The flash from Howitzer’s high explosive round was impressively bright, even under the blaring lights along the dome’s roof. However, more impressive was the bloom of ghoul bits that erupted from the blast. As the near deafening sound from the explosion drained away, the intense screeching, yips, and howls the ghouls gave filtered into the air again.

Most of the decomposing mass was tightly packed around the concrete bunker that was Midway Station. Even the shot from Howitzer’s cannon couldn’t pull the majority of the ghoul’s attention toward us. And like they truly were a wave of rotten flesh, the hole made by the blast filled in as the surrounding mass closed to fill the missing ranks.

Flipping the bit for my saddle up into my muzzle, I pulled the secondary trigger to load my submachine gun. A sharp clack met my ears as the bolt locked, and I was ready to fight. Beside me, Hardcase flicked a switch on his energy rifle to power it on, while keeping his SFG waiting in his magic behind him. Cora, funnily enough, didn’t even bother raising his pistol as he shut the ice hold door behind him.

“This is probably suicide, you know.” He called out, barely able to speak over the roar of the ghoul army. Looking over to the ranger at my right, Cora pointed his talon to the multi-barreled gun hanging on the side of his armor. “I hope you’re better with that thing than you are at talking.”

“Not sure I’ll be of much assistance against these numbers.” The ranger’s amplified voice easily cut through the noise of the ghouls. Seriously, did he turn the volume up from before? Celestia, why would you ever need to be this loud!? “Unless you have more belts to feed my weapon, I can only promise about thirty seconds worth of fire per belt, and I’ve only got one spare.”

“While I’d normally tell a tin can like you to stuff it,” Boiler remarked as she brought a bucket filled with grenades out before making her way back into her reactor cubby. “But we actually don’t carry that much five five six on board, and we definitely don’t have any way or time to link what little we do have.”

“Well, if it comes down to it,” Hardcase offered a smirk as he wiggled his oversized overkill magical energy weapon in the air behind him. “I can always use my pride and joy here.”

Looking out to the crowd, more and more of the ghouls had begun to turn from the mass to spot the rolling buffet that was the convoy. One after another, the first to arrive charged at Bertha. They weren’t all that great at it, either pointlessly attacking at the tires, or getting crushed under them as we crawled along. Still, it didn’t take long for one of the mindless former ponies to make it to the stairs.

With a piercing bang, Cora fired a single shot down onto the walkway. The round blasted open the ghoul’s skull, and it slumped down on the stairs. Turning my gaze back to the mass, I followed the writhing corpses back to the station. Which was when I noticed something a bit strange about it. Why were they all just huddled around the outside?

“All the doors are closed.” I spoke up. The ghouls may have surrounded the station, but there was nowhere for them to go. The three separate bunker doors were almost missable among the numerous moving ghouls, but they were definitely all still shut. For how much longer against that size of horde though, I had no idea. “If there’s ponies still in there, will your gun pose a danger for them?” After seeing what it could do twice now, I wasn’t so sure that there wasn’t anything it couldn’t obliterate...

“Those walls are concrete, but they are only strong enough to withstand small arms fire.” The Ranger’s voice again cut through the noise, but I cringed as he turned his head and spoke what felt like straight through me. “I believe the mare is correct. With the doors sealed, the station’s occupants are more than likely still alive. I’m not familiar with that design of weapon, but if there is any doubt, it is not worth risking the lives of all inside.”

“Then at the very least, we whittle them down and let them follow us out.” Cora called as he ruffled his wings, shaking them out as he stretched them. “If you can keep them busy, I can double back into the darkness and slip into the checkpoint when it’s clear. Maybe if there’s anypony left, I can convince them to help out.”

“Alright, that sounds like a solid idea.” I nodded and pointed at him. “Get ready to double back, we’ll find a way to get their attention and keep it.” That drew a concerned look from Cora. Not from what I said, but I think it was the fact that I’d said it at all. Still, he nodded all the same and opened the door to the ice hold.

“Bombay, are you sure about that?” Hardcase gave me a concerned look as well. “If we can’t handle them all, we lose the Hauler. It’s too much of a risk if you ask me, and Delilah said we were only supposed to thin their numbers, not bring them all down.”

“I think we can do it.” Honestly, I didn’t believe myself as I watched more and more of the horde peel off the bunker crowd towards us. Then again, I probably shouldn’t be the one speaking. “No, fuck yes we can and will hold them back! Unless you’ve got a better plan, this is what we’re going to do. So get ready!” Bombay wasn’t about to back us down from this fight, cause no matter how bad it’s been, we’ve always come out on top.

No, not all of us…

BOOM!

Howitzer’s cannon blasted another hole in the crowd around the bunker. Like an unnerving ripple, the whole crowd shifted their attention from their now former interest. A thousand dead eyes laid themselves upon us, and almost in unison, the whole horde began to advance on us.

“I say kill ‘em all!” The ranger shouted as he pivoted next to me.

The electronic whine of the spooling minigun existed for a split second before a jarring buzzing jabbed at my ears. My vision went white from the sheer brightness of the constant muzzle flare. Turning away slightly, I shielded my eye, blinking away the solid white afterimage that refused to give way again to the darkness. After a moment however, I beheld a wonderful sight.

Burst after burst tore through dozens of the screaming creatures. Still, as fast as the ranger’s minigun would cut them down, more would charge forward just in time for the next burst. I grit my teeth against my bit, watching and waiting for a stray ghoul to pop out. A quick squeeze of the crisp saddle trigger let out my own trio of shots that dropped the ghoul I’d been aiming at.

A sharp pinging filled my left ear as the spoons of three grenades flipped over the walkway railing. Hardcase propelled them into the ferals using his magic, arching them over the initial mass of them. After another second, the three cracking blasts tore holes in the wave. Holes that unfortunately weren’t all that impressive, and that filled in with more ghouls nearly instantly.

