To sum up my experiences on the ground, I could only say that one word just about covers anything and everything so far. Suprise. For example, much like the ships I’d spent the last day constantly lost on, Bertha, or the ‘hauler’ as the crew called it, had multiple decks of it’s own. Delilah had disappeared onto the hulking machine before Boiler had come back from whatever she’d been told to do. Now supposedly she was supposed to give me a tour.

“This here is the drive, engine, and storage deck.” Boiler spoke out proudly as I finished dragging myself up the steep steps that I had to hop onto from the ground to even get on. “This is where you’ll find me working most of the time.” Looking around, I found that the deck was quite spacious, if a bit… closed off. Large steel slabs had been fixed to most of the outer edges of the entire area under the overhanging rear bed. The large hydraulic pistons that used to lift the enormous dumping bed had long since been removed, and the whole bed was heavily welded straight onto to the frame. In some places, the steel looked to be over an inch thick, and the cramped enclosed driving cab had some that was even three inches welded around it.

“W-why do you need so much metal?” I hesitantly asked before looking across the deck to the large arcane reactor that sat half buried through the floor plates. No wonder this thing needed to be so far off the ground! That spark reactor looked big enough to power a whole cloud building! The flaking yellow paint of the monstrous energy generator glowed in the light of a few yellow and green lights that I was hoping indicated that the thing wasn’t going to explode anytime soon.

“Well, something so big is kinda hard to miss, so we need lots of protection.” Boiler dismissed the whole question with a wave of her hoof before she waved me over into the caged enclosure that filled pretty much the whole area between the cab and the reactor. “In here is where we store all the good stuff. Ammunition, high explosives, spare parts, tow cables.” She threw a crudely built switch that gave off a spark as it completed its circuit, making a pair of yellowing fluorescent lights flicker to life.

“Uh…” I felt my words drift off as I looked upon the arsenal before me. Racks of large looking cannon shells sat enclosed in what looked like a makeshift armored shelf. Boxes upon boxes of standard issue military ammo cans sat neatly stacked along the back wall, as well as a crate filled with what looked like fragmentation grenades and mines. Past that, a heavy spool of thick gauge cable sat on it’s side, while assorted lengths of pipes, sheet metal, and other odd materials sat bundled in the corner. “Are we… going to war with somepony?” I asked with as much of a joking tone as I could throw into my voice. I certainly hoped there was a reason for all these to be stored up other than they were used on a normal basis.

“Well, you know what they say about being prepared!” Boiler spoke up happily as she turned around and fiddled with a few controls on the large control board that sat next to the reactor. “Well, I guess you wouldn’t… falling from the sky unprepared and all.” She added before she flicked a few switches and gave the side of the machine a few taps.

“Hey there, Bombay.” Violet’s voice was oddly nice to hear again coming from the stairs. “Why don’t you come up with me? I’ll help you get settled in your room.” The way she said that was just… odd. I’d had a room with my parents, and it felt like one. It had a bed, a closet with some old clothes in it, and my desk for schoolwork. But a room on the top of a moving vehicle? I wasn’t sure what to expect. “Hello? Equis to Bombay.” She waved her hoof.

“Oh, sorry.” I shook off the distracting thoughts and turned to her. “Sure, I’ll follow you.”

“Yeah, make sure you two are settled in quick.” Boiler said, making Violet hesitate for a moment. “Delilah wants us out of here as soon as possible.” Flicking a few more toggles and hitting some buttons, the large reactor ticked up the faint hum it’d had into a louder, steady thrumming. “With Bertha here warming up, I just gotta start up Bessy’s reactor and then we’re out of here and back into the frozen wastes.”

“Good.” Violet chuckled and rolled her eyes. “As nice as it’s been here, I feel we’ve outstayed our welcome.” Looking back over to me, she waved her hoof for me to follow. “Alright, let’s find you a place you can call your own.”

Trotting back towards the stairs down, I stopped as Violet turned and followed the side where the lifting arms used to sit. To my surprise, part of the huge bucket had been cut in the shape of a doorway, and a pair of hinges almost blended into the bed’s shell. Violet gripped onto a curved piece of rebar that had been welded on as a makeshift handle and pulled it. With a squeal, the crude door swung open, and she disappeared inside.

Approaching the inside, I felt an odd chill coming from the dark room inside. Stepping in, Violet flicked a switch, and a single hanging bulb illuminated the room. Here, inside the lower half of the old dump bed, was a block of ice. Not just any block of ice, but one so blue, so large that it would’ve put any of the extravagant holiday ice sculptures in Neighvarro city to shame. Nearly two ponies high, maybe twenty five feet long, and almost twenty feet wide I’d say. It just fit inside here, maybe giving a few feet on each side to spare.

“Bombay, meet the cargo.” Violet said, barely hiding a bright smile. “She was a bitch to get dragged back here, but I’m still surprised I could find it in the first place.”

“It’s...“ I started to say before my thoughts hit a snag on her words. “Wait, what do you mean you ‘found’ it? There’s ice everywhere.” Walking forward, I looked toward the interior of the ice. It was dark, and I wasn’t sure if it was because it was just thick ice, or if something was in there…

“Mrs. Delilah can fill you in on the details, but this piece of Ice is special.” Violet’s smirk dropped a bit as she talked. “Just, close the door behind you and come on.” Waving me over again, I did as she asked and hoofed the makeshift door behind me shut. Trotting past the enigmatic ice block to the back of the room, I found myself staring at Violet’s flank halfway up another stairwell. Feeling my face flush, I immediately turned around and did my best to only glance up above her with the corner of my eye. “Damn thing always gets…” She paused before ramming her head up against the ceiling. With a sharp squeal, the hatch above gave way. “...stuck.”

