The flight back to the convoy was quick, but I didn’t like all the attention it garnered from everypony below us in the railyard. Though, I guess it’s not every day you see a griffon towing a balloon behind him that also happens to be his daughter. Hispano however was coming down pretty hard, as the effects of the drug started to wear off. By the time we landed in the Rec area, Hispano was losing buoyancy fast, and had flopped onto Cora’s back with a light bounce.

But, we’d made it back. We proceeded to my container and opened it up for what to me felt like the first time in years. I half expected to see Buck inside, but he was still out and about somewhere. It was for the best, really. While Hispano seeing me had gone fairly smoothly, that was probably only because of the drugs. Who knows what she’ll be like when she wakes up. To be honest, I had no idea what to say to her, let alone Buck when I see him again.

Still, as Cora got to work with his medical bag, I looked over and found that he’d set Galina’s bloodstained gear on Hispano’s bed next to where Suiza was resting. Probably from when he’d first brought me up here, but Delilah’s insistence of me getting my own equipment ran through my mind again. Maybe I could find a trader around here willing to give me a good deal on it toward something useable. I still know next to nothing about guns though, and as Hardcase was the only real expert I knew, I was going to have to ask him. Though, Delilah had mentioned that he was missing...

“Alright.” Cora sighed as he shoved Suiza aside and tucked Hispano into her bed under my rainbow rug. He gave a flicking tap to the IV bag that ran down from the stand attached to his desk before turning to me. “The detox will take her about a day or so, and she’ll most likely be in and out for the duration of it. But as a warning, the treatment doesn’t mean she’s in the clear.” Jamming his sharp talon against my chest, he almost knocked me straight back onto my flank. “It’s going to be your job to make sure she stays away from that filth again, got it? You do this shit to her again or slip up on watching her? I don’t care if she loves you, I’ll shoot you myself.”

Gee, didn’t that threat sound familiar…

“Yes, Sir.” I nodded before hanging my head a bit. He wasn’t wrong in the slightest. Hispano was fucked up because I did this to her, so I needed to grow up and take responsibility for my actions.

“But…” He sighed and, for once, softened his stone cold gaze at me. “Thank you, Night. I know that I’ve been hard on you, but she’s your responsibility now too. Although I doubted it, this whole fiasco has pretty much made it something I can’t write off anymore. She really does seem to love you, and while this was a good first step that you somehow didn’t manage to screw up, you’re going to need to be more careful when it comes to the decisions you make in the future.”

“Yeah, I think that’s something I finally understand after the last few days.” I sighed and nodded to him. “But I love your daughter, and I won’t let anything like this happen again. She deserves better.”

“Good to hear that you understand.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder before turning and leaving the room. “Now, let’s let Hispano get her rest, and go find Happy Trails.”

Looking back down to Hispano, I sighed. Again I took note of the way she looked now. The dark rings under her eyes, the matted fur and ruffled plumage on her, along with the fact that she looked like she hadn’t eaten since I last saw her. I let the sight of her sink in, trying to force myself to remember this moment so that if I ever wanted to pull something as moronic as going after Galina again, I’d think twice.

Turning, I trotted back to the Rec area railing where Cora was waiting.

“Alright, where…” I began to say, but let out a sharp hiss as my eye socket flared up again. Shoving my forehoof against it, again, the pressure helped slightly, but I couldn’t do much other than stand there and wait for the pain to pass.

Seriously? I just had that chill pill not long ago. I mean, I know I got it for free, but if it hadn’t worked wonders for the rest of my body, I’d probably feel a bit less annoyed at the quick return of the pain.

“If I were anything more than just a medic, I’d take a look at you myself.” Cora offered about as much comfort as he normally did as he spoke. However, I could hear as he climbed down from his perch and approached me. With a sharp prick, he jabbed a small syringe into my shoulder that helped to wash away the pain. “I’m not convinced there isn’t some serious nervous system damage for you to be experiencing this much pain. You’re really going to need to have the Doc take a look at you tonight.”

“I’ll make a note to ask him between apologizing for what I did and finally getting some goddess damned rest.” I hung my head and gave a forced wobble of my body. My wings slipped down from my sides as I stretched myself out a little bit, waiting for the meds to fully kick in. “So as I was saying, where do we look first for Happy?”

“You know,” Cora grumbled as he got himself perched back up on the railing, “I’d suggest the bars, but at this point in the afternoon, he’s probably already had his fill and moved on.”

“Then where?” I cocked an eyebrow to him, which only made him steel his gaze across the railyard. While the painkillers that coursed through my veins could take away all sorts of feeling in my body, the one thing it could never touch, was the pit that sat in my stomach.

Of course this wasn’t going to be as easy as Hispano was.