“This will help thin them, but I can’t keep it up once they reach the stairs!” He shouted as his magic levitated new grenades out from the bucket that Boiler had brought. “Not unless our ranger friend here brought enough power armor to share with the whole class!”

Another burst of minigun fire. Another spray from my submachine gun. Another set of grenades. By this point, even Bertha’s wheels were absolutely coated in the black tar like blood of the ghouls. Yet still more and more attacked.

It was infuriating and felt pointless, like fighting an oncoming thunderstorm through a single pegasus’s wingpower. The three of us were making dents, sure. But despite our best efforts, the storm arrived all the same.

“Getting low!” The stallion in power armor called out as the ghouls began to flail and claw their way up the stairwell. Again, he let loose a burst of buzzing minigun fire that tore through those on the stairs like they were made of paper.

Biting down on my bit, I aimed the crowd in general. A short burst of shots punched into a few of them, but then the gun fell silent. Shit.

“I’m out!” I called, turning and looking back to Boiler. She nodded, darting out of her cubby and running to the storage cage. Another round from Howitzer blasted at the crowd, and I winced as the ranger next to me unloaded another few seconds of fire down the stairs.

“What the hell are you doing?” Hardcase’s sharp question beat through the ringing in my ears. I turned around to find him staring at the open Ice hold door. There, with a wide grin across her beak, was Hispano.

“Did I miss out on all the fun?” She called out before pulling Suiza up next to her. She was holding her sister by the barrel, propping herself up on it like a cane as she walked forward. Locked into the top of her sister wasn’t the small-ish magazine I’d seen her use most of the time. Instead it was the large black drum mag, and I instantly knew that we were going to use up every damn shot she had loaded in there. “I hate to ask…” She spoke up, pausing and raising a single talon as if to tell me to wait.

Another lengthy burst from the Ranger tore through the flood on the stairwell again. The mass of bodies had become a sort of makeshift barrier to those climbing up. However, it was only slowing their progress, not stopping it.

“Night, I’m still too weak to do this on my own.” Hispano resumed as she slowly made her way over to me. “Do you think you can help brace Suiza for me again? Like we did on the tank?”

“Yeah, I…” I was cut off as the ranger’s minigun barked again, but it was only for a second before the gun spun down with a ratcheting click.

“I’m out!” His booming voice threw me off balance as he backed away from the stairs. “Thirty seconds to reload!” His gun tilted on it’s mounting, and various mechanisms began to move stuff around on his gun.

With a careful push, Hispano ‘guided’ my unsteady self toward the floor. I smacked my head against the ground and gave out a whine as I fell over, wondering why it was she couldn’t have just asked nicely. Then again, she did ask…

My train of thought was cut off as the air was forced from my lungs by the weight of her sister landing square on my ribcage.

“Sorry about that, Dum Dum, but we should really get to work.” She smirked as she planted herself behind me and wrapped her talons around her sister tightly. “Now, don’t move!”

The first shot Hispano fired forced my ears flat against my head, and tore the wall of ghouls apart with a flash and a fleshy pop that came from inside my own ears. My hearing dissolved into a sharp ringing that felt like it was vibrating something inside my head. A single resonating note that helped to distract me from the jolts that pounded at my body as Hispano continued to fire.

Like in the fog at the ammo depot, these ghouls seemed to be in pretty rough shape. She fired the high explosive twenty millimeter rounds at steady intervals, waiting for a group to crowd the stairwell before letting out another round. Each time, the ghoul she hit would blast apart along with five or six others.

It became rhythmic, almost soothing when matched with the monotone ringing going through my head. Even though there was an army of ghouls bearing down on us, in this moment, everything felt calm to me. Maybe it had been because of all the shit I’d been through, but in watching ghoul after ghoul explode, it finally hit me.

I wasn’t really afraid of the wasteland anymore.

Craning my head back while trying to not move Suiza too much, I looked at Hispano as she aimed and fired. She had just as big a smile plastered across her face as ever, and it made her look more lively than she had since when I got back to the convoy. This wasn’t just work for her though, this was fun. I mean, I’d already known this from how much she loved to use Suiza, but something had fit into place in my mind where now, I could see it.

This wasn’t like dealing with the doctor in Leachate, or with Dizzy and Mrs. Tappit. No conscience to worry about because she treated this like a game. Her eyes shifted between targets, picking, choosing, calculating what way to subtly shift her sister to end the next ghoul’s existence. It was frightening to see just how good she was at whatever she set her mind to, but then again, I’ve always admired her for that.

She caught my stare up at her, and departed from her target hunt just long enough to roll her eyes as an intense blush flushed across her cheeks. While I still had to make things up to her for the shit I pulled, I couldn’t help but be happy that she’d forgiven me as much as she had. With how great both her and Buck made me feel in the wasteland, I could almost justify all the shit I’d been through.

Almost.

A bright flash came from the wall behind us, and a heavy blastwave of air against my head pulled my vision sharply around to the horde again. Another of Howitzer’s shells sent up a dozen of the ferals flying through the air in pieces. Hardcase lobbed another three grenades out from his magic as he fired his magical energy rifle down at the crowd below. And even without being able to hear, the hard vibrations that came through the floor when the Ranger opened up with his minigun again were unmistakeable. It was a symphony of destruction that sadly I wasn’t able to listen to or join in on.

My eyes wandered across the horde toward the bunker. While I didn’t see Cora at any of the three doors, I did now notice that the doors were, for some reason, wide open. As if to answer that question, a massive silver pony appeared in the doorway of each opening. Lines of fire from the guns strapped to the bunker rangers were joined by streaking rockets that evaporated even more of the horde in bright explosions.

