Guess it was just my luck for her to show up.

I grumbled groggily as I pushed myself up off the rotten hay-covered floor. Looking around, I found myself sitting in a room that looked remarkably like the old prison cells I’d seen in the history books. The all concrete room was maybe a pony wide, by a couple ponies deep, with a metal toilet stashed in the back under an opaque window with metal slatted bars on the outside. I couldn’t quite tell if this had been miniaturized like the rest of Lil’Canterlot supposedly had been, but I didn’t really enjoy being in such a cramped room.

Still, Lamia being here couldn’t mean anything good, and as I looked around, Hispano was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you going to sit there with that dumb look on your muzzle, or are you going to answer my question?” Lamia’s judgemental gaze was something I didn’t care to have after just waking back up, but as I said before, I guess it was just my luck. “Why the hell didn’t you report that Delilah was coming this way around?”

“And just what the fuck was I supposed to do? I'm not psychic for fuck’s sake, I can't just ‘will’ Solomon a message. Oh, and the contact in Mare's Lake, if you could even call her that, only told me to ‘bring him what he wanted in Cantercross’. Which I don’t know if you could tell, is where we’re going anyway! So could you maybe get off my flank for just a fucking minute and tell him that he can fucking wait until we get there?”

My head started to spin again after my short tirade, and I felt myself about to fall over. Tweaking my wings and locking my foreleg, I managed to keep myself from dropping back to the floor. Ugh… I felt like utter shit, and from the tingling numbness in my leg, I felt like it probably had something to do with the fact there was a large bloody hole in it...

For my angry answer to her question, I received a smack in the head from Lamia’s small cloven hoof.

“You’re still an idiot.” She snapped at me before curling around the bars of the cell and yanking. With a squeal, the cell door opened up and she stepped aside. “Come on. Rook will return in three hours to bring me back to the convoy. If you want to prove you’re useful as Master Solomon’s newest slave, I might have a job for you here. And if you can deal with this ‘problem’, maybe I’ll consider letting you deal with the unplanned arrival of one of Master Solomon’s asshole brothers, Prince Brayef. Perform well, and I’ll definitely make sure to forget to mention this amature slip up of yours to him.”

Stepping out into the hallway, I looked down it toward what was probably the exit. Two brutish looking dogs in incredibly undersized pony police outfits stood guard near the door. They tensed up as Lamia moved into a trot, stepping aside as she approached. She looked back at me and cocked her eyebrow with a glare.

“Well, are you coming or what?” With an impatient kick of her hoof along the floor, she snorted at me. “We don’t have all day. Master Solomon expects me back by his side this evening, and you don't make the master wait. You do what you're told, when you're told to do it. That's what good little slaves do.”

Just what the fuck was going on here!? She was working with the dogs? Er, was Solomon? No, this was all wrong. I didn’t need to get caught up in whatever was going on in this settlement. Who knows how long I’d been out, or where Hispano had been taken. I just needed to find her and get out of here.

But as much as I hated the idea, the almost muted voice in the back of my mind had a point. My best chance was to do what I’d done before, and play along until I could find an exit. Stepping forward on my shaky hooves, I gave a toss of my mane and tried to channel Bombay.

“You may be a good little slave,” I snorted as I moved to follow her. “But I'm not Solomon's slave.”

“Ehhh,” She wiggled her hoof at me and shrugged. “Aren’t you though? I mean, when you really think about it?” With a smirk, she pushed open the door and halfway stepped into a larger open room before I stupidly opened my muzzle.

“I’m just doing this for the money.” I grumbled. “And last I checked, that makes me a mercenary. Slaves don’t get paid.” I don’t know why, but something about that must have jabbed at a nerve in the small sheep, because she skid to a halt so suddenly that her back end reared up in the air.

“No, but I get to live.” She snapped, spinning around while digging her forehoof into her fluffy wool. “Back home, you know what happens to us sheep? What our lives are actually like?" The rage burning just under her skin was showing as she trembled and struggled to hold herself back. "We're strapped onto a slab and fed some toxic magical bullshit you ponies concocted to force our wool to grow.”

With a mechanical grinding whir, she ripped her small chain-bladed weapon out from her fluff. The mechanism buzzed as it shredded the wool that had gotten caught in it like it was nothing more substantial than a tiny bit of cloud. Arcing the weapon through the air, the police dogs next to me yelped as the spinning blades nearly sliced through their tails.

“Day in and day out, year after year, we're sheared every hour until we die on those tables. Solomon saved me from that fate because I was lucky enough to be the first lamb he saw when he entered the room. Working for him is a gift I cherish each day,” She snapped as her shaky grip around the weapon caused it’s small motor to whir even faster. “but it's assholes like you who always make things that much harder for him to live his own life. And if it were my decision, I’d strap you down to a table and shear your skin off all by myself."

I took a step back as a twitch ran across her blazing hot gaze, and a sickening grin spread across her muzzle that made my stomach drop out from under me.

“Calm the fuck down,” I forced out of my muzzle, trying to eek as much of Bombay into my words as I could. I already felt like shit, so the last thing I needed was a slice happy psychotic sheep to take out her frustrations on me. “Just tell me what the fuck it is you want me to do.” I’ll just do what she needs and then Hispano and I can get back to the convoy… once I find her, that is.

The motor on her weapon clicked off, and the spinning chain spun to a ratcheting stop.

“You know what? No.” She squinted at me, looking up and down my tired, scarred body. “I don’t trust you to deal with something as big as Solomon’s brother. Not yet at least...” Sticking her nose up to me, she lifted and rested her weapon along her neck. Oh, I so wanted to reach out and just turn it on right then and there. “But maybe there is something you can do to earn my trust.” She smirked, giving a nod to the door.

