The next hour was spent trotting all the way around the lake in order to get back toward the settlement. While Hardcase hadn’t had any problem transforming into a sea-pony, which was still really fucking weird by the way, he was concerned about using his magic now. I hadn’t thought about it before, but he was afraid that in the dark of night it may attract the attention of any one of the guards patrolling around the shores. Guess there was a downside for magic users over us Pegasi and Earth ponies.

Doesn’t absolve them of being cheaters in my eyes though...

However, we reached the gates without much of a problem other than the darkness of night reminding me that I was glad to have somepony else with me. After a ten minute exchange trying to tell the pony guarding the entrance of the settlement that we weren’t raiders, we were finally let in. And as if it were as simple a change as night to day, the second we passed through the gate, I felt a smile pull across my muzzle.

I’d done it. Not only did Salt and I save Hardcase, but nopony had to suffer because of it! Well… no innocent pony if you care to count Salt’s now dead queen, or that murderous stallion that Tephra melted. But if I counted Hispano, and I’m counting Hispano, that makes this two wins for the day without fucking things up!

Trotting further inside the safety of the thick walls surrounding the settlement, I finally felt like I was allowed to breathe a bit easier. Giving out a yawn that Hardcase shared, I became acutely aware of just how exhausted I was. Even with as much as my body ached for it, I didn’t want to go to sleep yet. There was still so much to be done, and… I still wanted to talk with Buck.

“Happy…” Hardcase blurt out oddly. He pushed past me, trotting towards the neon lit entrance to that ship shaped whorehouse. Slipping shakily out the door, was one floral print tee shirt-wearing bastard of a mule. He perked one of his ears and looked around groggily in the dark for us.

My legs, while tired, didn’t need much convincing to move up to a canter. I quickly passed Hardcase, and the sound of my hoofsteps became something Happy must have picked up on. As I walked through the light of one of the roaming floodlights from the wall, he all but froze up at the sight of me.

“N-night!?” He gasped out. “You’re ali…?”

He made it about halfway through before I reared up and forehoof kicked him the same way I’d done to Solomon. Dropped him to the dirt just about as easily too, though to his credit, he was still conscious. Groaning and whining, but still definitely awake.

“Night, what the hell!?” Hardcase snapped as he ran up and used his magic to drag me back a good bit. Quickly hoofing at the grounded stallion, he received an annoyed bat from Happy’s hoof as he offered to help him back up.

“Yeah…” Happy whimpered as he rubbed at his chin. Slowly, he pulled himself out of the dirt before dusting off his red print shirt. “What the hell was that for?”

“I sat there waiting for you to finish up in there, and while I waited, I happened to hear the most fantastic bit of information from one of the mares you’ve spent time with.” Snapping at him, not only did I instantly capture Happy’s direct but confused gaze, but also Hardcase’s. “Yeah. Turns out, you’ve been telling every whore along this trip every little bit of Delilah’s plans!”

“Wait, what!?” Hardcase shook his head in disbelief. “Come on, you can’t expect…”

“You want to know how I’m not dead right now?” I cut off Hardcase as I spat at Happy. “I lied to Solomon, telling him I’d work for him in order to get back to the convoy. But in order to sell it, I had to come here and talk to his contact. Who, low and behold, bought you a few extra drinks just to loosen your lips.”

“Happy…” Hardcase shuttered, slowly turning his glare to the now incredibly nervous looking mule. “Is that… how could you?”

“I… I didn’t mean to!” Happy stammered, taking a step back. “It’s just… sometimes things slip out when I drink, and…”

With a swift kick of his forehoof, Hardcase sent Happy down to the ground again. This time, he didn’t moan or whimper. From the fact that he’d gone completely rigid, I was pretty sure that he was down for the count this time.

“Fucking asshole.” Hardcase seethed, taking a few deep breathes before enveloping Happy’s unconscious form in his magic. “Oh, Delilah’s going to be pissed when she hears this.” Fuck yeah she was. Hell, the image in my head earlier of him getting his flank beaten by her might actually have been correct. Though, this time it would be with Hardcase safe and sound helping to beat him as well.

“Wait…” Hardcase stopped mid-step to perk his ears. “Do you hear that?”

Perking my own ear and a half, I swiveled them as I looked around. In the search lights that cut through the dark from the perimeter walls, I couldn’t hear more than a few squeals as they moved. The sound of ponies conversing and dancing to music in the ship beside us was also fairly easy to pick up. However, as I looked across the settlement, while I didn’t hear anything odd, I did see a pair of red lights flickering in the night sky toward the mountains.

“Buzzbombers…” Hardcase whispered to me as he became incredibly tense. “Night, we need to…”

For a third time in as many minutes, Hardcase was cut off before he could finish. A piercing train whistle came from the central round structure in the settlement, and in a nearly unified fashion, all the searchlights tilted to the skies. Dozens of ponies scrambled out from their various shacks, bolting for defencive positions along the walls.

My eyes drifted back toward the skies again. The two lights, had multiplied to six now, and the soft buzzing I’d heard when in the city earlier, resonated through the steel and glass canyons of downtown. The soft, but still audible bell I’d heard at the medical settlement rang out as well, and like here, their own lights swiveled up toward the sky as well.

“Come on, Night!” Hardcase shouted as he started to drag Happy off with his magic. “We have to get back to the convoy where it’s safe before they come down on us!”

Nodding, I picked up my hooves and galloped after him. It was a nightmare in the dark to navigate across the hundreds of different sets of train tracks here. Nearly a dozen times I almost tripped and fell. As we approached the looming and dark form of Bertha, I somehow managed to hook my prosthetic under one of the rails. With a fleshy pop it was yanked off of me, and I struggled to hobble my momentum to a stop.

“Fuck!” I snapped as I whipped around. Tracing myself back, I could hardly identify the tracks on the ground without the aid of the searchlights, let alone my prosthetic. “No, no, no!” I muttered about the same time as I saw the glint of something on the ground. If not for the highly polished finish that Salt had put on it, I might never have found it again.

Quickly hoofing it over to me, I sat down on one of the frigid metal tracks and shoved it against my stump. All the while, the ominous buzzing noise from the approaching aircraft was joined by the noise of something that sounded similar to a vertibuck. At first I thought it might have been that other aircraft I’d seen decimate the skyraiders before, but this was a new sound. One that was much choppier, and gave a unique sounding thumping along with the whining it’s arcano-engine gave off.