A short flight over the settlement wall, Cora and I made our way out to a fairly large structure that sat perched atop the old docks that stretched from the shoreline. It was obvious from it’s fairly large size that it had once been a boathouse of sorts, but at some point over the years, it had become a literal boathouse. Old ships and watercraft of all shapes and sizes had been used to repair the nearly four story structure, with one of the fairly longer wood hulled ships turned upside down to act as a makeshift curved roof.

A fairly hefty bell rang out from a tower of wooden poles that I had to assume was built out of the masts of some of the old ships. The tattered sails that adorned various posts along the docs whipped in the cold breeze that swept across the lake, shielding a long line of ponies that had gathered along the whole length of it. Painted on most, if not all of the sails I could currently see, was some sort of matching marking, a barbed ring with a red teardrop in the middle.

As Cora and I flew over the packed docks, I was surprised to see all sorts of different races neatly lined up to be lead through a pair of enormous wooden doors in the front of the old building. From foals who were being carried by their mothers, to the sick and elderly. Zebra, Cows, Minotaurs, Griffons, Hellhounds. You name it, they all stood there waiting patiently to be let inside the building on the docks.

“What is this place?” I asked Cora as he scanned the fairly large crowd as well.

“The less you know, the better.” Cora mumbled under his breath. He gave a nod for me to follow before rolling and cutting out over the lake a bit. “I don’t see him on the docks, and I doubt he’d be late. Come on, we don’t need to get in. We just need to see if he’s inside.”

Following his lead, I pumped my wings to keep up my speed. The painkiller he’d given me was holding up, but I knew my wings weren’t working as well as they should. My sluggish and shorter beats meant I had to try twice as hard. As he rolled himself again, he arced his flight back toward the side of the building. From over the water, I could see that the hull of the ‘roof’ boat overhung a set of pallets that had been used like slatted windows. They had a thin steel beam that they sat on top of that could offer us a ledge to stand on, but it wasn’t going to be a very comfortable perch. Well, at least not without Talons like Cora had...

As we approached and Cora flared his wings out to slow down, I straightened my wings and flared to drain speed as well. I really wish he’d informed me when he planned on slowing down, because although the air was thicker down here at this altitude, it wasn’t good enough to slow me quite fast enough. Instead of slamming into the pallets, I gave a few more hard beats of my wings and picked up another bit of altitude.

“Night, what…” Cora grumbled as I pulled away from him. He was cut off as I shot up over the edge of the roof with only a few hoofs lengths to spare.

“Gotta go around!” I called back, stiffening my legs again as I climbed high enough to slip over the top of the roof. With the roof cleared, I flared my wings and leaned myself forward again. My tail snapped into line, helping to balance as I gently pointed myself around the backside of the large building.

As I came around, a large platform attached to the rear of the building caught my eye. It looked like the ponies here had simply scavenged an old vertibuck landing pad, but it was absolutely covered in deep scratches and gouge marks, some of which were the size of a pony! A set of large wooden double doors sat built into the wall much like at the front of the building, but was nearly twice the size and also adorned with many gouges of it’s own. I thought I saw the door move for a moment, but as I curved back around the building, it left my sight, and I filed the questions I had about it into the back of my mind.

Flaring my wings much earlier this time, I slowed down just enough to where I only needed a few extra flaps to reach the ledge Cora was hanging on to. Setting my rear hoof down on the beam, I found that the metal stip of my prostetic could wedge itself into the bottom slat of the pallet ‘window’. Curling my forehooves around some of the higher slats, I was relieved as the old wood didn’t seem to have too much give to it.

“You enjoy your extra flyaround out there, princess?” Cora lowered his voice to a whisper as he reached over and nudged me. “Now that you’ve arrived fashionably late, I need your help looking around inside. The lighting isn’t the best, so it’s going to take the two of us to spot him.”

“Alright.” I nodded and turned my attention toward the darker interior of the boathouse.

He was right, the lighting inside was fairly terrible. There were a few flickering candles on some of the walls, but at best they simply illuminated more of the same painted sails I’d seen along the docks. The thorny ring and red teardrop symbol seemed just a bit more ominous in the darkness than before, even with the missing boards and knot holes in the wood here, it might as well have been night time inside.

Squinting, I could make out rows and rows of standing ponies. They were all packed in so closely that it was hard to even tell where one person began and another ended. This was going to be fucking impossible to spot Happy Trails in…

The sharp feedback of a microphone rang out like the bell above had, making both Cora and I wince. The hushed murmurs that had been resonating inside the dark building dulled down to almost nothing in an instant. The attention of everypony inside turned and gazed toward the back of the building, prompting me to look towards where the other, bigger double door was.