With quick hoofsteps, she trotted up the stairs, and I turned to follow her. The heavy pack on my back gave me a few more pains as it shifted with each step. However, that soon dropped from my mind as I stepped onto the upper deck. Looking to my right, I looked out over the many ponies running around in this bay of the Emperica, as well as the large, similarly built loading door cut into the side of the hull of this end of the ship. Down on the workshop floor behind us, sat a multi wheeled striped armored vehicle with Boiler now working on the side of it. A squat turret sat on what I assumed to be ‘Bessy’, and a fairly large bore cannon sat pointed upward toward us. Through one of the open hatches in the back, I could see Howitzer’s large fuzzy form moving around inside tinkering with things. It didn’t look like the tanks I’d seen in the history books, or like the one I’d seen at the other end of the ship. It looked closer to a sort of… wheeled enclave skytank with zebra stripes.

“Good, you’re up here.” Delilah’s tone of voice was back to it’s harsh ‘straight to the point’ sort of feeling. “Both of you, get inside.” Before I even had a chance to turn around, I felt myself tugged hard and yanked through another makeshift doorway. This one was cut into the side of one of the shipping containers, but inside I found it had been converted into a somewhat homely room. An old oak desk with a radio on it sat next to a rusty framed, large sized bed. A dresser and a few plain storage crates filled most of the rest of the room, and a buzzing fluorescent light flickered softly as the door was shut behind me.

“Is something wrong?” Violet cocked an eyebrow, dropping the somewhat upbeat, happy tone she’d had so far. “Is it Solomon?”

Confused, I sat down and kept my muzzle shut. Whatever had just killed the mood in this room had to be serious. I’d screwed up everything I’ve been told to do so far on my own, but one thing I knew was when to sit down and wait.

“Night. I need your word that nothing we say leaves this room.” Delilah spoke as she took her place behind her desk. Carefully, she set her glasses down before glaring at me. “Is that clear?” I nodded, beginning to wonder just what the hell I’d gotten myself into by agreeing to go with her.

With a sigh, she rubbed at her forehead and closed her eyes. “Night, I know this has been a lot on you. I’m glad you’ve decided to travel with us, and so it’s only fair that I explain to you what to expect.” She put on her glasses again and sat down. “Not everypony wants to see us save my town. In fact, I’m fairly certain that I have more enemies than friends right now. The biggest and oldest of them being a Saddle Arabian prince named Solomon Roan.”

“Saddle Arabia surv…?” I began to say, but stopped myself before I got us off track. This was important, so I had to listen. “Sorry, go on.” Still, that name sounded familiar for some reason.

Delilah nodded and continued. “His family was a rival of mine back during the war. Two transport empires trying to best each other.” She hoofed open a drawer and pulled out an old wooden picture frame. Setting it on the desk, she pushed it towards me. The black and white photo was near pristine under the protective glass. The picture showed a smiling young donkey, and a large, smug looking Saddle Arabian. Funny, this stallion looked bigger than the pictures in my text books… “Near the end of the war, my great great grandfather and Solomon’s decided to put an end to the feud and put forward their own money to fund a… ‘unique’ joint project.” Delilah spoke.

“It was called the Ark.” Violet spoke up, drawing my attention to her. “The largest ship ever built by anyone, and filled to the brim with a cargo of enough riches that it could ensure the prosperity of not only both families, but their entire corporate staff for generations should the war take a turn for the worst.”

“But,” Delilah cut in with more than a little twinge of annoyance, “once it was completed, it was stolen and taken out to sea. It was never seen again.” Pulling back the picture, she tucked it away in her desk again. “Each family accused the other of the theft, and using their political influence, Solomon’s family barred us from ever sending another ship to any of their ports ever again.”

“How do you lose a ship that size?” I asked, not really comprehending ever losing something the size of the Emperica, let alone something even bigger.

“Nopony knows how it was really possible, but the fact remained that it happened.” Delilah sighed again, shifting on her hooves uneasily. “Without a clear party to blame, insurance wouldn’t cover their investment. That destroyed any chance for our families to cooperate on anything ever again.” With a chuckle that felt out of place, Delilah turned and walked towards her dresser. “The loss of that ship nearly bankrupted my family, but it was worse for Solomon’s family. Money was a show of power back then for the Saddle Arabians, and losing that much? Well, let’s just say that it’s taken almost two centuries for his family to recover from it.”

“So, this ‘Solomon’ character hates you for something that happened two hundred years ago?” I felt kind of dumbfounded that somepony could hold a grudge for that long.

“Yes, and he’s stepping up his game.” Delilah nodded as she opened a drawer on her dresser. “He’s hired a couple mercenaries to keep tabs on us for him. He plans on making it as hard on us as possible to get back home with our package.” Leaning forward, she bit down on a set of leather straps and pulled them out of the drawer. Hanging off them, was a leather holster that held a large pistol in it. With a flick of her head, she tossed it onto the bed. “So, as soon as we get to Fort Mac, I’m going to get you fitted for some armored barding and find you a suitable weapon.”

“You mean they’re going to try to kill us!?” I gasped.

“Yes, though I assume not directly. If he destroys one tire, one axle of Bertha, we’re done for. There are no replacements for those, not anymore. So he’s going to come at us again and again until we either get home, or he stops us cold.” Delilah nodded, looking over to me with her sharp glare. “And if he hits us hard, I expect you to do the same right back to that no good lowlife and his cronies. Am I understood?”

I wasn’t sure I could follow that order. “I… I don’t even know how to use a gun!” I stammered. Yes, she couldn’t ask me to go into combat without knowing what I was doing!

“Violet will teach you.” Delilah bluntly got out before turning toward her bed.

“What!?” Both Violet and I exclaimed at the same time. She looked at me and looked over me.

“Sorry, Ma’am, but don’t you think Howitzer would be better suited to that?” She asked in a way that sounded more like she was trying to get out of it than that she couldn’t do it. Seriously, I’ve heard plenty of other colts and mares make excuses to get out of things above the clouds. “Here, let me help you with that.”

“We will be spending most of the day at Fort Mac. After I get him set up, you will train him.” Delilah fired back, raising her voice as she did her best to work on the leather pistol harness. Stepping over, Violet used both forehooves to help get the harness slid up over Delilah’s back and secured with a metal clasp. “He takes to you because you are familiar to him. Besides,” She sighed, shifting her shoulders a bit to get the harness comfortable. “Howitzer is a bit too rough a teacher. I want him ready for a fight with Solomon, not a recovering liability when we get into one. Once he knows the basics, he’s with you for the rest of the trip.”