From behind the three armored rangers, poured an army of ponies dressed in either old world combat gear, or Road Crew outfits. They spread out along the length of the bunker, leveling their weapons to the horde before stepping forward in unison and firing. Leading them from the middle, I had to smirk as I noticed Cora wielding a hefty looking light machine gun in each talon, and firing like a madpony. Their fire tore through the back ranks of the ghouls, cutting them down in droves.

The horde was split on whether to keep up the pressure on the convoy, or double back onto the advancing force at their flank. However, as the minigun above me ran dry, and Suiza kicked out her last shell, the fight was pretty much over. The stairwell was so well coated in ghoul bits that any ghoul still trying to climb up looked like it might as well have been trying to stand on cartoon banana peels. The mass fire from the bunker reinforcements had made quick work of the horde, and for once, it felt good to have that many guns working with us instead of against us.

Bertha came to a slow halt, sitting with Bessy and the Ranger train-thing just outside the doorway to the next tunnel. Now that the ghoul army was destroyed, the force from the bunker broke up a bit. The majority of the ponies turned and headed back toward the bunker, while the three rangers and a few Road Crew headed this way.

Of course, Delilah met them part way, as if she knew from the start that we’d make it through this fight alright.

Cora had quickly made his way back over to the reactor deck. He was lighter two light machine guns, but he still had the widest smile across his beak that I’d seen from him so far on this trip. Well, that is until he saw Hispano. He said something to her sharply, which I of course couldn’t hear over the same monotone ringing in my head at the moment. I think it probably should have occurred to me that my hearing had gone out for good, but it wasn’t something a bit of healing potion couldn’t fix.

I waved my hoof from the floor, getting his attention. Pointing at my ears, I tried to tell him that I couldn’t hear shit, but from the way he winced, I was pretty sure I’d yelled it at him. With the quick application of a bit of potion in each ear, the sounds in the world came crackling back to life. And funny enough, so did the sizzling noise from Suiza’s barrel as it rested on me.

You know those times when you get a cut, and you know it’s bad, but it doesn’t feel bad until you look at it? Yeah, looking down at my sizzling side was a mistake....

I don’t know if it was from all the abuse I’d taken, or all the painkillers I’d had over the last few days, but I didn’t feel my skin blistering around the barrel until I laid eyes on it. Of course, then it felt worse than anything I’d ever experienced in my life.

Opening my muzzle to scream as the pain wracked my mind, I found my head ripped to the side in Hispano’s talons. Without warning, she pressed her beak against my muzzle and kissed me, sending my mind spinning between both the sudden feelings of pleasure and pain. Letting out a gasp as she broke the kiss, she gave me a hesitant look that felt out of place with her nervous smile.

Also, why was it that I noticed Cora reaching for Suiza?

“Sorry about this…” Hispano spoke softly as she tightened her talons around my head.

With a stiff yank, Cora pulled Suiza from my side, and ripped a silent scream from my lungs. I went momentarily blind from the overwhelming feeling of everything, until for some reason everything abruptly stopped around me. I think I may have passed out for a moment, because when I blinked again, Cora was using his combat knife to scrape bits of my charred coat off Suiza’s barrel.

“You did well, Dum Dum.” Hispano was rubbing some sort of salve on my side with a smile. “And by that, I mean as a special somepony. As a gun mount, you’re a pretty piss-poor firing position. Three out of ten stars, would not use again.”

“Oh? I thought I would have been at least a five.” I laughed through the ebbing pain in my side. Goddesses, Buck’s going to have to look at that later... “I mean, I couldn’t have been all that bad. We’re still alive, right?”

“Indeed we are!” The Ranger behind me shouted and made me jump so hard I actually threw myself straight off the ground and back onto my hooves. “Oops. Sorry!” Fucking turn it down already! I’ve now had my hearing blown out once today, and that’s more than enough by my count!

With a hiss, his helmet twisted slightly and he used a forehoof to remove it. The sweat drenched head of an orange stallion with crimson eyes was a huge change from the bulky flat grey armor. Even though his head looked sort of out of place amid the bulky suit, his chiseled chin, strong cheek bones, and neat triangular buzz cut stark white mane reminded me of a lot of the middle aged military stallions back up above the clouds.

Honestly? If I wasn’t already with Buck and Hispano, I’d have to say this guy might’ve made my next pick for who to ask out...

“That’s much better.” He let out a relieved sigh before he offered Hispano and I a lighthearted smirk. “That was a hell of a fight. You folks should be glad I was stationed on your convoy here, as you’d certainly have been dead without me.” Looking down at me, he gave me a wink that I’m sure he’d meant to be taken seductively. “No need to thank me, little miss. It’s all in a day’s work for the glorious Steel Rangers.”

Yep. He’s just as idiotic sounding without the helmet on. Seriously, it’s like he was trying to give the rangers a bad name every time he opened his muzzle. I’m sure that everypony around me currently wore the same deadpan I did, but it was Boiler who I could hear facehoof herself in the supply cage. Welp, not that it would have ever happened, but rest easy momentary crush, I hardly knew ye.

“Come on, Dum Dum.” Hispano groaned as she picked herself back up. “Let’s get you up to Buck and have that burn looked at.”

I don’t know why, but the pain in my side had brought forth all the other aches in my body again. The salve that Hispano had rubbed on had helped to slightly numb the actual wound, but I was getting tired of the rest of this creeping pain.

And of course, there wasn’t much I could do about it while waiting for Buck to get back from treating the Rangers and Road Crew from the bunker. Hell, even while the new prosthetic had helped for a time, I could feel the pain behind my eye starting to ramp up as well. Just perfect.