Turning to walk out, she eyed at the guard dogs at the door. Both of them stiffened up and looked like they were trying their best to convince us that they hadn’t been paying attention. They turned their gaze to me as she left, snarling. Wow, isn’t this just a friendly bunch of dogs we stumbled into?

Walking after her, I pushed through the doors and walked out into the entrance foyer to what looked like an old world police station. The off white plaster had held up remarkably well over the years, and the blue and white checkered floor tiles were, dirty of course, but still intact. Alright, at least that would explain the jail cells.

The bones of long dead ponies lay strewn across the old station, and a few of them even still wore rusted pairs of old hoof cuffs around their forelegs. Straight across from us on the other side of the station were a dozen or so desks where I assumed some officers would have once worked, but had at some point been converted to a place to store junk and old files. Amongst the junk, a few fresher looking dead ponies had been tossed over, as well as dead ghouls still dressed in bloody old world clothing.

Turning my gaze from the morbid sight, I had to assume that there weren’t any ponies alive here anymore. But the questions I held about what went down in this place moved to the back of my mind as I found my gear, as well as the young spotted dog who’d been at the door to the settlement itself. She was standing behind a long dark wood reception desk that sat near the back wall directly across from the large doors. She studied both Lamia and I with perked ears while she pawed lightly at my jump pack and battle saddle, not seeming to really care about anything that was going on.

“About earning my trust.” Lamia spoke up as she stopped in the center of the old foyer. “Get your things on and meet me in interrogation room one.” Pointing to a set of doors just down the hall, she glared at me. “And don’t keep me waiting. I want to be done with this before your friends arrive.” Well, at least that meant I wasn’t out for long...

“Okay.” I sighed and convinced my aching body that it was best that for now, I hear out what she wants. Between how weak I felt, and how little shit I was willing to deal with today, my mind was heavily just hoping that I could shoot her, find out where the fuck Hispano had gone, and then head back to the convoy for a well earned nap.

I was surprised to say the least. ‘Holly’, as the spotted Sun Dog was named, had helped me to get my gear back on while humming a pleasant tune I was pretty sure I’d heard on the radio before. She seemed to be a lot less… barbaric than the other dogs here, which was nice. Dogs like her and Sasha at least gave me hope that it wasn’t just a fluke to have found someone like Buck out here. Though, the rest of these dogs could take a lesson in manners from their cousins up in Inuvik! Or any educational lessons at all for that matter. Perhaps one in how to read and write in Equestrian would be best suited to start with…

After giving me my gear, Holly was happy to continue sitting on the old foyer countertop as if she were waiting for something, while I went walking down the hall to find Lamia. Closest to the foyer was a set of four doors. To my left, a sign instructed me the closed door was to Interrogation room two. Turning across from it, the door was far too faded from time to read, but I assumed it was the correct one and pushed it open.

What I found was a small ten by ten room. The walls were bland, but painted in a remarkably still intact police blue color, and the flickering fluorescent lights above us were all mostly working. Behind Lamia sat a dusty and scuffed up mirror, that was probably one of those fancy two-way mirrors that I’d seen in the movies.

“Finally.” Lamia grumbled as she got up from a chair that she’d shoved back against the wall.

A muffled noise from my right pulled my gaze. A rotten, heavily decaying ghoul mare eyed at me with milky old eyes, almost pleading with them for me to help her. She tried to say something through the bit of cloth stuffed into her muzzle, but I couldn’t understand it, and I was sure that was the reason it was there. With sharp tugs, she pulled at the ropes that bound her to the chair she was sitting in.

“Oh, don’t look so pathetic, Mayor. We gave you a chance to share this place with the Sun Dogs.” Lamia’s tone took a dramatic shift from the fluffy ball of rage she’d been just a few minutes ago. Instead, she was almost soft and caring now as she trotted up to the table. “Yet, you decided that shooting at us was the answer, and now look at your town. You're the only one left to deal with.” Reaching into her wool, she drew out her ripper again and set it down on the table in front of the mare. “Now, I’m going to have my friend here prove his loyalty to me by killing you. So go easy on him, even I can tell he’s still pretty new at this.”

The mare went white with fear, shaking her head and screaming out into her gag. The scratchy screeching nearly pierced through the old fabric, but it wasn’t coming out any louder than normal speaking volume. Still, while I wanted to try to preserve my ‘cover’ as working for Solomon, I wouldn’t kill this mare just because Lamia wanted me to.

“No, I’m not going to do that.” I growled as Bombay’s words slipped out into Lamia’s face. “I work for Solomon, not you. You’re on a power trip because Solomon let you off your leash, and you’re doing nothing but wasting both of our time with this ‘loyalty’ charade.” Giving her the slyest smirk I could force, I could almost feel the rising temperature in the air from her anger. “Nah, you don’t get to tell me what to do. I have the job Solomon gave me, so you can just fuck off.”

I’m pretty sure something inside Lamia’s little head snapped at that. She gave a visible twitch of half her whole body as she grit her teeth at me. I bet she’s never had somepony talk back to her like that before in her life, because Solomon’s always been around to protect her. Licking my lips, I readied myself to grab onto my saddle’s bit if she made a move at me.

With a furious, beastial scream that would have been more fitting on a Sun Dog than a lamb, Lamia lost it. She leaned forward, biting down on her chain bladed weapon to start it up. By the time I’d flipped up my saddle’s bit, she’d already swung her head high. But before I could even get my tongue on the trigger, she turned away from me.