A dark canvas stretched across the entire rear interior of the building, billowing for a moment as I looked at it. A soft glow bloomed and brightened from behind it, green and flickering like the flames of a fire. With it, came a rumbling cheer from the ponies inside, who almost unanimously again fell silent when the flames faded and died.

“And here we go.” Cora mumbled before hanging his head slightly. “Just… find if Happy’s here or not, ignore everything Tephra says. We’ve got a job to do, remember that.”

“Tephra? I don’t even…” I began to say.

“Chosen!” A booming, deep voice filled the air, ringing out from various speakers hidden in the darkness of the building. “All of you who have traveled here today, be it ponies, zebra, cattle, sheep, and even hellhounds. All of you have come to this blessed house of worship to ask only one question. Are you, the chosen few, worthy of being saved?” The question had been posed like it needed an answer, yet, not a single one of the enormous crowd below spoke up. Instead, a stark and uncomfortable silence hung in the air. That is, until the green glow I saw before appeared once more.

“That answer is…” The voice boomed again as the glow grew brighter. The billowing curtains drew back, splitting along the middle as bright green light flooded through the entire building. A plume of ebbing green balefire stretched over the heads of everypony gathered, spout from the maw of a ruby red dragon. It was large enough that it needed to stay hunched under the roof to even fit inside, and thoughts of just how small I actually was in the wasteland became all too prevalent in my mind. “Yes! You. Are. Worthy!”

Cheers from the crowd filled the air again as the flickering green spout of fire split eight different ways. The flames arched across the open air before diving down into copper pots that sat around the great masts of the old ship that acted as the roof, and apparently, acted as structural supports as well. But the brilliant display only held my attention for a moment, before my mind caught up to what I was looking at before, and directed my eye to the giant fucking elephant in the room.

Well, if elephants were nearly four stories tall and could breath fucking balefire.

I’d never seen a dragon before, only having seen them depicted in the murals that were painted in the halls of the Neighvarro capitol building. Even then, my mother had informed me that those were propaganda pieces painted during the war, and that while the Pegasi ships had indeed shot them down, they were… scaled back slightly to make the images more heroic and inspiring. Though seeing a dragon in front of me now? I’m not sure that slightly scaled back was an applicable descriptor to any sense of scale when it came to dragons.

The dragon’s torso was a long as the hauler was, and at least half as wide, while also being covered in huge overlapping scale plates. Each of its four legs were the size of bessy alone, and a single claw on its digits were as big as Buck. Past that, it’s tail and neck were elongated, stretching out almost as long as it’s forearms reached, and while it’s three pronged tail looked like it held yellow finned webbing on it, it’s head was much less… tame.

Burning yellow slit eyes the size of a pony swept across the crowd, peering out from behind broad armored plating like scales. Those thick plates must have been as thick as a tank's armor, and if the stories of them were to believed, twice as tough. A set of four curling horns sprouted from where a pony's ears would be, each of their bleached bone tips capped in shining silver ornamental bulbs. The hundreds of sword sized teeth that glistened in the balefire glow of its maw sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“Today, is a glorious day, is it not? As is everyday, for that matter.” The dragon spoke into a microphone that he held daintily between two of his massive claws. How he didn’t accidentally crush the small device, I have no idea. “But as those of you who may be new to our gatherings, each and every day is a gift, bestowed upon us by the goddesses. A gift that mustn't be squandered. A gift that must be protected at all costs from those who give in to those who personify the virtues of the wretched six evil ministries.”

Virtues of the ‘evil’ ministries? Don’t get me wrong, I may not know everything about the wasteland, but I did know a bit about the world before from school and my parents. And as I’d always heard it, the ministries, while they pushed the world to it’s end, weren’t completely terrible. Though, I’m not really sure how much of what I knew was true with how the Enclave lied about, well, everything...

“And that is the very thing I am here to help you understand today, as I do every beautifully gifted week that the goddesses bless us all with.” Raising his other massive claw, the dragon held pinched between two claws an old looking leather bound book. He held it out to the crowd, making sure that the could all get a good look at it. “For as it is written in the second chapter of the Book of Thorns, those who reject the light and wisdom of the goddesses as our saviors, shall be condemned to suffer their sins in the depths of Tartarus.” The dragon pulled the book back, squeezing it into his enormous hand and pulling it close to his glowing chest. “And as it is also written in the twenty first chapter, let not those among you suffer in rejecting the light of the goddesses, seeking only to allow darkness to consume them. For in that action, they are attempting to take away the power and safety of the light that you, the chosen, have inherited as a gift from the goddesses. And that, is the greatest sin of all.”