“Night!” Hardcase snapped as he doubled back to my side. “Get to cover!”

“I thought everyone said they didn’t come into these mountains!” I snapped at him as I finally forced my leg back on. Quickly getting back to my hooves, the two of us scrambled to get underneath Bertha’s front right tire.

“Most!” He snapped back as he dropped Happy to the cold dirt with an unceremonious thud. “Most of them aren’t crazy enough to do it!”

“Gunship!” One of the ponies along the wall screamed out before letting off a wild barrage of shots from whatever automatic weapon they were using. Both the shouting of ponies, and the sounds of their guns quickly became drowned out as the odd sounding aircraft approached the settlement.

I peeked my eye around the back of the tire as the choppy noise reached a peak, starting to blast the ground around us with clouds of dust from the force of whatever was keeping it aloft. Looking to where I’d seen the lights coming from in the sky, I was met with a series of explosions from deeper in the city. The buzzing jet engines were hard to hear over the noise above us, but still cut out one by one as blast after blast filled different parts of the ruined city.

I was forced to squint as I looked further upward, finding an oval shaped craft sitting stationary above us fifty or so feet in the air. Two tubular skids hung underneath the craft, while a long tail held a small quickly spinning propeller on the rear. But the biggest thing that threw me off, was instead of the twin propellers like all vertibucks had, this thing could hover about on just one large propeller on top of it.

Overall, it reminded me of some of the old griffonchaser crafts in the Enclave museum of mechanical flight. However, those were simple machines powered by ponies themselves, and weren’t nearly as advanced as what I was looking at now. On top of that, they definitely didn’t have the large spinning barrels of a magical energy weapon sticking out the side of it…

The buzzing crackle of shots that the gatling laser gave off as it fired sounded like a roar of thunder. The bright pink streaks of magical energy that lit up the night tore across the inside of the perimeter wall, leaving a glowing line of melting concrete and ashen pony remains.

My mane stood on end as a pair of shrieking rockets were loosed from the hovering craft. The two rockets shot through the air, arcing down to slam into the gate that Hardcase had only walked through minutes ago. The blast tore the metal gateway to shreds, blinding both Hardcase and I momentarily, and the two of us could feel the heat as the fireballs rose up into the night. The gate itself was torn apart from the concussive blasts, and part of the wall itself collapsed from the strike, burying the ponies at the checkpoint under slabs of broken concrete and steel.

The air shook as what sounded like a cannon going off nearby blasted Hardcase and I with even more dust. My hearing disappeared as a bright flare lit up the air and forced me to shield my eye from the light. The skyraider vehicle exploded, tearing itself apart as whatever had fired utterly destroyed it. I cringed and hugged myself against the back of Bertha’s tire again as the flaming and twisted wreckage of the vehicle came crashing down fifteen feet away or so. Again the air shook from the blast that it’s wreck gave off, and I could feel the heat of it even from the safety of behind the tire.

As my hearing began to return slightly, I followed Hardcase’s gaze across the underside of Bertha. In the light of the inferno that the aircraft had become, I could see the slowly lowering cannon barrel of Bessy smoking in the cold night air. The hatch to the turret lifted up, and out from it, a contented looking Howitzer poked his head out to observe his hoofwork with his own eyes. With a nod to himself, he disappeared back inside the zebra striped vehicle as if this had been nothing but a minor inconvenience.

Hardcase tapped me on the side, almost making me jump right out of my prosthetic. Looking over at him, he flicked at his ears with his hoof and then shrugged. Hefting Happy up with his magic again, he pointed toward Bertha above us. I nodded, figuring that we should probably get somewhere a bit safer than here for the moment.

“What the hell happened out there?” Cora grumbled as he forced Happy’s eyelids open with his talon. He was still unconscious when we’d laid him out across the rec area couch, but now he was softly snoring. As Cora pinned Happy’s eyelids back, he shined a small flashlight into his eyes before letting go and letting his eyelids snap shut again.

“If it wasn’t obvious…” Hardcase sighed, wiping at the bit of healing potion still dribbling down his ear. “There was a bit of a skyraider attack.”

“That’s not what he’s talking about.” Delilah grumbled from her doorway. While we’d quickly been treated, she’d spent the last couple of minutes glaring at us silently in turns. Guess Hardcase was up first for scolding. “Night, you and Cora went out to find my son hours ago, and you bring him back like this?” Okay, scratch that. Guess I’m up first.

“He was at the whorehouse.” I tried my best to keep my muzzle from stepping over the line by telling her to lay off me for a bit. “He’s been leaking information to Solomon, who’s been paying off the whores to get it out of him with free booze.”

“Really.” She gave a flat grunt as she pulled her eyes off of me and landed them onto Happy. “That is… disappointing to hear.”

“That being said,” Cora shook his head as he took a step back from the still snoring Happy. “I’m not sure you two should have given him a concussion over it.”

Oh really? I’m pretty sure that’s going easy on him for giving information to that slimy disgusting bastard of a stallion. I may owe everyone on this crew one hell of an apology for making them think I was dead, but sweet Celestia, Happy’s going to wish he were dead when the others hear about this…

“Night, Alabaster.” Delilah snapped, instantly focusing my mind and attention back on her. “I’ll let you off the hook seeing as he deserved it. However, you will tell nopony else about this.” Turning, she jabbed her hoof toward Cora. “That goes for you too. I will see to his punishment, but I don’t need any more shakeups with crew morale. As far as anyone else knows on this crew? Violet and Happy never said a single word to Solomon outside of berating him. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The three of us spoke in near unison.

“On that note.” She snorted again, turning and softening her gaze if only slightly toward Hardcase. “I’m glad to see you back and well, Alabaster. If you need to talk, about anything…” She offered a smile that was similar to the one she’d offered me in Destruction Bay. Small, but genuine. “Just remember, my door is always open to you.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He nodded, offering her a forced smile in return.

Delilah straightened herself up before turning around and walking back into her room. Her tail whipped around the edge of the door, pulling it closed behind her with a soft shutter. As it shut, Cora gave out another sigh and turned to head into my container, slowly sitting himself down in the doorway to watch the still sleeping form of Hispano.

“Well,” Hardcase looked like all the stress he’d been carrying over the last few days evaporated all at once. He nearly stumbled back onto his haunches as he turned around toward me. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’m about ready to call it a night.”