“Yes ma’am.” Violet sighed, sounding dejected.

“You hear that, Night?” Delilah called back. “Starting after we leave Fort Mac, you are to ride with Violet here in the Runner. She’ll make sure you’re ready, and riding with her, she’ll be right there help you out when we get in a fight.” Turning around, Delilah reached down with her muzzle and drew the copper colored pistol from it’s holster, using her tongue to hit a button on the side of the grip. With a sharp click, the safety popped into place and she returned the gun to it’s holster. “Alright. We’re going to be on the move soon, so get settled in and get some rest. We’ve got a lot of Ice to cover.”

Both Violet and I nodded and turned back to the door. For better or worse, I’d made my bed by agreeing to come with Delilah. I may not like what we find down the road, but my parents raised me to stick to my word. I would see this through to the end, even it was to my end. Stepping out of Delilah’s container, I did my best to clear my mind of it for now and focus on getting settled in. I have everything to owe Delilah for rescuing me out there, so, I have to at least try to pay that back in some small way.

The top deck of ‘Bertha’ consisted of five, twenty foot long shipping containers covered with a thick, heavily patched up canvas tarp. Two containers ran longwise on each side of the massive deck, and one ran across the front end. The space left in the middle was converted into a sort of common living area and kitchen, complete with gas stove, picnic bench, and a couple couches for relaxing on, set ontop of a fairly fancy looking rug. All in all, it was more spacious than I’d expected, but with everyone on the crew, I feared it’d be a bit crowded.

“The blue container over there is where you’ll be. Brushfire should have already moved her stuff out of her half, so feel free to get comfy.” Violet said as she gave a gentle flap of her wings. She hovered herself over the couches, and to the container toward the front along the left side. “I’m right across from you, I share the other blue box with Hardcase. Meanwhile, Boiler and Gearbox are at the front in the yellow container. Remember to always knock before entering there if we’re not on the move. Sometimes they’re really going at it and it’s not something you want to see unless you’re into that sort of thing.”

Shifting over her gaze, she looked behind us. “Of course, you now know Delilah is in the red box next to the stairs. The other red box across from it however...” Sighing, and shifting her hoof to the container behind my own. “That’s Happy and Lucky’s room. Again, don’t enter without knocking, but only because if ego and self loathing were a fuel source, they could have solved the energy crisis two centuries ago. Sometimes I don’t know how those two even stand living together.”

“So… is Howitzer my roommate?” I spoke up, readjusting the heavy bags across my back again. Seriously, I needed to set these down somewhere soon. “Everypony else has a roommate, and he’s the only other crew member, right?”

“Howitzer…” Violet scrunched up her muzzle and shook her head. “He normally sleeps in Bessy down there. He prefers to be alone at night.” Turning to look at me, a smile grew across her muzzle. “But no, you aren’t the only new crew we’ve taken on here.” Flapping her wings again, she propelled herself toward the makeshift door on the container that was supposed to be my room. With a light rapping, she knocked on the side of the container. “Hey Doc, you in?”

The blue container door squeaked as it opened, and a pointy black and white muzzle poked out. “Oh, hello there!” The Snow Dog doctor from before smiled for a moment before looking over to me. Even though I’d gotten used to the idea of Rosey, the doctor still had foot long razor claws on his forepaws that made my mane almost stand on end. “You must be my roommate then! How splendid! It will be much easier to check up on you this way!”

“Oh, you two have met then already? Didn’t know it was you taking care of our head-case, Doc!” Violet smiled and looked over to me. “We’ll, I’ll leave you two to get settled in! Just make sure to keep your things secure. Sometimes the ride can be a bit bumpy.” Just as she finished, the low thrumming that had been in the background from the reactor grew louder. The whole floor felt like it shuddered under me before we started to move. “See you boys later!” Violet said as she kicked off and flapped hard with her wings, basically shooting out the open rear of the vehicle and into the increasingly cold air.

The further we rolled, the colder it got. Without much warning, we passed outside the large loading door of the Emperica, and the battering winds hammered at the Hauler. At a slow crawl, I watched as the other striped vehicle started after us, following us into what I’d quickly assumed to be a heavy snowstorm. Visibility dropped off, and I felt myself give a deep shiver. Even pegasus coats weren’t meant for a cold like this.

“Come on inside before you catch a cold!” The doctor called before he himself disappeared inside. Even though his appearance was still… unsettling to me, I didn’t want to freeze to death. The moaning of the harsh winds, and the quickly disappearing lights of the Empirica pushed me to move my hooves. Walking across the plush rug that covered most of the living area, I headed for the door to my new home.

Home. I’d had a home what felt like ages ago now, but it’s been on my mind so often now that it didn’t even sound like a real word to me anymore. Stepping into the container, I found an old moldy mattress greet me. It was covered with a hole filled yellow sheet, whether it was yellow from age or ‘other reasons’, I didn’t even want to speculate at. The rusty iron frame that the mattress sat on was affixed to the floor with large bolts, and that at least gave me an odd comfort. After living in the clouds so much, a bed that was physically attached to something just felt safer than something that could slide around.

Using my rear hoof, I hooked around the door and swung it shut. The wailing winds died down to a low drone that permeated the walls, and the heavy thruming of the reactor became a steady hum to my ears. Shucking the overloaded saddlebags off me, I slid them under my bed frame for safekeeping.

Without the weight of them on me, my back stopped screaming at me so damn much. Reflexively, I pushed my wings out and stretched them. They didn’t so much hurt, as they still had a bit of soreness too them, but I didn’t mind that. Turning around, I found a metal hook on a ring at the edge of the door. Quickly working out that it was to keep the door locked, I turned around and swiftly flicked it up and into the matching ring on the container.

“So!” The Doctor’s voice startled me with its suddenness. I’d been so lost in my own thoughts I’d missed him still being in here with me. “Oh, sorry. Was I too loud?” He gave off a light chuckle as I looked over at him.