To be completely honest? I didn’t understand what the point of any of this even was. The goddesses made sense, sure, as I don’t think there’s a pony alive who doesn’t know of Celestia and Luna. But light and darkness, the ministries being evil somehow, and this whole strange cult here based around some random book? Yeah, the wasteland was weird, but this was getting up there in the top weirdest things I’d seen so far. But all of it made me wonder just what the hell we were doing here then. Yeah, Happy followed religiously after ‘the King’ or whatnot, but this didn’t really seem like something he’d be involved in…

“Vigilance is paramount to spreading the holy light of the goddesses, and you must strike down those in your life who reject its gifts.” The dragon’s voice snapped out in anger as he lifted his clenched and trembling claws into the air. Wait, what!? “Those who refuse to see the light must be destroyed, lest they poison those chosen who have yet to find their own true path to the goddesses. Let not those among you suffer in choosing the darkness, for the eternal promise of Elysium is not theirs to share with you, the chosen.”

Okay, good. For a second there, I wasn’t sure that a three story dragon had just instructed an untold number of ponies to kill anyone not willing to believe in all this mumbo jumbo bullcrap. Yeah, now I’m extra confused on just what the hell we were doing here. However, one thing was for certain, that friendly pit in my stomach was starting to sink a whole lot faster than a vertibuck with one working engine.

“I do not have to remind many of you of the dangers of letting your guard down. When I arrived as a humble missionary of the Blackwater fleet a decade ago, you all were still recovering from the terrible tragedy that was the Great Unveiling.” The dragon sat back a bit, hanging his long neck and head as he lowered his tone to a much softer one. “Weary from your long and righteous battle, you were unsure if I, Tephra, was yet another deceitful changeling looking to drag you down into the darkness once more. But you all took a leap of faith and accepted me into your lives. Your generosity and trust helped to build this house of worship into what it is today. This faith is built upon the strength of those chosen by the goddesses themselves, and in my travels, I have yet to see a stronger flock than right here before my eyes.”

So… there was a fight against changelings here? Was that why Hardcase was so afraid of letting Salt come here in the first place?

“For that reason, I have worked hard everyday to repay that kindness, working with each and every one of you to show you the gloriousness of the light that the goddess bestowed to us all. But while you have all given so much over the years, every week since I have arrived, I’m afraid I must ask only a little bit more of you. To give what you can in order to spread the light of the goddesses, and in doing so, secure your place next to the goddesses in Elysium.”

“Are you even looking for Happy?” Cora whispered into my ear, sharply reminding me that I was still hanging onto the side of a building four stories above the icy waters of Mare’s Lake.

“Sorry, I was a little distracted by the fact that there’s a fucking dragon in there.” I snapped back. Though really, I had been sucked into the speech he was giving. Even if it was the most insane set of thoughts ever rambled to a crowd.

“Oh, well don’t let me spoil the novelty for you.” Again, Cora deadpanned and went back to looking through the slats. “Not like we have a fucking job to do or anything…” Okay, so it’s okay when we forget about Happy to go find Hispano, but I don’t look around for three minutes, and now I’m the one holding up the job...

“However!” The dragon’s voice boomed again, letting another gout of balefire spew from his maw. “Those of you who are studious enough to track the days, know that it is once again time for me to bring one of you into the sanctum of thorns. Only one of you will be saved and brought back with me to my island sanctuary. There, you will live out your life in peace, surrounded only by those as devout as you, dedicated to furthering your knowledge and faith in the light of the goddesses. Only one who has worked tirelessly to spread the faith, and upheld the tenets of the goddesses, can truly be deemed worthy of this honor. Who among you can say that you deserve it? Shout your case, tell me why you are worthy of this gift!”

The room below erupted into chaos, as the entire crowd began shouting and crying out to the dragon. This… was insane! There was no way to be objective or fair in doing this, not that following any of these rules was in any way alright in the slightest. It was just madness, pure and simple. Still, the Dragon closed his enormous yellow eyes, raised his hand, and with a wide swinging arc, plucked out one of the crowd straight off the floor.

“You.” His voice boomed as he held the squirming earth pony stallion between his enormous claws. “Repeat to the crowd what you have just shouted with all of your heart.” The dark tan earth pony stiffened up as he was put on the spot. The room fell back into it’s eerie silence as all eyes turned to the stallion. He gave a nervous shudder before the dragon gave a light laugh. “Your hesitation is understandable, however, I heard what you confessed. The others deserve to hear of your dedication to the light. Shout it as to tell the goddesses themselves of your great feat!”

“I killed my sister!” He stiffly splayed himself out in the dragon’s grasp as he put all of his force into shouting. “She rejected the light of the goddesses, and even though I tried again and again to show her the gifts we’ve all been given, I couldn’t let her suffer in darkness another day!”

“Madness.” Cora gave a soft sigh and shook his head. “There are what, thousands here today… and all to worship a book? I’m all for believing in something, but the price these fools pay for being ‘saved’ is far too high a cost in my book. Hell, in any book, let alone one some dragon touts around as written law.”

