Yeah, it punched me in the gut so hard that I felt nauseous. Or, maybe that was the fact that my head felt like it was trying to explode at the moment...

“Well, t-that wasn’t mentioned on his charts…” Dr. Myotomy stuttered before taking a step back. “I’ll be right back once I’ve told them to keep it off for now. Stay here.”

With a shuttering hum, the buzzing from the lights picked up in my head, and another bang emit from upstairs. Looking over at Buck, I saw his eyes go wide only a moment before the world around me warped and ran like it was made of wax. Everything melted away as the noise in my head picked up into what felt like intense and painful radio static. Fear joined the pain I felt for only a moment, before everything died as if somepony flicked a switch.

Everything went away into a dark silence, and with it, went me as well.

Author's Notes:

Again, many thanks to TheFurryRailfan for giving this an early read. It's so incredibly helpful to have a second set of eyes go over things. I'm incredibly grateful to have such good friends in the community like him, and you should all go and give his stories a read!