The motor to the chain blade strained to keep up as Lamia plunged it down into the neck of the ghoulified Mayor. Black tar-like blood whipped across Lamia’s off white wool as the ghoul cried out in a wail that died off when she did. But still, the carnage wasn’t done. Lamia growled around the bit each and every time she’d plunged the machine into the ghoul’s corpse, spending all of her rage by eviscerating the already deceased mare.

I turned and heaved as the sight and smell of desiccated and rotting organs hit me. Goddesses, this fucking sheep was completely insane! Maybe I should shoot her, because after the shit she just pulled, I’m pretty sure raiders would say that was a step too fucking far. But, the soft click of the motor shutting off met my ears, and I was forced to put Bombay back on for now.

“Alright, it was either this or something you were really not going to want to do.” Lamia heaved as she spat out her completely black blood soaked weapon. Turning to me, her face and most of her coat was splattered with black gore, dripping onto the concrete interrogation room floor. “But you made your choice. Follow me for round two.”

Wait, round two!?

The small sheep trotted past me out the door. She didn’t even wait for me to throw the door open, simply ramming her head into it and forcing it to swing out. Turning, I followed her back across the hall, I stopped when I was only a single hoof into the room.

This room was set up much like the last. Same police blue color and same lights, as well as another dusty and scuffed up mirror and chair shoved against the wall under it. However, looking to my left, instead of a mare tied behind the table, it was Hispano. On the table itself, Suiza sat out in the open, with her barrel aimed right dead center at her breast.

“Hispano!” I gasped and moved forward. The world tumbled for a moment as my injured foreleg gave out from the pressure of a small cloven hoof kicking it.

“Nope.” Lamia snorted as she trotted around my sprawled out form. “You need to prove your loyalty, fly-boy.”

“To what?” I grunted and sluggishly pushed myself back to my shaky hooves. “She’s a talon. My talon. She’s loyal to me, and I’m loyal to Solomon. End of story.”

“If that’s true, then she won't mind when you instruct her to sit still and die.” Lamia smirked as she climbed up into the chair by the mirror. “Take the gun, and shoot the girl. If you don't? You remember all the dogs here that I helped to take this place? Well, let’s just say they owe me, and it wouldn’t take that much persuasion to have them tear you to bits. Oh, and since you are so big on saving the innocent, like that stallion on the radio says, I’ll make sure that Solomon comes back after dealing with Delilah and wipes all these dumb muts out.” She paused and tapped at her chin in thought for a moment. “You know, maybe I’ll still have the Alpha’s daughter killed before I leave, just to make an example of what happens when you fuck with me or Solomon.”

“Fuck, you really are on a power trip, aren’t you?” Seriously, Lamia had become completely unhinged. “You realize that you can threaten me all you want, but the second I get back to Solomon with the book, I can just tell him all about your little taste of freedom here.”

“Go ahead.” Lamia huffed and stuck her nose up at me. “Who’s he going to believe? The poor little slave who’s been nothing but loyal to him her whole life?” She dropped her gaze to a glare as she spread a wide smile across her muzzle. “Or the pony fuckup who only sided with him to save his own pathetic little life?” Raising her hoof, she tapped at her chin again. “Tick-tock, pretty boy. Prove your loyalty to me, or suffer the consequences. You have five seconds.”

I didn't move. I almost couldn't move with how fast my blood pressure was rising. She was asking me to kill someone I cared for just to prove myself to her? I'd had just about enough of Lamia's bullshit, and I was seriously considering chowing down on my battle saddle's bit and just filling her full of holes here and now. But the second I did, both Hispano and I would be torn apart by all the dogs outside...

"Okay, times up." She shrugged and pushed herself off the chair again. "If you won't kill her, I will. Again, you made your choice." Rearing up and standing at the edge of the interrogation table, she wrapped her small hooves around Suiza's grip as I went wide eyed. No, Hispano couldn’t die! I couldn’t let her die!

Then move you idiot!

Bombay's instincts took over, and I kicked off with my weak legs. I threw myself between Hispano and the table, aiming myself to move just far enough to reach the overhanging barrel of Suiza. I didn’t need to stop Lamia from firing, just move her aim! So as I flopped down onto the floor, I swung my forehoof out as hard as I could.

My leg connected, shifting the cannon's aim to the side as it went off. I was blinded and deafened as I collapsed to the cold hard floor. The high explosive round from her gun didn't detonate as it hit the wall, rather, it exploded on the opposite side of the wall with a crack that blasted a pony sized hole in the old plaster construction.

The ringing in my ears made me clenched my teeth, and I blinked the flash away as I rolled myself to get back up. As I did, I stopped as the reception desk of the foyer met my eyes. Standing in front of it, was the black spotted white dog who given me my gear. She was staring shocked and scared at the shredded stump of bone and muscles where most of her right arm had once sat. Dribbling lines of blood trailed down to the floor from the gaping wound as she whimpered and looked at Lamia and I.

"You moron! How am I supposed to explain that I shot her?" Lamia's shrieking voice was like a hoof down a chalkboard, and instantly reminded me of the rage that had been so patiently waiting inside to be let out. "She's the alpha's daughter! Do you have any fucking idea how hard it’s going to be to kill her as an example...?"

Fucking shut up, Lamia!

I spun around, aimed my submachine gun at her, and bit down on the trigger like I'd never let it go.

A chattering burst of rounds tore through the small sheep, blowing out the side of her head and sprouting red splotches along her already black-blood stained wool. The mirror in the interrogation room shattered to pieces behind her, and dust and bits of plaster were shredded off the wall in the small room behind it. I was so angry, so furious at the tiny fucking cunt that my brain took a moment to realize that the gun had quite quickly run out of ammo and stopped firing.

Lamia was dead… I’d just...