To be honest, I had to agree. I couldn’t think of a single reason I’d have ever murdered my parents, no matter what the reward for it would have been. Ponies who could do that were just as monstrous as Solomon was. And I’m not sorry to think that just maybe, that pony in the dragon’s claws deserved to be torn to shreds for what he’d done, not lavished on a peaceful island for the rest of their life.

“But hey, what do I know?” He shook his head again as a small but prominent smirk crawled its way across his beak. “I heard on the radio that they’re going to be making a book about ‘the lightbringer’s journey’ out on the east coast. Who knows, maybe that’ll get a devout following and turn out to be some sort of fanatical cult as well...”

Casting my gaze back, I froze up as I noticed that the large glowing yellow eyes of the dragon were gazing right up through the slats at us. It was purely reflexively that I took a step back, but again, that didn’t work out so well being three stories up. As I fell, I flared my wings to catch myself, but was jerked to a painful stop as Cora snapped his talons out and grabbed around my forehoof.

“Alright.” He grumbled, straining to hold on to both me and the wood. “Well, I’m going to go further out on a limb than you already are and say that Happy isn’t here.” Pushing himself away from the pallets, he pulled me outward with him so the air would catch under our wings. “So, that leaves just one place left to look.”

He let go of me as I gave a few hard flaps, taking flight on my own. As he did, I looked over to see most of the crowd on the docks bowing in reverence to the wide open door of the boathouse. However, the long line had thinned toward the end of the docks, and most of those gathered were starting to disperse and head back to the settlement.

“As but a humble messenger of the Prophet of Thorns, I deem this pony worthy of receiving my gift! Let it be known, that from this evening on, he shall live out his days at the sanctum, in the service of the goddesses. There, he will work tirelessly alongside the others I have taken to help, working to ensure that you, the chosen, shall be all be one day saved by the coming of the light as foretold in the Book of Thorns. In those last glorious days, when the goddesses bless us with their presence once more, together, we shall all bask in the glory of the light, and share in the salvation we so rightly deserve.” The dragon roared out, pushing a balefireball all the way out through the open door where it momentarily dimmed the afternoon light outside. “Thank you all for joining me once again for our weekly gathering. Please, join me again next week as I help to you guide your understanding of the perils that sprouted forth from the six ministries of evil. But until then, May the goddesses forgive, and may the word of the prophet of thorns guide you into the light.”

“At least tell me you don’t buy any of that crap.” Cora sighed as we soared back towards the flat grey walls that surrounded the settlement.

Of course, being a sane individual, I only had one response.

“Not a fucking word.” But now it was time for me to ask him what had been on my mind. “So… why the hell did you think Happy would be there?”

Cora’s response was a simple, “You’ll understand when we get to where we’re going.” And while I didn’t really get what he meant by that, the pit in my stomach growing deeper told me all I needed to know.

As the both of us touched down again, I found that I’d been lead to the oddly out of place old sailing ship that sat along the wall of the settlement. It was about as large a ship as the one that had been used as the roof to the boathouse, but upright with a bunch of sheet metal buildings built onto the top deck. The entrance was a set of metal doors that seemed scavenged off another building and forcibly shoved into a hastily cut hole in the side of the ship. The single word ‘Elysium’ was painted ornately onto a board that looked like it could have actually been the missing stair from the drug house, but was crudely nailed up above the makeshift doorway.

Looking up at the railings that ran along the top ‘deck’ area, a line of scantily clad ponies smiled and waved down to Cora and I. One of them even blew me a kiss, which made me smile. Huh, that kind of reminds me of that ferry restaurant back in Destruction Bay. Wait a minute…

“This is a brothel?” I spat out as I shook my wings a bit before tucking them against my sides. “Fucking of course it is. Why didn’t we just check here earlier?”

“Because,” Cora gave something between an exasperated sigh and a grunt as he too folded up his wings. “If you attend the gathering, you get half off on all services for the rest of the day if you can recite some of what was talked about.” Looking over to me, he gave me a tired nod toward the door. “Come on, let’s get in there. The less time I’m around these cultist nutjobs, the better.”

“Wait, I don’t understand…” I shook my head, making Cora pause himself. “So… this place is run by that dragon? Why? I thought he ran off donations like he asked for.”

“You know, even if you are a dragon, it’s probably a bit more expensive than you’d think to keep an island filled with ponies fed and happy.” Rolling his eyes, he held his talon out toward the door. “Got any more questions, princess? Or can we finally get back to work?”

Fine, back to work. Grumbling to myself, I trotted past him and opened the door. I mean, he did answer my question at least, but still. What’s the fucking rush? We’ve got another day or so, and obviously Happy isn’t going anywhere. Well, anywhere he doesn’t normally go in settlements...