His side of the room was more… furnished than mine. Set on the floor under his bed, was a large duffle bag with a large red cross painted on it. Along with his bed, he had a cabinet that he’d somehow attached to the wall above it. Instead of an area to walk next to his bed like mine, he’d secured a large metal desk. On it were quite a few dangerous looking medical tools, instruments, and a still working old world terminal. Lastly, chained to the desk, was a medical stand for holding IV’s and other various things I couldn’t begin to even understand.

“No.” I finally answered him, turning back to my simple bed. “Just… a lot on my mind is all.” With a great sigh, I walked over and flopped onto the bed. With a muffled grunt, I was surprised when the plushness of it felt like it hugged me tightly.

“Well, since we haven’t had a formal chance to greet one another,” He spoke up again. In the back of my mind I screamed for him to just shut up. I didn’t want to talk to him. “My name is Buck.” His words ripped my attention back to him as a peculiar itch of curiosity formed in my mind, wanting to be scratched.

“What kind of name is that for a Snow Dog?” I found myself asking, not even stopping to realize that outside of Rosey and him, I had no idea what ‘normal’ Snow Dog naming conventions were. Still, that sounded more like a name for a stallion to have than any monster from down here. Scrunching my muzzle, my train of thought derailed. I really shouldn’t call him a monster, not when he’s been nothing but helpful to me.

“Well, it’s actually a long running name in my family.” Oddly, ‘Buck’ didn’t sound insulted by my question in the slightest. “I haven’t quite been able to track down it’s origin due to the Inuvik lacking the required historical texts, but it’s the same name my grandfather bore, and his grandfather before him as I was told.” Rolling over, I got my hooves under me and turned myself around to face him.

“Every other generation?” Laying back down, I got comfy and looked him over again. He shifted himself toward his desk as I looked over him. To me, he seemed to shy away from my looks, and I started to get the feeling that he wasn’t too happy with somepony sizing him up.

“Well, as far as I’ve been told, the largest of each litter is given a traditional name.” He spoke before turning towards his terminal and raising one of his massive paws. With as ginger as a touch as I’ve ever seen, he began clicking down keys using just the tips of his claws. “My mother was the largest of her litter, and her grandmother before her. I don’t have a complete set of records to support my hypothesis, but I assume that it’s a recessive gene from the one of the original Hellhounds to immigrate to the Inuvik and Emperica.”

“Immigrate?” I asked somewhat starkly and out of turn. “Sorry, but what do you mean? There weren’t Diamond Dogs originally on the Inuvik or the Emperica?”

“A few Diamond dogs existed on the Empirica when she got stuck in the ice, however the shelter of such a large ship kept them from the harmful effects of the balefire radiation when it came.” He sat back from his terminal, holding out his paws in front of him with a dejected sigh. “No, my family came from the edges of the Crystal Empire. When it was obliterated on the final day of the war, my people fled to the north.” Leaning back, he flopped onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. The pain in his eyes was something I’d only seen on my father’s face before today. “We were not spared from the radiation, and only a portion of our kind survived the mutations to adapt to the radiation. Once we’d settled in here, eventually our population intermingled with the surviving pure Diamond Dogs. Not Hellhounds, nor Diamond Dog, we settled on calling our new breed a ‘Snow Dog’.”

“I’m sorry.” I sighed, feeling the stinging regret like I had when I confronted dad about hitting Shimmer. “I… I didn’t meant to bring it up.”

“It’s fine.” Buck looked over to me, his muzzle spreading into a sort of jagged smile. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had to tell anyone anything about my family. We’ve been such a tight knit community for so long, it’s good to finally talk to someone who is clueless about things.” He paused as he realized what he’d just said. “Not to say that you being clueless is a good thing… or…” If I didn’t know better, I was witnessing what it looked like when a Snow Dog blushed. “What about you?”

“What about me?” I snorted. Talking with him was already something I’d wanted to avoid, but stupidly I started on a touchy subject. And while I didn’t know any better, he at least know’s what fucking happened yesterday… last week…

With a sigh, I flopped on my side and closed my eyes. I just want today to be over.

“Just…” He paused awkwardly, letting a pregnant pause fill the room with so much silence it was deafening. “Nevermind.” The way he said it with such disappointment plucked at something inside me. I felt guilty for that. “I know you’ve been through alot, and you probably just want to get back to your home.”

“I do.” I said. “But I know what I’ll find there isn’t what I want.” No use in denying it. This is my life now, and the hopes of finding my family have no place anymore. “My life is out there now, in the wasteland somewhere. I don’t know where I’ll end up, but I’m going to do my best to make a life wherever I go.”

“Then that makes two of us.” Buck said, losing a bit of his somber tone. “I know we aren’t well acquainted yet, but I do hope that in time, we could be friends.” Opening my eyes, I looked over to him in confusion. The hope from his words were reflected in his eyes. “I don’t plan on going back home. I’d like to make friends, join a different community, make a difference out there by helping as many as I can.” With a sharp yawn that gave me a good look at jagged jaws on Buck, he stretched out only for a moment before curling himself up on his bed. “Actually, what I really want is to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Yeah, go for it.” I said as I wriggled myself into my bed again. I didn’t exactly feel tired, but then again, I wasn’t sure what else I could really be doing. It was too cold to go outside. On top of that, if my track record is the norm, I’d probably get myself lost again. I’m not going to be an inconvenience, I owe Delilah that much. So, I’ll just sit here, relax, and try to not think about all the horrors in my life that either lay in the past, or still ahead.

It’s probably something I never really thought about before today, but trying to rest on something that’s constantly jostling, rumbling, and just about freezing around you is damn near impossible. While the Inuvik probably wouldn’t have been warm, I’m betting that at least it didn’t threaten to throw you off your bed. Still, having a bed means I shouldn’t complain, because I was lucky to get it at all.