Taking a few deep breaths, my mind was racing to tell me just how fucking screwed I was now. Even if we somehow managed to get out of this place, Solomon was going to be pissed that I just murdered her. Then again, what the fuck did I care if he was pissed? I just need to untie Hispano and get the both of us the fuck out of here!

The whimper behind me silenced all my thoughts, and I turned to see the injured Sun Dog crying and cradling what was left of her destroyed arm. Fuck. No, wait! This could be our ticket out of here! I just needed to spin this right, that’s all! I just needed to talk to someone who’d would listen to reason before they decided to tear me to shreds!

"What happen!?" One of the police dogs shouted as I hopped through the hole in the wall to where she was standing. The two guards growled when they saw the Alpha's daughter's missing paw, quickly turning their sights on me and bristling up their fur in anger.

Yeah, I’m screwed...

With a wobbling sigh, the spotted dog's eyes closed and she did her best impression of what I’d probably looked like at the gate. Admittedly though, her wound was a bit more pressing than mine had been. Regardless, I had to at least try to salvage this stupid plan of mine.

"Oh, you make big mistake, pony!" The police dog growled again, raising his paw toward me and holding his digits out to show off his razor sharp looking claws.

Shit, I was about to become that pony shaped ribbon I was worried about before. Come on Night, spit something out already! No, not Night, Bombay!

"The sheep betrayed you and attacked the Alpha's daughter!" I snapped at them as I approached the young spotted dog. "I can help her, but you mutts need to find medical supplies, now!" I blinked as the two dogs looked at each other like I'd just spoken in another language. "Damnit, I said now! Go, or her condition will only get worse!"

“Uhhh… yes pony!” The two guard dogs nodded quickly before scampering off further into the old station.

Looking down at Holly, I wasn’t sure what to do now. This was all Buck’s specialty, he was the doctor! The pulpy, bleeding mass of shredded muscles and bone was far beyond anything I could ever imagine fixing. Still, I had to think. I had to at least try to help.

“Okay, so, gaping wound...” I muttered to myself, looking around. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but anything that could give me an idea would be more than helpful right now. “How do I fix this?” My search around was revealing nothing but old papers, logbooks, and pony skeletons. Seriously? They didn’t even have a first aid kit up here!?

Again, this was exactly the situation where I should have been less lost in Buck’s amazing blue eyes, and actually listening to the medical advice he was giving me at the time!

Stomping in anger, I winced as my injured foreleg threatened to give out under me. Gasping in pain, I stopped as I looked down at the blood spotted rag tied around my leg. Right, I need to stop her bleeding! That’s an easy first step!

Biting at the old yellow fabric around my wounded leg, I pulled it loose and unfurled it. It wasn’t all that big, and the moment I took it away from my bloody puncture wound, fresh crimson oozed out of the gaping hole. I swallowed in my throat, trying to keep myself from gagging again at the sight of it.

Hobbling over to Holly, I shoved the rag under what little of her arm was still left intact. Wrapping it around her stump a couple of times was tough, but I put my hoof down on one end and bit the other. Pulling on it with what little strength I felt I had left, I was pretty sure I was squeezing around her arm so tightly that I might as well have clamped a vice around it. I worked quickly to tie it off, nearly slipping as my own bleeding wound started to pool around my leg.

My ear perked as heavy thumps came closer. I’d hoped it might have been the two guard dogs returning with medical stuff, but instead, these thumps came from past the heavy double doors that lead outside the front of the station. With a pair of thick snaps, the wooden double doors were thrown apart so hard that they flew off their hinges and slid across the floor until they hit the walls opposite each other.

There, in the doorway and looking like a giant ball of black furred rage, was the Alpha. With a snarl that forced me to the floor, he lept into the air. As I hit the ground, I cringed as his heavy form slammed onto the floor behind me, cracking the tiles below him. His claws tore gouges in the concrete under the tiles, and he let out an intense roar that shook me to my core.

Opening my eye, his rage filled eyes burned down at me with a hatred I felt was only on par with exactly how strongly I felt about Solomon himself. However, looking above him, I saw him spread his raised paw to show off each of his sharp claws. I opened my muzzle to tell him to stop, to try to explain what had happened so that he wouldn’t kill me. However, I was too afraid of the enormous dog to even force myself to say anything at all.

“Dad… wait…” The whimpering voice of Holly squeaked out.

I cringed as I felt something grab around me. The strong grip from a black spotted arm pulled me closer to the injured dog. I looked back at her, finding her weak smile pointed down at me.

“What is the meaning of this, Holly?” The Alpha snarled. He swung his arm down, slamming it against the tiles next to him and shattering them to pieces as well. “Why do you protect pony? Pony is the enemy!”

“No. Pony saved me from lamb.” She squeezed me, grunting as she repositioned herself to extend her bloody stump. The rag I’d tied around her limb was already soaked with her own blood, which amazed me because even with a wound like that, she was still conscious enough to protect me. “Pony killed lamb, helped me.”

While her words didn’t do much to keep the Alpha from trying to glare a hole through my head, it did help to calm him down at least.

“We should never have trusted the walking bag of mutton.” He grumbled as he turned and peeked into the interrogation room where Lamia’s corpse was. “We should not trust pony either. Friend now, sure.” Again, he looked back at me and narrowed his eyes. “But pony will betray dog. Pony always betray.”

“Lamia wanted to extort you and your group, while I just want to take my griffon friend and leave this place.” I forced out as a shock of pain ran through my head. I blinked a few times to keep my vision from fuzzing out a bit, but tried to focus on the large black dog above me. “I had the chance to hurt your daughter, but that’s not why we came here. I told you, we were looking for the Road Crew, but since I now know they’re dead, we have no reason to stay. And while I know you’ve been betrayed and hurt by ponies in the past, I can assure you that none of my convoy came here to hurt you either.”