“Yeah, you get some rest.” I nodded and looked out into the dark settlement beyond the lit interior of the Hauler’s rec area. “I think I’m going to go see if I can find Buck. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Oh no you’re not.” Cora grunted before tightly wrapping his talons around my wings. I gave a whine as he pulled me backwards along the floor toward my container. “You’re not going to cause any more trouble tonight.” With an unceremonious shove, I was dumped onto the floor inside my own room. “You’re injured enough as it is, so you’re going to get some sleep and fully rest up.” He must have known I was going to speak up, because the moment I turned to do so, his Talons wrapped around my muzzle and held it shut. “No arguments. The Doc will be back tomorrow and you can speak with him then.”

Slowly, he removed his talon from around my muzzle, and I let a sigh escape it.

“Alright.” I nodded and picked myself up off the floor. I know he’s right, and that if I ran off now I’d most likely just get into more trouble. And besides, it’s not like we’d leave without Buck, and what I need to tell him won’t disappear after a few hours worth of sleep. No matter how much I wanted it to, at least.

As Cora left the doorway, his tail pulled the door shut behind him, leaving me standing alone in the container. Well, not truly alone. Looking over, Hispano was still curled up asleep on her bed next to her sister. The meds Cora had given her had already done a lot to make her look a bit better, though no meds would ever fix what I’d put her through.

Climbing up into Buck and I’s bed, I laid myself down and nearly felt myself melt into the lumpy old mattress. Yes, it was just like most other mattresses now, in poor shape and moldy. However, this one smelled like Buck, and though I missed him, it was good to be back home.

Thinking for a moment, I rolled myself over and hung my head down over the edge. There, underneath the bed, were the saddlebags I received from Mrs. Spring Leaf back on the Inuvik. Beside them, was Buck’s medical yoke. I had just enough reach to drag it over to me and pull it out. The bright patch of splintered wood from the round it took back in the ammo depot was more glaring to me after the last few days.

Casting those thoughts aside with another yawn, I pulled it close all the same and hugged it tightly. Another reminder of the task at hoof tomorrow of talking with Buck. But for now, just having even his yoke in my hooves was enough to help me drift off into a wonderful, albeit lonely sleep.

With tears in my eyes, I galloped down the hallway away from our apartment. Ducking around the corner to the other side of the building, I nearly tripped on a bit of uneven cloud. Stumbling, I broke down. I sat there for the next ten minutes crying. Not because of what happened at school, or because Mom and Dad were fighting. It was because I didn’t know who I was. I was fourteen, and I didn’t understand all these feelings I had for stallions, and dresses, and why my stupid wings didn’t even work right.

“You’ve made progress, Night.” the voice of a mare interrupted my sobs. My vision rippled like water, and from out of thin air, stepped Lilac Lace. Wait, I was dreaming again… wasn’t I? Looking up at her, she flashed a toothy grin that, from in front of her yellow slit eyes, looked more sinister than I knew it was. “Yes, you’re adapting well to the wasteland.”

“Hah, you think this is adapting.” I poked at my missing eye, only to whine as I poked a very real feeling eye. “What the…” Picking myself up off the floor, I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked over myself. Even my real hind leg was still sitting under my flank.

“You can do anything in a dream, Night. You can be anything. Let me show you an example, as I sculpt what you’ve long desired to feel.” Lilac flared her enormous alicorn wings out with a snap. The wind that she generated blasted away the cloud apartments, leaving the both of us soaring high through the bright summer skies. It… it felt so real. Flying just like any other pegasus could, it was hard to remind myself that it was just a dream when I finally felt so… free.

“This is true for the waking world as well, Night.” She continued as she flew next to me. “I’ve seen what you’ve done since we last spoke, seen the memories even now you’re trying to bury from yourself.”

“Why?” While I know I need all the help I can get, Lilac had a town to take care of. Sure things hadn’t gone well for me, but I’m doing what I can! Surely she had better things to do than to foalsit...

My thoughts were interrupted as she gave out a haughty laugh.

“Oh, don’t worry about Klondike. Things here are better than ever now that everypony is playing the part they were meant to.” With a lazy flap of her wings, she propelled herself through the air around me, orbiting me with a wide smile. “And I am far from foalsitting you. I’m merely using the gifts that mother left me with to… check in on some of my sisters. A pair happened to be in the same settlement that you are in now, so I thought I’d see what progress you’ve made. Tell me, have your recent experiences made you think about who you are at all?”

“I… don’t want to talk about it.” I could feel my mind pushing against her control of the dream, desperately trying to claw through images of what happened with Violet. “Why don’t you tell me about the old world? How things used to be for you?”

As she reached the peak of her orbit above me, her enormous form blocked out the sun. Looking up, I found her piercing eyes glaring down at me. Without warning, I found her dive, and I let out a scream as we both plummeted downward. But after only a moment, instead of hitting whatever ground lay below, we impacted a soft cloud.

“W-what are you doing!?” I gasped, panting as my heart beat heavily against my ribs.

“You’re deflecting.” She snapped, and as she did, I found the cloud under my back replaced with near frozen pavement, and the bright blue skies above replaced with jagged mountainside of Drake Pass. Scraps of metal sat littered about around me as the sound of the road crew shooting felt so far away again. There, on the ground beside me, was not Violet. Instead, it was Lilac Lace, laying in the exact same spot. “A pony is defined by what they accomplish, and that includes their mistakes. You cannot hide when they make up so much of who you are.”

“Why!” Growling, I pushed myself up to my hooves. “Why is it so fucking important to you that I ‘know who I am’? Why does anypony even care!?”

“Because you don’t.” Lilac snorted as she too picked herself up. With another wave of her wings, the scenery of the pass blew away like dust in the wind, and just like that, we were flying again. She gave out a sigh and pouted slightly as she looked about the open skies, as if looking for something out along the horizon. “Until you know who you are, you will never be as free as this.”

“But I don’t know how to even figure that out!” I hung my head, closed my eyes, and just enjoyed the feeling of the wind under my wings. But in the silence that followed that, I felt a nagging thought in the back of my head that the words I’d just spoken, weren’t true.

“Deep down, you know how to work things out. I watched the memories of your time in the dump. You relied on her strength to keep you going even though you were afraid. Without hesitation, you embraced her, even though she is nothing like who you really are.” Carefully, softly, Lilac reached out with her hoof and put it warmly through my windswept mane. “She’s there inside you, even now. Embrace her, become Bombay, and use her to find out what you so badly wish to know.”