Luck was a confusing thing to me. I’d always counted myself lucky when we lived in Neighvarro City. I’d hated having to move out to Four Peaks, and Dad had said that we were lucky to get that opportunity. Then the whole place goes up, and I’m lucky to survive that. Sent off into the unknown by Salt, I was lucky to be saved at all by Delilah. If luck is supposed to be a good thing, why does it always seem to lead to something bad happening? And if I’m lucky to have this bed, what imminent disaster awaits me down the road?

Hoofing my mother’s dog tags up, I looked over them, wishing more than anything she could just tell me what to do next.

Holding my head with my hooves, I let out a soft whine. I needed to stop thinking today before I broke down and became an even bigger lump of uselessness than I’ve already been. My stomach came to the rescue, and gave out a heavy gurgling. It wasn’t until I heard it, did I truly realize how hungry I was. Luckily, I had a pair of saddle bags stuffed full of goodies!

Scrunching my muzzle up, I pushed the thoughts of luck-related food poisoning out of my mind. I don’t care, I’m hungry enough that I’d eat ice right about now if I had to. Pushing myself around with my hooves, I scootched myself to the end of my bed and reached under it. The old tan saddlebags felt even heavier than before in my forehooves, but with a bit of a grunt and a tug, I hoisted them up onto my bed. As I did, a few half rusted food tins spilled out onto the floor with a clamor.

I froze with the rattling that felt amplified by the cramped container. Looking over at Buck’s curled form, I watched and waited for him to stir awake. Funny enough, he just sat there, seemingly still asleep. With a light sigh, I set the saddlebags aside and leaned back over the edge of my bed. Reaching down for the tin, I cupped my forehooves around it and picked it up. As I did, the lid on it fell off, and most of its contents scattered across the floor. With a snorting and sniffling, Buck this time roused from his sleep.

“Oh yeah. That was a good rest.” He whined as he stretched himself out across his bed. With another wide yawn, he shuddered and shook himself a bit. Interestingly enough, his shake went from his head, down his body, seeming to grow more pronounced as it reached his curved spiked tail. “Do I smell breakfast?”

“Sorry, I accidently spilled some of the food I had in my bags.” I sighed, trying my best to pick up the odd caramel colored squares that now littered the floor. Scooping what I could back into the tin, I stopped as Buck went back to sniffing at the air again.

“Are those… candies from Spring Leaf?” A wide smile split his jagged jaw as he looked down at the floor. With more precision than I would think would be afforded by his massive claws, he reached down and picked up one from the floor. Pulling it up to his muzzle, he popped it in and chomped down on it noisily. After a moment, his eyes went wide, and he gave a stiff nod. “Yes. Yes they are.” Looking over at me, he swung his arm back down and pointed to another cube. “Do you mind? I haven’t had her candies since I was just a pup.”

“Go for it…?” I spoke hesitantly. While I didn’t particularly get his enthusiasm over candy, my stomach gave another gurgle of protest. Looking back over to my bags, I saw a small rectangular box with a faded apple picture on it. Figuring that it would be a good place to start, I finished putting the ones I’d scooped up back into the tin. I held the box in my hooves out to Buck, stopping and blinking in confusion when he looked back at me. He already had gathered most of the candies, and currently wore a cube impaled on the end of each of his claws. With wide eyes, he looked at the box in my hooves. “Here, take them if you want.” I generally didn’t have any interest in giving myself sugar shock, but that didn’t mean I’d let them go to waste.

“Rereh?” He spoke, revealing that he’d already stuffed a bunch of the ones from the floor in his muzzle.

“Yeah.” I nodded. I’m not going to lie, as he reached out for the box, I cringed and held it out as far from me as possible. Taking the tin between his claws, he pulled it away and carefully set it down onto his desk. Turning around, I reached out and hoofed the rectangular apple box out. It was labeled ‘apple pie’, but not sure if it was accurate, I put it up to my muzzle and gave it a sniff. “Ugh!” I recoiled and held the box out as the stench of old glue stung at my nose. I hoped to Celestia that the food inside didn’t taste like the box...

“Oh, here.” Buck spoke up, half swallowing what he had in his muzzle. Reaching up, he flicked one of his claws through the air before I even knew what he was doing. The top of the old cardboard box flittered through the air and down to the floor, leaving me to stare at it as it settled down. I tipped the box back toward me, finding that the apple scent of the inside streamed thickly into the air. Noisily, Buck went back to chewing on his candies, while I slid the rectangular apple pie out of the box and into my hoof.

Taking just the smallest bite, I scrunched up my muzzle as even the smallest bit tasted like a slice of apple fresher than I’ve ever had. Taking another bite, I couldn’t help myself from giggling as it was about the best thing I’d ever tasted in my life. Not caring anymore about eating normally, I greedily devoured the rest of it. The experience was both overwhelming, and over faster than I’d wanted it to be, but there was one thing I knew now. I wanted more.

Turning around, I dug my hooves through my bags, pulling out another of the yellowing rectangular boxes. This one had what looked to have a blueberry on it, and I hastily fumbled at the edge of the box with my hooves. I needed the deliciousness that lay inside! Turning around to see if Buck would help me once again, I was dismayed to see that he’d exhausted the floor candy, and had his muzzle stuck inside the candy tin. I gripped the box with one fetlock, and pinched my nose shut with the other. Biting down, I tore the cardboard box asunder, and slid my prize out into my hooves.

Where it sat for all of a second before I stuffed it into my muzzle.

I’d never been able to choose when to eat, or what to eat in my life. Food was scarce enough in the Enclave, and even scarcer in Four Peaks. So much so that we were happy to get what little we did. But if this was how the ponies on the ground eat, I never want to go back! Licking the juicy sweet pie bits from my lips, I felt my stomach gurgle again. However, this one was not one of protest, but of satisfaction. With a delighted sigh, I flopped back onto my bed with a smile. Only about a minute afterwards, I heard Buck do the same. As he did, I listened as the tin once again fell to the floor. Only this time, I knew it was empty.

“Oh how I’m going to miss her cooking…” Buck sighed, sounding more than contented with the fact that he ate the whole tin’s worth of candy. Looking over at him, I watched as he let his tongue loll out the side of his muzzle. With a glance over to me, he gave a short laugh. “You look like you murdered a fruit tree with your muzzle.”