Stepping inside, I found that we’d entered some sort of buffer zone to the interior. Thumping bass heavy music resonated through the steel floor in the small hallway Cora and I crammed into. The hall was designed to funnel people down to fit through one single metal door, which was not only odd, but made me feel a bit claustrophobic.

Pushing the next door open, I was assaulted with flashing lights and music that sounded like it was being broadcast straight from DJ PowerColt’s station. Even with the dozens of flashing party lights, the room here was dark enough that I could barely see the faces of the dozens of ponies that were in sight of me. A bar backlit by neon light sat directly before us, and a pair of lounge areas hugged matching pairs of flashing dancefloor looking platforms.

“Hey there, cuties!” An overly cheery stallion popped up out of nowhere in front of me and forced me to squeak in surprise. “Oh my, I didn’t mean to startle you! Though, maybe I can get you lined up for something to keep your heart rate going? One of our A-grade stallions perhaps?” The stallion leaned in, turning and winking so I could see the bright yellow star tattooed around the entirety of his eyelid. “Or maybe a mare would be more your liking?”

“We’re looking for a friend.” Cora nearly had to yell out to get over the sound of the beating music. “He’s a mule. A bit obnoxious, wears a red and white shirt.”

“I don’t recall seeing him, but I just got on shift for the rush.” The stallion smiled and pointed his hoof over to the bar. “Why don’t you have a seat? If he’s here, he probably just started a session and will be a while.”

“Alright, thank you.” Cora nodded and prodded me in the flank. “Come on, let’s go have a seat.”

Nodding, I trotted over toward one of the lounge areas near the bar. Quite handily, other than a pair of ponies who looked like they couldn’t manage to wait for a room to open up, the section of seats toward the back was mostly devoid of patrons. Cora shuddered as we passed the writhing and moaning pair and reached out again, stopping me just short of climbing into one of the open booths.

“On second thought, we’d be better off splitting the workload.” Cora turned and locked his sights on the door. Giving me a firm pat on the side, he waved with his talon to me and turned around. “I’m going to check some of the other places he might be. You stay here to see if he turns up.”

Before I could speak up, he’d walked away, and a new louder song began blasting over the speakers to this place. The mare in the booth next to me broke off her session with a gleeful giggle before climbing her way out of their seat. The stallion, still at full mast, scrambled to follow her toward the dancefloor she was hastily making her way up onto. Giving out a heavy sigh, I turned away and slumped into the booth seat before they resumed their romp.

Damnit, I missed Buck. I really wanted to go find him, to explain that I’m alive and that I’ll never do anything like that ever again. But… I couldn’t just run off now. As much as I’d wanted to, I had those responsibilities mom always told me came with growing up. Slamming my head down onto the table, I grumbled as I realized that the painkiller Cora gave me was starting to wear off a bit. Ow…

You can’t hide from looking around forever, Night. Best just accept and deal with it. Sitting up, I turned to find a tired looking unicorn stallion levitating a bottle beside him as he walked over toward me. He set it down on my table, draping a wet looking rag over his shoulder before pointing back to the bar behind him.

“You’ve got an admirer at the bar.” Was all he called out over the music. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and forced a smile to the stallion. He turned around with a nod and headed back toward the bar again. As he did, I noticed an odd dark mark under the back of his mane. If I didn’t know better, it was that same symbol that was all over those flags along the docks.

“Well that’s weird…” The words tumbled from my muzzle like they always did. Not that it really mattered though.

“That’s the mark of the chosen.” A mare whispered into my ear just loudly enough to make my mane stand on end. I froze up as the mare wrapped her hooves around my shoulders and walked herself to where I could see her. The lavender colored earth pony mare was nothing to write home about, but the sparkling sapphire dress she wore was something I’d kill to have the figure to fit into. It fit her like she was born to wear it, and the way she moved in it made it shimmer with a blue hue that matched her bright eyes. “It's an easy way to tell the truly devout from those who have yet to accept the light of the goddesses.” She leaned in, putting her muzzle inches from mine with a soft hum and smile. “Well howdy there, sugar. Nice of you to finally notice me.”

“Heh, could you maybe…” I squeaked out as my wings furled against me restlessly. Okay, she was just a bit too friendly. Putting my hoof against her, I pushed her back by a few inches. “Possibly step back a bit? I-I’m not here for anything. Just waiting for a friend.”

"Oh, come now, don't you want to get to know each other even a little?” She stepped back, but without hesitating, slipped into the other side of my empty booth. “I mean, I already know a bit about you, stud."

“Y-you know… I’m a stallion?” Oh goddesses, red flags were being thrown up all over my mind, and the pit in my stomach was threatening to turn me inside out.