“You know, I have to say, I’m impressed.” Cora shot a coy smirk at me as he leaned himself against the doorway to my container. “Hardcase was right, it was an incredibly risky move in pulling the whole horde down on the convoy. Could have screwed everything up with a call like that.”

“Yeah, but it worked.” Hispano chimed up from her bed. She rolled her eyes, letting them land on the exasperated look across her father’s face. For a moment, the tension between the two of them seemed to be ramping up, and the last thing I wanted was an argument to break out right now.

“Only with your help.” I offered, trying to both pad Hispano’s ego, as well as tell the truth for Cora. “Still, while it was a risky decision, I’m not convinced it was the wrong one.”

“Never said it was.” Cora’s mood lightened as he broke off his glare at Hispano. Reaching around in his medical satchel, he pulled out a small glass vial full of white pills and tossed it at me. The small vial smacked against the wound on my side, making me wince slightly. “That much chill was a pain to get a hold of, so use it to keep the pain in check, but don’t go all junkie on me. Two at a time, once per day. No more than that.”

“How did you…” I looked down at the vial, and then back up at him.

“You may be able to fool the others with that false show of confidence you’ve been touting around since you got back. But, you can’t hide the subtle tells of pain from those who are medically inclined.” Cora snorted and turned his beak up at me. “Might want to consider that in the future for when Buck decides to ask about your constant pain.” Turning, he stepped out and disappeared into the rec area as the door swung shut behind him.

“Alright, thanks...” Looking back down at the small vial, I hoofed at it and shook it.

Inside was a few dozen of the little white pills like the ones I’d taken yesterday. Carefully, I opened the bottle and tapped out a pair of them into the cup of my hoof. Licking them up, I swallowed the small chalky tabs and immediately felt like a blanket of cool air had been wrapped around me. The pain across my body was washed away, and that ebbing behind my fake eye disappeared as well.

Slowly, I closed up the bottle and looked at it. How could something so small work so fast and so well? Shrugging to myself, I groaned as I leaned over the edge of Buck and I’s bed and looked underneath. As expected, I found and dragged out my saddlebags. Quickly, I plopped the bottle of pills into it before pushing the bags back under the bed for later.

“Seriously, that was oddly nice of your dad.” I spoke over to Hispano as I pushed myself back on top of the bed. “He isn’t up to something, is he?”

“Nah, probably just still riding the high from actually living a fantasy of his.” She gave a sad laugh as her mood all but deflated right then and there. But still, she clung to the smile on her beak with a sort of silent desperation that was hard to watch.

“What do you mean, ‘fantasy’?” The words were out of my muzzle before I could meter them. So, pretty much par for the course for me.

“Standing there, a LMG in each talon, heroically mowing down a horde of enemies.” He shook her head as she fought herself to smile wider. “He was always so sure that it would make him look like the most badass griff any talon could aspire to be. Hah. Mom always saw through that though. She knew he wasn’t a fighter like that, and still, she chose to be with him, and loved him all the same. Even when she was transferred in from a far off Talon company, everyone in ‘Claw expected her to choose one of the alpha talons to take as a mate.”

“What…” No, wait, stop. Don’t fucking do it, Night. Control what you say before you blurt it out in the most insensitive and blunt way you possibly could. “Tell me about her.” That’s a good start, but you might want to round it out a bit. “You don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want. I know how hard it can be.”

“I… don’t remember much about the time I spent with her. Just… bits and pieces of our times together.” Hispano’s words were as forced and deliberate as the question I’d just asked. “I was eight when Mom passed. Dad said it was because of a disease from the old world. A biological weapon her wing had stumbled upon when heading toward a client.” That’s… terrible. Still, she’d answered at all, and to me, that meant a lot. “Even with what little time I got to spend with her, she was the toughest griff I’ve ever known. Every time she was back in town, she’d check in on how my training with dad was going. Pushing me to do better the next day, while also pushing Suiza to be even better as a Talon initiate.”

“She survived two hundred contracts. Two hundred.” Hispano closed her eyes as she leaned back against the wall. “Earned herself every accommodation and bonus the Talons even have. All to be put in the ground by a leaky fucking biohazard canister while scavenging for ammo. There was nothing that could have saved her. They’d seen the weapon before, they knew nothing could be done but keep her quarantined away from everything. We got the news a day after it happened, and by the time we flew all the way out to where she was, she… didn’t last long. There’s nothing he could have done, but I don’t think Dad ever forgave himself for just watching her slip away like that.”

“I’m sorry, Hispano, about asking for you to talk about your sister and mom before.” Honestly, I didn’t know what to think about all this. The fact that we both lost our moms to situations far outside their control was completely fucked up. But at the same time, I’m glad that I at least have someone who could relate to the circumstances in my life. “I know it sucks, but thanks for telling me about her.”

“Yeah. I know you’re in the same boat as me when it comes to talking about our mothers.” She offered a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes as she opened them again. “And I know I haven’t made things easy on you, but if we’re going to be together, we have to be honest about things, right? Even if they’re hard to talk about.”

“You sound like my mom used to.” I tried to give her a comforting smile as I remembered all the advice Mom had given me when I was first getting interested in the world of dating. “She would have liked you, and Buck of course.” I mean, both of them might have seemed like a strange concept to my parents, but I’m confident they would have been supportive once they got to know them. “And I’m sorry that I’ll never get to meet your mom. She sounds like a griffon I could really get some advice from right about now.”

“Hah!” Hispano’s sharp laugh made me wince. “Oh, that’s good, Dum Dum. You think my dad’s disapproval is bad? My mom would have beat the crap out of you.” Wiping her talon down her face, I couldn’t deny that it was nice to see her with a genuine smile again. I just wish it wasn’t somehow at the expense of my pride. “Though, credit where it’s due, if she saw you today, with as many scars as you have now? She might have forgiven how poorly you fight solely because of how impossible it’s been to keep you down.”