Holding my forehooves up lazily. “Guilty as charged. Take me in, officer.” How I wished I could keep going, keep eating those pies. But, they would need to last me for now. I had no idea how long this journey was supposed to take, or if I’d even get a chance to have this much food again. “Hey, Buck?” I asked, catching his glance again. “How far south is Mrs. Delilah going?” At that, he cocked an eyebrow. “I mean, where is her town?”

He looked up at the roof in contemplation. “Well, I don’t know exactly how far it is, but I know that it is supposedly a few days south of Los Pegasus.

“What!?” I sat up too fast at that, and my full stomach pined at me not to do that again. “But… that’s almost three thousand miles away!”

“More than that, I presume.” Buck looked back at me. “We’re much further north than where they said they picked you up. Or do you not remember that from when you woke up?” Quickly, he tapped along his muzzle with his claws. “Your short term memory might have been affected by your head trauma.” Eyeing over me, he scrunched his jagged muzzle up a bit. “Maybe I should have another look at you.”

“No, I remember it being said.” I sighed. “Just… further than I’d expected.” I couldn’t imagine how long it will take to go that far, or why exactly Mrs. Delilah needed to go this far north in order to save her town. “Do… you know how long it’s supposed to take?”

“Not in the slightest.” Buck sighed before pushing himself back up to a sitting position. “Then again, I was never on this trip with an idea I needed to get anywhere fast. I just want to do what I can to help out down there.”

Before I could ask him what he meant, I was interrupted by several loud pops that reflexively shot me up to my hooves. Those were quickly followed by a few horrendous metallic squeaks and bangs. Then oddly, the sound of the outside wind picked up, and the heat drained from the room at an incredible rate. With a grunt, Buck reached around with his claws and combed them through his fur. A few silvery metal disks shook out of his coat and onto his bed. Behind him, sat a pair of holes punched through the side of our container.

“It appears we are being attacked.” He grumbled, scooting the bullets that he’d been hit with off his bed. “With fairly poor weaponry as well. Must be Yaks.” Honestly, I couldn’t quite grasp how he could just shrug off the bullets in the first place, but skin that thick was something I didn’t have the luxury of wearing! “Best to just wait out the assault until the Yaks give up or, knowing Delilah’s group, get killed.”

My mane stood on end. “Attacked? What do they want!?” Another few pops made me whimper, though this time none of them came through our wall. I felt my heart rate jump up through the roof, and I did my best to hunker down on my bed. Even though I didn’t want to lose them, I put my stuffed saddlebags between me and the wall.

“Probably what all the Yak raiders want. Simply to fight.” He sighed, sitting himself down at his desk terminal. “Best to let the others deal with them. Shouldn’t take-” He was cut off as the resounding blast of a cannon shook the air. I didn’t know if it was because the air was thicker, or if the container amplified it, but the distinct ringing in my ears decided it was going to stay with me for a bit. “And there’s ‘Howitzer’ for you.” He shook his head softly as he did his best to continue typing on his terminal. “Even just having met a buffalo such as him, I could tell he’s much more eager for a fight than his sister. Still, Delilah is so protective of this convoy, she’s not even attempting to negotiate. Which I’ll have you know, is a mistake.”

“They’re trying to kill us!” I whined. “Why are you defending them!?” At the very least, Hispano had the luxury of not being hunted, so she could take sides… I paused at that, thinking back to what Mrs. Delilah had said. Hispano said I’d hired her, meaning she was a mercenary, and Mrs. Delilah said that this Solomon stallion had hired mercenaries. Shit, her dad had even said something about Solomon, didn’t he?! Goddesses, what was it he’d said!?

Another pair of holes opened up above me, followed by more cold air filling the room. Startled by it, I gave out a whimper and flopped down onto the extremely cold floor. Another resounding boom filled the air, followed by a delayed blast that filtered past the whistling outside air. The cracking of ice boomed the loudest in the air, and I felt a chill run down my spine colder than anything the arctic wind could provide.

Now was not the time to be trying to remember things. Now was the time that I needed to be seeking someplace safer than this to hide! Looking toward the door, I jumped to my hooves. Reaching out with my wing, I flipped the hook that held our door shut from its ring.

“Wait, where are you going!?” Buck called as I threw the door open.

I balked at the blast of cold wind that pushed in, draining me of what little warmth I had left in me. Pushing myself out, I turned and headed for the stairs down into the ice hold. The sound of more gunfire erupting was joined with a new sound. The loud rumblings of another engine, this time from behind Bertha. Looking out back, I saw the four wheeled motorwagen I’d seen sitting in the Emperica. Except, it was moving around behind us. In fact, I hadn’t even registered that this entire time, we hadn’t stopped moving at all!

Cursing the sight of the Dizzitron again on the back of the motorwagen, I noticed that it was infact, spinning. The Enclave training machine added a high pitched whining sound to the air as it spun up. Faster and faster it spun, its torque actually causing the suspension of the motorwagen to list to one side. With a mechanical shutter that snapped the vehicle to the other side of it’s suspension, the flight restraint released, and a Violet bolt screamed out into the air. I’d never seen a pegasus move so fast as she took off into the blue. With a snap roll, she corrected her spin and inverted herself, diving down just out of view from me. Furious exchanges of gunfire filled the air, and a round sparked off the back of Mrs. Delilah’s container, forcing me back from the edge.

I was caught off guard by a rapid chatter of fire from above the tarp. What sounded like multiple heavy guns rattled away in short bursts. Though I was curious to see what was going on, I misstepped and fell into the open hatch for the stairway. Painfully, I dropped down into the ice hold. The flickering light inside here clashed oddly with the holes in the walls, but that wasn’t the only thing odd down here.

“Ow.” I whined, picking myself back up.

“Hey, kid!” Delilah’s son spoke up from just behind me. Turning, I found him on the other side of the stairs, looking quite puzzled at my appearance. “Why aren’t you out there helping?”