“Bombay?” The voice of Lilac called out, shattering my dream and dumping me momentarily into the darkness. With a panicked jump, I pushed myself to stand up on my bed.

The shock of waking up so suddenly was more disorienting than any dream could ever be, and my tired eyes strained to process the dull fluorescent light inside the container. Looking around, I saw that Hispano was still sleeping on her bed, and there was the soft orange light of morning coming through the gap around the door. Then something big and blue shifted next to me.

“Bombay, we presume?” The hulking alicorn form of Lilac Lace stood imposingly over the side of my bed. “We are sorry if we startled you, but we couldn’t risk keeping the connection up any longer.” With a shimmer, the alicorn faded from sight. When she spoke again, it was from inside my head at the volume of a whisper. “Please. Miss Lace said that you would allow us to stay here for a while, while the rangers are around.”

“What?” I grumbled, reaching up to rub my eyes, but wincing as I ended up sticking my forehoof into the empty socket instead. Fuck, this wasn’t Lilac, this was some other alicorn, wasn’t it. “Look, if you’re going to call down any sort of trouble for being here…”

“No no no, we won’t!” She used a harsh, mental whispering at me. “We just… we need to stay away from the rangers. They don’t hold us in high regard, and one of them has magic that can disrupt our invisibility.”

“Can’t you just fly away?” I asked, facehoofing the moment the words left my muzzle. “Nevermind. I’m sorry I even asked.” Seriously, Night, you can’t even fly well and you hate it when others ask you that shit. Don’t fucking assume that even with big wings like that they can fly. They would have done it already if they could have. “So long as you don’t disturb Hispano’s rest, you can stay as long as you need to in here.”

“Oh, thank you!” The alicorn exclaimed in my mind with what sounded like the intensity of a fog horn. “Oops, sorry. We are still becoming acclimated to being on our own. And we won’t be here long. Just long enough until we can slip past the rangers.” She gave out a mental sigh. “Though, our wings… we don’t know how to use them. Both of us trapped in this form were earth ponies before mother changed us. We would ask if as a pegasus, you would show us, but… as we said, the rangers outside would merely use our clumsy attempts as target practice.”

“It’s fine. I’m not really able to fly all that well either anyway.” With what was halfway a stretch, I lowered myself to the floor. My prosthetic leg gave a light squeak as it pressed against the floor, feeling semi-loose against my stump. I gave it a little wiggle, feeling just the slightest amount of play that I hadn’t realized was there earlier. In going to look at it, my eyes stopped on Hispano’s thinner form. Maybe she wasn’t the only one to lose a bit of weight in the last few days…

“I’m going to get some breakfast.” I turned toward the door, but looked back to where I assumed the invisible alicorn was still sitting. “Do you need anything for your stay here? Food, water, anything?”

“No, we don’t require anything except shelter from the prying eyes outside.” Her voice resonated in my head softly. “Thank you for offering though. We are glad that not everypony in the wastes hate our kind after what Mother did.”

Shrugging that comment off, I let myself out of the container and shut the door again behind me. Just the barest hint of light was peeking over the eastern mountains behind the looming dark cityscape. With a yawn, I trotted over toward the cabinets of the kitchenette and opened them up. Grabbing a bottle of water out, I flicked the cap off and quickly downed it, relieving my parched throat and helping to sharpen my waking senses a bit.

In fact, as I set the bottle down, I heard the hoofsteps of somepony moving around just under the backside of Bertha. Trotting over to the railing at the back of the Rec area, I hooked my forehooves over the bar and peeked down.

There, looking up at Laika’s pod with a quite perplexed gaze, was an orange coated mare wrapped in a crimson colored robe. The robe was made of a nicer material than any I’d seen since leaving the clouds, with apple green trim, and an embroidered logo on the flank that almost looked like one that belonged to one of the ministries.

“Excuse me, ma'am,” The mare called out without taking her eyes off of the pod. “but can you tell me what it is you have chained up there?”

“What?” I asked almost instinctively before glancing down at the pod myself. “Oh, it’s a spaceship. It belongs to Laika and the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.”

“The ministry you say…” She scrunched up her muzzle and brought up her hoof. “Mind if I ask how you came upon such an odd piece of the old world?” She rubbed at her chin, studying the pod with her hidden eyes.

“It came to us.” The yawning words that were nearly yelled out of Hardcase’s mouth almost startled me, but he gave me a pat on the side as he too leaned up against the rec area railing and looked down at the odd mare. “Morning, Bombay. I see you’ve met one of the Galloway rangers.” Tipping his head up, he pointed at her. “The pod fell from the sky, complete with its two century old popsicle pilot still inside. Now it’s my turn to ask. Why are you so interested in it?”

“No reason.” The mare responded quickly. “Just curious was all.” With a quick flip of herself, she turned and started to stiffly walk away.

“Hold it.” Hardcase called out, making the mare freeze up midstep. She finally looked up to us, letting me get a look at the wide, nervous hazel eyes hidden under the hood of her cloak. “Ranger scribes are never just curious about things. Especially things that aren’t theirs.”

“Alright, alright.” A new voice spoke up from directly under the pod. “She didn’t mean to be too nosey.” Out into the open walked a strikingly colored griffon in incredibly dull looking grey combat armor. The magenta, pink and white colors of the griffon’s plumage were almost as bright as the smile across his beak. However, the rectangular quad-tube rocket launcher he wore strapped around his back made me feel like that smile was mostly just for show. “We know you folks don't like it when us rangers intrude on your tech, but this is a fine example of old world history. So can you really blame us?”

“I don’t blame you,” Hardcase offered his own wide smile back to the odd griffon. “We just don’t like it when you take it without even doing so much as asking nicely.” Waving his hoof lazily, another yawn crept its way out of Hardcase’s muzzle. “I feel like we got off on the wrong hoof by insinuating your scribe was looking to take it. And you are…?”

“Not interested in taking it off your hooves either.” The griffon gave a light laugh before sitting back on his hindpaws. “My name is Pastel. Captain of the recovery detail for last night’s attack. My apologies for the intrusion of Scribe Apple Bundt this early in the morning. Once we have this wreck secured, we'll be out of your mane and back to Galloway.”

“What do you want with the wreck?” Even at this early in the morning, my muzzle was already running itself off without asking for permission. Then again, that’s not really out of the ordinary for me...