“Gee, thanks.” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t be mad. Even though I’d done nothing but had my ass kicked by pretty much everypony in the wastes since I came down, I know that I wasn’t finished losing fights. In retrospect, I’d done better than I’d expected fighting Galina, but in any real fight against anypony half as experienced, I’d still end up on the losing side.

But that was the trick about the wasteland, wasn’t it? There was a saying I’d heard about war. Either you die early on, or you have enough time and luck to learn how to start winning. That was how it went, right? Regardless, the question I needed to ask was; how much time and luck did I still have left to learn how to come out on top when it counts?

“H-hey, Night?” Hispano’s wavering voice made me fear that she was going to ask something uncomfortable of me. Which actually wouldn’t be so odd of her to do given the nature of our entire relationship so far. That, and I had no right to complain given what I’d just asked of her about her mom. “Speaking of scars… what happened… with Galina? When you left, I mean?”

“What do you mean what happened?” Looking up at her, I didn’t really know what to think about her question. Was she asking because she was simply curious? Was it because she wanted to know how well I’d actually stacked up against someone who had a hundred times my potential in a fight?

“I overheard you earlier talking with Buck and Lucky, but you saw how I was then. Being so out of it, I didn’t really catch most of your story.” Carefully, she leaned herself back against the wall and let her wings spread out under her. “But… I’m pretty sure you said that she took your eye because you took hers...” Her train of thought stumbled as she looked at me, glancing at the glaringly fake eye stuck in my head now. “What happened after you went over the cliff? Did you win the fight? I mean, you must have, seeing as you came back. You hadn’t really talked about it since you brought me back... at least, not with me this coherent after the detox and all.”

“I…” Although it had been so easy to condense earlier with Buck, that was because I’d been swept up in the moment of things. Now, after the whole fight back there and everything… I wasn’t sure I wanted to recount it all again. “Why do you want to know?”

“Well I mean, you did leave me up there on that cliff and make me think you were dead for almost a week. And while I’d become terribly depressed over losing you and figured it would be a great idea to take up drugs, that was still technically your fault.” She trailed off into an annoyed mumble as she finished before letting out a gurgling sigh. “I guess that’s not really fair, but there is a sort of second reason, but it’s… hard to say...” She paused, making me cock an eyebrow at her. The longer we sat in awkward silence, the more a blush grew across her cheeks.

“You see… griffons have this sort of… thing for scars.” A hesitant smile stretched across her beak as she put her talons together and twiddled them a bit, “Which you kind of have a lot of… now. Suiza always used to tell me she loved them because they always told amazing stories about each of her partners.” Her eyes drifted a bit, and the happy gaze she’d had turned solemn as her words softened. “Mom once told Suiza and I that you could always tell the best talons by how many scars they had. But after she passed, dad said that she actually never cared for her own scars. Mom only ever saw them as a reminder of every mistake she’s ever made.”

Well, I guess that’s something I’d have had in common with her if I’d been able to meet her. I’d gained my fair share of scars, sure. Some of them were well deserved, while others… no, I take that back. My own mistakes made sure that all my scars were all well deserved.

“But that’s why I wanted to ask you about it, Night.” Hispano’s hopeful gaze returned to her as she smiled. “Tell me. Tell me the story of what happened when you went over that cliffside.”

“Alright, fine.” I huffed, flopping back onto Buck and I’s bed. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes as I felt it come pouring back to me. “There were moments when I thought I was actually doing well against Galina. I came at her strong, unpredictably. I slammed her into the rocks, got her with a grenade and fragments of ice from the frozen lake.” Replaying the scene in my head, I tried to understand what, if anything, I could have done differently to win that fight. “But I was an idiot in thinking I could stop her.” No. The only way I could have changed the outcome of that fight, would have been to have never gone over the top in the first place. “She clipped my wing with one of her shots, and I went down hard onto the ice.”

“So… she let you live then?” Hispano’s remark forced my eyes open and over to her. Her scrunched up face was joined by a bright blush as she cast her nervous gaze to the wall. “I-I only mean that it doesn’t seem like her! Not that I’m disappointed or anything!”

“It wasn’t her intention.” I rolled my eyes and looked back up at the ceiling. “She ran out of shotgun shells shooting at me.” Smirking, I remembered how she looked when her gun fell on an empty chamber. “She could barely stand, but you should have seen how fucking pissed she looked at that moment.” Shaking my head, I let out another soft sigh and closed my eye again, resting it from the florescent light above me. “A shame. I almost had her with my grenades too before she found that she was out. But of course, the fucking wire on my saddle broke.”

“Then you never gave up fighting.” Again, Hispano’s voice had grown soft.

“I was ready to die when I passed out. When I came to again, I was tied up in some shack in the woods.” As I thought about it, I could hear the sound of my leg breaking again. Smell the thick metallic scent of blood and pungent sweat. For just a single instant, I was back in that shack again. Bound and tied, at the mercy of that deranged griffon bitch. “That was when she took my eye, and tortured me just for the fun of it. You’re wrong that I never gave up. I wanted it all to be over. I prayed for Celestia to end the pain because I didn’t care anymore about getting back.”

“But… what are you saying, Night?” Again, her voice forced open my eyes. She looked absolutely astounded by what I’d said, like I’d told her I never wanted to see her again. “You were just… wanting to die? Just like that?”

“And you wouldn’t be?” I had to forcibly stifle myself from laughing at that. “Hispano, I admire the way you can do anything you put your mind to. I’m constantly amazed by the things you can do, and by how amazing you are. But… this was something you can’t be trained for. You have no idea what it felt like to be so goddess damned helpless and alone.”