“What? I don’t know how to fight!” I scoffed as I got up, cringing as another volley of fire went out from each side. “What are you doing down here?”

“I’m a lover, not a fighter, ya dig?” The stallion chuffed as he turned and headed back behind the block of ice. After not even a second, he popped his head out again with a smile. “Then again, a fine looking mare such as yourself could always come around and take cover with me.” He cocked his eyebrow seductively.

I was about to tell him no, but another blast from the cannon made me jump and gallop around the ice for cover. Pressing up against the wall in the freezing cold gap on the other side, I let out a small sigh. Looking over, I nearly ran smack dab into Delilah’s son’s muzzle. Pulling back sharply, he looked slightly annoyed.

“What’s the matter, baby? I’ll keep you safe” He smirked and ran his forehoof through his mane, acting swave. It almost made me want to gag. Stallions as stuck up as him always put me off back above the clouds. I could never wrap my head around how any mare ever fell for this sort of thing.

“I’m fine where I am, thank you.” I huffed, slumping against the wall.

“Oh come on, don’t be like that.” He rolled his eyes, keeping his distance, but still doing his best to be obnoxious. “You’re new here, I get it, but I’m pretty much the best you’re going to get.” Straightening out the Flower printed red button up shirt he wore, he pointed to himself with an egotistical tone. “Trust me, if you wanna have a little fun on this trip, Happy Trails is the guy you’re going to want to hang with.”

“I don’t want to have fun. I don’t want to hang.” I snapped at him. “I just want…” My words died in my throat. What was I going to tell him? That I wanted my own home? My own life? Looking down at the silver metal tags still snuggly around my neck I realized that wanting anything has gotten me nowhere since I left home. No, I needed to listen to what Delilah and Hispano said about surviving down here. “I just want to help.” I whispered.

I couldn’t spend the rest of my life hiding from bullets. Misfortune was on a warpath for me recently, so I might as well meet it head on, right? I need to make myself useful. To prove myself as somepony who doesn’t need to be protected!

Spinning around, I didn’t even catch what Happy yelled as I made my way back around the ice. Heading right for the door, I put my hoof up to the latch that held it shut, and took a deep breath. Opening the door, I was met with more frigid wind pouring in. The heavy boom that came from the cannon met me with full force, and again my ears were ringing. A few bright sparks shot upward across the exposed side of the hauler ahead of me. A pained scream filled my recovering ears. From above, Hardcase dropped onto the walkway streaming blood from a pair of wounds in his side. Looking back up at me, he reached out his hoof. Quickly, I took his hoof, and with all my strength, pulled him into the ice room.

“Oh, goddesses.” He whimpered, slumping against me. “They’re really… sticking to it this time.” Between groans, he managed to shift himself against the ice.

“I want to help.” I spoke up quickly. That got a weak chuckle from him before he groaned and pressed his forehooves against the wounds. “I’m serious. What do I do?”

“Kid, you want to be useful?” He looked at me with eyes unburdened with worry. “Leave it to the others. Stay out of their way and they’ll finish it.” Giving out a few hacking coughs, he torqued his head around the edge of the ice. “Happy, would you be so kind in retrieving the doctor for me?”

In that moment, most of me wanted to take that as the best excuse to shut the door and sit behind the ice again. However, I didn’t want to sit and be useless anymore. Looking back out the open door, I tensed myself up, and pushed myself to my hooves. Not giving myself time to change my mind, I whined and galloped out into the cold.

With my hooves hammering down on the walkway as I ran, I quickly passed the nook where Boiler was huddled next to the reactor controls. Skidding to a stop next to the armored driving compartment, I tucked myself between it and the armaments cage. With my heart already thudding against my chest, I found myself smiling as I realized that I’d actually made it over here! Sure, it was a ten foot sprint, but I didn’t die!

“Kid, what the hell are you doing!?” Boiler snapped at me, easily beating out the reactor’s various noises behind her. A thunderous rumbling came through the cold wind, growing louder before another few shots sparked along the side of the hauler. One of them pinged loudly off the armored walls around the reactor. A hiss and a loud buzzing alarm came from Boilers hole, and she cursed as a jet of steam shot out of the top of the compartment.

Peeking my head around the driver’s compartment and out into the open icy expanse, a befuddling sight met my eyes. Creatures that looked much like Boiler and Howitzer were racing along the ice around us, riding very loud and unsafe looking two wheeled machinations covered in makeshift spikes. I say they look like Boiler only in the fact that they were much fuzzier, and their horns were much larger and adorned with skulls affixed to their tips. Large gouts of flames and black smoke poured from rusty pipes that stuck sharply up behind where they sat, and what looked to me a myriad of weaponry was cobbled onto their vehicles.

A bright explosion between the riders followed another shot from Howitzer’s cannon somewhere ahead of us. The blast did little to deter them, and they barely seemed to be fazed by it. One of them yelled and fired a burst of gunshots, but it wasn’t aimed at us this time. In return, a line of shots trailed along the ground from the air. Violet dove in, strafing the riders with her own guns. One of the Yaks swerved, tipped over, and violently rolled along the ground as she pulled up into the sky again.

Watching how she just did that, it made something click in my mind. The Yaks couldn’t fly, and their guns had limited firing arcs. High diving attacks were not only a safe way to deal with them, but the most efficient!

“Kid, I know you’re not a fighter, but I need you to go help my brother.” Boiler’s voice pulled me back into the now. With a lowering hiss, the steam from the reactor compartment drained off, and the buzzing ceased. At a relaxed trot, she came out of the reactor room and went right into the armaments cage. “With how he’s blowing through his cannon rounds, he’s going to need a resupply.” With a grunt, she hooked a forehoof around one of the large cannon shells and set it on the ground. “And without being able to stop, somepony is going to have to get more one-o-five to him.”

I sat and watched as she grabbed an odd crooked wrench and hooked it around the tip of the shell. With a yank, it twisted and emitted an audible click. Looking up to me, she waved me over and pointed to a leather binding on the cage’s wall.