“The usual, nothing you need concern yourself with.” Pastel gave a shrug as he pulled himself back up to his talons. “But you two have a good day now, alright?” He gave a stiff wave goodbye and practically shoved the robed mare out of sight around the corner of the hauler.

“Huh.” Hardcase remarked as he pushed himself off the railing. “they must be getting desperate for new recruits to have a griffon head a squad these days.”

“Is that not normal?” I had zero idea what was normal in my life anymore, but I’d already accepted that fact. These Steel Rangers were still mostly a mystery to me. I mean, I’d had a bit about them explained to me, but nopony really offered a lot to me other than they were normally bad news to run into.

“The Rangers are a quarter unicorns, with the rest of the ranks being all earth ponies. Normally, they don’t trust any other races to uphold old world pony ideals, you know?” Hardcase began as he gave out a stiff stretch of his back. “As we've sort of touched base on in earlier bits while you were on patrol, they're the leftovers of the Ministry of Wartime Tech, and normally treat said tech with a higher regard than equine lives.” Twisting his muzzle a bit, he gave a thoughtful nod. “Though, the chapters here in the north are more than a bit friendlier than in the far south, so there’s that...” His words drifted off as the sound of voices came from through the floor below us.

“I'm telling you, I heard him! I think Hardcase is back!” Boiler’s muffled voice carried just as much as ever as she stomped up the stairs. With a bump, the floor under my hooves moved, and I steadied myself against the railing. “Darn thing’s stuck again.” Boiler grumbled as I just now realized that I was standing on the hatch. “Just gotta…”

The world turned upside down as Boiler thrust the hatch open so hard that it threw me over the Rec area railing. Thankfully, my forehooves had already been gripped around the iron bars, so when I slammed down against the container wall next to Laika’s pod I only gave out a whimper instead of falling twenty feet down to the cold and painfully solid looking ground.

“You’re alive!” Boiler gasped as she nearly lunged up from the stairwell, grabbing Hardcase who was already trying to help me. Thank the goddesses he had, because it helped Boiler to see my straining hooves still holding onto the railing. “Holy crap! Night, you’re alive too!”

“What!?” Howitzer’s gruff voice resonated through the container wall I was dangling against. With a second forceful shove, both Boiler and Hardcase were moved aside as Howitzer climbed up and gasped as he saw me. “Well I’ll be!” He laughed, reaching out and effortlessly dragging me back up over the bar on his own. “Fuck it’s good to see the both of you back here!”

“You said it!” Boiler added as I found myself pressed between two incredibly big buffalo in what I could only assume was supposed to be a hug. I say that, because as the breath was being pressed right out of my lungs, I was reminded how even Jean’s hugs had been slightly less forceful than this was right now. Never did I think I would ever miss the day when Jean’s hug was ‘softer’ and ‘more comfortable’ than somepony else's.

The groan that came from Hardcase sounded like it was from somewhere next to me as well, but it was hard to tell in the massive piles of fur surrounding us. It made me pine for the moment when I could press myself against Buck again, but as my two buffalo friends pulled back from the hug, I was happy to settle with breathing again. With another gasp, Boiler grabbed around my shoulders and began shaking me.

“Wait, you know what this means now that the two of you are back!?” She asked as more than anything I felt like maybe I should have stayed asleep for another few hours. “Hardcase and I can finish working on that Jumppack of yours! We came back here for some breakfast, but we should totally hit up the trader afterwards to get the rest of the parts!”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Hardcase shook his head, pinning himself between his own hooves to stop from wobbling. “I just need to see straight again before we go…” After a few more moments, I felt myself steady as well before Boiler pulled me back into a not-as-tight hug as before. “Night’s also got to be on the lookout for some new gear as well.”

“Oh, you wrecked the Bison? Darn. It’s a shame, they’re so rare these days.” Howitzer sighed, giving me a pat on the side and a warm smile. “But, you made it back here alive, and that’s all that counts.”

“Yeah, sure.” I gave him a nod, but let my gaze drift back out the back of the rec area. While I was definitely glad to be back, and happy to be alive, I can’t really agree that it’s all that counts. But as the thoughts about what it cost to get back here trickled into my mind, the roar of Lilac Lace’s words drowned them out. Don’t be Night, be Bombay. Forcing a wide smile, I looked back to the others and laughed. “You know, the real reason I came back was to get some more of Hardcase’s home cooking.” Prodding at his chest, Hardcase looked surprised. “They’re hungry, I’m hungry. Come on, get to it, buddy!”

“Ugh.” Hardcase rolled his eyes as a smile spread to his muzzle. “I guess I could make some flapjacks if we’ve still got the supplies for them.”

The infectious grins we both wore spread over to Howitzer and Boiler’s broad muzzles as well, and soon enough the three of us were sitting on the couch, listening to the radio as Hardcase cooked up breakfast. As I listened to Howitzer recount how he so valiantly shot down that skyraider last night, I felt the worries I had start to slip away into the recesses of my mind again.

It’s funny how easily I could let go when I pretended to be somepony who had less worries than I did. Lilac had said at least one thing that made sense to me. Bombay wasn’t who I was, but I knew who she was.

Bombay wasn’t new to the wasteland, and she definitely hadn’t made the mistakes I had. She was a smooth talker that bled confidence, a mare who didn’t shy from a fight, and somepony who didn’t break under the tremendous pressure the wasteland put on her. She also had friends who admired her, who she could relax with and have fun around. Bombay wasn’t me, but she fit like a flashy prewar dress, making me feel like nothing in the world could stop me. And just like a dress, this felt… right to me.

The perfect fit the more I thought about it. And while it felt right to me now, I had this nagging feeling that the more I put it on and showed Bombay off, the harder it would be to put her away. I’d already felt that when I talked off to Rook back in that dump, I couldn’t wait to act that way again. But that was a worry for later, for Night to have.

Right now? Bombay was going to have breakfast with her friends.

“Breakfast was fantastic.” I groaned contently as Boiler, Howitzer, and I made our way toward the steps leading down off the Hauler’s reactor cubby. “Best meal I’ve had in days.” I was in a good enough mood that not even the annoying pain that flared up in my socket again could break my stride. That and with Galina’s shotgun strapped to my back, I was actually looking forward to trading it in and getting some new gear.