“Bullshit!” Hispano snapped at me so sharply that I swore I could feel her words punch into my side. They felt like a bullet that hit me hard enough that I ended up sitting straight up. “You don’t think I know what torture feels like, Night? My family watched as my mother wasted away with nothing we could do for her before she finally died. Talons should die an honorable death in combat, not helplessly while your family isn’t able to do a single fucking thing to help even ease your pain.”

“Or how about the torture of seeing what happened to Suiza?” She growled, wrapping her talon around her sister and nearly throwing the massive cannon across the length of the cargo container at me. “You don’t fucking think I know that she’s gone forever? That I hurt thinking about her every fucking day? And you want to question if I know torture?” Sitting down onto the bed hard, she crossed her talons and glared at me. “That day when you asked for my help on the Empirica, you helped to remind me that every day didn’t need to be torture. That I didn’t have to be stuck in the same cycle of self loathing I’d been stranded in. You reminded me that I could be something more, that I could be someone better than the fake cheerful energy filled young kid everyone saw me as.”

“I’m sorry, Hispano.” Great job, Night. Once again you jumped to conclusions and screwed shit up. Time to reset that ‘days since last fuck up’ counter back to zero. “I should never have said any of that. I had no right to say that you couldn’t know how it felt.” Cupping my forehooves around my head, I squeezed them against myself until I could feel the headache I deserved poking through the painkillers in my system. “I meant what I said though. You’re an amazing griffon, Hispano, at everything I’ve ever seen you do. And to be truthful, I’m jealous that you’re already so much stronger and better than me at living in the wasteland. I’m just an idiot and keep forgetting that in order to be that way, it came with a price.”

“You’re right. I paid a price to become the griff I am today. But you only forget because my scars are on the inside.” She cooed softly, slumping back against the container wall behind her. “I’m sorry too, Night. I shouldn’t have brought it up, not this soon after everything happened. Recovering from addiction is admittedly harder than I’d thought. Given the short time I’d even been doing loft, I’d thought it wouldn’t have had so many side effects, and it’s caused some... lapses in my judgement. But that’s a mistake we’re both going to have to watch out for in the future.”

“I already told this to Buck, but I promise I won’t leave again. I won’t hurt you two like that, not if I have a choice.” Letting the pressure off my head, I looked over to Hispano. Her gaze felt like my words had sunken into her, but she didn’t seem convinced.

“It’s a good first step, Night.” She nodded, huffing as she crawled across her bed toward her sister. Pulling Suiza back up towards her from the edge of her bed, she retreated back against the wall and set the large cannon beside her. “I don’t believe you, but still, it’s a good first step.”

“A chance to make things better again is all I want.” I sighed, flopping down onto the bed and closing my eyes. Chances to prove myself have been a bit a dozen so far, and yet, I keep finding ways to screw up the only ones that matter.

Still, for Buck and Hispano, I had to try.

There was thunder on the horizon.

It was a storm that wasn’t quite here yet, but moving in. I could almost feel as the air got more humid by the second, but I couldn’t smell it. No, instead the air was chokingly thick with the stench of copper. Blood trickled out of my various wounds, coating the freezing dirt under me. The creaking dark walls of the small wooden shack pressed down on me, helping to bind me even more than the rope tied around me did.

The faint ebbing of pain behind where my left eye had once sat mixed with the blood rolling down my muzzle. I panted, heaving gurgling breaths as I relished every single moment I wasn’t being tortured. Still, I knew it wouldn’t last forever, and that no matter how much I prayed to the goddesses, nothing was going to save me.

A burst of thunder rolled across the skies. Still not overhead, but closer than before. Soon it would arrive, and everything I knew would end. Every bit of me knew this. I couldn’t explain how, but it made me more afraid than anything that could ever be done to me here in this place.

Looking up, I at least wanted to stare into the eyes of the one who’d kill me. Even if I never made it out of this shack, they’d remember my face every fucking time they closed their eyes. And as I looked up, out of the shadows, they moved in for the kill. But something was off in the world. This… wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

“You know, you had a good run, Night.” A blue pegasi with a green and yellow striped mane stepped forwards, wearing Galina’s auto talon on her hoof. From the dark blue striped shading on her three legs, to the scars across her chest and head. This mare… was me. “You really gave it your all! But now it’s my time to shine.” She flashed a wicked grin full of malice and psychotic contentment.

“No…” I muttered, tugging at my bindings. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” The more I tried to move, the less it felt like I was even capable of anything at all in the first place. “What’s going…” I gasped as the blades of the auto talon slid around the side of my neck, stealing the words from me.

“Don’t give me that, Night.” Leaning in close, the crystal eye the mare wore where her left eye once had been, shimmered with a green glow in the darkness of the cabin. “You idolize me, you use me, and yet you don’t even recognize me? The least you can do is give me a sincere ‘thank you, Bombay’.” Blinking as she scrunched up her face, she belted out a set of rapid chuckles. “You know what, save it. You’re too weak to ever had made it in the wasteland anyway.”

With a mechanical whirr and a pinching squelch, the auto talon bit down into my neck and ripped straight through it. The world tumbled as my mind struggled to catch up to why the world was becoming dimmer and dimmer.

“You and I are one and the same, Night.” The mare spoke as everything but her voice faded away. “At least, we will be soon enough.”

The crack of a bolt of lightning rang through the air.

I flailed myself up out of my bed as my ears rang. Blinking my tired eyes, my vision went white as all the blood in my body equalized out from getting up so quickly. Wait, that wasn’t real? It was just a nightmare…

“Incoming!” What sounded like Hardcase’s voice carried through the wall.

Another crack of thunder rang out, and every errant hair on my coat stood on end. Hispano darted onto her talons from where she too had been napping, looking just as stunned and confused as I did. I could feel the charge that filled the air, and as Hispano turned and reached for her sister, a small bolt of static jumped between her outstretched talon and the metal rifle.