“Normally, I’d call over Zoomer,” With an annoyed look, she waited for me to hoof the binding from the cage over to her. As I did, another burst of shots sparked around the armored room. I cringed, but didn’t panic. “But, as you can tell, she’s just a bit busy keeping them from completely rittling us full of holes.” Quickly, she slipped the shell between a few curved sections of the leather and secured a latch fastener to it that tightened the straps and held the shell in place. As she did, I realized just how one was supposed to wear this thing.

“So, you’re going to need to do it. Alright?” She looked up to me with a nervous smile, holding the end of the leather straps out to me. Taking the shell sling, I quickly hoofed it around myself. “Now be carefull. I just primed it, so do not hit it against anything.” She held a hoof out against my chest. “Seriously, be carefull. I don’t want to lose anyone today, okay?” I nodded. With that, she seemed to relax and moved her hoof from my chest. “Go. I’ll have the next shell ready for you by the time you get back.”

Turning back towards the opening alongside the hauler, the heavy shell settled underneath me in it’s sling. It felt heavy, and I wasn’t too happy to have this much high explosives strapped right to me, but I needed to be useful. Before I left, I stopped and looked out again. Violet screamed down out of the sky again, trailing another line of shots around the lead rider. The shots went wide, and failed to hit their marks. Zipping up into the air, she did however rouse angry screams from the head rider, who I now realized was riding a bigger looking machine than the others. My best guess was that he must be the leader.

With an armed shell under me, and a plan for attack that was technically the safest that I could be in this fight, I made a judgement call. Galloping forward, I spread my wings wide. The frigid wind whipped at me as I ran straight for the open edge of the walkway, tugging powerfully at my open wings. With as much effort as I could put behind my legs, I pushed off and jumped into the air.

The arctic air whipped at me as I took flight, and even with my stunted feathers, grabbed onto my wings and shot me up into the sky like a rocket. Within only a few seconds, I found myself up much higher than I’d ever thought I could get in that short of a time. The stronger winds died down quickly up here, and I torqued my wings to pull me back into level flight. When I did, I noticed something.

It was quiet.

Well, relatively quiet, as the vehicles and gunfire below still existed but… this was something far more serene. It was an emptiness that had been missing since I left home. The thicker air made things so much more noisy down there, and I’d just now remembered how much I enjoyed just… being in the air. However, as I simply flew there, another resounding shot from Howitzer’s gun tore me from my enjoyment.

“What are you doing!?” Voilet’s voice came from above. She did her best to circle me and not lose any of her speed. “If you’re going to be out here in the middle of a fight, get that shell to Howitzer!” With a snap roll, she flipped over and dove down towards the pursuing Yaks. I watched as she kept up an amazing speed as she did so, dipping and arcing back up to well above me in a matter of moments.

Lowering my forelegs to steady myself, I pushed my head forward and took a deep breath. This was my moment to prove that I could be useful on this trip. Dear Celestia, don’t let me fuck this up! Tipping forward, I dipped myself into a dive.

The strong wind that had helped me get up into the air met me on my way down. A battering crosswinds pulled at me, steering me back towards the large yellow and blue hauler that I’d come from. With my speed hampered, and my aim off, I twisted my wings and turned myself off my path. As I did, the strong winds hefted me up into the air again.

“Damnit.” I muttered under my breath.

“Seriously, what are you doing?” Violet grunted as she zipped up to me again. This time, she slowed herself and flew in a more controlled pattern around me.

“The wind is too strong! I can’t dive!” I cried out. As if to prove my point, another strong crosswind shot into the air and pushed me away from her.

“Just invert and fold your wings a bit.” She called out. “You don’t need to be strong, just take away the wind’s strength and you will be fine.” With that, she did as she said, and went into a near vertical dive. Shooting straight down, she took out one of the trailing yaks, leaving the remaining four to huddle up closer. Flaring her wings, she twisted herself back around and arched herself. With a longer, softer curve, she arced back up into the air. Keeping up her speed, she zipped high into the sky again and disappeared into the bright sunlight.

“I don’t have to stop, just… avoid hitting the ground.” I spoke as I felt myself gain speed quickly. However, if the last few days were any indication, I really needed to not pancake into the ice... “I can do this!” I reassured myself without a single ounce of confidence in my voice.

Looking down, I lowered my forelegs for stability again. Closing my eyes, I twisted my wings to roll me over, slightly tucking them as I felt myself slip into a steep dive. Okay, so all I have to do is flare my wings to turn, and pull up again. Opening my eyes, I torqued my wings again and spun upright. Raising my forehoof to unlatch the bomb, I again became unbalanced and my trajectory changed. Panicking, I flipped the latch and flared my wings out completely. In a desperate bid to arc up, I pointed my head up to the sky and prayed that my body followed in line!

With a cacophonous blast, the shell exploded. Whether it was below me or behind me, I couldn’t tell. But I felt the heat of the blast, and then an extreme pain in my legs. It was more pain than I’d ever felt before in my life. With a scream, I turned myself straight up into the air. Bleeding my speed off, the wind took over again. With a hefty gust, it tore at me from my left and spun me over again. With a painful smack, I slammed against the snowy ice and tumbled.

The world blacked out as I rolled and slid, coming back to me slowly. As I came to a rest on my back, the view of the high altitude clouds in the bright blue sky filled my vision. A single, fluffy white cloud lay overhead with the sunlight behind it, and the thrum of an engine approaching rang in my ears right along side the ringing left from the blast. My everything on me hurt, and I let out a whine as the numbness granted by the ice started to help.

“Hey!” A voice clawed it’s way through the noises around me. Circling above and coming closer, was Violet. She wore a worried look on her face, flaring her wings hard to land standing over me. “Just keep still until we can get you to Bertha, alright?” Her voice was muffled, sounding farther away than the ringing was in my ears. Violet looked up and stepped back.

As she did, Delilah came into sight above me. Her annoyed expression wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to see above me, but the needle she held in her hoof took the pain away. With a sharp prick, whatever she injected brought a calm warmth back into me. Right along side it, came the darkness again in my vision, and slowly I slipped away into it.