Heavy thumping again met my ears as both the Alpha and I perked up at it. While I couldn’t see it, I listened as another dog came running up through the open front of the station.

“Sorry, Alpha…” The panting voice of the other dog that had captured Hispano and I at the gate spoke up. “Other dog came from big wagon. He forced himself in, wants to see pony now.”
“Night!” Buck’s worried voice coming from outside was all I’d ever wanted to hear again in my life, and it brought a smile to my muzzle even as I again was feeling light headed. “I swear, if any of you have hurt my Night, I'll kill every single last one of you!” With that, my smile died.

Goddess damnit, Buck...

I swung my forehoof up and facehooved, sighing as Buck couldn't have chosen a worse time to make threats like that. The soft, fleshy slap hit my ears from just past me. Opening my eye, I found that the Alpha had also face...pawed. Fuck, species are hard to work between, and I seriously needed to sort out these terms...

“Pony says friends not going to hurt us. Friend says he going to hurt us.” The Alpha deadpanned as he looked down at me. Slowly, a smirk worked his way across his muzzle, and both Holly and the other dog who’d came in let off small chuckles. “Pony has funny timing, and irony not lost on dogs.” The Alpha let out a deep sigh, and just like that, looked to calm himself completely. “So long as dog vouch for you, pony and bird will go free. Ponies not trustworthy, but dog always is friend of other dog.”

“Trust me, Buck wouldn't harm a fly. And to be honest, that's partly why I love him.” I snorted as I couldn't help but smirk back at him. And just like had happened with Buck, the big, aggressive looking dog melted away into something that resembled someone who could be civil with me. “Not to mention, he's a doctor, so he might be able to help Holly.”

“No need. Leon, give healing device.” The Alpha snorted, raising his massive paw and snapping his digits over the counter.

The other dog put something into the Alpha’s paw, but I couldn’t see what it was as I was effortlessly pushed aside by Holly. She simply smiled at me before ripping off the bandage I’d tied to her, and stretching out her stump away from herself. Looking back into the paw of the Alpha, my eyes went wide as I noticed he had some sort of makeshift weapon in his paw.

It’s crude construction consisted of several magical spell circuits that had been poorly soldered up to a metal pasta strainer, which had a pair of old wire hangers bent out to make what looked like a rough antenna. Even though I don’t know what sort of crazy pony out there would ever slap this thing together, I was pretty sure it wasn’t a ‘healing device’ like the alpha claimed. Instead, from what components I could even identify, I’d say it looked closer to a magical energy weapon than anything...

The device glowed as the Alpha pulled the trigger, and it let out an oscillating pitched whine as a green ray of magic shot from the tip of the antenna dish. Holly let out a scream as the beam struck her bloody stump and immediately the fur on it started to burn. Her flesh warped, pulling itself together at the same time it boiled and burned. The scent of melting fur hit me hard as I watched her wounds heal up, and the writhing of her flesh started to slow.

The gun’s tone shifted as it ran out of power, and the Alpha tossed it back over the counter. Holly’s sizzling fur smoked as she panted heavily, but as she did, her bloody stump shrank slightly and returned to a pale fleshy tone. While her paw was still missing, the part of her arm that did remain looked to be completely healed up.

“See. All better.” The Alpha smiled widely, reaching over to Holly and patting her gently on the head a few times.

“Absolutely barbaric!” Buck spoke as he stepped inside the Police station. “You should all feel ashamed of what you’ve done, slaughtering this town!” I struggled to push myself off the ground, looking over at Buck as he noticed me. He turned just about as pale as I probably looked. “What did you brutes do to him?” He snapped, curling his lengthy claws out as his fur bristled up. “You better not have done any permanent damage to him or to Hispano.”

“Calm down, Buck.” I turned and looked up to the Alpha, who’s muzzle twitched as he glared at Buck. He looked about three seconds away from starting a fight, and Buck throwing around accusations wasn’t helping anyone right now. So what did I figure would help? Why, lying to him of course. “It was Lamia, acting under the orders of Solomon. This slaughter was exactly what that asshole wanted.”

“You expect me to…?” Buck began, stiffly glaring at me. Though, he bit his tongue as I pointed to the hole in the interrogation room wall. He rolled his eyes as he took a few steps forward to peer in. He stopped when I presume he spotted the well ventilated sheep corpse on the floor.

“Lamia knew I wasn’t being serious when I promised to work for Solomon. She wanted me to kill Hispano, and when I didn’t, she was going to do it herself. Hell, she was probably going to kill me anyway after she betrayed all the Sun Dogs!” Dropping my tone down a bit, I tried to channel just the slightest bit of Bombay. “And speaking of the Sun Dogs, from what they told me, the town fired on them first. Knowing Solomon, he probably told them that the dogs were coming to kill them all in a bid just to make them fire first. But we’ll never know, seeing as Lamia herself killed the mayor before she could explain any of this. So from where I stand, from this town, to Lamia herself getting killed, all of this was done in self defence. And no one should ever feel they aren’t entitled to fight for their life.”

“I…” Buck was hung up as he looked between the other dogs and I, seeming more conflicted than I’d ever seen him before.

And while what I’d said wasn’t technically too far off what I’d expected Solomon would do, the fact was that I didn’t know exactly what had happened. I didn’t like lying to him, and I wouldn’t have if not to just get us past all this faster. But even so, I couldn’t deny that while I’d promised not to kill anymore, knowing that Lamia was dead by my gun made the Bombay side of me so proud that I almost wanted to smile.