“Ah, fuck!” She hissed as the sharp discharge forced her to pull her talon back.

The door to our container opened up. Buck’s worried face swept across the room, only relaxing slightly once he’d seen both Hispano and I. Quickly, he shut the door behind him and made his way over to our bed.

“What the hell is going on out there?” I asked, regretting it as another short rumble preempted another thunderous crack of lightning. My ears caught the sound of a fizzling crackle moving above the convoy before exploding with a snap that charged the air enough to make all of Buck’s fur stand on end. “Are these those lightning anomaly things Hardcase mentioned?

“Worse. We’re under attack.” Buck grumbled as he carefully climbed up onto the bed with me. I got a sharp shock as I barely just brushed his fur, but the stinging pain was only momentary. “We’re out of the tunnel, but we came out right in the middle of a skirmish between the Steel Rangers and some other group.”

“Puritans.” Hispano grumbled as another burst of thunder punctuated her annoyed tone. “I’d hoped we’d be able to avoid these assholes on the way down, but no. Of course we have to drive right through them.”

“Well, whoever they are, we won’t be dealing with them for long.” Buck sighed as he reached around me. With a strong pull, he scooped me right off of the bed and brought me up against his chest as he readjusted himself with the newfound room on the mattress. “These ‘Steel Rangers’ have fairly formidable walls around their compound, and we’ll be safely inside shortly. Do however try to avoid touching the container walls until we get there… just in case.”

Another snapping roll of thunder sounded like it passed overhead before bursting like the previous one had. Again another pulse of static swept through the air and made every hair on my coat stand up. Well, at least while holding onto Buck, I wasn’t going to shock myself again.

“What the hell is that?” I halfway mumbled through Bucks frizzy static charged fur. “It sounds just like lightning.”

“It is lightning actually, just being haphazardly thrown around in absolutely barbaric ways. Their Kugelblitz catapults are one of their weaker siege weapons, but that’s why they mostly just use them for harassing settlements they don’t like.” Hispano sighed as she pulled her sister close to her and scooted herself into the middle of her bed. “Honestly I’m not sure what’s worse. Being attacked by the simpletons out there, or getting locked inside a compound filled with a bunch of fucking toasters.”

“Hey,” Buck gave a shrug as he curled his other paw around his chin. “I can’t speak for all of them, but the one’s who have been working with Delilah don’t seem as bad as their reputation seems to describe.”

Another rumble in the distance resonated through the air. This time though, the crackling ball of lightning sounded like it passed by a ways behind us. Even the air in here didn’t charge as much with it’s passing as it had with the last shot.

“Yeah, no offence, but you’re just about as clueless as Dum Dum is when it comes to shit down here in the wastes.” Hispano’s words were harsh, but sadly true. And though I could feel that Buck wanted to get in a quick retort, he held his tongue. “Before you jump in, yes, not all ponies down here are bad. However, that doesn’t mean that the groups they belong to aren’t deplorable pieces of shit that either need their ass kicked, or to be wiped off the face of the wasteland altogether. I’m sorry that you and Night have had a problem with accepting it, but that’s just how it is down here.”

From the way his arm tensed up around me, I could tell that while Buck had been fine holding his tongue before, his patience had worn out. Maybe it was because I’d already pushed him to the point where we’d had our earlier argument, I don’t really know. What I do know however, was what came out of his muzzle, seemed more like something I’d have said than something I’d have ever expected from Buck.

“Where do the talons fit into that then? Hmm?” He snorted sharply. “All I’d heard of them up north was that they’re honorless mercenaries who only exist to happily kill for whomever the highest bidder is.”

“You just don’t fucking get it, do you?” Hispano grit her beak as she glared at him.

Fuck, could we not be doing this? I’d rather not have worked as hard as I did to get this crew back together over the last few days, just to have Buck and Hispano tear each other apart now. Their frayed nerves are only this bad because of me, so there’s got to be something I can do to fix this before it gets out of hoof. No, not me per se...

“Would you both kindly shut the hell up.” The angry words slipped out of my muzzle as I tried to channel Bombay without having my mind bring up the images in my nightmare again. “You know she’s right, Buck, because we talked about this. You need to accept that not everypony is saveable.” My words didn’t make Buck any less tense, but he’d closed his muzzle and taken his eyes off Hispano.

“And you, Hispano.” I spat out as I shifted my own glare to meet hers. “Why would you let what he says offend you? Sure you’re a talon, your dad’s a talon, and you come from a family of talons. But you told me that you knew you liked me because I could see more than just a talon. You can be a talon all you want, but you know that it doesn’t define you.”

“Yes, but…!” She squawked out with an annoyed huff.

“No! The semantics aren’t worth fighting about right now.” I snapped at her hard enough that a bit of my mane drooped over my eye, which thankfully enough, actually made Hispano hold her words. For a moment, I felt like somehow that made Bombay seem more like she was in charge of the situation, and that I’d actually taken the backseat. No, Night, it was just a nightmare, nothing more. “Both of you need to get one simple fact. Everypony down here is a gamble on being good or bad, and sometimes things don’t always work out for them in the end. I went through too much shit getting back here to have you two get into a petty argument like this.”

“Goddess damnit.” Hispano groaned before flopping back onto her bed. “I hate to say it, Buck, but Dum Dum is right. This is a stupid argument, and we don’t need to waste our time with explaining our opinions to one another.”

“While I don’t agree that debating saving others is a ‘stupid argument’, that itself is the core of this whole issue, isn’t it?” Buck sighed as well and slumped slightly, squishing me against his fuzzy chest. “I agree that we can at least respect each others differing opinions. And… I’m sorry that I brought up the talons.”