“Not to nitpick or anything,” Boiler snorted as she shut the door to the icehold behind her. “But both you and Hardcase were gone for days, so… isn’t that a given?”

“Halt!” The amplified voice of a stallion boomed from the bottom of the stairs. Gazing down, I found an enormous metal stallion staring up at me. And when I say enormous, I mean that this guy was the size of Solomon, but about as bulky as a fucking tank. The dark, lifeless eyes of their massive steel head cast an almost judgemental look up at the three of us. Without giving us even a moment to answer, the minigun bolted to the matte steel stallion began to spin up. “This area is restricted to Steel Ranger access only. State your purpose for being here.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that I wasn’t above the cloud layer anymore, I’d be more inclined to think this was a pony in power armor but… it was just so bulky and heavy looking for it to actually be the case. Maybe this was some sort of more advanced ponytron or something? Regardless, it was quite impressively armed and armored, whatever it was...

“Damnit, Apricot!” The ranger griffon we’d talked to earlier squawked out before plodding over. “Stand down and they them pass for Celestia’s sake. They’re just trying to go about their business.”

“Uhh…!” The metal stallion stiffened up and took a few steps back. “S-sorry, Captain.” I didn’t know before now if it were possible for that much metal to look expressive, but the thing almost looked nervous as it shot a hoof up stiffly in salute.

“That’s the third time this week, Knight-sergeant. I’m starting to regret recommending you for that promotion.” Pastel grumbled before giving a rapping knock of his talons against the steel stallion’s head. “Don’t make me bust you back down to Knight before your paperwork is even processed.” A small gasp emit from the metal stallion at that. “Yeah, but I won’t have to if you shape up. Alright, Apricot?”

“Yes sir!” The stallion nodded quickly, still holding up his salute.

“Now, Mallet’s going to need some help getting that wreck onto the flatbed. Why don’t you leave these poor folks alone and go help her with that?” The griffon smiled only long enough for the enormous stallion to pick himself up and leave. The moment he was gone however, Pastel let out a heaving sigh and pressed his talons to his beak. “You’d swear that every time somepony gets promoted into power armor, they let all that power go to their head.” Wait, so that was power armor!? What the fuck! There’s enough metal on that thing to build a fucking tank! “Anyway, our train is running late, so we’ll be around another few hours than I thought. But please, don’t let us keep you any longer.”

“Thanks, now fuck off, ranger.” Howitzer snorted before pushing me to move down the stairs. And while I was perfectly happy getting a move on, as I looked back, I caught the meanest glare I’d ever seen coming from Howitzer. Granted he hasn’t generally been an angry guy so far on this trip, but even so it left me feeling a bit cold just glancing at him.

Like the captain and the power armored guy, the second we were a good distance away, Boiler facehooved herself hard.

“Are you kidding me, Bro?” With a meaty thwack, she smacked him on the side of the head and made him stumble. “Are you trying to get the rangers breathing down our necks again!?”

“Again?” The words slipped out of my muzzle and looked like they bludgeoned both Boiler and Howitzer on the head. Each of them froze with looks of horror and shame before they both decided that it was best to look anywhere but at me.

“Look, we’ll uh… tell you later.” Howitzer sighed. “When those jerks aren’t around.”

“Yeah!” Boiler let out a chuckle that was nowhere near big enough to hide whatever they were trying to gloss over. But, after the last few days, storytime hadn’t been something I’d grown very fond of. “Let’s just go see that old ghoul and get those supplies we need!” Giving an excited wave, she nearly bounded over a set of tracks ahead of us. “Come on already!”

“Actually, can I ask you two something?” I wasn’t quite sure how to put it, but… for better or for worse, I needed to let Bombay run things at the trader. “When we go in, I want to do the negotiating for my saddle and gun.”

“What?” For the second time in as many minutes, Boiler looked like my words physically hit her with the way she nearly stumbled. “Are you sure about that, Night? I don't think it's a good idea.”

“I need to do this.” Looking between Boiler and Howitzer, the way they traded their own looks didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence. Though, that was just all the more reason that I had to do this. Er, I had to let Bombay do this. “Please, just don’t speak up in there, even if I screw it up.”

“Alright…” Howitzer gave a shrug. “If you think you can handle it, I can respect that.”

“Thank you.” Well, I was truly on my own now.

After winding our way across a dozen more rail lines, around a train that was actively being stripped down for parts, and past a very unhappy looking group of Yaks securing their Arcanocycles to a flatbed traincart, we finally reached the far end of the settlement. Here, two rows of old world passenger carts had been converted into shops, with dozens of ponies trying to sell everything from raw materials, to clothes, to even fresh food. The mix of smells and noise was almost nauseating, and the bustle of those milling around between the two tracks almost made my head spin. Thankfully, I found something to focus on, though I wasn’t quite sure what it was. At the entrance, off to the side of the rows of shops, was a hoof painted sign with numbers hung below it.

“Wh…” I began to say, but immediately shut my muzzle. No. focus, Night. Ask about that shit later. Story time is bad, remember?

I bit my tongue, following Boiler and Howitzer as they lead me toward the cart that was the farthest to the rear. There, at the end of the line and flanked by boxcars filled with rusting scraps, sat a pair of tanks barely able to be wedged between the rail lines themselves. Oddly enough, as we approached, I found that most of the cars on each side of the line here were all either closed down or just plain abandoned. That, and the lack of any other ponies standing around over here also gave a desolate feeling to this section of carts, and I had to fight off the pit in my stomach yet again.

“Celestia,” Boiler gasped, “that must be the wreck they were talking about at Pink Mountain.” She pointed her hoof to the rectangular backside of one of the two tanks parked before us. More than a few dents and gouges defaced the tracked monolith, but a pair of melted and charred black holes sitting in the flat grey painted metal definitely seemed out of place. “Damn, that thing looks like it took a pounding in the rear!” She said before looking back at me and waggling her eyebrows. “You know what that’s like, don’t ya, Night?”

“Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes, letting out a huff that was dwarfed by the one that Howitzer let out.

“Come on, sis.” Howitzer was a pretty laid back guy most of the time, but something about the seriousness in his voice gave me pause, and moreso, gave Boiler pause as well. “Have some respect for the crew.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.” She relented, hanging her head a bit before peeking up at the tank again. “Wait… just, one moment.” She muttered before she trotted up to the rear tracks of the odd machine. “Ah, well there's the problem right there. Looks like they used spark motors for the drive sprockets. Poor things probably couldn't take the weight of this destroyer anymore and finally gave out, dooming it. Poor crew didn’t even stand a chance at that point.”