“I’m sorry.” Buck finally found the words he was looking for. Slumping slightly, he looked down at the floor and hung his head. “You’re right, Night. They shouldn’t have to apologize if they had every intention to try to work things out with ponies who were never going to listen in the first place. And from what the dogs at the Pink Mountain Resort had said, it shouldn’t be all that surprising to me that ponies would shoot first when faced with us dogs. As for Lamia, I trust you in that you were left with no other choice.”

“Pony defended me, killed to save my life. All us dogs just wanted place to live, never asked for fighting.” Holly whimpered as she pushed herself to stand next to me. She looked up at Buck over the counter with a wide smile across her jagged jawline. “Now, here, we can stay safe. No more fighting.”

“Well, hopefully our convoy can be a good example that not all of us out there are bad.” I offered and looked up to Buck. “Some of us only want to work together and help those around us, even if sometimes we all make mistakes. That just means that we have to work twice as hard to make up for it in the long run.”

“Well said.” Buck nodded, letting out a sigh before reaching his paw out towards Holly over the counter. “But let’s try to get past all this and start again. My name is Buck, what’s yours?”

“I’m Holly.” She giggled, reflexively reaching out her stump to him. After a second, she looked down at it before she blushed bright enough that it turned her cheeks rose red. “Uh…” She stammered, swinging her stump around and pointing it at the Alpha. “This is my dad, Bruno. He is our Sun Dog Alpha.” Scrunching up her muzzle, she canted her head at Buck. A tap on my shoulder prompted me stepping aside as her small but spiked club like tail had started to wag. “But, where you come from? You do not speak like Sun Dog, or smell like Sun Dog.”

“I’m a Snow Dog, from a place in the north named Inuvik.” Buck smiled back at her as his tail gave a little wag in time with hers. “I’ve been traveling south with the convoy outside. We’ve…”

A frustrated grunt came through the hole in the wall to interrupt Buck. Looking over, I watched as the gag rag that had been in Hispano's beak was spit onto the floor.

“Your little friendship party out there sounds super fun and all,” Hispano’s annoyed voice bled through the hole in the wall. “But can someone please come and untie me already!?”

Taking small sips of the healing potion Buck had given me, I stared up into the midmorning sky as a pair of wild clouds floated on by. The cold marble steps of the scaled down royal palace were hardly comfortable to lay back on, but I couldn’t really complain. While it couldn’t compare with the numbing power of Chill, for the moment, the potion had helped to close the hole in my leg, and kept my aches down to a minimum.

After making sure I was alright, Buck had taken the Alpha’s daughter into the station’s infirmary to make sure her stump wouldn’t get infected or anything. Though, that had been over an hour ago, and I’d wondered just what had taken him so long. Then again, they are both different kinds of dogs, and he’d probably had a lot of questions to ask her about where the Sun Dogs came from.

I let a long, drawn out yawn escape my muzzle, stretching myself out with it. It was odd, as while I still felt tired, I didn’t even feel like I could sleep at the moment. Even so, I didn’t exactly want to get up and go do anything. I guess it was because while I was glad we’d been on the road again, I still wanted to savor every chance we had to relax and take it slow.

“Hey, Dum Dum.” Hispano cooed softly as she fluttered down out of the sky next to me. She came down on the steps gracefully, only to do the most graceless flop onto them next to me. “Just relaxing? That’s cool I guess.” She smirked as she wiggled herself onto her back and stared up into the open blue skies with me. “Anything on your mind?”

“Not really?” I gave her a shrug. “Why?”

“Just…” She started, but paused like she was about to say something she’d regret. “Nevermind, it’s nothing.” Yeah, no. I’d seen enough movies to know that when someone you care for says that, it’s never just nothing.

“No, I’m curious, Hispano. You can talk to me, about anything that’s bothering you.” I smirked at her, reaching over and shoving her lightly. “What were you going to say?” Of course, as soon as those words left my muzzle, the pit in my stomach ripped itself open like it was going to flip me inside out any second now. Damnit, Night! You could have just left well enough alone!

“I’m just worried.” She sighed. Reaching over, she took my hoof in her talon and squeezed at it softly. “You said that Solomon was ready to kill us all because Galina killed Violet.” Yeah, this had taken a turn for the worse in two seconds flat. “So when he learns what you did to Lamia…”

Why the fuck did I have to say anything!?

“We just have to keep our eyes open. Now more than ever.” I tried to rationalized it to myself more than to her, but she had a point. Lamia was such a moment of pride for me, and I’d been so secure in the idea that removing her evil bitchiness from the wastes couldn’t have been anything but a good thing. But I’d completely missed the fact that instead, I’d painted even bigger targets on us than I could have even imagined.

“Just watching for his next move may not be enough.” Delilah’s voice startled me as it came from the bottom of the marble stairway. Scrambling to sit up, I found a surprisingly smug look plastered across her muzzle.

“What do you mean?” I asked before looking at the equally confused expression on Hispano’s face.

“Solomon has been playing dirty from the start, and I’ll admit that it’s been my mistake not to consider the options that he has planned to use against us.” She grumbled and almost forced her smug look back to her normally annoyed glare she always wore. “It’s for that reason that I’m going to speak with the Sun Dog leader here. We’re going to build an army of our own and take the fight to him before he can do the same to us. And thanks to you helping them out, you may have given us our first ally in these Sun Dogs.”

“What? No!” I spat out without thinking. My words hit her like a slap in the face, and her eyes twitched at me as if I’d personally offended her. “They don’t want to fight, they just want to live away from ponies. We can’t ask them to go after Solomon after they just gained a place they can call their own. It’s not right.”