“Thank you.” I let out as I all but slumped back in Buck’s hold. As I did, I pushed the thoughts of Bombay out of my mind and focused simply on the silence that now filled the air around us. No arguments, no anger, no fighting…

Wait, it was quiet again.

“Well, it’s safe to say we’re inside the ranger base now.” Hispano remarked as she pushed herself back up to her talons. “And accepting others opinions aside, I give you two about thirty seconds once we disembark before you decide that the Steel Rangers are exactly the assholes I made them out to be. If not, then I’ll eat my damned flight cap.”

The sharp feedback from a megaphone made all three of us wince as it came through the walls of our container.

“Greetings convoy members. I am head paladin Coconut Curry, and I am your new best friend for the duration of your visit.” The tone of the speaking mare didn’t quite match up with the choice of her words, absolutely bleeding sarcasm from them. Fucking fantastic. Like I hadn’t met enough ponies on this trip so far who’d sounded exactly like she did.

“You are to stay where you are while you are detained and brought in for prisoner processing.” Wait, we’re prisoners!? “Your gear, arcano tech, and personal effects are now forfeit, and are now the property of the Steel Rangers. Should you attempt to disobey instructions, take up arms, or otherwise cause problems for me or my own, we will not hesitate to use lethal force against you. We do hope you enjoy your short stay here at Galloway Field, and we thank you for your cooperation.”

“You were wrong.” I snorted as I deadpanned at Hispano. “It was way shorter than thirty seconds.”

Wow, and I’d thought that the Enclave was harsh on those who broke the law. We just got here and we’re already prisoners? What the fuck happened to Delilah’s deal!? Seriously, even if this was all some mistake, they were not helping their reputation with that shit! The only thing that could possibly make this worse, was if somehow when we got down there, they asked me to go kill some innocent ponies just like everypony else already fucking has.

“Come on, Night.” Buck groaned as he carefully pulled me away from him and set me down on the floor. “You can’t blame them for using strong words. Think about it, they’re probably just trying to project a tough image. I bet that if you give them a chance, they won’t be nearly as bad as they sounded just then.”

With a flick of magic, the latch to our container door popped out. The red robed pony I’d seen in Mare’s Lake staring at Laika’s pod, slowly pushed the door open with her magic.

“Alright, you heard the mare.” Pointing to both Hispano and I, the unicorn mare levitated out two pairs of hoofcuffs. “You two, put these on.” With a flick, she tossed a pair at each of us before turning her gaze to Buck. As she did, a bright smile went across her muzzle and she gave her flank a little wag. “Awww, who’s a good boy? You want a treat?” In the most foalish voice she could speak in, the robed mare levitated out what looked like a tiny yellow hard candy and waved it around in front of Buck. “C’mon! We’ve got a nice big bone for you to chew on and a big ol’ cage for you to sit in, but only if you’re a good boy for us!” Glancing at me, she flashed a hesitant look across her bright expression. “Please tell me he’s well trained. I’d hate to have to order him put down...”

“Miss, that is incredibly demeaning.” Buck snorted, deadpanning at the mare. “I am not some pet you can coax into a cage by sounding like a foal. Seriously, I would assume you don’t treat the physicians in your community with the same level of respect you are giving me. I’ve already been through enough stress in the past week, so I would ask that if I am going to be detained, that you at least apologize and treat me like the well educated dog I am.”

“Okay… uhm…” The mare seemed confused for a moment, slipping the hard candy back under her robes. “I didn’t know you dogs could even be educated, so I do apologize for that assumption.” Bringing her smile back, she looked back up at Buck and canted her head. “Even so, you’re still going to have to go in the cage because we can’t have someone like you loose in the base. You know, we can’t have you running around and scaring all our foals, can we?”

“You… I… someone like me!?” Buck’s sharp anger made the mare hunch down and tense up a bit. “You know what, fine, I’ll go. But I’ll have you know that I’m going to have a talk with your superior when all of this is sorted out.”

“Like I told you, thirty seconds.” Hispano mumbled to herself as she easily slapped the oversized cuffs onto her talons. They jiggled and bounced around, almost slipping right off her as she held her balled up talons at the mare. “Alright, I’m ready to go.” Hispano waited for the smiling mare to look at her before giving her a cold glare and pointing back to her bed and Suiza. “If I find out that you put one scratch on my sister, I will tear out your throat.”

The mare gave an audible gulp as she strained to keep her smile from cracking into pure terror.

“N-noted.” The mare gave a short nod.

As she did, I could hear ponies moving around near Hardcase’s room. After a moment, he hobbled out, pausing in the rec area to look back into my container. When he did, I noticed that for some reason, his horn was absent from his forehead, and for all intents and purposes, he looked like a normal earth pony.

“Don’t worry, guys!” He shouted as he was shoved forward by another robed pony. “Delilah will sort this all out, you’ll see!”

“Please just do what you’re told...” The mare in robes simply sighed.

“Ma’am?” Another mare’s voice asked from in the rec area. A lime green unicorn mare with a strawberry colored mane poked her head out just far enough for me to see her. “This stripe says he’s crippled. What should I do?”

“Then carry him out?” The mare in robes grumbled as she facehooved herself. “Goddesses, I just want to shower, get back to my bunk, and enjoy being home with my family. Is that too much to fucking ask?”

As I looked down at the hoofcuffs sitting on the floor, all I could think was that she fucking better get this shit sorted out. Then again, knowing her, I had to believe that this was all part of the plan. She was too smart to have got us into something like this without knowing how to get us out, cause so far that’s been my job.

At least, I hoped she was being smarter than me this time around...

Author's Notes:

As always, thanks so much to TheFurryRailfan for his help in pre-reading and editing this chapter!

And of course, thank you Kkat for allowing us all to use this wonderful wasteland world in our own stories!