Trotting toward the hulking tank as well, I leaned in and looked at the cogged wheel that the tracks wrapped around at the rear. It was hard to see, but there did seem to be some sort of heat damage around where the wheel met the hull. It was way over my head how a machine like this even worked, but I was still amazed that Boiler could understand machinery like she does.

“You can tell all of that by a single tiny scorch mark?” I asked, turning and looking over the rest of the mammoth sized tank.

The tank was more or less rectangular in shape, sporting a fairly long chassis. However, the rear half of the tank also sported a monolith built of heavy plate armor. From the way it was fit together and welded, I could see just how thick the armor was, and dear Celestia, the frontal armor of this thing was almost as thick as a raptor’s steel hull was! And that was even before I got to noticing the massive cannon that jut out from a ball mantlet that was set into the center of it.

“Well, she ain't got a turret on her, which means that if those drives went out, well, there was no way to defend her rear.” Howitzer nodded and gave a light tap on the side of the beast. “Sad how all it takes is one part to fail to turn the whole thing into a deathtrap.”

“Eh?” The voice of a stallion echoed through the metal of the other tank parked beside us. It took me only a moment to see it, but this second tank was remarkably similar to the destroyed one, sporting the same base chassis, and same flat grey paint job. However, this second one lacked the massive monolith of armor at the rear, and instead sported a cylindrical turret at the front. After a moment, a grey horn and pair of ears flicked up over the edge of the cupola on the turret. “Zat is no deathtrap. I know a deathtrap vhen I see one, und it is driven by a respectable zebra friend of mine.”

“We didn’t mean any disrespect.” I called up, getting distracted by a bit of fancy blue writing painted subtly onto the side of the large gunmetal grey turret. Porschia. Huh, what an odd name…

“I vas not scolding you.” The stallion laughed as an old military cap floated up into the air above the open hatch. As he put the hat on, the rest of the stallion pushed himself up out of it. “Though, for you to identify vhat destroyed Olly just by looking at her? That is quite ze talent.” The degradation to him wasn’t as bad as some of the ghouls I’d seen before, but it wasn’t exactly easy to compare considering he wore a thick brown winter coat around his body. Only the leathery grey looking skin near his cracked hooves stuck out for me to see, other than his face of course. Which was also remarkably well preserved for somepony who probably spent more than two centuries fighting in the wastes.

Now that I think about it… maybe that’s why so many ghouls look like crap. I mean, I’ve been down here a short time in comparison, and the wasteland has already torn me apart. The more I look at him, the more I’m becoming convinced that the reason he looks so damn good probably has more to do with the sixty ton tank he’s currently inhabiting than anything...

“Aw, shucks. That’s awfully kind of you to say, Mr…?” Boiler asked, holding her hoof out as the pony started climbing down from the enormous metal machine.

“Ach, moment please...” The stallion spoke in a strained voice as he carefully lowered himself down, first onto the narrow metal track guard, and then down to the ground. Once down, he let out a contented sigh and straightened the pair of round glasses balanced across the end of his muzzle. “Oh, zat climb never gets easier.” With a smirk, he thrust out his hoof and vigorously began to shake Boiler almost off her hooves. “Sergeant Rheinmetall of Her Majesty’s 188th armored vehicle division, und it is a pleasure to meet you in return, miss…?”

“Rheinmetall? Deathtrap?” Howitzer grabbed at his chin in thought for a moment before some light kicked on in his head. “You must be Jack’s friend! I was disappointed when we missed you when we were in Maple Station.” With a wide smile, he shifted his body in a way I’d seen a few others do before, mainly from a certain overly clingy moose. Thankfully, my instincts kicked in and I took a single step back to get out of his way. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, and I have so much to ask!”

“Jaaa…!” The old ghoul was cut off as he all but disappeared in the fuzzy fur of Howitzer’s hug. “It’s… nice to meet… a friend of Jack’s!” Rheinmetall managed a groaning laugh through Howitzer’s chest as Boiler gave a snort of delight.

“Alright, Night. What say we leave these two to chat for a bit and get down to trading?” Boiler wrapped her own hoof around me and yanked me to the side. Guess that was more a rhetorical question in her mind! “This place had some pretty neat stuff last time we rolled into town, so I’m sure they’ll have something you like!”

Looking up at where I was being lead, it was actually to a cart that didn’t sit on any rails at all, and had instead been stretched to bridge the gap between the two rows of shops. This cart was a lot older than the others, based on the rust and corrosion on it. What little paint still remained clinging to the various wooden boards it was built out of, was a deep deep forest green color. Much like other places I’d seen, it sported a hoof painted sign above the door.

“Here’s hoping there’s something useable at all in here...” The name at least wasn’t instilling me with any confidence, but again, that didn’t matter. Night may have needed that boost, but I needed to ‘become’ Bombay now. No apprehension, no backing down, and no quarter given in this negotiation. “Fuck it, let’s get this shit done.”

Pushing the door open, I pulled the cloak of ‘Bombay’ over my mind, and stepped inside.

The interior of the old traincar was dark, musty, and clogged my nose with the smell of rust and old grease. The flickering oil lamps that burned on the walls barely added enough light to see the heaping piles of metal junk that almost completely filled the interior of this place. Only a small section of a shoddily built counter, and the path to it, lay exposed amongst all the bits and bobs around here.

“Howdy there!” The scratchy, yet jubilant voice of the ghoul mare leaning over the tall sales counter broke the silence. “Welcome to my junk emporium, where I got what you want, and I'll buy anything you've got.” The mare’s rickety smile was highlighted by the fact that she no longer had any lips around her muzzle, and she was missing the skin on both her scalp and from around her horn. She had an odd look about her brown eyes, but I couldn’t quite place it. They were unfocused in an unusual way, and her right eye was slightly darker than her left. “What neat little something did you bring to sell me, stranger?”

“Alright, you’re up.” Boiler muttered under her breath as she gave me a little shove, prompting me to trot up to the counter top. With the smiling ghoul leaning over toward me as I approached, I did my best to collect myself and let ‘bombay’ take hold of my mind. You can do this, Bombay…

“Well, I’ve got this for you.” I grunted, working my wings to pass Galina’s gun into my hooves. Drawing the sling off of me, I pushed it up onto the countertop where the mare immediately began to look it over. “What’ll you pay for it?”