“It doesn’t matter because it’s not your call, Night. I know what’s best for my convoy.” Delilah snapped back at me, sending a cold shiver down my spine as her tone rattled down into the depths of my mind. Woah, I hadn’t heard her talk like that since the ice incident back at Filly Crossing. “You should consider Hispano’s words more carefully. With Lamia dead, he’ll more than likely come at us with everything he’s got the moment he can get help on his side, which won’t be hard for him to get once he arrives in Cantercross. Therefore, we need to take him down before he has a chance to do the same to us.”

“I’m all for taking him down, Ma’am. Trust me, I want him dead as much as you do.” I’d fought her before at Filly Crossing on something I felt was wrong, and it looks like I was going to have to do it again to remind her of that fact. “But like I’d told you back at Filly Crossing, this isn’t the right way to go about this.”

“I’ll be the first to admit that you were right about not lying to the crew, Night.” Delilah snorted as she pushed her glasses up against the bridge of her muzzle. “But this is not the same issue as that, far from it in fact. This is a war now that Lamia is dead, this is a war you brought us.” Those last three words felt like bullets, tearing into my mind and burrowing deep into where I kept all my saved up guilt. “You lost your right to challenge my orders the second you pulled the trigger against her, Night. Remember that the next time you want to run your muzzle again.”

I bit my tongue as she climbed the steps past Hispano and I and headed inside the mock palace. My mind begged me to scream out that she was wrong, that we shouldn’t stoop down to his level, even if she was right that all this had become my fault when I killed Lamia. But more than anything, I was only angry because the second she asks these dogs to fight for us, I’d be a liar to them. And that made me angrier because it meant that I’d lied to Buck for nothing.

“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Hispano grumbled and crossed her talons. “Seriously, if I were you, I’d have another talk with her when she gets back. I mean, she’s right, but that doesn’t mean she could talk to you like that.”

“Would you?” I huffed and deadpanned at her. “You’re supposed to be a talon, Hispano. Aren’t you supposed to just follow orders without question?”

She deadpanned back at me. Balling up her talon, she lashed out with it and knocked me in the head again, causing the familiar ebbing pain behind my eye to return. Welp, so much for the healing feeling from the potion...

“Don’t let Lamia’s words confuse you, Dum Dum. Talons don’t blindly follow every order.” She grumbled as she stood up and gave her wings a few flaps to stretch them out. “We do what the client asks within reason, and can actually refuse to take orders. Though, it doesn’t normally win a merc very many contracts if we’re known to objecting to the orders of the contract holder. But... sometimes you have to put your paw down and just say no.”

“If I tell Delilah no on this, then she’s likely to fire me.” I sighed and rubbed at the welt Hispano had left on my head.

If I stood up to Delilah, she would kick me out of the convoy, most likely kicking Buck and Hispano with me, and of course also Cora if Hispano left. Without them, the convoy was all but defenseless, and Solomon would wipe them out in an instant. If I stayed onboard with this, then Delilah was liable to get any number of others killed when they had no reason to be in this fight against Solomon. While I understood what she was getting at with building an army, I knew this wasn’t the correct answer to our problems.

So if I knew that to be true, then what was the right answer?

“We have to go about this a different way.” I mumbled and found myself shiver as the wind shifted a bit. “But how?”

“Well, why couldn’t we ambush him in Cantercross?” Hispano gave a nonchalant shrug as she sighed and leaned into me. She wrapped her wing around my side, pulling herself warmly against me. “You’re supposed to report into him there, aren’t you? Why not use that to our advantage?”

That’s not such a bad idea, actually…

“Eh…” She winced as she shook her head. “On second thought, he’d probably expect that now that Lamia’s dead. If anything, he’ll be suspicious as all hell with you even showing up to report in.”

That’s true. Even if he’d bought my ‘loyalty’ to him when he’d had me captured, in killing Lamia, he has to know that I’d lied. Even if I tried to spin it that I’d been forced to do it to keep my cover, there’s no way he’d have looked past the murder of one of his own. Even if she was just a thing to him.

But… he just might still meet with me if there was a thing he wanted even more!

“He may be suspicious, but giving him what he wants more than anything would be one way I could get his guard down.” I spoke up as my mind fit the pieces together. It was going to be a hell of a plan to pitch to Delilah, but she’d have to listen to reason! If I could get Hispano and Cora to go with me, we could take out Rook and Jess while Solomon was too busy ogling over the key to the Ark. Then I can just give him a repeat performance of what I did to Lamia and bam! All our Solomon problems are solved! Turning to the confused look on Hispano’s face, I grabbed around her head and pulled her into a short kiss. “It’s a brilliant plan, Hispano! We can take out Solomon without asking anyone outside the convoy for help!”

“Eheh, sure…” She blinked a few times as he cheeks glowed red hot. “What exactly was your plan, again? Or was it just more of an ‘idea’ like you had last time?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain it all later.” I smiled and pulled her closer again. Sure, it may seem like a longshot to her right now, but once I explained it, she was sure to be as confident as I was in that this would work! “But for now, let’s not worry about it.”

“Damnit, Dum Dum...” Hispano smacked her talon across her beak and dragged it down her face. “Every time you say that, your ‘plan’ falls apart halfway through. Can’t we just talk about it for once?”

“Oh, hey guys.” Buck called out, pulling Hispano and I’s attention up the steps to him. Thank the goddesses for his perfect distraction timing!

“Sorry for taking so long, got tied up in helping Holly.” He offered with a brighter smile than I’d expected across his muzzle, and a sort of spring in his step. I didn’t know why he looked so contented with himself, but so long as he was happy, I couldn’t not feel happy for him. “I know it’s a bit of an odd idea, but while we’re here, I thought maybe we could walk around and explore a bit. While I don’t know about you two, I’m certainly curious to learn what it was like back before the war.” A nervous grin pulled across his muzzle as he looked between Hispano and I. “Plus, this is a time when just the three of us can hang out together, which is something I’ve been wanting quite a lot given recent events. Who know’s what will happen to us down the road, so I don’t want to waste a single opportunity like this.”