“Sure do, sugar.” She gave me a wink and licked her lips. "Solomon’s emissary sent word that somepony matching your description might come around once or twice, but that doesn't mean I can't make you cum as many times as you want..."

The waving flags in my mind disappeared in a poof of smoke, and my stomach twisted itself around the other way. Solomon, of course. I’m guessing she was my contact here. Giving an annoyed sigh, I slumped back in my seat again.

“Just give me the damn instructions.” I grumbled as I crossed my hooves. “How’d you even know I’d come in here?” The mare across the table from me made a pouty face, but I couldn’t care less about how she felt.

“No need to be so quick about it, sugar. And as for how I know, every stallion eventually makes their way in here.” She shrugged and leaned back into her seat with a smirk that rivaled the slyness of Solomon or Rook’s. “The other guy on your convoy was already too quick to spill his load for me yesterday. Don't tell me everypony on your convoy has a problem with getting their business finished before we've both had our fun..."

“Wait, Happy gave you information?” I... couldn't believe it. Was he really working with Solomon as well? Why the fuck would he ever work with an asshole like Solomon!?

“Of course. Why? I was told that this happens at every stop. But just between you and me, he’s like most guys who stumble in here. Give ‘em a few extra drinks on the house, and they’re as leaky as a faucet. He told me all the little plans your convoy has, which of course, I relayed back to Solomon, so I expect my pay from him tomorrow." She laughed, tracing her hoof around the table’s edge a bit. "Plus, the drinks made him as horny as any hellhound you'll ever meet, though his stamina could use a lot of work..." Why did she have to put horny hellhounds in my head? Fuck, I need to go find Buck and apologize to him... "But let's forget all that for the moment, and have some fun for now..."

"Just tell me what Solomon wants me to do." I sighed as uncomfortable thoughts of Buck walking in to see this scene filled my mind. I don’t know why, but I can’t keep him out of my head, and I was starting to be afraid that until I made things right, he’d just cloud any other thoughts I had. I can’t focus like this... "Please, I'm not here for 'fun'. I just want to know what the message is so I can go." Fuck it. Delilah’s going to be pissed with Happy if he comes home now or later anyway. I needed to go find Buck before I went crazy.

"Guess you all really are the same. You and Solomon just see me as a glorified messenger then, got it." She rolled her eyes and scooted herself out of the booth. All her poise and allure disappeared as she gave out a sigh and hoofed out a cigarette from under the neck of her dress. If that whole ‘in your face friendliness’ was just an act, she was a pretty damn good actress then. “All that unicorn lackey of his told me was to remind you to 'deliver what you agreed to' when you get to Cantercross. And that if you needed more time, that you needed to tell that to me before you leave Roundhouse. That's it." She deadpanned and cocked her eyebrow in annoyance. "See? Nopony has fun when you just get it all out there in ten seconds flat. At the very least you could let a girl enjoy some foreplay..."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." I deadpanned back. She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at me before wandering across the room into the waiting hooves of a very fuzzy brown yak in another booth. If Rook had given her the message in the first place, why the fuck didn’t he just tell me? I mean… no, of course. It was a test to make sure I could follow instructions. At least I know now to stop in every whorehouse from here on out to keep up appearances...

Sighing, at least I was free now. Putting my hoof on the table, I started to scoot myself out of the booth. However, I gasped as the pain in my socket came back with a vengeance. Wincing, I pressed my hoof against it, and let out a pained whine until it passed like it normally did. Fuck I was getting quite tired of that. Pulling my hoof away from my eye, I moved it over to get a grip on the table again, but ended up not seeing where I was putting it and knocking my drink over.

“Hey, if you didn’t want it, you could have just sent it back.” Another voice perked my ears as it approached, but it made my mane stand on end. Looking up, I found the black and white speckled face of Salt standing only a forelegs distance away. “Hey there, Night.”

“Salt.” I grumbled. Of course! Nothing could fucking go my way today, could it? No, Night, nothing will ever go your way because you’re fucking cursed, remember!? “I thought you told me to stay away. What do you want.”

“Well, considering you're looking for your friend and I know where he is, I thought I might help you out.” He stared at me flatly as he ruffled his own wings a bit on his back. “In return, I was hoping you’d be open to finally sitting down and having a civil discussion about things.”

“Look, if you know where to find my friend, great! I'd love all the help I could get.” Glaring up at him, I huffed and sat back in my seat. “But all I’ve done since Fort Mac is try to talk with you in a civil manner, but you’ve always been the one to attack and then run away. Not the other way around.” My emphasis on those words forced a rippling nervous smile to crawl across his muzzle.

“Granted, I’ll admit that I acted…” He winced and pulled back half a step, “harshly, but I’m betting that by now, you’ve heard what happened here a decade ago. You know what happened to my home.”