“Oh wow!” She gasped as she wrapped the hefty shotgun in her magic. “I’ve seen a lot of griffon tech over the years, but I haven’t seen one of these models yet.” From under the counter, a leather strap with an odd assortment of rods and lensis floated up in her magic. Pulling it over he head, she flicked a few of the lenses down over her left eye and squinted as she pulled the gun closer. “What hidden cache did you pick this sucker up from?” She paused for a moment to glance at me from over the gun. “Or was it from a who?”

“A griffon with a vendetta.” Stiffening myself up, I puffed up my chest slightly. “She… no longer needs it.”

“Say no more.” The mare gave a firm nod as her magic flipped the lenses back up out of her eye. “I can do three hundred for this piece.”

Three hundred? Wow, that’s quite a bit! But… that’s not what Bombay would agree to, is it? I mean, it’s a good amount, but it’s not enough. For once, my loose muzzle followed along and spit out exactly what I needed.

“Come on, I think you can do better.” I deadpanned at her, quickly finding her reflecting my own expression back as silence filled the air between us. But it wasn’t my turn to speak. She needed to tell me what she thought was a ‘better offer’ because while I could let ‘Bombay’ do the talking, I still don’t have a damn clue about what this thing was worth.

“Well, are you going to make a counteroffer or what?” She snorted, dropping Galina’s shotgun onto the counter with a thump. Or she could pass giving another figure back to me I guess... Then again, if I’m gambling with caps, why not just say something only a gambler would call for?

“I was thinking double that.” I gave a shrug and looked around. Double or nothing always sounded cool to me, though I knew it was hardly a practical way to win at gambling. “Then again, I could always just hold onto it until the next town.”

“Look, I appreciate your business sense, kid.” The mare grumbled. “But this thing’s got some problems.” Lifting the gun again, she proceeded to disassemble the whole thing in seconds with her magic. “First off, while she's mechanically fine, she's chambered for ten gauge. I hardly get any of that in these days, and while folks are always in the market for shotguns, this isn't something I can move to anypony but a collector.” With a flash of her horn, the gun built itself again before gently floating back down onto the counter. “Now, if you had a conversion kit for say, twelve gauge, I might be tempted to buy it for six, but I can’t do that now.”

“So, it’s worth six hundred to you after the conversion?” I asked, getting a prompt nod that read to me like she was so proud of herself for that fact. However, I found something a bit flawed with her logic. “Then it’s still worth six, and the conversion problem is something whomever buys it from you has to deal with.”

In an instant, the proud look on her face vanished.

“That ain’t how this works, kid.” With a lazy flop, she propped her head up under one of her hooves and used her magic to start prodding an old screwdriver in and out of one of the junk heaps behind her. “It's going to sit around here for probably over a year before I find a buyer who can't live without a piece like this, which is probably the only kind of buyer who's going to want the damn thing. I don't have the space to store it until that specific pony comes strolling into my shop, so three hundred is what I can give.”

“If somepony wants it, then don't you suppose that you can sell it for whatever price you want?” I smirked and leaned myself onto the tips of my hooves, putting myself almost up onto the same level as the old ghoul was. “If you couldn't live without it as with the example you gave, then wouldn't you buy it for double what I'm asking?”

The deadpan returned to the mare’s face as her eyes studied over me. This was either going incredibly well, or terribly poorly, and it was far beyond me to know which way it was leaning at the moment. However, after a few more seconds of studying me, the mare shrugged and sat back behind the counter, giving me what felt like double the breathing room I had in this cramped place.

“I’ll give you five hundred.” She mumbled with more than a hint of annoyance to her words. “You made your point, but that’s the most I’m offering.”

“I can live with five hundred.” I gave a firm nod as a wild grin parted my muzzle. Dear Celestia, I actually did something! Holding my hoof out to her, she begrudgingly shook it with her own as her magic quickly slid the gun down behind her counter.

“Excuse me while I get your caps from my safe.” She grumbled, turning herself around and disappearing behind one of the junk piles to a part of the old train cart I couldn’t see.

“Holy crap, Night!” Boiler whispered as she walked up behind me. “That was amazing! Are you sure you’re the same pegasus who we rescued not to long ago?”

“Yeah.” I couldn’t hide my smile from her as I turned and threw my hooves around her in a hug. And why should I be ashamed to walk away the victor? Being Bombay… it actually got something done for once. And while it felt a bit wrong to ask for so many caps, it still felt unimaginably good!

“Geez, it was like you were a whole other pony there.” She giggled as she gave me a tight pat on the back.

“See,” I sighed as I pulled back from her. “I’m trying this new thing called ‘not taking anypony’s shit anymore’.” At the very least, that drew more than a hushed laugh from Boiler. “I just want to get a replacement saddle and gun, and then to go find Buck. That’s all.”

“Well, if it’s a gun you want,” The mare called out as she returned from behind the many piles of junk, plopping down a thick burlap sack onto her counter that sounded like it was full of caps. “I’ve got plenty to choose from, saddles too.” She smirked and looked over me again. “Say, what’s your name, Kid?”

“My name?” I almost froze from being put on the spot. Why did she care about my name? “It’s Bombay.”

“You’ve got spunk, Bombay. I’ll give you that.” The old ghoul laughed as she leaned over her counter again. “The kind I don’t see in my shop often these days. Everypony either buys things at face value, or can’t afford to negotiate with me.” Her eyes drifted off again, like they were looking right through me as she smiled. Well, wider than normal without lips at least... “Good to know that somepony’s still got a spine out there. That was the best back and forth I’ve had in years.” And like somepony flicked a switch in her head, her eyes focused again, and she let out another laugh. “Alright, all that aside, let’s get down to business. What kind of weaponry interests you more than that hunk of griffon gun ever could? And what kind of saddle are you looking for?”

“Well, I need a grenadier's saddle if you have one.” I smiled and let her compliment sink in. “As for a weapon, let’s start with any submachine guns you have, and see where that gets us.”

See, Bombay? Not everything has to be a complete disaster!

Author's Notes:

As always, a massive thanks to TheFurryRailFan for poking at it here and there to get it presentable! As well as allowing me to use Rheinmetall from his story Empty Quiver. Haven't read it yet? Go check it out and give it a shot!

And of course, thanks to Kkat for this wonderful world we're all allowed to use for our stories!