“That’s a perfect idea!” I gasped as I pushed myself onto my hooves. Granted I didn’t care to think about what might happen to Hispano or I once we put this plan for Solomon into action, this was a perfect distraction. Plus, spending time relaxing with Buck was something I’ve desperately needed since what happened with Violet.

“But, what about…?” Hispano began, but found herself quickly cut off.

“Excellent!” Buck laughed as he walked himself down the stairs to us. “Now, come along you two!”

With a pair of sweeping swings, he scooped both Hispano and I up into his strong, caring arms and pulled us close to him. I nuzzled into the warmth and security of his arm, letting out a contented sigh as I simply enjoyed being with him. However, the grumble that came from Buck’s other arm perked my ear. Looking over, Hispano gave me a flat look as she crossed her talons.

Seriously, I knew she had her concerns from the second that the word ‘plan’ came out of my muzzle, but she really needed to lighten up for the moment. Because once we pulled this off, and we will pull this off, I could spend the rest of my life with Buck and her without a single fucking worry that shit like today would ever happen again. That is, unless I found a way to screw it all up. But you know what? I couldn’t be bothered by thinking about that right now.

No. Spending a relaxing time with those I loved was far more important to me than worrying about the future. Even if that was something that needed more thought and preparation for than I’d ever thought it could...

Minutes turned into hours as we toured around the city. I listened as Buck read off the various plaques that were hung everywhere explaining about how things were different way back when, and as we got further into the city, even Hispano seemed to perk up with his readings. It wasn’t that I found any of it interesting really, rather, I was just happy that the three of us were getting to spend time together like he’d wanted.

The three of us laughed together from inside the cramped photo booth as the last flash made us all blink away the blindness from our eyes. The old machine gave out a grinding whir internally as Hispano and I flopped out past the booth curtain. Buck however, gave out a few heavy grunts as he had to force himself through the small doorway to the outside. With a relieved sigh, he flopped onto the old pavement just outside the booth, perking his ears as the photo case gave a click and unlocked.

Turning around, Hispano reached out and opened the receptacle. With a smile she’d missed when we started this tour around the city, she gave a giggle as she looked over the strip of photos we’d taken. Handing it over to me, I took in in my hoof and had to fight back dropping to the ground in laughter.

“Oh Celestia, Night.” Hispano gasped and broke down into laughter. “Your face in the last one! It’s so ridiculous!”

The final shot on the strip of five photos was indeed one where we’d all agreed to look silly, but my eyes drifted up to the earlier ones. The first one where I’d kissed Buck, and the second was one where Hispano had kissed me. The third was actually one that had caught Buck and I off guard, as Hispano kissed him while I had a shocked look across my muzzle.

But the fourth picture was the one which I liked the best. It wasn’t anything more than the three of us sitting there and looking at the camera while smiling. But… it was the one that felt to me like for the first time since I’d come down to the wasteland, my life had truly changed for the better.

This. This was all I’d ever wanted in my life again. The feeling of having a happy family that I’ve been missing since I lost Mom and Dad.

While I’d known for a while now that I loved both Buck and Hispano, it hadn’t really hit me until now just what that felt like to me. It felt wrong in a way, that on a day where killing Lamia might have been a terrible turning point for the whole crew, I could be this happy and relaxed. But if the smiles on both Buck and Hispano’s faces said anything to me at all, it was that at least I wasn’t alone in feeling that way. Still, while this was the happiest I’d felt in goddesses know how long, I couldn’t escape how terrible I felt at the same time.

One moment was all it had taken to lose Violet. One second’s hesitation was all that had separated me saving Hispano from Lamia, to me losing her. Yes, I had a family again with the two of them, but it also meant that I could lose that family again as well. And that scared me more than anything in the whole damn wasteland now.

This is why Solomon had to die. I wouldn’t lose them, not like Hardcase lost Violet. I couldn’t let that happen.

“Is everything alright, Night?” Buck asked me with a delicacy in his voice reminiscent of a non pegasus trying to walk on a cloud.

Looking up at him, I gave a shiver as a cold dripping rolled down my cheeks. Raising my hoof, I wiped a tear off of my smiling muzzle before looking back at his concerned face. Looking over to Hispano, I found her still on the ground from her laughing fit. She seemed concerned as well, but she showed it through the smile she had locked on her beak.

“Yeah.” I nodded as I gave a small sniffle. “I’m just so happy to be with the both of you.”

“Ugh.” Hispano rolled her eyes as she forced herself to sit up. “Stop being so sappy, Dum Dum, or you’ll make both of us that way as well.” Buck gave a soft sniffle as his eyes wavered behind his own wide smile. “Damnit, see what I mean!?” She laughed, reaching up her own talon and wicking away a tear from her eye.

The three of us shared a laugh for a moment before the roar of Bertha’s engine struck up and broke the afternoon silence that had been in the air.

“Alright, I guess it’s that time.” Buck groaned as he picked himself up off the ground. “Let’s head back now. Maybe we can all grab something in the kitchen to eat together before we get back on the road.”

“Sounds good to me.” Hispano nodded and looked over to me. “So, up for a race back to the Hauler?”

“Nah.” I smiled as I looked down at the photos again. “No races, no rush. I just want to spend as much time with you two as I possibly can.”

Because while I felt good today, who knew what might happen tomorrow.

Author's Notes:

As always, a HUGE thanks to TheFurryRailFan for going over this chapter!

And of course, a big thank you to Kkat who's let us all run around and blow up the wide wild wastelands of FoE!