“I don't know much, but I know it had to do with changelings,” At least, that’s what I’d assumed the dragon was talking about here. “and it was bad enough that one of our crew was worried that you'd be killed in coming back here.” I groaned and facehooved. Fucking damnit, I also still had to go find Hardcase. Delilah said he was missing, and after losing Violet, I didn’t want to think where he could even end up being. “To be honest, I didn’t fucking care anymore what happened to you, but he was adamant that we found a way to save you. Guess it was all for nothing, because it seems that you're doing alright for yourself after all.”

“I know that you’re angry, and that you want answers,” Salt stepped forward, reaching out toward me with his forehoof while he wore a sincere look across his muzzle. “But there is real danger here, and I need your help…”

Oh, I see how this is. Of course he wouldn’t tell me where Happy was without me doing something for him. He’s going to ask me to do something that sounds completely innocent, but ends up in me having to shoot some ponies who don’t deserve to die at all. Because hey! Nopony can be honest when asking me to help them with something.

“Hah!” I spouted out, reaching out with my wing and slapping his forehoof away. “Of course you need my help now. Well I’m a bit busy with my own shitty problems at the moment.” Please, Salt was a changeling. He was just trying to manipulate me into doing something terrible for him before disappearing again.

“While I can’t ask you to trust me after what I’ve done, your friend is now the one in need of saving.” He snapped at me, sharply jabbing his own wing at me, “I know he was suffering from a great loss, the same as I can still feel resonating off of you. But he left with the intention never to return, and your feelings be damned, I will not leave one of my kind to die in the way he will if we don’t act soon.”

Wait, one of his kind?

“You weren’t talking about Happy when you said you knew where my friend was…” I gasped as the realization hit me hard. “You were talking about Hardcase…”

“If that’s who you know him as, then yes.” Salt nodded before quickly stepping up to me again. With a swiftness that caught me off guard, he pulled my forehooves off the floor and held them between his own. “I promise, I’ll answer every question you have about what happened at Four Peaks. Just please, if we don’t hurry, we could lose our chance to save your friend.”

“Where is he?” If I could just get his location, I could tell Delilah, and she could take care of it.

“A-at the old hive,” Lowering his voice, Salt leaned closer and spoke in a hesitant tone of his own. “on Veil island on the lake.” My mane stood on end as I was fairly certain that’s where the dragon said he was taking that other stallion tonight. The concern across my face must have been plain as day, because Salt nodded to me softly. “Yeah, that island. However, I have a plan, but I need to know I can count on you.”

What do I do? I was so ready to abandon waiting for Happy to go looking for Buck, but now? Hesitation locked up every nerve and joint in my body as my mind flashed with thoughts of Delilah shouting at me about leaving the job Cora gave me. My mind wandered to the thoughts of Buck, sitting alone and distraught somewhere that I could have comforted him at.

But then the thought came of waking up in Buck’s relieved arms, having reconciled with him happily. Only to hear Delilah get the news that they found Hardcase’s body. Or sitting there as Delilah gave Happy the beating of a lifetime for leaking things to Solomon, only to have the same resulting message given to her.

Every fiber of my being knew that as much as I wanted to go and profess my deepest regrets to Buck. As much as I was expected to stay here and wait for Happy to show himself. And as much as I feared putting my trust into Salt, I knew that there was only one outcome to this that mattered at all.

“Alright.” I nodded to Salt, pulling a relieved smile from him as he looked like a million pound weight was lifted from his shoulders. Getting up from my seat, I quickly found Salt’s wing wrapped around me. “What do we need to do to save him?” Stepping up beside him, I shivered from the warmth he gave off against my own bare coat.

"I'll explain once we leave, but you need to transform yourself in your own way, first." I was about to ask just what he meant by that, but he pulled me along behind him towards a room that sat sort of behind the bar. I hadn’t seen it in the darkness before, but it smelled of fire and charred skin, and had that thorny symbol deeply branded into the wood of the door. "You're about to become this month’s most devout worshiper of the goddesses, at least, devout enough that those on the island think you’ve been saved by that fraud, Tephra."

“Oh, I already don’t like the sound of this...” I winced as I was pulled along in step with him. Oh, Night. When has anything about the wasteland ever sounded truly ‘good’ to you? At least, anything that didn’t end up as a complete disaster, that is...

Author's Notes:

As always, many thanks to Kkat for the amazingness that is Fallout Eqeustria, as well as letting us all use it as a foundation for all our stories.

And many many thanks to TheFurryRailFan for his help in getting this chapter shaped up. Seriously, it's always a big help to have a second pair of eyes.

Lastly, thanks to Dice Warwick for his help on getting the religion created for his stories nailed down for used in Long Haul. It's not going to be featured too much, but it's nice to have it referenced!